Running out of Time (HBTC/Cornatto)

It had been a long time ever since Cornatto had touched the lands of Earth as an alive being but finally, the time had come for the Earthling Saiyan to finally breathe once more the air of its peaceful and tranquil atmosphere. Recent conflicts had turned it into all but a world of peace, but finally, there was a little period of ‘nothing happening’, quite literally, if one was oblivious of the incoming tournament, though. Therefore, it was little but just a few moments of peace for Cornatto to relax and calm his mind. It wasn’t all that nice having to deal with all of that stress and he couldn’t wait for it all to be over, given all of this was happening in one short timeframe.

At the same time, though, he was excited about the fight. His excitement overwhelmed anything else that he felt at the moment; to fight against people of another universe and if they were as formidable as Lord Lagerus advised them, then they had to be a real challenge! The Turtle Hermit loved challenges, they were just his thing and he couldn’t wait but look after what was going to happen— although he did wonder if they were seriously gonna get erased. It was the one negative thing about all of this, honestly.

Cornatto would have been more than better if there wasn’t this little thing to worry about, but perhaps it wasn’t for the worst; he actually thought everyone would have performed at their best if they knew there would have been such consequences. Although, the male felt pretty careless at the moment.

He was not on the Lookout yet. First, the man had faded off to venture in one of Earth’s jungles but yet he was nowhere to be seen.

Until within the wildlife, several circles would extend in the middle of a lake and bubbles to emerge and before one would know it, a manly figure arose from the waters as the tranquility and flat surface of the lake was shattered. The natural liquid streamed off the male’s body as he floated away from the lake and back on the ground, with his shoulders carrying a huge masterpiece of mother nature; a huge fish.

“Hehe. Man this thing is incredible!”

The male exclaimed to himself before he tossed it down the ground and proceeded to put on the clothes he had left earlier on the ground, wiping their fabric off some dust and dirt, making them look just anew with a few brushes of his hand. Cornatto patted his now dressed chest and sighed as he stared at the fish with newfound amusement.

“Alright, time to cook it up! Now, what to— Hmm.”

The Earthling Saiyan eyed one of the trees as he easily brought it down with the mere strength of a fist, then what followed was as simple as it could simple; simply cutting it up in pieces of wood and then build a campfire. It was pretty silly— stuff anyone could do as he sat down next to it and waited, for the fish that he had positioned just above the fire, to cook just well enough for its taste to become sublime.

In a matter of minutes that passed with the man’s stare settled towards the fire as his mind wandered in several things, such as the battle in the North— during the Tree of Might ordeal, which was quite a chaotic encounter. Then, to think that his abilities had ascended beyond the Super Saiyan Two level was even more than what he had imagined. Super Saiyan Three was truly amazing!

Although, ever since he had revived, he still felt like there was still something wrong but he could not understand what it was about. The only thing that Corn could guess was that he had obtained so much power that his spirit had perhaps not perfectly aligned with his body just yet and still had to grow used to it. Matter of fact, he wasn’t even that sure that he could currently transform into the Super Saiyan Three transformation at the moment.

And his head wandered in such intricate questions, he couldn’t help but realize that he was already eating the fish and that its slick and filled taste was beyond what he had imagined; he could feel the warmth left by the blazing fire and a soft hint of burned meat that had been caused by the exposure to the flame.

Before long, though, his head was lit up by a thought; other than the fact there was about nothing left of the fish other than its spine, but also that Cervez and Cornatto were supposed to enter the Room of Spirit and Time! “Woopsies— I forgot, haha!” - thought the man to himself as he took off the ground and rushed off towards the Timeless Lookout. He could sense Cervez’s presence there, it meant that the Anubian had actually remembered what he told him that time. Awesome! It was gonna save lots of time, quite for sure.

As the man arrived on the Lookout, he could already see the jackal in his sights as the man hinted a smirk over his features. His form lowered to the clean, shiny floor of the Lookout and walked towards Cervez, with his hand lifted up next to him in a greeting gesture.

“Yo! Sorry for the waiting, hehe,” - said the man, as the Anubian acknowledged his presence and inquired about the delay. Soon, the man chuckled as his hand extended one finger towards his head, pointing out at the fact that he bestowed no halo, unlike last time. “Let’s just say I was busy filling myself to life again, hahaha!”

