Hero Cell

"Hehehehe!! I can't let you kill her."

Suddenly, Bulma heard a somewhat sinister voice ring out beside her ear.

Then, she felt the hand gripping her throat loosen.

She collapsed to the ground, greedily gasping for fresh air.

"I've finally found you, Android 17, Android 18." The eerie voice sounded again.

Bulma looked up.

A tall, green figure appeared before her eyes.

Bulma's first reaction was that it was Piccolo!

But upon closer inspection, she realized that other than the color, this person looked completely different from Piccolo.

His green skin was covered in dense black spots, the wings on his back were shaped like an insect's, and his face also resembled an insect's.

Overall, the impression he gave her was ugly.

And disgusting.

This insect-like person was gripping the hand Android 17 had just used to choke her.

Seeing this, Bulma understood that she had been saved by him.

Suddenly, she felt this strange person looked much more agreeable.

"May I ask who you are?"

Hearing Bulma's question, Cell rolled his eyes and said, "My name is Cell. I am a friend of Trunks, and I have been entrusted by him to deal with these two androids."

"Trunks?" Bulma was somewhat stunned.

Bulma continued to ask, "Then where is Trunks? Where is he?"

"Trunks is still in another timeline. You know the size of the Time Machine, right? Fitting just me inside was already difficult enough, so he is still in the other timeline waiting for me to bring back good news," Cell continued to bluff.

Bulma looked at Cell's massive, two-meter-plus frame and somewhat believed his words.

"Alright, let's save the small talk until after I have absorbed... dealt with these two androids."

Bulma wanted to ask a few more questions, but before she could open her mouth, Cell cut her off.

However, Bulma was not an unreasonable person; now was indeed not the time for idle chatter.

So she nodded and said, "Mm, okay."

She then backed away and ran to reunite with the others.

"Ugly freak, who are you?"

Android 17's hand was gripped by Cell, and he couldn't pull it free at all, his heart filled with shock.

"Hehehehe~ Your strength is truly too weak, but that doesn't matter..."

Cell felt Android 17's power, which was just about the same as the data Dr. Gero had provided him, and he became instantly excited.

He looked at Android 17 and Android 18 with glowing eyes, as if he were looking at a delicious feast.

In Cell's eyes, Android 17 and Android 18 were indeed no different from a delicious feast.

They were going to be eaten anyway.

"Bastard! Die, you ugly freak!"

Seeing that Cell didn't answer his question and even mocked his strength, Android 17 was instantly enraged.

He had always been the one looking down on others; when was it anyone else's turn to look down on him?

And to be looked down upon by an ugly freak, at that.

Android 17 leaped up and used all his strength to kick Cell hard.

Cell, still lost in his fantasies, wasn't paying attention and was sent flying by Android 17's kick.

Like a projectile hit by a cannonball, Cell flew backward at high speed, slamming into a mountain a hundred miles away.

He shattered the entire mountain in an instant.

"Are you kidding me? This kind of power..."

The humans nearby were once again terrified by the androids' power.

Bulma was completely stunned.

The person who had just saved her had actually been defeated like this?

"Wait, look over there!"

Suddenly, someone shouted, and everyone looked in the direction he was pointing.

A green figure was rapidly approaching them.

Before long, Cell appeared before them once again.

There wasn't a single wound on his body.

It was as if he hadn't been sent flying just a moment ago.

Cell touched the spot where Android 17 had kicked him and grinned.

"Heh heh heh... not bad. You actually managed to make me feel a little pain."

Seeing this, Android 17 realized he was no match for Cell.

He exchanged a glance with Android 18.

As twins, they shared a special telepathic bond; a simple look was enough to understand what the other was thinking.

Android 17 and Android 18 used high-speed movement simultaneously, appearing instantly beside Cell.

The two attacked Cell from the left and right.

"Watch out!"

The nearby humans couldn't help but cry out in alarm.

But Cell didn't make a move, as if he hadn't seen them at all.

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

Android 17 and Android 18 each landed a heavy, powerful whip kick against the left and right sides of Cell's neck.

"Impossible!!"

Android 17 and Android 18 were horrified, looking as if they had seen a ghost.

They hadn't held anything back, yet these full-force kicks felt like they had struck an indestructible rock.

Not only was the rock completely undamaged, but their own feet were left numb from the impact.

Cell appeared to have no defenses, but in reality, the ki within his body had already permeated every inch of his muscles.

Since arriving in this timeline, Cell had been searching for Android 17 and Android 18, and he hadn't wasted any of the humans he encountered along the way, absorbing them all.

His combat power had reached another milestone.

Cell's combat power now stood as high as 800 million.

Meanwhile, the Android 17 and Android 18 of this timeline only had a combat power of 400 million.

That was only half of Cell's.

A two-fold difference in combat power was an insurmountable chasm.

Earlier, when Cell hadn't defended, Android 17's full-force strike could only push him back without causing injury.

Now that Cell was actively defending, let alone pushing him back, they didn't even have the qualifications to make him budge.

"Heh..."

Cell's mocking laughter instantly stung the poor pride of the two androids.

Having reigned supreme on Earth for twenty years, this was the first time they had ever been looked down upon.

They lost their composure instantly.

Their hands and feet blurred into afterimages as they launched fierce, repeated attacks against Cell.

Energy blasts were interspersed among their punches and kicks.

Yet Cell stood like a towering mountain; no matter how the wind blew or the rain lashed, he remained standing there, unshakable.

"So powerful!"

"The androids' attacks are useless; they have no effect at all."

"I declare that from now on, Lord Cell is my idol."

"Weren't your idols Dr. Bulma and Lord Trunks?"

"Does having a girlfriend stop me from having a little sister?"

In an instant, Cell's image grew infinitely in the hearts of these people.

Even his ugly, insect-like appearance began to seem incredibly cool to them.

Five minutes passed.

Cell had played enough.

His hands struck like a viper hunting—fast, accurate, and ruthless—instantly grabbing one leg of both Android 17 and Android 18.

Then, like swinging a heavy sledgehammer, Cell hoisted them high into the air and slammed them forcefully into the ground.

"Boom!!"

A crater over ten meters deep formed instantly.

Android 17 and Android 18 lay at the bottom of the pit like two dead dogs.

Their clothes were tattered and torn, and their bodies were covered in dense, crisscrossing wounds, looking like two shattered porcelain dolls.

"Bastards!!"

Android 17 and Android 18 fought through the excruciating pain in their bodies, forcing themselves to climb up from the ground.

Now, the way they looked at Cell had changed; their eyes held a deep sense of dread.

They were afraid.

Cell's overwhelming power made them smell the scent of death.

Having lost their will to fight, they now only wanted to flee and get as far away from here as possible.

Energy gathered in the hands of Android 17 and Android 18.

"Boom!"

Two energy blasts were instantly fired from their hands.

However, their target was not Cell, but the ground near him.

The energy blasts slammed into the earth and exploded instantly.

In an instant, dust filled the sky, and thick smoke billowed out.

As if they had planned it, Android 17 and Android 18 took advantage of the cover provided by the smoke to make a swift escape.

The two of them fled in opposite directions.

By the time the smoke cleared, their figures were long gone.