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Krillin sighed, his gaze flickering between his allies. "But then again, if it weren't for this sudden chaos, Goku and Vegeta would have been in the middle of their match by now." He paused, a bead of sweat rolling down his temple. "Now that the duel is interrupted, I bet Vegeta is absolutely furious."
Tien Shinhan nodded grimly, his three eyes scanning the horizon. "Yeah, Vegeta was visibly vibrating with excitement when he drew Goku as his opponent earlier. This isn't going to sit well with him."
"Krillin," Piccolo interrupted, his voice low and stern. "I say we worry about ourselves first. We followed Goku and the others this far, but do you honestly think we can be of any help?"
Krillin's expression slumped. "Yeah... I suddenly have a bad feeling that something terrible is about to happen to us."
Piccolo didn't respond, but an icy unease welled up within his chest. He looked at their group; aside from Videl, he and Krillin were the weakest links in this pursuit. If they were truly forced to confront Majin Buu and Babidi, they wouldn't just be useless—they would be liabilities.
A bitter smile touched Piccolo's lips. To think he was once the terrifying Demon King Piccolo. He had stood as a wall against the Saiyan invasion and fought for the fate of the universe on Planet Namek. Even during the Android Saga, he had held his own, fighting Android 17 to a standstill. But now, with an enemy appearing who eclipsed even Cell, he felt himself fading into the background, destined to be a minor character like Yamcha.
"No," Piccolo thought, his jaw tightening. "To avoid being a burden, I must push past my limits. Once Bulma's father finishes the new Gravity Chamber, I will overcome every boundary. One hundred times Earth's gravity isn't enough. I'll push to one thousand, ten thousand, a hundred million! I refuse to be the one holding them back."
Unspoken but shared, that same fire ignited within Krillin, Yamcha, and Tien. The Z Fighters were all waiting for the advancement of gravity technology. Before the monsters shown in the video could manifest in their reality, they were determined to forge themselves into something stronger.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Kai and Kibito finished their explanation, leaving Son Goku and the others fully briefed on the looming shadow of Babidi. While the veteran fighters took the news in stride, Videl looked completely lost, the talk of ancient wizards and sealed monsters sounding like a foreign language.
Struggling to keep pace, Videl realized her limits. She had only recently mastered the art of flight, and the soaring speeds of Gohan and Kibito were becoming impossible to match. With a heavy heart, she chose to stop. Her journey today had already changed her world. She finally understood that the monster Cell had not been defeated by her father's "martial arts," but by the staggering power of Gohan and his comrades. Majin Buu and Babidi were real, and her father was no match for such cosmic horrors.
Without Videl to anchor them, Gohan and Kibito accelerated, their Ki flaring as they vanished toward the horizon to rejoin the Supreme Kai and Goku. Their sudden burst of speed left Videl in awe, standing alone in the vastness.
"Here, I have to praise Videl," Akira's voice narrated, steady and analytical. "While her initial insistence on following Gohan was reckless, her decision to turn back now is incredibly wise. She has recognized her ceiling and refused to become a liability."
The narrator continued, his tone carrying the tactical weight of a transmigrator who had seen a thousand such scenarios. "Why was her persistence annoying? Because she lacked self-awareness. In a high-stakes battle, a weak link doesn't just die; they get others killed trying to save them. If you find yourself in a similar situation, you must either incapacitate those who don't understand the danger or be prepared to leave them behind. Sentimentality in the face of a universal threat is a death sentence."
Across the dimensions, many viewers nodded. They thought of the headstrong people in their own lives who mistook stubbornness for courage. Videl had shown the rarest trait: the self-awareness to step aside when the stakes surpassed her soul.
In the video, the pursuit reached its climax. Following the trail of Spopovich and Yamu, the Supreme Kai and the Z Fighters arrived at a desolate wasteland. There, nestled in the jagged terrain, was a hidden passage guarded by two figures.
One was a hunched, repulsive creature with yellow skin and long antennae—the wizard Babidi. Beside him stood a towering, regal figure with a crimson hide and the 'M' of the Majin marked upon his forehead.
The Supreme Kai gasped, his face paling. "Dabura... the King of the Demon Realm!" He warned Goku and the others that this man's power was legendary, yet even the King of Demons had fallen under Babidi's dark sorcery.
Spopovich and Yamu approached, kneeling as they offered the drained energy of Gohan to their master, expecting a reward. Instead, Babidi smiled cruelly. With a flick of his magic, he imploded Spopovich into a bloody mist and watched as his subordinate, Pui Pui, executed Yamu without mercy.
"Deal with them," Babidi hissed, pointing toward the ridge where the heroes hid. "Leave the three with the greatest energy—they will be the perfect fuel for Lord Buu. Kill the rest."
The three "fuel sources" were Goku, Gohan, and Vegeta. The targets for execution were Kibito, Krillin, and Piccolo.
Dabura moved with the speed of a nightmare. Before Kibito could even raise a hand, the Demon King erased him from existence. Then, turning his cold gaze toward Piccolo and Krillin, he spat. The projectiles of saliva struck them instantly. Before they could even cry out, grey stone crept over their flesh, turning the two warriors into lifeless statues.
With a mocking glance at the remaining Saiyans, Dabura retreated into the depths of the spaceship, a clear provocation to lure them into Babidi's trap.
Goku and Gohan rushed to their petrified friends, their hearts heavy with grief and rage. As Gohan reached out, the Supreme Kai's voice cracked like a whip. "Don't touch them! If they break while in this state, they can never be restored."
"So there is a way to save them?" Goku asked, his Ki beginning to simmer with a dangerous golden edge.
The Supreme Kai looked at the dark maw of the ship, his voice trembling. "There is only one way... You must kill Dabura." But as he spoke, his tone suggested he was sentencing them all to death. To the Kai, killing the Demon King was a feat beyond the reach of mortals.