Setsuna looked up and said solemnly, "Very well, I agree."
Merus breathed a sigh of relief: "Thank you, Lord! There's no time to lose, let's..."
He stopped mid-sentence.
Setsuna's body suddenly erupted with an incomparably brilliant light, as if billions of stars had ignited simultaneously.
Within the light, a set of magnificent, divine armor covered Setsuna's entire form.
After all, he was about to face an enemy like Moro... Setsuna dared not hold back and directly activated Bankai to summon his Phoenix Cloth.
"This is..." Merus's eyes widened as he saw the sword at Setsuna's waist transform into the Saint Cloth. His mind nearly went blank.
'What kind of technique was this?'
Merus quickly formulated his own explanation, marveling, "Could this be a magical creation of the great sorcerers? I never imagined Setsuna-sama was also a great sorcerer. This is what they call 'dual mastery of magic and martial arts', isn't it?"
'Dual mastery of magic and martial arts, my foot!' Setsuna's mouth twitched slightly. How long had it been since he'd heard that term? But it was difficult to explain, so he simply said in a deep voice, "Lead the way. Let me see how terrifying this legendary demon truly is."
...
Meanwhile, on Earth, far away at the other end of the galaxy.
The dust had yet to settle, the earth was crisscrossed with cracks and scorch marks from energy blasts. Vegeta stood with his arms crossed, looking down at Cell laughing below: "Defeating such trash makes you that happy? It seems you've finally gotten your wish and become Perfect Form, but it doesn't seem... all that impressive."
Cell was admiring his perfect body and was not angered by Vegeta's taunt. "That's quite rude of you to say," Cell said with a smile. "How about helping me warm up? Let me test the power of this new body."
"Warm up?" Vegeta sneered. "I am now Super Vegeta, a Saiyan who has surpassed Super Saiyan. Don't die on me too quickly."
The moment the words left his mouth, Vegeta vanished from his spot. In the next instant, he suddenly appeared beside Cell, his right fist aimed at Cell's temple.
However, Cell casually raised his left hand and easily caught Vegeta's fist, a blow capable of pulverizing continents.
"What?" Vegeta's pupils contracted sharply.
"It seems..." Cell turned his head, his smile unchanged, "the warm-up is over."
He attacked with speed far exceeding Vegeta's reaction limit. Punches, elbows, knees, kicks… a torrent of attacks landed on Vegeta in an instant.
One minute later.
Cell gripped Vegeta by the neck, holding him up in the air like a ragdoll. Vegeta's golden aura had completely extinguished, his body covered in blood, his consciousness on the verge of fading.
"Why... why..." Vegeta forced the words out of his throat with difficulty, his eyes filled with disbelief. "My power... clearly exceeded the limit..."
"Thanks to your arrogance, Vegeta," Cell's smile was tinged with mockery. "If you hadn't insisted on waiting for my Perfect Form, giving me the chance to absorb No.18, how could I have obtained this perfect power now?"
In the distance, Trunks gritted his teeth, his nails digging deep into his palms, blood trickling through his fingers. "Uncle Setsuna was right. My father and those pure-blooded Saiyans are all too 'reckless'! I should have ignored my father and killed Cell earlier. Now, it's too late!"
"Boring." Cell tossed the barely alive Vegeta towards Trunks as if discarding trash. Trunks quickly caught his father, having prepared a Senzu Bean for healing, and swiftly pressed it into Vegeta's mouth.
Cell hovered in the air, looking down at the battered group below, his voice carrying across the battlefield: "I know there are still two people on Earth stronger than you. One is Son Goku, and the other is Chiaki Setsuna."
His gaze swept over Krillin, Piccolo, Tien, and others, finally landing on Trunks. "Tell them I'll give them one day. One day from now, I will hold the [Cell Games] here, inviting all martial artists on Earth to participate. If no one can defeat me, I will destroy this world."
With that, Cell's wings flapped, and he vanished into the sky as a streak of green light.
Only after that terrifying oppressive aura had completely faded did Trunks let out a long sigh of relief, thinking to himself: 'It seems Dr. Gero's creation of Cell using Saiyan cells didn't just inherit their strength, but also the Saiyans' ingrained arrogance...'
Vegeta had recovered from his injuries due to the Senzu Bean, but his expression was grim. He pushed aside the supporting Trunks and stared fixedly in the direction Cell had disappeared.
Krillin asked worriedly, "Only one day? Can Goku make it back in time?"
"It's useless," Vegeta growled, his voice filled with unwillingness and rage. "I am already a Saiyan who has surpassed Super Saiyan! No matter how much Kakarot trains, he can't be stronger than me!"
Trunks took a deep breath and said calmly, "Father, our top priority now is to find a way to counter Cell. I think we should ask Uncle Setsuna to return."
His true identity had long been impossible to conceal, as he had been born in this timeline a year and a half ago.
Vegeta's expression stiffened. His lips moved as if to retort, but no words came out. This whole incident was entirely his fault. If he hadn't insisted on waiting for Cell to become Perfect Form, if he hadn't been so blindly confident in crushing his opponent... Cell would never have had the chance to absorb No.18, and Earth wouldn't be in such a crisis.
"...Do as you please." Vegeta finally forced out these words through gritted teeth and turned his back to the others.
Trunks immediately used telepathy to contact King Kai in the Other World. But the next moment, his expression changed drastically.
Krillin noticed Trunks's reaction and quickly asked, "What's wrong?"
Trunks's expression was bitter: "King Kai-sama said that Uncle Setsuna is currently deep in space, fighting an enemy countless times more terrifying than Cell. He simply can't spare the time to return to Earth right now."
"What?" Krillin and the others turned pale. Though they had been afraid, they had at least had Setsuna as their ace in the hole, so the fear hadn't been overwhelming. But now, their hope was dashed.
Vegeta's expression also shifted slightly. Although he had agreed to Trunks calling Setsuna, he hadn't truly believed Setsuna could defeat Cell.
After all, when Setsuna had last left Earth, his battle power had been 350 million, and now Vegeta himself had surpassed Super Saiyan. In his view, his strength should far exceed Setsuna's. But now, King Kai said Setsuna was fighting an enemy countless times more terrifying than Cell. Didn't that mean the gap between them hadn't shrunk but had instead widened?