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A layer of green radiance swirled around his fist as he gently extended it toward Zamasu's face.

The punch was clearly slow, yet Zamasu simply could not dodge it.

Smack!

A crisp slap rang out between them.

This punch did not shake heaven and earth, nor did it stir up howling winds.

It looked as though An Xiu had merely pressed his fist lightly against Zamasu's face.

Yet Zamasu stood frozen in midair.

He did not move at all.

The shocked expression remained on his face.

Then, the next second—

"Gah... aargh!"

Zamasu suddenly let out a scream.

Green light flickered across the surface of his body, and his expression became one of extreme terror and pain.

Countless streams of green energy erupted from within him, destroying his body from the inside out.

This was a move An Xiu had secretly learned during his previous battle with Vegito. After improving it, he had used it on Zamasu for the very first time.

Judging by the results, it worked remarkably well.

With An Xiu's immense and violent energy ravaging him from within—

Zamasu soon could no longer support himself and plummeted from the air to the ground.

He screamed in agony without end.

His limbs twitched wildly due to the turmoil of energy within his body, while his flesh was continuously being destroyed. The regenerative speed of his immortal body clearly could not keep up with the speed of destruction.

In just a few breaths, he turned into a pile of ashes. He was dead, his aura completely gone.

However, just as An Xiu thought so and remained wary that Zamasu might fuse with the universe, a terrifying dark-red energy suddenly erupted from those ashes.

The energy shot into the sky. The next second, an unscathed Zamasu stepped out from it.

A white divine halo hung behind him. His clothing was unchanged, and he no longer had that monstrous body from before. At the same time, his aura had grown even stronger.

As expected, trying to destroy an immortal body granted by Super Shenron through sheer strength alone was still too difficult... An Xiu was somewhat surprised, but it remained within the bounds of what he could accept.

"I told you, An Xiu. I am the embodiment of justice in this world, and justice cannot be destroyed."

Zamasu spread his hands, his expression returning to that calm, elegant, lofty demeanor.

"Oh? So what if you came back to life?"

An Xiu sneered, cracking his knuckles as he looked at Zamasu.

"No matter how many times you revive, I'll kill you. If once isn't enough, then twice. If twice isn't enough, then three times—until I destroy you completely!"

"Is that so? You may be able to destroy one me, but what about two? Three? Countless versions of me?"

Zamasu smiled coldly.

The next moment, his body suddenly began to split. He actually became two Zamasus, each possessing an aura and strength no different from the original Zamasu!

At the sight, An Xiu's pupils contracted sharply. He suddenly recalled the plot from the manga.

Just as expected!

The two Zamasus split once again. This time, they directly became four. The next moment, the four Zamasus split again, becoming eight!

The worst-case scenario had appeared...

Alarm bells blared in An Xiu's mind.

The story of this timeline had actually fused together the completely different plots from both the Dragon Ball Super manga and anime.

And both favored Zamasu—he possessed both the fused power that crushed Super Saiyan Blue and the bizarre abilities Zamasu had in the manga.

This was completely beyond An Xiu's expectations.

"I can't let this guy keep splitting!"

An Xiu inwardly cried out in alarm and immediately rushed forward to stop him.

He could destroy a Zamasu with just a few punches and kicks, but there were simply too many of them. They all possessed the regenerative properties of imperfect immortality, and the speed at which he destroyed them could not keep up with their rate of splitting.

"Foolish human, to actually dream of destroying a god—how utterly pathetic!"

"I have said it before. As erroneous beings, mortals possess only limited strength. To overestimate yourselves and oppose the gods is nothing more than courting your own destruction!"

"Let me, Zamasu—the embodiment of justice in this world, the one who bears the sins of the gods—purify you!"

Hundreds of Fused Zamasus attacked An Xiu at once, all while continuously mocking him.

Listening to their words, An Xiu grew increasingly irritated.

"Shut up!"

A vicious glint flashed through his eyes as he roared.

"Kaio-ken—fifty times!"

