Chapter 101 - God and God [BAD BLOOD Mix]

The Universe, Nebula of God, Foot of the Winding Tree Palace

"So what is this then?" Beerus' chopsticks went slack in his hand, and he carefully lowered the bentō he was holding. The Hakaishin's yellow eyes monitored Whis' projection carefully. "God ki...but it feels augmented by that thing they called a Super Saiyan...am I right?"

"That's exactly correct!" replied Whis. "Strictly speaking, such a form is difficult to accomplish - not impossible, but hardly anything I expected from the young Gohan here. Attaining the power of a Super Saiyan God, and channeling it through the haphazard state of a Super Saiyan." His purple lips curled into a smile. "Truly something beyond the reach of a normal Saiyans."

If Beerus was impressed or amazed, he did not allow his face to betray those emotions. His eyes remained locked, however, on the scene playing out before him: Gohan taking Super Saiyan God for himself and making surpassing it.

"This is the man you call your rival, Lord Beerus."

"Hmph!" Beerus said nothing, hastily picking his bentō back up and beginning to feast anew. As if to change the topic, through fans full of food, he jabbed his chopsticks towards Cell, who had come into view in the sphere as well. "What about him? I feel God ki coming from that form as well."

Whis placed a thumb to his chin, analysing the Bio-Android through his staff. "The principle behind his transformation is similar, though the order is reversed. I think it has something to do with the cell's he's accrued from Cold and Freeza. Though, Cell is an anomaly all his own: Gohan, on the other hand, is remarkable for naturally born being."

Two individuals who had become gods, each transcending that divine state in their own way. This was the battle Whis and Beerus bore witness to now, and it was a rare privilege in the history of all of creation. Even their exalted compatriots did not often observe these occurrences.

"Should we go pay audience in person, Lord Beerus?" inquired Whis, practically expecting agreement, ready to tuck the projection back into his staff.

The Hakaishin shook his head. "No. This is their problem. I can't have their acquaintanceship with a Hakaishin going to their heads, after all. I coddle no one - especially a Saiyan."

"Hm...right you are, Lord Beerus," Whis agreed readily. "Though are you not worried about losing your new smorgasbord of delicacies, my Lord?"

Beerus' grimaced. He'd been so concerned about looking impressive, that he hadn't actually been forward thinking in that regard. Controlling himself, he stuck to his guns. "We'll find somewhere else to eat if it comes to that."

And so the Hakaishin and his attendant continued to watch the battle unfold.

The Afterlife, Heaven

"W-What?!" The Northern Kaiō gasped, his antennae twitching violently. Like a radio, he was tuning into the events on Earth - deceased Kaiō or not, he was technically not relieved of his duties - and the shock of what he'd seen had nearly sent his sunglasses askew. "Do you see that, Gokū?!"

"I'm watching right along with you," Gokū said pointedly. "But still...that son of mine is amazin'! I still can't sense his ki, but that looks like some new Super Saiyan form, isn't it?" It was amazing how Gokū - a man physically in his early 30s, but in truth over 50 due to the quirkiness of an unaging body in death - could sound as excited as a child over something like a new transformation. "Is it related to that Super Saiyan God?"

"You're right," replied the lord of the Northern Galaxies. "He really is something else. I don't know how he did it, but I believe this form is a step above Super Saiyan God. Gokū...your son might be the strongest human alive in our Universe."

Gokū grinned broadly. "I knew this would happen before he could even come up to my knees!" Gokū exhaled slowly, an admittedly pointless action for a dead man but it helped steady the laughter rising in him. "I wish he could have had the peaceful life he wanted...but you're doin' great, son!" His onyx eyes glinting with pride and joy, Gokū kept an arm firm on the North Kaiō's back.

"I'm watching you, Gohan. You've already made me so proud, son."

Son Gohan had entirely transformed.

Cell could see that much. Anyone with eyes was able to see the physical changes. But he believed he was the only one right now who could truly feel the changes. Gohan's ki had leapt immensely, leaps and bounds beyond what he'd showcased as a Super Saiyan God.

"What is this, Gohan?" Cell tried to keep the veneer of his vanity up, putting on a facsimile of his former sneer. He knew, however, that this was more than an aesthetic change. What riled him the most was that his benefactor's information had been incomplete. She hadn't had anything to say about this.

