Jiren chose to erase Vincent first.
Power gathered in his palm, a killing sphere swelling as scarlet ki bled into the air. The pressure alone made Beerus swallow hard.
"Farewell…"
Crack.
The sentence never finished. A blue flare scythed in and punted Jiren across the ring.
Goku.
They collided midair, trading at blistering speed. Shock pops rattled the air itself. For a few breathless exchanges the flurry ran even. Then Jiren read the rhythm, slid inside, and drove a knee up into Goku's abdomen.
Thud.
Goku's belly caved under the blow. His body folded, organs lurching from the impact. Jiren crossed his arms and spiked him like a ball. Stone geysered as Goku punched a new crater in the tiles.
Vincent burst from the smoke, already reset. He knifed through the haze and reappeared in Jiren's face.
That last hit had sharpened his mind like a blade on whetstone. In the crucible of this fight, even his spirit sense had climbed a rung.
Jiren's fists blurred, a squall of punches. Vincent smiled, fox-quiet and dangerous, and pushed his focus to the edge. Danger Sense. Byakugan. Observation Haki.
Everything, all at once.
His steps went liquid.
"Dodged it!" Krillin shouted, clearly seeing Jiren's chained strikes slice nothing but air as Vincent ghosted through the gaps. In a blink Vincent was on Jiren's chest.
"Serious Punch."
He drove it in.
The blow landed like a meteor. Jiren gagged, acid bile spraying as he blasted backward.
"What!" Belmod's painted grin cracked, sweat beading. The man he called invincible had just been sent flying. This was no blindside like Goku's earlier kick. They had met head-on, and Vincent had won the touch.
Jiren smashed through a slab of rock, boots carving twin trenches before he skidded to a stop. Vincent did not give him time to breathe. He surged again.
"Universe 11, so this is it," Beerus crowed from the stands, tail lashing. Shouts rose around him.
"Finish it. Knock him out now."
Across the way, Belmod's hands clenched. How could Jiren be driven back. The man could defeat even him.
As the titans clashed, the rest of the field ignited. No spectators, only opponents.
Dyspo had Frieza by the head, grinding his face into the wall. "I will wear you down and toss you out," he laughed, driving the Golden Emperor into the tiles, then whipping him skyward. In the next heartbeat Dyspo flashed above him and stamped down toward Frieza's gut.
A rout. There was no kinder word for it.
Vincent sifted through another of Jiren's combinations, stepped to the blind side, and whipped a kick into Jiren's midriff.
Boom.
Jiren tumbled again. Vincent exhaled, steadying. He was not fool enough to think he had surpassed Jiren. The truth was simpler. Jiren had not yet shown the depth of his hand.
A blue glow slid in front of him.
"Vegeta, you "
"Save it," Vegeta cut him off with a flick of his wrist. "Leave this one to me. This Jiren is nothing. Watch how I teach him a lesson."
He rocketed forward and buried a fist in Jiren's unguarded abdomen. The strike thudded home. Jiren's eyes cooled, unreadable.
"Jiren, you call yourself the strongest. Show it," Vegeta snarled. He rose into the air, yellow ki coiling to a point.
Final Flash.
The beam howled down, swallowing Jiren in gold. Vegeta poured it on, disdain curling his lip.
"Two exchanges, and you lose nerve. How do you deserve the title strongest."
The ring shattered under the torrent. Then Vegeta's face changed.
A gray shadow stepped in behind him without a mark on his body.
"I admit, the damage was not trivial," Jiren said, voice like a blade. "But still not enough."
His heel crashed between Vegeta's shoulders. The Saiyan Prince plummeted. Before he could touch stone, Jiren flashed beneath him, palmed Vegeta's head in his left hand and hammered his gut with his right.
The breath left Vegeta in a single ugly sound. His limbs went slack.
Jiren flicked his wrist and hurled him skyward while his right hand gathered light.
The blast hit clean. Vegeta pinwheeled, a cut kite drifting toward the edge, closer and closer to the drop, the void yawning to swallow him.
----------------------------------------------------
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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