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

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Lin Ye nodded and carefully put away the fragment of the Key of Origin: "I will. Bulma, you are in charge of uniting scientists from all over the universe to establish a temporary joint laboratory on the Ark, using the energy of the fragment of the Key of Origin to research and strengthen the Ark's defense system, and at the same time trying to develop auxiliary devices to stabilize spacetime. We need sufficient support."

“Leave it to me!” Bulma’s confident voice came through the communicator, with the sounds of machinery operating in the background. “I’ve already contacted the mechanical experts from Universe 3 and the energy doctor from Universe 6. They will be able to reach the Ark soon via the inter-universe teleportation device and start the research in half a day at most.”

After the tasks were assigned, each team quickly sprang into action. Lin Ye's team consisted of himself, Goku from another timeline, and several top warriors from Universe 7, including Jebit, who excelled in speed, and Nappa, who possessed powerful defensive capabilities. The Ark activated its shuttle system, golden light enveloping its hull as it streaked across the starry sky like a meteor, instantly disappearing into the entrance to the Seventh Universe's passage.

The journey went more smoothly than expected. Thanks to the Omni-King's authority, they encountered no dimensional barriers. Just ten minutes later, the Ark arrived at the edge of the Sixth Universe. But the scene before them stunned everyone. The once bustling border region of the Sixth Universe was now a scene of utter devastation. Planetary debris, over a hundred kilometers in diameter, floated in space, the broken sections revealing molten magma within. The once brilliant purple nebula had become dull and lifeless, the air thick with a dense, corrosive black energy, and the hissing sound of spacetime distortion could even be heard.

"How could this be?" Wukong from another timeline stared wide-eyed at the scene before him in disbelief. He had come here with Champa before, when the border region was full of life, but now it had become a desolate ruin. "What happened here? Didn't Lord Champa and the others put up any resistance?"

Lin Ye's expression grew even more grave. He activated the detector, and the screen immediately displayed intense residual black energy, perfectly matching the power fluctuations of Kronos: "It's Kronos's advance team. They must have bypassed the conventional defenses of the Sixth Universe and launched a direct surprise attack on the border star system. Judging from the extent of the damage, the battle must have occurred several hours ago."

The Ark continued its journey deeper into the sixth universe, heading towards the location of Champa's palace. The closer it got to the core area, the more severe the destruction became. All the energy satellites that had once surrounded the palace had crashed, and the cities on the ground had become scorched earth. Black energy crystals were scattered among the ruins, making a crisp cracking sound when stepped on, but there were no corpses of any combatants to be seen, nor was there any sign of Champa or Bados.

"Where are Lady Champa and Lady Bardos?" Jebt asked anxiously in the squad. He had worked with Bardos before and knew her strength well; it was hard to imagine anyone could defeat her so easily. "Could it be that they..."

Lin Ye crouched down, touched the black crystals on the ground, felt the faint energy fluctuations remaining inside, and shook his head: "They must have retreated, or been forcibly taken away. There are no traces of a large-scale battle left here. The crystals on the ground are scattered, more like they were left behind when they left in a hurry, rather than the result of a head-on confrontation."

Just then, the fragment of the Key of Origin on Lin Ye's chest suddenly began to vibrate violently, emitting a blinding light, and the edges of the fragment even began to heat up. He immediately took out the fragment, and saw that the point of light at the top of the fragment pointed directly into the depths of the palace ruins: "The fragment is there! It should be in the underground chamber of the palace. Xiangpa may have hidden it before the evacuation."

The team immediately moved in the direction indicated by the fragments, passing through layers of collapsed stone pillars and broken walls, and arrived at the entrance to the palace's underground chamber. The alloy door of the chamber had been violently destroyed, and black energy traces remained on the twisted metal plates. Inside, it was pitch black and exuded a chilling aura.

Lin Ye activated his lightsaber, and the pale blue light illuminated the interior of the secret chamber. A fist-sized fragment of the Key of Origin was placed on the central altar. The fragment emitted a seven-colored light but was enveloped by a layer of black energy barrier. Black patterns flowed continuously on the surface of the barrier, as if it were protecting the fragment.

"Found it!" Goku from another timeline exclaimed excitedly, about to rush over and break through the barrier. "As long as we get the fragment, we can..."

"Wait!" Lin Ye grabbed him, his eyes scanning the surroundings of the secret chamber warily. The light from the lightsaber illuminated the scratch marks on the wall. "It's too quiet here, even the energy flow is abnormal. Something's wrong. There might be a trap."