"You saw it for yourself, didn't you?" Gohan's voice came out slow and steady. Adopting this form had calmed his stressful mind entirely; no, it could be said a calm mind was required to properly transform into this state at all. "I'm a Super Saiyan God. This power is merely the power of a Super Saiyan that has ascended past the God level." Thinking, Gohan realised he hadn't named the form at all. "I suppose Dad would call it Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan, but I'll workshop that later."

Super Saiyan combined with Super Saiyan God. Almost identical in principle to what Cell himself was doing: this copper-hued form was a result of his own Super Saiyan God form, combined with the results of an induced evolution from his Freeza cells. "Were you actually holding back on me, Gohan?"

"You have Piccolo's sense of hearing," Gohan said sharply. "So I know you heard me. I wasn't sure I'd even be able to pull this off. This is only the second time."

Beerus' Planet, One Week Prior

It was the middle of the night, and Gohan found himself staring out into the horizon - such as it was- of Beerus' palace. Another day of training with Whis was over, and traditionally, rest is what followed. His father would encourage it, and Gohan knew returning to his regular work shift would wreak Hell on his sleeping scheduling after this training endeavor.

But he felt the need to keep striving forward. During his training sessions, repeatedly being subjected to the might of the gods, as well as undergoing multiple transformations into a Super Saiyan God, freely wielding the God ki that was now his, Gohan felt it. There was something beyond God. Gohan had come close, multiple times, now that he was beginning to touch the ceiling of divinity.

Whis' had new words for them during their training recently.

"Try to visualise yourself stronger than you are now. Imagine what lies beyond your current level - beyond simply settling for 'god'."

Goten had pointed out how childish it all sounded: imagining yourself stronger would make you stronger? It wasn't until Whis reminded them that god-given energy was used for purposes otherwise considered impossible. The Kaiōshin could literally create worlds. He, Whis, was even capable of turning back time, albeit briefly.

So here Gohan stood, in the middle of the night, trying to visualise a self beyond God. To a Saiyan, the answer was simple. So simple he was surprised it eluded him this long. Super Saiyan with Super Saiyan God? Could it even be done?

"You're overthinking things, aren't you?"

A soft voice at his side distracted Gohan, who looked to his right to see Erasa standing there. His wife smiled breezily, as if being awake at this hour was normal for anyone. "You've been getting up this early to continue your training for quite awhile now, haven't you?"

"Well, I—" Gohan was caught off guard. He thought he's been relatively secret about it, but here he was, found out. "I wanted to review Whis' teachings while they're still fresh, so I've worked in a few extra hours."

"I see," Erasa replied knowingly. "From the looks of it, you just figured out what Whis' words mean for you, didn't you?"

Gohan blinked. "Yeah. He really expects us all to reach a different conclusion."

"Or the same conclusion in different ways," offered Erasa.

"Very true," Gohan nodded. He inhaled slowly. "Stand back, then. Let's see my answer." Gohan took a stance, clenching both fists at his sides. An updraft kicked up from his feet, rushed high above him, kicking up rocks. Gohan's aura began to flicker and flare, funneling upwards in a large pillar of crimson flame. The Saiyan let out a mighty yell, a vein beginning to throb in his forehead; Gohan reached into the depths of his body, drawing from a vast well of ki. A deep, blue glow began to emanate from Gohan, immersing his entire body in light.

Despite this display of ki, the planet remained untouched, the ground beneath Gohan's feet undisturbed.

The blue encasement of ki surrounding Gohan cracked, and began to peel away, scattering to the wind. Gohan's hair now stood fully rigid, having become a dark blue, and his eyes, formerly soft and red, were sharp and cyan. The aura was no longer an ethereal flame; it now resembled a raging blue inferno, with a soft golden glow at the very edges of the flame.

"That's—" Erasa's words fell short of an actual descriptor. She wasn't in a God form, so she couldn't feel her husband's ki. The pressure he exuded was eclipsed now only by what she had felt from Beerus, and even standing next to this made her feel weak in the knees. "Gohan, you did it!"

Gohan looked down at his hands, which were brimming with blue flames. The difference between God and this form were amazing. God made him feel serene, but this state, this form beyond God, made him feel a sense of overwhelming power. "This...is Super Saiyan God's Super Saiyan form?"

