A Floppy Jelly Strip

Son Gohan's voice had barely faded when he turned into a streak of red lightning.

A savage power level of six quintillion erupted in full.

In less than a ten-thousandth of a second, his fist was already hurtling toward Kakarot's face again, packed with enough terrifying kinetic energy to shatter a galaxy.

Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!

A dense blur of fists formed a dark-red curtain, completely engulfing Kakarot. Right punch, left hook, downward chop, whip kick, rising knee, headbutt, elbow strike. Son Gohan seemed to have transformed into an ancient savage beast, unleashing a furious barrage.

But the same strange scene played out again.

No matter how tricky the angle of Son Gohan's attacks or how savage their force, a flash of white light appeared before they could touch Kakarot's body. Every strike was as if it had plunged into nothingness.

The massive kinetic force was forcibly reduced to zero. It failed to raise even the slightest ripple, let alone cause him any harm.

Kakarot couldn't even be bothered to move his hands. He stood where he was with his arms folded across his chest, letting Son Gohan's heavy fists rain down on his cheeks, chest, and temples.

At the instant each blow was about to land, it produced only a despairing hum. The barrier of rules formed by Miracle Power was like a wall spanning dimensions, easily stopping every attack.

Son Gohan pulled back and crossed his hands in front of his forehead.

"Masenko!"

A massive golden pillar of energy erupted and slammed into Kakarot's face.

Hummm—!

The energy didn't explode. Instead, it slid off Kakarot's body to either side, like a broad river splitting around an immovable reef.

Son Gohan's face remained expressionless as he brought his hands together.

"Kamehameha!"

A thick blue beam followed close behind. But the result was no different. The moment it touched the white light, the beam turned into a long, bouncy strip of jelly... and flopped limply to the ground.

"Give up. The gap between us is like that between a mortal and a god," Kakarot said coldly.

Son Gohan ignored him and continued testing his attacks. The energy pool granted by his Legendary Super Saiyan Bloodline was practically endless, so there was no need to worry about running out.

His hands curled into claws, and his raging green energy split into thousands upon thousands of high-pressure energy spheres.

"Massive Meteor!"

"Explosive Meteor!"

A dense rain of energy blasts blanketed a vast stretch of space. The entire Planet Vegeta trembled under this unrestrained outpouring of energy. Great fissures of darkness ripped through the vacuum.

The smoke cleared.

Kakarot stood there without a scratch. The blasts, each powerful enough to destroy a planet, hadn't even touched the hem of his clothes.

"Quite a good performance. You deserve praise."

He pretended to flick nonexistent dust from his shoulder, the smile at the corner of his mouth growing wider.

Son Gohan's gaze was icy. He pressed his right index and middle fingers together against his brow as purple lightning gathered and compressed furiously at his fingertips.

"Special Beam Cannon!"

The purple spiral beam, sharp enough to pierce anything, tore through space and shot toward Kakarot's heart.

But it came to a halt less than half a millimeter from Kakarot's chest. Miracle Power flashed, and it was all in vain.

The purple spiral beam broke apart in midair, turning into a gentle drizzle that fell onto the battered mantle below.

Since ordinary moves were useless, Son Gohan clasped his hands in front of his chest. Violent waves of energy compressed between his palms, forming a spiraling dark-gold sphere that radiated a destructive gravitational pull.

This was the strongest single-target energy attack he could muster at present.

"Massive Special Beam Supernova!"

The dark-gold orb was like a miniature black hole, carrying the terrifying power to grind everything to dust as it crashed down.

Faced with this world-shattering attack, Kakarot merely smiled and raised one finger.

White light flashed at his fingertip.

Before the orb could expand and explode, it vanished soundlessly into the vacuum like a popped soap bubble.

Son Gohan stopped moving.

It was completely useless.

That layer of white light was one of the highest forms of power in the Dragon Ball World. Ordinary methods couldn't break through it.

A battle of attrition wouldn't work, either.

Vegeta had died when his Miracle Power ran dry because he was too weak. He hadn't developed it to the point of mastering its rules like Kakarot had, so Son Gohan had been able to drain him to death, little by little.

But this guy before him...

For one thing, the Miracle Power inside him was as vast as an entire ocean.

As long as he didn't make a wish like "Make me drop dead on the spot," or do something that consumed a huge amount of Miracle Power, like "Change the fundamental rules governing the entire world," he could never exhaust himself.

Now that his usual methods had no effect on him,

perhaps the only option was Destruction Energy.

Son Gohan's gaze fell on the ancient-looking bracer on his right wrist.

The God of Destruction Bracer.

Destruction Energy was also a kind of power over rules, a supreme force that could stand against Miracle Power and cancel it out.

"Have you accepted your fate?" Kakarot stepped closer through the void, his condescending tone laced with boredom. "What a shame. I thought you'd give me more surprises."

