"Strictly speaking, the one who absorbed you two was Cell Max…"
Levos felt like he had just been shoved onto a bed of hot coals all over again. Sweat broke out on him instantly.
Chronoa looked at Aeos, visibly moved.
"I never thought Lady Aeos would be willing to put aside her differences and fuse with me…"
"That was only because the situation was urgent and I had no other choice," Aeos snorted and turned her face away. "Do not misunderstand. That does not mean I agree with your ideals."
A faint smile flickered in Chronoa's eyes.
So Lady Aeos' usual cold attitude toward her really had been an act.
Chronoa continued her analysis in all seriousness.
"That would also explain why those little Cell Juniors are so close to me…"
"Now is not the time to analyze that," Levos quickly cut in.
But Chronoa suddenly thought of something and stared at Levos in shock.
The tips of her ears turned red.
"Don't tell me the Cell Juniors… don't tell me they see me as their mother?"
"No!" Levos answered without hesitation. "That is just a Cell Max trait. It has absolutely nothing to do with you!"
"Pfft!"
Piccolo, who had been shamelessly listening in with both ears perked up, finally lost it.
"Piccolo, what are you laughing at?" Krillin asked curiously.
"I'm not laughing." Piccolo forced a straight face, though deep down he was already hoping that the next time Levos ended up having another batch, he would be there in person to watch the whole thing unfold.
On the other side, Chronoa still looked unwilling to let it go.
"But…"
Levos had had enough.
"Enough nonsense. Are we sealing this planet or not?"
With this backup plan in place, at least they would not have to worry about the planet going out of control, and it would also place restrictions on Full Metal Cell Max.
Levos clenched his jaw.
Fine. He would just bite the bullet.
Aeos, meanwhile, had been left somewhat dazed by Chronoa's guess.
The Cell Juniors' mother?
Ridiculous.
She immediately shook the thought out of her head, then glared hard at Chronoa.
"Lady Aeos, let's begin."
Chronoa took off one of her Potara earrings and handed it over.
Aeos accepted it, gave Levos a long look, then put it on.
Brilliant light exploded outward.
When the radiance faded, a brand-new figure stood before everyone.
"I am Aeonoa. Levos, fuse our Time Power with yours…"
The fused voice carried both Chronoa's softness and Aeos' cold detachment.
Levos transformed into his Cell Max form. His tail expanded, wrapped around Aeonoa, and absorbed her into his body.
Three completely different Time Powers surged inside him.
Blue, silver, and gold light intertwined around his body before merging into one.
Everyone present was stunned.
"What an overwhelming aura!"
Bulma's expression became extraordinarily complicated.
"Does that mean… the birth of that batch of Cell Juniors…"
18 also reacted at once.
"So it really had something to do with the Supreme Kai of Time!"
The two exchanged a glance and instantly fell into an awkward silence.
Terrifying Time Power spread outward from Levos as the center.
Space began to distort. The flow of time itself seemed to turn viscous and heavy.
A trace of helplessness flashed through Full Metal Cell Max's eyes.
He could feel an incomparably solid barrier taking shape around the entire planet.
"How cautious. Still, with my powerful analytical ability, sooner or later I will break through this seal!"
Layer upon layer of spacetime barriers wrapped around the whole world.
The planet still floated in its original position, yet it had been completely severed from the outside world.
Neither matter nor energy could pass through that barrier without Levos' permission.
Everyone raised their heads and looked up at the transparent shell enveloping the planet.
At that moment, Levos slammed his fist into the barrier.
Boom!
The barrier did not budge in the slightest. Even the shockwave dissipated in an instant.
"Not bad. As expected of a boundary forged from the combined strength of three Time Powers…"
This time, just like before, Aeonoa separated inside Cell Max the moment the sealing was complete, for reasons no one understood.
Worried that he might start producing more Cell Juniors right in front of everyone, Levos hurriedly released them at once.
After all, the energy and divine power inside him were still overflowing.
Not only had he still not fully digested the Black Metal Cooler units he had absorbed earlier, even the energy left over from Ozotto was still forcing every cell in his body to operate at overload.
Back among his companions, Levos told everyone that everything had been taken care of and that, for the time being, there was no danger from this planet.
"My, my. A seal like this is much stronger than the one I placed." Vados smiled sweetly, though there was a faint note of reproach in her voice. "If you had a method like this, Mr. Levos, why didn't you use it earlier? I spent all that time worrying about Universe 7."
