In Dragon Ball: A brutal beating of Frieza at the start

Page 14

Chapter 53: Prelude to the Tournament of Power

"Stand still, all of you!" Beerus kicked open a golden rift in the void, the pressure of the God of Destruction making Vegeta's hair stand on end. "The Omni-King summons you. If you dare to be late, I'll crush you into dust first!"

Lin Ye helped Bulma to her feet, and suddenly the system core vibrated violently. The instant they passed through the vortex, his pupils contracted sharply—the once magnificent Zeno Palace was now filled with countless distorted fragments of spacetime, and eerie purple data streams seeped from the cracks in the ground. "This is… the work of Mirror Lin Ye?"

"No, that's not right." Weiss's fingertip traced the air, revealing a dense array of data on his glasses. "The frequency of the spacetime turbulence clashes with the God of Destruction's domain; it's as if someone forcibly tore open the dimensional barrier."

Trunks's consciousness flickered on Lin Ye's shoulder: "Be careful! I've detected residual fluctuations of the Key of Time." Before he finished speaking, two familiar figures appeared from behind the throne. The Great and Lesser Omni-Kings tilted their heads, their childlike smiles sending chills down everyone's spines.

"It's you~ You with that weird system." The Great King hopped closer, his golden eyes suddenly turning crimson. "Your system... reminds me of some annoying guy!" The air froze instantly, and Vegeta's arrogance was extinguished by half.

Lin Ye suppressed the system's alarm, suddenly remembering the "core of the Temple of Time" mentioned by the mirror image Lin Ye. Before he could speak, the system notification exploded in his mind: [Hidden quest "The Oath of the Guardian of Time and Space" completed! Unlocked "Super Saiyan? Eye of Time" form!]

A sharp pain shot through his eye socket, and Lin Ye groaned. A mirror-like six-pointed star pattern covered his pupils, and he could clearly see Beerus raising his hand to wipe away sweat the next second. "This is...precognition?" he murmured in shock.

Little King suddenly clapped his hands and laughed, "Interesting! Here's your reward!" A stream of light entered Lin Ye's palm, transforming into a shimmering "Fragment of Cosmic Authority." The system prompted again: [Temporarily invokes fundamental rules such as gravity and speed of light in the Seventh Universe. Cooldown time: 72 hours]

At the same time, a metallic twisting sound echoed from the depths of the battlefield ruins. Mirror Lin Ye's mechanical arm burst from the ground, a fragment of the Key of Time, radiating an eerie blue light, embedded in his chest. "Lord Kronos, your consciousness is finally complete." His voice became hoarse and distorted, and spiked energy wings unfurled from his back. "The spacetime turbulence in the Omni-King's Palace was merely a greeting gift for you!"

Vegeta roared and charged forward: "Scum! You got away last time, but this time..." His deep blue fist was swallowed by a suddenly appearing spacetime vortex. Mirror Lin Ye's mechanical tentacles wrapped around Vegeta's ankle, and he sneered: "I already cracked the coordinates of the God of Destruction's portal."

"Watch out for his new form!" Bulma screamed into the communicator. "His energy fluctuations are in sync with the turbulence in the Omni-King's Palace!"

Lin Ye activated the Eye of Time, only to find that the movements of the mirrored Lin Ye appeared as countless afterimages in his field of vision. At the critical moment, Trunks' consciousness transformed into a data stream and flowed into his body: "Use fragments of cosmic authority to interfere with the laws of spacetime!"

"Understood!" Lin Ye crushed the fragment, and in an instant, the flow of time within a hundred-meter radius suddenly slowed down. Mirror Lin Ye's attack froze in mid-air, and he roared in disbelief, "Impossible! How could you master the power of rules?"

"Nothing is impossible." Lin Ye was surrounded by golden lightning, the power of his new form making his blood boil. "The next time we meet will be your death day!" However, at this moment, a huge mechanical hand suddenly emerged from the crack in the Omni-King's Palace, directly pulling the mirror image of Lin Ye into it.

"The game has only just begun~" Chronos's laughter, mixed with electronic sounds, echoed in everyone's ears. Beerus withdrew his fist with a gloomy expression: "It seems we need to prepare for the Tournament of Power ahead of time."

