In Dragon Ball: A brutal beating of Frieza at the start

Page 196

Anise nodded, gritting her teeth and channeling more energy. The protective shield shone even brighter, forcefully breaking through the illusion before her. The surrounding scenery finally stabilized. The group stood in a hazy void, with an endless abyss beneath their feet. In the distance, a massive black vortex floated, and at its center, a sphere emitting a black light could be vaguely seen—the core of chaos.

What's even more worrying is that countless tiny black fragments are swirling around the chaotic core. The face of Kronos can be vaguely seen in those fragments, clearly indicating that fragments of his consciousness are merging into the core, preparing to complete his second rebirth.

"Oh no! He's already started!" Lin Ye shouted and was about to rush over, but was pulled back by a powerful suction force. The black vortex spun faster and faster, sucking in the surrounding fragments of spacetime, making a "crackling" sound as they shattered.

"Don't be impulsive!" Vegeta grabbed Lin Ye. "That vortex is dangerous. Rushing in will only get you torn to pieces."

As soon as he finished speaking, the fragments of consciousness surrounding the Chaos Core suddenly coalesced into a blurry humanoid figure—the phantom of Kronos. He hovered above the vortex, his voice laced with a chilling laugh: "I never expected you could find this place. But too bad, it's too late... In ten minutes, I'll completely fuse with the Chaos Core. Then my power will be twice as strong as last time, and no one in the entire universe will be able to stop me!"

"You're dreaming!" Anise raised her scepter, its golden light shooting directly at the phantom of Chronos. "We will not let you succeed! Everyone, attack together, and destroy the Chaos Core before he fully merges!"

"Yes! Let's fight him!" Krillin unleashed a Kamehameha first, the golden energy wave flying towards the Chaos Core. Gohan and Trunks followed closely behind, each using their strongest techniques. The three energy waves converged in mid-air and slammed into the black vortex.

"Useless!" Kronos's phantom laughed, and the black vortex suddenly accelerated its rotation, forming a black barrier that completely swallowed the energy wave. "This vortex can absorb all energy attacks; all your efforts are in vain!"

After the energy wave was absorbed, the black vortex shone even brighter, and the chaotic core expanded in size. Lin Ye watched this scene, his heart sinking: "This won't do; our attacks are just becoming nourishment for him."

"What can we do? We can't just watch him be reborn, can we?" Klin stamped his feet anxiously.

Lin Ye stared at the black vortex and suddenly noticed that the rotation speed at the edge of the vortex was not uniform; the energy fluctuations at one point were significantly weaker than elsewhere. His eyes lit up, and he turned to Vegeta: "Vegeta, have you noticed a weak point on the lower left side of the vortex?"

Vegeta looked in the direction Lin Ye pointed and indeed noticed something amiss. A cold smile crept onto his lips: "You want to go head-to-head? Just what I want!"

“It’s not a head-on collision, it’s a precision strike.” Lin Ye clenched his fist, golden flames igniting on his body. “We’ll use the fused power to focus our attack on that weak point. Once we break the vortex, we can directly attack the core of chaos.”

"Fusion of power? You mean..." Vegeta raised an eyebrow.

“Yes, just like we did with Buu last time.” Lin Ye nodded. “Only in this way can we break through his defenses in the shortest amount of time.”

"Alright! Let's give it a try!" Vegeta no longer hesitated, and his body erupted with a blue Super Blue aura. "Don't hold me back this time!"

The two leaped into the air simultaneously, standing facing each other with their hands clasped tightly. Golden and blue flames instantly intertwined, forming a dazzling pillar of light that caused the surrounding space and time to tremble.

"Impossible! How could you possibly have such power!" The phantom of Kronos's expression changed drastically, and he hurriedly activated the black vortex to try to stop them.

"Too late!" Lin Ye and Vegeta shouted at the same time, and the fused energy beam, like a giant spear, stabbed fiercely at the weak point of the black vortex.

"Crack!"

With a sharp crack, the barrier of the black vortex instantly split open, and a beam of energy surged in, heading straight for the core of chaos. Seeing this, Anise immediately seized the opportunity, pouring all the remaining power of her inheritance into the scepter. Golden light shot into the vortex through the crack: "Power of inheritance, purify!"

The moment the golden light touched the core of chaos, it hissed, and the black energy began to dissipate rapidly. The core of chaos trembled violently, and the phantom of Kronos roared in agony, "No! I'm not reconciled! I almost succeeded!"

His illusory image began to gradually dissipate, fragments of his consciousness colliding wildly in the air before being completely purified by the golden light. The chaotic core, having lost the support of consciousness, developed countless cracks on its surface, and finally shattered with a "bang," turning into countless tiny black fragments scattered throughout the rifts of spacetime.