Violent red energy instantly enveloped the layer of green radiance over his body, completely shrouding An Xiu. He let out a thunderous shout, and his aura burst forth, blasting every Zamasu around him away.

Feeling An Xiu's aura explosively rise, all the Zamasus were once again shocked speechless.

An Xiu slowly raised a hand.

A blast of energy shot into the sky.

The next second, the Earth's previously gloomy, dim sky, blanketed by green haze clouds, was instantly swept clean by the energy blast and restored to its original state.

Bright moonlight once again bathed the earth.

The green energy sphere An Xiu had fired hung high above everyone's heads.

The next moment, An Xiu raised both hands over his head, clenched his fists, and violently swung his arms downward.

The energy sphere instantly split into countless beams that rained down. As though they automatically tracked their targets, the beams continuously closed in on Zamasu.

Once struck by those beams, Zamasu turned to ashes before he could even repair his body.

In only a brief moment, the thousands of Zamasus that had split apart vanished into thin air.

But An Xiu knew Zamasu was not dead.

Because the system had not issued the mission reward.

Sure enough, less than a few seconds after all the Zamasus vanished, a dark-red energy shot into the sky in the distance, and Zamasu once again emerged from it completely unscathed.

"We meet again, An Xiu."

Zamasu smiled and looked up at An Xiu. "I told you, justice cannot be kill—"

"You sure talk a lot."

—Boom!

Before Zamasu could finish speaking, An Xiu blew him apart with a single punch.

After guarding Zamasu's revival point and repeatedly destroying him over a hundred times, An Xiu finally thought of a method.

The Spirit Bomb!

Kaio-ken was not the only thing he had learned from Son Goku.

The Spirit Bomb had a special restraining effect on those with evil hearts. From how Trunks, after receiving everyone's life energy and power of hope, had been able to inflict wounds on Zamasu that were difficult to recover from, it was clear enough.

Even against someone with immortality, the Spirit Bomb possessed tremendous destructive power against those harboring evil and could even counter the properties of immortality.

Although the Spirit Bomb could not completely eliminate an immortal body—

The Zamasu before him was not truly immortal, after all. The evil aura within him also happened to be countered by the Spirit Bomb. What if it worked?

Even if it could not directly destroy Zamasu, it could at least restrain him to some extent. If it could destroy him outright, that would be even better.

With that thought—

An Xiu immediately raised his hand and began gathering energy.

There were not many surviving humans left on Earth, but animals and plants were still alive.

At his call, An Xiu soon gathered a Spirit Bomb as large as a basketball court.

When Zamasu revived once more, An Xiu raised his hand and slammed the Spirit Bomb straight into his forehead.

The Spirit Bomb truly did restrain Zamasu. After being struck, he screamed more painfully than he had at any previous time.

But unfortunately, the energy in such a Spirit Bomb was nowhere near enough to kill Zamasu.

That was because An Xiu had kept half the gathered energy by his side in case of emergencies. Of course, even if he used it all, he still would not be able to kill Zamasu.

Although it failed to kill Zamasu, or even inflict any particularly serious injuries on him—

An Xiu made a startling discovery. After being struck by the Spirit Bomb, this revived Zamasu could no longer split himself apart. At least, he had not done so for the time being.

Moreover, the wounds on his body had not healed.

The Spirit Bomb's suppression of evil aura took effect immediately. Even the properties of immortality could be temporarily suppressed.

However, An Xiu knew this was not a long-term solution. The Spirit Bomb would eventually run out.

And up to this point, he still had not thought of a way to completely destroy Zamasu.

If there truly was no other solution in the end, An Xiu could only run away.

As for this mess, he could only leave it to the people of this timeline to handle themselves. At least he had already cleared his way to the boss room, so he had done all he could.

He just did not know what consequences there would be if the mission ultimately failed and could not be completed.

Or perhaps, if the Fused Zamasu of this timeline could not be defeated, he could go fight the Fused Zamasu in another timeline?

As An Xiu kept Zamasu occupied while considering countermeasures, he suddenly seemed to think of something. His eyes gradually brightened.

Run away...

Wait, I think I can bring this Zamasu back to my original timeline with me...

