This was it.

The true beginning of the end.

Before now, Cell had only a taste of this monstrosity in mortal flesh that Jiren embodied. But now, he was unveiling his true strength; the same power that he used to utterly defeat the cybernetic beast that was Anilaza. Being so close to it he compared to standing in the berth of a dying star. At any moment, he could feel a literal Supernova detonate, and the ring - along with anyone foolish enough still standing on it - would be taken out.

Now, garnered in his Perfect Gold form, he grit his teeth down and bent his legs - catapulting himself forward in a wing-spread blur towards his adversary.

A purple fist threw forward, a streak of gold following its momentum towards his chosen target, the pale chin hidden behind a two-fold aura of orangish red and deeper crimson still. Before his gaze he'd see hairless head weave out of the way-

-and he'd instantly feel an explosion of pain from a phantom fist that struck his chest and threw him backwards. Cyborg 35's eyes widened at the sight, seeing a trail of ki-borne fire ignite the kachi-katchin flooring below as he'd explode a patchwork of debris behind where he'd taken off from before.

In that moment of losing sight, a looming Sun-colored giant appeared in front of him. Turning their head around, they'd look up and only have a moment to erect a barrier to halt what looked like a meteor-sized set of knuckles heading straight down towards them. It cracked and fragmented like glass, disappearing within a fraction of a second of making contact-!

"No you don't!" Gohan shouted, throwing himself bodily into the cyborg fusion's side to have them crash into the side of the ring's pillar. Raising his arms up in a crisscross to absorb the incoming blow, he'd find his eyes widen palpably. His body lurched down and his flow of ki buffeted the impact backwards, but not nearly all of it with his body crashing below a deep pit within the arena's dense mineral material.

Within a matter of seconds, everyone on the sidelines - even the outlying fight of Vegeta against Saonel and Roshi over Rota - they all felt the same thing the opponents of Jiren did.

Dread.

"T-This...is Jiren's full power?" Goku gawked, his face beading sweat along with Piccolo. "Its...its like it has no end in sight! Not since I fought Majin Buu have I felt such a bottomless well of strength...!"

"Even three on one, they were just tossed aside," The Nameccian of Universe Seven gritted his teeth, grinding his hands on his lap as he watched on with a sense of helplessness. "Here I thought...with Gohan's rising power...the twins' fusion, and even Cell...but they're all doomed!"

"I-Its too soon to give up hope," Shin proclaimed, turning back and forth to his peers with a trembling smile on his face. "I mean, they just gained massive boosts in power. They should be able to handle him together, right?"

Silence. Whis didn't say anything, just keeping a mask of stoicism as he watched on with attention. Beerus bared his teeth, his hands gripping his own arms tightly as he kept himself from showing his own trembling. Old Kaioshin looked curiously at the hole Gohan was put in, not showing any real sign of being affected by the outcome of what Jiren's power was capable of.

Kibito, busying in restoring the vitality of everyone else, couldn't bear to look his lord in the eyes. Everyone on the sidelines couldn't muster up a false hope. This was an opponent that bested Goku with little injury to boot. If they couldn't best him, here and now...

"I seek that what is beyond strength," Jiren spoke aloud, turning his face to look at the cyborg fusion as it rose up to dust themselves off of dust and debris. "Long ago, I was in your place. Placed against an impossible position of adversity, yearning for victory but utterly helpless in the end. When I eventually surmounted that, I find myself questioning what meaning is there when strength is achieved and nothing else is matched? I had hoped to find it, coming here...but all I see before me is wasted ambition."

In a split instant, a golden light birthed behind the space Jiren stood. Twisting around on his heels a left gloved palm stretched out and grasped the materializing face of Cell, simultaneously avoiding the fist that was aimed towards his own alabaster colored skull.