"This is the answer I came to," Gohan said. His dark blue eyes bored into Cell's crimson ones. Standing firm and tall, Gohan raised a palm upwards, interior flat and facing himself, beckoning his opponent forward. "Come, Cell."

Cell's eyes narrowed, visibly confused. Where Gohan had been on the back foot mere moments, be now exuded complete and utter confidence. Cell crouched; they would get nowhere standing here, so he prepared himself. Launching forward, the copper-hued Bio-Android rocketed towards Gohan, zeroing in on him with immense speed.

Gohan reacted quickly. With one hand, he rent the ground asunder, using Piccolo's technique - which itself was inspired by a Freeza technique that Cell had wielded himself - to rip the ground up into huge chunks. This was a diversion, used at the exact moment Cell had closed in. His vision obscured, the Android failed to see Gohan's follow-up: a powerful punch that collided with Cell's jaw. He flew backwards instantly, feeling his face cave under the pressure.

Skipping like a stone, Cell forcibly righted his body, glaring at Gohan through the one eye that had not been struck by the blow. Cell thrusted a finger forward, releasing what first appeared to be a single kikōha from his fingertip, deep crimson in hue. It was, in fact, multiple kikōha concentrated into one blast. The land split under the force, but this was not aimed at destroying Earth.

No, its goal was Gohan's heart. Beyond God or otherwise, he was still dependent on that organ. This would pierce it directly.

Gohan stood his ground, raising a hand towards the incoming flurry. Palm wide, the multiple kikōha barrage crashed into it...and was crushed under the pressure of his fist. Gohan shook his arm off to his side, shaking off excess ki like one would blood from blade.

How?! Cell felt anger rush his body. How could that be stopped so easily?! Recovering himself, the Bio-Android placed two fingers to his forehead, and vanished instantly. Son Gokū's Instantaneous Movement. He materialised behind Gohan, only to find his arm blocked by the flat side of Gohan's own.

"Cell, where else would you strike but from my blindspot?" He snapped his arm over Cell's, bending the Bio-Androids limb forward; following this, Gohan landed a powerful punch in the centre of Cell's torso. His body rocketed backwards, ripping itself from the limb still in Gohan's grasp. Casting it aside, Gohan blew the arm apart with a kiai.

Cell expelled his own kiai, stopping his trajectory and rushing upwards. "Damn you! Damn you damn you damn you!" The copper-hued menace raised his arm high, swinging it in an arm over his head. A multitude of javelins manifested behind him, the arrows of light position at his back in a way that mirrored a halo. "I'll rip you to shreds, Saiyan!" The javelins rained downward, each of them packed with the necessary power to pierce the crust and destroy the core of the planet. "Even if you dodge all of these, your planet is finished, Son Gohan!"

The Super Saiyan Beyond Super Saiyan God eyed Cell closely; his dark blue eyes took in every detail. There were twenty javelins in total. "You're right Cell. These certainly will destroy Earth..." What occurred next was a flash of blue, streaking from the surface into the air. Gohan streaked through the sky, using pure brute force to send every javelin flying in reverse. They burst into the sky like inverse meteors, flying into the deepest reaches of space. "...and if you'd used that before I'd broken past the God barrier, I'd have been finished."

Erasa had come to, feeling immense pain in her entire body. She groaned.

"Erasa!" A female voice caught her attention. Erasa's blue eyes came to rest on a young girl with hair the same colour as Trunks, who was standing over her holding a spray bottle. "You're alright, thank God!"

"P-Please don't say that, Bulma, I've got enough pressure on me right now," another familiar voice came from her far side. Dende, the God of Earth, was busying himself reattaching body parts the same colour as his. Piccolo's dismembered body.

Seeing this brought everything back into sharp relief for Erasa. The last thing she'd remembered was Cell's attack shattering her barrier, before everything had gone black. Erasa groaned again.

Did he get lucky...? Erasa wondered. Her barrier had one sole weakness; the spheres used to create it where how it existed. It could deflect nearly any blow, so long as the spheres were connected to create the necessary planes. His attack...it ruptured every sphere at once. We weren't getting out of that in one piece.

Erasa tried to get for what was going on. She hadn't been the sole casualty of Cell's attack; Trunks, Goten, Videl, Tenshinhan, Yamcha, and Piccolo all lay around her in staggering states of damage. She could still feel their ki, however, so she knew they weren't dead, and Dende was busying himself over their bodies. The bastard held back, she thought. Which means he was confident enough to want an audience. Well, he was going to get that. Erasa tried to move, but the girl Dende had called Bulma placed a hand on her chest, pushing her back down.

