Quitela stared in utter shock.
This guy had actually transformed into Legendary Super Saiyan Three.
Could he really be Broly in disguise?
It was not impossible.
After all, I'm the one who got Broly's father killed.
Maybe this is his way of settling the score.
It's been years, and now you've finally come to deal with me?
As far as Quitela was concerned, if someone held the rank of Great God of Destruction, changing their appearance should have been easy enough.
And even if a God of Destruction could not do it personally, finding some specialist to alter a face was nothing strange.
The moment that thought crossed his mind, Quitela started trembling all over. Without the slightest hesitation, he dropped respectfully to one knee beside Larte.
"My respects, Great God of Destruction!" Quitela said, nearly pissing himself as he shook even harder.
"The Great God of Destruction?" Larte repeated, slightly taken aback. "What is that supposed to mean? I don't like that title. Just call me Larte."
"Yes... Larte-sama..." Quitela said obediently, nodding.
"Now answer me. If I travel to Universe 7 in this form, how long will it take?" Larte asked, looking at him.
Quitela quietly sensed the strength of Larte's ki.
If he converted that energy into levels, Larte was at most level 30 right now.
At level 30, even flying nonstop, the trip would still take about a year.
"It'll take a year," Quitela answered.
Privately, though, he suspected Larte was still hiding far more power and simply had not shown it in front of him yet.
So that's your game?
You're acting weak on purpose and waiting for me to take the bait?
Broly might not be clever enough to think of something like that.
This has to be Ken's idea.
You lowered your power on purpose so I'd attack first, didn't you?
Well, I'm not falling for it.
"A whole year?" Larte muttered, his head already starting to ache. "Then I have no choice. A year it is. Let's go."
"Yes, Larte-sama," Quitela said with another obedient nod.
Dark green light burst from Larte's body. His hair hung past his waist, and dark green lightning crackled all around him.
Then he shot forward as a dark green streak through the stars, bright enough to stand out even in open space.
Quitela did not even bother igniting his own purple-red light. Even like that, he easily caught up to Larte.
Larte: "..."
He shot Quitela a sidelong glance, his expression turning ugly.
This guy's fast.
I'm flying at full speed, and he still caught up that casually?
Quitela, meanwhile, watched him from the corner of his eye and slowly started reconsidering things.
Maybe I really was overthinking it.
Maybe this guy has nothing to do with Ken or Broly after all.
Would those two really have this much free time?
If they wanted to beat me up, they could just come beat me up.
Why bother with this whole song and dance?
No, it doesn't feel right.
If they truly wanted me dead, they could probably do it without much trouble.
After all, the Gods of Destruction from Universe 3 and Universe 9 died just like that, and even the Grand Priest did not dare say a word about it.
No, no, no. Better not think about that.
Sorry. Sorry.
Grand Priest, I wasn't talking about you.
I meant those two.
Now that I think about it carefully, maybe this man just happens to look a little like Ken. Nothing more.
So what exactly should I do with him?
"Larte-sama, didn't you say you only have two hundred years to live?" Quitela asked, his eyes shifting as a new idea came to him.
"Yes," Larte said with a nod. "Do you have a problem with that?"
Quitela: "..."
This conversation really wasn't going anywhere.
If you only have two hundred years left, why would I have a problem with that? I'd be thrilled if you died sooner.
"No problem. None at all. I was just making conversation," Quitela said with a laugh.
"I have nothing to say to you," Larte replied flatly, shutting him down in one sentence.
Quitela very nearly slapped him right out of the sky.
But he still was not certain who this person really was, so he forced himself to hold back.
"It'll take a full year to reach Universe 7," Quitela said with a sigh. "If we spend all that time flying in silence, I'll die of boredom. Why don't we introduce ourselves properly?"
"Then start with yourself," Larte said in a tone that left no room for refusal.
"All right, then. I'll keep it simple," Quitela said. "I'm the God of Destruction of this universe. The strongest god in Universe 4. You could say the entire universe falls under my authority. My job is to maintain balance. The god who stands opposite me is the Supreme Kai of this universe. He creates life and planets..." He paused, then added, "Do you understand any of that?"