"Your pride is hollow, only for the moment and without sight of what lies beyond," The Grey spoke, his hand digging deep into the Bio-Android's face, with squelches of violet blood splurting between his covered digits; some splotches splattering onto his mostly unmarked face, staining it with amethyst ichor. "You are the lowliest of parasites. Feeding off the lives of others in order to achieve strength. You are worse than the Saiyan, Son Goku, who strove for strength for the sake of strength itself. You are scum!

"And those without a reason to live beyond simply existing are truly a waste in the cosmos!" Jiren howled, detonating the Bio-Android's skull through sheer gripping pressure of his own palm. Watching his body slump to the ground, the halo remained in comical place to where his head once presided but now just hovered over the bloodied stump as he knelt without dignity in front of him.

Raising a thumb to wipe off the blood on his cheek, he'd suddenly hear a whizzing sound. Turning to look, he'd widen his enormous eyes to see what looked like a bus-sized disc of golden light shearing the air straight towards him. Throwing a piercing punch towards it, he'd gape at the sight of his own max-powered punch being split apart like butter as it hummed straight towards him.

"Tch!" He clicked his teeth with his tongue, leaping up over the disc with a tall leap into the air.

What awaited him was a storm of spheres. Kikoha of such number that it was nearly impossible to count; all sent from the gloved hand of Cyborg 35.

With a focused glare a wave of red, phantasmal fists faster than an experienced eye could track, detonated them through scathing contact. A cacophony of voluminous explosions filled the skyline of the ring. All the viewers could see nothing but flashing lights and the floating figure that was the strongest of the Pride Troopers.

A spiraling light pierced through the fire, gold in hue but reminiscent of the demonic piercing drill that the Nameccian often tailored in using. It was enough that Jiren had to draw an arm back and swipe it with an incandescent glow over his burned hand to parry the beam - sparks flying as he did so - and dispel it outright.

Just in time to see 35's face emerge from the rest of the dispelling flames before his bottomless gaze of blackness.

Throwing a fist towards their visage, he'd watch with surprise as they'd fire a kikoha below, allowing them to vault up and over his massive left gloved hand. In their forward flip, they'd twist around to launch a roundhouse kick to his head. A barrier covered track-suit shin struck a raised burned hand, the pair of limbs spurting lightning from the mere impact of two powerful opposing forces; one overpowering the other as the shell of lime light began to crack before splintering outright.

The defending hand turned and grasped their leg before they could pull it back, causing the twin fusion to gasp as he swung his left arm towards their face. In a split second decision, the fused warrior gestured their hands up to their face with splayed digits, and cried aloud a familiar technique Jiren had seen before.

Painfully so.

"Taiyōken!"

"WHY YOU-!" Jiren the Grey yelled out in anger, his eyes unable to close in time to shut out the searing blindness that overwhelmed his sensitive orbs. He recoiled, his hand stopping short of connecting but still releasing enough power that they'd be rend from their position in the air and soar across the Tournament of Power's skyline straight towards the void.

Twisting about, the pain-filled face of a swollen bruise with blood leaking out of their mouth, they fired a desperate kiai where they were heading and rebounded themselves narrowly before hitting the point of no return. This, however, carried their momentum to crash down into the arena below and only braced themselves with a timely conical shaped barrier before they'd receive impact damage. The blast of hitting it was a resounding gong, and they'd feel their head spin as eyes rolled around in their sockets with a dizzied look.

Pushing themselves upright, they'd hear a massive weight hit the ground followed by the feeling of sweltering heat emanating from the infuriated man of Universe 11.

"You think I need eyes to defeat someone using parlor tricks?" Jiren spat, his eyes wincing shut as he raised a glowing fist.

"N-No, you probably could beat me blindfolded," The Potara Twins replied with a smile past the painful swell on their cheek. "But not him."

The earth buckled in sync with their ominous warning. Jiren's own concentration on the fused opponent was broken and he'd feel the kachi katchin flooring warp and distend, as if a quake was transpiring. Then, he felt as much as saw - what little his stunned eyes could see - an eruption of pure blue outlined white light; originating from a crouched Son Gohan, who had taken up a stance of his father's technique and waited for the right moment to release it, at this very moment.

