Another titanic collision shook the heavens. This time, however, the fist Goku threw was different. It carried an aura of indomitable will—a wild, contemptuous force that announced the end of a game. As his knuckles met Cell's, Goku's energy erupted anew. The golden fist, wreathed in lightning, overpowered the android completely. Cell shot backward like a discarded ragdoll, cratering the earth in a deep, smoking pit.
Slowly, shakily, Cell extracted himself from the rubble. His right arm hung useless, dripping green-tinged fluid, clearly shattered. He wiped a smear of bio-fluid from his lip, his compound eyes wide with disbelief. "You… your energy spiked again. Have you been toying with me this whole time?"
"The warm-up's over," Goku stated flatly, his voice echoing with finality. He began walking forward, and with each step, his power climbed. The ground trembled; pebbles danced and shattered. By the time he stood before the staggering Cell, his energy had stabilized at the absolute peak of Super Saiyan 2. Golden aura, thick with arcing lightning, encased him. He was less a warrior now, and more an avenging deity cast in gold.
"No… this data is impossible!" Cell stammered, voice laced with static. "The gap can't be this vast! I was designed to surpass you! Stop this illusion! RAAH!"
With a roar of denial, Cell tore his own ruined arm free. Amidst pained screams, a new limb regenerated in a burst of bio-matter. "DIE, SON GOKU!" He launched a furious, desperate punch.
"Hmph. Still refusing reality? Let me correct your misunderstanding."
Goku vanished. Not even a blur remained. An instant later, his fist was buried wrist-deep in Cell's abdomen with a sickening thump.
"GUH—!"
Cell gagged, doubling over, hands clutching at the embedded arm. Goku didn't relent. A follow-up strike sent the android rocketing away to smash through a rocky cliff face.
Cell pushed himself up from the debris in a clumsy kip-up, a fresh trickle of blood at his mouth. "Heh… heh… As expected of the legendary Son Goku! But my power doesn't end here!" With a defiant shout, Cell's own energy flared, pushing itself higher.
It was futile.
Goku was already there. A savage kick caught Cell in the ribs, hurling him through the air once more. "It's pointless. At best, you've reached the mid-tier of this form. Against my full power, the difference is insurmountable."
Before Cell could even find his footing, Goku's fist hammered into his gut again, forcing a violent, dry retch from the bio-android.
Goku couldn't kill Cell yet. Not until he forced him to disgorge Android 18. Each brutal blow to the midsection was a calculated effort to make him vomit his captives.
"Impossible… IMPOSSIBLE!" Cell shrieked, his logical mind fracturing under the assault. "The data was clear! I should have transcended you! I, Cell, will not lose! I will NOT DESPAIR! AAAAHHH—!"
Instead of attacking, Cell's erupted energy propelled him backward in a frantic, supersonic retreat.
"You think running is an option?" A golden streak of light intercepted his path. Goku appeared beneath him and drove a heel kick upward into his solar plexus.
"Im… possi… ble…" Cell gasped, the wind utterly knocked from him. He lost all control, his flight sputtering out as he tumbled toward the ground.
Watching Cell writhe and retch without releasing the Androids, Goku's frown deepened. 'Not enough force? Do I really need to go to Super Saiyan 3?'
"D-Damn you!" Cell spat, struggling to his knees. "You could have finished me! Why hold back? Is this… your idea of humiliation?!" His eyes burned with pure, venomous hatred. "I won't be your plaything! If I go down, you're coming with me!"
A low, ominous rumble began within Cell's torso. His body started to swell, distorting grotesquely. The air around him crackled with unstable energy.
He's going to self-destruct!
"Tch! Pulling that cheap trick?!" Goku's eyes widened. He flashed to Cell's side in an instant.
"What? Going for the killing blow now?" Cell laughed, a manic, static-filled sound. "Too late, Son Goku! The slightest impact will trigger the detonation! Your arrogance has doomed you! HAHAHA—!"
"Who said anything about hitting you?" Goku replied, his voice suddenly calm. His eyes shifted, the pupils dissolving into a ripple pattern—the Rinnegan.
Cell's triumphant laugh died in his throat. "Your eyes… What is this? This ability… it's not in my data banks!"
"There's a lot your 'data' doesn't cover. Don't mistake a glimpse for understanding." Goku placed both hands directly on Cell's distended, pulsating abdomen.
"W-What are you doing?!" A primal dread, something beyond his programming, seized Cell.
"Blocking Technique Absorption Seal."
The answer came not in words, but in a devastating sensation. A violent suction erupted from Goku's palms, siphoning the colossal, unstable energy directly from Cell's core.
"NO! My power… you're draining it?! This function… it can't be! STOP! CEASE! DAMN YOU! I WON'T LOSE LIKE THIS! YAAAH—!"
Terror eclipsed rage. If his energy was absorbed, he couldn't self-destruct. Frantically, Cell tried to force the overload, to detonate early. But it was useless. Goku's absorption was a voracious, unstoppable vortex. The swelling reversed. The ominous glow faded. Cell felt himself being emptied, his glorious power, his very purpose, stripped away. Despair, cold and absolute, settled in. He couldn't even choose his own end.
Within moments, the last dregs of energy were siphoned away. Cell collapsed onto the scorched earth, a hollow, shrunken husk, barely able to twitch.
Goku looked down at his hands, feeling the new, volatile power humming within his veins. A faint, satisfied smile touched his lips as he glanced at the crippled form at his feet.
"The Preta Path's power… more useful than I expected. My own strength has grown noticeably. It seems I've found a very… efficient method for improvement."