The desert no longer resembled itself. It was a wound cut into the planet, glass sheets rising where dunes had been, fissures smoking with heat they hadn't earned. In the center of it all stood two men, neither blinking, both refusing the concept of retreat.
Vegeta's aura curled tight around him, white and violet fire braided into a single merciless outline. His hands pressed together at his side, energy compressing into a sphere so dense the air shrieked with static.
Across the bowl of sand, Goku cupped his palms, body braced, red Kaio-ken flaring around him like a bodyguard made of fire. The syllables came out steady, each one a drumbeat that carved itself into the sky.
"Ka… me…"
Vegeta's grin showed teeth. His own chant rolled out, sharper, royal, cruel.
"Final…"
"…ha… me…"
"…Flash!!"
"…HA!!"
The world split in two.
A beam of white-violet hate tore the desert, met a wave of blue righteous ocean, and the collision became a sun born wrong. Light flooded the sky, so bright even Krillin and Gohan, crouched on the ridge, saw it through their forearms. The sand liquefied. The ground bent down like a bowl offering itself to the struggle.
Their beams did not meet—they argued. One shoved, the other shoved back, two languages screaming about which one would be allowed to exist.
The System poured lines of cold clarity across Vegeta's vision, cutting through light that wanted to blind.
[Beam Struggle Engaged]Host Output: 22,400 PL (stable, efficiency +6%).Opponent Output: 18,000 PL (base) → 54,000 PL (Kaio-ken x3 → x4 unstable).Projected Outcome: Host disadvantage. Collapse in 11.4 seconds.Emergency Options:
Micro-Vectoring: Redirect beam edges inward (Risk: +20% energy strain).
Overload Tail Node: Simulate Blutz Wave field (Trigger: Great Ape Protocol).
Brink Play: Permit damage, recover via Zenkai (+2,000 → +5,000 PL).
Vegeta snarled through the glare. "You'll cook yourself alive before I bend."
Goku's voice ripped through the roar of their clashing beams. "Then I'll burn—if that's what it takes!"
The beams surged, snapping between them like a tug-of-war fought with suns.
Vegeta tilted his wrists, fingers twitching subtle patterns. His beam splintered, thin threads cutting into Goku's Kamehameha like wires saw through rope. The edges of Goku's attack hissed, frayed, threatened collapse.
The System noted the improvisation:
[Technique Branching]Galick Gun → Vector Lash Variant (Proficiency: 12%)Reward on Success: Ki Manipulation Path advanced.
Goku roared, forcing Kaio-ken deeper, body trembling under its own rebellion. Red aura thickened until it was a stormcoat around him. His beam swelled again, swallowing Vegeta's frayed edges, inch by inch pushing him backward.
Sand exploded in sheets. The ground cratered another twenty feet.
Krillin screamed over the gale: "Come on, Goku!!"
Gohan pressed fists to his temples, eyes wide, the scream stuck in his throat because it was too big to fit.
Vegeta's knees bent, boots digging trenches into glass that still hissed from heat. His arms shook, not with weakness, but with the sheer fury of resisting math that said lose.
The System pulsed another line.
[Critical Threshold Reached]Host Vital Strain: 84%Projected Defeat: 5.7 seconds.Last Resort Available: Great Ape Protocol.Trigger: Tail intact. Simulate Blutz Waves via Ki-refraction.Warning: Collateral catastrophic. Probability of planetary-scale ruin: 41%.
Vegeta laughed into the screaming light, sweat hissing into steam, blood drying on his lip before it could drip. "Yes… yes! This is what I wanted!"
His tail lashed behind him, golden light running its length like a fuse. For a moment he imagined the desert under the shadow of his Great Ape form, imagined Kakarot's defiance broken under a paw the size of his house.
But the soldier in him—Ethan's cold calculation—intervened. Too early. Too much collateral. Too little control. This isn't the planet I want burned. Not yet.
He pushed the thought aside and doubled his output, screaming with the pleasure of pain given purpose. His beam swelled, nearly regaining ground—
But Kaio-ken answered. Goku's aura spiked, red threads tearing the edges of his gi, his skin spiderwebbing with microfractures of strain. His Kamehameha roared forward like an ocean deciding land had been a mistake.
It engulfed Vegeta's beam. Swallowed it. Ate the desert whole.
The explosion tore upward, a pillar into the sky. Sand became fire became glass became nothing. Krillin and Gohan clung to the ridge by sheer terror, hair pulled by wind that wanted to peel it from their scalps.
When the light cleared, Vegeta was on one knee, chest heaving, armor cracked in spiderweb lines. The ground around him was a basin of glass, hissing with steam. His hands smoked, palms scorched raw.
But he laughed. Low at first, then rolling up, cruel and beautiful.
"You… idiot…" He pushed to his feet, legs shaking, tail twitching like a whip. "You've burned yourself hollow just to match me."
The System chimed with clinical delight.
[Brink State Achieved]Zenkai Recovery Pending (est. +5,000 PL).Super Saiyan Progress: +2% (Emotional Catalyst: Rivalry Intensity).New Option: Great Ape Protocol (Ready, Blutz Simulation stabilized).
Vegeta's smile sharpened into something dangerous. He looked across at Goku, who stood bent, panting, sweat pouring, body protesting the Kaio-ken's price.
"You think this fight is finished, Kakarot?" Vegeta asked, voice jagged with glee. "No… this is where it begins."
His tail lifted, swaying like a pendulum counting down to a doom only he knew the rhythm of. Energy gathered at its base, glowing with a light not native to this planet.
Krillin's face went pale. "Oh no… he's—he's gonna—"
Vegeta raised one hand, ki spiraling upward, shaping into a sphere that pulsed like a newborn star. The desert lit silver in its glow, unnatural moonlight spreading.
"Behold," Vegeta roared, voice carrying above the gale. "The true form of the Saiyan race!"
The sphere launched skyward, expanding, stabilizing, flooding the battlefield with false Blutz waves.
His body trembled, bones groaning, muscles ripping to reweave themselves, armor splitting at the seams. His roar shook the horizon, primal and endless.
Goku looked up, eyes wide, chest heaving. "No…"
The shadow of something colossal spread across the glassed desert floor.