"NGH!" He grunted out, thrusting his burned palm into the geysering beam of ki, holding it back through his own immense strength. He couldn't use his legendary gaze like he normally could, forcing him to physically exert himself past the pain of his own eyes.

At the same time, 35 thrust out both palms in a clasped fashion, and unleashed a salvo of kikoha like before while he was fixated on the Kamehameha from the floor. Orb after orb detonated like atomic bombs, blasting off his densely layered aura of fiery red, gold and orange, inhibiting his concentration on the young man's feverish attack.

The air sliced, a shifting in space, and the air turning into an overcast of violet-gold as a truly demonic light drill swathed the air in its swiftly moving trajectory straight towards Jiren's exposed right side. Jiren's restoring sight could trail it back to a freshly regenerated Bio-Android, casting a seething glare his way while launching the beam from a pair of purple index fingers.

"HM!" The Grey Titan grunted, focusing his black eyes to produce a phantasmal streak of crimson to impair the impact the infamous piercing technique. Lightning spiraled from the two's energies contacting, space distending and the ground beneath splintering against the supernatural opposition two's ki packed. Even with the repeated explosions of kikoha and Gohan's Kamehameha, he maintained a solid footing on what scant ground the crumbling floor he possessed.

"Grrrrrrrrr!" Cell bared his teeth, still pouring his power into the piercing beam. "Damn you! Just pierce him already you good-for-nothing-!"

The mass of muscle had nothing to say.

He continued to persist on pushing back against his foes' combined assault. Even as 35's multitude of orbs continued to explode off his blistering aura to no avail and Gohan's mass of power was being held back by a single hand, his eyes maintained a fearsome glare that pushed back the Makankōsappō.

And then, a massive sphere of white light shrieked across the ring, barreling towards Jiren's left side. Raising a gloved hand without breaking his posture, the Grey Titan caught the charging sphere with a loud clang, sparks flying off his gloved palm along his fingers. Gritting his teeth, he didn't even need to turn to know whom it belonged to.

"Even you are standing in my way, Saiyan prince?!" He thought as he exerted energy to push the Big Bang Attack off his palm towards its source. Even as he felt the Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan's energy push it back, he was reminded of a similar but largely scaled tug of war he had with Kakarrot. As his mind drifted to such an encounter, he felt his concentration waver, the corkscrewing drill moving closer and the Kamehameha shoving him back while the orb churned back into his palm.

SHINK!

"Hngh!" Jiren grunted in pain, feeling a white hot blade drive itself into his back. In the periphery of his senses and his gaze, he saw the Universe 6 Nameccian, coalescing his power into an arm-saber to drive it straight into his flesh. If it wasn't for his densely woven aura, the edge might have gone more than a handful of inches, with the rest of his venting power congealing around the blade to halt its progress within.

"Such formidable ki," Saonel breathed out, his arms throbbing with visible veins that matched his own forehead as he tried to push forth with visible effort. "Had Pirina not join his power with mine, I might not have been able to pierce it at all!"

"You...all...are..." Jiren began to snarl, the energy of his body pulling inward till it was a skin-tight layer over his impressive stature. Then, he let out a hallowed yell, eyes releasing a piercing glare straight back at Cell as he spoke it. "NOT STRONG ENOUGH!"

"W-What-?!" Cell barely was able to utter, watching his Makankōsappō bend and whip around before dissolving outright. From his point of view, he'd take the head of Gohan's Kamehameha and turn it around to slam straight into a gaping Saonel; all while crushing the Big Bang Attack into an imploding shell of futile firepower.

A desperate scream was heard as the fused Nameccian was hurled off the ring, deep into the void - only flickering into the out of bounds after several seconds of his passage out of bounds passed.