If I restrain him, then have Master Roshi seal him with the Mafuba, and wait until I gather the Super Dragon Balls to make a wish or find another method, wouldn't I be able to kill this guy then?!

But how should I restrain him...

An Xiu looked at the Spirit Bomb above his head, and an idea immediately came to him.

He manipulated the Spirit Bomb and divided it into several blue restraining rings. He then wrapped them around Zamasu and tightened them fiercely, reinforcing them with his own energy.

This was far more effective than restraining rings formed purely from his own energy.

Whenever Zamasu struggled with all his strength and tried to break free from the restraints, the Spirit Bomb's energy would instantly suppress him.

"Alright, everything is over now."

An Xiu clapped his hands and released the power of Kaio-ken and his humanoid Great Ape Transformation. He then looked at Zamasu, who was restrained in midair by the rings of light. "You've got a hard time ahead of you. Just wait to die!"

After saying that, he swallowed a Senzu Bean and completely restored the greater part of his depleted stamina. Then, with a wave of his hand, he opened a spatial rift before him.

At the sight, Zamasu's eyes widened as he stood completely dumbfounded. "You actually possess the ability to travel through time and space at will?!"

An Xiu did not answer. Without a trace of hesitation, he immediately brought Zamasu back to his original timeline.

Upon returning to the original timeline, An Xiu did not appear at Kami's Lookout, where he had departed from. Instead, he randomly spawned in some corner of Earth.

Without lingering, An Xiu immediately used Instant Transmission to arrive at Kame House.

After learning why An Xiu had come, Master Roshi agreed without hesitation.

Already restrained by An Xiu, Zamasu naturally had no ability to resist as Master Roshi sealed him away with the Mafuba.

The matter of Zamasu was thus temporarily settled.

An Xiu returned to Kami's Lookout with the jar containing the sealed Zamasu and entrusted it to Popo for safekeeping.

It was worth mentioning that in this timeline, less than a day had passed since An Xiu's previous journey through time.

While An Xiu was in other timelines, time in the main timeline continued to pass. It had not been paused.

However, the flow of time was not the same.

For now, though, the difference was not significant.

After asking the Earth's Kami about the Dragon Balls, An Xiu had nothing else to do.

As for how to kill Zamasu—

If there was any other method besides traveling into space to gather the Super Dragon Balls and make a wish—

At present, An Xiu could not think of anything simpler than directly asking Shenron for the answer.

However, it had not been long since the last wish, and the Dragon Balls on Earth would not be usable again for roughly another year.

As for the Dragon Balls on Namek—

Although they could be used once every one hundred and thirty days—

They had already been claimed in advance to revive Yamcha, Tien Shinhan, and Chiaotzu, who had died in the previous battle.

An Xiu did not feel right about taking them by force. At this point, he could only wait.

Nearly a hundred days passed.

Yamcha, Tien Shinhan, and Chiaotzu were successfully revived.

Through King Kai's telepathy, An Xiu conveyed his request to use the Dragon Balls to the native Namekians. When they learned that An Xiu wanted to make wishes, they readily agreed.

More than another hundred days passed.

Through King Kai, An Xiu contacted Nail on Namek telepathically and asked him to make three wishes on his behalf.

His first wish was naturally to learn how to kill Zamasu.

After learning the specifics, Porunga gave Its answer. Moreover, It did not count the answer as a wish, instead granting An Xiu a special ability.

Porunga's answer greatly surprised An Xiu, but it also completely solved his Zamasu problem.

As for the other two wishes, An Xiu used them to revive Raditz and Nappa.

There were still too few Saiyans now.

If he could bring those two under his command, An Xiu would not mind. Of course, if they refused to obey, he could just kill them again.

There was no deeper meaning behind what he did. If anything, An Xiu had done it out of a bit of perverse amusement.

He had always been curious about what Nappa would look like if he became a Super Saiyan.

And if Raditz transformed into a Super Saiyan and shaved off his eyebrows, would he look like Super Saiyan 3?

Of course, jokes aside—

An Xiu did have a serious purpose as well.