Saiyan stowaways on the Ark

"...Incredible."

The old knight seemed to see some kind of black smoke drifting away from behind Tora.

That's a curse.

The curse of nightmares.

"It's true that persuading someone is more effective after you've beaten them into submission."

Thomas actually lied.

He made up all sorts of stories about other people's fear of Saiyans.

Saiyans definitely don't have that ability.

Even if they did, they never intended to be as gentle as Nightmare—after the war, Nightmare would at least leave behind those who feared them.

The Saiyans will not leave behind any intelligent beings who can still frighten them.

[Main Text] Terra's World's Greatest Martial Arts Tournament: Debate Chapter: Volume Conclusion

The Casimir Scroll has actually written a hundred chapters, and although the story revolves around the trivial matters of knightly competitions, most of it is about various things that happen off the field.

Congratulations to Bard's little devil army for successfully expanding! Gohan has also become a famous "hero" as he wished, and Tomato has finally found some breakthroughs in transformation. We should be able to see what we've been looking forward to in the next volume.

The final chapter of this volume features Turles, who violently storms into the Dragon Ball world, further strengthening the relationship between the two worlds. Bardock's illegitimate son (not really), a man who looks the same as Goku but is on a completely different level of evil, makes his appearance and boasts that he has planted the forbidden fruit that only gods are qualified to eat. Let's see what kind of trouble he can cause.

Furthermore, this volume also included a lot of long passages that had little to do with Dragon Ball, mostly about Arknights. In a sense, it was my personal musings, including Knights Arena, Markowitz, Kazimierz, or other things. I appreciate everyone's understanding.

The reason why so many people oppose knightly competition can be explained with a very simple example.

That's the current state of the domestic film and television entertainment industry. Veteran actors are being dismissed as outdated relics. Capital has entered the fray, controlling everything from selection to training, supporting and creating a series of mass-produced "idols." Whether one can become an actor or an idol is completely irrelevant to character or ability; all that matters is influence and economic impact. Even being famous for negative reasons is acceptable, as long as it creates a fan base and makes money.

Then, money was made, more films were made, more stars appeared, and fans were satisfied, but opposition and dissent were ignored, and everything continued as usual.

Even if someone sharply points out that those homogenized works and the vulgar celebrity effect are eroding the cultural foundation, they are still submerged in the tide because the capital forces that initially promoted these things control the whole situation.

They will only say that this is the cultural trend that is in line with the times.

So, is this a good thing?

No, they only care about how to make more money, not how to build a better culture.

They always manage to excuse themselves by saying "I'm making more money" or "I'm producing more works," emphasizing that this is the right path.

Kazimir is even worse than that.

This rot was masked by the superficial prosperity. The cost of building an arena could bankrupt ten villages, leaving their inhabitants homeless, forced to survive, and compelled to take up arms. Yet, the noble lords could ignore their plight because the money earned from the arena was more than the combined taxes of ten villages, caring only about the spectators who could still afford to pay.

They make money for the sake of making money, forgetting the original purpose of making money. The impact of capital makes them flock to money.

This is the reason for the suffering of the neglected victims in Kazimierz.

Rhodes Island played a game with them, the stakes of which was for them to change their current situation.

When playing games, you don't actually use real weapons.

This is only used when they refuse to pay their bets after losing.

[Main Text] Terra Conquest: Chapter 1 Warm-up

"Hmm? You're not planning to continue participating in the competition?"

"Yes."

Gohan has decided to withdraw from the Major, and when Tomat asked about it, he didn't mince words and explained directly:

“At first I also heard a lot of negative news about equestrian competitions, but when I participated for the first time, I actually had some expectations... so it wasn't just to respond to Mr. Tomat’s request.”

With about a week to go before the Special Championship officially begins, the top 16 have been largely determined. Independent knights or knightly orders who feel they have no hope of participating have consciously stopped trying to accumulate points by participating in the tournament.

However, during this period, many of the Cavaliers who were already considered to be the pre-selected players chose to withdraw from the game.

The reasons for the emergence of Nightmare Knight, Wind Knight, Thunder Knight, Silver Knight, and Saiyan Knight are varied, but the audience was not too surprised this year because various unexpected things had happened before.

A mysterious underdog, an engineering accident that shook the entire city, a business alliance building that suddenly exploded...

It's not so strange to include things like "players withdrawing from the competition".

To outsiders, this seems to have an incredibly simple reason: they don't want to confront those monsters.

The two chatted as they engaged in their usual warm-up battles.

This is not Rhodes Island, but a grassland lakeside outside the Great Knights Territory.

Aside from wild pincers, there are no outsiders here.

Rhodes Island could no longer meet their warm-up intensity, so Bardock didn't come along today because he was taking the infected children to "class." The course content was low-intensity training that didn't match his strength.

Although there were plenty of people who could substitute for him, he seemed unable to refuse the children's requests to have Bardak teach them.

During the conversation, Gohan dodged Tomat's piercing hand aimed at his heart—a move that was not easy to take.

"Expectations? Do you mean 'becoming famous'?"

Tomat raised his right arm to block the attack that Gohan was about to kick at him while his arm was not retracted.

"Um..."

Gohan's feelings are hardly a secret; his passion for "heroes" is often reflected in various small details, which is probably due to the influence of his parents.

