The attack knocked Goku straight out of Super Saiyan God. Vegeta fared little better; the divine power he had layered over Super Saiyan 4 collapsed, turning his hair black again as he dropped back to the ordinary form.
"Damn it…" Vegeta dragged himself up through the pain, one hand pressed against his chest.
Trunks had been watching the entire time, yet Fused Zamasu had crossed the distance so quickly that his eyes had registered nothing between the moment he moved and the moment Goku and Vegeta hit the ground.
"Did he actually attack them? I didn't see anything!"
"That's the Potara fusion for you." Piccolo had caught little more than a blur himself, which immediately made him wonder whether Kale's sharper instincts had done any better. "Kale, did you see him move?"
"Not clearly…"
Piccolo almost turned the same question toward Gohan, but stopped himself before saying anything.
Gohan caught the hesitation and immediately understood why.
Wonderful. He had apparently reached the point where nobody even bothered asking whether he could follow the fight.
Still, Trunks was here.
Surely he was at least stronger than Trunks.
Fused Zamasu spread his arms and admired how effortlessly his new body responded to every thought.
"So this is the power created by the Potara! Incredible!"
His excitement rapidly turned into a shrill, triumphant cackle. He threw his head back and opened his mouth wide enough that Mai finally lost patience.
Her rifle cracked.
The bullet disappeared straight into Fused Zamasu's mouth, killing his laughter in the middle of a breath.
For the next several seconds, the self-proclaimed supreme god of creation doubled over coughing until the bullet finally clattered onto the ground. By the time he straightened, his divine composure had been thoroughly replaced by humiliation.
"You miserable mortal! I'll kill you!"
Trunks immediately drew his sword and planted himself between Mai and Zamasu, while Kale pulled Gohan forward to stand beside him.
"You'll have to deal with us first," Gohan said.
Fused Zamasu swept a murderous glare across the three of them before deciding they could wait.
"I'll deal with all of you after I finish these two."
Trunks reached back and took Mai's hand.
"That was a great shot."
Gohan could not resist adding his approval.
"Seriously. That laugh was getting unbearable."
Mai lowered the rifle, a little embarrassed by all the praise.
"Thanks…"
Fused Zamasu turned his attention back to Goku and Vegeta.
"You two will die first."
Vegeta wiped the blood from his mouth and straightened.
"Don't get carried away because one surprise attack worked. You've actually made this easier for me. There were two pests to kill before; now there's only one."
God ki ignited over his Super Saiyan 4 power again, red flames surging around him as he launched himself at Fused Zamasu.
Zamasu kept his back turned until Vegeta entered striking distance.
Then he glanced over his shoulder with a smile.
Vegeta's punch cut through empty air.
Fused Zamasu slipped past him and answered with a vicious combination, hammering Vegeta across the ribs, stomach, and face before he could recover his balance. Blood sprayed from Vegeta's mouth as the final strike buried him in the ground, and the unstable divine layer around his Super Saiyan 4 form shattered on impact.
"Vegeta!" Goku shouted.
Trunks clenched his fists as his father pushed himself upright and spat a mouthful of blood into the rubble.
The ease with which Fused Zamasu had broken the new transformation bothered Gohan immediately.
"Piccolo, I thought Dad—Vegeta's stacked form was supposed to be much stronger than that."
"It is," Piccolo replied. "But he only created it yesterday. He can force Super Saiyan God on top of Super Saiyan 4, but he hasn't mastered the balance between them yet. If that balance breaks during combat, so does the form."
That made far more sense than Vegeta suddenly becoming weaker. His peak had risen enormously; he simply could not hold it reliably yet.
Fused Zamasu flexed his fingers and rolled his shoulders, increasingly delighted by how naturally the fusion obeyed him.
"Every movement comes more easily than I imagined. Of course it does. Two versions of the same perfect being were meant to become one."
Goku had heard enough.
Blue light erupted around him as he forced his battered body into Super Saiyan Blue.
Trunks remembered Goku admitting only minutes earlier that he barely had enough stamina left to maintain the form. Apparently, whatever remained was being spent now.
Goku shot forward.
