Vegeta spat a mouthful of blood onto the ground and forced himself back to his feet.
"You shouldn't have knocked your son unconscious," Goku Black said with a mocking smile. "Together, the two of you might have had a one-percent chance of winning."
Vegeta drew a slow breath, his bruised body trembling under the strain.
"This world only just recovered. I finally learned to live with peace… and then you came along and destroyed everything." His hands curled into fists as his power began to rise. "I won't let my world become Hell again!"
The ground shook beneath him.
Golden energy roared from Vegeta's body, swelling far beyond anything he had released during their fight.
Goku Black's smile vanished.
"What are you doing?"
"If this is the only way to stop you, then we'll disappear together!"
Vegeta poured everything he had left into one final explosion. Light flooded the battlefield, racing toward Goku Black from every direction.
For the first time, genuine terror entered Goku Black's eyes.
The force gathering around Vegeta was enough to tear his stolen body apart. There would be nothing left to heal.
Before the blast could close around him, Zamasu appeared at his side and raised a barrier over them both.
Vegeta's eyes narrowed.
"So you had an accomplice."
A grim smile pulled at his bloodied lips.
"Good. Then I can kill both of you."
His power surged again.
The explosion swallowed the battlefield.
Zamasu's barrier buckled almost immediately. Cracks raced across its surface before the entire shield shattered beneath Vegeta's final attack.
Zamasu threw himself in front of Goku Black.
The blast tore through his immortal body, breaking it apart piece by piece. What remained of the attack crashed into Goku Black and burned through his flesh, leaving him blackened and bleeding.
Zamasu absorbed most of the damage, but the force still nearly killed his partner.
When the light finally faded, an enormous crater stretched across the ruined landscape.
Vegeta hovered above its center, his body reduced to a dry, lifeless shell. Every trace of moisture had been burned away by his own power.
His empty gaze settled on the place where Zamasu had vanished and Goku Black lay barely alive.
Then his strength gave out.
Vegeta's body struck the ground and broke apart on impact. A gust of wind swept through the crater, carrying the ashes away until nothing remained.
The fragments of Zamasu's body pulled themselves back together. Flesh, bone, and clothing reformed until he stood whole once more.
He immediately knelt beside Goku Black and began healing him.
The burns receded, torn flesh closed, and within moments Goku Black's body had recovered. His humiliation, however, remained.
A mere Vegeta had nearly killed him.
"You still have a long way to go before you master that body," Zamasu said.
"Then Trunks stays alive for now." Goku Black clenched his restored hand. "I'll use him to train."
"That may be our best option."
An hour later, Trunks slowly regained consciousness.
He pushed himself upright and rubbed the back of his aching neck.
"Dad knocked me out… so he could face Goku Black alone."
Trunks reached out with his senses.
The blood drained from his face.
Vegeta's energy was gone.
His whole body began to shake as grief and fury tore through him at once. A scream ripped from his throat, and his power erupted with enough force to split the ground beneath his feet.
Golden lightning snapped around his body as his hair rose higher. A brilliant blue aura wrapped around him, burning beneath an outer layer of golden flame.
Trunks stared at his own hands.
He had awakened something new.
The wonder lasted only a moment. Tears spilled down his face as he searched desperately for Goku Black, but his enemy had already concealed his energy.
No matter how far Trunks extended his senses, he found nothing.
Several days passed before Goku Black revealed himself again.
He began destroying cities one after another, slaughtering anyone unfortunate enough to cross his path. West City fell with the others, its towers reduced to burning rubble until the once-great metropolis looked like the end of the world.
Trunks found him standing among the ruins.
"There you are!" Rage twisted his face as he descended. "I'll never forgive you for what you've done!"
Goku Black looked him over with mild interest.
"You've grown stronger."
Trunks unleashed his new transformation and charged.
Their clash tore through the city. For the first time, Trunks managed to match him, forcing Goku Black into a brutal exchange that lasted nearly half an hour.
But the new form consumed too much energy.
As Trunks's strength began to fail, Goku Black broke through his guard and drove him into the ground. The blue and gold light around Trunks flickered once before collapsing completely.
"You did better than I expected," Goku Black said, strolling toward him.
Trunks gritted his teeth and dragged himself upright.
Goku Black raised one hand, gathering enough energy to finish him.
"You've served your purpose. Die."
A shell screamed through the air and exploded beside him.
Smoke and debris swallowed the street.
Goku Black released a burst of energy that blew the dust away, only to find the ground where Trunks had been standing empty.
He made no attempt to pursue him.
"I'll kill you next time."
With Trunks gone, Goku Black turned his attention back to the surviving civilians.
Beneath the city, a young woman helped Trunks through the narrow tunnels and lowered him against the wall of an abandoned sewer.
"Are you badly hurt?"
"I'll live." Trunks struggled to catch his breath. "Thank you. You saved me."
"So he's the monster killing everyone?" Her hands tightened into fists. "He really is a demon."
"That's Goku Black."
"Goku Black?" The woman frowned. "I remember hearing about a man named Goku."
