I. Crash Landing and Ki Detection
The dimensional jump, stabilized by the stolen Techno-Core, ended with a violent crash. Kaguya's ship did not land smoothly; instead, it slammed into a field of debris in what appeared to be an abandoned city. Alarms blared in the cockpit.
"Damn it! The Techno-Core stabilized the jump phase, but the environmental energy density here is anomalous. There's a concentration of raw, dispersed, and chaotic energy!" Kaguya exclaimed, rebooting the systems.
Erza and Akiha stepped out of the ship, their eyes scanning the surroundings. The city was a mix of modern technology and apocalyptic desolation. Tall, well-maintained skyscrapers rose in the distance, but the immediate area, marked with the letter "Z" on rusted signs, was in ruins, littered with overturned cars and giant craters.
"Look, Erza. The damage is clean. It's not from ancient warfare, but from... single-strike explosions?" Akiha observed.
Goku stood still, eyes closed, concentrating. The atmosphere was strange. He sensed thousands of Ki presences: some weak, some dangerously strong, all scattered, and many of them inhuman. But there was one presence... or rather, one absence.
"There's a person... no, there's a force... it's so close, but their Ki is completely... flat," Goku murmured, scratching the back of his neck. "It's like they have no limits, but it's switched off. It's weird. I've never felt anything like it."
"That must be the energy anchor we need. Something that cannot be broken," determined Kaguya, stepping out of the ship with a tablet. "We are in Z-City. According to the captured environmental broadcasts, this world is governed by a 'Hero Association.' The danger comes from 'Mysterious Beings' that attack civilization."
"Monsters attacking the city, heroes fighting... sounds like my world," Erza said, re-equipping into her Heaven's Wheel Armor.
II. The Attack of the Beetle Lord
Before they could formulate a plan, a panicked scream tore the air.
A two-meter insectoid figure, with a black and green carapace and compound red eyes, emerged from the rubble, dragging a car. It was a Tiger-Level "Mysterious Being," searching for its next victim.
"It's a Beetle Lord! Its threat level is low, but it's an excellent test target!" Kaguya analyzed with scientific interest.
The Beetle Lord located the group and roared, preparing its mandibles to crush them.
"I got this!" Goku shouted, stepping forward. But Erza was faster.
"No, Goku! Let's practice containment! There are heroes here. We can't flatten a city. Re-quip!"
Erza re-equipped the Fairy Armor, focusing her magical energy. She launched a volley of magical swords that surrounded the beetle, cutting the air but not touching it.
"Akiha, precision!" she ordered.
Akiha moved in a blur of speed. She used her sword, the Moon Flow, to sever the joints of all six of the beetle's legs with a series of clean, swift cuts. The monster lost its footing and crashed down, its crushing mandibles rendered useless as they hit the ground.
Kaguya, taking advantage of the paralysis, launched a small Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) drone. The drone buzzed over the beetle's head and exploded with a blinding flash.
"Neural frequency pulse! That will keep it asleep for an hour!" Kaguya explained.
The Beetle Lord lay inert, engulfed in smoke.
Goku, who had witnessed the demonstration of precision and containment, crossed his arms and smiled. "Wow! That was really efficient! I didn't even get to use a little Ki."
III. The Eye of the Hero Association
The demonstration of coordinated, lethal force did not go unnoticed.
From a hidden mobile surveillance post several kilometers away, a Hero Association analyst watched the video feeds.
"Report. Threat category: Eliminated. Collateral damage level: Null. Response time: 3.5 seconds." The analyst typed nervously.
"Who are these people? They are not registered heroes. The scarlet-haired woman used a rapid weapon-change ability. The long-haired girl used S-Plus speed. And the one with the glasses... she used technology unregistered in our database. And the tall man in the orange uniform? He only observed, but the energy level detected by the D-Scanner was... anomalous!"
The analyst turned on a communicator: "Attention, Headquarters. Reporting a group of S-Class Vigilantes in Z-City. Four individuals, unprecedented skill in containment and elimination. I need directives."
The Hero Association system had detected an anomaly: Goku's team.
"Looks like we got their attention, Kaguya," Erza said, looking toward the city horizon.
"Yes. The Hero Association. They are the key to understanding this world's dimensional problem. And if they have someone with the flat Ki you detected, Goku, he might be our final objective," Kaguya said, preparing her ship for take-off on a single engine.
Goku nodded, his smile widening. "Great! Now things are really getting interesting!"