EPIC: Path of Demons and Dragons

"Ah, youth...make sure to enjoy it while you can..." sighed Roshi, combing his fingers through his beard a short distance from Vahn.

"I most assuredly am..." responded Vahn, cupping his hands respectfully. He had certain misgivings regarding the elderly Master's behavior, but he was still someone the vast majority of Dragon Ball fans respected.

Seeing Vahn and Roshi adopt neutral postures, the announcer, who Vahn had learned was named Michael Vale, excitedly shouted, "Alright! If both fighters are ready, let the second quarterfinal round of the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai begin!"

Seizing the initiative, Roshi launched a flying kick at Vahn, demonstrating speed on par with a Vice Admiral. Unfortunately for him, even without the crutch of his time dilation and Aura of Karmic Protection, Vahn was able to track his movements, allowing him to intercept and block the kick with his right forearm before launching a swift counter toward the elderly Master's chest with his left hand.

Crossing his hands in front of his chest, Roshi blocked Vahn's punch with his palms, dissipating most of the force behind the blow and using what remained to backflip and land a few meters away. Then, with a swift spin like he was throwing a discus, he sent a wave of cold energy crashing into Vahn like frigid, hurricane-force winds.

Though he was a little surprised by Roshi's peculiar Ki attack, particularly how it caused ice to build on his chest and forearms, Vahn maintained his position and pushed out his hands, firing a luminous golden Ki beam that caused the elderly Master's brows to rise before he quickly dodged to the side.

Fortunately for the crowd, who would have been caught in the resultant explosion or assailed by debris from the partially destroyed stage, a thin barrier appeared to protect them. Vahn had Grayfia prepare it in advance, just in case, so Michael and the two referees were the only bystanders in danger of being caught in his and Roshi's attacks.

"I see that Goku wasn't lying when he told me you had mastered internal energy release..." remarked Roshi, moving like a blur and creating multiple hazy afterimages sustained by small amounts of Ki.

"I have a long way to go before I can claim to have mastered anything..." responded Vahn, blocking the real Muten Roshi's attempt to land a flying kick to his chin from his blind spot. The elderly Master then launched a barrage of swift punches and acrobatic kicks at him, but while Vahn had trouble following them with his eyes, he could sense them easily through his domain.

'And here I was thinking the flurries and clashes seen in the anime were an exaggeration...' thought Vahn, sweating slightly as Roshi briefly forced him to take several steps back. Through his domain, he could tell the man was attempting to send him stumbling out of the ring, but since he had no intention of losing, he waited for a lull in the man's flurry before launching a swift counter directly to his face.

Not expecting Vahn to have such perfect timing, Roshi took several steps back and held his face, particularly his nose, with closed eyes. Had they been in an anime or manga panel, Vahn might have stood still and allowed him to speak or lean into a gag. Instead, he slid forward, his feet hovering a centimeter or two off the arena's surface as he landed a series of heavy blows designed to break Roshi's surprisingly durable guard.

'He's grasped the Bukujutsu(Cloud Dancing Art) at such a young age...!?' Roshi exclaimed internally, experiencing a rare bout of panic as he hadn't expected that Vahn could fly. For the briefest of moments, he thought he could win after realizing that Vahn lacked refined offensive and defensive techniques, but he had evidently underestimated him.

Giving Roshi one more surprise, Vahn abruptly disappeared, reappearing a few meters away to build momentum for a forceful drop kick. To his credit, Roshi managed to dodge by rolling across the arena and launching a palm strike that sent an invisible wave of wind pressure crashing into Vahn, but it had little effect other than blowing and spiking back his hair as he fixed his posture mid-air and borrowed a page from Kizaru's book by gathering golden light at the tip of his right index finger.

'I'm way too old for this...' thought Roshi, sweating profusely as he swiftly dodged between the lasers Vahn unleashed. He wasn't moving anywhere near the speed of light, but by paying close attention to the orientation of Vahn's position and the fluctuations in his Ki, he could avoid being directly in the laser's path as they were discharged from his fingertip.

'And to think, this is near the bottom of the verse in terms of raw power and potential...' mused Vahn, his expression gaining a hint of severity as he realized he would need to increase his power exponentially if he didn't want to lose his relevance in the world of Dragon Ball. He understood this even before his match with Roshi, but it wasn't until he experienced what the elderly Master could do that he grasped just how absurd it was for the Z-Fighters to keep pace with future threats...

With Vahn's attacks pushing him beyond his limits and rapidly destroying the arena, Roshi decided to do himself and every other competitor a favor by darting to the side and leaping off of it directly. Vahn followed him with his finger, but when he realized what the man was doing, he retracted the light he was condensing and smiled.

Sticking his head out from the cover of the stone wall lining the northern part of the arena, Michael looked around, confirming the situation before stepping out and declaring Vahn the victor. What followed was a lengthy post-match interview as the officials assessed the arena's condition and the viability of continuing the tournament, but it ultimately wasn't an issue as Grayfia appeared at Vahn's behest to mend it within seconds...

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Following his match, Vahn watched the desert native, Nam, take on the would-be seductress, Ranfan. The latter used her appearance to garner sympathy from her opponents and take advantage of their lowered guard, and once that didn't work, she outright stripped down to pale pink, bikini-style lace lingerie to distract or intimidate honorable opponents into being unable to attack her.