Lin Ye gripped the still-warm fragment of cosmic authority tightly. Suddenly, a blurry image appeared in the Eye of Time: countless parallel universes were collapsing, while a mirror image of Lin Ye stood atop the Temple of Time, with a colossal phantom of the Omni-King behind him. This omen sent chills down his spine.

"Let's go, little mice." The Great King yawned, and the spatial turbulence began to heal. "Prepare well for the Tournament of Power, or else..." His smile returned to its innocent and naive form, yet it made everyone afraid to relax even slightly.

As Lin Ye passed through the God of Destruction's passage, he looked back at the gradually disappearing palace of the Omni-King. He knew that the real crisis had only just begun. The mysterious core of the Temple of Time, and the connection between the Omni-King and his mirror image, shrouded his mind like a fog.

Chapter 54: The Chaos of the Artificial Humans

The desert resembled a wound ripped open by a colossal beast, its cracked lines seeping scorched magma. The billowing heat distorted the air, making distant scenes appear like shimmering mirages. Golden Cell hovered in mid-air, its crimson pupils reflecting the warriors standing guard twenty meters away. Its tongue hissed as it licked its fangs, a sound that seemed to emanate from the deepest hell, sending chills down one's spine.

"Hey, system brat—" Vegeta suddenly nudged Lin Ye's shoulder with his elbow, the blue flames crackling and exploding at the edge of the shoulder armor, sparks falling onto the scorching sand and instantly extinguishing. He glanced at Lin Ye, his eyes full of impatience, "If your crappy AI can't hack into Cell's neural network again, I'm going to make my move first."

Lin Ye pursed his lips, remaining silent, his gaze fixed on the writhing tentacles on Cell's back. Those tumors, enveloped in spacetime energy, were expanding at a visible rate, each tentacle's tip cracking with honeycomb-like holes, like countless eyes devouring time, emitting a chilling, eerie light. Alice's static-like noise came through his earpiece. He subconsciously touched the communication module implanted behind his ear; the metallic coolness made the cold sweat on his palms even stickier, and his heart involuntarily quickened.

“Anomaly in spacetime energy detected,” Alice’s voice suddenly became clear, with a sharp, mechanical quality, as if she too sensed the tension of the situation. “Target bioelectric signal… no, this isn’t Cell’s brainwaves!”

"Get to the point!" Lin Ye lowered his voice, his anxiety barely concealed. He caught a glimpse of Android 18 leading Trunks to circle around to Cell's left rear. Android 18's eyes were alert, her hands ready to strike at any moment; Trunks gripped his sword tightly, his knuckles white from the force. On a distant hill, Piccolo's Special Beam Cannon was already at 70% charge, the green beam casting a menacing shadow beneath the clouds, like a giant blade about to fall.

“There’s a second consciousness in his neural network,” Alice spoke rapidly, each word seemingly squeezed out from between her teeth, “like some kind of parasitic program, tampering with Cell’s biological instincts—wait, I see the gene chain! It’s the Kronos sequence!”

"Chronos?" Lin Ye's pupils contracted sharply. This spacetime gene, which fetched exorbitant prices on the system's black market, was said to allow one to control the flow of time, but was listed as a forbidden item in the Omni-King universe due to its severe side effects. He suddenly recalled the broken chip he had picked up in the ruins of a junk planet three days ago; the spiral patterns etched on it were strikingly similar to the energy flow trajectory on Cell's tentacles, and a chill ran from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.

"Lin Ye!" Vegeta suddenly roared, his voice so loud it made Lin Ye's eardrums ache.

A golden afterimage, carrying the force of thunder, swept past. Lin Ye was startled to realize that Cell's tentacles had pierced through the spot where he had stood three seconds earlier. The ground twisted into a bizarre vortex in the spatial turbulence, as if time itself had been forcibly torn open. Vegeta's power-up blast grazed Cell's ear and exploded, but Cell grabbed it and sucked it into the spatial rift. Even the flames from the explosion were stretched into thin strands of light, like a movie scene paused on time. Time seemed to freeze in the entire world at that moment.

“Saiyans are still so impatient.” Cell’s voice echoed twice, as if two souls were speaking at the same time, full of sarcasm and disdain. “However… your energy is stronger than it was three years ago in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber.”

