As everyone finally, truly accepted Android 21 from the bottom of their hearts, no longer seeing her as someone to be wary of, Levos made a decision.
He looked at 21, then at Buu beside her.
"Buu, 21, you two can split these mechanical bodies."
Buu's happiness was visible on his face. He picked up a broken piece of a black-gold mechanical body, opened his mouth, and bit into it.
"Ptooey! Ptooey!"
Buu spat out a mouthful of metal fragments, his face full of disgust.
"Yucky! Hard! Not candy!"
Only then did everyone remember that Buu's absorption ability seemed to work only on living beings, or objects containing life energy.
As for purely mechanical constructs, there had never been any precedent of him successfully absorbing them.
"Taste aside, the real question is whether he can digest them at all."
Still looking disgusted, Buu forced himself to swallow a chunk.
After waiting for a while, nothing changed in his body.
It seemed that when it came to purely mechanical creations, Buu was helpless.
Piccolo asked curiously, "Levos, why don't you absorb some of them yourself?"
Levos could only come clean about Cell Max still being in a state of indigestion.
"Then... can Cell Max transform into a black-gold form now?"
Cooler immediately pricked up his ears.
"Not yet."
Absorbing black-gold mechanical bodies mainly advanced the progress of the mechanical evolution route.
But black-gold form, at its core, was still a transformation on the genetic path. It would still require some training before it could be mastered.
That said, a new form on the mechanical route had been unlocked.
What had once been the Silver Mechanical Form had now become the Golden Mechanical Form.
Watching the mechanical clones he had forged with endless resources and years of effort being rejected by Levos on the grounds that they were too filling, Cooler felt miserable beyond words.
The heartbreak was secondary. The real issue was that the one he had once treated as prey was now openly discussing ownership of the black-gold mechanical bodies right in front of him.
It was naked humiliation.
And yet he didn't dare voice a single complaint. At this point, the fact that his main body wasn't on their menu was already something he had to thank the heavens for.
So he could only pray that 21 wouldn't be able to swallow all the black-gold mechanical bodies, and that at least some of his forces would remain.
At that moment, all eyes turned toward 21.
She had unexpectedly become the greatest beneficiary of this battle.
"Then... I won't stand on ceremony."
21 glanced at everyone a little awkwardly. When she received Levos's approving look, she stopped hesitating.
Countless pink energy tendrils stretched out from behind her like a predatory web, wrapping around every last piece of the black-gold mechanical bodies.
The tremendous energy contained in those bodies was rapidly converted and absorbed by her.
Boom!!!
A surge of power far beyond any of her previous forms exploded from her body, whipping up a savage storm across the planet's surface.
21's mechanical evolution route broke through in one leap.
A dark metallic sheen surfaced across her skin. Black energy lines flowed over her body, tracing out perfect contours. Even her hair darkened into a deeper black-violet shade.
Black-Gold Mechanical Form!
21 had effortlessly achieved the ultimate transformation that Cooler had only reached through untold hardship.
"I cultivated for twenty years, thinking I could become the universe's one and only supreme ruler, only to end up making a wedding dress for someone else."
Cooler's eye twitched, and he could only sigh that it wasn't a matter of effort, but of bad timing.
After feeling out the power inside her, 21 returned to normal, walked over to Levos, and looked at him expectantly.
"Levos, my power has become too strong now. Just in case... I hope you can stay by my side. Always."
Before Levos could answer, someone else spoke first.
"If you don't trust your own self-control, 21, then you can come to my lab. I'd be more than happy to help you identify the problem."
Bulma smiled, though there was no warmth in it.
The moment those words were spoken, the air seemed to freeze.
Puar added, "Young Master Levos trains very hard. He doesn't have that much spare time to look after other people."
Then 18 spoke too, her face cold.
"If all you need is someone to supervise you, anyone can do that. I think the Cell Juniors would be a great fit. After all, they're Levos's children."
"Ch... children?" 21 froze, then grew instantly tense. "With who?"
18 didn't answer. She only curled her lips slightly and gave Levos a meaningful look.
"Don't say weird things, 18. That's just a Cell Max trait." Levos was suddenly sweating. He even felt a bit guilty.
He had a bad feeling 18 might know something.
Some stones were better left unturned.
Vados had been watching the whole thing with the smile of a delighted aunt.
"My, my, Mr. Levos, do tell us in detail. I'm especially curious about where all those Cell Juniors you brought back from the Time Nest came from."
Levos was stunned.
Damn it, Vados. Could you leave me a way out instead of fanning the flames?
"Exactly." Bulma stared right into his eyes. "Back then, when you explained it, you deliberately skipped over the details. What are you hiding from me?"
This question was even harder to deal with than a life-and-death battle.
If he answered even slightly wrong, it felt like he might die on the spot.
Under such a delicate atmosphere, none of the others dared say a word. Every face was wearing the same expression:
Oh, we are absolutely watching this.
Save me. Someone save me.
Levos screamed inwardly.
At last, perhaps someone really did hear his call for help.
In the sky above, a Time Gate slowly opened.
The Supreme Kai of Time, Chronoa, arrived with a group of Time Patrollers.
Her gaze swept across the ruined Supreme Kai Planet before finally settling on Levos. There was apology and gravity on her face.
"Sorry, Levos. I came late. By the time I got your message, I was already correcting a distorted history in another timeline..."
"What Fu did here, gathering warriors from multiple timelines for his experiments, has already severely disrupted the order of time. We need to stop him as soon as possible."
Behind her, the members of the Time Patrol were all brimming with battle spirit, each of them searching the surroundings for traces of the enemy.
"Vegeta, we get to fight strong opponents again. I'm fired up."
Time Patrol Goku bumped his fists together, full of anticipation.
"Hmph. We're here to deal with a crisis, not just to pick fights."
Even though he said that, Time Patrol Vegeta's gaze was already roaming over Earth's fighters.
"The people in this timeline aren't bad at all. Even Trunks's ki is much stronger than I expected."
Future Trunks was a little stunned too.
The energy of Earth's fighters had risen far beyond what he remembered when he left.
By all accounts, he hadn't even been with the Time Patrol for a month.
And yet when he met everyone again, their strength had undergone a complete transformation.
"Fu already left this timeline."
The moment Levos's main body reconnected with Cell Max, he had already contacted Chronoa and asked her to keep an eye on this timeline.
Primarily, it was to prevent Fused Zamasu's seal from breaking and to reinforce it while she was at it.
At the same time, through another channel, he had also arranged for Fu's whereabouts to be traced.
If Fu dared come here and stir up trouble, then he had better be prepared to pay the price.
Levos had no intention of patiently waiting for Fu's next visit.
At that moment, another Time Gate opened, and a new arrival stepped through.
The former Supreme Kai of Time Aeos.
"Levos, we found him. Shall we go now?"
Levos nodded, summoned Cell Max into his body, and placed one hand on Aeos's back.
Blue light flashed.
In the next instant, the two of them appeared inside a laboratory covered in monitoring screens.
Outside the window, the sky was reflected through thick iron chains that crisscrossed the heavens.
In a chair before the screens sat a purple-skinned figure who looked up in stunned shock at the sudden arrival of the two intruders.
In the blink of an eye, Levos had one hand clamped around the figure's throat.
"Fu," he said coldly, "you need to understand something."
"There are timelines you have no business laying your hands on."
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