The black vortex, having lost its energy source, slowly ceased its rotation and eventually dissipated into the void. The surrounding spacetime gradually stabilized, the distorted scenery vanished, revealing the original appearance of the Supreme Kai Realm.

"Finally... it worked?" Klin slumped to the ground, panting heavily, his whole body soaked in sweat.

Lin Ye staggered when he landed. The exhaustion from the fusion of power left him somewhat weak. He looked at the shattered part of the Chaos Core and breathed a sigh of relief: "It should be over. Kronos can no longer be reborn."

“Don’t be too happy yet.” Anise leaned on her scepter, her face as pale as paper. “Although the Chaos Core is shattered, the fragments are still there. Chaos energy has a strong vitality. As long as there are fragments remaining, it is very likely that they will re-condense into a new core after a period of time.”

Bulma ran over with a communicator, her face grave: "Anise is right. My detector shows there are hundreds of fragments scattered in the spacetime rift, and they're moving toward different spacetime nodes. If we don't find and destroy them soon, it won't be long before a second or third Kronos appears."

"What?" Klin sat up abruptly. "Then all our work was for nothing?"

“It wasn’t all for nothing.” Lin Ye shook his head, his eyes regaining their resolve. “At least we prevented Kronos’s second rebirth and bought some time. Now, what we need to do is find all these fragments and destroy them.”

“But there are so many time nodes, how are we going to find them?” Trunks frowned.

Bulma adjusted her glasses and pulled up a map on the detector: "I've located most of the fragments. They're scattered across seven different time nodes, from ancient times to the future. It's troublesome, but if we split up, we should be able to deal with them before they coalesce."

Vegeta cracked his knuckles, an excited expression spreading across his face. "Perfect! The battle just now wasn't enough. This time, I'm going to take care of a spacetime node myself. Don't try to take it from me!"

"I'll team up with Vegeta; he's too impulsive on his own." Lin Ye smiled helplessly, then turned to the others. "Krillin and Trunks will team up, Gohan will go with Anise, and Bulma will stay on the spaceship to handle communications and location tracking. What do you think?"

"No problem!" everyone answered in unison.

Just as everyone was preparing to set off, Bulma's detector suddenly sounded an urgent alarm. A red dot was rapidly approaching on the screen, and the energy fluctuations were strangely familiar.

"Wait! What is this?" Bulma's expression changed drastically. "This energy fluctuation... is exactly the same as the Chaos Core, but it's more than ten times stronger than before!"

Lin Ye suddenly turned his head to look at the red dot in the void, his heart tightening abruptly... The red dot was getting closer and closer, and he could vaguely see a huge black figure writhing in it, radiating a suffocating chaotic energy.

"Could it be... there's another Chaos Core?" Anise's voice trembled.

Chapter 438: Cleaning up the spacetime nodes

As the light from the space-time rift dissipated, Lin Ye and Vegeta landed on a scorched earth. A pungent smell of sulfur assaulted their nostrils, causing Lin Ye to wince. Looking out, they saw a series of volcanoes in the distance, lava flowing down the mountainsides and forming red rivers on the ground. The sky was shrouded in thick gray clouds, obscuring all sunlight.

"This is the ancient planet Vegeta? It's even more desolate than I imagined." Lin Ye kicked away a cracked rock at his feet. The rock rolled a few times and came to rest in a depression. The black viscous liquid seeping out from underneath immediately caught his attention—the surface of the viscous liquid had an eerie luster, and it was a fragment of the Chaos Core.

Vegeta's battle power detector on his wrist suddenly beeped, and the value on the screen skyrocketed, eventually settling at 500000. His face darkened, and he grabbed Lin Ye, who was about to approach, saying, "Don't touch it! This fragment has already started absorbing the surrounding volcanic energy and is about to form a new chaotic entity!"

As soon as the words were spoken, the black slime suddenly surged like boiling water, expanding at a visible speed, growing into a monster tens of meters tall in just a few seconds. Its body was composed of viscous black matter, without a fixed shape, with countless tentacles extending from its surface, each covered with sharp barbs, and a pair of scarlet eyes staring intently at the two of them, emitting a deafening roar.

"Perfect timing! Let me stretch my muscles!" Vegeta unleashed a deep blue aura and was about to charge forward when Lin Ye stopped him.

"Don't rush, let's see its strength first." Lin Ye said, activating his Super Saiyan God form. The golden aura collided with the black monster's aura, creating a shockwave. He tapped his toes, instantly appearing in front of the monster, his right fist, glowing with golden light, slamming towards the monster's chest.

"Bang!" The fist slammed solidly into the monster's body, but it was like hitting cotton; the fist was enveloped in black slime and sucked in. Lin Ye was startled and was about to pull his hand away when the monster's claws suddenly swung out, grazing his shoulder with dense chaotic energy.

"Tear!" His clothes were instantly torn apart, and a deep wound that exposed bone appeared on Lin Ye's shoulder. Black chaotic energy entered his body through the wound, causing him a sharp pain.

