As the energy inside Levos erupted, the translucent, clock-shaped divine halo behind him steadily solidified, radiating a dazzling golden brilliance.
"This is… Time Power?" Aeos's pupils constricted as she stared at the scene in disbelief.
Across the surface of Cell Max's dark-gold armor, countless fine clock sigils appeared. Each rune pulsed in a fixed rhythm, as if calculating some mysterious law of time.
His eyes shifted from crimson to gold. Within those irises, countless timelines seemed to braid and flow.
"No way! How can you wield Time Power?!" Aeos cried.
Levos didn't answer. He only gave her a cold glance, then locked his gaze forward.
"Interesting!" The Chronoa avatar under Ozotto's control stepped in front of Levos. "Don't forget, that power came from me. You think you can contend with me at this level?"
Levos flashed forward, appearing directly in front of the super-giant Ozotto, his tail stinger thrusting at that massive body.
But Ozotto was prepared. Chronoa moved like a phantom, condensing an energy sword that caught the strike head-on.
"Your opponent is me! Let me show you what real Time Power is!" Chronoa barked. "Time Power Release!"
A golden halo bloomed behind her, and the golden blade cleaved toward Levos.
Levos didn't dodge.
He swept his right hand. The hands on his clock halo abruptly accelerated, and the flow of time in the surrounding space changed in an instant.
Chronoa's motion slowed while Levos moved normally.
He slipped past the blade with ease and snapped his tail, blasting her away.
"He actually learned Time Power through Chronoa… no wonder he can manipulate local timeflow." Surprise flickered in Aeos's eyes. "But his transformation isn't complete…"
Levos switched targets without missing a beat. He formed seals with both hands, and the clock halo behind him flared.
"Time Restraint!"
A golden beam shot from the halo and struck Ozotto's left arm. That arm froze in place, unable to move.
"Not bad." A low rumble rolled from Ozotto's throat. With a casual sweep of his right hand, the restrained left arm severed itself then instantly regenerated. "But that kind of attack is nothing to me!"
In the next moment, hundreds then thousands of avatars surged into existence before him, each one carrying the same tier of combat power.
Levos had expected this.
"Evil Containment Wave!"
A green spiral beam cut across heaven and earth, engulfing the swarm of avatars along with the super-giant Ozotto.
"That technique?!"
"Damn it it's the Evil Containment Wave!"
"We got careless!"
Ozotto wasn't ignorant. He and his copies all showed shock.
And the end of the containment beam was connected to Cell Max's tail.
"You dare?!"
"Your greed will swallow you whole aren't you afraid my energy will blow you apart?"
Levos was just as tense inside, but his voice stayed icy. "You think this is my first time doing this? Get in there."
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
One avatar after another was sealed into Cell Max's tail.
Then all the pulling force converged on the super-giant Ozotto.
The overflowing power instantly swelled Cell Max's body. The situation turned critical so critical that Levos might not even last long enough to seal the super-giant Ozotto into himself.
But Levos had no retreat left.
"There's always more than one way out," he gritted through sweat, forcing the words like a spell to steady himself. "Maybe I can use this to break into Black-Gold Form!"
"Naive! I saw through your trick long ago!" Chronoa reappeared. Hands clasped together, she summoned a clock halo behind her far larger and denser than Levos's.
"Time Backflow!"
Under a barrier made of countless condensed clock faces, the battlefield's time suddenly began to reverse.
The green containment beam flowed backward. Every avatar Levos had just absorbed drilled back out of Cell Max's tail.
Cell Max's swollen body returned to normal, and everything reset to the state before the Evil Containment Wave was unleashed.
"Knew it. You'll never land that move again." Beerus laughed coldly.
"So this is your limit?" Moro sneered. "You can't even resist basic time reversal, yet you think you can absorb us?"
Levos's brows locked together.
His grasp of Time Power was still crude. He'd inherited it from Chronoa, but he was nowhere near fluent.
"Your understanding of Time Power has a lot of room to grow." Aeos suddenly appeared beside him. "Keep going like this and you'll lose."
Levos cut his eyes toward her. "Say what you mean."
"Work with me," Aeos proposed. "I can hold Chronoa down."
"Why help me?"
"Because we share an enemy." Aeos's gaze slid to Ozotto, then settled on Chronoa. "If he succeeds, every timeline will fall into chaos."
Levos fell silent for a beat, then nodded.
He still didn't trust Aeos but right now, he needed an ally who actually understood Time Power.
"Keh keh keh! Two ants joining hands so what?" The super-giant Ozotto roared with laughter, and the swarm surged again.
"Careful. Those are all things he's devoured!" Levos warned. "Every one of them has been force-raised to their peak."
Aeos's eyes hardened.
Among the avatars were Merus, Moro, Majin Buu and even the silhouettes of the twelve Gods of Destruction.
But what worried her most was the terrifying aura rolling off Chronoa at the very front.
Chronoa snapped her gaze onto Aeos and extended a finger.
A vast, crushing pressure descended.
Aeos's expression shifted. She immediately went all-out to resist.
On the other side, Levos tried the Evil Containment Wave again
But just as Ozotto had said, once the move lost its element of surprise, its threat level dropped to near zero.
It was slower than letting Cell Max ambush targets one by one.
His absorption efficiency was too low.
Their numbers didn't decrease.
And with Chronoa now receiving an absurd, "legendary-tier" boost Ozotto's side sat in an almost unbreakable position.
If this stalemate continued, it would only grow more dangerous.
Aeos rushed close to Levos and spoke low. "The Potara earrings can fuse two individuals into one. It's improper to fuse with you, but only by combining both our Time Power can we have any hope of defeating them."
Just hearing that suggestion made Levos inexplicably gloomy. "Useless. The earrings can't withstand my power. Better you let me absorb you."
Even if Aeos agreed to let him "take a sip," Cell Max wouldn't undergo a true qualitative leap.
"Absorb me…" Aeos's face cooled. "That is a way to complete your Time Release Form."
Without hesitation, she continued, "If you can guarantee you'll rescue Chronoa, I don't mind being absorbed. The Supreme Kai of Time is the foundation of all timelines."
Levos lifted a brow. Aeos really wasn't simple she was rational to the point of cold-bloodedness.
"I can't guarantee what I can't be sure of," Levos said. "But I'll try every possibility."
They exchanged a look. Each understood the other. Both nodded.
"That's enough." Aeos showed a stiff, unyielding smile. "Come on. I hope my judgment is correct."
In the next second, her body was wrapped completely by Cell Max's massive tail and absorbed.
"You ate my prey right in front of me?!" The super-giant Ozotto exploded in rage.
At the same time, Chronoa immediately used the same counter-technique that had undone Levos before.
"Time Backflow!"
But this time, the time barrier was blocked by a blue radiance and failed to affect Levos at all.
After more than ten seconds of deadlock, an enormous clock halo interwoven in gold and blue formed around Cell Max.
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