Thud.
Toppo skidded all the way to the edge of the ring before he could plant his feet. His hail of Justice Flashes had not so much as singed Vincent Fox, and Vincent's taunt made him blink.
"What did you say?"
For a heartbeat Toppo thought he had misheard. Only he and the clown God of Destruction knew he was a candidate to inherit that mantle. Yet this man had laid his greatest secret bare in a few casual words.
Toppo's gaze hardened. He locked eyes with Vincent, as if he could peel him open by will alone. His breath came rough. A lake-calm heart began to ripple.
Who is this man?
"I do not know what you think you mean, but you will pay for that mouth."
Murder edged into Toppo's eyes.
Vincent stayed cool. Through the White Eye, Toppo's surging ki was an open book. "So quick to kill. Fitting for a God of Destruction."
Justice engraved on the heart, destruction pressed into the hand. Ironic enough to laugh.
Toppo snapped.
Boom.
He drove off the tiles. Cracks spidered under his boots as he hurled himself at Vincent. To Vincent's White Eye the charge was all openings. He slipped a shoulder past the first swing and snapped a whip kick up into Toppo's lower ribs.
Crack.
Caught clean, Toppo pinwheeled, punched through two slabs of rock, and cratered the floor.
"Justice Flash!"
Crimson bolts ripped from the smoke. Vincent was gone before they landed, toes kissing stone and vanishing again. The volley scorched empty ground.
"Fast…" Toppo watched the afterimages and accepted the truth. Unless he blanketed the arena, ranged fire would never tag this man.
"In that case… Justice Lock-On."
He formed his left hand into a pistol and sighted along the finger.
Toppo's body blinked. He reappeared behind Vincent and struck in the same breath, thick arms snapping tight.
"Run all you like. In my Justice Stranglehold you will be crushed."
Vincent's upper body blackened as Armament Haki sheathed him. "Try it."
They heaved against each other, a silent trial by force that no one around mistook for anything but lethal. The ring groaned. Tiles popped. A wide pit spread under their feet.
The pressure climbed. Toppo's eyes widened. He had not expected a human to carry this kind of power. His hold was fraying.
Vincent, for his part, silently thanked the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. Without that grind his bones would already be powder.
Fwoom.
He willed it and both forearms flared into Flameform. Heat roared. Fire crawled up Toppo's sleeves and bit into flesh. Pain ripped a shout out of him and his grip loosened by reflex. He knew in the same instant that he had lost this exchange.
The weight vanished. Vincent spun and drove a fist forward.
"If that is all you have, go finish your God of Destruction training."
His punch slammed into Toppo's gut. The belly caved. Force punched through and cracked the back of his uniform.
Rrrrip. Cloth tore. Toppo shot away like a cut kite and smashed a fresh bowl into the floor.
Breath ragged, pain blazing, Toppo fixed Vincent with a murderous stare. "You brat… arrogant."
He steadied himself amid the dust, but the words still burned. This whelp had named his hidden path and bloodied him twice. Toppo had always carried justice in his chest and looked down on the title he was meant to claim. Now, under Vincent's pressure, doubt crept in.
Do I abandon it?
His hands trembled. He hated the thought. It was the worst of options. Yet he was Universe Eleven's second only to Jiren, and he had not laid a finger on this upstart. Two exchanges. Two losses. Keep this up and defeat was certain.
A shadow dropped into the crater.
"Still thinking? Finish it on the bleachers."
Vincent stood over him and swung with everything he had.
Serious Punch.
Thud.
The blow bulged Toppo's eyes. Blood leapt up his throat and sprayed. Vincent did not pause. A whip kick cracked into the side of Toppo's neck. The massive body toppled. His vision washed pale.
Watching the whites roll up in Toppo's eyes, Vincent let out a breath. Good. He had kept Toppo from crossing into a God of Destruction state. That would have been trouble.
The thunder splitting the air told him Goku and Jiren had reached a fever pitch. "Goku, hold on. As you are now, he is still out of reach."
Vincent looked to the sky and murmured, "A few more steps and he will not be. Universe Seven is riding you."
He exhaled, not loving the taste of staking his fate on someone else.
He glanced down. Toppo's head was half-buried in rubble, his body still.
"Don't tell me he is dead…"
Vincent shook his head. "If the number two of Eleven died that easily, he would not be a successor."
The image rose in his mind of Toppo robed in destruction, that crushing aura only ended when Vegeta blew himself to pieces to stop it.
"Which means I should take you out now."
He reached to haul Toppo up.
His hand froze.
Toppo vaulted away in a single bound. Pebbles around him shivered up off the floor and hung in the air. His eyes were grave.
----------------------------------------------------
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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