I. The Challenge of Containment
The cave on Mount Hakobe was cracking. Goku's Ki pressure, even as a mere instinctive release of excitement, was enough to disintegrate the weak Aether of the ice walls.
"Goku, concentrate! The ceiling is going to collapse!" Erza shouted, immediately re-equipping into her Purgatory Armor.
Goku took a deep breath, forcing every cell in his body to shrink, to suppress his energy. The process was painful and frustrating. His Ki shrank, but the pressure was still palpable.
"Sorry! I haven't fought with limits before!" Goku apologized, still smiling despite the effort.
The man in the black armor (whom Akiha identified as a "Forced Elite Guard") didn't wait. He raised his broadsword, which glowed with a corrosive, dark magic.
"He won't get a chance to learn!" The Guard struck at Goku with a downward blow aimed at splitting him in half.
Before the sword could touch Goku, Akiha intercepted with astonishing speed. She activated the Light Aura, a technique from her realm that boosted her speed and perception to the limit.
Clang!
Akiha's sword, though much thinner, deflected the attack with a deafening metallic noise. The force was too much for her, and she slid backward on the ice, creating two deep gouges.
"His residual Ki from the Rift is in that armor! Erza, I need you to strip the armor off him!" Akiha shouted, catching her breath.
"Understood!"
II. The Dance of Technique and Chaos
While Akiha kept the Guard occupied with a flurry of high-speed feints, Erza launched herself at Shinoa, the woman with the scythe.
"You! You're the one who brought him here, aren't you?" Erza demanded, her scarlet eyes burning.
"Oh, is the Sword Lady angry?" Shinoa laughed, her voice mocking and cold. "My mistress just wants the Saiyan. He's the key to Harmonic Domination. It's nothing personal, witch."
Shinoa attacked with her scythe. Her style was completely chaotic, aiming not just to cut, but to create miniature dimensional apertures with every swing of the weapon. Erza, accustomed to direct magic, had to react at a speed she rarely used.
Erza re-equipped into her Flight Armor, gaining speed to evade the strange rifts the scythe left behind. She knew she couldn't win without a strategy. Her target was the purple gem, the nexus.
"The Guard is mine! Distract him!" Erza yelled to Goku.
Goku grinned. "Great! A warm-up!"
Goku moved with his base speed (still far superior to any normal human, but contained) and appeared behind the Guard. He delivered a gentle tap to the back of the neck.
The blow was a touch. It wasn't meant to injure, just to annoy. But Goku's force, even at 0.001%, launched the Guard against the cave wall with a force comparable to a magic catapult. The Guard stood up, his armor cracked, more enraged than hurt.
"Damn outsider!" the Guard roared, refocusing on Goku.
III. The Pinpoint Kamehameha
While Goku played at disorienting the Guard, Erza finally found an opportunity. Shinoa had left a gap, attempting a feint. Erza launched a dozen flying swords toward the purple nexus.
"No!" Shinoa spun her scythe, creating a wall of dark energy that absorbed Erza's swords.
"You're aiming for the wrong target!" Shinoa scoffed.
Akiha, who was observing, shouted: "Goku, the nexus! The gem is absorbing energy for a second portal!"
Goku understood the urgency. If another portal opened, reinforcements might arrive, or the gem might destabilize Fiore's reality. He looked at the purple gem. He needed to destroy it without demolishing the cave. He couldn't use a normal Kamehameha.
He got into position. He brought his hands together, his blue Ki beginning to accumulate, but he stopped it almost completely. What he concentrated was barely a speck of energy, but with maximum compression and focus.
"Kamehameha... Pinpoint!" Goku shouted.
A blue beam, fine as a thread, shot from his hands. There was no destructive power, only pure Saiyan energy, incredibly concentrated.
The Ki thread struck the purple gem. The effect was not an explosion, but an internal resonance. The gem vibrated at an impossible frequency, and then shattered, dissolving into the air like dimensional ash.
IV. Forced Retreat
With the gem destroyed, the chaotic energy vanished. The Elite Guard was left without his power source, and his armor turned a dull gray. Shinoa felt her connection to her mistress severed.
"The nexus! You fool, you destroyed it!" Shinoa screamed, enraged.
"Just the ugly thing that was ruining the cave," Goku replied calmly.
Shinoa realized they were at an extreme disadvantage: the Saiyan had demonstrated energy control they hadn't expected, and the two women protecting him were formidable and strategic warriors.
"Guard, retreat. Our objective is no longer here," Shinoa commanded in a cold tone.
She quickly used her scythe to slice the space in the air, creating a small, unstable portal. She jumped through. The Guard followed closely, his broadsword clanging against the cave wall as he entered.
The portal closed, leaving a trail of ionized air and silence in the cave.
Erza sheathed her swords, and Akiha deactivated her Light Aura. The three looked at each other. They had won.
" 'Harmonic Domination'? Sounds like a low-budget villain's plan," Erza said, exhausted but satisfied.
Akiha nodded. "But we confirmed two things, Goku. One: you are the key that someone else wants. Two: your Ki control can be trained. The 'Pinpoint Kamehameha' was brilliant."
Goku scratched his head. "I tried really hard. Now I'm starving! Should we go back for more ramen?"
Erza sighed, a faint smile on her lips. The road would be long, but for the first time, she wasn't alone.