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

Page 168

"Hold on tight." Lin Ye grabbed Number 18's hand in return, only to find that his palms were covered in cold sweat, and even the other's cold mechanical joints were damp. He stared at the expressionless "Omni-King," and when his gaze swept across the other's neck, he could vaguely see silver-gray lines wriggling under the skin, much like the meshing marks of precision gears.

"Who are you?" The expressionless "Omni-King" finally spoke, his voice not like a child's, but like a rusty spring being forcibly turned, each syllable carrying the harsh noise of metal friction. "According to Article 47 of the Dimensional Management Regulations, those who trespass into the Gear Space will be forcibly reset to basic particles."

"Stop pretending!" Vegeta's roar exploded almost simultaneously with the other's words. Deep blue flames erupted from his body with a "boom," making the nearby gears vibrate and hum. "Would the real Omni-King memorize such bullshit rules? Could your lines, you fake, be any more stiff?!"

He was about to rush forward when Lin Ye stopped him. "Don't be impulsive," Lin Ye said in a low voice, his eyes never leaving the mechanical creation. "The space here is unstable; acting rashly will cause trouble."

"It's better to get into trouble than to be disgusted by this thing!" Vegeta's arrogance flared even higher, his golden hair standing on end in the air currents. "Look at his eyes! He doesn't resemble the Omni-King at all! He's clearly just a broken machine in a shell!"

The moment the words left his mouth, the entire space trembled violently. The gears, which had been rotating clockwise, suddenly began to rotate in reverse, the grinding sound piercing the eardrums. The expressionless "Omni-King" slowly rose from the gears, countless cracks suddenly appearing on his pink body. Pale golden energy flowed from the cracks, only to be quickly absorbed back by what was inside.

"Hostility detected." Its body cracked wider and wider, revealing a core composed of countless tiny gears. The gears spun faster and faster, emitting a buzzing shriek. "Initiate the cleanup program."

Lin Ye's pupils suddenly contracted.

The rotation trajectory of those tiny gears—three and a half clockwise rotations, two counterclockwise rotations, and then a pause of 0.3 seconds—perfectly matched the direction of the runes on the walls of the Dapura Cave! He instantly recalled the scene he had seen in the cave: the pattern formed by those runes was clearly a miniature version of a gear!

"Watch out!" Lin Ye's teleportation was almost an instinctive reaction. He left an afterimage in his original position, and the next second he was already in front of the real Omni-King. Golden flames surged from his body, forming a semi-transparent barrier between the two of them. "What's going on? Why does it look just like you?"

“It was ‘brother’ who made it.” The real Omni-King tugged at Lin Ye’s clothes, his chubby little hands still unconsciously picking at the patterns on the gear surface, his pink cheeks scrunched up. “He said the original rules were no good, everyone was always arguing and fighting, and he wanted to change the rules of the universe to make everyone obedient and not be allowed to throw tantrums anymore.”

"Brother?" Lin Ye's heart sank. "Which brother?"

“It’s him.” Zeno pointed his chubby little finger at the mechanical creation, only then realizing he was a little scared and shrank behind Lin Ye. “He said he is another me, and that once the new rules are in place, even the Gods of Destruction will have to listen to him.”

Machine Omni-King suddenly raised his hand.

Without any warning, the black energy wave surged in like a rising tide. Wherever it passed, the gears that had once gleamed with golden light quickly rusted and turned black, and the hard metal surfaces cracked at a speed visible to the naked eye, shattering into countless rusty powders.

"Ultimate!" Lin Ye's body reacted before his brain. He wrapped his left arm around the Omni-King's waist and yanked his right hand towards Android 18 beside him, using the airflow generated by the energy wave to dodge to the side. But he was still a beat too slow. The edge of the black energy wave grazed Android 18's mechanical arm, and the originally silvery metal surface was instantly covered with dark red rust, with wisps of white smoke even rising from the joints.

"Number 18!" Lin Ye's heart felt like it had been squeezed tightly.

Number 18 gritted her teeth and shook the robotic arm, rust falling off to reveal the oxidized and blackened wiring underneath. "It's alright," she said, her voice lower than usual, fine beads of sweat forming on her forehead. "It's just surface damage; it can still hold on."

[System Notification: Android 18's remaining function is at 39%. Core circuitry oxidation is accelerating. Estimated remaining operating time is 17 minutes.]