"Damn it! Are you alright?" Vegeta rushed forward upon seeing this, kicking the monster's wrist and knocking away its claws. He turned to look at Lin Ye's wound, his brow furrowed. "This chaotic energy is corrosive; force it out quickly!"

Lin Ye nodded, circulating his internal energy to expel the chaotic energy from his body. The blood at the wound instantly turned black, dripping onto the ground with a sizzling sound. He looked at the unharmed monster and said in a deep voice, "This thing's body can absorb attacks; a direct confrontation is useless."

"What can we do? We can't just watch it run rampant here, can we?" Vegeta's fists clenched so tightly they cracked, clearly annoyed by this impenetrable enemy.

Lin Ye stared at the black slime constantly flowing on the monster's body, and suddenly thought of something. He immediately called out to the system in his mind: "System, analyze the energy frequency of this monster's shield and see if there are any weaknesses!"

[Analysis in progress... Analysis complete. The chaotic shield covering the target's surface has energy cycle gaps, with a 0.5-second energy vacuum period every 3 seconds. It is recommended to attack its core during these periods.]

"Found it!" Lin Ye's eyes lit up, and he shouted to Vegeta, "Its shield will have an opening every 3 seconds. Let's seize that moment and attack its chest together, that's its core!"

Vegeta understood and nodded. The two retreated simultaneously, staring intently at the monster's chest. They silently counted down, and as the third second arrived, the monster's shield indeed showed a slight fluctuation.

"It's now!"

The two charged forward simultaneously, golden and blue lights intertwining as two beams of energy struck the monster precisely in the chest. The monster let out a shrill scream, its body instantly freezing, then gradually becoming transparent, finally turning into a black fragment that fell to the ground.

Lin Ye stepped forward, picked up the largest fragment, and enveloped it with golden energy from his palm: "System, destroy the fragment!"

[Destroying... Destruction successful. No residual chaotic energy detected in the vicinity.]

"Finally, one's taken care of." Lin Ye breathed a sigh of relief, the wound on his shoulder beginning to heal slowly under the nourishment of the Qi.

Vegeta scoffed dismissively, his arrogance vanishing: "These minor characters aren't even enough to warm me up. Where's the next timeline? Don't tell me it'll be another one of these unchallenging opponents."

Just then, Bulma's voice came through the communicator, tinged with urgency: "The next node is on ancient Namek! You guys need to go check it out quickly. The fragments of chaos there have already begun to erode the ancestors of the Namekians. If you're any later, the entire tribe might be destroyed!"

"Namek?" Lin Ye's heart tightened, and he immediately took out the time-space travel device. "Let's go, we're going there right away!"

A flash of light from the time-space traveler, and the two vanished instantly from the ancient planet Vegeta. When they reappeared, the scene before them had transformed into a verdant plain, dotted with enormous mushroom-shaped plants, and filled with the fresh scent of grass and trees. But this tranquility was quickly shattered—the outskirts of a Namekian village not far away were enveloped in a layer of black slime, and many Namekians lay on the ground, their bodies slowly corroded by the slime, emitting painful groans.

"Damn it! They were so fast!" Lin Ye cursed and rushed over immediately. He circulated his internal energy, condensing golden energy in his palm and gently pressing it onto the slime. The moment the golden energy touched the black slime, it made a "sizzling" sound, and the slime began to dissolve little by little.

"Don't just focus on saving people, the fragments are in the center of the village!" Vegeta's voice came from afar. He had already rushed into the village and was running towards the place where the slime was most concentrated.

Lin Ye sped up, rescuing the Namekians near the edge of the village one by one. These Namekians were short in stature with green skin. When they saw Lin Ye dispel the slime, their eyes were full of gratitude, but they were too weak to speak.

"Find a safe place to hide first, and don't come near here!" Lin Ye shouted at them, then turned and ran towards the center of the village.

At this moment, Vegeta had already engaged in combat with the monster formed from the fragments of chaos. This monster resembled a giant octopus, with eight thick tentacles, each covered in suckers, which it was constantly waving around to attack Vegeta.

"Scum, is that all you've got?" Vegeta sneered, nimbly dodging the tentacles' attacks and occasionally throwing a counter-punch, but the monster's body could absorb the attacks and couldn't hurt it at all.

"Vegeta, attack its eyes!" Lin Ye shouted as he rushed over. "That's its weak point!"

Vegeta's eyes lit up. Instead of wasting energy attacking the tentacles, he flashed to the monster's head. The monster's eyes were large and dark red, staring intently at him. Just as the monster was about to wrap its tentacles around him, Vegeta suddenly exerted his strength and punched the monster in the eye.

"Agh...!" The monster let out a painful roar, its eyes bursting open instantly, splattering black slime all over the ground. Its body began to tremble violently, then gradually dissipated, finally leaving only a black fragment on the ground.

