Ox-Sage's expression shifted from confidence to alarm. He knew the brute was strong, but the sheer, volcanic power erupting from him was beyond expectation.
"MOO—OO!"
With a ground-shaking bellow, Ox-King charged. He moved not like a man, but like a living battering ram. Every footfall cratered the earth, leaving a trail of shattered stone.
"MOO!"
Ox-Sage roared back, refusing to yield, and met the charge head-on.
BANG—!
Their hands slammed together in a colossal clash of muscle and will. The shockwave ripped outward, scouring the ground of loose debris and sending a ring of dust and pebbles flying.
"Not bad… for a pretty boy!" Ox-King grunted, a fierce grin splitting his face. Without breaking contact, he jerked his head forward in a devastating headbutt.
CRACK!
The impact was sickeningly loud. Ox-King saw stars. Ox-Sage fared worse, stumbling back half a dozen steps before he could arrest his momentum.
"You… animal!" Ox-Sage snarled, his fury overriding his caution. He roared and launched himself back into the fray.
BAM! BOOM! CRUNCH!
The ensuing battle was pure, unadulterated destruction. They traded titanic blows that cratered the earth and shattered nearby boulders. Trees were uprooted and pulverized by stray shockwaves. The very landscape began to warp under their violence. The watching villagers, both factions, scrambled back in terror, fleeing for their lives.
"Hah! Now this is a fight!" Ox-King bellowed, his excitement feeding his power. His battle aura intensified, climbing with his bloodlust. A single, haymaker punch missed its mark but gouged a pit dozens of meters deep into the earth.
Ox-Sage, panting, saw an opening. He spun and lashed out with a whip-like kick aimed at Ox-King's temple, a blow meant to decapitate.
"MOO—OOO!"
Ox-King didn't dodge. He roared in exhilaration and drove his forehead forward to meet the kick.
"Fool! You're dead!" Ox-Sage sneered, pouring every ounce of his power into the strike.
KABOOM!
Skull met shin with the force of a meteor impact. The concussive blast sheared the face off a nearby cliff. A crater nearly a hundred meters wide yawned open beneath them.
"Heh… That all you got?" Ox-King taunted, though his head was ringing. He dug a hoof-like foot into the earth for leverage, then exploded forward. The sudden, overwhelming force ripped Ox-Sage from his footing and sent him hurtling backward. In a flash, Ox-King's massive hands clamped around his opponent's ankle. With a heave, he yanked Ox-Sage off-balance and drove his horns forward for a goring strike.
Ox-Sage's eyes widened in panic. He desperately grabbed the oncoming horns, muscles straining to halt their deadly points. The immense pressure forced blood from the corners of his mouth. One horn tip still managed to pierce his side.
"MOO! DIE!" Enraged and in pain, Ox-Sage opened his maw, and a concentrated beam of energy shot point-blank into Ox-King's face.
BOOM!
At such range, evasion was impossible. The blast caught Ox-King square on the crown of his head, sending him rocketing backward like a cannonball. He plowed through an entire hillside before skidding to a stop, buried under tons of rubble.
"MOO—OOO! YOU WRECKED MY CLOAK!"
An even more terrifying roar split the air. The rubble pile exploded outward as Ox-King erupted from it, berserk with rage. His animal-skin garments were in tatters. But his prized possession—the tattered, scribbled-on cloak he wore like a badge of honor—was now shredded ribbons.
That cloak, second only to his "little brother" in his affections, was ruined. His eyes burned crimson. He raised his hands skyward, and a churning sphere of destructive energy, large enough to vaporize the entire valley, began to coalesce above his palms.
The village elder, watching in horror from a high rock, screamed, "Ox-King! STOP! You'll wipe out the village! I declare it! You win the match! The victory is yours! CEASE!"
"Huh? I won?" The berserk haze in Ox-King's eyes cleared slightly. "So… Erhua is mine? WAH-HA-HA-HA!" The cataclysmic energy ball slowly fizzled and dissipated. The elder, Ox-Sage, and everyone else sagged in profound relief. Stupid he might be, but Ox-King's power was indisputably the greatest on the planet.
His momentary triumph was cut short as he looked down at the rags of his cloak. A mournful wail escaped him. He turned his fiery glare back on Ox-Sage. "You ruined it! You owe me a new one! A bigger one! A flashier one! Or I'll pound you into paste!"
Ox-Sage, nursing his wounded side, felt a pang of genuine contrition. He had never truly believed the title of "Strongest," but now he bore the proof. He was lucky this had been a contest and not a death match.
Still, pride demanded a front. "It's just a rag! Fine… I'll get you a new cloak. Made of Zolo-hide." Zolo-hide, the pelt of a rare and monstrous beast, was the most luxurious and coveted material on their world.
"Zolo-hide?!" Ox-King's anger vanished, replaced by gleeful avarice. "You swear it! You break that promise, and I'll beat you so hard your own mother will weep!"
---
The thunderous battle had not gone unnoticed. From a cliff overlooking the valley, Son Goku and his companions had watched the entire spectacle. The women stared, wide-eyed and speechless, at the raw, terrain-altering power on display.
"Goku…" Saeko finally breathed out, her voice hushed. "If you fought him… who would win?"
Son Goku didn't even glance away from the scene below. His response was flat, utterly devoid of doubt or drama.
"Don't compare me to that oaf. I could end him with a finger."
After more than half a year of brutal conditioning within the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, a fighter with a mere power level in the tens of thousands wasn't even worth his serious attention.