Amidst the jarring notification sound, Lin Ye suddenly recalled the night after the Cell Saga ended.

The display screen in the gravity chamber showed the words "10000 times". The two of them collapsed on the floor, covered in sweat, too weak to even lift their arms. Number 18 looked at his robotic arm, which was slightly hot from overloading, and suddenly said softly, "Sometimes I feel it's really unfair. If a robotic arm breaks, you can replace it, but if the feeling in your heart is broken, it can never be fixed."

He asked her what she meant, and she turned her head, her eyes shining like stars in the dim light: "It means that whether it's a machine or flesh and blood, everyone is afraid of losing someone important."

[Ding..... The compatibility with the Extreme Freedom skill has increased to 79%!]

A silvery light suddenly enveloped Lin Ye's entire body. Unlike flames, the light seemed to seep from his skin, flowing along his muscle lines and weaving a faint silver mist in his eyes.

"Lin Ye?" Number 18 was taken aback.

She had never seen Lin Ye like this before. His movements were so fast that they were almost impossible to track. As he weaved through the gaps between the rapidly spinning gears, the air currents created by his clothes precisely avoided every possible flying metal fragment. As he passed a burning gear tooth, he swiftly pulled off the sparking metal piece, and as he held it in his hand, golden flames automatically enveloped the hot, broken edge.

"Anomaly detected in target status." The Gear Core of the Machine King spun even faster, and the black energy wave condensed again, nearly doubling in size compared to before. "Data shows that the target's Ultra Instinct compatibility should be below 50%. The current state is illogical..."

"Is 'guardian' written in the logic?" Lin Ye's voice suddenly appeared in front of it.

Before he finished speaking, he had already crossed his two burning teeth into a cross. Strangely enough, the angle of that cross perfectly blocked the core trajectory of the black energy wave. The moment the golden flame collided with the black energy wave, there was no explosion, only countless tiny energy ripples spreading out, like pebbles thrown into a lake.

"This is impossible!" A red light suddenly flashed in the Gear King's eyes, and the gears inside its core spun so fast they were almost blurry. "This defense mode is not recorded in the database! You..."

“There are many things the database doesn’t record.” Lin Ye’s fist, trailing a silver light, slammed down. The moment the golden flames struck the Machine Omni-King’s chest, countless tiny gears cracked and shattered. Just then, Lin Ye saw clearly that at the very center of that gear core was a chip the size of a fingernail. The spiral patterns engraved on the chip’s surface were exactly the same as the “Seed of Time” inside Cell’s body back then!

"Ah! I remember now!" Zeno, who was being protected behind Lin Ye, suddenly clapped his hands, his voice filled with the joy of sudden realization, "I've seen this chip before! It was given to me by Buu from the future!"

"The future Buu?" Lin Ye and Vegeta were both stunned.

“Yes.” Zeno counted on his chubby little hands, “It’s Buu, the one who’s always laughing but can mold the universe into a ball. He said he wanted to be a ‘Zeno who never cries,’ and that way no one would make him angry.”

Lin Ye's back instantly broke out in a cold sweat.

Buu from the future? Babidi's conspiracy isn't limited to the present timeline? Did they fall into a trap spanning the past and the future from the very beginning?

"Watch out!" Vegeta's roar interrupted his thoughts.

The shattered gear fragments suddenly froze in mid-air before rapidly reforming. The Machine King's body gradually reassembled as the gears turned, this time nearly three times its previous size. Its arms transformed into two barbed gear chains, which lashed out at Lin Ye.

"Vegeta, cover!" Lin Ye suddenly grabbed Zeno's chubby little hand, and golden flames exploded behind him, forming a long trail of light. "Android 18, grab my clothes!"

Without hesitation, Android 18 used the cover of Vegeta's Ultimate Flash to leap to Lin Ye's side. Her mechanical arm had completely lost sensation, and she could only use her other hand to tightly grip Lin Ye's clothes.

"Trying to run?" The reassembled Machine Omni-King let out an even more ear-piercing laugh, countless tiny gears shooting out from its body and chasing after it like homing missiles. "The Gear Dimension has locked all exits, you..."

"Exits are never given by others," Lin Ye said with unprecedented determination. A silver streak of light converged beneath his feet, forming a trail of light. "They're forged by ourselves!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he charged towards the edge of the Gear Space with the Omni-King and Android 18. The pursuing gears were instantly crushed into powder when they touched the silver aura surrounding him.