Unfortunately for the fluffy-haired woman, Nam was far more skilled and fighting to ensure the survival of his family and village. Thus, after closing his eyes, he made short work of Ranfan by chopping the back of her neck, causing her to fall face-first onto the arena. Roshi attempted to pretend to be a Doctor to fondle Ranfan's bottom as she lay unconscious, but before he could step out from the competitor waiting area, Vahn placed his hand on the man's shoulder and shook his head, thwarting the attempt.

With Ranfan covered and removed from the arena by the tournament personnel, it was Goku's turn to face the humanoid pteranodon, who had registered for the event as Monster Giran. Unfortunately, shortly after the duo entered the arena, an aptly named May shower occurred, causing the match to be delayed until later that afternoon...

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Making use of the banquet hall lent to them by the tournament staff, Vahn marveled at Goku's and even Krillin's appetites as the two young warriors put down a combined total of forty-six bowls of rice and innumerable cuts of premium grilled meat, expertly prepared by Grayfia.

"Wow, those two can really put it away..." remarked Bulma, sitting beside Vahn, barely halfway finished with her first bowl of rice, steamed veggies, and six cuts of well-grilled meat. Her appetite had increased accordingly with her boosted Constitution, but since she was conscientious regarding her weight, she was very careful with her food intake.

"And their appetites will only grow as their power increases..." remarked Vahn, mostly referring to Goku. Muten Roshi, for example, barely had to eat any food due to ingesting a special plant that drastically reduced the rate at which he aged, consequently reducing his metabolism, so appetite wasn't directly correlated with power for most people. Saiyans happened to be an exception, as when they consumed food, particularly meat, their Ki recovery and regeneration increased exponentially.

CRASH

Though she didn't care if he stared, Grayfia promptly sent Roshi crashing through the banquet hall's stone wall when the elderly Master attempted to casually cop a feel of her butt as she was placing a fresh arrangement of meat on the table.

"Young people these days...so violent..." groaned Roshi, freeing himself from a pile of rubble only to find Vahn standing over and staring down at him with cold eyes.

"Have you grown weary of life, old man...?" asked Vahn, his expression and tone flat but his aquamarine eyes pulsating as, while he didn't care what Roshi did on his own time and with consenting adults, attempting to sexually harass his women was bounding over a line he would have been wise to avoid.

"Now, now, let's not be hasty..." said Roshi, attempting to downplay his actions by behaving casually. Vahn didn't much appreciate this, so before the man could finish rising to his feet, he teleported them to a wasteland several thousand kilometers away, his expression icy as he said, "Choose your next words carefully..."

Looking around and then looking up at Vahn, Roshi, for the first time in a long while, recognized he had crossed a line he shouldn't have. Being at the zenith of the martial world for hundreds of years and living a hermetic lifestyle had conditioned him to say and do as he pleased without regard for the consequences of his actions, but that very clearly wouldn't fly with Vahn.

"I...I apologize for my careless disregard..." expressed Roshi, performing his first kowtow in more than two hundred years.

"The next time something like this happens, be prepared to spend what remains of your life on a planet with no other sentient life..." warned Vahn, resisting the urge to rest his foot on the back of Roshi's head and stomp it into the dirt. The man was certainly problematic but not irredeemable, so after a brief exchange, he returned them to the banquet hall, where Roshi apologized to Grayfia and restrained his perverse nature for the remainder of the intermission...

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With the sudden storm breaking after a few hours, Goku and Giran once again found themselves standing across from each other, prepared for an intense showdown. Despite his much greater size, Giran employed many deceitful tactics to defeat Goku, but the latter was the main character of the series for a reason. In the end, it only took one decisive hit to Giran's chest for the winged fighter to surrender, the result of having his sternum and multiple ribs fractured.

"Aw, man...this is just my luck..." lamented Krillin, visibly trembling as he found himself standing a short distance from Vahn, knowing full well the latter was his superior.

"Just give it your best..." said Vahn, adopting a relaxed martial pose as he internally steeled himself. Krillin was undoubtedly less experienced than Roshi, but their speed and strength were comparable. If he didn't defend himself, he could be knocked back as each of Krillin's punches carried the force of a truck compacted into a tiny fist.

"Al-Alright...here goes...!" exclaimed Krillin, charging forward at a relatively slow pace with his arms spread before suddenly accelerating to a velocity the average spectator couldn't follow with their eyes. A split second later, two tempestuous shockwaves rippled through the area, the first produced by Krillin's abrupt acceleration and the second the consequence of his left foot impacting Vahn's unmoving guard.

'Speed comparable to a Knight and power comparable to a Rook...and to think he's only been training for eight months...' thought Vahn, a bead of sweat forming on the left side of his face as he facilitated Krillin using his arm like a springboard before pursuing the bald youth and engaging him in a flurry of blows and counter strikes. Krillin's diminutive stature made it surprisingly difficult to land a solid hit on him, but only near the start. The young monk was still a bit of a coward and lacked confidence, so once he realized his attacks had no effect, he quickly lost his composure, resulting in Vahn landing a punch to the center of his face, causing him to collapse onto his knees and promptly surrender as he briefly sported a fist imprint in place of his non-existent nose...

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