Babidi: Did You Think a Cornered Rat Would Only Bite?

Babidi was not particularly fast.

With the magic power he had left, he could maintain full-speed flight for at most half an hour.

After that, he would be nothing more than a bat with its fangs pulled.

But Babidi himself was not the issue.

Less than three minutes after Chen Mo followed the Supreme Kai and Kibito out, the Scouter began to sound an alarm.

At two o'clock ahead. An energy source.

Power level: 120 million.

Chen Mo's finger paused over the Scouter's screen.

"Supreme Kai, there's something ahead."

The Supreme Kai did not slow down. "I sensed it."

The moment he finished speaking, a three-kilometer asteroid exploded to their right.

Rock fragments silently scattered through the vacuum. A figure burst from the shattered mass of stone.

It was enormous, at least three meters tall, its entire body covered in dark red carapace. Its two eyes were pure black, with no pupils. A purple M-shaped mark was carved into its forehead.

Babidi's Majin mark.

"Another one," Chen Mo muttered.

The carapaced giant did not waste words. It raised a hand and fired a purple-black energy sphere. Twenty meters across, it came incredibly fast.

Chen Mo twisted aside. The energy sphere grazed past him and struck an asteroid behind him.

A soundless explosion. The entire celestial body evaporated.

Firepower of 120 million. Nearly twice the output of Chen Mo's Thirty-Threefold Kaio-ken.

"Kibito." The Supreme Kai's voice was calm.

"Yes."

Kibito raised his hand. White light lit up in his palm.

The carapaced giant charged forward. It was fast, purple-black aura wrapping around its body.

Kibito did not move.

White light shot out from his palm.

One beam. Only one.

The white light pierced through the carapaced giant's chest.

The giant's body stopped in midair. A momentary confusion appeared in its black eyes.

Then the M mark on its forehead shattered. Its entire body seemed to lose its skeleton as it drifted backward.

"Purified." Kibito lowered his hand. "He is a native of the Kuriza Galaxy. Babidi completely overwrote his will."

Chen Mo glanced at the Scouter.

The giant's power level was rapidly falling from 120 million.

Eighty million. Fifty million. Ten million.

It finally stopped at three million.

That was his original strength. Babidi's mind-control magic could forcibly squeeze out all of a person's potential, multiplying their power level dozens of times over at the cost of turning them completely into puppets.

"How many lackeys of this level does Babidi have?" Chen Mo asked.

The Supreme Kai flew onward. "As far as I know, at least three more."

"What about the strongest one?"

The Supreme Kai fell silent for two seconds.

"I have not personally confirmed the strongest one. But based on the magical formulas Babidi obtained from his father's inheritance, he is capable of controlling creatures with power levels above 500 million."

Five hundred million.

Chen Mo's mouth twitched.

His full-power output was currently 66 million. More than seven times short.

"However," the Supreme Kai continued, "Babidi has already expended more than half his magic power. That blond woman's attack last time badly damaged his magical core. The highest control limit he can maintain now should not exceed 300 million."

That blond woman from last time.

The time Android 18 slapped Babidi flying.

Chen Mo suddenly felt that Android 18's slap might have been the most practical gift he had ever received in his life.

The Scouter sounded again.

This time, it was not one signal.

It was four.

They closed in from four directions at once.

Their battle powers were eighty million, one hundred million, one hundred and fifty million, and two hundred and thirty million respectively.

Chen Mo clenched his teeth.

"They're here." The Supreme Kai stopped.

Four streaks of light cut in from different directions.

The first was an insectoid creature with six arms. A mass of high-density energy had gathered at the end of each arm. The "M" mark on its forehead glowed.

The second was a cloud of black mist. It had no physical form, but the Scouter showed its battle power holding steady at one hundred million.

The third was an armored humanoid warrior. Tall and slender, with a cold expression. Chen Mo found the style of its armor familiar.

Standard-issue Frieza Force armor.

This was one of Frieza's remaining forces, intercepted by Babidi along the way.

The fourth.

Two hundred and thirty million.

A medium-built, red-skinned creature. Horns. A tail. Bone earrings hanging from its ears.

Chen Mo stared at him for two seconds.

He recognized the traits of this race.

The Demon Realm.

One of Dabura's people.

Not Dabura himself. Smaller in build, but the texture of his energy was the same as Dabura's—dark, heavy, carrying a corrosive fluctuation from the Demon Realm.