Son Gohan stared at him coldly and clenched his right fist.

Humm.

Purple Destruction Energy surged along the bracer, quickly covering Son Gohan's right fist.

Kakarot stopped. A hint of something strange surfaced once more in his mocking eyes.

"Oh? Is this what you use to stand against my divine power?" Kakarot let some of his smile fade.

He'd seen this power more than once on the screens before. It could even cancel out the divine power he'd bestowed on his underlings, which greatly intrigued him.

Whoosh!

Son Gohan charged at him again.

He didn't release the Destruction Energy. Instead, he concentrated all of it over his right fist.

He threw a punch!

Kakarot still didn't dodge. He had absolute confidence in his defense, and he also wanted to see whether this energy could affect him at all.

The purple fist slammed into the invisible barrier in front of Kakarot's face.

Ssshh—!

A piercing sound of corrosion rang out. The hopeless feeling of striking water and sinking without a trace was gone.

Purple Destruction Energy and white Miracle Power clashed violently. The two highest rules in the universe ground against and canceled out each other within a tiny space.

Crack.

The supposedly unbreakable defense of rules was forcibly corroded, leaving a hole the size of a fist.

Just as he'd hoped, Son Gohan's enormous fist drove straight through and smashed into Kakarot's confident face.

Bam!

His knuckles landed solidly.

The enormous force caved in Kakarot's face and sent his entire body flying like a cannonball, carving a long trench across the surface of Planet Vegeta.

Son Gohan hung in place and looked at his clenched right fist.

The purple Destruction Energy had dimmed by more than half, but it had worked.

Miracle Power was strong, but Destruction Energy was a supreme rule as well. As long as the two made contact, it could forcibly cancel and dismantle it.

In the smoke-shrouded ruins, Kakarot slowly straightened up. A huge fist-shaped imprint stood out on his face.

"I see." Instead of flying into a rage, Kakarot gave a low laugh and said calmly, "This purple energy must be on the same level as my divine power. Looks like this is your last trump card."

White light flashed fiercely.

The dent in Kakarot's face instantly swelled back into place. The breach torn open by Destruction Energy had already been filled in seamlessly by surging Miracle Power.

Son Gohan furrowed his brow.

Destruction Energy could affect him, but the effect was negligible.

For Kakarot, with his vast reserves of Miracle Power, that little bit of damage wasn't even a scratch. He could heal it with a single thought.

And Son Gohan hadn't truly grasped the essence of destruction. He could only release it with the help of the God of Destruction Bracer, so the amount and frequency of his output were both limited.

That small amount of Destruction Energy was no more than a drop in the bucket.

"Quite an impressive power. It's a shame you have so little of it." Kakarot tilted his head and slowly raised his right hand, aiming his palm at Son Gohan.

He didn't call out the name of a technique, nor did he need to gather energy first.

Clatter.

Dozens of semitransparent chains sprang out of thin air. They gave off no ki at all, but were pure constructs of rules woven from that dense white light.

They broke through Son Gohan's terrifying aura by force and wrapped tightly around his limbs and torso.

Sizzle!

The chains abruptly tightened. Son Gohan felt the gravity around him shoot up tens of thousands of times in an instant. Time and space in this world were forcibly drained away, turning it into a high-pressure cage that shut out everything.

His red aura was pressed tight against his skin, and even moving a finger became incredibly difficult.

"The gods say you are guilty, so you can only wear your shackles." Kakarot strolled through the vacuum, looking down at the restrained Son Gohan. "I don't know what you're fighting for, but offending a god can only end one way: death!"

Bam!

Kakarot appeared in front of Son Gohan without warning and drove a heavy punch into his abdomen.

White Miracle Power swirled around his fist. It directly erased Super Saiyan 4's powerful physical defense, multiplying the damage.

Son Gohan doubled over like a shrimp. A large mouthful of blood burst from his lips and scattered into the black vacuum.

Kakarot followed with an elbow strike, smashing it into the back of Son Gohan's neck.

Crack.

Son Gohan's neck bones gave a dull crunch. Like a fish on a chopping board, he was pinned helplessly within the space sealed by the chains, left at Kakarot's mercy.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

Kakarot's attacks were incredibly simple, almost completely devoid of technique. Yet every punch and kick carried the law of causality: they could not miss, and they could not fail to injure. Every blow landed solidly on Son Gohan.

The red fur was soaked with blood, and Son Gohan's injuries worsened at a terrifying speed.

But he wasn't afraid in the slightest.

Even as the blows made him cough up blood, his mind was still racing at top speed. He had to find a way out of this predicament.

What could he do?

Was he really going to fall here?

Amid the furious barrage, Son Gohan's calm golden eyes fixed on Kakarot as he kept searching for a way out.