It was true that the man did not possess that otherworldly touch any longer, he was completely back to life now, but he still had a lot of latent potential left from his training in the Afterlife that he was looking forward to unlocking with Cervez.

“I know that little meeting was kinda rushed, but dude, you can’t imagine how quick and how many people I had to go and check out with— and some of them are even, eh. But there are some cool guys with us. So I am all fired up!” - exclaimed the man as he then turned around and gestured Cervez to follow, guiding him and his assistant towards the door that led to another dimension.

“But first, we will have to get into the Room of Spirit and Time again as I told ya’. I need your help if I wanna get stronger! You were a God of Destruction, too, like Lagerus-sama, right?"

A pair of halls and corridors later, the man stopped right next to the door as he stared at both Cervez and Samael until he waved the brown-furred Demon a good one and unlocked the door with his hand and led the Anubian inside. “See you later, Samael!” - he addressed the Demon until the other two would enter inside.

“Alright so, where do we begin with?”

The last question, until the door would slide back by itself and close. Training had just begun.

The Earthling Saiyan stared at the other fighter as he pointed out a little, but interesting fact; he could have probably arranged it all sooner if he had trained the Multiform technique. It wasn’t actually a bad idea! It would have all just come back to him once he was to unite bodies again, it was quite a great idea and not even him could help but not giggle.

“Man, that’s actually a pretty good idea, y’know? I should give that a try some time!”

The male’s statement was followed by nothing but the silence of their footsteps upon the emptiness of the Lookout, the very same ground beneath them, so clean and yet it hid any sort of emotion the place could have transpired. It had been yet a long time and Cornatto could still remember some of the events that had taken place in such a construction. How much had it been? Twenty years? Something around that, indeed. But not all of them were nice to remember; some were a little harder, others were just outright not worth remembering. Just like the day the Saiyans were literally kicked off Earth— to think that the culprit had taken residence in here was a tad saddening.

Truly, the male had never taken any blame for any of what happened, nor did he give fault to the Guardian of Earth but he still cared for his race a little. Certainly, he would not simply forgive what the Saiyans did to his planet, but it was quite a story and possibly not one he could just sum up so short.

The man snapped out of his thoughts as the Anubian addressed him, causing him to turn towards him abruptly and with quite a goofy, confused expression as he stared at him. “Eeh? But I am taking this seriously! I can’t wait to fight. Hehe, I am gettin’ excited just thinking about it!” - exclaimed the man. Cornatto was truly beyond anyone else’s reasons for this event, it seemed. He was pretty much overall the perspective of fighting people from another Universe, but it wasn’t that he did not actually care for his Universe, but he would have just dealt with the possibility of being erased at that time! That was about it.

The black-haired male truly was a carefree one. He was difficult to concern unless in the sights of a certain danger, but he was sure that his Universe could probably play it out just fine. Corn had always considered many warriors to be incredible, unbeatable and all, it couldn’t be that simple for this tournament, they’d be overshadowed so easily and lose— They could do it. That was about it!

“Aren’t you excited to fight, too? Man, I am also curious to see how this King of All looks like! Hey, if he’s cool, we might just become friends! How does that sound?”

A small, innocent smirk crossed the Turtle Hermit’s features. His actions would have indeed sounded like anything but innocent to his fellow training partner, on the other hand, he would probably freak out or something but it wasn’t something that Corn would know at all. Although the former God of Destruction did indeed have quite a ride when he had heard they were gonna be dealing with the King of All’s hands when it came to the tournament; it was all requested by him apparently.

Then, Cornatto decided to stay quiet as the other talked about his past. “Oh! So you were just as strong as Lagerus-sama before? Damn, why didn’t we meet sooner? I’d have loved a go at ya’! Huh, then again, though, if I wasn’t born...—that would have been a little bit of a problem. Hahaha!”

Cervez proceeded to generate a weird bit of energy in his hand, he couldn’t quite understand what it was— other than energy, obviously. But there was something interesting about it; that ki didn’t quite look like anything he had seen before, even the aura itself was a lot different from anything he had seen before, but then it poofed away like nothing and Corn stared at Cervez in confusion. Saiyan Warrior? Nope, he was not talking about Cornatto, he guessed he meant someone else he had fought recently apparently.

