Chương 64: Universal Tournament End
Vegeta got into his fighting stance and closed his eyes again.
Hit walked forward in a confidant stride before stopping a few feet away from Vegeta.
Placing his hands in his pockets while facing the Saiyan King, Hit then asked in an earnest tone, "Well, now, do you think you can beat me without transforming?"
Vegeta didn't say anything in response, he focused on his senses inward and let his body completely relax.
"Move without thinking, attack without restraint. Feel, don't command. Act, don't think," Vegeta thought as he let out a breath of fresh air.
The sounds of Kibo still hammering away on his anvil created a strange tempo that forced Vegeta into a trance-like state.
It was like the sound was synching to the rhythm of his beating heart.
Vegeta dashed forward and swung out with his full strength. The air crackled around his body as his fist closed in on Hit.
In response to the sudden assault, the Assassin stood in place as he waited for the most opportune time to act.
The moment Vegeta came into contact with the tip of Hit's nose, the Saiyan King's fist passed through him like a mirage.
Hit's fist appeared from beside Vegeta aiming for the side of his chin. Vegeta tilted his head and felt a burning sensation run across his cheek.
Hit was surprised as he saw Vegeta's leg aiming for his waist with a fierce-looking punch.
The Assassin activated his time skip and once more attempted to knock Vegeta out by hitting a certain point on his chin known as the button.
Vegeta predicted where Hit would strike next and placed his open hand out.
When the Assasin's attack landed, there was no eruption of energy, no waves of concussive force, only silence.
Hit felt like his fist was sinking in a marsh before being gently guided away from his body, opening up his defenses for Vegeta to unleash hell.
Hit then felt his stomach burn as Vegeta's knee stretched out his stomach and forced him to keel over.
"He's actually landing attacks, but unlike earlier when he fought that other Saiyan, I don't sense the same technique of Ultra Instinct being used." Beerus tapped his tail against the stone seats.
Whis smiled, "He's trying to incorporate more of his offense into his Ultra Instinct Training. By letting pain guide his movements, his body is reacting on its own. Vegeta's progress is very impressive." Whis turned to Beerus and said, "He may even master it before you do."
Beerus grunted as he said, "It's not that easy."
The sound of air pressure roaring interrupted the two. Vegeta felt his skin burn again as Hit managed to improve his Time Skip's limit by half a second.
Hit's fist snapped back into his pocket as he jumped forward towards Vegeta.
Smoke ran off the Saiyan's cheek once again as he barely dodged another punch.
The bruise quickly healed as Vegeta appeared in front of Hit and created a wave of heat that blasted out from his punch.
Hit threw out another punch and aimed for his chin again, still trying to rattle the Saiyan King's brain.
Vegeta grunted as he tilted his head and reduced the damage of the blow before he landed a gut punch that sent Hit's feet skirting back against the ground.
Hit charged forward and started to throw a flurry of blows towards Vegeta.
With his eyes still closed, Vegeta focused everything on his senses. He started dodging left and right while walking further into Hit's range of attack.
Every time Hit almost landed an attack, Vegeta countered with a brutal blow.
Hit punched out toward his gut, so Vegeta rolled off his fist the moment it came in contact and raised his knee before kicking Hit's arm away.
Hit switched it up and tried to hit Vegeta's side with a spinning kick.
Vegeta tiled down and let Hit's leg rush off the side of his body. As the burn mark faded, Vegeta leaned back in and punched Hit in the side of the waist.
Hit gasped before he gasped and let out a puff of spit alongside air in his lungs.
Vegeta moved into attack. When all of a sudden, the Saiyan King jumped back, narrowly avoiding a terrifying punch that sent a trail of blood flying off the side of Vegeta's face.
Hit's time skip improved again as he lashed out at Vegeta. However, Vegeta continued to dodge with everything he had and tried his hardest to counter.
Cuts and bruises quickly formed across Vegeta's skin as quickly as they healed.
Vegeta continued to make slight advantages as he pushed Hit back every now and then, jumping around the ring faster than most could keep up with.
Even though Vegeta was taking damage, he was slowly guiding Hit exactly where he wanted him to be.
Without realizing it, Hit found himself in the corner of the ring. Seeing that Vegeta had managed to trap him, Hit responded by growing even stronger and launching out his strongest punch yet.