"Saonel of Universe 6 is disqualified," The Grand Priest announced with a curt smile. "Seven fighters remain, and 29.1662 Tacks (or 14 Minutes for those who use that form of measurement) are left till the Tournament of Power is over!"

"S-Saonel?!" Champa gaped, his face oblong as he saw the resigned expression on the only Nameccian remaining of Universe 6. "W-Why did you do that?! You were fighting that Vegeta, right? Why did you take on Jiren?"

"Because, in the end, we both agreed," Saonel admitted, his eyes opening to looking at the massive tower of muscle that was Jiren, teeth bared and eyes arched into a half-mast glare poised at all of his opposition. "As long as Jiren exists, there's no hope of survival for any Universe that's his opponent."

"He does seem pretty unstoppable."

"Vados! Whose side are you on anyways?!"

"I'm an Angel, Lord Champa. I have no side," The tall woman replied glibly with a smirk, much to the obese Hakaishin's chagrin. Casting her gaze at Jiren as he looked on as the blue-haired Saiyan prince began to walk into the fray, Gohan himself crawling out of the deep hole he had made back to the surface and Cell standing tall with Cyborg 35, she couldn't help but comment. "But given the circumstances, I have to agree with Saonel. If any one of them fought him on their own, as they are now, they'd surely lose. A united effort is the only chance they have of besting him. However...

"With the kind of strength and focus Jiren has demonstrated, it might not be enough," Whis continued to explain, unaware of his own segue to his twin Angel sibling, as Beerus ground his teeth and stared hard at the force of nature their enemy was. "At the level he's at now, I'd wager even Beerus may have a hard time defeating him on his own."

"T-That's terrifying...!" Kuririn stammered out, now truly quantifying just how disastrously powerful Universe 11's ace fighter was. "Can they even beat him?"

"They have no choice," Tenshinhan added, closing his two main eyes while his third eye stared onward. "Its all or nothing. This is the final battle. Whoever wins will survive; the others will be wiped out."

"To think we have to rely on Cell as much as the rest of them," Piccolo spoke derisively, gripping his hands on his lap. "You better not make us regret picking you, Cell!"

"GO GUYS!" Goku cheered on, cupping his hands over his mouth as he yelled loudly enough for everyone on his bench and others spectating from Universe 6 and 11 to look with surprise at him. "YOU CAN DO IT! I BELIEVE IN YOU!"

"Dad," Gohan looked up with a smile, finding a vein of inspiration stir within him to see his father cheer him on.

"We must be in a really sorry state for him to be giving us encouragement," 35 replied with a wry smirk of bemusement on their face.

"I don't need a pat on my back," Vegeta intoned, stepping forward, his godly aura igniting with a golden-bluish flame as he stepped towards Jiren. "I'll defeat you with my own strength. That's my pride as a Saiyan and its the only thing I've ever needed!"

"I don't know about Saiyans," Cell laughed, walking up with him towards Jiren's opposite flank, his own golden fire of majestic ki erupting around him as he approached his designated opponent. "But my pride stems from my perfection: I need no one to tell me otherwise. I'll defeat you because my superior design has made it possible; there is no other reason more than that!"

"So, your pride is what moves you forward?"

Jiren replies, his eyes closing as he feels out the strength of his respective enemies. From the unknowable Android to the rapidly rising endless potential of Son Gohan he reserved himself as the unpredictable elements. Meanwhile the straightforward powers of ego itself presided within Vegeta and Cell. Individually, they are no threat, but together he feels his nerves alight with readiness.

"Then show me, that your pride has worth," He muttered with hands resting flat at his sides, eyes remaining closed. "And has what it takes to bring me to my knees."

They responded in kind.

