The Beginning of the Battle

"One month? That's more than enough time."

Jiang Che raised his arm and glanced at the timer on his wrist.

He had developed this habit inside the Hyperbolic Time Chamber; timing things down to the millisecond was practically etched into his bones.

He grinned, revealing a flash of white teeth, his eyes burning with the desire for battle.

His expression was that of someone waiting for a long-awaited feast.

Truth be told, he didn't resent this mission at all.

On the contrary—he had been itching to see just how much strength his two years of desperate, grueling training had actually yielded.

Baby?

He was nothing more than a whetstone.

He took a deep breath, his body shuddering violently as a vast, surging aura exploded outward, shattering the surrounding clouds into fragments.

Golden flames danced across his body, flickering like the inextinguishable fire on his martial arts gi.

Jiang Che lowered his stance, pulled his fists to his waist, and kicked off into the void—BOOM!

The air itself erupted in a visible ripple.

He transformed into a meteor, diving straight toward the earth.

The wind screamed in his ears as his figure tore through the thick cloud layer, letting sunlight pour through the long gash, the halo dancing in the air and shimmering with iridescent colors.

Jiang Che locked his gaze onto the city below; Baby's evil aura was becoming clearer by the second.

Like a beacon in the dark of night, it made his blood boil.

He was coming.

Just then, a massive surge of energy erupted from the distant horizon.

It was as if an invisible giant hand had ripped the clear sky to shreds.

The air became instantly suffocating, causing even the distant cloud banks to churn and ripple with waves of energy.

Jiang Che whipped his head around, his movement as fast as lightning.

His gaze was sharp as a blade, piercing through the mist kilometers away to lock onto that direction.

His pupils contracted, his brow furrowed—the sense of foreboding in his heart grew more intense.

That was Vegeta's ki!

The energy was wild and familiar, carrying the stubbornness and power of a Saiyan.

But there was something slightly wrong with it; it was chaotic and no longer as pure as it used to be.

Jiang Che's heart skipped a beat.

He could feel anger and struggle intermingled within it.

The next second, the auras of Gohan and Goten also flared up.

Two dazzling pillars of flame shot into the sky, illuminating the gray heavens.

Jiang Che's expression shifted—he sensed that something was wrong.

These two auras were tainted with a strange, evil presence, cold and viscous, like an invisible viper coiling around their energy.

That aura was identical to the foreign ki he had sensed earlier; it was decaying and overbearing, as if it could swallow all light.

"Has it already begun?"

Jiang Che lowered his voice, his tone urgent, as if he were talking to himself or steeling his resolve.

A flash of determination crossed his eyes, and he didn't hesitate for another moment. With a flicker, he vanished, leaving a massive crater in the ground beneath his feet as rocks scattered in every direction.

Jiang Che tore through the air like a streamlined projectile, charging forward at high speed.

The trees along his path were uprooted by the shockwave, and the gale whipped up dust into a chaotic swirl.

In the valley, the battle had reached a fever pitch.

The area, once deathly silent, was now devastated by the clash of energies.

The scorched earth was riddled with bottomless fissures, rocks had been pulverized into powder, and the air was thick with the acrid smell of smoke.

Vegeta knelt on one knee, his body trembling slightly. Blood dripped from the corner of his mouth, evaporating the moment it hit the hot mud.

His battle suit was largely in tatters, his skin beneath the tears covered in bruises. The armor on his left shoulder had been completely shattered, revealing mottled bloodstains.

He breathed heavily, his chest heaving, sweat and grime dripping to the ground.

Yet, his eyes remained fixed ahead, burning with fire, filled with rage and unwillingness.

Before him, Gohan and Goten stood side by side, wreathed in twisted black currents of energy that seemed to shroud them like a fog.

The air warped around them, absorbing even the light and casting strange, distorted shadows.

Their state was utterly bizarre.

A faint red glow emanated from their eyes, their pupils flashing with an eerie, evil light, as if their very souls had been consumed by darkness.

His body was saturated with a thick, evil aura, bone-chilling and cold enough to make one's skin crawl.

A stiff smile still hung on his lips, twisted and grotesque, like a soul-snatched puppet mocking the world.

"Gohan! Goten!" Vegeta roared through gritted teeth, his voice raspy yet explosive as a thunderclap.

He struggled to push himself up, his knees scraping against the ground with a harsh sound, his muscles tensing as if they were about to tear through his skin. "Wake up, both of you!"

"It's useless, Vegeta." Gohan spoke slowly, but his voice had become completely alien—low, raspy, and imbued with a metallic coldness.

It didn't sound like him speaking at all.

"I have been chosen by Lord Baby. To become a vessel for the Tuffle race is our honor." A red light flashed in his eyes, the smile on his lips deepened, and a look of morbid devotion surfaced on his face.

"That's right," Goten chimed in, his tone carrying an eerie excitement, like the laughter of a child at play, yet that laughter sent shivers down one's spine.

He tilted his head slightly and spread his hands, as if welcoming some invisible blessing. "Brother, you should join us too. Lord Baby will grant you greater power so you won't be weak anymore. Come on, stop struggling and embrace this irresistible glory."

"You bastards!"

Vegeta roared, his voice exploding across the valley and shaking loose stones until they tumbled away.

He stood up, trembling, his legs still unsteady yet as persistent as a boulder. He clenched his fists tightly, his knuckles cracking.

Suddenly, a wave of golden aura erupted from his entire body; the light was like the sun, instantly dispelling the surrounding darkness.

The aura churned and leapt, accompanied by thunder and lightning that coiled around his limbs and torso.

Super Saiyan 2!

Lightning danced wildly around him, blue arcs flickering like spirit snakes, striking the air and the ground.

The earth could not withstand the pressure and cracked violently; fissures spread like spiderwebs, and stones flew into the air and plummeted.

Vegeta's hair stood completely on end, the golden light illuminating his resolute face, his eyes burning with the ultimate fury, as if he intended to incinerate the entire valley and all the evil within it.

No matter what is hiding in that darkness, I will crush it into powder with my own hands!

And then—I will take you both back!

Vegeta's roar exploded in the valley, his voice carrying iron-clad determination and irrepressible rage.

The ground beneath his feet shattered violently, stones launched into the air, and his figure suddenly vanished, like a bolt of lightning tearing through the void.

The next second, the air compressed with a thunderous boom.

Vegeta appeared instantly before Gohan, his fist wrapped in a fierce white aura, slamming toward Gohan's face like a meteorite.

The wind from his punch whistled, whipping the dust into a vortex.

Gohan's reaction, however, was faster than he had imagined.

The moment the fist was about to touch the tip of his nose, his body swayed to the side as if weightless, the wind of the punch grazing his hair and tearing away a few strands.

Immediately following, Gohan swept his right leg horizontally into Vegeta's side, the force so great it generated a visible shockwave.

"Bang!" A dull, heavy impact echoed out.

Vegeta was sent flying by the kick, his body tracing a violent arc through the air before crashing heavily into a man-sized blue boulder behind him.

Shards of stone rained down, and dust filled the air, obscuring most of the sky.