Seven-Three's body suddenly expanded until he towered over the battlefield like a giant, forcing Gohan and the others to crane their necks just to look at him.
"Gigantification this time?" Gohan muttered.
Kale recognized it immediately. "Isn't that one of Piccolo's abilities?"
"I told you, he copied everything I can do," Piccolo replied.
Kale thought about that for a second. "So when I beat him up earlier... I was basically beating you up too?"
Piccolo's expression darkened. "You didn't have to put it that way."
Seven-Three's enormous fist came crashing down before the conversation could go any further. Kale, Gohan, and Piccolo scattered as the blow smashed into the ground, but Kale immediately turned back and rocketed toward the giant's head in a streak of yellow-green light.
Seven-Three barely had time to track her before she planted a hand against his forehead and forced his entire body downward. His head slammed into the earth hard enough to shake the surrounding region, sending tremors all the way to where Krillin was still fighting Yunba.
Krillin glanced toward the source and nearly forgot the opponent in front of him. "What the hell is that thing?"
Even Yunba looked unsettled by the sight of the gigantic Seven-Three getting manhandled.
Kale caught one of his fingers with both hands and used it to swing his massive body from side to side. Each impact tore open another section of ground, and despite all the power Seven-Three had copied from Piccolo, he couldn't do anything to stop her. Kale finally drove him down once more, released his finger, and casually dusted off her hands while the artificial warrior lay battered in the crater.
Yunba immediately abandoned Krillin and hurried over to Shimorekka. "What's going on? How is she that strong?"
"Our information on Earth is completely outdated," Shimorekka said through clenched teeth. His eyes remained fixed on Kale and the overwhelming power surrounding her. "Seven-Three copied the wrong person. He should've copied the woman with the green aura."
Seven-Three forced himself back onto his feet, visibly damaged but still operational.
Kale looked up at him without a trace of concern. "Still want more? It's going to end the same way."
Shimorekka leaned toward Seven-Three and lowered his voice. "Listen carefully. I don't care how you do it—grab the back of that woman's neck."
"Understood."
Seven-Three reached for Kale with one enormous hand, but she caught his wrist and used his own momentum to throw the giant over her shoulder. His body hit the ground with another violent crash, and Kale immediately hurled him high into the air.
This time, she intended to finish it.
Destruction energy gathered in her palm as she tracked Seven-Three through the sky, but before she could release it, the image of Piccolo inside the crystal on Seven-Three's forehead vanished. His copied abilities had reached their thirty-minute limit, and his gigantic body rapidly contracted back to its original size.
Jaco immediately started celebrating. "That's it! His time ran out!"
Shimorekka cursed under his breath, while Jaco pointed excitedly toward the falling artificial warrior.
"Kale, now! Finish him before he copies somebody else!"
Kale glanced toward him. "Who are you?"
Jaco nearly stumbled. "Jaco! Galactic Patrol! It doesn't matter—just get rid of him!"
"All right."
Kale raised her hand again, letting destruction energy swell around her palm.
"I'll erase him."
"Hakai!"
The sphere shot toward Seven-Three, carrying enough destructive power to end the fight immediately.
Shimorekka had been waiting for exactly this kind of emergency.
"Seven-Three! Use one of your stored abilities!"
"Stored?" Jaco repeated, suddenly realizing there was another detail he had neglected to mention.
The crystal on Seven-Three's forehead flashed, and Moro's image appeared inside it.
As Kale's destruction energy closed in, Seven-Three extended two fingers and began working them through the incoming sphere. The violet-red energy twisted under his copied magic, gradually losing the destructive nature that made it lethal until nothing remained but a pale-blue ball of energy.
Then Seven-Three swallowed it.
The entire group stared at him.
Kale understood what she had just seen, but that did very little to make it less disturbing. He hadn't simply consumed destruction energy; he had converted it into something harmless enough for his body to absorb first.
Krillin stared up from below. "He ate that?"
"He changed it before eating it," Piccolo said, his voice turning grim. "That ability is even worse than I thought."
Gohan had reached the same conclusion. "If he can neutralize destruction energy like that, we seriously underestimated him."
Jaco finally put the pieces together. "That's Moro's ability! Seven-Three copied Moro and kept it stored."
Gohan turned toward him. "Stored?"
Piccolo's eyes narrowed. "You never mentioned that part."
Jaco suddenly found himself under several accusing stares. "Seven-Three can keep up to three copied ability sets and switch between them."
That information arrived at the worst possible time.
Seven-Three raised one hand toward the sky and began drawing energy out of everyone around him.
Piccolo immediately felt the pull. "What is he doing now?"
Kale looked toward Jaco as well, apparently deciding that the Galactic Patrolman had become their unwilling instruction manual for Seven-Three.
Jaco's face changed the instant he recognized the technique. "Energy absorption! That's another one of Moro's abilities. Attack him before he drains us!"
Kale, Gohan, Piccolo, Krillin, and Jaco moved at once.
Seven-Three answered by drawing power from the planet beneath them. A wall of concentrated flame erupted across their path, rising high enough to block the entire group and forcing them to stop short.
Kale looked ready to charge straight through it, but Piccolo caught her arm before she could.
"Don't. That isn't ordinary fire. He's pulling it from the planet itself, and it's concentrated enough to hurt even us."
While Kale checked her momentum, Gohan disappeared.
He reappeared behind Seven-Three and attacked before the artificial warrior could turn, but Moro's copied senses reacted quickly enough to detect him. Seven-Three swept one hand backward, summoning a wave of fire that forced Gohan to abandon the attack and cross both arms in front of himself.
The flames crashed into him hard enough to drive him away.
Gohan escaped without serious injury, but the heat that rolled past his guard left him sweating. If he had taken that attack directly, the result would have been much worse.
From a high rock nearby, Yunba watched the battle with a broad grin. "These Earth guys are tougher than we expected. Seven-Three had to bring out Moro-sama's abilities this quickly."
Shimorekka was already reporting the situation to Saganbo.
"That's what happened, Captain. Sorry, but we had to use the copy of Moro-sama's abilities."
Saganbo didn't sound particularly bothered.
"Understood. If they're strong enough to force you that far, stop playing around and finish them. Then come back."
"Got it."
Shimorekka ended the transmission and looked back toward the battlefield, where Seven-Three was steadily feeding on the energy of everyone around him.
The easy fight they had expected on Earth was long gone.
And if Seven-Three managed to get his hands on Kale's neck, things were about to become much worse.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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