Piccolo... No

The sky above the ruins had long since been dyed a shattered deep purple by interwoven waves of energy.

Nappa's mountain-like body finally let out a cracking sound of collapse under the combined pressure of Piccolo and Gohan. Determination flashed in Piccolo's sharp demon eyes as he gathered every last bit of his remaining ki at his fingertips. Together with Gohan's berserk energy blast, he forcibly tore one of Nappa's massive arms off at the shoulder.

On the other side, the battle had reached an unprecedented deadlock.

Vegeta, the Saiyan prince who had once looked down upon entire galaxies, had fallen into the most humiliating predicament of his life. Goku's storm-like barrage of red-lit blows, combined with Chen He's elusive "Time Stop Flash," had nearly driven his proud martial arts skills into a corner.

"Damn it! You lowly Earth vermin!"

The instant Vegeta dodged one of Chen He's side kicks, he sprang backward. For the first time, a savage killing intent appeared on his arrogant face. Pressing his hands together, he condensed a dazzling, nearly solid sphere of energy between his palms and hurled it toward the top of the clouds.

"Witness the limits of you idiots! Artificial Moon!"

Boom—!

A pale artificial full moon erupted at the edge of Earth's atmosphere.

The instant its light fell, Vegeta's small body emitted the teeth-grinding sound of twisting muscles. His bones expanded, and his fur grew wildly. Over there, Nappa—who had already been utterly crippled by Piccolo and Gohan—even with only one arm left, let out a horrific howl the moment he was touched by that wavelength. His body visibly began to grow.

Two Great Apes, each a hundred meters tall, rose from the devastated land.

"Roar—!!!"

The trembling earth made Chen He's pupils narrow slightly. The system's cold voice flashed through his mind. The enormous amount of points gained from completing the mission after defeating Vegeta allowed him to redeem the forbidden technique he had dreamed of without a moment's hesitation.

"Perfect, come at us together!" There was no fear in Goku's eyes. Instead, an almost frenzied fighting spirit burned within them.

The auras around the two of them instantly fused, transforming into two red tornadoes that charged toward the two Great Apes blotting out the sky.

"Tenfold Kaio-ken!"

"Kaio-ken!"

Two furious roars erupted across the wasteland at the same time.

Piccolo chose to hold Nappa back. With his Great Ape Transformation, Nappa was simply not someone Piccolo could defeat. Nappa sent Piccolo flying with one punch, smashing him into a mountain. Piccolo coughed up a mouthful of blood.

"You little bug." Nappa struck Piccolo disdainfully. Unable to dodge in time, Piccolo was caught in Nappa's hand, and anguished screams rang out one after another.

"Piccolo!"

"Worry about yourselves!" Vegeta threw a punch. Goku flipped through the air several times before being smashed into a mountain as well. "You're next!"

Rumble—!

Nappa's enormous body froze in midair for a second before crashing heavily to the ground like a kite with its string cut. He returned to his original form and, amid painful convulsions, closed his eyes forever.

The instant Vegeta saw his subordinate die, before he could even react, Chen He and Goku's iron fists were already waiting for him.

Amid the red energy currents filling the sky, Vegeta's Great Ape body cracked apart inch by inch like fragile porcelain. In the end, under the pair's final combined strike, he let out a mournful cry and reverted to his original form.

As the dust cleared, the setting sun was blood-red.

Vegeta lay sprawled in a crater of shattered stone. Every bone in his body had been broken, and he did not even have the strength to lift a finger. As he watched the figures slowly approaching him, his eyes still held that pride and unwillingness rooted deep in his bones. But now, that unwillingness had been thoroughly replaced by terror.

Struggling, he used his bloodied hands to crawl across the ground inch by inch toward the spherical spacecraft in the distance, half-buried beneath the energy storm from earlier.

He wanted to live.

Only by living could he take revenge for all of this.

Chen He silently watched that pathetic crawling figure. He did not finish him off, nor did he say a word. He merely stood there in silence.