To Beg for Mercy, He Even Called Out "Dad"?

The figure in mid-air descended slowly.

That face was identical to the one Trunks had seen in his own timeline.

The sharp hairline, the cold, arrogant gaze, and the posture of looking down on everything with arms crossed.

Vegeta.

Trunks felt as if his throat were blocked, his body reacting faster than his brain.

"Dad..."

The word had barely left his lips when he froze.

Son Gohan frowned.

This was bad.

There was no Trunks in this timeline, nor was there the Vegeta from the Majin Buu era who had chosen to sacrifice himself for the greater good or stepped forward to protect his family against the God of Destruction.

The one before them was merely the second-in-command of the Evil Saiyan Empire.

"Lord Vegeta!"

"Lord Vegeta has arrived!"

"Kill them! Lord Vegeta is invincible! Long live the Saiyan Empire!"

The Saiyan Garrison, previously paralyzed by the duo, suddenly became as fanatical as if they had been injected with adrenaline. The mutated Earthlings and Saiyan officers all knelt amidst the ruins, the fear in their eyes replaced by a morbid worship.

Vegeta relished such gazes.

He did not strike immediately, instead activating the Scouter worn over his left eye. A string of rapidly jumping numbers flashed across the lens.

Beep, beep, beep, beep.

"Oh?"

Vegeta looked at Trunks, a cold sneer curling his lips.

"One hundred and fifty billion in power level while in the Super Saiyan state. Not bad; no wonder you managed to fight your way here."

Then, his gaze fell upon Son Gohan.

The Scouter chirped again.

"One billion?"

Vegeta raised an eyebrow, then scoffed.

Son Gohan's expression remained calm.

The ki he was currently projecting was indeed only around one billion. However, his true power would only erupt the moment he struck. It was clear that the Vegeta of this timeline had not learned to control or sense ki as his counterpart had, relying only on the most basic methods to detect an opponent's strength.

This was good.

The more arrogant and careless the enemy, the faster they would die.

Vegeta withdrew his gaze, arms still crossed, looking down at the two from his superior position.

"To have fought your way to me, you are already worthy of praise. Especially you, purple-haired brat. To possess such power as a half-breed Saiyan is nothing short of a miracle."

As he spoke, his voice rose sharply.

"But unfortunately, you have encountered me—the second strongest in the universe, Vegeta!"

The surrounding garrison immediately erupted into even more frantic roars.

Vegeta pointed a thumb at himself, his smile growing increasingly wild.

"My base power level is..."

"100 billion!"

Trunks' eyes narrowed.

Vegeta continued triumphantly, "After transforming into a Super Saiyan, it reaches a terrifying five hundred billion."

He held up three fingers toward Trunks.

"And I have three more such transformations."

A deathly silence fell over the ruins.

Then, an even more terrifying wave of fanatical cheering exploded.

"Lord Vegeta is mighty!"

"The Saiyan Empire will prevail!"

"Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill!"

Vegeta closed his eyes, as if listening to a beautiful piece of music.

Son Gohan watched the scene, feeling an intense sense of discomfort.

The original Vegeta had also been arrogant and conceited, often shouting about being the Prince of all Saiyans. But at the very least, that man had eventually learned the meaning of protection and the value of family.

The one before him was nothing more than the worst parts of the Saiyan race distilled into one.

Perhaps this was what Vegeta would have become had he grown up on Planet Vegeta, without ever living on Earth or being influenced by anything else.

"King Kakarot is quite interested in you, and he told me not to be in such a rush to slaughter you so easily."

Vegeta opened his eyes and sneered, "But you delivered yourselves right to my doorstep. Don't blame me, then! Hahahaha!"

Trunks stared at him intensely.

"You don't deserve that name."

"You don't deserve to be called Vegeta!"

Vegeta paused in confusion, then acted as if he had just heard the greatest joke in the world.

"What did you call me just now, kid? Dad?"

He looked down at Trunks, his eyes filled with malice and mockery.

"Although your combat power isn't bad, you are a disgrace to the Saiyan bloodline. Are you so afraid of my power that you'd call me 'Dad' just to beg for your life?"

The surrounding Saiyan officers erupted into harsh, mocking laughter.

Trunks slowly clenched his fists.

Vegeta did not stop.

"That's right. Looking at your face, I can tell you aren't a pure-blooded Saiyan. You're probably just a mongrel left behind by some low-class warrior."

