The sounds of impact echoed through the air with rhythmic, mechanical precision.
Cell moved like a whirlwind, his strikes raining down on Majin Buu with a complexity that left the monster looking like a common punching bag. It wasn't that Buu was letting him; though the Majin often toyed with enemies due to his near-immortality, here he was genuinely struggling.
Cell was exploiting the "unconscious blind spots"—those split-second gaps in attention that even a magical entity couldn't avoid. When Buu focused his guard high, Cell struck low. When Buu braced for a kick, Cell's fist found a gap in his ribs. He gave the monster no room to breathe, no moment to pivot from defense to offense.
"I... hate you!" Buu roared, throwing a wild, desperate straight punch.
Cell leaned back by a hair's breadth, a cold smirk never leaving his face. He caught Buu by his pink head-appendage, pinning him in place while unleashing a brutal flurry of punches. Because he held the appendage, Buu couldn't even fly away; he was bounced back and forth like a tetherball made of muscle.
"Incredible," the Supreme Kai stammered from the sidelines. "First Goku, and now this Cell... to think there are mortals who can dominate Majin Buu like this."
It was a staggering realization for the god. A monster that had slaughtered the divine hierarchy was being dismantled by a bio-android—a product of the very "primitive" science of Earth.
However, despite the technical dominance, the war of attrition favored Buu. The monster felt no pain. Any wound Cell inflicted closed instantly. He had no stamina limit, while Cell, despite his incredible constitution, was still biological. He drew from a finite—albeit massive—pool of energy.
"Magnificent regeneration," Cell noted, watching Buu stand up from a crater as if nothing had happened. "If I had possessed your cells when I was created, I might truly have been perfect."
In this timeline, Lisette had guarded Buu's seal until the very end, meaning Dr. Gero's drones had never been able to sample the Majin's DNA. To Cell, Buu was the ultimate missing ingredient.
"Turn into chocolate!"
A beam of magical energy erupted from Buu's head. Cell dodged, the beam striking a nearby lizard instead. The reptile was instantly transformed into a small bar of chocolate.
"A transmutation beam," Cell mused, his eyes widening slightly. "A one-shot victory regardless of power levels... how dangerous."
"Hehe! You missed! I'll hit you next time!"
"A curious coincidence," Cell replied, slowly opening his right hand as gold ki began to condense. "I was just about to show you a trick of my own. I usually find this technique distasteful because it ends a fight too quickly, but for you, I'll make a special exception."
Cell surged forward, closing the distance before Buu could fire again.
"What—?!"
"Let's shake on it, Majin Buu."
Cell reached out and firmly grasped Buu's hand. It wasn't an attack. It was a simple handshake. But it was his most broken trump card.
The reason he never used it was simple: it was too effective. It made martial arts irrelevant. But Cell possessed the genetic data of Monster Carrot. In this timeline, the rabbit boss had been reformed by Lisette and Bulma early on, and his DNA had been integrated into Cell's design.
Usually, Cell's Saiyan pride—inherited from Goku and Vegeta—demanded a fair fight. He had only considered using it once before against Broly, but the power gap had been so vast that the ability likely would have been resisted. Against this Buu clone, however, the conditions were perfect.
"!!?"
Buu's face twisted in shock. A moment later, the pink terror vanished, replaced by a harmless, long-eared carrot.
Cell tossed the Majin Carrot into the air and gathered ki in his palm.
"Begone."
Even a Majin couldn't regenerate from being atomized while in a transmuted state. A single blast of ki consumed the vegetable, erasing the second Buu clone from existence.
+++
White and blue capes fluttered in the wind as two figures crossed paths in the sky. One was the King of the Demon Realm; the other, the reincarnation of the Great Demon King.
Piccolo and Dabura traded blows with savage intensity. Fists, elbows, knees, and shoulders collided, each impact sending shockwaves that shattered the surrounding rock formations. Birds fled the area in a panic as the two "Demon Kings" pushed each other to the limit.
They locked hands, entering a test of raw strength.
"Ngh...!"
"Grrr...!"
Veins bulged in their forearms as they glared at one another. Piccolo pushed; Dabura pushed back. The air warped around them from the sheer pressure of their ki. As they descended, the ground beneath their boots turned to dust, unable to withstand the downward force.
Piccolo found an opening first, firing twin beams of light from his eyes.
Dabura leaned his upper body back, the beams grazing his chest, and used the momentum to drive a kick into Piccolo's jaw. The Namekian was sent flying, and Dabura pursued instantly. He lunged with a piercing strike, his fist tearing through Piccolo's white cape—but only the cape.