After saying it all, Quitela stared at Larte without blinking, trying to read anything he could from his expression.
Larte's face shifted several times. His eyes widened as he looked at Quitela in surprise.
"You're the strongest god in this universe?" he asked in disbelief.
"That's more or less correct," Quitela said. "Angels are stronger than Gods of Destruction, of course, but angels rarely fight."
As he spoke, he kept watching Larte carefully.
Let's see how long you can keep acting.
What are you, some kind of master actor?
"If you're the strongest god in this universe," Larte asked, narrowing his eyes, "then why did you agree so easily to become my subordinate?"
Then he suddenly seemed to understand.
"I know. It's because I look like someone called Ken. That's why you forced yourself to agree."
"Yes," Quitela said with a nod. He had no reason to hide it.
If you didn't look like Ken, I'd crush you in an instant.
"Then put Ken aside for a moment," Larte said. "If I had nothing to do with him, how would you treat me?"
Quitela let out a cold snort but said nothing.
"Then you clearly dislike me," Larte said, his voice growing even more mournful. He began slowing down in space as he spoke. "You are the strongest god in this universe, and I am the strongest mortal in it. So now this mortal is challenging this god. Will you accept?"
Quitela still did not feel fully at ease. "First answer one question," he said. "Are you really not connected to Ken at all?"
"No connection. You can rest easy," Larte said with complete confidence.
"I don't mind if you want to challenge me," Quitela said coldly. "But before that, I want to ask you something."
"Go ahead," Larte replied.
"Have you been living on that planet this whole time?" Quitela asked.
"Yes. Is that a problem?" Larte said with a nod. "Though I only awakened about a year ago."
"A year ago? Awakened what?" Quitela asked. Then he suddenly caught on. "This Legendary Super Saiyan transformation?"
"So it's called Legendary Super Saiyan?" Larte glanced down at himself. "Then yes. That's what I awakened."
"Wait here," Quitela said. He still was not convinced.
He immediately pulled out a communicator and contacted the angel Cognac.
"My, my... does Quitela-sama need something?" Cognac's voice rang out almost at once.
"Cognac, take a look for me. Tell me whether the man beside me has anything to do with Ken," Quitela said, turning the camera toward Larte.
Cognac was a little surprised too, and immediately focused on Larte.
This man really did look astonishingly like Ken.
No, that wasn't quite right.
He looked more like some hybrid of Ken and Broly.
He had Ken's face, yet he was in Broly's Legendary Super Saiyan Three form.
If his hair were silver-white, and if you dressed him in angel clothing and gave him a staff, he would look exactly like Ken.
How could someone this similar even exist?
And why that transformation of all things?
It really was hard to make sense of.
"They do look very alike," Cognac said, visibly surprised.
"Could he be some clone Ken split off to train in our universe?" Quitela asked.
"Let me take a closer look," Cognac said.
Without wasting another second, he used his staff to scan Larte's body in detail.
"What are you talking to?" Larte asked, confused, staring at the communicator in Quitela's hand.
Quitela ignored him for the moment and waited patiently for Cognac's answer.
Before long, Cognac finished the scan and got a result.
"Based on his physical structure, he appears to have almost no connection at all to either Ken or Broly," Cognac said.
"You're certain?" Quitela asked, feeling happiness crash over him all at once.
"Hey! I'm talking to you! Are you even listening?" Larte shouted, annoyed now that Quitela had ignored him for so long.
Bang!
Quitela did not even turn around. He simply swung a backfist and smashed Larte straight across the face.
With a muffled impact, Larte's body flew backward and punched clean through a huge asteroid behind him.
"Go on, Cognac," Quitela said with a grin, feeling much better already.
Beating that guy really did feel like hitting both Ken and Broly at once.
It was fantastic.
He was practically itching with excitement.
"Quitela-sama... physically, he does not seem related to Ken or Lord Broly..." Cognac said slowly. "But something about this still feels slightly off."
"What feels off?" Quitela asked, his face changing as he swallowed hard.