Clenching fists tightly, his aura exploded forth, and his eyes widened as the two walking towards him flickered in high speed. A golden carapace covered shin swinging towards his lower left side while simultaneously a powerful straight right headed to his face. His hands sought purchase against both, catching them with deft ease; to his surprise they both anticipated this and launched a combined kiai that was enough to distend his aura and indent his gut. His heels dug in, his mouth baring into a tight-lipped sneer and his eyes narrowed at the pair as he lifted them up and snapped both of his legs up into their bodies.

As they flew into the sky, Gohan rocketed forward, body low to the ground and arms held back. Somersaulting in a roll that avoided the first wave of phantom fists, he'd launch a rising double-kick from the earth straight towards his chin...

...one he avoided by stepping back, lurching his upper body just shy of it so his chin felt the scraping heat of his boot heels.

A flash of light soared into his face, forcing his eyes to dispel the stream of ki through an intense glare reflexively. Peeling it back he'd see Cyborg 35 up in the air, harnessing another destructive disc behind their back and preparation of launching it.

Grasping Gohan's heels before they'd pull away, he swung up him up and around, bodily tossing him towards the synthetic fusion to inhibit their line-of-sight.

"KAMEHAMEHA!" The Saiyan half-blood swiftly yelled, firing the beam from a pair of hands straight behind himself, disabling his momentum and returning himself in a spiraling streak straight back into the Grey warrior.

"HM!" The black-eyed monstrosity raised his left glove, deflecting the grinding pressure of the rotating soles against his own protective material. In rigidly holding himself in place, his eyes widened at the sight of the Kienzan launched by the cybernetic fusion. It hummed dangerously close to the hybrid, buzzing over his skin and uniform with nary a scratch over dangling hairs and flourishing fabric straight towards the fighter's neck.

Without thinking that it was a move that could end his life, his gut reaction had him lurch down to avoid the dangerous cutting edge of the rotating razor.

"KA! ME! HA! ME!" Gohan chanted, his hands still venting the blue beam that propelled him like a human drill into the raised gloved knuckles that held him at bay. The soles of the boots began to emit a glow, much to the Universe 11 fighter's awe, that rotated with his own momentum.

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Jiren wordlessly grimaced as he felt the blaze of life force shove into him like a hyper-battering ram. Sliding across the kachi katchin ring, all would see with surprise and horror as the warrior of the 11th Universe was being pressed back towards the edge. In addition to the soaring Saiyan's bodily spinning lance of light, a luminous follow-up surge of energy was released as the cyborg aided the son of Goku in efforts to push him farther off the arena's floor.

A powerful stomp and his departure from the ring became a fantasy.

"HMMMM!" Jiren forcefully grunted, his aura reverberating the pair's energies till he shouldered into them with one side of his body.

And then, he tossed them aside, sending it chaotically veering off course straight into the stands up and over the dead space of the arena.

"EEEEK!" Champa screeched at a high pitch, watching the light coming straight for him; only to then harmlessly wash over a barrier of Vados' instant creation.

"O-Oh...I-I knew you were going to do that-"

"Of course you did, Lord Champa," His attendant replied with her usual glibness.

"Damn...here I thought that'd work too," Gohan swore under his breath, watching Jiren stand back upright with a perpetual scowl.

"I almost cut his head off without thinking it," 35 admitted as they landed next to the Saiyan half blood. "Good thing he knew to dodge."

"Y-You almost hit me with that," The son of Goku retorted nervously. "Be careful where you throw those things!"

"Relax," The Twin Fusion replied while idly brushing hair over one ear, smiling disarmingly at him. "If I was going to cut you, I would've."

"I-I see," He sighed with a stutter. Blinking, the Half-Saiyan looked to and fro curiously. "Where's Vegeta and Cell?"

Looking straight up, the fused cyborg blanched. Poking Gohan in the shoulder, they pointed up and he'd gawk in response.

There, in the sky, Vegeta was releasing energy to sustain a forced levitation and Cell did the same. Bluish fire jettisoned evenly beneath a pair of spread feet while golden rings akin to the Captured Light Shell placed his feet into a posed stasis. It wasn't the same as flying as that ability was inherently locked; this consumed power and took concentration, but that was fine for the task they were committed to.