"Supreme Kai." Chen Mo lowered his voice. "That red-skinned one is from the Demon Realm."

The Supreme Kai's expression finally changed.

"Impossible. The passage between the Demon Realm and the mortal world was sealed millions of years ago."

"Babidi is Bibidi's son," Chen Mo said. "Bibidi could open the gate to the Demon Realm. It wouldn't be strange if his son inherited that ability."

The Supreme Kai did not reply.

An invisible force spread from the Supreme Kai's body. It was not battle power, but something on a higher level.

Divine authority.

Similar to the authority Master Roshi had displayed on Earth, but its intensity, depth, and range were on an entirely different level.

The four puppets stopped at the same time.

The insectoid creature's six arms froze in midair. The black mist's rate of expansion plummeted. The humanoid warrior from Frieza's remnants took half a step back.

Only the red-skinned Demon Realm warrior showed no reaction.

He charged forward.

With a battle power of two hundred and thirty million, he was incredibly fast. Scarlet aura trailed behind him through the vacuum.

His target was the Supreme Kai.

"Kibito!" the Supreme Kai shouted.

Kibito rushed forward. He pressed his palms together, gathering white divine power between them.

The Demon Realm warrior brought down a punch. Kibito caught it with both palms, but his body was shoved back several hundred meters. Ripples of force spread through the void beneath his feet.

The gap in battle power was too great. Even if Kibito's energy attribute countered the Demon Realm warrior, the sheer difference in strength could not be overcome.

"I'll do it." Chen Mo shot forward.

Thirty-Threefold Kaio-ken. Full power.

His dark red aura expanded to its limit as sixty-six million battle power surged out.

He slammed into the Demon Realm warrior's side. His right fist, carrying the full force of the Kaio-ken, crashed into the man's ribs.

The Demon Realm warrior's body tilted.

Only slightly.

Two hundred and thirty million against sixty-six million. More than a threefold gap.

But Chen Mo's punch had an effect. The Demon Realm warrior was forced to shift his attention and loosen the force suppressing Kibito.

"You—" The Demon Realm warrior turned to look at Chen Mo. The purple "M" mark on his forehead flickered. "Insect."

He swung a slap at him.

Chen Mo crossed his arms to block.

He was sent flying, tumbling through the void seventeen or eighteen times.

Both arms throbbed with pain.

The bones were not broken.

He could take it.

Chen Mo steadied himself mid-roll, the taste of blood salty in his mouth.

He wasn't here to win. He was here to stall.

He was used to this. Android 18 had taught him: if you got knocked flying, get back up. Once you got back up, charge right back in.

Chen Mo rushed back in.

Kamehameha. He thrust both palms forward, sending a blue-white beam straight at the Demon Realm native's face.

The Demon Realm native split the energy wave apart with a chop of his hand, but in that instant, Chen Mo had already circled behind him.

Afterimage Fist.

Three afterimages appeared around the Demon Realm native at once.

The Demon Realm native smashed the afterimage on the left with one punch, then shattered the one on the right with another.

The third one.

Wasn't an afterimage.

It was the real body.

Chen Mo drove his right knee into the back of the Demon Realm native's head.

A full-power knee enhanced by the Thirty-Threefold Kaio-ken.

The Demon Realm native's head jolted forward.

"Hm?"

He turned around.

There was no wound. No damage. Not even a white mark had been left on his dark-red skin.

"A little itchy."

Chen Mo's heart sank.

The gap was too wide. Sixty-six million against two hundred and thirty million. Pure physical attacks simply couldn't break through his defense.

But he noticed something.

The "M" mark on the Demon Realm native's forehead flickered after that knee. Its frequency had changed.

Babidi's control was wavering.

Not because Chen Mo's attack had hurt him, but because the battle itself was draining Babidi's magic power.

Every puppet required Babidi to continuously supply magic power to maintain control.

The longer the fight lasted, the greater the expenditure.

"Supreme Kai!" Chen Mo shouted. "His control is unstable! Use the purification technique!"

The Supreme Kai was dealing with the other three puppets.

He raised one hand. White light enveloped the insectoid creature. The "M" on its forehead shattered, and its six arms drooped as it floated unconscious in the void.

His other hand pointed at the black mist.

A flash of light. The mist dispersed, revealing a small creature curled up inside, with a battle power of less than fifty thousand.

Two seconds. Two enemies dealt with.

The Supreme Kai turned toward the humanoid warrior from the remnants of Frieza's army.

"Kneel."

One word.