Fused Zamasu barely moved. A slight lift of his hand sent invisible divine power around Goku's body and dragged him out of his charge.
Goku hit the ground, rolled backward with the impact, planted both feet, and sprang forward again before Zamasu could capitalize.
The second attack met the same invisible force.
This time Zamasu spun him several times through the air before driving him headfirst into the pavement.
"You may as well be standing still, Son Goku." Fused Zamasu approached without urgency, savoring the reversal. "You had quite a lot to say when I was still separated."
Goku remained on the ground while Zamasu closed the distance.
"Who was it you called weaker than Trunks?"
By the time Fused Zamasu reached him, Goku already had both hands cupped at his side.
"Kamehameha!"
The beam erupted at point-blank range and tore through Zamasu's chest, leaving a gaping hole where his heart should have been.
Gohan leaned forward as Zamasu toppled onto the rubble.
"That had to do something!"
Kale shared the hope until the body moved again.
Fused Zamasu pushed himself upright, and the hole through his torso closed so smoothly that within seconds there was no sign Goku's attack had ever landed.
Piccolo's expression darkened as the implication became obvious.
"His immortality survived the fusion."
"Perfect." Fused Zamasu ran a hand across his restored chest. "Even my regeneration remains flawless."
He opened both palms toward Goku and Vegeta.
Invisible force closed around their throats and lifted them into the air.
Their arms and legs refused to answer them. The pressure tightened until both Saiyans were struggling just to breathe, while Fused Zamasu watched with open satisfaction.
"Now you can appreciate how far beyond you I've become."
Goku fought against the restraint without gaining so much as an inch.
"Vegeta… I think we're in trouble."
"You think?" Vegeta snapped. "If you hadn't ruined the sealing technique, we wouldn't be fighting this thing!"
"How was I supposed to know Master Roshi gave me the wrong talisman?"
"You know Ultra Instinct! Use it! What are you saving it for, the final chapter?"
Goku sounded almost embarrassed by the answer.
"It feels more dramatic if I use it at the right moment."
For several seconds, Vegeta's rage toward Zamasu had serious competition.
Goku hurried to explain before Vegeta found some impossible way to attack him while immobilized.
"I couldn't use it even if I wanted to. The Mafuba drained too much of my energy."
That did absolutely nothing to improve Vegeta's mood.
"It really takes a lot out of you," Goku continued. "There's a reason Master Roshi died when he tried to seal King Piccolo."
Piccolo had tolerated being dragged into this conversation long enough.
"Stop using me as an example while you're being strangled!"
Fused Zamasu's patience finally broke.
"Do you idiots think this is a game?"
His divine power detonated.
The blast swallowed Goku and Vegeta and expanded across the ruined city, pulverizing the remaining buildings and gouging an enormous crater into the earth. For an instant, a brilliant dome of energy covered the landscape before collapsing into smoke and fire.
When the dust began to clear, Fused Zamasu remained suspended above the crater.
Vegeta lay facedown at the bottom, battered and barely moving. Goku had somehow remained standing, but Super Saiyan Blue was gone and his body shook under the effort of keeping himself upright.
Piccolo and the others had been far enough away to escape the center of the explosion, though the shockwave still tore through their position.
"Everyone still in one piece?" Piccolo called as the dust rolled past them.
Gohan and Kale answered immediately, and Trunks confirmed he was unharmed before looking toward Mai.
She was no longer beside him.
The blast had thrown her across the rubble.
"Mai!"
Trunks raced over and carefully lifted her shoulders from the ground.
"I'm okay," she said through the pain. "Nothing feels broken."
"I should've stayed closer to you."
"You were trying not to get blown away too. Don't blame yourself."
Above the crater, Fused Zamasu threw his arms wide and reveled in the devastation.
"This is perfection! This power exceeds even my imagination! I can overturn the very order of creation itself!"
His laughter rolled over the battlefield.
"Ken means nothing now! Let him come. I'll grind him beneath my feet and show him which of us is the true god!"
Vegeta had no patience left for speeches.
"Kakarot! Quit standing around and heal me! You were the one bragging about knowing how!"
"Right, right."