The moment he burst out of the space, Lin Ye subconsciously glanced back.

In the void, countless reassembled mechanical Omni-Kings are slowly approaching each other. Their bodies form a giant symbol as gears mesh, and the outline of that symbol perfectly overlaps with the gear mark marked on the sixth universe star map.

[System Warning! Simultaneous activation of multiple spatiotemporal anchor points detected!]

[Warning! The probability of Kronos awakening has increased to 61%!]

[Warning! Irregular fluctuations are occurring in the dimensional barrier...]

The piercing alarm sounded in his mind, but Lin Ye suddenly calmed down.

He looked down at the warm little hand that belonged to Zeno, which was clenched in his palm, then turned to look at Android 18 and Vegeta, who were supporting each other beside him. Android 18's mechanical arm was still smoking, and Vegeta's deep blue aura, though weak, was still burning. There was no sign of retreat on their faces, only a resolute determination to face the next battle.

These bonds, which the system had identified as "unstable variables," now acted like a compass in the darkness, pointing him in the only direction amidst the chaos of time and space.

"Let's go." Lin Ye clenched his fist, and golden flames ignited once more. "We still have people we need to protect."

Behind him, the ripples in the gear-like space grew larger and larger, as if some colossal being was awakening. But Lin Ye knew that as long as the people around him were still there, there was no gear-like inferno they couldn't overcome.

Chapter 375: The Bells of the Ark

The alarms on Earth's space station, "Ark," had been blaring like a dull knife cutting flesh for seventy-two hours straight in the metal corridor. Lin Ye stood beneath the dome of the control room, his fingertips pressed against the edge of the cold holographic star map, his knuckles turning bluish-white from the pressure. That crimson mass was visibly devouring the blue-green galaxy projection; the spacetime rift of Kronos was swallowing three galaxies per hour, like a ravenous dog, its saliva practically dripping onto the defenses of the Seventh Universe.

"The barrier of Universe 7 can't hold!" Bulma slurped down the last mouthful of coffee, the empty cup creaking as she squeezed it, the coffee stains on the cup turning a grayish-black from her fingertips. A broken stylus was still tucked into her messy hair, her fingers moving at breakneck speed, the data stream on the control panel cascading down like a waterfall. "Look at these defense parameters, the energy decay rate is 1.2% per second, it's practically made of paper!"

Lin Ye's gaze swept across the flashing blue dots on the star map—those were patrol ships of the Earth Defense Force. At the edge of the Sixth Universe, the signals from Yin Cha and Tien Shinhan flickered, like candles in the wind. From time to time, the eerie laughter of the remnants of the Ginyu Force would burst from the communicator, piercing like fingernails scraping glass, crackling with electrical current: "Saiyan lackeys, get ready to be crushed by the rift!"

[Earth Defense Force survival rate: 57%; estimated time of loss: 48 hours].

A cold system notification popped up before his eyes. Lin Ye's Adam's apple bobbed. The blue light of the holographic star map reflected in his pupils, showing countless red dots. He suddenly remembered that before he left, Xiao Fang had clung to his arm and begged him to teach her the Kamehameha when he returned. That girl had her hair tied in a high ponytail, and her eyes shone like stars.

"Where's Vegeta?" He asked, only to find his throat was dry and sore.

Three days after breaking out of Universe 6, the Saiyan Prince locked himself in the gravity chamber. The bento box that Android 18 said he sent was left untouched at the door, not even the lock on the insulated box had been touched; the rice was probably as hard as a rock by now.

“They’re risking their lives.” Number 18 moved her mechanical arm, sparks crackling at the joints, leaving tiny scorch marks on her fair wrist. She casually wiped them away with her other hand, a rare hint of worry in her blue eyes: “15000 times gravity, they say they’re going to create a fusion technique even stronger than the ‘Saiyan Twin Explosion’.” She paused, her gaze shifting slightly towards the gravity chamber. “But when I passed by just now, the alarm went off for the third time. The energy fluctuations inside are like madness; I could feel the vibrations even through three layers of alloy doors.”

Lin Ye walked towards the gravity chamber. The emergency lights in the corridor flickered, casting long shadows. With each step, the metal floor groaned dully, as if it couldn't bear the weight. Passing the storage room, he caught a glimpse of Saiyan battle suits piled up in the corner. They were new models that Bulma had hastily made overnight after Vegeta was blown apart by Frieza's shockwave. Bullet holes still remained on the shoulder armor.

