Chapter 2 — First Combat Mission
"9527… You have three days left. Depart immediately for Planet Arant, Sector 33689, and report to your assigned squad."
— — —
The message flashed across the wrist communicator strapped to Kyūjō's arm.
Having just completed the Three-Year Mandatory Training Program of the Saiyan military academy, he steadied the flow of energy within his body and launched himself into the air, soaring toward the massive spaceport of Planet Vegeta.
As the wind rushed past him, he couldn't help but grumble inwardly.
"Seriously… these Saiyans are insane. Who in their right mind sends a three-year-old to war?"
But that was exactly how things worked in this world.
At just three years old, Kyūjō—known to the Saiyan military as Code 9527—had been ordered to undertake his first official combat mission.
With a power level exceeding five hundred, Kyūjō had already reached the standard of a Mid-Class Warrior.
And Mid-Class Warriors were the backbone of the Saiyan army—the soldiers who carried the weight of conquest upon their shoulders.
If they didn't fight, then who would?
Even though he was still a child, in Saiyan society, that meant nothing.
In fact, for most Saiyans, the idea of living quietly on Planet Vegeta was more torturous than death.
For them, true joy could only be found in battle—in blood, in the chaos of war among the stars.
To fight was to live.
That was the Saiyan way.
— — —
Kyūjō still hadn't discovered Earth's exact coordinates. He didn't even have a complete star map yet.
With strict surveillance over interstellar ships, sneaking away was impossible for now.
So, while waiting for an opportunity, he chose to fulfill his yearly obligation—completing at least one combat mission as required of every Mid-Class Warrior.
Browsing through the Saiyan mission database, he picked an operation that involved fighting an intergalactic pirate faction.
It wasn't about conquest, but territory reclamation—a battle against violent marauders rather than innocent civilians.
"Fighting space pirates sounds a lot better than slaughtering defenseless planets," he muttered to himself.
Had the mission been one of planetary extermination, Kyūjō would have refused without hesitation and fled at the first chance.
— — —
Upon arriving at the spaceport, Kyūjō was greeted by an alien attendant—polite, deferential, and careful not to offend.
The alien guided him toward a sleek, capsule-like spacecraft: a Spore Ship, freshly assigned to him.
Not only did the attendant assist with the boarding procedures, but he also personally programmed the ship's automatic navigation.
Despite Kyūjō's small stature and youthful appearance, the alien showed no sign of mockery or condescension.
After all, it wasn't uncommon to see Saiyan children venture into the void alone. For this worker, it was just another day on duty.
The Spore Ship was standard issue for Frieza's forces—built for long-distance solo missions through hyperspace.
Landing gear wasn't even part of its design.
Upon arrival, the vessel would crash directly into a planet's surface, its reinforced shell ensuring the pilot inside remained perfectly safe.
It was one of the fastest small-class ships in Universe 7, second only to Frieza's personal fleet.
Even though this was Kyūjō's first interplanetary flight, operating the vessel was laughably easy. Its control system was simple and fully automated—once the destination was set, the ship switched to autopilot.
All Kyūjō needed to do now was wait.
The journey would take roughly two weeks.
He could train, meditate… or simply sleep.
Naturally, he chose the last option.
— — —
Two weeks later.
When the timer reached the final thirty minutes, the Spore Ship's hibernation system deactivated automatically.
Kyūjō's eyes opened slowly as the cabin lights brightened around him.
Outside the viewport loomed a colossal red planet—ten times the size of Earth.
Planet Arant.
A world famed for its rich mineral deposits—especially a rare metal known as Crimson Gold.
Its reserves were enormous, and its value astronomical. By some estimates, a single planet's worth of Crimson Gold equaled the combined wealth of dozens of other worlds.
It was no wonder the Saiyans had set their sights on it.
But by the time they discovered the planet, it was already occupied—
claimed by a faction of ruthless interstellar pirates.
And these pirates were no pushovers.
They had annihilated the first Saiyan scouting team that arrived, crushing three Low-Class Warriors without breaking a sweat.
Since then, Saiyan reinforcements had been deployed one after another, turning Planet Arant into a protracted battleground—an ongoing war of attrition between the Saiyan army and the pirate forces entrenched there.
Even one of the High-Class Warriors from Planet Vegeta had been dispatched to the frontlines.
Yet despite all their efforts, the Saiyans had gained no real advantage.
That alone spoke volumes about the enemy's strength.
Thud—!
With a heavy impact, Kyūjō's Spore Ship slammed into the surface of Planet Arant and came to a stop.
The planet's gravity was roughly the same as Planet Vegeta's, and its atmosphere was breathable—though nearly all of its native inhabitants had been wiped out by the invading space pirates.
That meant Kyūjō didn't need a suit or respirator. Stepping out of the cockpit, he took a deep breath of the metallic air before pushing his ship into the crater it had made on landing, burying it carefully to conceal any trace of his arrival.
