Frieza's eyelids twitched violently.
Through the transparent observation window of the ship, everyone could clearly see Vegeta's movements.
And also... the throne beneath him, decorated with a mass of skulls.
The skull Vegeta was idly turning in his hand looked more and more familiar the longer they stared at it.
Cooler's expression darkened.
"If I'm not mistaken, that one is your head, isn't it, Frieza?"
"At the very least, that timeline proves that your attempt to use Vegeta was laughably naive."
Everyone focused their gaze.
There was no flesh left on it, but the signature purple gem embedded in the forehead and the round ear-holes made its original owner obvious at a glance.
That skull was set right into the armrest of the throne, impossible to miss.
Worse, it gleamed with a polished shine. It had clearly been handled so often it had developed a patina.
It was obviously one of Vegeta's favorite trophies.
Frieza narrowed his eyes.
He did not recklessly attack or bark empty threats. He simply engraved the humiliation into his memory.
Then he immediately shot back at Cooler.
"My dear brother, is your skull not over there as well?"
Following Frieza's gaze, everyone soon spotted a blue-crystal skullcap shaped almost like a starfish on the footrest before the throne.
Cooler's eyes narrowed too.
Defeat would have been one thing. But to have one's remains humiliated as a trophy and a footstool...
The Earth warriors felt a chill on an entirely different level.
Krillin's voice came out dry.
"That Vegeta... he's way more brutal than the Vegeta from our timeline..."
Trunks looked conflicted.
From Future Trunks, he had learned that his father had long since changed, had reformed, and become a trustworthy ally of Earth.
But this Vegeta had stayed on his original path of cruelty and ruthlessness, walking it all the way into darkness.
From a proud Saiyan prince, he had become a cold-blooded emperor ruling an entire timeline.
Piccolo folded his arms, his expression graver than ever.
"Conquering all twelve universes can't just be a difference in raw power. His personality must have twisted to an extreme."
"I'm going to ask them."
Instead of fear, Goku felt intense curiosity toward this Vegeta and his companions.
He wanted to know whether, if he had never hit his head, he really would have become exactly the monster Bardock described.
With a flash, he appeared before the ship.
"Hey! Other me!" Goku waved. "How're you doing?"
The four standing at the hatch turned their eyes toward him in unison.
Cold, emotionless.
The Kakarot with Goku's face but a completely merciless expression gave him one indifferent glance.
"How interesting. This timeline also has someone with my face."
"But the weak do not deserve to wear this face."
The four immediately locked onto their counterparts with frightening precision.
Goku's smile froze.
Gohan and Trunks both felt a shiver crawl up their spines.
As for the Broly of this timeline, he was still heavily injured from Levos's beating, his aura faint and unstable.
To those four, that was nothing but utter contempt.
From the marrow of their bones, they despised weakness.
In the eyes of the four, aside from the Gods of Destruction, only Metal Cell Max was worth noticing.
At that moment, Metal Cell Max slowly spoke.
"Enough. All contestant information has now been整理完毕."
He rose above the viewing platform, and the huge electronic screen overhead began to cycle through the portraits of all sixty-four competitors.
"Now, I will announce the rules of this game."
"This tournament has a total of sixty-four slots. More than ten vacancies will be filled by Cell Juniors sponsored by Mr. Levos."
"The format will be double elimination."
The bracket diagram appeared clearly on the screen.
"All contestants will draw lots randomly and face off in pairs. Winners of the opening round will advance into the winners' bracket. Losers will fall into the losers' bracket."
"After that, the battles in the winners' bracket will continue, while the losers from that bracket will be dropped into the losers' bracket."
"And anyone who loses in the losers' bracket will be eliminated outright."
"In the end, the champion of the winners' bracket and the champion of the losers' bracket will fight for the final title."
A double-elimination format meant everyone would get at least two chances.
It avoided the problem of a true powerhouse being knocked out in the first round and made the final outcome far less predictable.
Metal Cell Max continued,
"The rules are simple. Killing your opponent is forbidden. If either side falls unconscious, loses the ability to continue fighting, or surrenders voluntarily, that side will be judged defeated."
"I, as the organizer and referee of this game, will not participate."
His gaze swept across everyone present.
"Only the final overall champion will earn the right to challenge me."
"So if any of you wishes to leave this timeline, make sure you are not eliminated before becoming champion."
For the Earth warriors, challenging him or not was irrelevant. Their original purpose in coming here had been to temper themselves.
Besides, most of them knew their own limits.
Only a very small handful had any real chance of making it to the very end.
The gap between them and the true monsters was simply too wide.
Not to mention anything else, those ten participating Gods of Destruction alone were peaks many people could never reach even after a lifetime of training.
For the Earth side, whether they won the overall championship or not was honestly unimportant.
But for Fu, Hearts, and the others, it was a different story.
They still had their own grand ambitions to fulfill. How could they allow themselves to fall here?
Especially Hearts. He had plotted for this for a very long time, even going so far as to cooperate with Fu and bring his whole team into it...
"Of course," Metal Cell Max added, "in order to make the game more entertaining, and also to narrow the differences in strength between competitors, there will be additional rewards."
His voice kept echoing through the platform.
Then the screen displayed a strange fruit, red to the point of purple, purple to the point of black.
"Fruit of the Tree of Might."
"With each victory, the winner will receive an amount equal to five times their current number of wins."
"In other words, five fruits for your first win. Ten for your second. And so on."
"Oh, and one more thing. These are no ordinary Fruits of the Tree of Might."
"They were nourished by the entirety of this planet, then improved and brought to full maturity by my hand."
"Their effects far surpass the upper limits of fruits grown on ordinary worlds. Even the original Supreme Kai Planet itself could never have cultivated fruits of this level."
An uproar broke out.
"There's even a reward like that?"
"When Turles ate one on Earth, his battle power shot up instantly."
"If the Earth-grown fruit was already that powerful, then one grown from this planet... wouldn't its effects be even more terrifying?"
"Definitely. And since it's been improved too, who knows what extra effects it might have?"
This rule instantly lit a spark in the eyes of many of the weaker contestants. Some even began wondering whether they should gamble on a run.
Win a battle, and their power would see a huge leap. It might even let them quickly close the gap between themselves and the top-tier monsters.
For people like Fu and Levos, Fruits of the Tree of Might were already nearly meaningless.
But for fighters like Tien, Krillin, Master Roshi, even Goku and Caulifla, they were still treasures that could provide real, tangible growth.
That meant that as long as they kept winning, the gulf between strong and weak might actually be bridged.
"Well then..."
Metal Cell Max's voice boomed across the floating platform.
"The game begins now."
"First-round drawing, activate!"
The giant screen lit up with sixty-four portraits.
Fu, Hearts, Lagss, Cumber, Kamin, Oren.
Cooler, Broly, Paragus.
Bardock, Son Goku, Son Gohan, Son Goten, Piccolo, Bejita, Trunks, Bulma, 18, 21, Puar, Raditz, Nattaba, Tien, Chiaotzu, Yamcha, Krillin, Master Roshi, Ginyu, Chi-Chi, Videl, Yajirobe.
Time Patrol Vegito, Time Patrol Gohanks, Time Patrol Pan.
Kakarot, Wild Beast, Crown Prince, Broly.
The ten Gods of Destruction other than Beerus and Rumsshi.
Cabba, Caulifla, Kale, Hit.
Levos.
Then—
The portraits began spinning and flashing at high speed before slowly coming to a halt, pairing off one by one.
At that moment, everyone held their breath.
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