Peering through the observation window, Vegeta was bouncing around in the gravitational field like a tattered sack. The 15000 times gravity compressed the air into a viscous muddy mass; each time he raised his hand, it was like struggling in water. His deep blue aura was almost invisible, yet with each fall, he would suddenly leap half an inch higher. Each impact with the bulkhead sent a hum through the corridor, and the bulletproof glass of the observation window was now covered with spiderweb-like cracks.

But the fire in those green eyes burned brighter than the magma of Planet Destroyer.

[Vegeta's cell damage rate detected at 89%, consistent with 'near-death breakthrough' characteristics] The system alerted with a sudden surge in performance, like an ambulance siren piercing the eardrums. [Immediate termination of training is recommended, otherwise permanent genetic damage will result.]

Lin Ye kicked open the gravity chamber door. The metal hinges snapped with a piercing sound, and the 15000 times gravity instantly forced his knees to buckle, slamming them to the ground, nearly cracking his bones. A sharp pain shot up his spine to the top of his head, and his vision blurred, but he tilted his head, his peripheral vision fixed on the gruesome scar on Vegeta's back—a cross-shaped scar with curled edges, inflicted by Frieza's energy whip during their first massacre of the Saiyan planet.

Vegeta was only seven years old at the time. He huddled in the ruins, gritting his teeth and not crying out.

Lin Ye suddenly understood the kid's stubbornness.

"Get out of my way!" Vegeta's fist grazed Lin Ye's ear, slamming into the bulkhead and creating a crater, splattering gravel all over Lin Ye's face. He gasped for breath, his chest heaving violently, each breath carrying the metallic taste of blood. "I haven't lost to you, you piece of trash, how could I possibly fall at a time like this!"

Lin Ye didn't speak, but raised his hand to mobilize the Ultimate Energy within his body. A silver light wove a barrier between the two of them, like a taut piece of silk, diverting half of the gravity that could crush steel. The moment the pressure suddenly decreased, Vegeta staggered, and when he looked up, his eyes widened in astonishment and... a barely perceptible shift in his stance.

Lin Ye gave him a smirk, his most serious expression since he transmigrated: "If you want to come up with a new combination technique, you'd better let me see what your limits are. Otherwise, if you drag me down, don't blame me for laughing at you."

[A resonance between the host's ki and Vegeta's ki has been detected, consistent with the 'Saiyan Twins' characteristics. Initiate synchronous training mode?]

"Start." The two voices collided, one as cold and hard as ice, the other as steady as a mountain, yet strangely they overlapped on the same frequency.

Seventy-two hours later, the Ark's bell suddenly rang out. It wasn't the sharp whine of an alarm, but a deep, booming sound from the alloy clock at the bottom of the space station being struck by energy. The sound rippled through the universe, even causing the edge of the spacetime rift to tremble.

The warriors who were fighting the spacetime rift stopped. The Namekian magicians maintained their magic circles and looked up to see beams of light piercing through the clouds; on the battlefield of Universe 6, Yincha had just dodged the Ginyu Force's charge and was looking up at the sky with his spiked club; Tien Shinhan and his three eyes met, and the same light was reflected in all three pupils.

Beneath the space station's dome, two beams of light twisted into a spiral, their golden hue mingling with deep blue, shooting straight into the sky. At the center of the beams, Lin Ye and Vegeta spun like tops, their fists striking each other, causing the space to tremble as if someone were stomping heavily on the keys of a cosmic piano.

"What the hell is this... Piccolo's Special Beam Cannon froze in mid-air, the beam of light reflected in his green pupils. He could clearly see that Lin Ye and Vegeta's ki were merging, the silver Ultimate Skill light swirling around the deep blue Saiyan energy, turning like a yin-yang symbol, each containing the other. He suddenly remembered when he first met these two, one as arrogant as a cat with its fur standing on end, the other always putting on airs. Who would have thought that one day they would be fighting side by side like this? 'These two bastards actually managed to get together?'"

Suddenly, the robotic arm on number 18 went silent. The self-repair program automatically stopped, the data stream on the screen jumped wildly, and the red warning lights all turned green, like tender grass sprouting in spring. "Combination Technique 'Double God Break,' energy level..." She paused, tapping the screen with her fingertips to confirm the values ​​were correct, "Beyond the initial stage of a God of Destruction." A smile played on her lips as she turned to look towards the control room. Bulma had already jumped up, knocking the coffee pot to the ground. "At least it wasn't all for nothing."