"Erasa, wait a moment and take this," Bulma held out a bottle. Erasa took the proffered item, realizing it was Bulam's patented Senzu extract. She opened it, consuming the liquid and feeling her body begin to stitch itself back together.

Bulma and Dende got to work, using medicine and magic to restore the damage Cell had done. Gasps of air, rough intakes, were heard as the team regained consciousness. Each of them roused at different moments, depending on whether Bulma or Dende had tended to them, until the entire party was back on its feet.

"Thanks, Dende, we owe you one," grinned Goten sheepishly. "And..." Goten blinked at Bulma. "Trunks, did you have a sister I was never introduced to?"

Trunks shook his head, looking equally puzzled. "Uh...who are you?"

"Trunks..." Bulma intoned threateningly. "How can you NOT recognise your own mother?"

"W-What?!" Trunks' jaw gaped. "You're not my mother, she's—" Trunks searched for any variety of "getting on in years" that wouldn't hurt Bulma's feelings in the conversation got back to her.

"I'm what, Trunks dear?" Bulma's voice dropped dangerously low.

"Uh...nothing, Mom," Trunks needed no further convincing. "I seem to have made something resembling a mistake."

"Your ki is unnaturally mixing," Piccolo said, a disapproving note in his voice. "I'm reminded of Cell. In fact, your ki feel's like Vegeta's and Son's." His eyes narrowed.

"Don't sweat the details for now," replied Bulma breezily. "I'm using myself as a test for a new experiment, one that will be open to other Earthlings later if my body doesn't...y'know, reject the entire thing."

"It's kind of jarring," Yamcha chuckled, remembering their younger years. "Like seeing a ghost."

"I'm glad you guys made it to us," Videl was less surprised by Bulma's scientific ventures and more the fact that Piccolo had come back from literal pieces, though she decided this was a question to save for after the debacle. "It all happened so fast."

"Where's Gohan now?" Goten asked, searching around as if he expected to see his brother nearby.

"Fighting Cell," replies Erasa, grinning. "I bet he's revealed his trump card now."

Gohan vanished from Cell's vision. Cell spun, predicting accurately where the attack would come from, but finding himself unable to properly counter. Gohan's knee solidly connected with Cell's head, and the next thing the Bio-Android knew, he was surrounded by water. Gohan had kicked him away from their island battlefield entirely, into open ocean. Water, which had erupted into the sky on his impact, pattered down like rain. Pulling himself out of the water, Cell found his breathing ragged, and tried to widen his senses to parse for Gohan's ki.

That might have saved his head. Gohan had come barreling towards him with another kick. Cell managed to avoid it, striking back at Gohan, who in turn danced around his blows, just above the water. Pivoting, Gohan's leg crashed into Cell's side, and the man found himself bouncing along the surface of the ocean at an incredible speed.

Cell steadied himself along the water, suspending himself on its surface with his ki; through the wake he created, he saw Gohan hunting him fiercely. Cell's pale hand parried an incoming blow from Gohan's fist. Gohan wrenched arm free, hitting his next punch home directly in the centre of Cell's chestplate. Four consecutive strikes followed, each hitting the same area and lifting Cell off his feet against his will. Gohan completed the combo with a snap kick to Cell's jaw, kicking him across the ocean's surface.

Spreading his wings to prevent spin-off, Cell burst forward. He prepped an elbow blow, ready to strike Gohan directly in the face. Gohan parried it with the front of his palm, created ripples of concussive force that split the ocean beneath their feet. Blow after blow was fended off and deflected, Cell unable to find an opening in Gohan's guard. Gohan, contrarily, carried a powerful offensive forward. Catching Cell's arm in between the fold of his own, Gohan kept Cell rooted as he delivered a multi-git combination to the Bio-Android's head. Cell's arm enveloped itself in his aura, giving it immense strength, and he swung. Gohan's body inclined left, and the punch, which released a burst of flame-hued ki shaped as a crescent, rushed past him. It sliced the water - the walls of which had been crashing down - back apart, leaving the two combatants in a giant gap in the centre of the ocean.

