Cell felt the vast energy coursing through his perfect form, and his confidence began to return. "Aren't you being a bit too arrogant for a mere Saiyan?"
Arrogant?
Karnel couldn't help but burst into laughter at the accusation. In all his years across multiple timelines, no one had ever called him arrogant, mostly because they were usually too busy running for their lives.
"Think of me as arrogant if you like," Karnel said with casual dismissal, waving his hand as if swatting away an annoying insect. "I'm still going to dig those eyes out. There's no point explaining anything more to a little mouse like you."
"Such arrogance!" Cell's voice dropped to a dangerous growl, his perfect features twisting with irritation. "You look like a Super Saiyan, don't you? Even though I can't gauge your exact strength, aren't you underestimating me just a bit too much?"
Despite his bravado, Cell remained wary. He had clearly witnessed his absorption of Androids 17 and 18, his evolution to perfect form, yet this Saiyan hadn't even bothered to transform. His expression remained utterly nonchalant, as if Cell were nothing more than an amusing distraction. Such behavior meant the man was either a complete fool, or genuinely fearless.
Karnel bent over slightly, hands on his knees, and laughed heartily for several long moments before responding. "You really think highly of yourself, don't you? If I needed to transform into a Super Saiyan to deal with someone of your pitiful strength, I might as well go home and sell tofu for a living."
Cell's chest rose and fell sharply, murderous rage building in his perfect features. Unable to tolerate such blatant disrespect, he launched himself forward with a devastating punch that shattered the sound barrier multiple times over, aiming to end this insolent Saiyan in a single blow.
This should teach him some respect, Cell thought with savage satisfaction as he watched his target seemingly freeze with fear, unable to react to the lightning-fast attack.
Whoosh!
"What the—?" Cell's eyes widened in disbelief as his punch met nothing but empty air. The Saiyan hadn't moved, or rather, he had moved so subtly that Cell's senses couldn't even detect it. With just the slightest tilt of his head, Karnel had made Cell's "sure-kill" punch miss by mere centimeters.
"Is that all?" Karnel asked mockingly, his tone suggesting he'd just watched a child's clumsy attempt at violence.
Every movement Karnel made now carried an otherworldly grace, the fluid elegance of divine perfection. Cell couldn't comprehend what had happened. From his perspective, the Saiyan hadn't moved at all, yet somehow his fist had simply... deflected.
Without warning, Karnel's shoulder dipped slightly, and he drove his fist into Cell's chest with casual precision. The sickening crack of breaking bones echoed across the battlefield.
CRACK!
Cell was launched several meters into the air before crashing heavily to the ground, sending up clouds of dust and debris.
"Gah!" Cell spat blood as he slowly pushed himself upright, one hand pressed against his shattered sternum. His perfect features were twisted with shock and disbelief.
One hit! Cell's mind reeled. Just one casual blow and he's broken several of my ribs!
"Still think I'm being arrogant?" Karnel asked with a cold sneer, acting as if he'd done nothing more significant than flicking away a breadcrumb.
Thanks to his Namekian cells, Cell's regenerative abilities were extraordinary, even if reduced to a single cell, he could theoretically recover. The chest wound, while painful, was already beginning to heal as he rubbed his hand over the damage.
"Who are you?" Cell asked cautiously, his earlier bravado completely evaporated. "I don't remember any Saiyan on Earth being this powerful."
Karnel gestured meaningfully. "I'm a Saiyan, as you've already observed. As for where I come from... well, that's quite interesting. You wouldn't believe me if I told you. In fact, I'm only here thanks to you."
Cell was completely baffled. His genetic memory contained information about every powerful fighter on Earth, yet this Saiyan was a complete unknown. And the claim about being here "thanks to him" made no sense whatsoever.
Seeing Cell's obvious confusion, Karnel didn't bother to elaborate. Instead, he rubbed his hands together thoughtfully. "Time and space really are amazing concepts, aren't they? Am I a disruptor of destiny? Since arriving in this timeline, my very existence seems to have split reality into two paths—one with me, and another representing the future world that would have existed without my intervention."
He shook his head, dismissing the philosophical musings. Time and space were profound forces beyond even his current divine understanding.
"You don't need to worry about who I am," Karnel said calmly, his tone suggesting the conversation was already over. "You just need to know that I'm about to destroy you so completely that not even a single cell will remain."
"Damn you! I'll show you my true power, Saiyan!" Cell roared, his pride finally overriding his caution. He planted his feet and began gathering every ounce of energy his perfect form could muster.
Tremendous air currents began swirling around Cell like a miniature hurricane. Sand and rocks were torn from the ground, bushes and debris caught in the violent winds. The rapid friction of the churning atmosphere generated crackling bolts of electricity that danced across his perfect form.
"Full power? How quaint," Karnel observed with bored amusement. "You're going to die anyway, why waste time with theatrical displays?"
But Karnel wasn't in any hurry. There was a certain poetic justice in allowing an enemy to reach their absolute peak before utterly destroying them. The most effective way to break someone wasn't simply to defeat them, it was to let them climb to the very summit of their strength and glory, then kick them off the mountain with devastating finality.
As Cell's power continued to build, reaching truly staggering levels, Karnel watched with the detached interest of a scientist observing an interesting but ultimately doomed experiment.
"Lightning Cell!"
With his energy gathering complete, Cell's strength had reached its absolute pinnacle. Wreathed in crackling electricity, his perfect form practically hummed with barely contained power. His eyes snapped open, blazing with confident malice as they fixed on Karnel's seemingly defenseless figure.
"Foolish Saiyan!" Cell declared triumphantly. "To call you arrogant would be flattering you! You actually allowed me to gather my full power, the biggest mistake of your pathetic life! You can contemplate your stupidity in the afterlife!"
Cell's lightning-wreathed form became a blur of motion, his fist charged with enough energy to level mountains. The sheer speed of his movement caused visible ripples in space itself, testament to the devastating force he was about to unleash.
The attack that followed would have obliterated any normal opponent, but Karnel was far from normal.