As soon as the words were spoken, a deep roar suddenly came from the depths of the secret chamber, like muffled thunder exploding in the confined space. An extremely powerful aura of destruction swept over them instantly, stronger than any enemy they had encountered before. Jebt and Naba even unconsciously took a step back because of this aura, and Lin Ye's lightsaber trembled slightly.

"Who's there?" Lin Ye gripped his lightsaber tightly, shielding his teammates behind him, and stared warily into the depths of darkness, his palms already sweating.

From the darkness, a colossal figure slowly emerged. Over five meters tall, its entire body was covered in hard black scales, each scale etched with red patterns. Its eyes glowed crimson, like two blood-red lanterns, and its body was enveloped in dense black energy, even causing subtle distortions in the surrounding spacetime. This was none other than the leader of the Kronos vanguard—the Destroyer.

"I didn't expect you to find this place. You've got some skill." The Destroyer's voice boomed like thunder, carrying an undeniable authority. Black energy rippled in the air as he spoke. "However, if you want to take the fragment of the Key of Origin, you'll have to get past me first!"

Lin Ye and the Goku from another timeline exchanged a glance, simultaneously unleashing their power. White "heart light" intertwined with golden flames, illuminating the entire secret chamber. They both understood that a fierce battle was inevitable, and this was merely the beginning of the crisis in Universe Six; the time for Kronos's true form to arrive was drawing ever closer.

Chapter 430: Hit's Price

In the ruins of Universe Six, the wind whipped up charred pebbles that stung Lin Ye's face, making him wince in pain. The metal wreckage beneath his feet still carried lingering warmth; it was a remnant of the corrosion left by the energy of Chronos. What was once the council hall of the Saiyan tribe of Universe Six was now nothing but twisted steel frames and shards of glass. Sunlight streamed through the broken dome, casting dappled shadows on the ground, but it couldn't illuminate the bottomless cracks.

"Something's wrong! The timeline around here is completely messed up, like someone has erased a piece of it with an eraser!" Bulma's holographic scanner suddenly emitted a sharp beep, and the red dot on the screen flashed wildly. Her fingers flew across the virtual keyboard. "Look at the timeline here. The data stream that should be continuous has gaps, like someone has cut out a few frames from the middle!"

"It's Hit." Vegeta clenched his fist, a deep blue aura flickering in his palm, causing the surrounding rubble to rattle. "That guy's time-skip ability seems to have become even more bizarre. Last time at the Tournament of Power, he could only pause for a maximum of 0.5 seconds, but this..."

As soon as he finished speaking, his Namekian ally beside him suddenly let out a muffled groan. When Lin Ye turned his head, he only saw a pale blue afterimage flash by. The Namekian... a young warrior named Dende, had a deep wound on his shoulder that exposed the bone. The edges of the wound still bore traces of time distortion, and green blood dripped down between his fingers, dripping onto the metal floor with a "sizzling" corrosive sound.

"I can't see him! I can't catch his movements at all!" Dandy clutched his wound and backed away, cold sweat beading on his forehead. "His aura is like a ghost; it vanishes the moment it locks onto me!"

"Don't panic!" Lin Ye suddenly activated his Eye of Time and Space, and countless golden timelines instantly appeared on his retina, like an interwoven spider web covering the entire ruins. Amidst the countless intersecting lights and shadows, he finally caught a very faint blue trajectory. Hit's figure moved like a ghost through the ruins, each movement causing a brief pause in the surrounding time. The rubble he passed by disappeared and reappeared on the spot, as if it had never existed.

"There!" Lin Ye raised his hand and unleashed three energy beams, golden rays tearing through the air, aiming straight for Hit's back. But just as they were about to hit, that space suddenly seemed to have been deleted; the energy beams vanished without a trace, leaving not even a ripple of explosion.

"Damn it! He can erase time!" Wukong scratched his head, and golden flames erupted, scattering dust in all directions. "This isn't working. I'll try teleportation!"

Goku vanished from his spot in an instant, reappearing behind Hit the next second. But just as his fist was about to strike its target, Hit suddenly vanished, and Goku himself took a solid punch, staggering back three steps, his battle suit dented at the chest. "What happened? I clearly locked onto his ki!"