Gohan cupped his hands at his side, the ki pooling into a swirling storm.

Cell responded likewise, raising two fingertips to his forehead, charging a crackling surge of energy upon his fingers. "This is the end, Son Gohan! I won't let up until I kill you! Makankōsappō!" Thrusting fingertips forward, Cell released a burst of brilliant ki, a powerful beam encircled by another, creating a drilling effect.

The Saiyan-half's response was immediate. Detecting Cell's release of ki, he'd already moved, leaping over the blast entirely. Gohan's own attack still swirling between his palms, he zeroed in on Cell, uttering one word before releasing the technique for a point blank explosion.

"Kamehameha."

The entire ocean was swallowed in light.

"He was holding back?" Piccolo's voice raises in indignation. "What sort of bad habits did he pick up from his father?!"

"N-No, that's not it at all!" Erasa had just finished explaining Gohan's acquisition of a form beyond Super Saiyan God as that group flew towards the battle, and that he was most likely using that to battle Cell now. "He wasn't holding back. Gohan didn't have a handle on that form and probably wasn't sure he could even use it in combat. But this is the very same pressure!"

"Beyond Super Saiyan God...?" Videl thought it sounded ridiculous.

"If anyone can do it, it'd be Gohan," Tenshinhan said.

"Kind of feels like we got left in the dust again," Yamcha said.

The shaking of the planet snapped them out of their casual conversation. The entire horizon was replaced by a semi-circle of blue ki, an artist's rendition of a setting blue sun.

"That's—"

"–the Kamehameha!"

"But whose?!"

The group approached the source of the wave, and saw the transformed Gohan for the first time. His blue hair and aura utterly surprised everyone but Erasa, who'd seen it already.

"That's...a Saiyan beyond God?!" Piccolo said. "This...pressure! It's entirely different than when he was a Super Saiyan God!"

"It doesn't just feel different l," Trunks grinned. "Look at Cell!"

The lavender-haired man gestured ahead. Floating in front of Gohan was the head and shoulders of Cell. The rest of his body, and even parts of his crown, had been entirely blown off in the Kamehameha's aftermath.

"Gohan's got this!" Goten crowed. "Look at Cell, he looks pathetic!"

Erasa was grinning broadly. There was a certain amount of pride to be had in her own husband coming this far. It was just a matter of moments and Cell would be finished.

"How...?!" Cell's floating torso howled, fury evident in his voice. "How can I be losing to the likes of you?! I've come too far, I've outstripped all of Dr. Gero's predicted parameters and more!"

"Our transformations are fundamentally similar, but there's a big difference," Gohan replied. "I mastered the Super Saiyan form a long time ago. This new form has its drawbacks, but it's more stable than the form you're using - you combined Super Saiyan God with something else entirely, something you didn't have a handle on." Gohan raised a palm towards Cell's face. "That unpredictable variable cost you. You've been burning out faster than Piccolo's cells can repair the damage. It's over, Cell."

"It is over...for all of you here...!" Cell's eyes flashed red, signifying a rush in ki. Following a horrible squelching sound, his entire power body and upper crown restored themselves, though his ki reserves dropped. Gohan, who expected Cell to have been too wounded to focus his regenerative powers now, was thrown. The Bio-Android's golden flaming aura blazed back to life, invigorated by his rage.

"YOU SLIPPED UP, GOHAN! YOUR LAST BLOW WAS TOO SHALLOW, AND YOU UNDERSTIMATED MY ABILITIES!" The Bio-Android's voice boomed throughout the planet. "BUT THIS WILL END IT ALL! I'M TAKING ALL OF YOU OUT WITH THIS!"

Cell's ki was building, making preparations for his final strike. He had no more need for games. Everything was to be wiped away.

A/N: Now this...this was a chapter to write. I've been waiting to properly unveil Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan for ages. It is my second favourite Super Saiyan form, so just like with Super Saiyan God - my favourite- I wanted to give it a proper showing. I think this chapter did it justice. I know y'all probably want longer battles and chapters but I really feel like this is fine - the gap between Gohan and Cell is massively skewed now. I said this before, but I will say it again: thank you to everyone who helped me get far enough to be able to actually type in the number "101" in the chapter. I never once expected to make it this far. Thank you, everyone!

Thank you all for your patience; I'll see you all in the next exciting chapter of The Erased Chronicles.