Vegeta abruptly stopped mid-air, the blue flames suddenly turning pure white. His eyes widened in shock: "How did you know—"

“I told you,” Cell’s tail needle suddenly pierced his own chest, blood spurting out but transforming into a stream of data in mid-air. He pulled out a clump of genetic material wrapped in data cables, which burst forth with an icy blue light in the sunlight, “I am not just Cell. Look closely, this is a toy secretly implanted by the time-space administrator of your universe—”

The gene chain burst forth with an icy blue light under the sunlight, and a system warning suddenly popped up on Lin Ye's retina: Illegal spacetime technology detected; host at risk of instant death. Only then did he realize that Cell's aura contained three completely different energies: the ferocity of android cells, the unpredictability of spacetime energy, and... a faint, almost imperceptible system fluctuation. All of this suggested that this battle was far more complex than it appeared.

"Alice! Send the coordinates to the Omni-King's Universe Patrol!" Lin Ye pulled open his tactical vest, revealing the system core flickering in his chest. The core's light was faint, as if it might go out at any moment. "Activate Emergency Protocol γ-7!"

"No!" Alice's voice trembled unusually, a hint of human fear surfacing in her mechanical tone. "The host's level is insufficient; forcibly activating it will lead to—"

"Enough nonsense!" Lin Ye gritted his teeth, breaking his false back teeth. The emergency power supply hidden inside activated with a roar, his mouth filled with the taste of blood. "I need three seconds to lock onto his genetic weaknesses. You're in charge of transmitting the data to Vegeta!"

Cell's tentacles had enveloped his head, and silvery liquid metal seeped from their honeycomb-like holes, each drop reflecting Lin Ye's distorted face. He could hear his own heart pounding violently, like war drums pounding against his eardrums, and his breathing became rapid. Three seconds later, Vegeta's voice suddenly exploded in his mind: "System brat! Your AI wants me to use 'that'? Are you crazy?"

"Do as I say!" Lin Ye abruptly ripped open his collar, and the system core emitted a blinding red light, as if making a final struggle. "This is the only chance!"

Vegeta cursed as he opened his palm, and suddenly golden sand particles mixed into the blue-white flames—the "Sands of Time" amplifier that Lin Ye had exchanged for him with system points three days ago. Energy waves condensed into a rhombus shape in his palm, each line corresponding to a weakness in Cell's genetic chain. Cell finally showed signs of panic, his tentacles retracting 0.1 seconds slower—enough time for Lin Ye's Time Slash to pierce his defenses.

"Space-Time—" Lin Ye's voice was torn to shreds by the shockwave. He poured all his strength into this one strike, "Slash!"

Silver sword energy and golden energy waves simultaneously struck Cell's genetic chain in his chest. Spacetime turbulence formed a miniature black hole at the point of impact, the powerful suction pulling sand grains within a hundred meters into glowing tornadoes. Lin Ye saw Cell's body peel away like old film, revealing a mechanical skeleton wrapped with data cables underneath—the real Cell had long since died; the current Cell was merely a puppet controlled by the system.

"You think... this is the end?" Cell's voice was no longer doubled, but instead carried a cold, electronically synthesized quality, as if it came from the endless void. "Everyone who collects the system... must die."

Lin Ye suddenly recalled Cell's sinister grin before his self-destruction. He wanted to shout "Run!" but found his throat burned by spacetime energy, only able to utter hoarse whimpers. The white light from the explosion was more blinding than the sun, and the powerful shockwave threw him away. Before losing consciousness, he saw Vegeta rush over to protect him with his ki shield, Vegeta's eyes firm and resolute; Android 18 carrying Trunks jumped into the bomb shelter, shielding Trunks with her own body to shield him from the explosion; Piccolo's Special Beam Cannon finally fired—but it passed straight through Cell's afterimage, striking a distant spacetime rift. The spacetime rift emitted an eerie hum, as if foreshadowing an even greater crisis.

"Ding! Host's vital signs have reached critical levels. Emergency hibernation procedure initiated."

Alice's voice, like a scalpel dipped in ice water, sliced ​​through the fading consciousness. The last thing Lin Ye saw was a chip fragment flying out of Cell's wreckage, its spiral patterns reassembling into a familiar logo—the "Chaos Weapon" icon he'd seen in the system shop. What conspiracy lay behind this icon, and what disaster it would bring? Everything remained unknown.