Goku started toward him, only to remember something halfway down the crater. His hand went inside his clothes and came back with a single Senzu Bean.
"Oh! I still have one."
Vegeta could not decide whether to be relieved or furious that Kakarot had forgotten it until now.
Fused Zamasu continued preaching from above them.
"Countless gods infest creation. Gods who watch over individual worlds. The Kais of the North, South, East, and West. The Supreme Kais and Gods of Destruction who preside over all twelve universes."
Crimson light gathered around his hands.
"None of them are necessary. No intelligent life other than myself deserves to exist!"
Streams of red energy launched into the sky like fireworks before splitting apart and raining across the battlefield.
Goku threw himself over Vegeta and pulled him clear of the first barrage.
More streaks curved toward Trunks, Mai, Piccolo, Gohan, and Kale.
Kale moved first.
Yellow-green power exploded from her body as she transformed into the Legendary Super Saiyan and flew directly into the descending attacks. Each swing of her arm knocked another crimson streak away from the group.
Lightning soon began crawling through the yellow-green aura.
Legendary Super Saiyan Two.
Kale had just launched herself toward Fused Zamasu when Goku intercepted her path.
"Wait, Kale."
She stopped in midair, clearly expecting him to explain why.
"I haven't had my turn yet."
Even Kale needed a moment to process that answer.
Goku looked down toward Vegeta.
"You've been fighting him and Goku Black for ages. It's my turn now, right?"
Vegeta's pride resisted the idea, but the state of his body made the argument difficult to sustain. After a brief hesitation, he gave a reluctant nod.
"Kale, hold off for a bit," Goku said. "If I can't handle him, you can jump in afterward."
"All right."
She returned to Gohan's side, while Goku drew a deep breath and appeared across from Fused Zamasu.
"Hey, Zamasu! Stop throwing attacks at everyone else. Fight me one-on-one."
The proposal amused Fused Zamasu enough to interrupt his barrage.
"One-on-one? You still haven't understood what stands before you."
"Maybe not." Goku summoned Super Saiyan Blue again despite how little energy remained. "That's why I want to find out."
"Then come."
Fused Zamasu beckoned him forward.
Vegeta descended near Piccolo and the others, allowing Goku to take over without further complaint.
Goku attacked immediately.
For several exchanges he managed to keep pace, but his exhausted body could not sustain the pressure. Fused Zamasu caught an opening and drove a kick into his torso, sending him skidding backward with enough force to carve two long trenches through the ground.
Instead of pursuing him, Zamasu raised one hand.
A massive black cube formed above his palm.
Goku barely had time to wonder what it was before the block came crashing toward him.
He jumped aside, and the cube demolished the ground where he had been standing.
Another appeared in Zamasu's hand.
Then a third.
Soon the battlefield was filling with enormous blocks of Katchin, one of the hardest materials in the universe, each hurled with enough force to crush whatever lay beneath it.
Goku dodged several before the repetition began to irritate him.
"How many of those are you going to throw?"
Two more cubes screamed toward him.
Goku raised his hand.
"I can do that too, you know."
His own divine power caught the incoming Katchin.
Both cubes vanished from their original paths and reappeared directly above Fused Zamasu.
They slammed onto his head before he could react, driving him into the earth and trapping most of his body beneath their weight.
A muffled cry came from below. Only one green hand remained exposed beside the blocks.
Vegeta walked over, looked down at it, and deliberately ground his boot onto the fingers.
The howl from beneath the Katchin was immediate.
Goku approached with an easy grin.
"You all right down there? You're not the only one who knows telekinesis."
The blocks exploded upward.
Fused Zamasu burst free, hurled both pieces of Katchin aside, and fixed Goku with a murderous glare.
"So those tricks you learned as a Supreme Kai apprentice aren't going to give you much of an advantage against me," Goku said.
"I'll kill you!"
Fused Zamasu launched himself forward, then twisted his head toward Vegeta without slowing.
"And you! Don't think I forgot what you did! You filthy mortal actually stepped on my hand!"
Vegeta answered with a satisfied smirk.
Fused Zamasu turned back toward Goku just in time to smash face-first into another Katchin cube.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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