Majin Buu

In the autumn of Age 764, the skies above Earth were cloudless, yet every sensory array at The Lookout lit up in the early hours of dawn. The warning runes Mr. Popo had set up centuries ago activated in the same instant. Pale golden light spread from the edges of The Lookout into the sky, weaving a warning net that covered the entire firmament. The seal had loosened. Not today—it had been loosening for some time. Today, it finally shattered completely.

Babidi's spaceship burst out from deep underground, its black hull reflecting a cold sheen beneath the sunlight. The hatch opened, and Majin Buu stepped out.

Pink skin, a bloated body, a thin antenna atop his head, and a cape swaying softly in the wind. He stood at the edge of the ship, tilting his head as he looked at the blue planet before him, like a child who had just woken up in an unfamiliar room.

"Eat... candy?"

On The Lookout's plaza, everyone was already in position. Goku and Vegeta's Super Saiyan 2 forms were steadily maintained, the patterns within their golden auras clearly visible. Piccolo's Qi Fractals extended dozens of pale golden tendrils across the plaza, each one linked to a warrior's wrist. Krillin and Lazuli stood side by side at the center of the formation, the golden lines of the Star Topology Network spreading beneath their feet—Lazuli was the primary node, while Krillin handled overall coordination. Tien Shinhan's Third Eye Beam had completed its pre-aiming, and Chiaotzu's paralysis technique covered the entirety of The Lookout. Nappa's Compressed Tri-Beam was ready to fire, while Lapis rolled his wrists.

Talos stood at the very front, his battle robe snapping in the sea wind as a faint glimmer from the Cell factor extract flashed through his eyes.

Buu descended upon the western wastelands. Barefoot, he stepped onto the cracked earth and tilted his head at the group clad in orange battle robes before him. He could sense their qi—it was very strong, yet unlike any creature he had ever eaten. Their qi was not scattered. It was connected, like a net.

"Are you... candy?"

Goku teleported behind Buu, unleashing a point-blank Kamehameha. The blue beam struck Buu squarely in the back. When the smoke cleared, the wound on Buu's back was healing—the pink chunks of flesh gathered back together as though alive, restoring him completely in less than a second. He turned around, the curiosity in his eyes replaced by irritation, and slapped at Goku. The palm did not look fast, but the air before it compressed into a visible shockwave. Goku teleported away, and the shockwave blasted the entire rocky mountain behind him into rubble.

"Physical attacks have limited effect." Talos's senses rapidly analyzed Buu's energy structure. "His body isn't regenerating at the cellular level—it's pure magical regeneration. Energy blasts and qi cannons can only scatter him temporarily. They can't destroy him. Bulma—what exactly is the mechanism behind the Cell factor's suppression of Buu's cells?"

Bulma's voice came through the communications channel. "The Cell factor suppresses him by interfering with the reassembly of magical energy. Buu's regeneration is essentially an ancient form of magical reassembly. If Cell's cellular fusion technology is run in reverse—if Krillin uses his Qi Net to cut into Buu's energy nodes, injecting a trace amount of Cell factor with every cut—it can theoretically produce a 'genetic internal injury' effect. But the dosage must be precise to the picogram. The required precision is more than an order of magnitude higher than when we fought Frieza."

"Krillin, did you hear that?"

"Picogram precision. One injection of Cell factor per cut." Krillin's voice over the channel was steadier than anyone would have expected. "Understood. But I need someone to keep drawing Buu's attacks away. His regeneration is too fast. If I can't cut the same node repeatedly, the factor won't have time to build up."

"Leave redirecting his attacks to us." Piccolo's arm extended from beside Krillin. His Qi Fractals wove dozens of tendrils into a pale green defensive net, shielding Krillin completely behind it. "You just focus on cutting."

"Lazuli," Talos's voice rang clearly through the Star Topology Network, "you're the primary node. You distribute all energy. Prioritize Krillin's Qi Net output—his cutting precision will decide whether we can win this battle. Goku, Vegeta—high-frequency harassment. Don't let Buu gain his footing. Tien Shinhan, Chiaotzu, Nappa—flanking fire, create openings. Lapis, you're with me on frontal restraint. Move."

Lazuli formed a hand seal, and the perpetual energy reactor sent out calm, deep pulses of golden light from the heart of the Star Topology Network. Krillin's qi threads received an endless supply of energy from her, each thread maintaining submicron precision. Lapis and Talos attacked from the front at the same time. Infinite Barrage poured down on Buu like a storm, every punch precisely locking onto the same spot—Buu's right shoulder joint. Talos stacked Super Saiyan 2 with a triple Kaioken, his power breaking past the ten-million mark under the dual amplification. Every punch forced Buu to defend first.

Goku harassed him at high frequency from the left, while Vegeta rushed in from the right. Teleporting Kamehamehas and Final Flashes bombarded him in alternation, every strike landing precisely at the instant Buu tried to counterattack. Tien Shinhan's Third Eye Beam accurately struck Buu's wrist whenever he gathered magical energy, while Chiaotzu's paralysis technique locked Buu's ankles for fractions of a second. Combined with Piccolo's tendrils pulling at him, they successfully disrupted at least three of Buu's attempts to launch charged counterattacks. Nappa's Compressed Tri-Beams exploded behind Buu, each blast driving him another step toward Krillin's predetermined cutting position.