Chapter 55: Majin Buu Awakens

The scorching heatwave, like boiling magma, churned and surged above the desert, turning the entire sky an eerie dark red. The massive shockwave from Golden Cell's self-destruction gradually subsided, and the billowing dust, like a thick curtain, slowly fell, revealing a devastated battlefield.

Lin Ye struggled to his feet from the rubble. Debris slid down his body, and every movement aggravated his wounds, causing him to groan in pain. His body was riddled with injuries; beneath his tattered combat suit, his skin was covered in burns and cuts of varying depths, blood seeping out and staining his clothes dark red. In his ears, the system's shrill alarm blared repeatedly: "Warning! Energy remaining 15%!"

The sound seemed to be reminding him how dangerous his current situation was.

Vegeta wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, the crimson stains smearing across his resolute face. His eyes were filled with resentment as he gritted his teeth and said, "Damn it, that guy got away." His fists clenched, and the remaining blue-white aura around him flickered slightly, as if he was angry about his recent defeat.

Just as everyone was still catching their breath after the battle, a sinister laugh echoed from afar. The laugh was chilling and shrill, like the hooting of an owl, sending shivers down their spines. Everyone looked warily towards the sound, and saw Babidi emerge with a group of henchmen. Babidi was short, with a wicked smile on his face, his eyes filled with smugness and arrogance. Beside him, a pink mass of flesh was slowly taking shape, writhing and gleaming with an eerie light—it was Majin Buu.

"Haha, didn't expect that, did you? Golden Cell is just our appetizer!" Babidi laughed triumphantly, his laughter echoing across the empty battlefield. "Now, let me show you the terror of Majin Buu!" He waved his wand, as if showing off his impending victory.

Lin Ye watched Buu gradually take shape, secretly calculating in his mind. He knew that in their current state, a head-on confrontation was no match for them, and they had to find a way to turn the tide. Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck him, and a resolute look appeared in his eyes. He whispered to his teammates beside him, "I have a plan. I'll pretend to be controlled by Babidi later, and then take the opportunity to implant a system virus."

"Are you crazy? Being controlled by Babidi could make you lose yourself!" Vegeta frowned, his eyes filled with worry and doubt. "That guy's magic is no joke!"

"This is our only chance," Lin Ye said firmly, his eyes shining brightly. "Everyone is exhausted right now. If we don't take this risk, we'll all die. Trust me!"

Vegeta was silent for a moment, a complex emotion flashing in his eyes, before finally nodding: "Alright, but if anything happens to you, I won't save you." Although he spoke toughly, his slightly clenched fist betrayed his inner tension.

Lin Ye took a deep breath and stepped forward, deliberately creating an opening. His steps were somewhat unsteady, and his breathing became erratic. Seeing this, Babidi's eyes flashed with greed, and he laughed loudly, "Haha, he's taken the bait!" He raised his wand, and a purple light shot towards Lin Ye.

Lin Ye feigned resistance for a moment, then was enveloped in light, his eyes becoming vacant. "Very good, now go and kill your companions!" Babidi commanded, his smile growing increasingly sinister.

Lin Ye slowly turned and walked towards his teammates. Each step felt like a heavy shackle, suffocating them. Just as he approached Vegeta, a fleeting emptiness flashed in his eyes, and with lightning speed, he implanted the system virus into Vegeta's body. Vegeta understood immediately, but feigned terror, shouting, "No! Lin Ye, wake up!"

At this moment, Majin Buu had fully taken shape. He blinked his big eyes curiously, looking at everything around him, and muttered, "Buu, let's play!" His voice was innocent and pure, a stark contrast to his enormous and eerie figure.

Babidi laughed loudly, "Go, Buu, wipe them all out!"

Buu charged excitedly towards the group, the ground trembling violently wherever he went, powerful shockwaves erupting and kicking up clouds of dust. Vegeta suddenly roared, his aura surging, blue flames mixed with golden sands of time, as he entered his new "Deep Blue Time-Support" form! "Die, Buu!" Vegeta's speed was lightning fast, his fist carrying powerful spacetime energy, tearing through the air with a sharp whistling sound, and slamming down on Buu.