On one corner, the Saiyan prince had spread himself outward in a familiar pose the cyborg recognized and one Gohan had never seen. Lightning flared within the World of Void, a howling vortex of power that was only magnified thanks to the realm of gods his transformation had entered. His voice had been held back thanks to the chaos before, but now all could clearly see a mesmerizing halo of energy that was being harnessed by Super Saiyan Blue.

"T-That's," Cabba began to say, his face construed with shock and wonder at the same time. "The Final Flash!"

"It looks a lot more powerful than the one used against Magetta," Vados intoned verbally. "What we're seeing may be Vegeta's most ultimate attack."

"L-Look!" Champa pointed, seeing the floating Bio-Android forming a massive maelstrom of bluish energy behind him. It expanded outward, more and more, till it resembled less of a technique and more of a lunar body in how it was sized. "That kikoha is huge!"

The Angel narrowed her eyes at it. A thin layer of gold was seen weaving itself around the outermost layer of the Kamehameha's perimeter. From there it began to shrink, compacting itself more and more till it whined in it being contained into the size of a basketball between the Bio-Android's hands. It crackled and thrummed with an ominous feel, and based on prior use of this particular technique's applications...

...it explode at any time.

"Good luck bringing down Jiren with that technique," Cell intoned, earning a glaring side glance from the prince. "You might be lucky and take his arm with that; given he doesn't have my cells, that might actually damage him this time."

"Be thankful I'm not aiming this at you," Vegeta spat with bared teeth, focusing his eyes straight at Jiren. Chuckling as veins throbbed across his pronounced forehead, he yelled out to his foe. "If you really are the strongest, then you should have no problem taking this technique head-on!"

"Bring it," Jiren replied, keeping his arms at his sides as he glared upwards at him. "Just as Son Goku before, I'll take your strongest ability and render it inert."

Vegeta chuckled darkly, his throbbing body fluctuating in mass while the totality of his charged energy swelled between his palms in a glorious golden-white ball of rolling plasma.

"It won't work," Kai intoned with a confident smile, the Universe 11 Kaioshin watching with confidence at the combined power drawl of both Cell and Vegeta. "Even combined they have as much of a chance of landing a meaningful blow on Jiren as the cyborg and half breed did. This won't be any different."

"Of course," Belmod spoke with a stretch of his red painted lips, the clown Hakaishin leering down at his prized fighter. "Where even Toppo failed me, Jiren can never be defeated. Son Goku, Anilaza, Hit, and even their combined efforts have not gotten him to knees. They have no chance-!"

"FINAL FLASH!"

Vegeta's voice hailed out, unleashing a streak of white-outlined gold straight out towards the ring that Jiren stood upon. The shriek of energy was so loud it brought all of the spectating gods backwards with blanching eyes, mouths agape; even Beerus found his eyes bulging at the sight of such a monstrous force of ki sent its way to Grey Titan.

Before the black eyes of Jiren, he saw something that compelled him to raise his arms to deflect it. A terrifying resolve for destruction, all released from a pent-up figure he had taken far more lightly compared to Son Goku. Just as he braced himself for the inevitable collision he felt the space shift behind him and he looked over his shoulder to see a golden overcast of Cell's golden shelled purple skinned body maneuvering with the Captured Light Shell orb straight towards his back.

Right into where his shallow wound presided!

The pain that radiated as a monumental expulsion of a hyper-compressed Kamehameha detonated against his back, with his wound as an epicenter of the blast. His guard weakened, slackening in the face of a vicious storm of golden-white light, the luminous body hailing down onto his body and the ground around him. A mute cry of agony was released from his lungs while all the stunned spectators would see was a supernova of bluish-yellow sandwiching the man in between two powerful clashes of forces of an elliptical ignition.

