Moro's eyes shone with a kind of excitement he'd never shown before.
"What delicious energy… so many powerful lives… this is heaven!"
To him, it didn't matter how many Bio-Brolys there were. They weren't a threat at all, just a banquet laid out for him to enjoy. Besides, the Tree of Might fruit wasn't something only the Saiyan Empire could eat.
"They planted these trees well. Saves me a lot of trouble absorbing a planet's energy."
Cooler's body flared with a surge of black-violet aura, his stance made crystal clear. Submit to Saiyans? Never.
But his true body vanished where he stood, replaced by a black-gold Cooler with a metallic sheen all over him, occupying the same spot as if he'd always been there.
The Earth warriors were still stuck processing what Vados had said about Broly. No one could snap back to reality.
"Levos… a God of Destruction-level Broly… are you confident?" Piccolo was sweating.
"Won't know until we fight," Levos said, not daring to promise a clean win.
From the moment they arrived on the Supreme Kai's planet, an unease had been tugging at him. Now that he was staring at these ultimate villains each one strengthened to an absurd, storybook degree his unease finally had a shape.
And their power really was beyond expectation.
Putting aside Broly, who had mastered Beerus' Hakai energy, even Cooler and Moro couldn't be underestimated. Cooler's black-gold form wasn't a joke, and it stacked on top of his fourth-form transformation. He even possessed the ability to instantly deploy his main body and mechanical bodies to any location.
As for Moro, he'd gained three boosts via Porunga's wishes on Namek. And now, right at the center of his forehead, there was an eerie crystal within it flashed the silhouette of Merus.
"Moro really did eat Seven-Three and gain the copying ability," Levos' gaze sharpened. "And one of the things he's copied… is Merus."
"T-this… how are we supposed to fight?" Krillin stared at the stasis pods surrounding the battlefield from all directions. With his level, stepping in felt like volunteering to be cannon fodder.
"Every one of them is strong…" Tien clenched his fists. Even with Saiyan blood, the gap in front of him still made him feel helpless.
"It's all Bulma's fault for throwing some stupid victory party and wasting our training time," Yajirobe complained.
Bulma shot him a frosty look. "You're the one who ate the most at that party. You were even whining about why we didn't invite you last time, saying Korin was working you to death growing Senzu Beans!"
Yajirobe immediately folded. "Th-then, Levos… hurry up and send me back to Earth. This is way beyond what I can take part in!"
"Too late." Levos lifted his eyes to the sky.
Following his gaze, everyone saw it.
At some point, thick chains had appeared in the heavens layer after layer locking the entire planet in place.
The sudden change in the sky didn't escape anyone.
"Who did this?"
"Those chains… what are they?"
A Saiyan Empire warship attempted to leave the planet
And slammed into an invisible wall.
Boom!
It exploded into a fireball.
Only then did everyone realize: an unseen barrier had wrapped the whole planet, trapping everything inside.
"Welcome, everyone… to my new testing ground."
A figure appeared in the sky without warning.
Purple skin. A pair of glasses. A strange black robe. A playful smile on his face, like he was amused by everything below.
"I've walked through countless timelines collecting strong warriors," he said, spreading his arms as though embracing his masterpiece. "But I never expected that this single time-space would gather so many top-tier fighters!"
"This is perfect for my experiments. Come welcome to my game."
"You little stop playing mystic!" Moro hated that superior tone most of all. Before the words even finished leaving his mouth, he vanished.
A silent palm pressed toward the robed man's back, dark magic surging in Moro's hand, intent on draining him dry body and energy alike.
But Moro's palm stopped an inch from Fu's robe.
No matter how he pushed, it wouldn't move forward even a hair.
At the same time, space ripped open from another angle.
Black-gold Cooler flashed in, a knife-hand strike packed with apocalyptic force, slicing toward Fu's neck.
Below them, Android 21 shot forward as well.
Fu didn't even turn his head.
The curve of his smile only deepened.
"Disobedient test subjects… need punishment."