However, Buu easily caught the attack, grinning as he said, "It tickles, Buu likes it!" He grabbed Vegeta's fist, flicked it lightly, and Vegeta flew out like a kite with a broken string, crashing heavily onto a distant hill, raising a cloud of dust.

Just as the battle reached a stalemate, a familiar figure appeared at the edge of the battlefield. It was Mirror Image Lin Ye! He crossed his arms, a cold smile playing on his lips, his eyes filled with mockery and scheming. "Let me tell you a secret," his voice was icy and sarcastic, "Majin Buu was nothing more than a test subject for the Chaos Weapon. The real conspiracy is far greater than you can imagine!"

Lin Ye's heart skipped a beat. Looking at his mirror image, he realized this battle was far from over. The enormous conspiracy hidden behind it all was like an invisible net, gradually enveloping them...

As soon as Mirror Forest finished speaking, the air on the battlefield seemed to freeze instantly. Babidi looked at the uninvited guest with suspicion, his wand trembling slightly: "Who are you? How do you know about the Chaos Weapons?"

"Who I am is unimportant," Mirror Lin Ye said with a sinister smile, his mechanical eyes flashing red. "What is important is that you are all just pawns on the chessboard." He waved his hand, and a huge holographic projection appeared in the void. The image showed dense experimental data and countless life forms similar to Majin Buu floating in the incubation chamber.

Despite his injuries, Lin Ye glared at his mirror image, asking, "What exactly are you plotting?"

"Plotting?" Mirror Lin Ye sneered. "I'm creating a new world. And you, and these so-called warriors, are nothing but stumbling blocks in my plan." Before he finished speaking, he suddenly pointed at Buu, "Kill them!"

Buu, who had been playing around, suddenly turned cold, his massive body charging towards the group like a cannonball. Android 18 reacted first, flashing in front of Trunks and shielding him with energy waves in her hands: "Trunks, get the others out of here!"

Trunks gripped his sword tightly and shook his head, saying, "I won't leave. I want to fight alongside everyone!"

Just as Buu's attack was about to hit Android 18, Vegeta burst out of the smoke and dust, his "Deep Blue Time" form aura even stronger: "Don't underestimate me, Buu! Time Shattering Fist!" His fist was wrapped in golden sands of time, and time twisted where the fist passed, slamming hard towards Buu.

Buu was hit, his massive body staggering back a few steps, but a strange smile still lingered on his face: "Fun! Buu wants more!" He opened his mouth wide, and a pink beam of energy shot out. Vegeta dodged to the side, and the beam struck the ground, instantly creating a bottomless crater.

At this moment, Alice's voice rang in Lin Ye's ears: "A special energy circulation system has been detected in Buu's body. Conventional attacks cannot cause fatal damage to him. We must find his energy core!"

Lin Ye surveyed the battlefield and noticed that Buu's pink core flickered every time he was attacked. He immediately shouted through his brain communication system, "Vegeta, Android 18, attack his chest! That's his weak point!"

Vegeta and Android 18 exchanged a glance and launched their attacks simultaneously. Vegeta's "Time Impact" and Android 18's "Photon Burst" slammed into Buu's chest at the same time. The pink core flickered violently, and Buu roared in pain.

However, just when everyone thought they were about to succeed, Mirror Image Lin Ye suddenly appeared in front of Buu, a black scepter appearing in his hand. He swung the scepter, and a black barrier blocked the attack: "You think you can defeat him like this? How naive!" He turned to Buu, "Activate your final form, and let them know what true despair is!"

Buu's body began to expand wildly, his pink skin gradually turning into an eerie purple, and the surrounding space began to distort and collapse. Lin Ye watched all this, a wave of despair washing over him: "How can we fight like this..."

"Scared?" Lin Ye's voice was full of sarcasm. "Admit defeat now, and I can leave you with your corpses intact."

Vegeta wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and laughed loudly: "Give up? I, Vegeta, will never give up! Even if I die, I'll take you down with me!" He charged at Buu again, his aura burning to its peak, as if he wanted to set the whole world on fire...

