A faint smile tugged at Levos's lips. "That was just a quick test of a new technique. Now… this is your doom."
As soon as his words fell, a streak of light dropped beside him.
The gods' pupils tightened.
"Cell?"
Cell Max's golden body gleamed brilliantly, a mountain-like, abyss-deep aura washing over every figure present.
"T-This…" Chronoa doubted her own eyes. "He's this strong already… without even fusing?"
Last time, Cell Max had needed to merge with Levos to bring out that golden state. But now, he had reached it on his own.
Beerus picked at his ear. "However many flashy tricks you've got, you're not stopping our plan."
"You look ridiculous acting so arrogant. It's just Cell. I've got clones like that too."
One of Ozotto's clones sneered and transformed into Cell.
"Cell's absorption is decent, sure, but it's nowhere near Buu." Another new figure appeared, taking Buu's shape. "And me… I've got both."
Levos couldn't be bothered to waste words. He stepped straight toward Cell Max.
The instant they made contact
Ten thousand arcs of lightning ripped through the battlefield.
The void shuddered violently, then fractured and began to collapse.
"That power…"
Ozotto's clones all turned grim.
"It's already far beyond even the strongest among us, the God of Destruction Beerus…"
"Power alone means nothing," someone snarled. "As long as the main body's energy supply doesn't run dry, he can never beat me!"
"Gods of Destruction?" Merus smiled faintly. "I'm an angel."
"And now… I actually want to taste him instead."
Excitement flared across the clones' faces.
But before their smiles could last even two seconds, their expressions changed again.
"Not good! His power is rising again!"
"Another transformation?!"
"Damn it!"
In that moment, every Ozotto clone realized just how vast the gap truly was.
"A mere mortal… how can he possess power that makes me afraid?"
"Unacceptable!"
The Gods of Destruction roared as one.
"Demons are the superior existence. In every aspect, we surpass humans!" Moro nearly ground his molars to dust.
Even Chronoa stared blankly at the scene.
"The era of this man… has begun."
As the dazzling light receded, Levos immediately swept his gaze over himself.
Cell Max's formerly blinding metallic gold had deepened into something darker and more restrained, like matte metal.
"Dark-Gold form?" Levos murmured.
It looked almost the same as Golden Cell Max, but the leap in power was undeniably massive.
"Dark-Gold is only a transitional stage. The true qualitative change comes with the Black-Gold form."
"Frieza probably realized that long ago. When he revealed Dark-Gold, he never once acted smug."
"The real problem is… that bastard got even more obsessive."
Levos sighed. He'd reached this level and still had to race Frieza to see who reached Black-Gold first.
"Hmm?"
Levos's eyes sharpened. Something inside him was being tugged, drawn out.
Moro's fingertip glowed with devouring green light.
"That's it?"
With a thought, the green light shattered before it could even touch Cell Max's body.
"Split NOW!"
Moro bellowed, unleashing the Separation Technique.
Levos's heart sank for an instant, but then he clearly felt a layer of power automatically form inside him, resisting that eerie force.
"So this is what the Power of Light does…"
The next moment, Moro's pupils widened in pure terror.
Cell Max's tail opened like a maw and swallowed him whole.
The instant Moro was dragged in, Levos felt as if he tasted the concentrated essence of planets refined over tens of thousands of years sweetness of forests and grasses tangled with the harsh bite of molten sulfur.
"So this is what it feels like to devour planets…"
Levos savored it for a beat, then his eyes brightened. "...This is addictive."
Immediately, he sensed a breakthrough along a path that had always felt stagnant.
"I'll be able to unlock a transformation on the magic route soon…"
But more striking still was how the stars in the far reaches of the universe lit up within his perception, all at once.
"From now on, I can strengthen myself by absorbing planets. I might even be able to fuse with them…"
Levos narrowed his eyes, thinking: Does devouring planets unlock a new evolution core?
Chronoa's mouth twitched. "Devouring planets is illegal!"
At the same time, she silently made up her mind. I've already treated him as my successor… but he's too dangerous. I have to keep him on a very tight leash.
Then her heart jolted.
At some point, a sphere of Destruction energy before Beerus and the other eleven Gods of Destruction had expanded to the size of a star.
"This blow won't just erase the entire universe," someone hissed. "It might even smash open the sealed time-space!"
"You dare block it?"
The gods provoked him.
Levos shook his head.
"Then die!" they snarled, pushing the energy sphere together.
"Frieza could catch that with one hand." Levos lifted a brow. "Let me show you… devouring."
Dark-Gold Cell Max's tail suddenly split into twelve, stabbing straight into the Destruction sphere.
"Glug… glug…"
In the blink of an eye, the energy sphere shrank to the size of a walnut, then vanished completely.
The gods froze, stunned.
"Destruction energy? Please. I've absorbed it before. And besides…"
"So-called Gods of Destruction…" Levos's voice shook the void itself, "…were nothing but my whetstones three years ago!"
The twelve massive tails moved in the next instant, wrapping and swallowing them whole.
Beerus struggled with everything he had, only to discover that under time stop, it was useless. In the end, he was pulled into Dark-Gold Cell Max's tail.
The gods' resistance grew weaker and weaker, while the patterns across Cell Max's body blazed like a newborn supernova.
"You're absorbing like that again aren't you scared you'll burst?" Chronoa's voice trembled with anxiety.
"Eat first. Worry later." Levos wasn't concerned. "Besides… we've still got fusion as an option, don't we?"
"Who's fusing with you?!" Chronoa snapped.
She never should've worried. Now he was treating her like emergency spare parts.
Merus's staff carved a perfect arc yet when it neared Chronoa's throat, it was pinched between two fingers.
No matter how unexpected the strike, under the combination of Flash-Time and Cell Max's calculation ability, everything could be predicted to the dot.
Merus unleashed a flurry of attacks, each one drifting off its intended target.
"When Whis trained you, he definitely held back a lot, didn't he?"
For the first time in millions of years, the apprentice angel's Ultra Instinct made a mistake.
His flawless defense was pierced by a single hand.
Cell Max's fingers locked around Merus's throat.
A needle-thin Dark-Gold tail tip stabbed into his chest.
As angel power poured into him, Levos felt as if he had pushed open a brand-new gate.
Within Cell Max, an Angel Evolution Core began to quietly take shape.
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