Vegeta wasted no time answering Moro. He rushed straight back in and unleashed a barrage of punches, every blow landing cleanly against the ancient wizard.
Moro barely bothered to defend himself.
He let Vegeta hammer away at his body as if the attacks weren't worth avoiding, which only reinforced what Piccolo had already suspected.
"Vegeta really has gotten much stronger," Piccolo said as he watched the exchange. "Even in ordinary Super Saiyan 4, he's already around the level his full-power form used to reach. But that still isn't enough. The gap between him and Moro is too large to overcome through a simple increase in strength."
Gohan and Kale could see it too. Vegeta was clearly stronger, but Moro still looked completely comfortable.
Then Moro caught Vegeta's fist.
"This is disappointing, Vegeta." With an almost casual motion, he swung the Saiyan around and hurled him into a distant cliff. "Still, I'll give you credit. Raising your power this much in such a short time is impressive."
As Vegeta disappeared into the rock, Moro stole another glance toward Ken.
If he wanted complete freedom for his master, simply defeating Goku and Vegeta wasn't enough for Moro. Sooner or later, he wanted enough power to put himself beyond Ken's reach as well. And with both Saiyans gathered in front of him, the opportunity seemed almost too good to waste.
If he could consume all of their energy, perhaps even Ken would no longer be beyond him.
Then Moro noticed the man standing beside Ken.
His eyes narrowed.
Wasn't that the Galactic Patrolman who had fought him before? Why was he standing beside Ken like they knew each other?
Moro pushed the thought aside. There would be time to deal with each of them later.
Vegeta emerged from the rubble and came at him again.
There was no new transformation, no sudden explosion of power. He simply kept attacking. Moro blocked most of the blows without difficulty, but the persistence was beginning to irritate him.
Gohan frowned. "What is Vegeta doing? He knows this isn't enough."
Kale looked equally confused. "Why does he keep attacking if he knows Moro is stronger?"
Jaco folded his arms. "Maybe he can't accept that all his training failed, so now he's just throwing a tantrum."
Everyone turned toward him.
It was an incredibly rude way to put it.
Unfortunately, it almost sounded plausible.
Piccolo shook his head. "No. Vegeta knows exactly how strong Moro is. He wouldn't keep doing this without a reason."
Moro finally lost patience. He caught another incoming strike and raised his free hand toward Vegeta's head, energy gathering in his palm.
"That's enough."
Vegeta tilted his head out of the line of fire at the last instant and stepped inside Moro's guard. The edge of his hand crashed into the side of Moro's neck, stunning him long enough for Vegeta to follow with several hard kicks to the torso.
For the first time, Moro looked genuinely shaken by the blows.
His irritation exploded into anger. He lunged forward, seized Vegeta by both arms, lifted him overhead, and smashed him into the ground hard enough to leave a deep crater.
Moro expected him to stay there.
Instead, Vegeta flew back out almost immediately, looking far less injured than he should have been. He brushed the dust from his face and smiled.
Goku's eyes widened as he finally understood what Vegeta had been doing.
"Oh... I get it."
Moro attacked again, but this time Vegeta caught his fist and drove a kick into his side. Moro grunted in pain and fired a blast from his palm, only for Vegeta to lean backward beneath it and retreat through a string of flips before landing near Goku.
Goku looked at him with growing realization. "Vegeta... that technique you learned on Yardrat. Is it—"
"Forced Spirit Fission."
Vegeta glanced back with a confident smile, then launched himself at Moro again.
Now that Goku knew what to look for, the entire battle made sense.
Each time Vegeta struck Moro, something was being taken away from him.
The change soon became obvious to everyone else as well. Vegeta's attacks were landing more cleanly, Moro's reactions were becoming slower, and exchanges that had looked completely one-sided only moments earlier were rapidly shifting in Vegeta's favor.
Gohan leaned forward. "Vegeta's attacks are actually working now. Did he get stronger again?"
"No," Piccolo said, watching Moro closely. "Vegeta isn't getting stronger."
His eyes narrowed.
"Moro is getting weaker."
Kale followed Piccolo's gaze, then looked upward.
A pale-blue sphere of energy had begun forming high above the battlefield.
None of them had even noticed when it first appeared.
Vegeta drove another kick into Moro's chest.
Moro doubled over—and a burst of energy escaped from his mouth.
At the same time, his appearance visibly changed. His face aged, the vitality he had regained from consuming countless planets beginning to fade as white hair spread through his beard.
Moro stared at himself in disbelief.
The energy expelled from his body rose into the sky and joined the growing blue sphere.
Vegeta's grin only widened. He twisted in midair and caught Moro with a powerful overhead kick, sending him crashing toward the ground. More pale-blue energy leaked from Moro as he fell, streaming upward to join everything Vegeta had already forced out of him.
Vegeta landed nearby with a broad, satisfied smile.
Merus watched with genuine admiration. "Impressive, Vegeta."
Ken patted him on the shoulder. "Of course it is. I helped train him."
Merus gave him a look.
Ken continued mercilessly, "I gave Goku to you, and he still lost to Moro. You started with a loaded deck and somehow still managed to lose."
Merus decided silence was the safest response.
Moro forced himself back to his feet, breathing heavily now. The confidence he had shown against Goku was gone, replaced by anger and confusion.
"What did you do to me?"
Jaco suddenly pointed at him. "Look! He's turning old again!"
Piccolo looked more closely and realized he was right.
Vegeta finally explained.
"All the Energy you stole by force—the souls, the life energy, everything you took from other people—I'm separating it from you."
He raised one hand toward the enormous pale-blue sphere above them.
Forced Spirit Fission had been stripping away everything Moro had accumulated through absorption, bit by bit, with every successful blow.
Vegeta swept his hand outward.
The sphere burst apart.
Countless streams of energy scattered across the sky, racing away in every direction as the life force Moro had stolen began returning to the places it had come from.
Gohan immediately remembered Goku was still sitting nearby, exhausted from his own battle. He hurried over and helped his father to his feet.
"You okay, Dad?"
"Yeah. Sorry, Gohan."
Piccolo flew over as well, his attention still fixed on Vegeta. "Goku, what exactly did Vegeta learn?"
Goku watched his rival continue advancing on Moro.
"It's called Forced Spirit Fission. It can separate things that were combined unnaturally through fusion or absorption." He smiled faintly. "I knew the Yardratians could teach it, but this is the first time I've actually seen someone use it."
Another heavy blow from Vegeta drove Moro back into the ground.
This time, there was no question about it.
The longer Vegeta fought him, the weaker Moro became.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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