"It's no use... it's all over... He's going to kill us. He's going to kill every last one of us... Run... there's no way we can win..."
Vegeta lay face-down in the dirt, his voice a hollow whisper of despair. Having witnessed the absolute defeat of Goku and Lisette—both of whom he was forced to admit were stronger than himself—any trace of fighting spirit had vanished. The reality of the Legend had completely paralyzed the Prince.
Suddenly, a green hand clamped around his hair and yanked his head up. It was Piccolo, looking down at him with a gaze of icy contempt.
"Stop babbling in your sleep! If you've got time to pout, you've got time to fight!"
"Y-You don't... you don't understand..." Vegeta stammered, his eyes glazed with terror. "He is the Legendary Super Saiyan. He isn't someone we were meant to defeat..."
"Tch. And you call yourself the Prince of Saiyans!"
Piccolo felt a deep, heavy disappointment. He had always found Vegeta arrogant and selfish, but he had at least respected the man's genius for combat. But this? To give up without even trying? To abandon the fight because the enemy was "too strong"?
Where was the warrior race that supposedly lived for the thrill of the kill? Piccolo realized that Vegeta didn't want a "fight"; he wanted a "guaranteed victory." The moment his pride met true terror, it shattered like glass.
With a look of pure disgust, Piccolo clicked his tongue loudly. He took to the air, literally dragging the limp, broken Prince by the hair. He didn't care about Vegeta's consent. This man was the one who had recklessly triggered this crisis; he was going to be present for the ending, one way or another.
"L-Let go...!" Vegeta whimpered, but his body remained a lead weight of fear.
***
As Broly leveled his hand to deliver the killing blow to the unconscious Lisette, a ki blast streaked in from the side, knocking his aim off-course. The energy detonated against a distant ruin.
Broly's brow furrowed in irritation. He looked toward the source, his gaze climbing until it reached the top of a jagged, needle-like spire rising from the palace ruins. Standing there, arms crossed against the dark sky, was a green, insect-like humanoid.
Perfect Cell descended, landing softly in front of the wounded Goddess. He kept his back to her, a confident, sophisticated smirk on his face. Broly, for his part, didn't seem concerned. To him, this was just another insect crawling out of the woodwork.
"Another piece of trash comes to die?"
"I see..." Cell mused, eyes narrowing as he scanned the titan. "You really are more of a monster than the stories suggested."
"A monster? No. I am the Devil."
"Heh. Tell me... would you like to help me with my morning warm-up?"
Cell uncrossed his arms. Broly stood his ground, smiling. It was an act of supreme arrogance—and a fatal opening.
In a flicker, Cell vanished. He exploited Broly's overconfidence, appearing directly in his guard and driving an elbow into the giant's chin.
"HAAAA!"
Kick, punch, knee, strike, jab!
A blur of green and gold erupted. Cell's strikes were a masterclass in efficiency, fueled by Lisette's technical data. He pushed Broly back with a relentless barrage. The damage was minuscule—perhaps one-millionth of Broly's total health—but it was damage. For the first time, Broly realized he was facing an actual opponent.
"Hahaha! Finally! This might actually be fun!"
Broly lunged with a massive hook, but Cell flowed around the strike just as Lisette had. But unlike Lisette, Cell had the raw power to follow up with a punishing counter-offensive.
"You have power, certainly," Cell taunted, driving a knee into Broly's solar plexus. "But your technique is amateurish!"
Cell's leg snapped up, catching Broly under the jaw and sending him reeling. Before Broly could recover, Cell performed a falling axe-kick, burying his heel in the titan's skull. As he landed, Cell spun on his heel, delivering a momentum-heavy roundhouse to Broly's temple. Broly swung a lariat in response, but he hit only an afterimage.
"Manifest: Swords!"
Using Lisette's signature Ki Solidification, Cell manifested over a hundred glowing blades in the sky. They rained down like a silver curtain, pinning Broly in a storm of explosions.
"KAMEHAMEHA!!"
Cell followed up immediately. He gathered a massive amount of ki—more than Goku currently possessed—and unleashed a blue-white torrent that swallowed Broly whole. The beam was so powerful it carved a new canyon into the planet's surface.
As the light faded, Broly emerged from the smoke and lunged, grabbing Cell by the head.
"Gah!"
"What was... that... supposed to be?" Broly growled.
He prepared a point-blank uppercut. Recognizing the danger, Cell performed a desperate maneuver: he shifted his Corefrom his head down into his pelvis just as Broly's fist pulverized his skull.
Purple blood and mechanical fragments sprayed everywhere. The headless body of Cell was launched into the air, but he performed a mid-air recovery and landed gracefully. Within seconds, a new head sprouted from his neck, fully formed.
