After Vegeta slapped the Destruction Energy aside, the contempt on his face turned to mocking amusement.
"Go on, then. Keep getting stronger. Let me see your limit."
He looked down at Trunks as the terrifying aura of Super Saiyan 3 pressed down on the surrounding ruins, making them sink.
"What's wrong? Out of moves? Are you going to beg for mercy and call me Daddy again?"
Trunks gritted his teeth, both arms still trembling.
The Destruction Energy could indeed hurt Vegeta.
The problem was that Trunks couldn't hit him at all.
Son Gohan saw it clearly.
Trunks had only the shallowest grasp of Hakai Energy. Against Vegeta, whose battle power far surpassed his own, he could do little more than force him to dodge. He couldn't truly gain the upper hand.
If this went on, Trunks would die!
But until the very last moment, Son Gohan wouldn't interfere with a warrior's dignity.
Vegeta vanished.
In the next instant, a punch sank into Trunks's abdomen as if it had pierced right through him. He doubled over and flew backward, blood spraying from his mouth.
Vegeta caught up, grabbed him by the hair, and lifted him in front of his face.
"Didn't you just say I didn't deserve to be called Vegeta?"
Vegeta leaned close and sneered. "Ridiculous. Everyone knows I've been the pride of the Saiyans since birth, a Saiyan prodigy, Prince Vegeta!"
"Royal Saiyan blood runs through my veins! If King Kakarot hadn't risen to power, I'd be the Saiyan king—the new King Vegeta!"
"And you, some mongrel from who knows where, dare to judge me? What the hell are you?"
Trunks raised his bloodied face.
His eyes held nothing but defiant fury.
Vegeta frowned, clamped a hand over his face, and slammed him into the ground.
Boom!
The ground cracked apart again.
"Mongrels should know their place."
Vegeta planted a foot on Trunks's chest and slowly pressed down.
Crack.
The sound of breaking ribs rang out clearly.
"Get on your knees and call me Lord Vegeta. Maybe I'll let you die more easily."
Trunks dug his fingers into the rubble.
Many memories flashed through his mind.
When he was little, Mom often held him and told him stories about the father he had never met.
He was proud, confident, brave, strong, and kind...
Even the Vegeta in the main timeline—
Though he kept a cold face and spoke harshly, he always stepped forward when it mattered.
But this man before him wore the same face, yet was completely different inside!
No.
He couldn't fall here.
At the very least, he couldn't kneel before this bastard Vegeta.
"AAAAAH!"
Trunks's roar erupted.
His golden aura swelled wildly, arcs of electricity so dense they nearly covered his entire body.
His hair began to grow backward, his eyebrows slowly vanished, and his brow ridge grew prominent.
Vegeta's foot paused slightly on him.
"Oh?"
Boom!
Trunks forced Vegeta's foot off him and shot into the sky from the crater.
Super Saiyan 3.
An aura even more ferocious than before swept across the battlefield. The Defense Force soldiers who had been kneeling nearby were tossed about by the shockwave.
Trunks gasped for breath, his face covered in blood, his long golden hair whipping violently in the aura.
Vegeta froze for a moment, then burst out laughing.
"Interesting! No wonder King Kakarot is interested in you all!"
Trunks didn't waste words. He flashed forward and charged straight at Vegeta.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
Fists, elbows, knees, legs.
He threw all his strength into his attacks.
He was several times faster than before.
His power was on a completely different level, too.
Yet Vegeta stood motionless, letting the blows land on him.
"It's useless. Even in the same Super Saiyan 3 form as me, you can't change how weak you are."
The Saiyan officers around them gaped, loudly praising Vegeta.
"Lord Vegeta is incredible! He's unharmed after taking such terrifying attacks!"
"As expected of Lord Vegeta!"
"Vegeta!"
"Vegeta!"
The Saiyans and Earthlings all shouted Vegeta's name.
"Had enough? My turn."
As he spoke, Vegeta swung a backhand punch into Trunks's chest.
Then he kicked him away.
Thud!
Trunks flew backward, smashing through dozens of towers in succession.
He had just tried to get up when Vegeta stepped on his wrist.
Crack.
His wrist shattered beneath Vegeta's foot.
Trunks grunted and forced a purple-red glow to gather in his other hand.
"Ha..."
Vegeta kicked him in the chin, sending him tumbling away.
The Destruction Energy dispersed before it could take shape.
Trunks braced himself against the ground, trying to stand again.
But his body could no longer keep up with his will.
His golden aura began to waver, and his long hair showed the first signs of shortening.
Vegeta slowly raised a hand and beckoned with one finger.
"Get up, mongrel."
Trunks dug his fingers into the ground.
Crack.
He crushed the rubble into powder.
Vegeta grinned. "What's wrong? That's all you've got?"
Trunks jerked his head up.
Boom!
His golden aura surged once more.
Dragging his broken ankle, he forced himself to stand and clasped both hands above his head.
Blue-white light rapidly gathered in his palms.