"I can't quite explain it. It may just be me overthinking it," Cognac said, shaking his head lightly.
"Then tell me what you're overthinking," Quitela said, his mouth twitching.
"It's only speculation. I can't say whether it's correct," Cognac replied after a pause.
Quitela only felt more worried.
"If I had to guess," Cognac continued, "it may be exactly what you said earlier. He could be a body Ken split off to train in our universe."
Quitela: "..."
"Cognac, don't just repeat what I already said!" Quitela shouted, feeling awful all over again.
"I hope we're both overthinking it," Cognac said with a shake of his head. "After all, I've never seen an angel train this way. And judging from his behavior, he doesn't seem to know Ken or Lord Broly at all. Even if Ken had created a split body to train, why would it have no memory?"
"That makes sense," Quitela said, thinking it over.
"Wouldn't it be easier to just ask Ken directly?" Cognac suggested.
"No, don't," Quitela said, shaking his head. "If it really is some clone with no memory, do you think Ken would admit it if you asked?"
"Fair point," Cognac said with a nod. "Then I'll leave it there."
The call ended.
Quitela lowered the communicator and fell into thought.
Forget it.
I'll just beat him up first.
Who told him to look that much like Ken?
And if Cognac says he has nothing to do with Ken or Broly, then there's no problem with me giving him a beating.
It's been ages since I got into a real fight anyway. Might as well enjoy myself.
At that moment, Larte was still flying backward through space after smashing through the huge asteroid.
Dark green light suddenly flared around him, and he forcibly stopped himself mid-flight.
"You hit me!" Larte said, his face dark with fury. His voice had become even more grief-stricken, but his words still carried cleanly across the void.
Quitela let out a cold laugh. "Since you have nothing to do with Ken or Broly, if I hit you, you ought to hold still and take it. What gives a puny mortal the right to act arrogant in front of a god?"
"You're asking to die!" Larte roared and shot straight toward him.
Boom!
He drove a full-power punch at Quitela.
Quitela calmly lifted a single finger and caught the punch with it.
Larte's energy output was massive, but the instant it collided with Quitela's fingertip, it felt as though the punch had sunk into cotton and disappeared without effect.
"What's wrong?" Quitela said with a cold snort. "You call yourself the strongest mortal in the universe, and this is all you've got?"
"You... how is that possible?" Larte said, his face twisting in shock.
"So now you understand the gap between a mortal and a God of Destruction?" Quitela said with a contemptuous smile.
Then he flicked that same finger forward.
Bang!
The flick landed squarely on Larte's body.
The impact blasted him backward again, smashing him through the same giant asteroid a second time.
Blood burst from Larte's mouth, and his face went pale.
Whoosh!
Quitela blurred and reappeared directly above him.
Smack!
He grabbed Larte by the head and slammed him into the giant asteroid behind him, burying his face deep into it.
The sight pleased Quitela so much that his grin widened all the more.
I really ought to take a picture and send it to Ken.
Of course, he only thought that.
There was no chance he actually dared do it.
"Heh. You thought you could take me as your subordinate?" Quitela sneered and slapped Larte hard across the face.
Larte's face swelled instantly.
Then Quitela drove his knee up viciously into Larte's stomach.
Blood exploded from Larte's mouth again.
At last, the pain became too much for him to bear. The dark green light around his body collapsed, and he reverted to normal.
"So that's it? Beaten back to normal already?" Quitela said, feeling extremely satisfied.
As far as he was concerned, this was the same as beating up Ken and Broly at once.
How could there be a better deal than that?
Still, his feelings were complicated.
He wanted to beat them senseless, but he was also afraid this might come back to bite him later.
Better stop while I'm ahead.
If this really is some body Ken split off, I can always say he provoked me first.
"Hmph. I'll let you off this time. Watch yourself from now on," Quitela said, throwing down one last threat before turning away.
He did not dare push things any farther.
Larte shook all over, his face ugly with pain, his eyes filled with grief.
"I won't let this go," he said under his breath.
But when he realized Quitela had already vanished from sight, helplessness hit him all at once.
I'm nowhere near strong enough to beat him.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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