BOOM… VMMM…!
A low thunderous roar swept across the battlefield.
And then…
Something no one expected happened.
Goku's full power Kamehameha blasted toward Vegeta…
But half a meter before reaching him, the attack was crushed.
The shockwave shattered into shimmering particles of light, breaking apart like dust against an invisible wall.
Vegeta had not moved.
He had not raised a hand.
He had not even blinked.
It was simply… his aura.
Everyone stared in disbelief, Krillin, Gohan, Bulma, even King Kai far away in the Other World.
But the most stunned of all was Goku himself.
He had fired that Kamehameha to break the stalemate, to force Vegeta to react.
Yet…
It had not even made him shift an inch.
"Damn it… HAAA!"
Goku cut off the beam and instantly charged.
Ki flared, muscles tightened, and he launched a punch powerful enough to split stone and shatter a mountain.
A blow that would force even a fighter with one hundred thousand power to defend.
But Vegeta simply lifted one finger.
Tap.
The punch stopped like it had struck solid steel.
Goku did not hesitate.
He burst into a flurry of techniques, Kame style footwork, rapid turns, low sweeps, explosive punches.
Everything he had refined in the gravity chamber.
Everything he had learned since leaving Earth.
He was faster,
stronger,
more refined
than the Goku who fought Vegeta back then.
But still…
Every strike was casually blocked.
To Vegeta, it was like an adult stopping the attacks of a child.
And Goku could feel it.
If Vegeta became even slightly serious…
He would die.
The gap…
Was even larger than it had been on Earth.
Back then, the Kaio ken had allowed him to fight evenly.
But now…
Even higher levels of the Kaio ken felt useless.
"What is wrong, Kakarot? Your attacks are getting weaker.
Are you running out of strength already?"
Vegeta's mocking tone stabbed into Goku's pride.
Goku leapt back several meters, skidding to a halt, chest rising and falling rapidly.
"No… this fight is only getting started!
Even if I cannot beat you, I want to give everything I have!"
His roar echoed through the air.
Ki surged.
But this time…
It was red.
Blood red flames erupted around him, spiraling like a blazing vortex.
Kaio ken.
His power shot from one hundred fifty thousand…
To three hundred thousand.
An impressive feat.
A terrifying transformation.
Just not enough.
Not even close.
Because Vegeta now possessed a basic power above five million.
For him, a two times Kaio ken was nothing more than a warm up.
Far in the distance, the spectators trembled.
They already suspected Goku could not match Vegeta…
But seeing it with their own eyes,
seeing Goku's strongest techniques do absolutely nothing…
It shook them to their core.
This was Vegeta's strength now.
And this was only a fraction of it.
"Dad is using the Kaio ken! With it, the gap will get smaller!"
Gohan clenched his fists tightly, clinging to hope.
Krillin let out a long sigh.
"Goku knows he is going to lose…
but he is still fighting to show Vegeta he will not back down.
He is telling Vegeta that he will never stop getting stronger."
Behind them, Bulma stared intensely at both fighters.
Her eyes were sharp, burning, unreadable.
~~~~~~
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