As Vegeta dodged, a light bluish-white aura erupted from his body as his hair slightly waved in the wind.
The Saiyan King opened his eyes revealing his glowing yellow irises, and with a loud shout, Vegeta's aura exploded outward.
He looked at his own hands and flexed his fingers into a grip and then back outward.
"Omen State!" Kibo said as he looked at Vegeta in surprise.
The power surging off of Vegeta caused shockwaves all across the universe.
Everyone at the tournament was stunned, Goku especially, his eyes glittered as he gripped his fists, "So that's Ultra Instinct?!"
Whis smiled as he looked over at Beerus and said, "Well now, to think he managed to get to this point through his own methods. Vegeta you really are, quite the genius."
Beerus and Champa had wide eyes as they stared at Vegeta, "How?"
Vados chuckled, "I don't know why you're surprised Beerus, after all, you've already managed to reach Minor Mastery over Ultra Instinct."
Champa looked at Beerus as he lifted his brow. He looked to his angel for confirmation and then back to his brother before saying, "You...managed to achieve that?"
Beerus turned his attention back towards the fight, "That's none of your business!"
Champa was stunned, he then gripped his fist until his knuckles popped, thinking, "Has he really pulled that far ahead?"
"What is that form?" Cabba shouted.
"It's the precursor to the Angel's most famous technique, Ultra Instinct," Vados announced to her Universe's team members.
Cabba's eyes turned wide as he stared back at the person that he considered his Master, he let out a gulp, "Well, I guess I'll just have to push myself even farther."
Vegeta was still trying to capture the sensation of using Ultra Instinct, he felt like all of his Saiyan Forms had collapsed into this single technique while breaking through their limits.
His energy was constantly rising and his base form was absorbing the energy of Ultra Instinct Omen.
Vegeta then looked at Hit and said, "Please use every weapon in your arsenal. Don't hold back anything. I think you have the greatest chance to push me to the next stage." Vegeta said before he turned to Champa and asked, "Can we allow this to become a Death Match?"
Hit raised his brow and said, "What are you up to?"
Vegeta was beginning to acclimate to this Omen Form when he spoke, "You can't use all your techniques in this fight, right? You seem to be holding back quite a bit."
Champa tilted his head and said, "Beerus what's your opinion?"
Beerus looked surprised at his brother's question and then turned to Vegeta and said, "Are you confident?"
Vegeta nodded his head before asking with a cocky tone, "Do you think I'll lose in this state?"
Beerus laughed at Vegeta. Seeing how stable his new form was, he realized that Vegeta had indeed become his rival that the Oracle Fish mentioned.
If he continued to train with him, his power that had stagnated for so long would begin to grow once again.
Seeing this as a good opportunity to make Vegeta stronger, Beerus nodded his head before saying, "We'll allow it."
Hit looked a bit puzzled but then turned back to Vegeta and said, "Hmph! Don't regret this."
Vegeta faced Hit and said, "Don't worry just come at me with everything you have."
Hit took his hands out of his pocket and started to power up. Everyone was shocked to feel Hit's full power.
Kibo paused his forging for a second and said, "His power and control isn't that bad, but his understanding of the Dao of Time Manipulation is way worse than Bourto's."
Vegeta nodded his head and said, "Good, now come at me with everything you have."
Hit jumped towards Vegeta. He was slowing the time around Vegeta and increasing the speed of time around his own body.
He moved to kick Vegeta's head and was stunned as he saw Vegeta's eyes tracking his movements.
Vegeta blocked his kick with an elbow guard and then punched out towards Hit's face.
Hit raised his guard into a cross block before he felt Vegeta's fist slam against his arm sending him flying back.
Hit's feet slid across the ground as the friction created a small trail of smoke along the way. Blood dripped from Hit's nose as a large bruise formed around his mouth.
Hit lowered his arms and then wiped the blood from his face. Hit's brow furrowed at the sight of his blood before he looked at Vegeta and said, "Impressive."
Vegeta said, "Now that you understand, quit holding back."
Hit suddenly disappeared. He paused time for a single second, but someone that moves as fast as him, a second might as well be an hour.
His hands turned into a pair of blades as he charged towards Vegeta. When the godly assassin was about to pierce through Vegeta's chest, Hit saw the Saiyan's eyes shift over to his position.
