บท 169: Island of trials

Broly wanted to ask the guard more questions but before he could, he was sucked away by a vortex that appeared behind him. The surroundings changed drastically, and he found himself high in a blue sky. Below him were some clouds but between the clouds wasn't any ground but never-ending blue sky.

It seemed like he was on a floating island in some kind of alternate dimension? He turned away from the cliff and looked at the so-called island of trials. It was rather small and unimpressive. It was just a stony barren wasteland. Grey rock formations were filling up his view. It was barely a few kilometers in size. Broly jumped up and quickly scanned the surroundings for the sword or anything out of place.

He wasn't sure what the trial would be but if Solutus was able to get hold of a sword, he could achieve it as well.

After roughly scanning the surroundings he quickly found something out of place. It was himself holding a giant black sword similar to the one Solutus was wielding. As soon as he spotted that fake Broly, he was spotted as well. Without waiting he shot towards him. He knew where the sword is, he only needed to take it from that fake Broly.

Broly felt lifeforce coming from the fake. He didn't even bother to converse with it. It could be an illusion, a creature that had taken on his form or whatever, he just needed the sword. Broly closed in on the fake who took in a stance with his hands stretched out to the side and to the ground, one foot in front of the other. The fake waited for Broly to approach. Of course, Broly instantly knew what stance that was, it was his.

He somewhat suspected what the trial would be after seeing himself with the sword. Broly closed in with a punch and before the fake could attack, he pummeled it into the ground. The fake was just too slow for him and was quickly beaten up into a pulp.

It didn't take long until the fake couldn't move anymore. Broly just took the sword off the fake's back. The moment he did, the fake crumbled like sand and dispersed in the wind.

Broly suddenly felt the movement of his body becoming easier. To be more precise it was the lifeforce inside his body that didn't feel any pressure anymore.

He could move it around and burn it like he used to, but he wasn't able to use his ki or his magic. After coming to that realization, he somewhat was able to guess what would be coming next. Just like before he felt himself being tucked away as his surroundings changed once again.

This time it was a lush forest that was brimming with lifeforce. He landed once again at the outskirts of a floating island and the outside of the island was the same as before with never-ending blue sky with a cloud here and there. Broly jumped up and tried the previous method of searching for his target but because the forest was too dense, he couldn't find anything.

He put the sword on his back and went through the thicket. He walked for a few minutes and abruptly raised his arm to the side of his face.

Bang.

With a heavy impact Broly slid across the ground until he crashed into a tree. He looked at the spot from where he got attacked from, but he couldn't see anything.

He stopped moving and focused on his senses. As soon as he heard something, he struck in that direction, but he didn't hit anything. With a sudden sense of danger Broly tilted his head to the side.

Blood splashed as his cheek was cut open.

Even though he was hit in the face, he still couldn't see, smell or hear anyone near him, only his sense of danger was able to defend against the strikes. He couldn't ponder about it as the next strikes soon followed.

Just in a short amount of time he had several cuts and bruises on his body, but his eyes were filled with confidence as if he wasn't bombarded with attacks. He even smiled as he defended. For several weeks he couldn't move around naturally like he was used to but now his body was partly his own again.

He was savoring in the moment as he adapted to his regained strength. His senses were at their peak and slowly but surely, he was able to instantly react to things that headed his way.

After a hundred exchange between the two, he was able to remain unscathed by the attacks.

He knew that his opponent was most likely another fake version of himself that had created an illusion through magic, but from what he noticed was the fact that he still attacked in close combat.

Since magic attacks aren't as destructive as ki attacks and would cause close to no damage, it made sense for the fake to depend on something else to wound him.

Considering the force behind the attacks and that it didn't use ranged attacks, it was almost certain that the fake used lifeforce to boost its body.

After having gathered enough information, he prepared for a counterattack. He suddenly felt something heading for the back of his head. He ducked and without moving his legs, his body moved diagonal behind him.

With a horizontal slash he felt his fingernails tear through something. The empty air he struck just now became distorted and a second later showed another fake Broly who held its neck. Blood was spurting through its fingers. The fake didn't seem disturbed by it, rather it had a fierce expression on his face.

Broly ignored the expression and directly followed up with a frontal kick. With overlapping cracking sounds the fake was sent flying.

The fake crashed into a tree and before it could do anything, Broly had already caught up. Broly pierced through the fake's eyehole, ending its life instantly.

Like before he felt the pressure lighten up. His magic power was able to flow freely through his body once again. He picked up the sword and once more was sucked away. He landed on a flat white surface. The background hadn't changed.

This square shaped island was tiny compared to the others. It was only 1 kilometer in size. Broly immediately saw another fake that was staring at him. Broly could feel that this would be somewhat troublesome. The fake didn't hide its tremendous amount of ki.

The fake smirked at Broly and without effort, its body shape changed. It grew to 2.5 meters with steel like muscles that revealed its tremendous amount of strength with a single glance.

His green glowing hair reached his buttocks. Lightning arc circuited around the fake. Broly frowned slightly as he felt the strength coming from the fake. Although he had finished the previous fights with relatively ease, he wasn't so sure now.

In the first fight he used his soul to overwhelm his opponent and in the second fight he used his lifeforce to fight his opponent to warm up, but now he would have to go all out and even then, he wasn't sure of victory, which was puzzling.

If he would have fought himself before he defeated the statues and absorbed the energy inside that black spot, it might have been true that Legendary Super Saiyan 3 would be around the same strength with him, maybe even stronger, but now he should be able to win by a margin.

However, what seemed to be true was that they were around the same level. Another problem was that the fake was able to use ki. Both on the same level of strength but one could use range attacks and the other couldn't. It was clear which one had the advantage.

Broly dashed towards the fake and punched out. The fake seemed to mirror Broly and did the same. Their punches met and with a shockwave the ground beneath them gave in. Broly was surprised that the fake would contend with him in close combat, but he wouldn't say no to that.

He struck out with his other hand which was blocked by another punch of the fake. Both of them pushed against the other with no clear winner. They had the same idea and struck out with their knee, but the fake was taller than Broly by a bit and had a higher range. The fake leaned backwards to create some distance while trying to knee its opponent.

Broly quickly struck out with his elbow to block it. The two turned into a blur and exchanged hundreds of strikes in just a few seconds. The ground was devasted by the shockwaves the two created when they clashed, but there was no sign in sight of who would win.

In the midst of the battle, Broly had unconsciously tried to use his vision of truth and unexpectedly, saw some kind of light threads coming from the middle of the center. A crystal blue sword was hovering there like it was spectating the battle. Only now did he realize that the fake didn't wield a sword.

Broly didn't think as he just headed for the sword and completely ignored the fake. The fake followed him but since they were on the same level, it couldn't catch up with him. Broly instantly arrived at the sword and grabbed it. He swung around and sliced through the upper half of the fake's head.

The sword seemed to pulsate after the fake was killed. The next moment, Broly opened his eyes and he was back inside the hall but this time two giant black swords hovered to his sides.

Additionally, Broly wielded a 2-meter-long curved crystal blue sword. It resembled a Kriegsmesser from his past life and was pulsating with power.