“He can not only erase time, but also forge the trajectory of Qi.” Lin Ye’s Eye of Time and Space continued to operate, cold sweat seeping from his forehead. The timeline in his vision became more and more chaotic due to Hit’s interference. “He predicted your location 0.5 seconds before you teleported, and deliberately left a fake Qi sensation in the same spot. What you hit was just a phantom of time remnant.”

Hit's figure finally appeared on the steel frame atop the ruins. He wore his signature black trench coat, but his originally pale skin now had an eerie bluish-black tinge, as if it had been soaked in ink. His once sharp, hawk-like eyes had become empty and lifeless, with only the black fragment embedded in his chest emitting a ghostly light. That was the Chaos Fragment they had been tracking for three days. The patterns on the edge of the fragment were intertwined with the blue time energy surrounding Hit, like symbiotic vines.

“You shouldn’t have come here.” Hit’s voice was hoarse, like rusty gears grinding together, each word carrying a harsh metallic scraping sound. “The fragment has merged with my time manipulation abilities, and no one can take it away. Lord Kronos said that anyone who dares to steal the fragment must die.”

"Enough nonsense! Hand over the fragments, and maybe I'll spare your life!" Vegeta roared as he charged forward, his right foot slamming into the ground, transforming into a deep blue streak of light. His fist, crackling with destructive energy, slammed towards Hit's face. But Hit simply sidestepped, and Vegeta's attack missed its mark. Suddenly, a three-meter-high boulder behind him shattered with a deafening roar. Hit had deleted the timeline of the missed attack, forcibly delaying the destructive energy's eruption onto the boulder.

"Useless." Hit raised his hand and waved, a half-meter-wide blue time blade appeared out of thin air, slashing towards Vegeta's side with a whistling sound. Lin Ye reacted quickly, grabbing Vegeta by the back of his collar and pulling him back. The time blade grazed the hem of their clothes, carving a twisted trench in the ground. The rubble at the edge of the trench kept disappearing and reappearing, as if trapped in an infinite time loop.

"At this rate, we'll just be worn down to death!" Dandy gritted his teeth, conjuring a green energy blast in front of his chest, its body wreathed in Namekian life energy. "I'll distract him, you guys take the opportunity to grab the fragments! No matter how strong he is, he can't possibly deal with everyone at the same time!"

Before anyone could stop him, Dandy had already rushed out, raining down green energy projectiles at Hit, each one precisely blocking his path. But Hit merely narrowed his eyes, a pale blue halo appearing around his body. The energy projectiles froze in mid-air upon contact with the halo, then vanished one by one. He had effectively erased the time of the "attack," rendering Dandy's efforts futile.

Just as Hit was about to raise his hand to counter Dandy, Lin Ye suddenly noticed a strange red light flashing from the fragment on his chest. Hit's shoulders also trembled involuntarily—a sign that the fragment's energy was unstable. Clearly, Kronos's corruption had not completely controlled Hit's will, and the fragment's power was backfiring on his body.

"He's forcibly suppressing the backlash from the fragments!" Lin Ye shouted, his voice tinged with excitement. "Goku, Vegeta, use your strongest attacks to force him to defend with all his might! He can't hold out for long!"

Goku immediately clasped his hands together, and a golden Spirit Bomb rapidly condensed in his palms. The surrounding air became viscous due to the convergence of energy: "Kamehameha... Ki Blast!" A blue energy wave, accompanied by a whistling sound, rushed towards Hit. Vegeta also raised his hands at the same time, and the deep blue Ultimate Flash tore through the air. The two powerful energy waves, like two giant dragons, simultaneously blasted towards Hit's location. The entire ruins trembled violently, and the steel frame creaked and groaned, as if it would collapse at any moment.

A flicker of emotion finally appeared in Hit's eyes, a struggle flashing in his empty pupils. He took a deep breath, and a blinding blue light erupted from his body. Time seemed to freeze completely in that moment; Goku and Vegeta's attacks halted in mid-air, even the flying debris remained suspended in place, and the air itself seemed to lose its flow. "Time Flash? Delete!" Hit shouted, pushing his hands forward with a mighty thrust. The two energy waves vanished completely as if they had never existed, leaving not a trace of energy behind.

But just then, the fragment in Hit's chest suddenly emitted a sharp buzzing sound, veins bulged beneath his bluish-black skin, and his movements froze for a moment, the blue aura of time flickering. Lin Ye seized this critical opportunity, his aura surging to its peak, the golden light of his Super Saiyan God form illuminating the entire ruins: "Now!"

