Having steeled his resolve, Vegeta finally made his decision.
He would completely imprison the origin of the dark power deep within his own body, sealing it away in a secluded corner that no external force could reach.
To ensure absolute safety, he layered multiple seals in one breath. Even if he were pushed into a life and death battle, the power would remain fully suppressed and would not influence him in the slightest.
Only after confirming that the dark power had been entirely locked down did Vegeta finally allow himself to relax.
Just as I suspected. Even though it was forcibly sent through a ruptured space time rift, the transmission was random. So who exactly is the one behind this. And what are they plotting.
Vegeta remained silent for a long time, deep in thought.
One thing was certain. This was not an isolated incident.
There was a massive scheme unfolding behind the scenes, and it absolutely involved far more than a single timeline.
For the first time in a very long while, Vegeta felt a faint sense of unease.
As a transmigrator, his greatest advantage had always been his knowledge of the original storyline. Yet this anomaly had never existed in the original work.
That meant only one thing.
He was still too weak.
Even though he had already reached Super Saiyan Third Stage, his true strength was still nowhere near the level of Goku and Vegeta during the Majin Buu era.
At that stage, battle power easily climbed into the hundreds of billions and even surpassed the trillion mark. A single casual strike from warriors of that era would completely erase his current self without leaving a trace behind.
His present strength only allowed him to dominate this era.
If he had not broken through to Super Saiyan Third Stage in the future timeline, he would have had no choice but to accept defeat when facing this unexpected disaster.
Vegeta slowly exhaled.
The violent aura surrounding him gradually withdrew. His Super Saiyan Third Stage form faded away, returning him to his base state.
Only then did he carefully examine the changes within his body.
There was no denying it.
After this battle, and after absorbing part of the dark power's essence, his base battle power had reached one hundred thirty five million.
An increase of ten million.
That was enormous.
After all, an increase of ten million in base form meant five hundred million as a Super Saiyan, one billion as Super Saiyan Second Stage, and four billion as Super Saiyan Third Stage.
And that calculation only used the initial multipliers of each transformation.
If he were to completely refine and absorb the source of the dark power, the leap in strength would be unimaginable.
After a moment, Vegeta set those thoughts aside.
With Instant Transmission, he returned to the cliff where the Z Fighters were gathered.
The atmosphere this time was completely different.
For Vegeta, the battle was over. The crisis had truly been resolved.
Now it was time to talk.
But for the Z Fighters of this timeline, the pressure was overwhelming.
After all, they had seen Vegeta engulfed by that dark power at the end of the battle. They could not be certain whether the Vegeta standing before them was still truly Vegeta, or a being corrupted by that force.
As their gazes met, Vegeta immediately sensed something was wrong.
He frowned slightly, glancing at this world's Vegeta, then at this world's Goku.
Realization dawned.
"You are not thinking that I was swallowed by that dark power, are you" Vegeta asked calmly.
The moment he spoke, everyone relaxed.
If Vegeta had truly been corrupted, he would not be speaking like this. Nor would he need to pretend.
With absolute power comes absolute authority.
If he wanted to destroy the world, no one present could stop him.
"It looks like we worried for nothing," Goku said as he stepped forward. "I am really glad you are okay."
As his words fell, the last traces of tension vanished.
"At least we do not need to stay on edge anymore."
"That power just now," this world's Vegeta said quietly, "what exactly was it. And how did you deal with it."
Vegeta gave a faint smile.
"If nothing unexpected happened, that power originates from the Dark Demon Realm. It exists independently outside all known worlds. I could not completely disperse it, so I used a stronger force to capture and bind it. For now, it is sealed inside me and will need to be refined."
After a pause, he added, "This is not the place to talk. The battle is over. There is no reason to stay here."
"I agree," Piccolo said. "The Lookout would be better."
Everyone nodded.
Goku suggested that everyone grab onto him so he could take them to the Lookout using Instant Transmission.
Vegeta refused outright.
Instead, he activated Instant Transmission himself and disappeared.
This simple action struck this world's Vegeta like a blade to the chest.
Even this boundary, the one he had stubbornly clung to for so long, refusing to follow Kakarot's path, had already been crossed by his past self.
What had he been holding onto all this time.
What was the point of his pride now.
He wanted to learn it too.
At the very least, he would never again need to rely on Kakarot for spatial movement.
If his past self had not already gone to the Lookout, forcing him to follow, he would never have accepted Goku's help.
The Lookout.
After everyone arrived, Vegeta gave a thorough explanation of his origins.
He had mentioned fragments before, but never in such detail.
He spoke about another future timeline, about the changes he had made, and about the instability spreading across multiple worlds.
Everyone listened in stunned silence.
They could hardly believe that this Vegeta's past had been so outrageous.
If the past of this world had always revolved around Goku, then the past of that world revolved entirely around Vegeta.
More than that, this past Vegeta had already begun correcting fractures across timelines.
At first, this world's Vegeta maintained his composure.
But this finally broke him.
Was this not the life he had always wanted.
Was this not the Vegeta he had always wanted to become.
And yet here he was.
A failure.
A shadow.
He had lived beneath Kakarot's shadow his entire life. Now even Gohan had surpassed him.
Even his own future son was completely suppressed by Kakarot and Kakarot's bloodline.
It was as if he and everything tied to him were destined to be second forever.
No matter how hard he struggled.
Damn it. Where did I lose. Where did it all go wrong.
His sense of self began to collapse.
Because Vegeta could not understand one thing.
At what point did his past self completely change.
~~~~~~
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