"Got you!"
Piccolo, having shed his weighted clothing, appeared above Dabura and hammered an elbow into the demon's skull. Dabura hit the ground hard, skidding into a defensive crouch.
Piccolo dove from the sky, his hand raised in a lethal knife-strike. Dabura raised his arms to block, but Piccolo vanished mid-air, reappearing at the demon's side. The overhead attack had been a feint.
With no time to block, Dabura did the only thing he could: he spat.
Piccolo reflexively raised his arm to shield his face. It saved his life, but cost him a limb.
"What?! This...!"
The arm that had caught the spit turned to cold, grey stone instantly. Dabura smirked, regaining his composure as Piccolo's momentum died. In an instant, the tide had turned.
But Piccolo was a veteran. Realizing the limb was a liability, he didn't hesitate. He used his other hand to chop his own stone arm off at the shoulder.
"You've lost an arm," Dabura sneered. "A wise sacrifice, but you cannot defeat me now."
"Is that so?"
Piccolo focused his will on the stump. With a wet, tearing sound, a brand-new arm exploded from his shoulder, fully formed and ready for battle.
"A Namekian's regeneration," Piccolo growled, flexing his new fingers. "It was a mistake to show me that trick so early. Now that I know what to look for, you'll never hit me with it again."
The two took to the sky once more, flaring their ki for a long-range exchange.
"Hah!"
"Dah-dah-dah-dah!"
Red and blue ki bolts filled the air. Dabura's aim was perfect, his red blasts streaking toward Piccolo's heart. Piccolo responded with a frantic volley of his own, but his aim seemed off—many of his shots missed Dabura entirely, flying off into the empty sky.
"Hahaha! Fool! Where are you aiming?!"
"Ngh... damn it!"
Dabura's confidence grew as his blasts began to find their mark, scorching Piccolo's skin. The Namekian looked battered, his purple blood staining his gi. Dabura prepared a finishing blow, looking down at the "weak" warrior.
"Wait... why are you smiling?" Dabura paused.
Piccolo, despite his wounds, was wearing a predatory grin. "I told you... the 'fool' is you."
Piccolo opened his palms. Suddenly, the ki bolts that had "missed" earlier—the ones currently floating in the sky behind Dabura—vibrated and turned around.
Dabura realized too late: they hadn't been misses. They had been traps.
"Hellzone Grenade!!"
The suspended orbs of energy slammed into Dabura from every direction simultaneously. The concentrated explosion was far more lethal than a single beam. A pillar of fire erupted into the sky, and when it faded, a charred, mangled Dabura was left gasping for air.
Piccolo didn't give him a second to recover. He moved in for the kill, his fists a blur of motion. He hammered through Dabura's broken guard, striking his solar plexus, his ribs, and finally his jaw.
Dabura tried to gather spit in his mouth for a last-ditch counter, but Piccolo anticipated it. A sharp uppercut caught the demon's chin, forcing his mouth shut so hard his own fangs shattered.
"This is for the Earth!"
Piccolo threw a final right straight, launching Dabura high into the air. Before the demon could even stop his ascent, Piccolo placed two fingers to his forehead, gathering a spiraling vortex of energy.
"Special Beam Cannon!!"
The drill-like beam tore through the sky, piercing Dabura's chest and obliterating his heart.
Coughing up blood, the King of the Demon Realm stared at the hole in his chest with fading eyes. "Impossible... for a King... to fall on a backwater rock like this..."
"You chose the wrong planet," Piccolo said coldly. "This is where the strongest in the universe gather."
As the light left his eyes, Dabura's last thoughts were of his sister.
"Go... Gohan... Towa... escape... they are... too strong... Towa? Where... are you...? I can't... sense your ki... Did they get you too...?"
Dabura's mangled body hit the ground. He tried to crawl, his movements weak and pathetic. He called his sister's name one last time, a look of profound loneliness on his face.
Goku might have shown mercy. Lisette might have hesitated.
But Piccolo was a Demon King. He raised a hand toward the dying creature and unleashed a final blast, reducing Dabura to cosmic dust.
+++
Goku: Destroyed Buu Clone A (Dragon Fist).
Cell: Transmuted and destroyed Buu Clone B (Monster Carrot Ability).
Piccolo: Killed Dabura (Special Beam Cannon).
Lisette: Has already erased Mira and Towa.
Remaining Enemies: One Majin Buu clone (currently facing Vegeta, Turles, and Nappa).
***
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