"Dead?" Karnel muttered, staring into the smoking crater where Future Cell had been buried. The creature's energy signature had vanished completely, leaving no trace of life in the deep hibernation state.
Though Karnel was confident that no being could survive the energy wave he'd unleashed in his Super Saiyan form, caution dictated a more thorough approach. He raised his hand again, golden-red energy crackling between his fingers.
"Better safe than sorry," he said with grim satisfaction, launching another devastating blast into the already massive hole. The explosion widened the crater to nearly fifty meters, creating a bottomless pit that seemed to swallow light itself.
Karnel surveyed his handiwork with approval, but his moment of satisfaction was short-lived. The silver thread within his divine essence began writhing more violently than before, sending urgent warnings through his consciousness.
"What now?" he wondered aloud, his senses sharpening as he scanned the surrounding area with growing alarm.
Space itself began to ripple like disturbed water. Reality bent and twisted as a dimensional corridor tore open before him, a passage roughly two meters wide that pulsed with otherworldly energy. At the far end, a dark figure was already halfway through, moving with purposeful determination.
The stranger was intimidating, black-faced and clad in dark clothing, his aura radiating power that dwarfed even Evil Buu's malevolent presence. Karnel's instincts screamed danger as he studied the intruder's approach.
"This guy is definitely not here for a friendly chat," Karnel muttered, his expression hardening with resolve. "Whatever he's planning, I can't let him reach this timeline."
Without hesitation, Karnel's golden-red aura blazed to life around him. He rocketed upward and dove straight into the rippling space channel, his body cutting through the dimensional barrier like a sword through silk.
The sensation was disorienting, silver ripples surrounded him on all sides, each one exerting a terrifying gravitational pull that threatened to tear him apart. Karnel gritted his teeth and stabilized himself, refusing to be dragged into the void.
"Turn around and go back where you came from!" he shouted, launching himself at the black-faced intruder.
The stranger's eyes widened in shock. He clearly hadn't expected to encounter resistance, especially not from a Super Saiyan, while traveling through the time-space corridor.
BOOM!
The confined space of the dimensional channel erupted into chaos as the two warriors clashed. Fists met flesh with bone-crushing force, each impact sending shockwaves through the fabric of reality itself. The battle raged for what felt like hours, neither fighter able to gain a decisive advantage.
Finally, Karnel spotted his opening. The stranger had overextended himself on a particularly vicious strike, leaving his shoulder exposed. Karnel's eyes flashed with triumph as he drove his foot into the vulnerable spot with devastating precision.
The black-faced man was launched backward through the corridor, his body tumbling end over end until he disappeared back into his original timeline. But even in defeat, he managed one final act of spite, his own kick caught Karnel in the calf just as he vanished.
"Damn it!" Karnel cursed as the unexpected blow sent him off-balance.
His body began to sink toward the silver ripples below, and despite his desperate attempts to stabilize himself, he was pulled inexorably downward. The sensation was like drowning in liquid starlight as he merged with the dimensional current and was swept away.
Karnel tumbled through swirling vortexes of time and space before finally bursting out of a dimensional tear in an unfamiliar sky. He fell freely for several moments, shaking off the disorientation before catching himself mid-air.
What he saw below made his blood run cold.
This world was a graveyard. From his aerial vantage point, Karnel could see that entire cities had been reduced to rubble. Buildings stood as hollow, broken shells, their windows dark and lifeless. The streets were littered with corpses in various states of decay, and the only movement came from scavenging insects. The very air seemed to carry the stench of death and despair.
"That black-faced bastard is stronger than I thought," Karnel said grimly, surveying the apocalyptic landscape. "I barely managed to push him back, and now I'm stuck in... whatever this place is. I need to find him before he causes even more damage."
He transformed into Super Saiyan and began a systematic search of the planet, his golden-red aura streaking across the dead sky. But after hours of searching, he found no trace of his mysterious opponent.
Just as frustration began to set in, his enhanced senses detected something unexpected, the energy signatures of active combat. Three distinct power levels were engaged in battle somewhere to the east.
"Finally, some signs of life," he muttered, changing course toward the disturbance.
Karnel positioned himself above the cloud cover and looked down at the scene below. His eyes widened in recognition and horror.
A young man with familiar spiky hair was locked in desperate combat with a blonde teenager, while a cold-eyed woman watched from the sidelines. The fighter was clearly outmatched, his left arm was missing, and his movements were sluggish with exhaustion and pain.
"That's... Gohan," Karnel breathed, his mind racing. "But he's older, and missing an arm. The blonde one must be Android 17, which means the woman is Android 18. I've somehow ended up in a future timeline where the androids succeeded in their rampage."
The pieces began falling into place. The Future Cell he'd destroyed must have originated from this very timeline, and the black-faced stranger had followed Cell's temporal wake to reach Karnel's era.
"But he didn't need a time machine," Karnel realized with growing concern. "He can travel through time at will. If he's returned to my timeline..."
The implications were terrifying. Goku, Piccolo, Krillin, Bulma, everyone he cared about could be in mortal danger while he was trapped in this desolate future.
"Going back with the time machine won't help," he concluded, his tactical mind working through the options. "That bastard is the source of the problem. I need to find him here and end this permanently. And I know exactly how to do it."
Karnel's gaze hardened with determination. "I'll find the Cell of this timeline and wait for him to steal the time machine. When he does, that black-faced monster will show up, and I'll be ready for him."
He extended his senses, searching for familiar energy signatures, but the results were deeply troubling. Gohan's power was there, along with the androids, but Goku, Piccolo, Krillin, and the others were nowhere to be found.
"They're all dead," he whispered, the reality hitting him like a physical blow. "The androids killed them all."
Looking down at the battle below, Karnel could see that Android 17 was toying with Gohan, drawing out the fight for his own amusement. The android's aura radiated bloodlust and cruelty, a far cry from the reluctant fighters he knew from his past life knowledge.
"Such a waste," he murmured, watching Android 18's beautiful but emotionless face. "To think someone could become so twisted and evil. This timeline really did take a completely different path."
Karnel descended silently, landing on the partially destroyed platform of a nearby building. He waited for the perfect moment, then called out in a calm, commanding voice.
"Hey now, show a little mercy! His father happens to be a friend of mine."
Android 17 froze mid-attack, his head snapping toward the source of the unexpected interruption. He casually kicked Gohan away and moved to stand beside Android 18, both androids studying this new Saiyan with predatory interest.
"Well, well," Android 17 said with a cruel smile. "Another one brave enough to show his face. How refreshing, it's been so long since we had a proper challenge."
Gohan's Super Saiyan transformation flickered out as he struggled to his feet, coughing up blood. His eyes moved between the murderous androids and the mysterious newcomer, hope and wariness warring in his expression.
Karnel glided over to the wounded fighter, his movements fluid and unthreatening. "You must be Gohan, the Gohan of this timeline. We've never met before. My name is Karnel."
He offered a calm smile, but his eyes never left the androids. The real battle was just beginning.