Eventually, seconds later, as quickly as it materialized it died out. Like a fading star that was snuffed of its light, all that was remaining was a cloud of steam and smoke from the deep pit formed by the pair of blasts that the designated target was within.

All was silent as Cell's body materialized, his right arm was scorched past its immaculate golden sheen. Grimacing at his own injury, he knew he had to take a gamble to ensure both his and the prince's attacks actually met their mark. If it was by any way buffeted by his extraordinary ki through a block or a counter-stroke they'd have wasted power over a futile effort. Thanks to Freeza's technique, he made good use of Goku's trademark move in making sure it connected the moment it made tactile contact.

Even as the prince descended to the ground with a stumbling clop of his feet, he looked on, grimacing as he took in rasping breaths from the exertion he put himself through. Regardless of their uncertainty, they all could feel the insurmountable power of Jiren. The real question was by how much of a margin was the damage dealt to him?

Cybord 35's eyes widened, seeing a standing silhouette within the crater. As the steam and cloud of smoke parted, they all could see the man himself, towering above the dip in the hole seemingly standing on a lone pyre of kachi katchin that refused to buckle under the the two blasts from earlier. His chest was marred across the pectorals down to his midcenter, covered in a swathe of burns that hissed audibly. Blood seeped into his costume, with his back in an equally grisly surface state of injury with webbed cracks of blackened tissue poised around the once insignificant cut that Cell had primed his attack upon.

"Was that it?" Jiren inquired dryly, bringing them all to jerk visibly back at his comment. His glare absorbed their shock as a curl of lips showed his snarling teeth. "If that is the extent of your resolve...then your pride...I can't imagine..."

Fists balled at his sides, eyes widening and his voice boomed out as a two-fold aura of blistering red and coral-crimson erupted from his body in a forceful hurricane of fury that echoed his words, "That you're all this weak!"

Cell felt his blood go cold. Even now he persisted, with a strength that still exceeded his own. He knew that if he couldn't tap into the bulwark of Kefla's power presiding within him, then he was likely to meet his end here and now.

"Stay together!" Gohan called out, his own ki rising up in a flame of silvery-blue, retaining that surreal glitter that the Bio-Android noticed when he first arrived to aid him in his fight against the Grey Titan. "We've wounded him, but that doesn't mean the fight is over yet! If we keep this up-"

A blur of red was all they could see. Jiren's titanic form moved with agility and precision that they couldn't anticipate. A massive shoulder slammed into the half-Saiyan's front, his body contorting along the flow of his biceps and triceps.

A mighty swipe later, and Gohan was sent flailing into the Tournament of Power pillar with a resounding crash; a blow so poignant that the whole of the pyre crumbled as he emerged on the other side, sending the whole erect structure falling down towards the fighters with a resounding impact.

Wincing, Jiren the Grey clutched his shoulder, his gaze looking upon as wisps of bluish energy crackled around the point of his charge hitting Gohan's body.

"He absorbed the blow and redirected it back into my arm?" The Pride Trooper mused silently, wondering if his attack did half the damage he head meant it to.

"Gohan!" Cyborg 35 cried out with horror, their eyes briefly flashing over to their downed comrade. Twisting their head back, their blonde hair bristled and blue eyes glared angrily at the 11th Universe fighter. Much to their dismay, another blur of red was what they'd see as it barreled straight for Cell-

-only this time, the Bio-Android erected a barrier of his own to halt his aggressor's charge.

"NGH!" He blanched, seeing the dome rattle like it was undergoing the largest of quakes. Seeing nothing but a red glare over a mountainous entity, a halo of fists were arranged in his line of sight. Let loose like a stream of fiery comets he'd witness the shield between himself and his enemy break bit by bit. Cracking and splintering, he'd watching a fist penetrate the disintegrating force field - the first of many - launching towards his defenseless person.

