Their Respective Battlefields

New Planet Namek's twin suns cast pale golden halos across the boundary between dawn and dusk. Piccolo sat cross-legged on a stone platform outside the Grand Elder's palace, his eyes shut tight. The ancient combat memories passed down to him by the Grand Elder were being parsed one by one—every frame contained fighting techniques sealed away for three hundred years. The qi flowing from his fingertips was no longer merely stretching and extending, but carried an older, more precise rhythm.

"The core ability of combat-type Namekians isn't arm extension—that's only an application," the Grand Elder's voice came from behind him. "The true core is 'Qi Fractals.' If you can understand it on this level, I'll teach you everything."

Piccolo opened his eyes and extended an arm. It stretched through the air, split apart, then stretched farther—not into two, but into dozens of incredibly thin tendrils. Every tendril precisely pierced a target floating around the platform under the Grand Elder's telekinesis. Dozens of targets were penetrated within the same second.

The Grand Elder nodded faintly. He did not say "Very good," but Namekians never nodded lightly.

Back on Earth, training at Turtle Hermit House had entered an unprecedented fever pitch.

Goku kept pestering Talos to let him stack Kaioken on top of his Super Saiyan form. He had already failed dozens of times in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber—the double burden sent tearing pain through his meridians less than a second after activation. But he did not give up. That evening, he transformed into a Super Saiyan again. As golden qi flared around him, red light flashed across his body for an instant—less than a second, but it had truly been the light of Kaioken.

"Did you see that?!"

"0.4 seconds." Talos lowered the stopwatch in his hand. "That's 0.1 seconds longer than last time. It's still not stable enough, but you're heading in the right direction. Keep training."

The day Vegeta and Lapis emerged from the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, they stood in the Lookout's plaza, both their auras noticeably more condensed than before. Vegeta's Super Saiyan Second Grade had stabilized—the purple patterns mingling with his golden aura had grown denser, and the power of his Final Flash had more than doubled. Lapis had developed his own ultimate move: using the fact that his infinite energy never tired, he kept every blow at maximum output, throwing hundreds of punches in succession without the slightest decline.

"We should test it on Krillin." Lapis rolled his wrists.

Krillin had just run over from the beach. Hearing that, he froze for a moment. "Test what?"

"Whether your Qi Net can lock down Infinite Barrage."

"...You're using me as a test dummy!"

"Yes." Lapis's expression remained blank. "No one else can take it. You can."

Krillin paused, then grinned. Forming a seal with his hands, he spread the Qi Net before him. Lapis charged into it, and Infinite Barrage poured down like a rainstorm. Krillin's Qi Net was constantly torn apart, then continuously rewoven. The two fought from the Lookout's plaza all the way to the beach, fragments of the net and shockwaves from golden energy blasts kicking sand and dust high into the air. At the hundredth punch, Krillin suddenly clapped his hands together—the Qi Net reversed its flow, and dozens of extremely thin golden qi threads slipped from its gaps, cutting precisely into the nodes of Lapis's energy flow.

Infinite Barrage came to an abrupt halt. Lapis looked down at the nearly invisible qi threads around his wrist. After a long silence, the corner of his mouth lifted slightly. "So this is severance."

"Submicron level. Bulma said my precision can disrupt cellular fusion now." Krillin was panting, but his eyes shone brightly. "From now on, you're Infinite Barrage, and I'm Infinite Severance. Want to fight?"

"Yes." Lapis lowered his stance. "But not now. That move will be more useful against Cell than against me."

In Bulma's laboratory, the research into Cell's cells had made a breakthrough.

From the cell samples extracted from the sealing orb, she had successfully isolated the "Saiyan Near-Death Amplification Factor"—a unique gene fragment created by Cell's fusion of multiple cell types, capable of doubling a Saiyan's combat power after recovering from the brink of death. But Cell's factor was even more unstable. Each use accumulated irreversible damage that Bulma had named "genetic internal injury."

"In other words, Cell's evolution is essentially burning through his life." Bulma adjusted her goggles. "If Krillin's Qi Net can precisely interrupt the fusion during the 0.3-second activation window, it won't just stop the evolution—it'll cause Cell to collapse on his own. But we still need more combat data before we can guarantee it'll work."

"The next time Cell appears, Krillin will be the main attacker." Talos straightened from the sample table. "Interrupting fusion takes priority over direct attacks."

Bulma returned the sample vial to the cryogenic storage cabinet, then suddenly asked, "Talos, you've been laying out a huge plan ever since the Frieza arc—androids, Cell, Dr. Gero's backup power source. Did you know about all of this from the start?"

"I simply considered every possible risk." Talos did not answer directly. He only looked through the window at Krillin, who was sparring with Lapis in the distance. "Some people are destined to shoulder great responsibilities at critical moments. Krillin is one of them."

Bulma did not press him further. After knowing Talos for so many years, she had learned not to ask questions that had no answers. She merely put her goggles back on and continued observing the next sample.

Lazuli had sat on the seaside reef for several hours. The Turtle Hermit School manual had been turned to its final page. She closed the book and rose to face the sea. A golden energy wave erupted from her palm, splitting the ocean's surface with a deeper, narrower rift than before. Both the precision and power of the strike had increased severalfold compared to a month ago.

"You've improved quickly lately." Talos landed on the reef behind her. "Finished the manual?"

"I finished it. But the final chapters talk about 'Qi Resonance'—I don't really understand it. The book says qi can connect companions, but I've never had companions before."

"Krillin didn't teach you?"

"He did. But he said his net is meant to connect people, while my energy reactor is permanent, so the way we connect is different. He told me to figure it out myself." She turned to look at Talos. "He was right. Some things can only be figured out by yourself."

"The manual I gave you was Master Roshi's original handwritten copy. There's a note tucked into one of its pages."

Lazuli lowered her gaze and flipped to the hidden layer at the end of the manual, pulling out a yellowed slip of paper. There was only one line written on it: Control is freedom. —Mutaito.

She stared at those words in silence for a long time. Dr. Gero had only ever given her orders: activate, kill, retrieve. No one had ever told her that control was not a shackle—it was freedom.

"The Turtle Hermit School's greatest strength isn't combat power—it's self-control. You learned the foundational Turtle Hermit School manual on your own in just one month, not because of your infinite energy reactor, but because of your ability to understand. You once said you weren't a tool—the meaning of not being a tool is that you deserve the right to choose."

Lazuli clenched the note and lowered her head to look at her palm. The hand that had once only fired energy blasts according to orders was now wrapped in qi she had learned to wield herself. She did not need a number, an order, or anyone's permission. She had chosen this manual, this beach, and these people herself. Raising her head, she looked toward Turtle Hermit House in the distance. Smoke rose from its chimney, voices clamored within, that cat named Puar was there, and so was a short bald man who told her every day, "If you don't understand, just ask."

"Let's go back," she said.

The two leaped down from the reef and walked toward Turtle Hermit House.