The Miracle Reappears!

"Impossible... This is absolutely impossible!" The Saiyan officers hiding behind the blast shelters looked ashen. Some didn't even notice when the tactical Scouters fell from their hands.

Lord Vegeta, the king's second-in-command and the second strongest fighter on Planet Vegeta, had actually been defeated! Trampled beneath the feet of some bastard Saiyan who'd appeared out of nowhere, and unable to recover from his injuries!

A deathly silence spread across the battlefield. The faith of every Saiyan soldier crumbled in that moment.

Trunks hovered above the ruins in the distance, arms crossed, not the least bit surprised. He gazed at Son Gohan's savage green silhouette, his eyes filled with pride and admiration. That was his master, his big brother Gohan!

"Looks like the Miracle Power has finally run dry." Son Gohan looked coldly down at the battered Vegeta beneath his feet. He could feel that the bloodthirsty battle lust within his Legendary Super Saiyan Bloodline still hadn't been fully satisfied, but Vegeta—deprived of his ability to recover and drained of strength—could no longer help him improve.

Since Vegeta could no longer serve to hone his fighting power, there was no point in keeping him alive. Son Gohan slowly raised his right arm and aimed his palm at Vegeta's head. A wild green energy rapidly compressed in his palm, emitting a piercing hum.

"That's the end of the fight, Vegeta." Son Gohan's eyes were cold. He was ready to blast Vegeta's head apart in one strike, putting an end to this nuisance once and for all. Then he could deal with Kakarot, who'd been lurking in the background, waiting for a chance to attack.

"What... a joke..."

A faint voice came from beneath him. Vegeta's fingers dug into the hard rock, his nails completely torn off and blood running down his hands. "How could I... lose to a nobody like you!"

He gritted his teeth and used the last of his strength to turn his head, glaring at Son Gohan. "I'm the king's appointed second-in-command, King Kakarot's right-hand man! The glory of the Saiyan Empire! I am Vegeta!"

"Get up... I have to get up... I haven't lost..."

"I won't accept this! I won't!!"

As if responding to his anguished roar—

Bzzz.

Deep within Vegeta, the Miracle Power that had nearly been exhausted suddenly blazed back to life, unleashing its final light. Brilliant white light instantly enveloped him. It was the last time the miracle would reappear!

His broken spine crackled and snapped back into place. His sunken chest visibly swelled back to normal, and his shattered facial bones were restored. His life-threatening injuries healed completely in half a second.

"Lord Vegeta's back on his feet!" The Saiyan soldiers in the defense line erupted into earthshaking cheers, their morale reigniting.

Taking advantage of the moment he recovered, Vegeta forcibly pushed back against Son Gohan's crushing pressure and flashed a hundred meters away. He gasped for breath, staring fixedly at Son Gohan. The Miracle Power that had protected him was completely gone. There would be no next time. This was his true last stand.

"Heh heh heh. I said this before, when I fought that purple-haired brat." Vegeta wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, his voice low and hoarse. "I have three more transformations like Super Saiyan. You've already seen Super Saiyan 2 and Super Saiyan 3."

Son Gohan raised an eyebrow but didn't rush to attack.

"But I've always done everything I could to avoid using that final form." Vegeta's hands hung at his sides. His body began to tremble uncontrollably, whether from excitement or some other emotion. "Because even I can barely control it. Once I use it, I'll lose all reason and become a monster that even I fear."

He bared his teeth in a grin more twisted than a grimace. "But today, to defeat you—to defeat the legend—I don't care! Hahaha... hahahaha!"

The royal palace.

Kakarot reclined on the massive throne, toying with an elegant wineglass. A white screen hanging in midair clearly showed Vegeta's desperate figure.

Hearing Vegeta's words, Kakarot showed no surprise. He'd long expected Son Gohan to push Vegeta this far.

"He's finally willing to use it." Kakarot's lips curled faintly as he casually crushed the wineglass into powder.

He knew exactly what that form meant. Compared with Super Saiyan 1, Super Saiyan 2, and Super Saiyan 3, it was a genuine qualitative leap. It was the difference between an ant on the ground and a demon warrior in the clouds.

"The game is over." Kakarot chuckled, his contemptuous gaze sweeping over Son Gohan on the screen.

On the battlefield.

Hearing Vegeta's words, Son Gohan's expression finally turned serious. A transformation beyond Super Saiyan 3? Could it be the Great Ape Transformation? No, that only multiplied his strength tenfold. It couldn't possibly be as powerful as Vegeta claimed. Could it be... Super Saiyan 4?

If it was Super Saiyan 4, combined with Vegeta's now exceptionally high base power, he might just qualify as a worthy opponent. The green aura around Son Gohan flared fiercely, his muscles tensing as he prepared to face the new form Vegeta had spoken of.

In the distance, Trunks felt the oppressive atmosphere and broke into a sweat. But then he remembered something, and his taut nerves relaxed.

"What's there to worry about? Even if he really has a new form, big brother Gohan still has Super Saiyan 4 up his sleeve. There's no way he can lose." Trunks muttered to himself, absolutely confident in Son Gohan.

"AAAAAAAAH!" Vegeta tilted his head back and let out a bloodcurdling roar.

But something strange happened. There was no howling wind, no crumbling earth, and no earthshaking explosion of energy. Not even the slightest stir of air.

The muscle growth and red fur Son Gohan had expected never appeared. There wasn't even the dazzling golden light that usually accompanied a transformation.

Vegeta's roar cut off abruptly. He lowered his head and stood motionless. The surroundings were terrifyingly still. Compared to the commotion of an ordinary Super Saiyan 1 transformation, it was as if nothing had happened at all.

But every hair on Son Gohan's body stood on end. The wild instincts of his Legendary Super Saiyan Bloodline screamed in alarm. Danger! Extreme danger!

Vegeta slowly raised his head.

His formerly upright golden hair had turned a dull brownish black. It wasn't the black of his normal hair, but a lifeless, dead color.

What made one's scalp crawl the most were his eyes. The whites had vanished completely, and his entire eye sockets were filled with deep black. Those hollow eyes stared straight at Son Gohan. Their only emotion was bloodlust.

Demon Saiyan!

BOOM!

A layer of tangible black aura suddenly blazed up from beneath Vegeta's feet, enveloping his entire body. There were no golden lightning bolts, no deafening roar—only a blackness capable of swallowing all light.

A terrifying increase of ten thousand times his base battle power!

Vegeta's battle power instantly exceeded the limits of every Scouter.

"Two point five quintillion!" a Saiyan cried out.

Such a leap in power had become an overwhelming high-dimensional crush. The formless shock waves radiating from that black aura alone caused the weaker Saiyan soldiers hiding in distant blast shelters to roll their eyes back and pass out on the spot, unable even to scream. The entire defensive line was all but wiped out.

Trunks, who was too close to the battlefield, was also engulfed by the invisible pressure, and his breathing grew labored.

Under the crushing pressure, which seemed powerful enough to shatter space, Son Gohan's green aura was forced tight against his body, unable to spread outward at all. This was no Super Saiyan 4. It was an evil form he'd never seen before, one born purely for slaughter.

"A bastard... a cripple..." Vegeta spoke. His voice had changed completely, like two rough pieces of metal grinding violently against each other—piercing and utterly cold.

Those blackened eyes locked onto Son Gohan.

"To die by this form of mine, Son Gohan, is an honor."

The instant he finished speaking—

The last shred of reason left in Vegeta was completely drowned out and devoured by that black power. He bared his teeth in a wildly contorted, horrifying grin.