“Hmmm. Well, look! It’s not like you are not getting stronger than when we first met! So that means ya’ can keep at it and get back to your level. I dunno how you guys become Gods of Destruction and all, but hey, I have seen some weird stuff! Including that Super Saiyan God, it got me so hyped! But red hair merely won’t be enough! I wanna go beyond that and Blue,” - said the man as the two had long since already stepped into the Room of Spirit and Time.

And before he knew it, he felt a hard blow land over his head as he was pushed away, out of the temple’s boundaries but he wasted no time to recover his balance and land his boots firmly onto the ground. The male smirked and lifted his gaze up to Cervez

“Hehe, alright then!”

The man’s form quickly switched into one of a Super Saiyan Two. His power level was sure astounding and far higher than what Cervez possibly could remember from their last match, not to mention that even the electricity around his perimeter had quite gotten wilder as well, he was truly in a state of high power. He dashed forward and charged right into the skirmish, his punches quickly following the trail that led to Cervez’s chests, without anything other but his fists that aimed to connect and strike the Anubian. Whether they did or not, though, that was not the matter, but as the two energies clashed; the male could feel something arise deep from within himself, it was a heat that quickly took over and evaporated from his body ever so slightly and caused his strength to remarkably rise.

The man couldn’t exactly understand what the other meant when he talked about he was surprised Cornatto would still be alive— hadn’t the man just died half a year ago or something? Then again, he guessed that Cervez had a point. Now that Corn thought about it, he didn’t actually ever die until he decided to give up his life for another. But he had to say, the way Cervez promised he’d be stronger than the Saiyan, was quite promising. He hoped to have that battle one day, after all, he wished to fight even stronger people! But what about the fact that the ‘Grand Priest’ would have not been happy?

He wasn’t exactly all that knowledgeable with stuff like that, so it wasn’t like he actually knew what it was about but to say that the King of All could be dangerous— only intrigued him a bit more about him! Not in a positive way, but he would have still wanted to speak with the guy.

Each fist of his connected against Cervez brutally, they weren’t certainly supposed to harm him or anything but it as if the man’s strength had suddenly multiplied similarly to when the Earthling Saiyan would transform into a Super Saiyan. Although the legendary transformation granted powers well beyond the one he currently wielded, his battle power continued to arise uncontrollably. He didn’t actually notice it himself, but he did feel that something was off; there was a pleasing feeling that would simply keep pulling him and he let such guide him throughout their exchanges of fists.

Each one of his fists had slowly come to empower up until a certain point where his power level had pretty much doubled, although most of them didn’t look like they were actually going to be doing much to the Anubian of course. But they did quite catch Cervez off his guard. As the man continued his assault on the former God of Destruction, though, he had to say that such power almost felt like as if it had grown onto him. It was fair enough to assume that he had at least mastered what he had been looking to achieve in the Afterlife.

The Turtle Hermit couldn’t help but smirk to himself as his fists further connected until a sudden wave of air suddenly hit the man with more pressure than he could handle, pushing him far away from Cervez. Cornatto was literally had to float back until he finally managed to slide out of the Kiai’s range. The male breathed heavily as he had escaped the attack, which had left a stinging feeling over his chest but nothing too serious. Cornatto took one last breath, his expression mirroring his until he realized that he should have tried out that one technique.

During his time in the Afterlife, the man had actually met a being that he had not been familiar with before— neither him, nor his race, but what was most singular was the fact that they were quite weak but yet could actually muster up some neat abilities that were capable of overpowering the enemy regardless of their strength. It was actually pretty cool! He did not mind seeing some of that stuff. Although the idea of powers clashing did quite rile up the man a lot more than any other weird technique, during their interactions, the alien form had actually approached the Saiyan with the idea of teaching him a famous technique of their species.

The Earthling Saiyan braced himself as he lowered his head ever so slightly and lifted up a pair of fingers— his index and middle finger, to his forehead as the man tried to apply what he had been taught. It wasn’t all that easy and even then, he had little time to actually practice this but maybe, just maybe, now that he’d be fighting head-on— against an opponent with a fairly high power level and that no other energy could interfere, perhaps he’d finally make it.

