WebNovels

Chapter 148 - Retribution

Cell's lightning-wreathed form rocketed upward like a comet, his perfect silhouette disappearing into the cloud cover above. The sheer force of Karnel's casual kick had sent him hurtling skyward with such velocity that sonic booms echoed across the wasteland below.

"Running away already?" Karnel called out, floating serenely in the air without any urgency. His divine senses easily tracked Cell's frantic movements above the clouds, watching him dart about like a caged animal. "What kind of tricks are you planning up there, little mouse?"

In his hands, two crimson energy discs materialized, each a meter wide and spinning with lethal precision. The Destructo Discs hummed with contained power as Karnel locked onto Cell's position through the cloud cover. With a casual flick of his wrists, he sent them spiraling upward at incredible speed.

The discs cut through the clouds like butter, adjusting their trajectory mid-flight as they homed in on their target with unerring accuracy.

"What the—?" Cell's eyes widened as he spotted the approaching energy blades. He quickly dispersed the half-formed energy blast in his hands and began moving at blinding speed, leaving dozens of afterimages in his wake.

But it was useless. The Destructo Discs sliced through each afterimage without hesitation, their tracking never wavering as they pursued their true target with mechanical persistence.

"Persistent little things!" Cell growled, raising his hands as white energy gathered in his palms. Two concentrated energy bombs shot toward the pursuing discs, detonating in brilliant explosions that finally shattered them into harmless sparkles of light.

Cell wiped sweat from his brow, but his relief was short-lived.

"My turn," Karnel's voice drifted up from below, carrying an undertone of dark amusement.

"Super Kamehameha!" Cell roared, cupping his hands at his side. The familiar blue energy wave erupted from his palms, but magnified beyond anything Goku had ever produced. The massive beam plummeted toward Karnel like a falling star, crackling with enough power to level a mountain range.

Karnel didn't even bother to dodge. Instead, he raised a single finger, and thousands of thin red beams erupted upward like a crimson constellation, each one a precise Death Beam borrowed from Frieza's repertoire.

The collision was spectacular. Cell's mighty Kamehameha wave was shredded like tissue paper, torn apart by the overwhelming barrage of death beams. Hundreds of the red energy lances continued their ascent, reaching Cell in an instant and perforating his perfect form with countless small holes.

Blood fountained from Cell's wounds as he staggered in mid-air, looking down at his chest in shock. "Impossible..." he gasped, quickly placing his hands over the wounds and channeling his regenerative abilities.

"Here's another gift," Karnel announced cheerfully, as if he were handing out party favors. "A supernova, courtesy of Emperor Frieza!"

The miniature sun that formed in Karnel's palm pulsed with terrifying heat, its surface roiling with nuclear fire. He launched it upward with casual ease, and it streaked toward Cell like a meteorite in reverse.

Cell's face went pale. The approaching energy sphere radiated heat that he could feel even from a distance, and its sheer size promised utter annihilation.

"Ultimate Flash!" Cell planted his feet in mid-air and thrust his hands forward, golden energy erupting from his palms in a concentrated beam that met the supernova head-on.

For a moment, the two forces locked in a deadly stalemate, golden lightning crackling against solar fire. Cell poured everything he had into the beam, his muscles straining as he fought to hold back the miniature star.

"Having trouble?" Karnel asked with mock concern. Another supernova materialized in his hand, this one spinning lazily as he examined it like a collector admiring a rare gem. "Let me help with that."

He took two steps back and kicked the second supernova like a football, sending it rocketing toward its twin with devastating force.

The impact was tremendous. The second supernova slammed into the first, doubling its momentum and overwhelming Cell's desperate defense. His Ultimate Flash wavered, then shattered entirely.

"I can't stop it!" Cell abandoned his beam and dove sideways, but he wasn't quite fast enough. The merged supernova grazed his wing, vaporizing half of it in an instant.

Cell spun out of control, smoke trailing from his mutilated wing as he struggled to regain his balance. When he finally stabilized, his face was twisted with unprecedented rage.

"You dare damage my perfect form?" he snarled, genuine fury replacing his earlier shock. "You'll pay for that, Saiyan!"

His hands came together at his side, and energy began building, not the controlled power of his earlier attacks, but something far more desperate and destructive.

"Perfect Kamehameha!" Cell screamed, pouring every ounce of his being into the attack. The resulting beam was a hundred meters thick, a dark blue torrent of destruction that could theoretically destroy the entire solar system.

Karnel watched the approaching wave of annihilation with mild interest. "Finally getting serious, are we?" He began gathering red energy around his hand, but then seemed to change his mind. Instead, he smiled and flew directly toward the massive beam.

"The power is quite impressive," Karnel admitted as the Kamehameha wave struck him. The tremendous force actually managed to slow his forward momentum slightly. "But not quite enough."

He drew back his leg and kicked.

The Perfect Kamehameha, Cell's ultimate technique, his final desperate gambit, bent like a rubber hose under the impact of Karnel's boot. The mighty beam was deflected upward, shooting harmlessly into space where it continued its journey until it struck the moon, reducing Earth's satellite to cosmic dust in a brilliant flash.

Cell's hands trembled as he stared at the empty space where the moon had been. "Why..." he whispered, his voice breaking. "If I could just absorb his cells... if I could evolve beyond this perfect form..."

"Poor little bug," Karnel said, shaking his head with what might have been genuine pity. "You're already falling apart, and I haven't even started trying yet."

But as Cell continued to stare at him with that mixture of terror and desperate hunger, Karnel's expression grew thoughtful. His eyes narrowed as he seemed to focus on something beyond the immediate battle.

"That black-clad figure is remarkably patient," he murmured to himself. "Still hiding, even now. Does he really intend to wait until someone uses the time machine before making his move?"

The mention of time travel made Karnel pause, his hand moving to his forehead as realization struck. "The time machine I helped Future Bulma develop should be nearly complete by now. Is that what he's waiting for? The space-time fluctuations when the temporal portal opens?"

His eyes hardened with sudden understanding. "Whatever your purpose, I won't allow you to return to my timeline and threaten my world. But first..."

Karnel's gaze returned to Cell, and for the first time since the battle began, genuine killing intent flickered in his divine aura like black lightning.

"Let me finish with this warm-up exercise."

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