Cell's Self-Destruction

On the wasteland, the battle had gone on for far too long.

Vegeta and Second Form Cell were both breathing heavily. The ground between them was riddled with craters, and the shattered rocks had already been ground to dust.

Cell's shell was covered in cracks, green fluid seeping from his wounds.

Vegeta wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and suddenly let out a cold laugh.

"I've had enough fun. I'm done playing with you."

Golden aura erupted around him—Super Saiyan 2!

Arcs of lightning shot from the aura, crackling wildly around his body.

The ground beneath his feet collapsed downward around him, while the shockwave hurled broken stones into the air.

Cell's smile froze.

"Y-You were hiding this kind of power?!"

Vegeta did not answer.

His figure vanished from where he stood.

Cell's pupils shrank sharply. He raised his arms to block on instinct, but the punch had already smashed into his face.

His shell cracked, and Cell was sent flying. After crashing through a mountain, before he could even catch his breath, Vegeta had appeared behind him and whipped a kick into his lower back.

Crack—the crisp sound of his spine shifting out of place.

Cell was kicked soaring upward. Vegeta appeared above him again, clasped his hands together, and smashed them down viciously.

Boom!

Cell slammed into the ground like a meteor, blasting open a deep crater. He struggled to climb up from the bottom, but Vegeta's attacks gave him no chance to breathe.

The golden figure flickered through the air at high speed, afterimages filling the sky, every one of them attacking.

Heavy punches, elbow strikes, knee blows, flying kicks—the rain-like assault poured down from every direction. Cell had no ability to fight back and could only take the beating.

Another heavy punch blasted into his chest, sending Cell flying once more and crashing through half a mountain.

Rubble collapsed over him, half-burying him beneath it.

Vegeta floated in midair, raising his right hand and aiming his palm toward Cell. Golden light gathered in his palm as lightning poured frantically into the sphere of energy.

"Final Flash!"

A golden beam erupted from his palm. Cell had just crawled out of the rubble when the beam struck him head-on.

Flames from the explosion shot into the sky, destroying the entire mountain.

The smoke cleared.

Cell knelt on one knee, not a single part of him unscathed. More than half his shell had shattered, and one of his arms could no longer be lifted.

Even with his tenacious life force, he was still alive. Cell's chest heaved violently, his eyes filled with despair as a trace of madness flashed through them.

"Enough..."

Cell's voice was hoarse and low. He had been driven completely over the edge.

"Enough—! You think this is over?!"

His body began to swell, his entire form bulging outward as destructive energy rapidly gathered within him. The pulse of that energy was enough to make one's hair stand on end.

"He's going to self-destruct!" Future Trunks's face turned deathly pale. "He'll blow up the entire Earth!"

Vegeta stood in the air, the arrogance on his face finally freezing.

Faced with such a mutually destructive move, even he did not know what to do for the moment.

If he attacked by force, Cell would detonate immediately. If he did not attack, Cell would still explode. Vegeta gritted his teeth, his fists clenched so tightly that veins bulged across them, yet he did not move.

Cell's body swelled larger and larger until its original shape could no longer be seen. Uncontrolled arcs of energy crackled over its surface.

His voice came from within, filled with utter madness.

"Let's die together—with this planet!"

At that moment, Son Goku moved. He closed his eyes and raised two fingers to his forehead.

His ki sensing spread to its limit, rapidly searching the depths of space. Lucky—I found them!

Several faint yet familiar ki signatures drifted in a distant star field.

Frieza's remnants.

Son Goku was overjoyed. A smile tugged at his lips as he shouted to Vegeta, "Vegeta, fall back!"

Then his figure flashed, and Instant Transmission activated. He appeared in front of the swollen ball of flesh.

Cell's body had expanded to its limit. Cracks began appearing across its surface, and dazzling white light leaked from them.

"You're a good opponent." Son Goku looked at Cell, his tone calm. "But I absolutely can't let you endanger Earth."

Cell's mocking laughter came from within, his voice twisted with insanity. "The Earth you want to protect... is about to explode... Hahahaha..."

"Is that so? I don't think so."

Son Goku raised two fingers to his forehead again, pressing his other hand against Cell's swollen body. Instant Transmission!

Deep in space.

A disc-shaped spaceship was cruising through the void.

Inside, several surviving Frieza Force soldiers sat around a dining table piled high with delicacies looted from various planets.

Their leader was a hulking purple-skinned man, raising his glass as he laughed heartily.

"Boss, where are we going to have fun after we unload this batch of goods?"

"To that vacation planet in North Galaxy! I liked the look of it when we passed by last time—food, drinks, entertainment, the whole package. Once we sell this lot, we'll treat ourselves properly, boys!"

"Boss is awesome!"

They raised their glasses, laughter echoing through the cabin.

No one noticed that two figures had suddenly appeared in the starry sky beyond the window.

Son Goku released Cell and glanced toward the spaceship.

"Yo, hello there."

Then Instant Transmission activated again, and he vanished.

Everyone aboard the ship froze. The purple-skinned brute rubbed his eyes, thinking he had drunk too much.

Still holding his glass, he walked to the window to see whether he had imagined it. Then he saw a massive ball of flesh rapidly expanding, its surface covered in cracks as blinding white light shone from within.

The glass fell to the floor. No one had time to scream.

BOOM—!!!!

An explosion brighter than a star blossomed in space. The shockwave swept outward in a sphere, and the spaceship turned to ash and vaporized the instant it touched it.

Nearby asteroids and meteors were pulverized by the shockwave, and the entire region of space was swept clean.

The light of the explosion lasted for more than ten seconds before gradually fading.

Nothing remained where the spaceship had once been.

The survivors' final thought was probably that they should have checked the calendar before leaving home.

Earth, on the wasteland.

Son Goku reappeared, his two fingers just lowering from his forehead.

Vegeta, Krillin, and Future Trunks immediately gathered around him.

"How did it go?" Krillin asked anxiously.

"It's fine now." Son Goku grinned. "While I was searching for ki, I happened to find a small Frieza Force unit, so I took Cell to them."

Everyone blanked for a second, then Krillin was the first to burst out laughing.

"That's so like you, Goku!"

"Hahaha, you really know how to come up with things." Even Vegeta showed a rare smile.

Future Trunks let out a long breath, and the tension finally faded from his face.

In the depths of space, the aftershock of the explosion had already dissipated.

Floating dust and debris slowly spread through the vacuum.

Amid the silent wreckage, a piece of tissue no larger than a fingernail floated quietly.

It was the most crucial piece of cellular tissue from Cell's brain core. In the final instant before his self-destruction, he had compressed it to the absolute limit and hidden it in the deepest part of his body.

Piccolo's genetic regenerative ability began to function—so long as a core cell survived, an entire body could grow back.

Frieza's genes ensured that it would not completely die in the vacuum, while the near-death enhancement brought by Saiyan genes took effect at the same time.

That core began to squirm. Cells divided, muscle extended outward, and a skeletal structure formed in the vacuum.

Organs regrew one by one, and a new outer shell covered the body.

Throughout the entire process, Cell remained conscious. In the empty universe, he could feel his body rebuilding itself bit by bit.