"I can't avoid this!" Was the only thought he had as a wave of imminent pain came towards his perfect carapace.

WHAM!

A gloved fist struck Jiren's raised arm, halting the barrage halfway, with only one singing straight into Cell's abdomen with a rattling spike of pain. As he doubled over in pain, he'd look up in disbelief, seeing the Saiyan prince himself grinding his knuckles against Jiren's gloved right forearm.

"Don't think I'm throwing in the towel just yet!" The widowspeak adorned combatant sneered, glaring defiantly up with a majestic flame of godly blue fire swathing around his body. "I've just begun to tap into my potential, Jiren, so don't go and underestimate me!"

"You Saiyans," Jiren twisted about, shoving Vegeta back and throwing a veritable storm of punches with his burned right hand at him. "Are all too predictable!"

To the surprise of Cell he'd see the Saiyan prince duck, weave and slide around the horde of seemingly dozens of arms lancing towards him. Penetrating his guard he threw a powerful uppercut, straight into the sore spot that Goku and Hit had landed minutes ago, reigniting the dull ache into a spiking jab of pain. Gasping aloud, the larger foe backed up before throwing another punch, this time Vegeta blocking it with a raised hand, albeit with a throbbing grimace of his own.

"I've been watching you move since the beginning, Jiren," The Saiyan prince boasted with sweat running down his face, veins throbbing across his pronounced brows. "I can now see your moves!"

Cell felt infuriated.

The mere sight of the Saiyan surpassing him in any way was an insult to his own design. He was a superior being, wasn't he? What good was his genes if he couldn't even keep up with the likes of the walking inferiority complex?!

"No more stalling," He sneered, slamming a hand over his waist and digging his fingers into his own flesh past the shell of his own exoskeleton. "Give me more power, you brats!"

In a successive series of violent throbs he felt the disconnection loosening, his own interior reestablishing with the organic battery that the fused Saiyans that lived within his absorption sac. With pain of the most agonizing kinds, he felt his body reignite with a furious rise of lime-colored energy. Reenergized, no, empowered the Bio-Android returned his gaze to Vegeta and Jiren's stand-off.

Joining the fray in a bout of Instantaneous Movement, forcing the Pride Trooper to back step and parry sudden swiping blows from the perfect organism.

"Sorry, but I'm cutting back in," Cell intoned with a malicious smile present. "We have unfinished business, after all."

"So do we," Cyborg 35 spoke pointedly, dashing forward with a barrier wrapped around their body as they slammed into a raised forearm. With Vegeta howling in a furious charge and Cell crying out his own warcry, the three soon surged forward in a triage of reinvigorated attacks that managed to match the wounded warrior's current status. Bit by bit, they felt themselves throwing blows that were forcing Jiren on the defensive and putting him back from counterattacking.

At least for now.

There are seven fighters remaining, and 22.9163 Tacks (or 11 Minutes if you use that form of measurement) remaining in the Tournament of Power!

A/N: Finally. A new update. Apologies for the wait but I'm back in the game. As of recent events with life forcing me into a reevaluation and then dealing with indefinite quarantine I can now focus back on my stories; this one among many others.

Jiren's injuries are starting to take a toll on the Pride Trooper. With Vegeta and Cell's combined efforts (with even Saonel contributing in his own small way), they managed to wound the strongest man of Universe 11 to a degree they can now fight on somewhat even terms. Though Gohan has been knocked out - not out of bounds, at the moment - the three have the do what they can to put in the pain on their legendary foe.

Lots of good ol' fashioned teamwork here. I had a lot of fun imagining the kinds of maneuvers and combos that different people could have with one another. Gohan and Cyborg 35 work surprisingly well with how I arranged that. And of course good ol' Vegeta joins the fray and has an immediate bone to pick with Cell if it wasn't for the world's ugliest martian to fight.

Please let me know what you think and I'll get on the next chapter ASAP! Stay safe out there and look forward to the next update!