He charged towards Hit like a golden lightning bolt, his fingers aiming straight for the black fragment embedded in Hit's chest. He could already feel the chilling energy emanating from the fragment. Hit snapped back to reality, a complex emotion flashing in his eyes—his own will resisting the corruption of Kronos, a mixture of anger, resentment, and a barely perceptible plea. "Don't come any closer!" Hit roared, gathering his last bit of blue energy in his hands. "The fragment's power is out of control! If we get any closer, we'll all be swept into the time singularity! Then no one will survive!"

Lin Ye didn't stop. He remembered the Namekian colony swallowed by chaotic energy, the civilians who disappeared in the spacetime turbulence, and Bulma's words: if Chronos collected all seven fragments, the entire Seventh Universe would be rewritten as a puppet of chaos. "I must get the fragments!"

Just as Lin Ye's fingers were about to touch the shard, Hit suddenly revealed a resolute expression, his empty eyes filled with nothing but madness. "Since we can't escape, then let's destroy each other!" He suddenly stretched out his arms and hugged Lin Ye's waist, the shard on his chest bursting with intense blue light, the surrounding space began to distort and collapse, and countless tiny black cracks spread around the two of them, as if to tear the entire world apart.

"Lin Ye!" Goku and Vegeta shouted at the same time, trying to rush over to save him, but they were firmly held in place by the powerful suction generated by the time singularity. Their feet plowed two deep trenches in the ground, making it impossible for them to get close.

"Run!" Lin Ye struggled desperately on the edge of the singularity, his right hand gripping the fragment tightly. With a violent tug, he ripped the fragment from Hit's chest. He used his last bit of strength to push Hit away, blue time energy exploding between them. "This is your last chance! Don't let Kronos control you! Think of your comrades in Universe Six, think of your pride as an assassin!"

Hit froze the moment he was pushed out, his empty eyes gradually regaining their clarity, and his bluish-black skin began to fade, revealing his original paleness. But it was too late. The pull of the time singularity grew stronger and stronger, and Lin Ye's figure gradually became transparent in the blue light, his body beginning to decompose into golden particles. He threw the fragments towards Wukong, his voice slightly hoarse: "Catch it! Don't let my efforts be in vain!"

Wukong leaped into the air, ignoring the singularity's pull, and grabbed the fragment. But when he landed and looked back, Lin Ye's figure had completely disappeared into the singularity, leaving only a black spatial rift that was gradually healing. The rift closed with a soft "pop" sound, as if it had never existed.

Hit slumped onto the ruins, the chaotic energy in his chest rapidly fading, leaving only a faint scar. He stared at the healed crack, his eyes filled with complex emotions—guilt, gratitude, and a hint of bewilderment: "I owe you a life."

Vegeta slammed his fist into the nearby metal debris, denting the steel frame as he vented his anger: "Damn it! That guy got away again! We clearly had our chance!"

Wukong gripped the fragment tightly in his hand. The fragment still retained Lin Ye's warmth and energy, and the cold fragment somehow radiated warmth in his palm. "Don't worry, we will definitely find him." Wukong's eyes were exceptionally firm, golden flames slowly flowing around him. "This is not only for Lin Ye, but for the entire universe. As long as the fragment remains, we have a clue."

Bulma's scanner suddenly beeped again. This time, instead of a danger alarm, the screen displayed a weak but stable spacetime signal, flickering like a firefly in the dark. "Wait! This is a distress signal from Lin Ye's system!" Bulma's voice was filled with surprise, her fingers excitedly tapping the screen. "He's still alive! The signal is coming from the edge of the spacetime turbulence, about three star systems away from us!"

Hope rekindled in everyone's eyes, their earlier dejection vanishing. Hit stood up, dusted himself off, his black trench coat billowing in the wind, his eyes regaining their usual sharpness: "I know how to get to the time-space rift. Kronos once sent me there; although the time flow there is chaotic, there are specific passages to enter." He looked at Goku and Vegeta, his tone serious, "This time, it's my turn to help you. Consider it repaying Lin Ye's favor."

Goku and Vegeta exchanged a glance, seeing determination in each other's eyes. Vegeta snorted coldly but didn't refute, only clenching his fists: "Don't hold us back. If we can't find Lin Ye, I'll be the first to deal with you."

