Chapter 19

Goten charged straight ahead, showing no hesitation.

He traced a dazzling arc through the air, hurtling toward Jiang Che like a cannonball.

With golden ki swirling around his hands, the energy sharpened into lethal blades at his fingertips.

In the blink of an eye, a hand-blade struck directly at Jiang Che's throat, moving so fast it left three golden afterimages in the air.

His eyes were cold as ice—there was no hesitation at all, as if he had already envisioned the image of Jiang Che's neck being sliced open.

The two moved with incredible speed, their attacks coordinated as if they had rehearsed them a thousand times.

Gohan blocked Jiang Che's escape route from afar with ki blasts, while Goten's close-quarters assault sealed off every path of retreat.

Although both were controlled by Baby, their combat instincts remained, and their coordination was even more precise, as if a third party were directing them.

Such a pincer attack was not something just anyone could withstand.

But Jiang Che?

He merely raised his right hand in a casual, leisurely motion, as if all of this were nothing more than a mundane chore.

The movement of his hand looked like he was swatting away a fly, his fingers splayed open carelessly.

"Snap!" A crisp, explosive sound rang through the air.

Goten's hand-blade—the force of which could cleave through steel plates—was swatted away by Jiang Che's light tap.

It looked like a casual flick at first glance, but it was actually pinpoint accurate, striking the weakest point on Goten's wrist.

Goten felt a jolt of numbness in his hand, his golden ki instantly dissipated, and his body was knocked off balance, stumbling back a few steps as he nearly fell.

He froze, clearly not expecting his lethal strike to be neutralized in such a way.

Almost at the same instant Goten was pushed aside, Jiang Che tilted his body slightly.

He didn't move much, just a few centimeters, but it was enough to dodge Gohan's massive ki blast.

The blast whistled past his collar, whipping up a gale that made Jiang Che's red hair flutter violently.

Missing its target, the ki blast continued into the distance, slamming into the ground with a deafening roar and carving out a crater dozens of meters wide.

Debris scattered like a torrential rain, and the ground shook so violently it felt as if the entire battlefield were trembling.

Smoke swirled in the center of the crater, flames flickered, and the surrounding trees were uprooted by the shockwave, tossed hundreds of meters away.

"What?!" The controlled Gohan's face was etched with shock, his pupils contracting violently.

That ki blast had consumed seventy percent of his power; he had intended for it to at least force Jiang Che to take him seriously.

Yet, the opponent had dodged it with a mere tilt, without even a wasted movement.

The gap in their strength was, quite frankly, beyond doubt—it was like an adult playing with a child.

Goten regained his footing, his expression turning grave.

Although that strike hadn't injured him, the lingering numbness in his wrist still made his heart race.

He could feel that Jiang Che hadn't even used half of his power; a casual tap had been enough to dismantle his entire offensive.

A beam of sunlight pierced through a gap in the clouds, gilding Jiang Che in a layer of gold.

He hovered in mid-air, his red hair vibrant under the sunlight, looking every bit like an unadorned god of war.

There was little emotion on his face, as if the intense exchange just now hadn't been worth mentioning.

He looked at Gohan and Goten, a smile of disdain and amusement curling his lips.

"Is that all you've got?" Jiang Che spoke, his tone indifferent and mocking.

"Baby controlled two Saiyans, and this is the result? It seems this parasite is only good at talking." He swept a slow, cold gaze toward Vegeta.

"The two of you should just go to sleep for a while." Jiang Che said, his hand slowly clenching into a fist. "Soon, I'll help you purge this disgusting thing."

In truth, although Baby was only emitting emotional fluctuations through instinct at the nerve endings, the trembling rising from the depths of his soul made his fear clear—he could feel every muscle in this body twitching uncontrollably.

Jiang Che's strength had completely exceeded all initial expectations.

"Just this much?" The smile on Jiang Che's lips grew colder and fainter, the expression piercing like a blade.

"If you truly believe this is enough to kill me, you'd better save your breath and keep some dignity."

He spoke with such breezy ease, as if he were merely discussing the weather or critiquing the taste of street-side coffee.

But the moment those words reached Gohan and Goten's ears, they stirred up a massive storm—it was a naked provocation, and a humiliation they had never experienced before.

"What did you say?!" The two roared almost simultaneously.

As the roar erupted, their auras exploded outward.

The ground cracked, and gravel flew into the air.

Following that, their ki surged instantly—golden flames rose like a wildfire, and the surrounding air twisted and warped from the heat.

Their hair grew sharper, standing up like steel needles; their muscles bulged, veins protruded, and blood vessels pulsed beneath their skin like thunder.

The Super Saiyan 2 state was fully unleashed.

Gohan was the first to complete his transformation, rings of crackling golden lightning dancing around him like serpents slithering through the air.

His eyes had long since lost all warmth, leaving behind only a crimson killing intent that, when stared into, felt as if it would tear a person to shreds.

The ground beneath his feet could barely hold him anymore; cracks spread in every direction, and the earth began to sink.

Goten followed close behind, though his transformation was not as stable as his brother's—his aura flickered, waxing and waning, interspersed with erratic fluctuations.

Yet, the energy catalyzed by that rage was absolutely not to be underestimated.

He gritted his teeth, the veins on his forehead throbbing rapidly, his fists clenched so tightly they creaked.

Energy erupted from his body like a tidal wave, instantly whipping up a blast of air beneath his feet that sent gravel flying in all directions.

"Die!" Gohan roared, his entire body turning into a golden meteor; the moment his afterimage vanished from his starting position, he had already reached Jiang Che.

His speed was so fast he was nearly invisible, leaving behind nothing but golden streaks in the air.

His fist was clenched tight, wrapped in frantically swelling energy, and he struck straight at Jiang Che's face!

The speed was so great that the eyes could not track it at all.

The air through which his fist passed turned into a gale, crackling and popping, and a long trench was even gouged into the ground.

One could hear the sound of electricity crackling in the air, as if space itself were groaning under the pressure of that punch.

Had it been any other Super Saiyan 2, they would have been reduced to dust by this single blow.

But Jiang Che had never been an ordinary person.

His crimson pupils were like the burning flames of hell, accurately grasping every detail of Gohan's punch.

When the fist was but a hair's breadth from his forehead, Jiang Che tilted his body slightly—the movement was as light as a willow catkin swaying in a breeze, yet he used the perfect angle to cleanly evade the lethal strike!