He snapped his fingers lightly.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Three irresistible impacts appeared from nowhere.
Moro, Cooler, and Android 21 were blasted away like toys, slammed into the earth, and threw up three towering plumes of dust.
The entire battlefield went silent.
Even Paragus and the Earth fighters stared in disbelief.
Moro and Cooler were universal overlords, forces that could stand toe-to-toe with the Saiyan Empire.
And with a single snap…
They'd been suppressed.
"This guy…" Yamcha's voice shook. "What kind of monster is he?"
Bajitena's eyes were wide, her mind blank. Why was every person she met today more terrifying than the last?
That purple-skinned man… who in the world was he?
When the dust settled, Moro and Cooler climbed out of their craters, battered and grim. For the first time, seriousness showed on their faces.
"All right," the mysterious man said, calmly pushing up his glasses as if nothing had happened. "Now that everyone's cooled down, I'll explain the rules."
"I will randomly distribute everyone here by different factions into different regions of this planet. There, contestants of similar strength will fight one-on-one."
He raised a finger and wagged it.
"The winner will be transferred from the basic testing ground to the intermediate testing ground. Then the intermediate contestants will continue fighting, competing for spots in the advanced testing ground."
"The losers will be demoted and matched again."
His smile turned even stranger.
"Of course, a game can't always be the same faces. How boring would that be? In the advanced testing ground, some 'secret contestants' under my command will join in… to give everyone a little surprise."
"In the end, whoever wins the advanced testing ground will enter the ultimate testing ground… and earn the right to join my great plan."
"If you're not interested, you can refuse. But in that case, you'll need to defeat another mysterious contestant I've prepared… before you're allowed to leave."
"Oh, and to prevent anyone from slacking off contestants who remain in the basic testing ground for too long…"
"Will be completely turned into nutrients for this planet."
His words were casual, almost light.
But they rang in everyone's ears.
This wasn't a game.
It was a forced, bloody elimination tournament.
Levos let out a slow breath. So the unease he'd felt wasn't without reason.
He recognized this purple-skinned man.
His name was Fu.
And Levos had already sensed something else: the barrier surrounding the planet wasn't merely trapping them.
It was severing all contact with the outside.
Including the connection between Levos and Cell Max.
Right now, he couldn't reach it at all.
"This is bad," Levos said, drawing every Earth fighter's attention. "This barrier cut off my link to Cell Max. I can't deploy it here anymore."
What?!
Those words hit like a bucket of ice dumped straight over their heads.
Every Earth warrior's heart sank.
Cell Max had been their greatest safety net the ultimate trump card. With Cell Max, they believed they could win no matter what appeared.
But now that "failsafe" had been disabled.
"Are you kidding me?!" Krillin practically went bald from fear. "So you're saying… this time we can only rely on ourselves?!"
"I… I suddenly feel like my stomach hurts. I need the bathroom…" Yamcha clutched his belly. His legs were already trembling. "Please don't match me against Broly or those other horrors…"
Until now, this trip to the Supreme Kai's planet had felt dangerous but still like training with guaranteed safety.
Now the nature of it had changed completely.
This wasn't sightseeing.
This was a life-or-death war.
"Master Yamcha, pull yourself together," Puar said anxiously. "I believe Young Master Levos will find a way."
"According to his rules, it's one-on-one, matched against evenly matched opponents," Levos said, though he couldn't think of a solution yet. "So just do your best."
"Hmph! Cowards!" Bajitena refused to lose even in tone. "It's just fighting, isn't it? Perfect let you Earthlings see what Saiyan pride really looks like!"
For some reason, she absolutely refused to show weakness in front of the Kakarot who'd made her cry.
"At this point," Levos said, steadying his voice, "if we're forced into this game, then what we need is to climb out of the basic testing ground as quickly as possible."
Fu looked down at the kaleidoscope of expressions on everyone's faces, satisfied.
He snapped his fingers again.
"Then… let the game begin."
The instant his words fell, an irresistible teleportation force wrapped around everyone present.
"Damn it!"
"What is this power?!"