Of course, there are other reasons for the pose and the combat uniform.

"I've definitely become famous, but I feel like something's missing—Ugh—!!!"

Tomat grabbed Gohan's leg and flew into the sky, spinning rapidly. The swirling air currents formed waves across the vast grassland, creating a verdant tornado filled with soil and rocks.

Suddenly, he released Gohan and flung him away. Then, he raised his arms high and brought his hands together to form a gun shape—a beam of light that kept gathering and converging at his fingertips.

"Bang!!!!!"

Compress your breath significantly and fire with high precision!

"Shh!"

However, that beam of light was merely a fleeting afterimage left behind as Gohan flashed through the sky, disappearing into the horizon.

"Don't you feel that you disdain this kind of 'reputation' and that it's completely different from the kind of recognition you desire?"

"Bang!!!!"

Gohan plummeted from the sky and punched Tomat's raised arm, which was in a defensive stance.

The massive shockwave ripped away layers of soil with a radius of tens of meters, and Tomat was forced to move backward with his feet firmly on the ground due to the enormous force.

Behind it is a large, shimmering lake.

"Should I say... 'unworthy of my position'? During this time, I helped others in various countries but no one paid attention to me, and the media seemed to treat me as a joke. But here, just like those people, I play a game and do some theatrical things, and people are scrambling to become my supporters."

Gohan floated slightly to the surface, attacking Tomat with his fists and feet while talking, preparing to force him directly into the lake.

Their movements extended onto the lake surface; Tomat waded backward while backing up, and Gohan followed closely behind.

“But this isn’t the welcome and honor I want… This… is so strange, but I can’t quite put my finger on why. I just don’t want this kind of thing—it feels completely irrelevant to me!”

Gohan punched Tomat, but it only struck the surface of the lake. The blue sky and white clouds reflected on it shattered into fragments, the water surface sank so low that the mud and sand at the bottom of the lake were almost visible, and huge waves surged up, throwing the pincers on the shore far away.

The entire lake resembled a bowl-shaped container sitting in a large pit—with the outer walls of the container made of surging water.

In the center of this hollow formed by the impact, the two sides collided repeatedly, releasing huge shockwaves that evaporated the surrounding lake water.

"Ha, they can't give you what you want, but the money and fame you look down on can make those self-proclaimed knights willingly be manipulated, and then they're so fond of what they've got, aren't they?"

"Om-"

A sharp aura gathered in his arm, and the sound of the aura spinning at high speed was as pleasant as that of a top-of-the-line beam cutter.

"cut!!!!"

The waves that surged toward the shore and rose upwards formed a barrier that was split into two parts before it could fall back down due to gravity.

What could be seen through the gap was Tomat's figure, his arm waving.

"Oh!!!!"

But the slashes were not over yet; dazzling impacts continued to cut through the lake water in the air, and Gohan was dodging nimbly under this dense onslaught.

"Special Beam Cannon!"

"boom--"

The attack, swirling with aura, pierced through the ki slash that was flying towards Gohan, heading straight for Thomas's location.

Leaning back like an arched bridge, the Special Beam Cannon seemed to glide past Tomat's nose!

"boom--"

The attack pierced through the lakebed, and the water still stored in the lake rushed towards the bottomless pit created by the attack.

"Everyone has their own ambitions. Perhaps some people are struggling to survive, so as long as they can make money, that's all that matters. They can laugh at me like they laugh at Miss Nearl or Mr. Wald. I don't care if they're just fighting for money and fans, even if they're being manipulated. After all, our hardships are different..."

When someone struggles to even live a decent life, it's utterly irresponsible to talk to them about honors and spirit.

Gohan felt that in most people's eyes, the Kazimierz Knight Tournament was just a way to make money and survive. Although it could not satisfy Gohan's own spiritual needs, it could provide a way of life for others. Therefore, he did not have much of a rejection of those people's choices.

If you don't like it, then just quit.

The battle between the two sides entered the halftime break, and continuing to fight would inevitably have a greater impact.

Thomas touched his still slightly hot nose and offered a completely different perspective on Gohan's explanation:

"Those who can stand on the glamorous stage and make money through opportunities and the appreciation of others are basically not people who are desperate. The ones who are truly desperate are those brought out from the Infected Arena. They don't even have the opportunity to 'make money shamelessly'; they can only fight with their lives on the line."

Being deeply involved and accepting it is the complete opposite of taking a desperate gamble when there seems to be no other way out.

"Those who 'originally wanted to become knights, make a lot of money, and become nobles,' those who 'were forced to become knights to make a living,' and a small group of people who 'wanted to prove what a knight should be like, none of them would want to be lumped together with the other two groups, and you can't decide who your opponent is either."

"Maybe you will defeat the one who deserves to be dealt with, or maybe you will drive the one who has no other way out to the brink of despair."

"However, if you were to say to those girls in Hongsong, 'Do those famous business knights also have the hardship of being forced to accept money and status that have no glory, and feel conflicted and pained about it?' they would definitely just say, 'They have no hardship whatsoever, they probably enjoy it.'"

Frankly speaking, most participants in knightly competitions, whether or not they are desperate, are not pursuing the so-called chivalrous spirit or becoming the chivalrous knights and wandering knights in novels.

People in better circumstances, or ordinary people, are mostly motivated by status and money.