Bulma quickly pulled up a star map and marked a complex flight path on the screen: "There are time traps everywhere in the spacetime turbulence. We need to go back to Capsule Corporation to prepare a special spacetime stabilizer, otherwise we'll just be torn to pieces if we go in."

Hite nodded, his gaze returning to the healed crack, and whispered, "Lin Ye, wait for us."

As the sun began to set in the west, it cast long shadows of everyone. Amidst the ruins, the black fragment lay silently in Wukong's hand, its surface patterns writhing as if alive, foreshadowing that this war between time and chaos had only just entered its most difficult phase.

Chapter 431: Omens of Chaos

Suddenly, black viscous liquid seeped from the marble floor of the Temple of Time. Lin Ye's combat boots sizzled as they stepped on it, the soles filled with the viscous liquid, making each step feel like walking on superglue. Bulma squatted on the ground, the probe of her quantum scanner close to the viscous liquid. The energy waveform on the screen was distorting at a visible speed. Her brows furrowed: "Something's wrong. The molecular structure of this viscous liquid is self-reorganizing, like the secretion of some living thing. Look at this data, it can even absorb the surrounding light energy to multiply!"

"Forget about the slime, that guy's aura is closing in!" Vegeta kicked away a melting stone sculpture, the fragments falling into the slime and instantly corroding into foam. The destructive energy gathering in his palm suddenly fluctuated violently, the blue flames flickering. "This aura is at least three times stronger than the one in the Time Realm last time. He must have absorbed new chaotic energy!"

Before the words were even finished, the entire temple's dome exploded with a deafening roar, rubble raining down. Kronos's black robes fluttered wildly in the turbulent currents, his eyes beneath the hood gleaming with a ghostly purple light. The scepter of time and space in his hand was wreathed in twisted fragments of nebulae—the remnants of small star systems he had devoured. "Finally found you." His voice echoed with the tearing of spacetime, like two rusty saws grinding together. "Last time in the Realm of Time you managed to escape by sheer luck; this time, you won't be so fortunate."

With a light tap of the scepter, seven black cracks unfolded beneath everyone's feet, from which countless tentacles emerged, each entwined with fragments of spacetime from different universes: there was the frozen wreckage of a Saiyan spaceship, with frozen Saiyan warriors still visible through the portholes; there was Namek exploding, its green buildings collapsing in flames; and even the wreckage of Future Trunks' time machine, its outer shell still bearing the marks of attacks from the androids.

"These are... relics from other universes?" Trunks gripped the Time Sword tightly, its blade trembling slightly as it sensed similar energy. "He's actually devouring spacetime from different universes to increase his power!"

Lin Ye instantly activated his Super Saiyan God form, golden flames soaring into the sky, colliding with the black tentacles and creating dazzling sparks. "System, analyze the energy composition of these tentacles!" The data stream on his retina jumped wildly, lines of red warnings constantly refreshing, finally settling at the top: [Detected Chaos Devourer gene fragment. Immediate evacuation recommended! This gene has spacetime corrosive properties; contact for more than ten seconds will cause irreversible cell damage!]

"The Chaos Devourer?" Supreme Kai Shin suddenly exclaimed, his scepter emitting a mournful cry, and spiderweb-like cracks appearing on the gem at the top of the scepter. "That's an existence even older than the Omni-King! Legend has it that they feed on spacetime, and even the Gods of Destruction give them a wide berth! How could Chronos possess such a gene?"

Kronos suddenly burst into maniacal laughter, and a second pair of wings sprouted from beneath his black robes, their feathers covered in traces of spatial turbulence, like crumpled and unfolded tin foil. "It seems you know quite a bit. But fear now is too late!" He brandished his scepter, and his tentacles suddenly contracted rapidly, coiling around Vegeta and Trunks like venomous snakes. "I need Saiyan blood to nourish the Chaos Core, and you are the best sacrifice!"

"Don't even think about it!" Vegeta roared, his aura surging, but he was still bound into a cocoon by the tentacles. Trunks reacted a little slower, his arm also getting entangled by the tentacles, and the Time Sword clattered to the ground.

Just as Lin Ye was about to rush forward, Bulma grabbed his wrist: "Wait!" She quickly brought up a holographic map, her fingers flying across the virtual keyboard. "The scanner shows that these tentacles have quantum entanglement. Attacking them will affect those who are entangled! Look here—" The energy nodes of the tentacles were marked on the map. "There is a spacetime anchor point below the temple, which is the energy source of these tentacles. As long as we destroy it, we can temporarily cut off the energy supply to the tentacles!"