"MASENKO!"
Son Gohan stood some distance away, his right hand already reaching into his clothes for a Senzu Bean.
If Trunks was in danger, he would intervene at once.
This battle was brutal, but it was also a chance for Trunks to grow.
The Vegeta before him wasn't his father.
But that face, that voice, and that arrogant bearing had hit Trunks hard.
If Son Gohan stepped in now and ended it all, the thorn in Trunks's heart would remain.
Son Gohan understood that feeling all too well.
Back then, he had watched the Androids kill people one after another. Countless times, he'd wondered if only he'd been a little stronger.
Some wounds a warrior had to bear alone.
Trunks thrust both hands forward.
A thick golden beam tore through the ruins and blasted straight toward Vegeta. Steel wreckage along its path vaporized in an instant, and the ground was gouged into a deep trench.
Vegeta merely raised one hand in contempt and braced his palm against the front of the blast.
Rumble!
Golden energy exploded wildly against his palm, sending waves of shock through the air. The Defense Force soldiers who hadn't escaped in time were swept up in the blast. They were blown to pieces before they could even scream.
Trunks gritted his teeth, his arm muscles taut to the limit.
"AAAAAH!"
The beam of light swelled again.
But Vegeta's arm didn't budge.
"You're stronger than you were a moment ago."
Vegeta's lips curled as he slowly tightened his fingers.
"But you're still too weak."
His golden aura burst outward.
Boom!
The energy beam was torn apart down the middle.
Vegeta's silhouette cut through the fiery explosion and appeared in front of Trunks in an instant.
Trunks tried to retreat, but Vegeta's fist had already slammed into his abdomen.
Thud!
His aura vanished at once.
Trunks doubled over, blood spraying from the corner of his mouth.
Vegeta grabbed him by the hair and dragged him hundreds of meters across the ground, smashing row after row of steel gun turrets to pieces.
"You know what?"
Thud!
Vegeta slammed Trunks into the wall of an arms factory.
"I hate that look in your eyes most of all."
Thud!
Another punch.
"You're weak as hell, but you still refuse to admit defeat."
Thud!
The third blow brought down the wall behind Trunks.
Vegeta grabbed him by the hair and lifted him into the air again.
"Now, even if you call me Daddy again, it won't help you."
Then Vegeta smashed his forehead into Trunks's with a headbutt.
Thud!
Trunks's vision went black, and his body stiffened.
Vegeta released his wrist and rained punches down on him.
His chest.
His abdomen.
His jaw.
His ribs.
Every blow landed with terrifying force.
Trunks's Super Saiyan 3 aura began to shake violently, and the golden light in his long hair started to dim.
He tried to fight back.
He had barely raised his left fist when Vegeta kicked his knee and broke it.
"Kneel."
Trunks's knee slammed into the ground.
Vegeta planted a foot on his shoulder and pressed down.
"I said, kneel."
The ground kept cracking.
Trunks braced himself with his left hand, refusing to let his other leg touch the ground.
Vegeta's gaze turned utterly cold.
"Then die."
A ball of golden energy gathered in his palm, and he thrust it straight toward Trunks's head.
They were too close.
Trunks could no longer dodge.
Just then, another hand firmly grabbed Vegeta's wrist.
"That's enough."
Vegeta whipped around. The contempt was just beginning to show on his face when he realized he couldn't break free.
It was that one-armed cripple whose normal battle power was only one billion!
The golden energy exploded in Vegeta's palm, but Son Gohan casually crushed it out.
Vegeta's expression changed.
"You..."
Son Gohan didn't look at him. Instead, he bent down and stuffed a Senzu Bean into Trunks's mouth.
"Swallow it."
Trunks's consciousness had grown hazy, but he did as he was told.
The next second, his broken bones quickly healed, his caved-in chest rose again, and his erratic breathing steadied.
Now fully recovered, he looked up at Son Gohan.
"Gohan... I can still..."
"That's enough. Leave the rest to me."
Son Gohan's voice was calm.
Trunks opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but in the end he nodded.
Son Gohan shook off Vegeta's wrist.
Vegeta immediately retreated dozens of meters, most of the contempt gone from his face.
He stared at Son Gohan, his expression dark.
"I didn't expect you, cripple, to be the stronger one."
Son Gohan couldn't be bothered to answer.
He took a step forward.
Golden energy flared up around him.
His hair stood on end, and his gaze turned cold.
Super Saiyan 1.
Boom!
The entire battlefield was engulfed by an aura so oppressive it felt impossibly heavy.
The nearby Defense Force soldiers couldn't even stay on their feet; they fell in heaps. Farther away, the turrets shattered on their own, and the warships in the sky began to shake violently.
The scouter over Vegeta's left eye blared wildly.
Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep.
The numbers climbed rapidly.
One trillion.
Three trillion.
Six trillion.
At last, they stopped at a figure that left Vegeta's expression frozen.
Ten trillion.
Before you continue