"Vados, that was never something I could do on my own…" Levos said helplessly.
Why had he not used it earlier? Because if he had, she would have started stirring the pot again.
Levos had already figured it out. Vados had maxed out her hidden sadist stat.
And maybe it was just his imagination, but lately he had the distinct feeling she had been deliberately targeting him. Their relationship had been perfectly normal before.
As if she could read his thoughts, Vados narrowed her beautiful eyes and lightly asked,
"Then why exactly did you feel the need to hide the origins of the Cell Juniors from everyone, Mr. Levos?"
All the companions instantly turned their gazes toward him, some questioning, some openly savoring the gossip.
Bulma and 18 in particular were staring at him with blazing intensity.
Levos was completely unable to deal with that seemingly casual but utterly lethal question from Vados.
He felt that any explanation would be useless. Worse, the more he tried to explain, the more guilty he would look.
Thankfully, someone suddenly spoke up and pulled him out of the fire.
"Awesome! That means everybody can participate in the tournament without worrying now!" Goku bounced in place as he warmed up. "I'm joining too!"
"Me too!"
"And me!"
The Earth fighters all started volunteering at once.
"Now that the seal has been set, this planet and Full Metal Cell Max can hardly threaten the outside world anymore." Even Piccolo finally relaxed. "Count me in too!"
The Time Patrol fighters were even more eager.
"Since we're already here, and the danger's been dealt with, let us test ourselves against the strong warriors of this universe."
Meanwhile, seeing the seal completed so quickly and having failed to analyze it at all, Full Metal Cell Max murmured with a trace of regret,
"It seems… I underestimated the level of Time Power. I must find a way to obtain this extraordinary force."
At the same time, his master brain rapidly calculated the current situation.
His objective of avoiding direct conflict with Zeno had already been achieved, and this tournament was the perfect delaying tactic.
He had already seen through Monaka's true identity, but he absolutely could not show that he knew. The others must never realize he had seen through the disguise.
Then there was the fact that although the planet had been sealed, the energy generated during battle would still be absorbed by the Universe Seed.
If that point pleased Levos, then continued cooperation might still be possible.
At the same time, he could also try to secretly divert part of the combat energy into Full Metal Cell Max himself.
Especially energies he did not yet possess or had not fully perfected, such as Destruction Energy, Time Power, and Angel Power. This tournament might let him obtain all of them.
The third purpose, naturally, was to gather combat data.
He still had not fully analyzed the abilities of Fu, Harts, Broly, Time Patrol Vegito, and the others. He had not even fully seen through Levos.
Through this tournament, he would gain far more precious battle data.
So, from the standpoint of his own interests, the ideal scenario was obvious.
The more participants, the better.
Full Metal Cell Max gave an elegant bow.
"If everyone wishes to participate, then I naturally welcome it."
Levos quietly watched him, calculations running through his own mind as well.
The Universe Seed truly did require vast quantities of combat energy in order to grow.
And this tournament would provide a continuous stream of it.
At the same time, using real battle to make his companions stronger also aligned with his original intent.
More importantly…
He wanted to probe Full Metal Cell Max's true objective.
That fellow was absolutely not as simple as he looked.
"I'm joining too."
Levos spoke slowly.
A flicker of surprise crossed Full Metal Cell Max's eyes, but he nodded in agreement.
"Of course. Mr. Levos' participation will make this tournament even more exciting."
He waved a hand toward the sky, and a massive screen appeared.
On it were displayed the portraits and names of all the participants.
Fu, Harts, Lagss, Kamin, Oren, Cumber.
Cooler, Broly, Paragus.
Bardock, Son Goku, Son Gohan, Son Goten, Piccolo, Bejitaena, Trunks, Bulma, 18, 21, Puar, Latis, Nana, Tien, Chiaotzu, Yamcha, Krillin, Master Roshi, Ginyu, Chi-Chi, Videl, Yajirobe.
Time Patrol Vegito, Time Patrol Gotenks, Time Patrol Gohanks, Time Patrol Pan.
And at the very end, the portraits and names of Levos and Full Metal Cell Max.
Not all of Earth's people had entered the tournament. Vados, Supreme Kai Shin, Chronoa, Aeos, Oolong, Gine, and the rest had come to the planet, but had no intention of entering the battles.