"You should have said so earlier!" Just as Lin Ye was about to move, he heard Vegeta's roar coming from the cocoon of tentacles. The cocoon-like tentacles suddenly writhed violently, then exploded with a "bang," and Vegeta burst out, his body erupting with silver-white flames. It was his new form, fused with the Sands of Time, his hair gleaming with a metallic sheen. "Don't underestimate Saiyans!" His fist, crackling with destructive energy, tore apart the tentacles that were wrapping around him, but the moment he made contact with the air, he coughed violently, blood spilling from the corner of his mouth. "These damned things are absorbing my ki! The destructive energy I just gathered has instantly been halved!"

Trunks seized the opportunity to pick up the Time Sword and severed the tentacles wrapped around his arm with a single strike, only to find that the blue energy on the blade was rapidly dissipating, and the once dazzling blade had become dim: "Father, our power is ineffective against it! These tentacles can absorb all energy attacks!"

Cronus's scepter suddenly plunged into the ground, and the entire temple began to rotate in reverse: the shattered stone carvings reassembled, the melted slime receded back into the ground, and even the dome that had just exploded was slowly repairing itself. "Can you feel it? This is the power to control time." His body gradually became transparent, merging with the surrounding spacetime, with only his voice echoing in the hall, "Your struggles are merely providing me with energy. Now, the game officially begins."

Suddenly, Lin Ye's system emitted a piercing alarm, sharp as an electric current passing through a speaker. A semi-transparent figure emerged from within him—it was Mirror Lin Ye! His left eye flashed with a mechanical red light, and he held half of a black Chaos Core in his hand, its surface still stained with faint golden blood. "Didn't expect that, did you? I've been lurking deep within your consciousness all along." Mirror Lin Ye sneered, tossing the core to Chronos. "Master, this is the Saiyan gene sample I collected; it's enough to activate the first phase of the plan."

"Traitor!" Lin Ye roared, throwing a punch that passed straight through the mirror image of Lin Ye, who was still in a digitized state. "You think you can gain anything this way? Kronos will only use you as a disposable tool!"

“At least I can survive.” Mirror Lin Ye’s body began to digitize, turning into countless points of light. “And you will soon become part of the chaos.” His figure completely dissipated, leaving only a string of strange runes flashing in the air. The pattern formed by the runes was the pattern of the core of chaos.

Kronos caught the Chaos Core, a satisfied smile spreading across his face. The core expanded continuously in his hand, the patterns on its surface becoming increasingly clear. "Alright, prepare to face the baptism of chaos." He pointed his scepter to the sky, and a black beam of light pierced through the atmosphere, forming a massive vortex in the universe. Countless asteroids were sucked into it and instantly crushed into powder. "When the core absorbs enough energy, the entire Seventh Universe will become my breeding ground."

"Everyone scatter!" Wukong suddenly shouted. He had just dodged a black tentacle, only to find that the stone pillar behind him was already twisted into a pretzel shape by the tentacle. "These tentacles can change direction at will, there's no way to defend against them!"

Bulma stared at the scanner, then her eyes lit up, and she shouted, "I've found the weakness! The Chaos Core's energy flow is regulated; there's a 0.1-second gap after every three energy absorptions. If we attack during this time, we can temporarily paralyze it!" She transmitted the data to Lin Ye's system interface, and a red countdown began to tick. "Now! Countdown 3—2—1!"

Lin Ye took a deep breath, concentrating all his power into his right fist. Golden flames mixed with the silver light of the Sands of Time, and he transformed into a streak of light, passing through layers of tentacles. At the instant the Chaos Core absorbed energy, his fist slammed heavily into the core.

"boom...!"

Amidst the deafening explosion, Kronos roared in agony. The black pillar of light vanished instantly, and the tentacles that had been coiling around the group lost their strength, collapsing limply to the ground. "No! My Chaos Core!" He clutched his chest, staggering back, black liquid seeping from beneath his black robes. "You will pay for this!"

"Quick! Destroy the anchor point now!" Lin Ye grabbed Vegeta and Trunks and rushed towards the direction of Bulma's mark. After passing through two corridors, they finally arrived at the location of the time-space anchor point, but stopped at the door. The Supreme Kai of Time, Anise, was leaning against a stone pillar next to the anchor point. Her scepter was broken in two, blood was spilling from the corner of her mouth, and her white robe was covered with black stains, clearly indicating that she had just gone through a fierce battle.