Chapter 56: Multiverse Team

The turbulent flow of spacetime resembled a boiling galaxy, churning with blue-purple waves of light beneath their feet. Lin Ye, the Western gunslinger, twirled his revolver, engraved with mysterious runes, the metal firing pin clicking softly. He raised an eyebrow and chuckled, a blade of grass dangling from his mouth, "Hey, magic kid, do you think your pile of mirrors can stop a spacetime cannon?"

The mage Lin Ye raised his hand and waved his crystal wand, causing mirror images to ripple outwards behind him. Each image simultaneously made a casting gesture: "At least it's more reliable than your old relic." His pupils reflected the figure of Golden Cell in the distance, and his tone suddenly turned serious, "See that guy's energy core in his chest? Doesn't it look like a spacetime anchor sold on the system's black market?"

The protagonist, Lin Ye, clenched his fist. The system interface flickered on his retina, and a red warning mark was constantly locking onto Cell's spacetime energy fluctuations: "Alice, synchronize the battle data of all parallel universes."

"Lin Ye's consciousness has been connected to 27 universes," Alice's voice crackled with static, "but intercosmic energy resonance may trigger spacetime collapse—"

"We can't worry about that now!" the protagonist interrupted, his gaze sweeping over his counterparts from different universes: some were clad in mechs, some carried katanas, and one version was even munching on a lollipop while playing on its phone. He took a deep breath, raised his right hand in a tactical gesture, and commanded, "Guards, gunners, stop time; mages, construct spatial barriers; everyone else, prepare the energy matrix!"

Western Gunslinger Lin Ye whistled, "Finally, you've said that." He pulled the trigger, and a purple smoke billowed from the muzzle, an energy wave shaped like a pocket watch gear striking Cell. Instantly, time seemed to freeze; Cell's raised tentacles hovered in mid-air, even the savage grin on his lips solidified into an eerie arc.

"Mirror Fission!" The mage Lin Ye waved his wand, and hundreds of mirror clones simultaneously unleashed energy chains, binding Cell in the center. Each mirror reflected a different battlefield perspective, forming a complex spatial maze. "System notification: Spacetime stacking rate increased to 72%."

Just then, Lin Ye, who was holding a katana, suddenly shouted, "Watch out! He's accumulating spacetime energy!"

The protagonist then noticed that spiderweb-like cracks were appearing on Cell's frozen body, each crack oozing dark golden energy. He hurriedly brought up the system shop interface and used his remaining 10 points to exchange for a "Time-Space Stabilizer": "Everyone scatter! This guy is going to self-destruct!"

However, the expected explosion did not occur. Cell suddenly let out a piercing shriek that tore through space and time, its body expanding like a balloon, breaking through the shackles of time suspension. "Foolish ants," its voice echoed from multiple universes, "you think you can defeat a perfect being with such petty tricks?"

The protagonist stared at the plummeting critical hit rate on the system interface, cold sweat soaking his back. Just then, countless golden lights suddenly appeared in the spacetime turbulence—it was Trunks from various parallel universes! They wore combat suits from different universes, but all tightly gripped that iconic double-edged sword.

"Our future...is in our own hands!" Future Trunks (D-7 universe) spoke first, his mechanical arm flashing blue light. "A spacetime crisis has been detected in the main universe. All Trunks in parallel universes have simultaneously activated the 'Future Guardian Protocol'."

"Enough talk, blast that monster to smithereens!" A hot-blooded version of Trunks (from Universe B-13) brandished a flaming sword. "I still need to go back and check on Bulma's experiment!"

The protagonist felt a warmth in his heart and raised his hand to give the nearest Trunks a fist bump: "Listen to my command, all Lin Ye construct the energy matrix, all Trunks are responsible for cutting the spacetime anchor point—Alice, calculate Cell's genetic weaknesses!"

“The 12th segment of the Kronos gene has been located,” Alice’s voice suddenly became excited. “I suggest using the combination of ‘Time-Space Overlay’ and ‘Gene Resonance’!”

Western gunslinger Lin Ye spun his revolver, pushing the last bullet, marked with an "∞" symbol, into the cylinder: "It should have been done a long time ago!" He pulled the trigger, the bullet trailing a long tail as it shot towards Cell's chest. At the same time, all of Lin Ye's clones chanted in unison: "Mirror Refraction - Time Corridor!"