"Heh... a pity for you," Cell smirked. "I have Piccolo's cells as well. It will take more than that to kill me."
"Trash..."
"I must admit, your strength is troublesome. I suppose I'll have to get serious."
Cell crossed his arms, his ki beginning to vibrate. A brilliant, blue-white aura erupted around him, accompanied by arcs of bio-electricity. The entire planet began to shudder in response to his rising power.
Liberation.
Cell had pushed past the wall, entering the state of Super Perfect Cell—the equivalent of a Super Saiyan 2.
"Now," Cell declared, his voice echoing with divine authority. "Let the real battle begin!"
"WAAAAAAAGH!"
The two monsters collided. Broly held the advantage in raw ki and physical mass, but Cell possessed superior speed and the martial arts legacy of Lisette. It was a clash of Violence vs. Technique. They moved at speeds that left only shockwaves and thunderclaps in their wake.
Buildings collapsed from the mere pressure of their passage. Broly's misses shattered the earth; Cell's misses vaporized the clouds. Cell relied on technical volume, landing ten strikes for every one of Broly's, slowly chipping away at the titan's near-infinite durability. Broly, meanwhile, relied on the "One-Hit Kill." He didn't care how many times he was hit; he only needed to catch Cell once to end the fight.
"HAAAA!"
Cell accelerated further, becoming a green streak that hammered Broly from every direction. North, south, up, down—Cell was everywhere at once.
Suddenly, Cell stopped in mid-air and split into four identical copies.
"Multiform Technique!"
Unlike Tien's version, which divided the user's power by four, Cell's "Perfection" allowed him to maintain his full power level in each body. Four Super-Perfect-level warriors now surrounded the Legendary Super Saiyan.
It was the ultimate expression of his design. He had Goku's stamina, Gohan's genius, Piccolo's regeneration, and Lisette's divine martial arts.
"SOLAR FLARE!"
One Cell blinded Broly with a burst of light. In that opening, the other three charged their fingertips.
"SPECIAL BEAM CANNON!"
Three spiraling drills of purple light struck Broly squarely in the chest. They hit the same point with mathematical precision. But they didn't penetrate. Broly's muscular wall was too dense; the beams dissipated against his skin without reaching his heart.
Cell clicked his tongue in frustration and merged back into one, launching a fresh assault. The coordination was flawless—Cell attacked, Broly countered, and Cell used his "Relaxation" to flow through the impact and land a counter-jab.
Piccolo, who had arrived with the broken Vegeta, watched in awe. He had dropped Vegeta in the dirt and was clutching a bag of Senzu beans, transfixed by the high-level combat.
"It's... it's no use..." Vegeta whispered from the ground. "His ki... it isn't falling. It's rising. He's growing stronger the more they fight. No one can win..."
"If you're going to be a coward, then rot here!" Piccolo spat, turning his back on the Prince. He took a Senzu bean and flew toward the fallen Goku and Gohan. He didn't care about the odds; he only cared about the duty.
Vegeta watched Piccolo's back. A small, painful ember of shame began to glow in his chest. Why? Why do they keep fighting a losing battle?
***
While the monsters clashed in the sky, Turles had managed to limp over to the unconscious Lisette. As a Saiyan, his tenacity was high, but Lisette looked fragile in her defeat.
Turles checked her pulse. "Ki is still there... wounds are closing... she'll be back in the game soon."
He looked up at the sky. Despite Cell's incredible performance, Turles could see the writing on the wall. Cell was perfect, but he was finite. Broly was an overflowing fountain of escalating power. Eventually, the fountain would drown the machine.
"If this keeps up, our 'Hope' is going to be snuffed out," Turles muttered. "And I'm not strong enough to change that."
He looked at the dying planet, then down at his hand. He was holding a single, dark, wrinkled seed. The last seed of the Tree of Might.
"Hey, 'New Vegeta.' You don't want this, do you? Being used by a bearded old man, having your life sucked dry, and then getting smashed by a comet? How about we give you one last chance to bloom?"
Turles knelt and pressed the seed into the soil right next to Lisette.
Originally, the Tree of Might was meant to be harvested only by Gods. Turles had used it as a pirate to steal power, but now he was using it for its true purpose. He wasn't feeding himself. He was feeding the planet's energy into the Goddess.
The seed touched Lisette's divine ki. It didn't just grow; it erupted.
***
Battle Status
Broly (LSSJ): Power is actively increasing. Current State: Untouchable.
Perfect Cell: Using Super Saiyan 2 equivalent power. Fighting with 100% efficiency, but beginning to tire.
Lisette: Unconscious, but currently being "synchronized" with the Tree of Might.
Vegeta: Spirit is flickering back to life.
***
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