"Impossible! He can still keep up?!" Hit thought as he shot his hands out, aiming for Vegeta's heart.
At the last second, Vegeta's arms turned into a blur and he grabbed Hit's spear hand the very moment it touched his armor.
Hit felt like he had run into a brick wall. Vegeta's grip held on tightly as Hit lifted his body into the air while raising his leg up to kick Vegeta in the head.
Vegeta blocked with his free arm and sent his elbow into Hit's shin.
Hit then shifted his body to strike out with his second blade hand.
Vegeta stopped his attack by gripping Hit's fist.
Holding on to both of Hit's wrists now, Vegeta opened his mouth before letting out roaring Ki-Beam.
The white beam of energy slammed into Hit's body and exploded at point-blank range.
Hit's body flew out of the plume of smoke created by the explosion while coughing up a mouth full of blood and looking quite wounded.
Quickly realizing the danger he was in, Hit unleased everything he had as he moved so fast, it appeared that he teleported to Vegeta's side.
He struck out and aimed at Vegeta's arm with a cutting motion.
Vegeta raised his elbow while stepping back slightly.
The two clashed as Vegeta leaned to the side and ended up with only a scratch.
Using this moment to rush in, Vegeta took a single step in and raised his knee, aiming for Hit's gut.
Hit responded by following up with a stabbing motion towards Vegeta's neck.
Vegeta tilted his head and landed his knee-kick while gripping Hit's wrist again.
Vegeta frowned as he felt something wrong. A single line of blood dripped from his chin, noticing that once again, Hit was able to strike again.
Vegeta's eyes widened as he suddenly threw out a punch, cracking Hit in the jaw and sending his neck flying back.
Hit's spare hand stopped a second away from touching Vegeta's neck, and before Hit could retrieve his hand, Vegeta grabbed onto it.
Once again Vegeta felt time grow sluggish around his body, "Annoying, I'll just break it!"
Vegeta fluxed his energy and forced Hit's knees to the ground with a fierce head butt.
Hit pushed himself back up with all of his strength while his aura shot into the sky in defiance.
Using great force, he pointed his hands into blades as he tried to push back against Vegeta's power.
Vegeta grinned as he sensed Hit growing even stronger, "Good show me everything."
Two stood in place as their auras started to climb to the sky.
Vegeta held on to his hand that was targeting his throat and the other that was aiming for his heart.
The ground beneath them started to crack, forcing them to separate and take their battle to the sky.
Kibo frowned and said, "The arena can't keep up with their growth? Well, we can't have that!" He slammed the remaining piece of living steel into the arena.
The bone-white hammer covered the arena in a grey mist that mixed into the stone-like platform, within seconds, the living metal took shape and infused itself into the arena grounds.
"That should be useful," Kibo said as a loud explosion rocked the space around them.
The two fighting in the air collided dozens of times. Each time they exchanged blows, Hit started growing stronger and stronger.
Beerus frowned as he said, "What's Vegeta doing?"
Goku saw that Vegeta had several tiny cuts that healed almost instantly, "With his mastery, shouldn't he be dodging these attacks?"
Whis smiled and said, "Vegeta's trying something different."
Beerus looked at Whis then Vegeta and said, "Ohh! I get it."
Goku scratched his head as he said, "What is it?"
Whis smiled and said, "Vegeta is taking a more offensive stance to this precursor form, risking death to better land blows. He's using this method to stimulate his ability to grow under crisis and master Ultra Instinct. Unfortunately, it appears Vegeta doesn't want to lose this training partner yet. He's has been restoring his opponent's stamina over the entire match."
"That moron!" Beerus yelled out as he ran his claws through his furry head in frustration.
Everyone was shocked when they heard that bit of information. They all looked back to the Vegeta gaining more momentum as the fight continued to grow more intense.
"Is Vegeta really healing Hit?" Gohan asked.
"Yep...using Time powers like that constantly should put a large strain on Hit's body. However, it's still surprising to see how quickly he's learning," Whis answered.
"To think his power is actually able to rise so quickly is really surprising," Goku stated as he stared at the fight. It was pretty clear he wanted to fight Hit as well.
