"Vegeta!"
Hearts clenched across the stands. If Vegeta fell here, Universe 7's odds would shrink to almost nothing.
"Damn it."
Beerus slammed a fist into the railing. Even he was rattled.
"Bleh, bleh, bleh. I told you Jiren can't be beaten."
Belmod stuck out his tongue at Beerus. Now that Jiren had shown his true power, the clown god's anxiety melted away. Since Beerus had mocked him earlier, he mocked right back, pulling faces at Universe 7 as ugly as sin. The Seventh's fighters ground their teeth, itching to jump the rail and slug him. But brawling in the seats was a good way to get erased by the Zenos.
A thunderclap ripped the arena.
Boom.
All eyes snapped back to the ring. The beam shoving Vegeta off the edge detonated. Smoke billowed. A whole corner of the platform was blasted apart.
"Yes. Jiren, knock them all down, one by one!"
Belmod capered and whooped, shouting for Jiren to finish things in five minutes.
Jiren did not move. He stared into the smoke near the brink. The ki he had nearly erased was still there, faint but stubborn.
Thud.
Vegeta walked out of the haze, battered and bleeding, but upright.
"As expected, Jiren. Not bad."
The proud Saiyan prince called a foe like Jiren merely "not bad." Which, coming from him, was recognition all the same.
"Your power falls far short," Jiren said flatly.
"What?" Vegeta's eyes bulged, sweat newly cold. This guy dared to say he wasn't enough.
Jiren ignored the storm crossing Vegeta's face. "Your punches drip with arrogance. That is your flaw. From this smug style of yours, I do not even feel pain."
Vegeta climbed out of the crater, voice level. "Hmph. Is that all you have to say? I am arrogant. That is the pride of the Saiyan prince."
Crack.
He hauled up the shattered dregs of his energy and snapped back into Blue.
"What…"
On the bleachers, not only Beerus but everyone stared. Even after a brutal beating, Vegeta's ki spiked to this degree. Impossible, and yet here it was.
"That ki… incredible. When did he train this up?"
Goku, finally steady on his feet, tasted the power roiling off his fellow Saiyan and whistled under his breath. Hype on hype.
On the stage, azure aura roared around Vegeta, yellow arcs lacing through it.
Belmod could not wrap his head around it. In only forty-odd minutes of fighting, Universe 7's Saiyans had evolved again and again. First Goku. Now Vegeta.
On Universe 7's bench, Piccolo felt his face go green. That crushing aura had been born from Jiren's words. Every syllable had gouged the pride of the man who had once stood as the most gifted on Planet Vegeta, now trapped forever in second place. This was Vegeta's proof-of-self battle.
The power howled. One barrier after another shattered around Vegeta.
"Jiren, stand and take it."
He gathered everything into his palms.
"Final Flash!"
The raging column swallowed Jiren whole. Beerus whooped again, yanking Krillin into a head-shake until the little monk's brain nearly sloshed.
"Keep pouring it on and blast him off!"
Vegeta roared. The beam swelled, then finally guttered out. A trench scarred the ring. Smoke parted, and there was Jiren in the pit.
"The strongest in the cosmos, is that it? Looks like I am "
Vegeta's taunt cut off. Jiren was already in front of him, hand pressed to Vegeta's abdomen, a killing sphere blooming.
Pain exploded. The prince's voice strangled in his throat.
"That was your best? Underwhelming," Jiren said, and the sphere detonated, swallowing Vegeta in glaring light. The perimeter buckled and fell. If the outside raged like that, the inside had to be agony.
Mouths hung open. Could Vegeta survive that.
The orb burst.
Vegeta dropped out of the smoke and hit hard. His gaze went glassy. That one had broken him. He could barely move.
"Vegeta!"
Goku saw his countryman mangled and sprinted in without thinking. Vincent went with him. The two struck as one, crashing into Jiren.
They knew exactly how dangerous he was.
Vincent led, every sense open, every art unleashed.
Boom.
A furnace of flame blasted from his palm, a point-blank inferno roaring over Jiren.
Jiren vanished.
He reappeared behind Vincent, right fist sheathed in annihilating light, ready to smash downward.
"Watch it!"
Goku shouted, Blue at full draw, whipping a kick at Jiren's ribs. Jiren spun on the instant. His right hand retracted without landing, his left snapped out to catch Goku's leg. He whirled a full circle in midair and flung Goku like a hammer into Vincent.
Boom.
The collision blossomed into an explosion. With a single exchange, Jiren unraveled their pincer.
All around, Universe 11's fighters were carving through their matchups just as ruthlessly.
----------------------------------------------------
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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