Neither Levos nor Vados even as an angel seemed able to resist it.
Space twisted. Light and shadow inverted.
In the next second, everyone vanished from where they stood, forcibly sent to different corners of this massive planet.
Paragus and his Legendary Super Saiyan corps.
Cooler and his mechanical bodies.
Moro and his galactic prisoners.
Android 21.
And the Earth fighters…
Everyone whether they agreed or not was dragged into Fu's game.
After a dizzying spin
When Krillin's feet finally touched the ground again, he found himself on strange purple hills. The rocks around him pulsed faintly like living flesh, releasing a nauseating stench.
"Levos? Goku? Piccolo? Where is everybody?!"
He shouted a few times. The only answer was the wet, creeping sound of the earth itself.
"Crap… we really got separated…"
Krillin's heart sank.
He crouched beneath a tumor-like boulder, thinking as fast as he could.
"That purple guy said it's one-on-one, matched with someone close in strength… so the first enemy I meet shouldn't be a monster like Cooler or Moro."
That thought loosened his chest slightly until another fear tightened it again.
"But how does he decide 'close in strength'? Base power? Or transformations included? I'm basically a Saiyan now. What if he matches me with Bio-Broly…"
"I'd be dead."
The more Krillin thought, the worse his headache got.
Without his friends beside him, relying on himself like this felt unbearably unfamiliar.
Elsewhere above a sea of roiling magma Piccolo scanned his surroundings, expression heavy.
"A similar-strength opponent… how is he judging my strength?"
"In the next fight, not revealing too much might be the key. If I show everything now, the next match will only be worse."
"That man's purpose for forcing one-on-one slaughter isn't 'fun.' There's a deeper objective."
No matter how he looked at it, this game was far more dangerous than he'd imagined.
"Reaching the ultimate testing ground… is probably just falling into a deeper trap."
As the thought settled
A stasis pod appeared in front of Piccolo.
"It's here!"
Hiss
With a pressure release, the pod door popped open.
Inside, a Bio-Broly snapped its eyes open.
At the same time, on the Saiyan Empire's side
Paragus clutched the bloody hole in his chest and descended into the heart of a forest of towering Trees of Might that had erupted from the ground.
"Damn it. A mere galactic prisoner made me this miserable. Good thing my laser ring landed a successful sneak attack."
He steadied himself and examined the area. "So this is the intermediate testing ground?"
Then his face twisted into wild joy.
"Hah. If I eat the fruit in this region… even Cooler won't be my match."
His body had already been strengthened to its limit from consuming massive amounts of Tree of Might fruit.
But the fruit grown on this planet looked different from anything he'd ever eaten.
They were red almost purple and far larger.
"I have to admit, my luck has always been good. Even without Broly by my side, I'll still brute-force my way into the ultimate testing ground!"
With that thought, Paragus immediately plucked a ripened fruit and took a bite.
Crunch
His wounds healed instantly.
And the surge of power was so violent he couldn't even control it his hand crushed the fruit to pulp.
"Hahaha… hahahaha!" Paragus threw his head back and roared. "I, Paragus, am invincible!"
At that moment, a figure stepped out from the shadows.
"So it's not poisonous?" the newcomer said lazily. "How about you try a few more, old man?"
Paragus' eyes narrowed. "Who are you?"
Snap snap
The newcomer struck a few dramatic poses in rapid succession.
"Masked Saiyaman Squadron "
"Giiiin yuuu!"
And in a certain canyon, a black-gold Cooler stood in silence.
"This kind of forced teleportation and spatial lockdown…" his eyes chilled. "It's not just raw energy or technology. It's more like… rewriting rules themselves."
"It even severed my connection to Big Gete Star. Who is that purple-skinned man?"
"This game is interesting," he said, voice edged with annoyance, "but it's still infuriating."
The next second, he burst forward.
But not toward the opponent he'd already pinpointed.
He was testing the boundary of this so-called testing ground seeing whether it had an edge that could restrict him at all.
"No rule gets to bind me."
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