Under the bombardment of Raditz's energy wave, the replica melted into a puddle of liquid metal that flowed quickly across the floor, reaching Raditz's feet. Focused on suppressing it with his attack, Raditz didn't notice the liquid escaping the beam of light. He continued pushing his palm forward, trying to eradicate all traces of the liquid metal.
Suddenly, he felt a cold sensation at his feet. Looking down, he saw a metallic arm wrapped around his ankle, clamping him as tightly as an iron vise.
The replica!
Raditz reacted instantly, leaping upward to fly away. But the clone stuck to him persistently, rapidly gathering all its scattered fragments to reform its humanoid shape. It maintained its grip on Raditz's ankle, pulling him back to the ground before standing up and driving an elbow toward his face.
Anticipating the elbow strike, Raditz twisted his arms around the blow, disrupting the replica's center of gravity. Simultaneously, he unleashed an energy wave from his hand that hooked upward from below, catching the replica under its chin and tearing away half its face.
The scorching energy burned the air to blistering temperatures, causing the light blue exterior of the clone to redden slightly. Blasted backward by the energy wave, the replica was completely destroyed from chin to nose, its footsteps faltering as it stumbled backward.
Glancing at the other replicas, Raditz could see they had all been severely damaged. If not for their remarkable regenerative abilities, they would have been destroyed many times over.
"Calculation error, calculation error," the cold electronic voice announced, sending another chill down everyone's spine.
"Only now realizing your mistake? We're not something you can easily calculate," Raditz said, staring at the damaged replica as he clenched his fists.
The Z Fighters generally kept their power at a low baseline level, using it according to their needs during battle, occasionally unleashing explosive strength beyond prediction. This approach reduced energy consumption while maximizing efficiency, and also provided the element of surprise against certain enemies.
These metal copies, however, possessed only fixed combat power that neither adapted nor changed in response to their opponents' strength.
Though the replicas had copied Goku's fighting style accurately, their power remained at his normal state without access to his full potential. Most crucially, they lacked his ultimate techniques—neither the Kamehameha Wave nor the Kaio-ken!
Just as Raditz began feeling confident, the indifferent electronic voice spoke again: "Recalculation successful. Energy recovery complete." Simultaneously, several metal skeletons appeared along the wall, displaying an eerie pale white gleam.
As the announcement ended, the three damaged replicas liquefied and pooled together in one location to reintegrate. The reshaping process occurred at incredible speed—in less than three seconds, a new metal figure had formed, this time taking the appearance of Raditz.
"Did you run out of material for the hair?" Raditz couldn't help joking about the replica that resembled him, though he recognized that the enemy had grown stronger.
Vegeta snorted coldly as white energy erupted around his body. He left an afterimage as he flashed in front of the replica. How could he miss such a golden opportunity to beat up a version of Raditz?
With lightning speed, Vegeta launched a powerful kick with a battle cry.
"SNAP!"
The replica caught his calf with one hand, effortlessly blocking the attack. Without even glancing at Vegeta, it extended sharp thorns from its hand that pierced through his leg before flinging him away with complete indifference.
Vegeta crashed to the ground, bright red blood flowing from the puncture wounds and staining his battle suit.
True to his nature, Vegeta endured the severe pain and took flight again, swinging his arm downward to deliver a powerful punch to the replica's head!
The replica hadn't expected its downed opponent to counter-attack so quickly. Caught off-guard, it received a devastating blow that nearly drove it to its knees. Before it could recover, Vegeta continued his assault with a roar, driving his knee into its abdomen followed by two uppercuts that deeply dented its cheeks.
At that moment, the replica twisted its head at an unnatural angle, evading Vegeta's next heavy punch. It then contorted its body to dodge another kick.
Surprised by his missed strikes, Vegeta barely had time to react as the replica suddenly looked up at him. Two beams of red light shot from its eyes, charged with tremendous energy!
Vegeta recoiled in shock, quickly abandoning his attack and landing after rolling twice in mid-air.
The red beams pierced the ceiling, leaving two deep black holes surrounded by charred metal.
"Bastard! Using a move like that isn't Raditz at all!" Vegeta cursed the replica for not fighting according to the expected pattern.
He looked around angrily, but the replica had vanished.
"Watch out!" Raditz yelled.
But the warning came too late...
A tremendous force drove deep into Vegeta's abdomen as a knee strike nearly impaled him. The impact rivaled that of a Great Ape stomping the ground, causing Vegeta to cough up blood.
Two uppercuts—left then right—were returned to him exactly as he had delivered them earlier, sending him flying backward to crash into the wall.
The devastating blows took their toll as Vegeta slid to the ground, propping himself up with trembling hands. His combat power significantly exceeded Goku's normal state and should have surpassed Raditz's as well. Yet facing this counterfeit, he had been knocked down twice!
Vegeta burned with fury as he struggled to stand, using the wall for support, his eyes blazing with anger.
What he didn't realize was that beyond copying Raditz's appearance, the replica had incorporated Boundless's calculations, seeing through all of Vegeta's fighting patterns. With its predictive capability, even Vegeta could only fall into a defensive position.
Suddenly, the wall behind him slid upward like a door, and black mechanical tentacles shot out! Caught off-guard, Vegeta was ensnared as the tentacles quickly locked around him, then completely engulfed his body.
As they secured him, a mechanical voice announced, "Capture complete."
Vegeta initially continued to struggle, snapping several tentacles, but gradually his energy diminished as if being drained away. Finally, his arms hung limply at his sides.
"Everyone, be careful! Those tentacles can absorb our energy! Don't let them catch you!" Raditz shouted, taking to the air.
He noticed transparent sheets attached to the strange metal supports—the very substances that had been absorbing energy all along.
"Goku, let's attack together!"
"Wait, look!" Tien exclaimed suddenly, his warning halting Raditz and Goku in their tracks.
Everyone stared in the direction he indicated, their pupils trembling in shock. The orange-haired girl stepped back unconsciously, her face ashen.
Advancing toward them was an army of Raditz replicas—too many to count at a glance—pouring out of the white light like a metallic tide.
Every replica repeated the same phrase in perfect unison: "You cannot escape."
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New Fanfic
Marvel x Star Wars: Avengers in the Clone Wars
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