Uchiha Chiga spoke with calm confidence. After all, the Android 18 known as Lazuli on his side had been personally modified by him. The materials he used were far superior to those used in Lapis' construction.
Even with limitless energy, the intensity of energy output could still vary.
At this moment, the battle in the sky was proving Chiga's words true.
The beams of energy shooting from Future Lazuli's eyes began to weaken. A layer of cold sweat formed on her forehead. Lazuli smirked faintly, then sharply increased her energy output. Her beam thickened, instantly overpowering Future Lazuli's and pushing it back with force.
"Ah!!!"
A scream echoed through the sky as Future Lazuli clutched at her eyes. Two thin trails of blood trickled down her face.
Seeing this, Future Lapis couldn't stay still. Future Lazuli was his partner—he couldn't just watch her be destroyed. He surged upward, heading for the battlefield, their movements perfectly in sync as always. Together, they had once defeated Future Gohan.
But suddenly, a powerful force erupted from below.
"Almighty Pull."
"Nani!?"
Future Lapis froze midair as an overwhelming suction dragged him downward. No matter how he struggled, his body refused to move against it.
Panic flickered in his eyes. "What the hell is going on!?" he shouted, struggling in vain as he was pulled closer and closer to Chiga.
Within moments, he was yanked right in front of Uchiha Chiga himself.
"You!" Lapis snarled, his face twisted with rage. "So it was you all along! Die!"
He fired an energy blast, but the attack vanished against an invisible barrier before it could reach Chiga. The blast was absorbed completely, dissolving into nothing.
Future Lapis froze. He launched several more blasts in disbelief, but every single one disappeared the same way.
Two golden beams flashed from Chiga's eyes. In an instant, they severed all four of Lapis's limbs. His agonized scream echoed across the battlefield before fading into a broken whimper.
From a distance, Trunks swallowed hard, his throat dry. The sight burned itself into his memory. Lapis—someone even he couldn't defeat—was reduced to a helpless wreck before Chiga. The gap between them was beyond imagination.
Chiga reached out and gripped Future Lapis by the neck. His cries ended abruptly.
"Be silent," Chiga said coolly. "Don't interrupt Lazuli's fight."
Future Lapis trembled in terror. Since the day he had escaped Dr. Gero's lab, this was the first time he had truly felt fear.
Above them, the clash between the two Lazulis was reaching its end. Future Lazuli was already weaker, and now, half-blind and disoriented, she had no chance to recover. Lazuli seized her by the hair and slammed punch after punch into her abdomen. Each strike echoed through the sky with a dull, brutal sound that made both Bulmas and Trunks shiver.
Future Lazuli could no longer even scream. She coughed up blood repeatedly, her consciousness fading fast. Infinite energy didn't make her invincible—her body could still feel pain.
After several heavy blows, Lazuli paused. She yanked Future Lazuli upright by the hair and stared into her identical face coldly.
"Now," she said icily, "tell me. Who's the fake?"
Future Lazuli's half-blind eyes opened slightly. Despite her battered state, a twisted grin crept onto her face.
Lazuli frowned and punched her in the stomach again. "Talk."
Future Lazuli laughed weakly. "You're the fake," she hissed. "Didn't you know Dr. Gero implanted a super bomb inside me?"
Lazuli froze. She truly didn't know such a thing existed.
Seeing the confusion on Lazuli's face, Future Lazuli burst into manic laughter. "Hahaha! So you don't have one! Then I'll show you its power! Let's die together, bitch!"
She pressed her hand to her chest, and a blinding white light flared. Lazuli's pupils shrank—the sensors in her eyes detected an enormous surge of energy, but it was already too late to escape.
Future Lazuli's body began to swell as she cackled hysterically.
Then, in that instant, a golden light flashed from Chiga's eyes below. The white glow vanished. Future Lazuli's body stopped expanding and returned to normal.
Confused, she looked down at her chest. The bomb inside her was still active—she could feel it—but no matter how she tried, it wouldn't explode.
Vados, floating nearby, gave Chiga a teasing look. "Chiga, you told Lapis not to interfere in their fight, yet you couldn't resist jumping in yourself?"
Chiga snapped Future Lapis's neck with a single hand and tossed his body aside like trash. "The right to interpret that order," he said flatly, "belongs to me."
"Tch," Vados chuckled. "You're as arrogant as ever."
"Stop joking," Chiga replied. "Isn't the God of Destruction's habit of erasing planets at will just as arrogant?"
Vados blinked, momentarily speechless. "...Touché."
Meanwhile, Lazuli wiped cold sweat from her forehead. If Future Lazuli had really self-destructed, she would have been caught in the explosion too. The energy reaction had been terrifying.
Future Lazuli kept trying to trigger the bomb, but it was useless. For Chiga, who possessed the Bomb-Bomb Fruit, every explosion was under his control. Whether something detonated—or not—was entirely up to him.
Lazuli didn't hesitate. She grabbed her defeated counterpart by the arm and hurled her high into the sky. Then she brought her hands together, gathering a massive sphere of glowing energy between her palms.
"Go to hell!" she shouted.
The energy sphere shot upward, striking Future Lazuli midair.
A deafening explosion filled the heavens. A massive mushroom cloud rose high, shaking the earth below.
The readings in Lazuli's internal detector flickered rapidly before finally dropping to zero. Future Lazuli's presence had vanished completely.
Lazuli brushed a few strands of golden hair from her forehead and slowly descended, her eyes cold but resolute.
_______
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