"Lady Agnes!" Trunks rushed forward to support her. "What are you doing here?"

“You’ve finally arrived.” Anise opened her eyes weakly, her voice barely audible. “Chronos has controlled most of the Supreme Kais of Time. They’ve all been corrupted into puppets by the chaotic energy. Only I escaped. This anchor point is the key to stopping the spread of chaos, but it requires someone to sacrifice their own time energy to activate.”

"Sacrifice time energy?" Lin Ye frowned. "What will be the consequences?"

“At best, it will age you by decades; at worst, it will completely deplete your lifespan.” Anise gave a bitter smile. “I just tried, but I don’t have enough time energy to activate the anchor point.”

Without hesitation, Lin Ye stepped forward and placed his hand on the cold anchor point. A familiar fluctuation of time energy emanated from him, originating from the same source as the Sands of Time energy within him. "I'll do it." He could clearly feel the time energy rapidly draining away, his hair turning gray at a visible speed. "Activate the anchor point quickly, don't worry about me!"

Bulma bit her lip, tears welling in her eyes, and pressed the start button on the scanner. The anchor point erupted with a dazzling golden light, enveloping the entire temple. The remaining black slime sizzled in the light, quickly turning into wisps of black smoke and dissipating. Cronus's roar faded into the distance, and the energy of the Chaos Core began to dissipate.

As the light faded, Lin Ye lay on the ground, his hair completely white, his face etched with wrinkles, his breath as faint as a candle flickering in the wind. "Lin Ye!" Vegeta rushed forward, checked his breath, and breathed a sigh of relief. "He's still breathing. You've done a great job this time, but don't expect me to thank you, you piece of trash." Though he said this, he instinctively stepped in front of Lin Ye, warily watching their surroundings.

Anise walked to Lin Ye's side, raised the broken scepter, and the remaining divine power on the scepter head turned into soft points of light that merged into Lin Ye's body. "Don't worry, he's only temporarily weak. He'll recover after resting for a while." Her voice was still weak. "But we can't let our guard down. Kronos will definitely come back. He only retreated temporarily; the foundation of the Chaos Core hasn't been completely destroyed."

Lin Ye slowly opened his eyes, looked at his companions surrounding him, and smiled: "No matter how many times he comes, we will fight side by side. Because we are... Z Fighters!"

In the distant universe, Kronos's figure coalesced within a chaotic nebula, black liquid seeping from his chest, his eyes growing increasingly crazed. "Just you wait, Lin Ye!" He gripped the fragment of the Chaos Core in his hand, its patterns lighting up once more. "Next time we meet, I will make you pay a terrible price! I will make the entire Seventh Universe pay for your rebellion!"

Deep within the nebula, an even larger, dark shadow writhed. Kronos bowed respectfully, his voice laced with obsequiousness: "Master, the Chaos Core project has encountered obstacles, but I have found a new breakthrough..." The shadow did not respond, but instead extended a tentacle, injecting a ball of black energy into Kronos's body. Kronos let out a satisfied roar, his aura instantly surging, causing the surrounding nebula to distort.

Chapter 432: Time-Space Prisoner

The pale green liquid in the treatment chamber slowly receded, revealing Lin Ye's body covered in tiny scars. He sat up, rubbing his stiff shoulders, his joints making a soft "click" sound. In the full-length mirror beside him, a pale but sharp-eyed face was reflected. Although his hair still had some gray, the golden light in his eyes proved that his Saiyan bloodline was slowly recovering.

"How are you feeling?" Bulma pushed open the door and walked in, her white coat still stained with blue reagent from the experiment, and the report in her hand was crumpled. "Your body is recovering well, but the time energy loss is severe, and it will take at least a month to fully recover to your previous state."

Lin Ye took the report, his gaze quickly sweeping across the data table before finally settling on the words "Residual Chaotic Core Energy: 0.7%". His fingertips unconsciously traced the paper: "So, Kronos can still locate our position using this residual energy?"

“That’s how it is in theory.” Bulma sighed, walked to the control panel and brought up the holographic projection. A light blue energy barrier covered the three-dimensional model of the Temple of Time. “However, I have already set up a spacetime barrier around the temple, which can temporarily shield our energy fluctuations. But this barrier can only last for a week at most. We must find a way to completely solve the Chaos Core before then.”