Lin Ye immediately picked up the fragments and destroyed them with his energy. At that moment, an elderly Namekian, leaning on a cane, walked over. His skin was dark green, and his face was covered in wrinkles. He bowed deeply to the two men: "Thank you, brave warriors from afar. If it weren't for you, our entire tribe would have been destroyed by this evil force."

"No need to thank me, it's what we should do." Lin Ye shook his head. "We have other tasks to complete and must leave here immediately."

After bidding farewell to the Namekians, the two once again used the time-travel device to travel to the next node. This time, they landed in a medieval-style village. In the village square, a wizard clad in black robes stood on a high platform, a black fragment embedded at the tip of his staff, emitting an eerie glow. The villagers below stood with vacant eyes, like walking corpses, clearly controlled by the wizard.

"Stop!" Lin Ye shouted, and golden energy shot towards the wizard, interrupting his spellcasting.

The wizard whirled around, his eyes beneath his hood gleaming with chaotic energy, his voice icy: "Outsiders, how dare you ruin my plans! These foolish villagers should become part of my power!"

He swung his staff, and a beam of black energy shot towards Lin Ye. Lin Ye dodged to the side, and the energy beam struck the ground, corroding a large crater. Vegeta seized the opportunity to rush forward, his speed leaving afterimages. Before the wizard could react, he punched the staff in his hand.

"Crack!" The staff snapped instantly, the chaotic fragment at its tip falling to the ground. The wizard, powerless, swayed and collapsed. The villagers instantly snapped back to reality, and seeing the wizard lying on the ground, they rushed to his side.

Lin Ye picked up the fragments and destroyed them. Looking at the villagers who had returned to normal, he smiled and said, "Finally, this node has been cleared."

The communicator rang again, and Bulma's voice carried a hint of gravity: "There's one last node, and the most dangerous one... located in the future. The Chaos fragments there have fused with the Androids, forming the Chaos Androids, whose power level exceeds 2000000! You must be careful!"

Lin Ye and Vegeta exchanged a glance, their eyes filled with fighting spirit rather than fear.

"2000000? Perfect, let me see just how strong this so-called Chaos Android really is!" Vegeta clenched his fist, and his aura flared up once more.

"No matter how strong it is, we must destroy it!" Lin Ye's eyes were resolute. "Let's go, let's deal with this last problem!"

The two simultaneously activated their time-travel device, flying towards the future. They both knew it would be a fierce battle, but to protect the universe, they had no way out.

Chapter 439 Awakening Number 18

"Pah! The air in this godforsaken place is suffocating!" Vegeta spat fiercely, his deep blue eyes sweeping over the ruins before him, the concrete fragments under his feet crunching under his feet.

Lin Ye raised his hand to cover his mouth and nose, his fingertips able to feel the tiny particles floating in the air. As far as the eye could see, the once bustling city had long since turned into ruins. The skeletons of tall buildings stood crookedly in the ground, like gnawed fish bones, and the ground was covered with a layer of sticky black slime that made a teeth-grinding, stringy sound when stepped on.

"This is the Earth of the future?" Lin Ye frowned, his internal energy involuntarily circulating to resist the terrifying chaotic energy in the air. "It's worse than we imagined."

"Buzz..." The communicator suddenly emitted a crackling sound, and Bulma's anxious voice came through: "Lin Ye! Vegeta! How's the situation over there? I've detected a strong chaotic energy reaction here, about three kilometers northeast of you!"

Vegeta chuckled and crossed his arms: "Enough talk, we already sensed it. So, what exactly is this trouble?"

"They're androids!" Bulma's voice trembled slightly. "The Chaos Shards somehow fused with Androids 17 and 18, forming the 'Chaos Androids.' Their combat power has exceeded the detection limit of the instruments. You must not let your guard down!"

"Number 17 and Number 18?" Lin Ye's heart sank. He still clearly remembered the appearance of the android brother and sister, and he couldn't connect them with the desolate scene in front of him.

Before the words were even finished, the ground suddenly trembled violently! Two black figures shot out from the depths of the ruins like cannonballs, landing ten meters away from the two men with a piercing whooshing sound.

Lin Ye and Vegeta instantly assumed fighting stances, warily watching the newcomers. It was Android 17 and 18, but their appearance had completely changed. Their skin had turned deathly pale, their bodies were covered with chaotic black patterns resembling blood vessels, and their eyes had lost their former brilliance, leaving only a murky blackness that exuded a chillingly malevolent aura.

“Outsiders, you have finally arrived.” Chaos 17 spoke, his voice hoarse like sandpaper scraping. “We have been waiting for this day for a long time.”

Chaos 18 didn't speak, but tilted his head slightly, a cold smile curving his lips, and began to gather black energy in his palm.