"Jiren!"
Vegeta had barely steadied himself when that towering silhouette appeared above the arena. The name ripped out of him before he could stop it. If Jiren was here, then that meant Kakarot… He bit the rest back, jaw tightening hard enough to creak.
"If even Kakarot… then our Seventh Universe… damn it."
He slammed a fist into the tiles, fury blazing in his eyes. The next instant his body blurred out of sight. He shot straight for Jiren.
"Hyah!"
Blue light traced a razor line through the air. Vegeta came to a dead stop right in front of Jiren and drove his fist forward.
Boom.
His full-force punch hit an invisible wall an inch from Jiren's chest and went no farther, as if the air itself had hardened to glass.
"Damn you!"
Vegeta roared and let fly. His hands became a storm, punches so fast they blurred into streaks of light. Every single strike froze that same inch away, smothered by pressure he could neither see nor break.
Jiren's patience thinned. He lifted a hand almost lazily and swatted. Vegeta tumbled away like debris in a gale.
"Final Flash!"
He steadied himself in midair, palms flaring, and hurled his strongest beam straight at Jiren. The war cry shook the void. The light could have split a continent.
Against absolute power, it meant nothing.
Jiren watched the incoming torrent and spoke without heat. "Compared to Son Goku, you are still too weak."
The words cut deeper than any blow.
"What?"
Humiliation twisted Vegeta's face. When had the Prince of all Saiyans ever been dismissed like this? Jiren turned to go. Vegeta flashed again, a blue comet slashing across the broken arena to plant himself back in Jiren's path.
"If Kakarot fell, then I will defeat you."
"You?" Jiren's tone edged into mockery. "On what ground?"
"On this!" Vegeta's voice cracked the air.
His aura surged. Power climbed and climbed. In the stands, Piccolo had reappeared without anyone noticing. His eyes sharpened, a bad thought striking home.
No. Vegeta, you are not…
"What is it, Mr. Piccolo?" Gohan asked, hearing the shift in his voice.
"If I am right, Vegeta is about to use the technique he unleashed against Majin Buu."
"You mean self-destruction?" Gohan shot to his feet.
Even the calmest of the Z Fighters could not hold still now. Heads turned in unison. Disbelief washed the row. Krillin stared at the growing golden glare on the arena and felt as if he were watching Vegeta's life drain away one glimmer at a time.
"That idiot," Beerus muttered, lower lip trembling. He had not imagined Vegeta would go this far. Even if he won like this, it would be a victory with no return.
He turned his head aside and refused to look.
Below, the stage was swallowed by gold. Even Vincent Fox backed off at once. Toppo stood his ground and pulled Destruction to his palms, forcing the violet into a massive sphere. He hurled it to meet Vegeta's onrushing blast head on.
Boom.
The collision sent a shock front that rolled all the way to the stands. The Grand Priest lifted one finger and tapped the air. Translucent barriers blossomed over every spectator tier.
"Much obliged, Grand Priest," several gods said in tight unison, bowing quickly.
"Please, continue watching," the Grand Priest replied.
On the arena, gold and violet writhed and chewed at each other like living things, swelling and knotting as each tried to devour the other.
"Haa!"
Toppo poured everything in. The purple-black began to swell, visibly eating the gold away.
Vegeta clenched his teeth and forced more of himself into the blast.
"It is useless. Hahaha!"
Toppo pushed harder, laughter booming. Destruction folded over the golden light like a mouth closing.
Then a spear of gold punched through the dark.
Toppo's grin died. He roared and shoved, but the golden force drove holes all through the violet sphere, then blew it apart from within.
A sun bloomed. The Nothingness Realm shuddered as if struck by a hammer. Vincent glanced back in time to see the wave swallow Toppo whole. The shock ripped across the arena, clearing rubble, bodies and towers alike. Several fighters were swept from the edge and vanished into the void.
At last the roar dwindled. A vast crater yawned where the stage had been. Smoke belched up in choking rolls.
Footsteps sounded from within.
Jiren emerged, clothes torn in places, proof that Vegeta's point-blank detonation had caught even him off guard. He turned away without a word. Faces on the Seventh Universe bench went gray.
"With power like that and still no real damage… is he a god or what?" Krillin whispered. Bald head or not, the gap felt cosmic.
He slammed the rail with a short, helpless bark. "Damn it… Vegeta…"
Silence fell like a pall over the Seventh Universe.
"Hey. Stop announcing my death."
The voice was hoarse and hostile, and it came from the crater.
Piccolo reacted first. "Vegeta?"
"No way. You're alive?"
"Call me dead again and see what happens to you, chrome dome." Vegeta staggered into view, clutching his arm, eyes still burning.
Out in the void, Jiren heard the exchange. He did not open his eyes, but he understood. He lifted his gaze to the seats where Toppo lay unconscious, then back to the battered but unbowed Saiyan Prince. He nodded once.
"You are strong."
----------------------------------------------------
The deeper he goes, the more the truth unravels. Don't wait read ahead and witness Vincent's rise before the world catches up!
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