The humanoid warrior's legs buckled, and he dropped to his knees. The "M" mark shattered instantly.

It wasn't purification. The sheer pressure of divine authority had directly crushed the remnants of Babidi's control.

Three enemies. Three seconds.

Chen Mo watched the scene.

This was the Supreme Kai.

His battle power was less than a thousand, yet that kind of power simply couldn't be measured by battle power.

Just like after Master Roshi became the Guardian. They wielded power on the level of rules themselves.

The Supreme Kai turned toward the last one.

The Demon Realm native.

"This one is more troublesome." The Supreme Kai walked over. "Creatures of the Demon Realm are naturally resistant to divine power. The purification technique is very inefficient against him and requires continuous output."

"How long?" Chen Mo asked.

"Three minutes."

"I'll hold him off for three minutes."

Chen Mo did not wait for the Supreme Kai to answer. He charged forward.

The deep crimson aura of the Thirty-Threefold Kaio-ken drew a long streak through the void.

The Demon Realm warrior met him with a punch.

Chen Mo did not take it head-on. He twisted aside, evading the main strike, then placed his right hand on the opponent's forearm and used the force to change direction, circling behind the Demon Realm warrior.

Android 18 had used this technique when she fought him.

Every time Android 18 sent him flying, he had been learning.

He studied the angles of her punches, the distribution of her strength, and the attack paths she chose when her speed utterly overwhelmed her opponent.

He had been beaten for half a year and taken thousands of punches.

Those punches had not been for nothing.

From behind the Demon Realm warrior, Chen Mo threw seven consecutive punches. None of them were heavy, but every one landed at an angle that made it most inconvenient for his opponent to turn and counterattack.

They were not meant to cause damage.

They were meant to keep him fighting and drain Babidi's magic.

The Demon Realm warrior flew into a rage, spreading his arms as dark red energy erupted from his body.

A shockwave spread outward in a sphere.

Chen Mo was hurled two hundred meters away by the shockwave. He crossed his arms to block it, and an ominous sound came from the bones in his arms.

But he held steady.

The blood at the corner of his mouth froze into red crystals in the vacuum, drifting along the inside of the protective barrier.

One minute passed.

Chen Mo rushed back in, firing Kamehamehas one after another. They were not meant to break through, but to harass him and force him to keep expending energy.

The Demon Realm warrior chopped apart the first energy wave with one palm.

The second came from below and struck his chin.

The third went straight for the "M" mark on his forehead.

The Demon Realm warrior tilted his head aside to dodge, but his movements were slower than they had been a minute ago.

The "M" mark flickered faster and faster.

Two minutes.

The Demon Realm warrior's attacks became savage and chaotic, losing their earlier precision. His punches grew heavier and heavier, but their trajectories became straighter, easier to predict.

Chen Mo was hit three times.

The first blow smashed into his right shoulder, cracking his shoulder blade.

The second kick struck his waist, breaking two ribs.

The third punch slammed into his chest, sending Chen Mo flying like a cannonball.

He spat out blood in the void, and it drifted through the protective barrier as a red mist.

Two minutes and fifty seconds.

Ten seconds remained.

Chen Mo pulled out a Fruit of the Tree of Might from his clothes and bit into it.

Energy flooded into him. His broken bones fused back together, and his muscles repaired themselves.

He charged back in.

The final ten seconds.

Solar Flare.

A golden burst of light exploded in the void.

The Demon Realm warrior covered his eyes with both hands.

The Supreme Kai's purification technique descended at the same time.

Three minutes. Exactly three minutes.

White light enveloped the Demon Realm warrior's entire body. The "M" mark on his forehead gradually shattered within the glow, crumbling away piece by piece like dried, cracked mud.

The final purple fragment drifted away.

The Demon Realm warrior's eyes cleared from their murkiness, then closed. His body slowly sank through the void as he lost consciousness.

"It's over." The Supreme Kai lowered his hand.

Chen Mo floated in the void, gasping for breath, covered in wounds. The Fruit of the Tree of Might had not yet fully taken effect, and his ribs still ached faintly.

But he smiled.

For three minutes, an Earthling with sixty-six million power had held off a Demon Realm puppet with two hundred and thirty million power.

A year ago, he would not have lasted three seconds.

"You're a good fighter." The Supreme Kai looked at him, and there was something in his tone Chen Mo had not heard before.

"Let's go." Chen Mo wiped the bloody froth from the corner of his mouth. "Babidi's gotten far away."

