"How can that be…"
Whis's verdict hit like a thunderclap.
Krillin's fists slammed the railing with a clang. He ground out two brittle syllables through his teeth.
"Goku…"
On the arena, Goku's aura burned red and blue as he drove wave after wave of attacks at Jiren.
"Pointless. Flashy tricks do nothing to me."
Jiren still did not throw a punch. His telekinetic pressure thickened, a red veil hardening into a shield before him. Goku's full-force blows could not even scratch it.
"Enough."
Jiren studied him for a heartbeat, then spoke softly. His eyes sharpened. The red barrier bucked outward like a hammer, smashed into Goku's midsection, and sent him flying.
Boom.
Goku cratered hard. Rubble rained down and swallowed him whole.
"Boring," Jiren sighed and turned to leave.
"Not yet."
The voice rose from the pit. Stone exploded upward and Goku burst free. He looked wrecked. His gi hung in shreds, and even Blue stacked with Kaioken times twenty had been stripped from him by that last hit. He planted his feet in front of Jiren, chest heaving.
"If twenty times Kaioken is not enough for you, then I have to try that move."
He sprang to a high jut of stone and raised both hands to the sky.
"Universe Seven, lend me your energy."
Every fighter from their universe lifted a palm. Pale white motes bled from their bodies and streamed into the blue sphere swelling above Goku's head.
"What a bitter memory," said Frieza from a ledge, voice wry.
"Still…" The smile on his face warped into something that looked almost like a grimace of honesty. "At this point, take mine too."
He raised a hand and added his ki. Vegeta, stubborn to the bone, did not. He stood off to the side and watched.
Energy gathered. Goku did not look relieved.
"Nowhere near enough yet. I need more time."
Jiren's voice came from not far away. "I said I would wait. This technique is special to you, is it not?"
His expression grew solemn. "Show me your full strength. Do not disappoint me."
"Heh. You really are generous."
Goku grinned despite himself and kept feeding the sphere. It swelled and swelled until it matched what he had hoped for.
"In that case… sorry to keep you waiting, Jiren."
He heaved the Spirit Bomb down.
"I did not expect such refined energy from such a low-ranked universe."
Jiren did not dodge. He lifted his left hand.
Boom.
The hope of Universe Seven stuttered and stopped. Jiren held the Super Spirit Bomb in place with one palm. Its light flared brighter, bleaching the endless void around the arena.
"What… The Spirit Bomb is stalled?"
Krillin could not believe it. The technique that had saved them again and again was failing here.
Goku felt it clearly. The Bomb was creeping back toward him.
Jiren stood like a war god beneath the blazing sun and pushed. The Bomb drifted backward.
"If this is all, then…"
His left hand pressed. The Super Spirit Bomb rolled back along its path.
"You disappoint me."
"What?"
Goku felt the irresistible weight and instantly transformed. Blue blazed to life.
He braced both hands against the star and held.
A grueling tug of war locked into place between them.
Jiren slowly raised his right hand. The Bomb surged forward again.
"Kaioken times twenty."
Goku forced the multiplier on, jaw clenched, every tendon straining.
"Go back."
For a moment the Spirit Bomb yielded. It crawled toward Jiren.
"Hah."
Jiren added power. The result was never in doubt. The sphere that had inched forward now thundered back at Goku.
"What?"
Veins stood out on Goku's temples. Shackled by the contest itself, he could not step aside. Boulders that brushed the sphere vaporized to powder. Obstacles winked out in an instant. The Bomb loomed over him.
On the main dais, both Zenos stared, mouths open. In Universe Seven's box, a tangle of feelings tightened in every chest. The move that had saved them so many times was failing to matter at all.
The Spirit Bomb blazed across the World of Void. Universe Seven held its breath and prayed. No one else could intervene now.
They poured everything into it. Under the crush of their wills, the swollen star began to compress. It shrank, tighter and tighter, its glare turning knife bright.
"Does Goku still have a chance?" Beerus asked, already knowing the answer.
"Goku is at his limit," Whis said, calm and clear. "Jiren is nowhere near his."
"Universe Eleven is too strong to describe," the Kai whispered, awed and bleak.
On the stage, both men still drove their ki into the Bomb. It kept shrinking, white heat sharpening to a point.
Then the tide snapped.
Light recoiled. The sphere bloomed to its largest, then collapsed to a black pinprick. Beams bent and fell into it. Goku's strength failed. He vanished with the falling meteors of energy into the dark.
"Goku."
"Father."
Universe Seven shouted as one. Even Vincent Fox, watching from the sideline, could not help himself.
"So that is the Spirit Bomb," he murmured. "The power really is monstrous."
He tipped his head, eyes narrowing.
"But this is only your beginning, Goku. Do not you dare fall now."
----------------------------------------------------
The deeper he goes, the more the truth unravels. Don't wait read ahead and witness Vincent's rise before the world catches up!
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