Ino's palm contained a massive pulling force. Cell exerted his strength repeatedly, but without exception, all of his power fell into empty space.
Before he could figure out the reason behind this, the pulling force in Ino's palm suddenly turned into repulsion. "I'll return it all to you!"
Having delayed and accumulated two or three waves of Cell's power, combined with Ino's own strength, it erupted instantly with the support of time.
Cell completely failed to anticipate the terrifying nature of the Time Accumulation Art, taking a heavy punch head-on that was equivalent to three times his own power.
The shiny black chitinous shell on his chest shattered, and a large chunk of flesh caved in. His body was sent flying for tens of thousands of meters, smashing through several mountain peaks along the way, and crashing a deep trench into the crater-like terrain.
He crawled out of the pile of rubble and shook his arms. The shattered bones realigned, and his flesh rapidly regenerated under the stimulation of his Namekian cells.
Ino floated in mid-air, looking down at him from above.
"You're not so tough after all. Do you only have the skill to beat up children?"
Cell raised his hand and fired a shockwave. After tearing through the afterimage Ino had left in the sky, he sensed an aura suddenly appear behind him. He spun around fiercely, sweeping his right fist behind him, only to find the attack coming from the other side.
Ino delivered a punch straight to his face. Cell was sent flying backward, flipping three times in mid-air before landing in a half-crouch, kicking up a cloud of dust. He appeared to have been beaten quite miserably, but Ino felt that this punch hadn't caused much damage.
Combining a wide variety of Supreme Kai abilities with close-quarters combat skills integrated from numerous schools of martial arts, Ino forced Cell to retreat again and again. Their battle moved from the initial ring all the way to a crater tens of thousands of meters away.
High in the sky, Krillin watched with a face full of excitement, but Tien Shinhan was shaking his head secretly.
Krillin asked in confusion, "What's wrong? Isn't Miss Supreme Kai holding the upper hand?"
Tien Shinhan's voice was low. "She does have the upper hand, but I feel... Cell seems to be using this intense battle to stimulate his inner potential and learn our combat experience."
Ino, currently in battle, also noticed this problem. Cell was slowly adapting to the rhythm of her attacks and learning her fighting methods.
This giant insect, created by Dr. Gero's computer, was relying on high-intensity combat to awaken the memories in his cells, executing various moves with effortless ease.
"Do you have any other moves? If not, then is it my turn to attack?" Cell said with a half-smile.
He laughed quite presumptuously. His body blurred, and from Ino's perspective, it looked as if seven or eight arms were striking at her all at once.
"Eight-Arm Fist?" Son Goku exclaimed from a distance.
Ino had a forehead full of question marks, not seeing what was so rare about this move.
She responded calmly, blocking and parrying. After clashing head-on for five or six moves, Cell's body blurred again, and his original two arms became four.
"It's the Four Witches Technique!" This time, the loud reminder came from Tien Shinhan.
Cell's attack frequency abruptly doubled, his fists so fast they were nothing but a blur of afterimages.
Ino didn't show the slightest bit of fear. She landed on the ground and slapped her right hand against it. Using the method of Summoning Jutsu, she quickly displaced and extracted the vitality within the earth. She drew upon the life energy of this planet and applied it all to herself.
"Sage Art: Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands!"
Newer moves weren't necessarily better. Since Cell used the Eight-Arm Fist and the Four Witches Technique, Ino also brought out an old move.
A Thousand-Armed Avalokitesvara with a compassionate face rose from the ground. Facing Cell, thousands of fists struck out. Ino even mixed Kaguya Otsutsuki's Eighty Gods Vacuum Attack in with them.
One side had fast fists; the other had many palms.
Amidst a series of thunderous "bangs," countless afterimages collided in mid-air. In less than the time it took to take two breaths, half of the True Several Thousand Hands' arms were destroyed. Cell himself was also beaten black and blue, forcing him to activate his Namekian cells to heal his body for a second time.
Son Goku, Vegeta, and Piccolo wore serious expressions. The rest were very anxious, especially Yamcha. What was the point of him being here for a battle of this level? To go up and throw his life away?
Accompanied by a loud "boom," the True Several Thousand Hands was cleaved completely in half by Cell from top to bottom. The residual force left a ten-thousand-meter-long deep trench in the earth. Ino floated lightly to the ground, a small section of her bangs missing. Cell was panting slightly.
Ino looked to the side. "Goku, want to give it a try?"
"Sure, sure!" Son Goku did a couple of chest-expansion exercises with a full sense of ceremony, let out a loud shout, and charged at Cell.
"Are you planning to use a relay tactic? A very good plan." Cell didn't care at all, once again engaging in a chaotic brawl with Son Goku, who was in his Super Saiyan Full Power state.
Ino retreated back into the crowd.
Judging from the current situation, her combat power was about the same as Cell's, and she held a slight upper hand. However, Cell's learning ability was terrifying. Once he integrated the moves of the numerous martial artists, warriors, and space pirates in his cells, Ino would have a hard time fighting him.
She used her Telepathy ability to ask Piccolo, "How is Son Gohan's training going?"
Piccolo thought for a moment and shook his head. "Gohan works very hard and is very smart, but I estimate... it will be very difficult for him to handle a battle of this level. Rather than pinning our hopes on a child like him, it would be better for you and Son Goku to team up and destroy Cell."
Ino asked again, "What did that Dr. Hedo say? I remember him mentioning some plan to deal with Cell earlier?"
Piccolo spoke to her calmly in the spiritual world: "Hedo said that the Cell Max plan originally aimed for a bigger, stronger, and controllable super weapon. Commander Magenta didn't want to end up killed by his own creation like Dr. Gero did. But the result is very ironic... The current Perfect Form is a form that Cell evolved autonomously through his subjective consciousness. In reality, the Cell Max plan was never fully completed."
Ino furrowed her brows. Was this good news? It didn't sound like it.
"I don't understand what you mean."
Piccolo explained concisely, "Perfect Form Cell is very smart. He is consciously learning your and Son Goku's moves."
Ino agreed with this statement. "Yes, I can see that. That's why I only used Supreme Kai abilities that he couldn't imitate and learn during the fight."
Piccolo continued, "Dr. Hedo proposed a theory. Commander Magenta is an absolute idiot. Because he is very short himself, as a complete layman, he directed the scientific team to add too many uncertain factors to the Cell Max plan. Now, we can use these factors to our advantage."
"How do we use them?"
Piccolo enunciated every word clearly, "We will complete the Cell Max plan on Commander Magenta's behalf, creating a berserk and gargantuan Cell Max that simultaneously loses all of its potential and learning abilities."
His words sent Ino deep into thought.
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