His gaze swept over Trunks' purple hair, his tone growing even more contemptuous.

"Your mother probably wasn't anything special, either. She must have used plenty of underhanded tricks to get her hands on Saiyan blood, right?"

BOOM!

A golden aura exploded outward.

Arcs of electricity danced wildly around Trunks, and his already formidable energy surged once more.

Super Saiyan 2.

He did not bother to argue.

His expression was simply terrifyingly cold.

Son Gohan did not stop him.

Trunks had to land this blow himself.

Even if he knew he couldn't win.

"Shut your mouth."

Trunks' voice was chillingly low.

In the next second, he transformed into a streak of golden lightning and charged straight at Vegeta.

Vegeta curled his lip and immediately transformed into a Super Saiyan.

"Oh? The kid has some backbone after all."

BANG!

Their fists collided in mid-air.

A violent shockwave swept outward, sending hundreds of the weaker garrison soldiers nearby flying as they screamed in agony.

Trunks gritted his teeth and threw a left hook, aiming straight for Vegeta's jaw.

Vegeta merely tilted his head to dodge, driving his knee hard into Trunks' abdomen.

"Ugh!"

Trunks spat out a mouthful of blood, his body arching upward.

"But backbone alone isn't enough."

Vegeta grabbed him by the hair and slammed an elbow into his back.

BOOM!

Trunks plummeted into the ground like a cannonball, smashing a massive crater into the steel ruins.

Before the dust could even settle, Vegeta appeared at the bottom of the pit, stomping his foot toward Trunks' head.

Trunks rolled away, the ground cracking like a spiderweb under the impact. He braced his hands on the ground and followed up with an upward kick.

Vegeta caught his ankle with one hand and sneered.

"Too slow, too weak."

Snap.

Trunks' ankle was crushed instantly.

Immediately after, Vegeta swung him around in the air and hurled him violently toward the munitions factory in the distance.

CRASH!

The entire building was smashed through.

Trunks burst from the ruins, his face covered in blood, yet his aura did not waver.

Son Gohan stood where he was, his right hand tightening slightly.

He could strike now.

But Trunks had not yet spoken.

As a warrior, he did not need others to decide when he should fall.

"Do you still not understand?"

Vegeta closed the distance in an instant, smashing a fist into Trunks's face.

Trunks's body flew sideways, teeth and blood scattering into the air.

Vegeta followed closely, unleashing knee strikes, elbow blows, and whip kicks, every move aimed at a vital point.

"Before me, you are no different from that one-armed cripple over there."

Bang!

"So weak that you aren't even worth King Kakarot's attention."

Bang!

"How dare a lowly half-breed like you set foot on Planet Vegeta?"

Bang!

Trunks's golden aura flickered violently.

He was being completely suppressed in terms of raw power.

Five hundred billion against three hundred billion.

With a gap of over thirty percent, the outcome could only be a crushing defeat.

Trunks roared, forcibly steadying his body as he thrust his left palm upward.

A purple-red light condensed in his palm.

"Hakai!"

For the first time, a flicker of seriousness crossed Vegeta's eyes.

The purple-red energy sphere transformed into a beam of light, blasting toward him.

Sensing the faint danger within it, Vegeta did not attempt to block it head-on; he shot upward, dodging the direct impact of the destruction energy. The energy grazed his combat suit, instantly erasing a corner of his shoulder guard.

He looked down at the vanished shoulder piece, his expression darkening.

"Is this the power that erased King Kakarot's brother, Raditz?"

Trunks did not answer; he gathered destruction energy in both hands again and fired in rapid succession.

The purple-red beams tore through the battlefield, silently erasing everything in their path—be it steel, rock, or the garrison soldiers who failed to dodge in time.

Vegeta let out a cold snort.

"Interesting. But that is all."

Boom!

His golden aura surged violently, his hair growing instantly to his waist, his eyebrows vanishing, his brow ridge protruding, and dense arcs of electricity wrapping around his entire body.

Super Saiyan 3.

His combat power skyrocketed to four trillion.

The entire Planet Vegeta shook violently at that moment.

Trunks's destruction energy had barely reached Vegeta before it was forcibly held back by his massive, outward-bursting aura.

The purple-red light continued to erode.

The golden aura frantically filled the gap.

The two forces remained deadlocked for less than a second before Vegeta raised his hand and swiped.

Snap!

The destruction energy was swatted aside, shooting diagonally into the sky and completely erasing a warship in the distance.