Zeno had wanted to join, but Levos had talked him out of it, so he had only secured a spectator seat.
Seeing that the number of participants was close to forty, Full Metal Cell Max's original single-elimination format no longer seemed very suitable.
"Mr. Levos, in order to ensure that no contestant receives a bye, I would like to expand the participant count to sixty-four so that I can use my new format. What do you think?"
Levos thought for a moment.
"That works. We can use Cell Juniors to fill the missing spots. But…"
At present, there were only fifteen Cell Juniors at his side. Another thirteen had been taken to Universe 6 by Frieza.
That still was not enough.
And there was absolutely no way Levos was going to produce another batch on the spot.
If possible, he did not want to do that again for the rest of his life.
"Why are you all looking at me? It is not like I can just produce Cell Juniors whenever I want. And besides, I am never producing another one in this lifetime! Even if the energy inside me swells until I explode and take the whole universe with me, I still will not produce even one more! I mean it!"
All his companions exchanged glances.
They had not even said a word, and yet Levos had already reacted this strongly.
"I'm going to get Frieza and bring them back."
As soon as he finished speaking, Levos vanished with Instant Transmission, not daring to stay a second longer.
A tournament like this without His Majesty would be a terrible loss.
At the same time, he also wanted to meet the remnants of the Saiyan Empire currently invading Universe 6.
He wanted to see just who had given them the confidence to launch a war across universes.
…
Universe 6, Planet Sadala.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
One violent explosion after another rang out as the whole planet shook violently.
Countless figures clashed in the sky, dense energy blasts and beams weaving in every direction.
"Haaah!"
Kale was burning herself out, her muscles swelling further as her wild green aura shot into the heavens. One punch blew apart the encirclement of three enemies.
Yet the moment she dealt with that group, even more enemies surged in from every direction.
"Damn it! Where are all these guys coming from? Why are there still this many left?"
Caulifla transformed into Super Saiyan Blue and fought shoulder to shoulder with her junior.
Every enemy they faced looked strikingly similar to the legendary Devil Saiyan said to appear only once every thousand years.
Green auras covered the outer atmosphere of the entire planet, and there were at least ten thousand of them.
"Senpai, there are too many of them. What do we do now?!" Kale asked anxiously.
These enemies were not just individually powerful.
Their numbers were terrifying, and their coordination was flawless. They had clearly undergone brutal training or survived countless battles.
Even worse, behind that army stood several hundred even more terrifying figures.
Each of those had white hair, no eyebrows, protruding brow ridges, and crimson lines stretching from both sides of the forehead and down the chin.
Not only could they transform into a Devil Saiyan form similar to Kale's, their hair could also extend to their waists, clearly showing that they had broken past the limits of the Devil Saiyan state.
And the key point was, they all called themselves Super Baby.
"Cabba! Think of something!" Caulifla shouted into the distance.
Cabba himself was also trapped in a desperate fight.
Although he had already mastered Super Saiyan God, he was gradually being forced back under the assault of more than ten enemies at that level.
"I'm tied down too!" Cabba shouted back, gritting his teeth as a Galick Cannon barely forced one enemy back.
Across the battlefield, Universe 6 was obviously losing ground.
Even Hit had arrived in advance after receiving the alarm and come to reinforce them.
He had been moving constantly around the edges of the battlefield and had already assassinated an uncountable number of enemies. He was by far the person who had killed the most on Universe 6's side.
But in a war on this scale, his personal ability simply could not decide the overall outcome.
"What exactly are these things? They feel no fear of death, and they coordinate like they share one mind."
Hit frowned as he observed them.
Though they were Saiyans, their behavior was incredibly strange.
Their eyes were either wild and mindless or dull and empty, as though they were being controlled by something.
At that moment, a cold laugh echoed across the battlefield.
"I thought this would be a conquest worth enjoying. It seems I overestimated you."
Everyone turned toward the voice and saw one Super Baby step out from the ranks.
"You may not know who I am, but as a Tuffle, I share a blood debt with your Saiyan race."
"A Tuffle?!" Cabba's pupils contracted.
Of course Universe 6 also had Tuffles, but there they had always lived in peace alongside the Saiyans. There had never been conflict between them.
So why was this man, who had suddenly appeared, saying such a thing?
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