In a short amount of time, his figure began to dissipate— several strings ran through his form, similarly to the Afterimage technique until the man actually disappeared from sight for the slightest moment until he reappeared right in front of Cervez.

Instant Transmission.

It was a technique a Yardrat had taught him in the Afterlife. He was not that good at it just yet but he had just accomplished one of the first steps towards its mastery! It would have been even better if Cervez didn’t actually still manage to get over his defenses, before the Saiyan would realize it, his body was completely getting destroyed by the other fighter’s blows. The man’s body looked nothing more like a piece of paper being tampered with, as each nerve and muscle of his figure felt the strength behind the Anubian’s assault.

His grunts. They expressed his pain that could not find another way beneath his words other than small exclamations of soreness until he was driven back. Causing dust and other smoke to rise from the ground as his feet strode against the ground and caused the Saiyan to lose his balance and almost fell over, but he wasn’t obvious that much of a goof. Cornatto had not expected such an assault right after the man had just used a technique that would have likely taken him months to use like that if it weren’t for the Room of Spirit and Time.

The man took a deep breath. He was tired. He could feel his chest completely senseless of anything else other than the air that entered the fighter’s lungs and left it, it was quite an assault but slowly enough, he could feel his blood once more flow in his veins. Cornatto smirked and looked up at Cervez.

“So, you have improved, too, after all. I didn’t expect this much after our last encounter but that was makes it all better! Let’s go, Cervez!”

Once more, the male flared up his ki around his form and dashed forward. He aimed straight for Cervez, without anything intricate other than a fist aimed to dig deep into his gut and then strike back once more with a roundhouse kick to his head.

Cervez once more reminded Cornatto that underestimating him would have been his downfall, but then again, the Turtle Hermit simply did not underestimate him at all! He was already aware that Cervez could handle himself, but Corn was also confident in his own abilities, he wouldn’t certainly go ahead and think any less of the former God of Destruction. It was also true, though, that Cornatto was disappointed they couldn’t fight at each other’s full power— that would have been so more exciting than any other opponent he could think of— if he were to put him on the same level as Lord Lagerus!

The man’s head lowered ever so slightly but his gaze did not. “Oh? So you are gonna punch those words into my body? Interesting. Come at me with all you have got. I will show you what it looks like once I’ve passed my limit!”

The Earthling Saiyan let a smug grin take over his features as the Anubian had apparently recognized the unknown nature of the technique; it wasn’t all that surprising. Not even the man knew that this technique was a thing before he had died. Hilariously enough, death had truly been one of the best gifts Corn could have ever received; not only had he met amazing people such as the Yardrats, who were the one who had given the man the chance to apprehend such a technique but also people like King Kai, Lord Lagerus, and Whis. All of them were people that he hadn’t ever had the pleasure to meet before.

Not everything had turned out the way Cornatto had imagined things, though. Just like how he had hoped that his friend Natto would be there, so they could catch up and fight— make up for those years that had been lost because of that war between each faction of the Saiyan race. Cervez was alive for that. But perhaps not aware of the events, because of his eternal slumber. Lucky enough for him, sleeping a lot sounded really good! Not so much when he heard that the former God of Destruction had seemingly lost all of his powers. It was quite saddening, it would have been to the Saiyan at least.

He couldn’t imagine himself losing all of his powers. Especially if they reached godly levels. It had to feel pretty bad, especially if there was no other way to gain them back other than starting over. Not to mention, though, that Corn would likely do it, but it would sure be a hard hit to take. Even for someone as careless as the Turtle Hermit, who had probably beaten any record in those regards— no one else was as careless as he could be— but not in battle.

It mostly came to his interactions with other people! But he liked himself the way he was, he had no need to act tougher or cooler, because that was not him. Cornatto was an individual of his own who had been shaped after the battles he fought as a youngster, then as a young adult— and even, later on, he continued to fight and would still continue until the ages would finally take over for him, too. He was not old enough for him to show anything in regards to his age, but he knew it would have happened in one way or the other.

In ten years. Twenty at best? He did not know to be precise. But he was going to keep fighting till he’d see the end of it all, so he did not quite have any rush at the moment but for him to battle and continue to do so— for himself, for others and who knew who else. Either way, at the moment, though, he had to quite envy Cervez for his immortality! Or well, were they immortal? From what he knew, Cervez was very old! Older than him, too. So it amused him a little when Cervez stated that he did not know of the technique Corn had just showcased.