"He isn't the Goku I knew." Trunks shook his head. "I don't understand what happened to him, but Goku would never do any of this."
She studied him for a moment.
"What's your name?"
"Trunks."
"I'm Mai."
Trunks glanced around the dim tunnel.
"Do you live down here?"
"It's safer than the surface." Mai sat beside him. "Do you still have family?"
Trunks nodded.
"Bring them underground as soon as you can. That man is worse than the androids ever were."
Trunks could not disagree.
Over the following months, Goku Black continued reducing Earth's population. The remaining survivors were driven underground, while entire regions became empty wastelands.
One day, he discovered Bulma and Emily cleaning dust from a set of solar panels.
Neither survived.
"Trunks… stay alive," Emily whispered with her final breath.
Grief drove Trunks straight at Goku Black, but the difference between them had grown wider than ever.
Every time they met, Goku Black returned stronger.
Trunks fought until he understood that staying meant dying. He created an opening, broke away, and fled into the ruins with Goku Black close behind.
He raced through the remains of the city, weaving between shattered buildings as blasts tore apart everything around him.
One attack struck a nearby structure and blew out its lower floors. The shock wave hurled Trunks through a wall and into an abandoned room.
He had barely regained his footing when several energy blasts appeared overhead.
Trunks threw himself through the nearest opening before they struck. Once outside, he fired back at Goku Black, but his attack missed and slammed into a massive fuel tank.
Gasoline poured across the street.
A spark touched the spreading fuel.
Fire raced through the ruins and erupted into a towering mushroom cloud.
Trunks escaped moments before the blast consumed the area, taking refuge on a distant mountain until the flames died down.
By dusk, he had returned to the underground shelter.
He moved through the broken streets, slipped into the basement, and knocked softly on the door.
"Mai. It's me."
The lock clicked, and Mai's face appeared through the opening.
"Trunks!" Relief washed over her as she pulled him inside. "I heard the explosion this afternoon. I thought you'd been killed."
She shut the door and handed him a bottle of water.
Trunks drained it in long gulps before lowering his head.
"What happened to Bulma and Emily?" Mai asked.
"They were cleaning the solar panels when he found them."
His fingers tightened around the bottle. Tears ran down his face despite every effort to hold them back.
"My mother's gone."
Mai sat beside him and pulled him into her arms. Neither of them spoke for a while.
After the silence had settled, Mai reached into their dwindling supplies.
"I found something for you. Eat."
She opened a can and handed it over.
Trunks stared at the contents.
"Is this dog food?"
"A few months ago, no one would've touched it." Mai gave him a tired smile. "Now it's a feast."
"Thank you."
Hunger overcame his hesitation, and he began eating.
"Bulma managed to finish charging the time machine before she died," Trunks said between bites.
Mai's eyes widened.
"Then we can escape?"
"There's only enough power for one trip. We won't be able to come back."
Her excitement faded.
Trunks ate half the food, then held the can out to her.
"You need it more than I do," Mai said.
"We both need to stay alive. That was the last promise I made to my mother."
He placed the can in her hands.
Mai swallowed and gave in, eating the remainder as quickly as he had.
Trunks crossed to the window and looked through the fractured glass into the darkening light well.
"We leave as soon as night falls. The time machine will take us seventeen years into the past."
"Seventeen years?"
"To another timeline." Trunks managed a faint smile. "One where Ken still exists."
"Who's Ken?"
"An incredibly powerful god."
Mai considered that.
"I've used the time machine before," Trunks continued. "I traveled to that timeline and brought Goku back with me. He helped us defeat the androids."
"Goku defeated them?"
Trunks nodded.
Mai's expression grew uncertain.
"Could Goku Black somehow be the same man?"
"No." Trunks's answer came without hesitation. "Whatever he is, he isn't Goku. Goku would never become that monster."
"We finally had peace after the androids were gone," Mai said bitterly. "Then he appeared, and we still don't even know where he came from."
"He can sense my energy. I've hidden from him before, but he always finds me."
Trunks picked up a rifle he had prepared and handed it to her.
"We don't have much time. We need to reach the past and ask Ken for help."
Mai took the weapon and nodded.
Night settled over the city.
Trunks and Mai left the shelter and followed the sewer tunnels beneath the ruins. After walking for some time, Trunks stopped beneath a heavy manhole cover.
"This is it."
He raised the cover just enough to look outside.
The ruined Capsule Corporation headquarters stood a short distance away.
They emerged carefully and crossed the open ground toward the entrance. Trunks had just reached for the door when a voice drifted down from above.
"I knew you'd come back."
Goku Black hovered over the building, staring at them with a cold smile.
"Damn it!"
Trunks fired an energy blast into the air. Goku Black slipped aside, and the attack tore through a nearby building instead.
Using the explosion as cover, Trunks grabbed Mai and rushed inside Capsule Corporation.
They raced through the darkened corridors, but a shadow appeared through the broken ceiling above them.
Goku Black peered down through the opening, his smile widening.
"You're not getting away, Trunks."
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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