The Battle to Break the Cocoon

In the heart of the city, a black cocoon towered a hundred meters into the sky.

Thick black liquid seeped across its surface, each pulse like a heartbeat.

Every pulse made the ground tremble. Darkness filled the air, so cold and oppressive that it sent shivers down your spine.

Crisscrossing blood-red veins spread across the cocoon's shell, glowing with an unsettling light.

It looked as though it was slowly draining the Earth of its energy.

"You bastard, Baby..." Jiang Che muttered, clenching his fists until his knuckles cracked.

His eyes were cold, and the fury in his chest threatened to consume him.

Behind him, Son Goku called his name. His voice was weary, but even more than that, it was urgent.

Jiang Che spun around. Son Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, and Goten were running toward him through the ruins.

They looked battered. Son Goku's golden Battle Suit was in tatters, and a deep gash across his chest was caked with blood.

Vegeta's hair was a mess, and a vicious gash marked his face. His left sleeve was torn, exposing a purplish bruise.

Blood still clung to the corner of Gohan's mouth, and he was gasping for breath. Sweat covered Goten's forehead, and his eyes were filled with tension.

"How did you get here?" Jiang Che asked quietly, his gaze passing over their injuries as complicated feelings stirred within him.

"We've been waiting for you." Son Goku stopped, his expression grim. He took a deep breath and looked Jiang Che in the eye. "That guy Baby absorbed the power of everyone on Earth. He's much stronger than before. We just fought him, but we couldn't even break through his defenses."

As he spoke, he clenched his fists, looking as though he were reliving the brutal battle.

Vegeta gritted his teeth, his mouth twitching with frustration. "Can you beat him, kid? Don't brag, and don't get yourself killed!"

Jiang Che didn't answer. Instead, he asked, "Where's Baby? Tell me where he is."

Gohan immediately pointed toward the black cocoon in the center of the city, his eyes fixed on it. "He's inside that thing! He's draining the Earth's energy. If he absorbs it all, we're finished!"

Gohan's voice trembled with emotion as he spoke.

"Then we go now." Jiang Che vanished in a flash, shooting toward the cocoon like an arrow loosed from a bow.

His figure streaked across the blood-red sky, and the ground exploded into dirt and stone beneath the force of his launch.

"Wait—" Son Goku reached out to stop him, but Jiang Che had already disappeared, leaving only a fierce gust that sent Son Goku's hair flying.

Jiang Che appeared instantly before the giant cocoon.

He hovered in the air, above a huge crater where black liquid had eaten away the ground. The oppressive atmosphere made it hard to breathe.

Jiang Che looked up at the pulsing black cocoon, his gaze as sharp as a blade.

Without hesitation, he threw his arms wide, and a powerful current of air surged around him.

His muscles swelled, veins bulged, and the golden aura within him roiled, turning orange-red.

His red hair stood on end like blazing flames.

The orange-red aura enveloped him, warping the surrounding space. His power made the air vibrate with a deep hum.

The ground beneath him continued to split, cracks spreading like a spiderweb. Loose stones rose into the air, lifted by his aura.

"Baby, get out here!" Jiang Che roared, his voice rumbling like thunder through the ruins.

The moment he finished shouting, the giant cocoon shuddered. Its surface split, and black liquid poured down like a waterfall with a deafening roar.

A second later, the shell shattered. Countless pieces rained down like cannonballs, blasting huge craters into the ground.

A giant ape burst out of the cocoon, larger than before and thirty meters tall. Its body gleamed black, its muscles rose like mountains, and its blood-red eyes burned with murderous intent.

Its fur stood on end like steel needles, and an evil aura surged toward them.

With every breath, the air grew foul, as if the stench of hell itself were being drawn into its body.

"Jiang Che..." Baby's voice was low and cold, and the ground trembled along with it. "You finally came! I've been waiting for you a long time. Now that you're here, you'll only die faster!"

Baby bared his teeth, his fangs gleaming like blades.

"We'll settle the score from last time today." Jiang Che stared at him coldly, murder in his eyes.

Great Ape Baby suddenly opened his mouth. A ball of scarlet energy gathered inside, shining as brightly as the sun. Its light grew stronger and stronger, as if it could swallow the whole world.

Then a scarlet beam of energy blasted forth, shooting straight at Jiang Che.

The air burned away wherever the beam passed, leaving a charred trail of vacuum behind. The ground tore open in enormous waves; the attack looked capable of destroying the heavens and the earth.

Jiang Che's eyes narrowed, but he didn't dodge.

He planted his feet, clenched his fists, and lowered his body, driving his boots two meters into the ground.

He brought his hands together. His orange-red aura rapidly gathered in his palms, forming a scarlet energy sphere.

The sphere swelled larger and larger, its surface glimmering as stars swirled within it. A violent hum rang out.

With a thunderous shout, he thrust the energy sphere forward.

It spun through the air, trailing a spiraling wake, and slammed into Baby's beam.

"Boom—!" The explosion shook heaven and earth, as if the sky itself were about to split apart.

Scarlet light spread out, swallowing everything around them in an instant.

The shock wave erupted like a mountain flood, ripping through the air and hurling the ruins' steel and concrete hundreds of meters into the sky. Dust and rubble blotted out the heavens, swirling into a colossal mushroom cloud.

The ground shook violently as cracks spread like a network of streams. The city seemed to be crushed in an invisible giant hand: skyscrapers tore, twisted, and collapsed like paper. Their fragments turned into clouds of smoke, and the shock wave hurled them toward the horizon, where they disappeared into a gray-white haze.

The streets, plazas, and parks that once stood there had been reduced to a crater dozens of meters deep. Twisted rebar jutted from its edges like weeds.

On a distant rocky mountain, Son Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, and Goten had gathered. They stared fixedly toward the battlefield through the turbulent air.

"Boom—!" The shock wave's lingering force swept toward them like a landslide and a tsunami. Son Goku had to dig his feet into the rock to keep his balance, but the irresistible force still drove him backward. Radial cracks spread through the stone beneath his feet.

Vegeta clenched his fists, gritting his teeth so hard they nearly cracked. The veins on his forehead bulged. "That guy...!!" His voice was hoarse, his eyes burning with fury and frustration. "He's gotten even stronger!!"