Baby's True Form

"Your strength has declined, Vegeta."

Gohan tilted his head, his gaze as cold as a blade.

A mocking smile tugged at his lips. His voice carried a hint of cruelty. "Are you afraid? Afraid to face your former son?"

There was no trace of warmth left in those eyes.

Only bone-deep hatred remained.

"Shut up—!"

Vegeta roared as he charged out of the rubble, his aura erupting like a volcano.

Every step split the ground beneath him.

He lunged at Gohan, murderous intent practically bursting from his eyes, his fists clenched like a beast's.

But just as his fist was about to reach Gohan, a thick, pitch-black shadow silently shot out from behind and wrapped around his neck.

It was a tail!

Goten's tail suddenly grew long and thick, like a black python, coiling tighter and tighter around Vegeta's throat.

Its scales scraped together with a harsh, grating sound. The tail kept tightening, and the veins in Vegeta's neck bulged as if they were about to burst.

"Ugh... ahhh!"

Vegeta clutched the tail with both hands, his fingers digging into its scales as he tried to tear it off.

But the tail was frighteningly strong. It tightened further, as if it meant to choke his neck clean through.

The color drained rapidly from his face, and he gasped for breath like a bellows.

Gohan took the opportunity to approach silently, his right elbow gathering a gleam of energy. Like a steel drill, it slammed into Vegeta's defenseless chest.

"Pfft—!"

A mouthful of hot blood sprayed from Vegeta's lips, staining the rubble and dead grass.

He flew backward like a pebble struck by a hammer, crashed hard to the ground, rolled several times, and smashed through three thick trees.

The trunks snapped with sharp cracks, sending wood chips flying as branches and leaves fluttered down.

"It's no use, Vegeta."

Gohan slowly walked over, his pace unhurried, the soles of his shoes crunching over rubble and fallen leaves.

He looked down at Vegeta, who lay battered and covered in wounds. His tone was scornful and icy. "Lord Baby already knows your strength inside and out. Before you're completely under his control, I'll slowly torture you until there's nothing left. I'll make you taste a thousand years of the Tuffles' hatred and pain!"

"Damn... you..."

Vegeta gritted his teeth and braced his hands against the cracked ground, his knuckles turning white as he trembled and tried to get up.

But his legs felt as if they were made of lead and couldn't support him.

His severe injuries weighed him down. His ribs were broken, his organs throbbed with pain, and every breath felt like a knife cutting into his wounds.

Worse still, he could feel something spreading through his body along with his blood, like invisible tendrils slowly consuming his mind.

Those parasitic cells!

While fighting Gohan and Goten, he had inhaled some of the nearly invisible spores released from their bodies during the fierce battle.

The spores multiplied and spread wildly inside him, like a swarm of tiny, greedy insects gnawing at his will.

"I won't let you get away with this—!"

Vegeta bit through his tongue, using the sharp pain to force himself back to his senses.

He clenched his fists and threw his head back with a furious roar. The energy left in his body burned fiercely, compressed, then erupted from every pore like a volcano.

Golden flames shot into the sky. The scorching shock wave sent rubble, dust, and broken branches flying, scorching the ground black.

He would use the pride and fury of a Saiyan prince to burn every last one of those filthy things out of his body!

But then, a huge black shadow suddenly dropped from the sky, blanketing the entire valley like a dark mountain, without the slightest warning.

The sunlit valley plunged into thick darkness, and even the air seemed to freeze.

Plants trembled. Birds and beasts fled in terror as dust and fallen leaves swirled into the air.

The stream in the distance fell abruptly silent. All that remained was a heavy, panting sound, like the low growl of some ancient beast.

Vegeta jerked his head up. His pupils shrank to pinpoints, veins bulged across his forehead, and the muscles at the corner of his mouth twitched.

The sight before him left him utterly frozen—a gigantic creature hung in the sky, blotting out nearly half of it.

A Great Ape!

Its fur was as black as iron, every strand standing on end and reflecting a cold gleam in the dim light.

The ape's eyes were scarlet, like two burning blood moons, filled with savagery.

Foul-smelling drool dripped from its mouth, sizzling as it hit the ground and corroded a trail of tiny black pits.

The Great Ape was definitely fifty meters tall.

Every step shook the earth like thunder, grinding rocks into powder and sending dirt and rubble flying several meters into the air.

"So this is... Baby's true form?"

Vegeta murmured hoarsely, the words seeming to scrape their way out. His fingers curled despite himself, his fists clenching and unclenching as a sheen of cold sweat formed on his forehead.

The ground beneath his feet kept shaking, cracks spreading in every direction.

"That's right."

Gohan stood at the Great Ape's feet, a cold smile forming at the corner of his mouth.

He reached out and stroked the Great Ape's coarse fur, smeared with dark red mucus. A foul stench spread on the wind.

Gohan's touch was as gentle as if he were caressing a treasure. "This is Lord Baby's true form—the Great Ape Baby! He absorbed our Saiyan energy and obtained this perfect body. Vegeta, you don't stand a chance."

Gohan's voice was calm, but its final note dripped with mockery, as if he were pronouncing Vegeta's fate.

Great Ape Baby slowly lowered his head, his scarlet eyes locking onto Vegeta like searchlights and bathing his whole body in red.

Every breath from the Great Ape was like a hurricane, whipping Vegeta's hair and clothes around.

Then he opened his enormous mouth, revealing a jumble of bloodstained fangs, and let out a roar that tore through heaven and earth.

The sound was like collapsing mountains and raging seas. Its shock waves became visible, transparent ripples spreading in every direction.

The air split open. The explosive cracks shrieked, and the surrounding rocks shattered into grains while trees were ripped up by their roots, hurled into the sky, and reduced to splinters.

Deep fissures burst across the ground as dirt and dust shot skyward, forming a colossal vortex of smoke.

Vegeta raised both arms to shield himself, the veins in them bulging as his muscles strained to the point of bursting.

But the shock wave was too powerful. His feet carved two furrows in the ground as he was pushed backward, the earth rolling like waves beneath him. He was hurled hundreds of meters before he finally managed to stop.

His arms trembled, blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, and his breaths came fast and hot.

"It's over, Vegeta."

Gohan raised a hand, his cheeks flushed with excitement. "Lord Baby, please grant him your parasite!"

His voice brimmed with a sickening fervor, greed glinting in his eyes.

The tip of Great Ape Baby's tail suddenly split open like a flower of flesh and blood, revealing a writhing lump of flesh.

Tiny tendrils covered its surface, each one waving like a snake and giving off an eerie, dark red glow.

Viscous liquid flowed over its surface, stinking like rotting flesh. It dripped onto the ground and sent up white smoke, burning tiny pits into the earth.

The lump of flesh slowly stretched toward Vegeta, its tendrils spreading like an open net as it hissed softly and crept closer.