The figure in midair slowly descended.
That face was exactly the same as the one Trunks had seen in the main timeline.
The sharp widow's peak, the cold, arrogant gaze, the way he stood with his arms folded as he looked down on everything.
Vegeta.
It felt as though something had caught in Trunks's throat. His body reacted faster than his mind.
"Dad..."
The word had barely left his mouth when he froze.
Son Gohan furrowed his brow.
This was bad.
There was no Trunks in this timeline. Nor was this the Vegeta from the Majin Buu era—the one who had chosen to sacrifice himself for the greater good, or stood up to protect his family and challenge the God of Destruction.
The man before them was nothing but the second-in-command of the Evil Saiyan Empire.
"Lord Vegeta!"
"Lord Vegeta is here!"
"Kill them! Lord Vegeta is invincible! Long live the Saiyan Empire!"
The Saiyan Garrison, which had frozen in fear of the two men, instantly erupted with frenzied enthusiasm. The mutated Earthlings and Saiyan officers all fell to their knees amid the ruins, their terror replaced by sickening adoration.
Vegeta relished their gazes.
He didn't attack right away. Instead, he switched on the Scouter over his left eye, and a string of rapidly changing numbers flashed across the lens.
Beep, beep, beep, beep.
"Oh?"
Vegeta looked at Trunks, the corner of his mouth curling into a cold smile.
"One hundred and fifty billion battle power in Super Saiyan form. Not bad. No wonder you managed to fight your way here."
Then his gaze fell on Son Gohan.
The Scouter beeped again.
"One billion?"
Vegeta raised an eyebrow, then scoffed.
Son Gohan's expression remained calm.
The ki he was showing did indeed amount to only about one billion. But his true strength would only erupt the moment he attacked. This timeline's Vegeta clearly hadn't learned to control or sense ki as he had in the original timeline. He could only use the most basic methods to gauge his opponent's strength.
Good.
The more arrogant and careless an enemy was, the faster he died.
Vegeta withdrew his gaze, folded his arms, and looked down at the two of them.
"You've earned some praise just for making it this far. Especially you, purple-haired brat. For a Saiyan-blooded half-breed, having this much power is a miracle."
His voice suddenly rose.
"But unfortunately for you, you're up against me—the second-strongest warrior in the universe, Vegeta!"
The surrounding Garrison troops immediately erupted into even louder roars.
Vegeta pointed his thumb at himself, his grin growing more and more arrogant.
"My base battle power is..."
"Ten billion!"
Trunks's gaze sharpened.
Vegeta continued smugly, "After I turn Super Saiyan, it'll reach a terrifying five hundred billion."
He held up three fingers toward Trunks.
"And I have three more transformations like that."
The ruins fell silent.
Then an even more frenzied roar erupted.
"Lord Vegeta is mighty!"
"The Saiyan Empire will prevail!"
"Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!"
Vegeta closed his eyes for a moment, as if listening to a beautiful melody.
Watching this, Son Gohan felt deeply unsettled.
The Vegeta he knew had been arrogant and prideful too, always calling himself the Saiyan Prince. But at least that man had eventually learned what it meant to protect others and what family meant.
This one had nothing left but the most loathsome parts of Saiyan nature.
Maybe this was what Vegeta would have become if he had grown up on Planet Vegeta without ever living on Earth or being influenced by anyone.
"King Kakarot is very interested in you two. He told me not to kill you too quickly."
Vegeta opened his eyes and sneered. "But you've delivered yourselves right to me. Don't blame me for what happens next! Hahahaha!"
Trunks stared at him.
"You don't deserve to bear that name."
"You don't deserve to call yourself Vegeta!"
Vegeta blinked in confusion, then seemed to hear the funniest joke in the universe.
"What did you just call me, kid? Dad?"
He looked down at Trunks, his eyes full of malice and mockery.
"You've got decent battle power, but you're an embarrassment to Saiyan blood. Were you so scared of my strength that you called me Dad to beg for your life?"
The Saiyan officers around them burst into shrill laughter.
Trunks slowly clenched both fists.
Vegeta didn't stop.
"Then again, one look at you tells me you're not a pure-blooded Saiyan. You're probably some low-class warrior's bastard, left behind somewhere."
His gaze swept over Trunks's purple hair, his tone even more contemptuous.