Krillin moved. The first qi thread cut into the energy node at Buu's right shoulder joint, precise to the picogram. At the same instant it severed the node, pale golden Cell factor flowed through the qi thread into the wound. Buu's movements paused slightly—he did not scream, but the regeneration rate of his right arm visibly slowed. He did not understand this attack. The short man before him was not blasting him with energy, nor smashing him with fists. He was merely cutting him. Every cut struck somewhere he could not see, and every cut made his regeneration a little slower.

"Second cut." Krillin formed another hand seal, and the second qi thread sliced toward Buu's left knee. Hit. The third cut went for his right wrist. Hit. The fourth cut targeted his left shoulder. Hit. Every cut accumulated. Buu's movements grew slower and slower—not because his power was weakening, but because genetic internal injuries were eating away at his magical regeneration. Each time he regenerated, the internal damage accumulated further. This was the fatal flaw Bulma had discovered in Cell's cells, and the ultimate weapon she could provide the Z Fighters.

For the first time, Buu made a confused sound. He looked down at the hair-thin wounds on his body, then at the bald little man who kept forming hand seals. He could not understand why these tiny wounds hurt more—and were more deadly—than every qi cannon he had ever endured.

"You... not... candy!" The magical energy inside his body began to run wild. His entire body swelled into a gigantic ball of flesh, tendrils shooting from every part of him at once. No longer targeting any single person, they swept indiscriminately at everyone. One tendril tore up an entire layer of stone tiles from The Lookout's plaza. Another struck Nappa in the chest, sending him flying into a stone pillar and snapping it in half. He got to his feet, spat out bloody saliva, and grinned. "Finally hit me! Come again!" Another Compressed Tri-Beam roared out.

Tien Shinhan and Chiaotzu's combined technique continued creating gaps along the flank, every precise interruption smothering Buu's charged attacks before they could take shape. Piccolo's dozens of tendrils firmly restrained every sneak attack Buu tried to launch at Krillin. Goku's teleporting Kamehamehas moved freely between Buu's tendrils, repeatedly striking the same node like golden meteors. Vegeta's Final Flash continuously suppressed Buu's left-side defense.

Buu's movements began to show irreversible sluggishness. The genetic internal injuries had accumulated to the limit of his regeneration—after the forty-seventh cut, the wound on his right arm stopped healing. It was the location of Krillin's first repeated cut—the shoulder joint. The Cell factor's genetic internal injuries had reached a critical threshold at that node, and magical energy could no longer repair the cells there.

Talos seized that instant and gathered the strength of everyone in the Star Topology Network into his right fist—Lazuli's infinite energy poured out at full force from the primary node, Krillin's Qi Net precisely distributed all of that output over his fist, Goku's speed, Vegeta's power, Lapis's endurance, Tien Shinhan's precision, Piccolo's extending control, Nappa's frontal impact—all of them were in that one punch.

"Ka... me... ha... me... HAAAA!"

It was not a wave. It was the full power of the Kamehameha compressed onto his fist, detonating at point-blank range against the unhealable wound on Buu's right shoulder. A golden beam pierced through Buu's body and burst out from his back, turning the entire wasteland as bright as day.

Buu's body began to collapse. He was not being blown apart; he was breaking down from the genetic level, unable to sustain magical regeneration any longer. Chunks of pink flesh fell away one by one, each turning to ash before touching the ground. The tendrils shriveled, snapped, and turned to dust. Buu's last words came before his body fully crumbled away—"You... not... candy..." Then he closed his eyes.

The wasteland fell silent. Krillin finally released his hand seal and collapsed onto the ground, staring at his still-trembling hands—he had made forty-seven cuts in that battle, every one precise to the picogram. It was the most exhausting fight of his life. Lazuli stood beside him. Though she did not tire, she reached out of her own accord and pulled Krillin to his feet.

"Your net was good."

Krillin froze for a moment, then broke into a grin. It was the pure smile of someone who had finally been recognized.

Nappa emerged from the rubble carrying the broken pillar over his shoulder. Spitting the sand from his mouth, he grinned. "That was a good fight—though that pink fatso was damn annoying. He regenerated faster than I could blast him. Next time, give me a bigger target."

"Next time, I'll save you a big one," Talos said.

"What do you mean, save me a big one?! I'm an elite Saiyan warrior! Next time, let me take the vanguard! That guy with the tendrils—I'll take him as my opponent!"

Lapis looked at him expressionlessly. "You got sent flying by one tendril just now."

"I did that on purpose! How else was I supposed to know how heavy it was if it didn't send me flying?"

Everyone laughed. Goku grinned, Vegeta's lips curled slightly upward, Tien Shinhan's furrowed brow relaxed for once, Piccolo withdrew his tendrils into his body, and Bulma let out a relieved sigh over the communications channel. Master Roshi stood at the distant edge of The Lookout, took off his sunglasses, and wiped them with the corner of his clothes. Then he softly said, "Teacher, did you see that? That Kamehameha was more beautiful than the one I used to blow up the moon."