“That’s the Instant Transmission. It lets me teleport wherever I can sense a ki I am familiar with— to any planet or galaxy, as long as I can reach it out with my senses. A group of Yardrats have taught me this technique in the Afterlife. They’re not all that strong, but they have some amazing tricks, you can’t even imagine! I must say I wasn’t able to use it all that well as of now, but it looks practice is giving its results,” - said the male, his smirk growing ever so wider as he stared at Cervez.

It wasn’t long before the Anubian proceeded to counter-attack the man’s assault with an attack of his own, as one single source of energy split into several beams aimed towards the male; probably too fast for him to take on, or dodge at this point, probably. The male, though, decided to give Cervez all he had as his body tensed up— his hands clenched tightly against the skin of his palms and the void of the unusual dimension was overtaken by the man’s roar— followed by a sudden shift in the man’s ki.

Did he grow stronger? Maybe, maybe not, but for some reason, his movements were indeed faster and allowed the man to simply move around his energy beams, accompanied by a quick dash on the male’s part; he was clearly aiming for Cervez but with what intents?! Soon enough, it was all revealed as Cornatto brought his arms to the side of his waist and cupped his hands closely, quickly charging a bright, blue energy attack before he launched his energy beam forward— a Kamehameha!

Although not his strongest, the attack possessed an impressive amount of energy, but what was strange about it, is that the technique would have followed the Anubian if he were to dodge— making it undodgeable.

The Earthling Saiyan quickly dashed and shifted through Cervez’s beams as if they were nothing, he could not actually tell if they were purposefully weak or maybe he was just too strong. Although he was quite sure he had been emitting some unnecessary energy off his body, but it was so strong that it also weakened him offensively; he could feel his strength a little tad lower than what it would been under normal circumstances. Not even Cornatto himself had believed he could at least shape through his energy control that easily, but it was barely enough for him.

He aimed at much greater heights than just any other mountain that had been seen before.

Maybe Cervez did too. He did wish to gain his power back once more? Although Cornatto and the Anubian were just so different when it came to strength— perhaps Cervez’s purpose was aligned in regards to his previous duty as the God of Destruction. But Corn? Even if he possessed the strength of a god, at the moment, he would not want to be anything like a God of Destruction. Nor did he want to do anything strictly related to official duty. The man was not that sort of person— he wanted to get stronger for the simple reason of getting stronger. There wasn’t much else. Sure, he did have people he cared for and wished to protect but they weren’t the source of such desires. It was something much deeper within himself.

He would have continued to push forward. Similarly to the way he just did with his Kamehameha! When he finally launched forward with his technique, no matter the movements that the Anubian had attempted, they were useless given the energy technique’s fine addition to its control that continued to chase its target until it finally exploded against him. Needless to say, of course, that Cervez was indeed impressed and stated his wish to continue fighting.

Cornatto’s expression, from one of seriousness, as he looked at himself; evidently examining his own body and state at the moment, he could tell that his techniques had come along quite well. It was not only thanks to his time in the Afterlife, though, also his time with the Anubian had helped to perfect what he had been trying to achieve. The man was sure this was going to be quite the productive year.

And it was.

One year later.

It was finally over, almost. Not even Cornatto could believe that they had gone through one year, fighting each other left and right, with very little rest if not to eat or rest— but it was the longest time the man had gone through fighting. He was done. He could barely stand up once more as he laid down, with his chest on the pristine floor of the Room of the Spirit and Time. Cornatto could not help, but let his mind wander elsewhere.

How were Kabocha and Sonoshee doing? How long had it been? Was it finally time for them to get out?

The Room of Spirit and Time could be quite useful, yes. But it was also a huge strain on the body. One that the man did not approve of; he did not think it was too healthy. Matter of fact, he wasn’t thankfully going to repeat this experience, but at the time, he had to focus on the present ahead and put an end to this. But could he?

Now, though, he could finally hear someone else’s voice; it was Cervez. He was calling him, right, the two had to finish their spar. Even though, neither were in conditions to actually battle. But the male still forced himself up on his feet, after much struggling. His outfit was completely shredded, he barely looked anything like what he did when he had stepped in together with the Anubian and now, it was almost finally over.