The Supreme Kai nodded. The three continued their pursuit.

Babidi had not gone very far.

His magic power was truly almost depleted. The control links to all four puppets had been severed at once, and the backlash had cracked his magical core.

Chen Mo found him on the surface of a dark gray dwarf planet.

Babidi was curled up behind a massive boulder. His robe was in tatters, and the gem atop his staff had cracked in half.

His sallow yellow skin was covered in wounds. Those wounds had not been inflicted by anyone else—they were backlash injuries caused by his own forced overdraw of magic power.

"D-Don't... don't come any closer!"

Babidi raised his staff, his hand trembling.

"I'm warning you! My father's legacy is not something you can covet!"

The Supreme Kai stood before him without any intention of attacking.

"Babidi. Hand over the grimoire and abandon your plan to unseal Majin Buu. I can spare your life."

"What a joke!" Babidi screamed. "You hypocritical gods! Why didn't you finish the job when you sealed Majin Buu back then? You left loose ends! And now you come running to negotiate with me!"

"That is because Majin Buu cannot be killed." The Supreme Kai's voice was calm. "He condensed from chaos itself. He has no life core. Even if he is shattered into fragments at the molecular level, as long as there is enough magic power to catalyze them, he can reassemble. Sealing him was the only option at the time."

Babidi's face twitched.

"You're afraid of him." Babidi gave a creepy laugh. "The mighty Supreme Kai, afraid of a monster sealed away for millions of years."

"It isn't fear," the Supreme Kai said. "It is reverence for the universe."

"Heh." Babidi spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva. "Reverence? You call that thing in a sealed jar worthy of reverence?"

His expression suddenly changed.

The madness turned into a warped sort of calm.

"Do you know how many years I spent following in my father's footsteps?" Babidi lowered his voice. "A hundred years. A full hundred years. I collected magical formulas from every corner of the universe. I learned every spell my father left behind. I trained every warrior I could find."

"A hundred years, all to open that seal."

"But you're right. My magic power isn't enough. Not nearly enough. I can't control warriors strong enough, and I can't gather enough energy."

Babidi raised his staff.

Purple liquid flowed from the cracked gem.

Babidi's blood.

"So I prepared another path."

The hairs on Chen Mo's back stood on end.

The Scouter shrieked with warnings.

It was not an energy source. It was space.

Space itself was trembling.

"Babidi! Stop!" The Supreme Kai's expression changed drastically.

Babidi drove his staff into the ground.

Purple blood ran down the staff and seeped into the rock, spreading across the ground in intricate patterns.

A magic array.

Not one meant to unseal Majin Buu.

"I can't open the seal." Babidi's laughter turned shrill. "But I can open a door."

The patterns on the ground suddenly flared to life.

The entire dwarf planet trembled.

"Papara-pa—" Babidi began to chant. With every syllable, his body shrank by a circle. His skin withered, as if all his life force were being drained away.

"He's burning his lifespan!" Kibito charged forward.

The Supreme Kai raised a hand to stop him.

"It's too late." The Supreme Kai's voice sank. "The array has already taken shape. Forcing an interruption will trigger a spatial collapse."

"Then what do we—"

Chen Mo stared at the expanding patterns on the ground. At the center of the purple light, space tore open like a mouth.

Black.

Pure black.

Not the kind of black where light was absent, but the black left after light had been swallowed.

Beyond that rift lay a space that did not belong to this universe.

Demon Realm.

"HAHAHAHA!" Babidi threw his head back and laughed. His body had already shriveled into that of an old man. His staff was planted in the ground, its gem completely shattered.

"You think a rat driven into a corner only knows how to bite?" Babidi looked at the Supreme Kai. His eye sockets were sunken, but the madness in his eyes burned brighter than ever.

"Rats can dig, too."

"Dig up what lies beneath the ground."

The crack was widening.

From one meter. To five. To ten.

An aura slowly rose from the depths of the fissure.

Chen Mo's Scouter screen began to flicker. The numbers jumped several times, then it directly displayed a line of red text.

[Energy Level: Beyond Measurement Range]

[Recommendation: Evacuate Immediately]

The Supreme Kai stood before the fissure.

He did not move.

But Chen Mo saw his hand.

It was trembling again.

Worse than before.

"Supreme Kai." Chen Mo walked over and stood beside him.

The Supreme Kai said nothing.

The aura within the crack grew denser. Closer.

Something was walking over from the other side.