"Your mother probably wasn't any better. I bet she used all sorts of dirty tricks to get her hands on Saiyan blood."
Boom!
Golden flames erupted around Trunks.
Lightning crackled wildly around him as his already powerful ki surged again.
Super Saiyan 2.
He didn't argue.
His expression was simply terrifyingly cold.
Son Gohan didn't stop him.
Trunks had to strike back on his own.
Even if he knew he couldn't win.
"Shut up."
Trunks's voice was low and chilling.
The next second, he turned into a bolt of golden lightning and charged straight at Vegeta.
Vegeta grinned and transformed into a Super Saiyan.
"Oh? The kid's got a little backbone after all."
Bang!
Their fists collided in midair.
A violent shock wave swept outward, blasting hundreds of weaker Garrison soldiers off their feet and drawing cries of pain.
Trunks gritted his teeth and followed with a left punch aimed straight at Vegeta's jaw.
Vegeta simply dodged by tilting his head, then drove his knee hard into Trunks's abdomen.
"Urgh!"
Trunks spat out blood, his body folding upward.
"But backbone alone isn't enough."
Vegeta grabbed him by the hair and slammed an elbow into his back.
Boom!
Trunks plummeted like a cannonball, smashing into the ground and leaving a huge crater in the steel wreckage.
Before the dust could spread, Vegeta was already at the bottom of the crater, stomping down toward Trunks's head.
Trunks rolled aside, and the ground cracked beneath Vegeta's foot like a spiderweb. He braced himself with both hands and kicked upward in one fluid motion.
Vegeta caught his ankle with one hand and sneered.
"Too slow. Too weak."
Crack.
Vegeta crushed Trunks's ankle in his grip.
Then he swung Trunks around in midair and hurled him into the weapons factory in the distance.
Crash!
The entire building was smashed through.
Trunks burst out of the rubble, his face covered in blood, but his ki hadn't faltered.
Son Gohan stood where he was, his right hand clenching slightly.
He could step in now.
But Trunks hadn't asked him to.
A warrior didn't need someone else to decide when he should fall.
"Still don't get it?"
Vegeta appeared right beside him and punched Trunks in the face.
Trunks was sent flying sideways, teeth and blood scattering through the air.
Vegeta pursued him with a knee, an elbow, and a spinning kick, each strike aimed at a vital point.
"Standing before me, you're no better than that one-armed cripple over there."
Bang!
"You're so weak that you don't even deserve King Kakarot's attention."
Bang!
"A lowly half-breed like you dares set foot on Planet Vegeta?"
Bang!
The golden flames around Trunks flickered violently.
He was completely outmatched in raw power.
Five hundred billion against three hundred billion.
With a gap of over thirty percent, the only possible outcome was a crushing defeat.
Trunks roared and forced himself steady, raising his left palm.
Purple-red light gathered in his hand.
"Destruction!"
For the first time, Vegeta's eyes showed a hint of seriousness.
The purple-red energy ball turned into a streak of light and shot toward him.
Sensing the danger hidden within it, Vegeta didn't try to block it. He shot upward, dodging the full force of the Destruction Energy. It grazed his Battle Suit and erased part of his shoulder guard.
He glanced down at the missing piece of armor, his expression darkening.
"Is this the power that erased King Kakarot's brother, Raditz?"
Trunks didn't answer. He gathered Destruction Energy in both hands again and fired a series of blasts.
Purple-red beams tore across the battlefield. Everything in their path—steel, rock, and Garrison soldiers who couldn't dodge in time—was silently erased.
Vegeta snorted.
"Interesting. But that's all."
Boom!
Golden flames surged around him. His hair instantly grew down to his waist, his eyebrows vanished, his brow ridge protruded, and dense arcs of lightning wrapped around his body.
Super Saiyan 3.
His battle power soared to four trillion.
The entire Planet Vegeta shook violently at that moment.
Trunks's Destruction Energy had barely reached Vegeta when the immense aura pouring off him stopped it cold.
Purple-red light gnawed away at the golden flames.
The golden flames replenished themselves furiously.
The two forces clashed for less than a second before Vegeta raised a hand and swatted.
Smack!
He knocked the Destruction Energy aside, sending it streaking diagonally into the sky, where it completely erased a distant battleship.
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