But for who?

Cornatto glared at the sudden amount of energy. It felt corroding, but he was too weak to take it on! He couldn’t dodge either, as it was too late, the Hakai energy was too close for him to do much other than giving it one shot.

He punched it.

His fist thrilled into the destroying matter until his being began to be completely sucked in; completely powerless to the energy of a God of Destruction, as his body was now enveloped inside the orb and a rough growl was followed from within his vocal cords. He could feel his body burn.

The male could not take it. He began to scream, until his sight went completely blank. He could not see any longer. His dark orbs had disappeared. But he was not done yet. Like hell Cornatto was gonna go down like that, without putting on a fight! His muscles twitched, veins popped up over the surface of his skin. His skull trembled slightly as both sides clashed each other’s powers; the Hakai energy, and the willpower not to lose. Soon, the male’s expression hardened and his limbs also did.

His stance fell over, with his back bent forward, his hands ever so slightly reaching out for something, even though he was completely alone.

Until he exploded.

A fiery, flaming aura sparked around his being as once more the male rose from the attack and roared with an otherworldly voice until the dark orb finally shattered and let Cornatto free. Now that the energy was gone, Cornatto’s form was finally clear; it revealed the injured man, but now with an aura that burned with furious intensity around him. His hairstyle and body did not morph, though, they remained the same as his base form.

Finally, his eyes opened. His iris were now red, with a smaller, black orb that penetrated straight through Cervez’s soul. Had Cornatto become a God? Not at all. Although his power did feel similar, it was merely a fraction of the Super Saiyan God. Unable to meet the power and ritual necessary for the form, the man had broken through his shell and reached his uttermost, possible potential at the moment.

All of the battles they had gone through in one year, so that was what they had shaped them into, after all.

“You can’t beat me anymore.”

But this power was not his. It was not going to last long. So, he guessed he had to hurry up, just like the voice within him instructed the male to begin.

He did. In a flash.

The male no longer stood there. He had already charged at the Anubian, although, his newfound speed was higher than what he had expected; so much that not even the male himself had seen himself coming, as he actually slid next to his opponent, with his knees slightly bent in a rough landing.

The Turtle Hermit finally twisted his posture around and aimed to roundhouse kick Cervez up into the air. Before he also lifted off the ground and quickly hopped off the ground to chase the other in the air, in the attempt to land one more punch, that would send the opponent away. Next, he flew over the Anubian and down behind to try and double kick him further up into the air. And his final assault, for Corn flew up into the air around the opponent and attempt to hook kick him down into the ground.

The Clash of Gods had begun.

The Earthling Saiyan had ascended to a level, to which had no explanation other than the fact that it was a step below Super Saiyan God. It was simply a failed attempt to ascend, but yet it could let the man wield extra power that allowed him to face Cervez on another level. He couldn’t explain rather well as to why he couldn’t become a God right there, it probably had to do with the fact that he had not undergone the ritual and he was still a tad behind when it came to the power necessary for the procedure to become a God.

And it was then, that the male’s combo had finally unleashed devastating damage to the Anubian as he was first sent up in the air before he was smacked back into the ground and left the Saiyan to stare at him from above. Cervez didn’t take this all too well and therefore, awakened a power similar to his own. It was quite amazing really, and then the Anthro proceeded to strike at Cornatto to the side as he was sent flying in the air with ravenous force.

Cervez followed with a double-handed jab and a punch to the fact, continuing his combination before he aimed to finish it with a double axe handle strike to the ground, but it wasn’t long before Cornatto’s painful expression faded, evidently switching his posture to counter his move. He pulled his arm back, gathering an enormous amount of energy in one spot— his fist, as it burned into a flaming red energy until he finally launched forward with all of his power against the blow that Cervez also tried to inflict damage with, to the Earthling Saiyan.

Both powers clashed and created a huge explosion. Smoke. Dust. Cloud. It was full of all three, as no more could be seen in the Room of Spirit and Time for long, endless moments until the silence of such blow was considered almost frightening. Only the outline of a muscular back was visible until it fell down.

Unknown of whose, but it wasn’t long until it was decided that both had fallen. Perhaps, now they’d finally enjoy some rest before they’d have to get out.