Kibo nodded his head, "Yes, to think that just allowing him to stay at the peak of his health in the middle of combat is allowing Hit to improve his understanding of time by leaps and bounds."
"Was that a pun?" Bulma asked.
"Depends...did you find it funny?" Kibo chuckled.
Vegeta grinned as he felt like his body was constantly evolving. With his Auto-Heal Spell active, Vegeta could quickly recover from any of his wounds, and by casting heal on his opponent, Hit's stamina was constantly at its peak.
Being able to experience the constant use of his Time Manipulation without tiring was a great experience for him. His original one-second limit stretched out into five seconds.
Vegeta blocked and countered Hit's attack every time they came to trade blows.
Hit was smiling as he targeted all of Vegeta's vitals. The threat of death remained over Vegeta throughout the entire match. However, it was clear to Hit, he could have lost at any second as well.
Vegeta was using him as a whetstone to sharpen his Ultra Instinct Technique.
Each attack made Vegeta's base form grow wildly, and in return, Hit had to force his power to grow to keep up.
The assassin's potential was being pulled out to the fullest, and he knew it. Normally using his time powers drained him of stamina, Hit understood that Vegeta was healing him somehow.
The two slammed back onto the ground and started to exchange blows.
Vegeta slammed his fist into Hit's chest and dodged a sharp cut to his chest by a mere inch.
Vegeta spun around as the tips of his fingers slipped past his chest, making a thin trail of blood spill out before Vegeta aimed his knee at Hit's head.
Hit placed his elbow out and blocked Vegeta's Knee and struck out at his hip with a cutting motion, attempting to cleave of Vegeta's leg in a single stroke.
Vegeta slammed into the arena and jumped up dodging the attack. At the same time, he unleashed a powerful Ki blast towards Hit.
The moment Hit dodged the beam, Vegeta blasted the ground as he sensed Hit using his Time Skip to move behind him.
Vegeta tilted his head to the side as Hit's hand skirted past his cheek from behind.
Vegeta then grabbed Hit's arm, flipped him over his body with a powerful swinging motion, and slammed Hit's back into the ground.
The ground rumbled but the arena stayed intact while Hit coughed up a mouthful of air and blood.
Whis applauded Kibo's forging technique as Vegeta then lifted Hit back into the air and attempted to slam him into the ground again.
Hit shook off the damage as he quickly repositioned himself mid-swing. Placing his hands above his head, Hit released a Ki beam in both hands to speed himself up.
The assassin used the blast of Ki to aim both his feet at the top of Vegeta's head and launched himself like a rocket-propelled missile.
Vegeta quickly altered his grip and forced Hit's kick to miss. The Saiyan King then continued to wave Hit's body around while the stream of Ki faded out and managed to slam the assassin's back into the arena again.
Hit coughed up a bit of blood as he tried to force himself free from the Saiyan's grasp.
Suddenly, Hit felt Vegeta's tumb put a bit of pressure on him in a strange way.
It was like Vegeta could force a reaction from his muscules through his tumb alone, controlling his every move from a simple grasp.
Hit quickly began to analyze Vegeta's strange new fighting style and took a deep breath as he froze time the moment Vegeta's grip loosened.
Hit quickly pulled out his hand and struck out with everything he had. However, before he could make any ground, the assassin noticed something was off.
Vegeta started to feel his Mana getting weaker. He then let out a sigh as he said, "Well, I guess this is as far as I can take this match."
Vegeta then powered up and suddenly appeared behind Hit.
Hit tried to activate his time stop. However, Vegeta broke through his control with pure strength.
A powerful chop slammed into the back of the assassin's neck, knocking Hit out in an instant.
Vegeta looked over at the shocked audience. He let out a breath of fresh air as he powered down.
While he was announced the winner, Vegeta dove into his own consciousness and recalled the Omen Form.
Once more he successfully tapped into this unique state of mind. His body roared with energy as everyone gasped in surprise.
"To think he can consciously activate this form. Is this some unknown trait of the Saiyans?" Whis thought as he stared at Vegeta.
Goku looked eager to fight Vegeta; when suddenly, Kibo sensed something that made his skin drip in a cold sweat.
When Vegeta powered back down he noticed Kibo's reaction and followed his eyes to see the one and only Zeno-Chan standing a few feet away.
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