Lin Ye opened his eyes within the pillar of light. He could clearly sense Vegeta's emotions—not anger, but the resentment beneath it; not arrogance, but the fear behind it. Fear of losing his remaining kin, fear of once again being forced to cower in the ruins and watch his home be destroyed, just like when he was seven. And hidden deep within was a sliver of protective instinct, clumsy like a bear trying to protect its cubs, unaware even of its own actions.

These things, which the system labels as "inefficient," are more effective than any energy at this moment.

As their fists simultaneously slammed into the void, Lin Ye suddenly realized that even if Chronos was a colossal beast capable of devouring the heavens, they were not fighting alone. For within Vegeta's ki lay his shadow; and within his ki, Vegeta's fierce power was also present.

[System Notification: Spacetime ripples caused by 'Double Divine Strike' have been detected. The expansion rate of the rift in Kronos has slowed by 17%]

The tolling of bells drifted through the universe, like a battle song for the rebels. Lin Ye looked at Vegeta, who was panting heavily beside him. The guy's lip was cut, and blood dripped down his chin, splashing onto the ground and spreading into small red spots, but his green eyes shone with an astonishing light.

Lin Ye suddenly remembered the Dragon Ball manga he had read before his transmigration. Those stories about bonds, growth, and unwavering perseverance were now leaping off the page and writing new chapters in his hands. It turned out that it wasn't the story reflecting reality, but reality itself, which was even more intense than the story.

"Hey, you scum." Vegeta wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, the movement as rough as if he were wiping away dust, but his eyes were frighteningly bright. "Next time, I'll show you what a real Saiyan is like."

Lin Ye smiled, the silver flame dancing on his fingertips like a mischievous spark: "I'm always ready, Your Highness."

The distant spatial rift still roared, its crimson edges gnawing at the darkness with a crackling sound. But this time, everyone on the Ark stood tall. Bulma readjusted the defense parameters, her fingers flying across the control panel; 18's mechanical arm began repairing the space station's external armor; Piccolo retrieved his Special Beam Cannon and turned to the warriors behind him, shouting, "What are you standing there for? Send those Ginyu bastards back to their homeland!"

Because they knew that as long as that golden and blue pillar of light remained, as long as the bell tolled, hope remained.

The word "give up" doesn't exist in the Saiyan dictionary.

Chapter 376: The Gods Appear

The dome of the Omni-King's Palace resembled an inverted glass goblet, with twelve rainbow beams shooting upwards from the ground, hurling contestants from each universe into the center of the arena. Lin Ye steadied himself on the edge of the Seventh Universe's position, his fingertips unconsciously tracing the Dragon Ball radar at his waist. The Namekian magicians had inlaid a circle of magical runes on it, which was now gently heating up with the energy field of the Omni-King's Palace, its blue light flickering as if giving some kind of coded signal.

"You're Lin Ye from Universe Seven?" Someone patted his shoulder, the force neither too light nor too heavy.

Lin Ye turned around and saw it was Cabba from Universe 6. The elbows of his blue combat suit were worn raw, and his cheeks were still covered in training dust. His eyes shone like two stars. "I heard you can fight Jiren to a draw? Really?"

"I haven't tried fighting to the death, so it's hard to say." Lin Ye smiled, his gaze passing over Gabe's shoulder to see Kale, who was arguing with Caulifla with her arms crossed at the sixth universe's position. The two were face to face, seemingly having a heated argument. "Your team is in good form today."

“That’s right!” Gabe puffed out his chest, then suddenly lowered his voice, “But seriously, that Jiren guy… I made eye contact with him during the last qualifiers, and I felt like my bones were frozen. How exactly did your Universe 7 manage to deal with him?”

Just as Lin Ye was about to speak, a burst of golden light suddenly erupted from the center of the arena, so bright it was blinding. The Omni-King clapped his chubby hands and jumped up, his voice like he was sucking on a candy: "Now, the rules are: no killing! Falling off the field means you lose!"

The other Omni-King immediately nodded in agreement, his golden pupils sweeping across the entire arena. He slowly added, "The winning universe can make a wish, and the losing..." He paused, tracing an arc on his neck with his little finger, "...will simply disappear!"