Then, activating the wrist communicator on his arm, he tried to contact the Saiyan squad assigned to this operation.
Minutes passed. No response.
With a soft sigh, Kyūjō shut the device off and picked a direction at random. His aura flared faintly, and his small body shot into the sky.
He flew for nearly forty minutes at a speed approaching Mach 1.
Finally, the Infinity sensory field that stretched nine hundred kilometers from his body caught something—
the distinct, savage energy of his fellow Saiyans.
— — —
The battlefield stretched across a barren plain.
Dozens of aliens of every color and shape clashed against a smaller force of Saiyan warriors, their black-and-brown armor gleaming under the crimson light of Arant's twin suns. Explosions shook the ground every few seconds.
In the distance, a giant red ape, more than a hundred meters tall, wrestled a green-skinned alien whose body looked half humanoid, half insectoid.
Each of their blows gouged enormous craters thousands of meters deep into the planet's crust.
Kyūjō's sharp eyes narrowed. The red-furred ape—there was no mistaking it—
that was the High-Class Saiyan warrior assigned to lead the Arant campaign.
But something was wrong.
Even after transforming into a Great Ape, that warrior was losing ground.
Using his Infinity perception, Kyūjō gauged their power.
The Saiyan's energy output was around 14,000—
which meant his opponent had to be stronger than that.
But what truly unsettled Kyūjō was the creature's appearance.
That face... it looks like a Namekian.
A cold thought flickered through his mind, but he brushed it aside. There was no time to wonder.
He tightened his aura and shot toward the battlefield.
— — —
"Dark Cannon!"
One of the xenomorph-like pirates roared, its claws flashing as it sent a Saiyan flying.
Before the fallen warrior could recover, the creature's jaw split open, gathering a sphere of black energy in its throat before firing it straight at a female Saiyan mid-air.
"Bardiya! Watch out!" shouted Nac, the Mid-Class Warrior who had just been struck.
But his warning came too late.
The black beam was faster than sound. It pierced Bardiya's back clean through her chest, leaving a smoking hole where her heart had been.
Even Saiyan durability couldn't save someone without a heart.
Her body convulsed once, then fell lifelessly toward the ground.
Her death sent shockwaves through the squad's morale. The formation faltered, the pirates pressed harder.
Consumed by rage and guilt, Nac's energy flared, rising by nearly a hundred points—
but even so, he was still outmatched. His opponent clawed and slammed him into the ground again and again, his armor cracking, blood spraying.
A short distance away, another Saiyan—Alec, power level 800—landed a clean hit on his foe, knocking the alien back. He turned to rally the others—
But a sudden burst of blue energy tore through the air from above, streaking straight toward the xenomorph that had killed Bardiya.
Sensing danger, the creature jerked aside mid-fight, leaping dozens of meters into the air—
Only for the blue blast to curve sharply, bending like lightning in midflight before smashing into its chest from behind!
The explosion sent the creature spinning, black blood spraying from its mouth as its ribs cracked.
It wasn't a killing blow—
but it left the alien wide open.
Before it could regain control, a shadow appeared behind it—
Kyūjō.
He grabbed the creature's neck with both small hands.
With a single violent wrench, a sickening crack echoed—
The head tore free from its body.
Black blood drenched Kyūjō's armor as he landed lightly on the scarred ground, holding the severed head high like a trophy.
For a moment, the entire battlefield froze.
Then Alec burst out laughing, his Saiyan blood ignited by the sight.
"Reinforcements from Planet Vegeta have arrived! Crush those pirate scum!"
"For the pride of the Saiyan race!"
Their war cries shook the air.
Reinvigorated, every Saiyan on the field threw themselves back into combat with renewed fury.
— — —
Nac, the closest to Kyūjō, met his eyes briefly. Gratitude flickered there. He gave a firm nod, then turned back into the fray, fists blazing with energy.
Kyūjō said nothing. He simply raised one hand and began firing curved waves of blue energy, each attack arcing elegantly through the air to strike the pirates' flanks.
They weren't lethal strikes—
just powerful enough to shatter defenses and create openings for his allies.
And whenever a pirate tried to withstand even one of those blasts—
they didn't last long enough to regret it.
— — —
Within minutes, the tide had completely turned.
Under Kyūjō's support, five more pirates fell.
The remaining survivors, sensing death closing in, broke formation and fled in panic.
Some Saiyans were about to give chase, but Alec—still the highest-ranked among them—raised his arm and shouted,
"Forget the cowards! Form up and prepare a Power Ball! Anyone who can still fight, follow me—we're going to help Lord Vic!"
At once, every warrior turned their gaze to the distant horizon.
There, the giant red-furred ape—Lord Vic, the High-Class Saiyan commander—was on his knees.
His enormous body was covered in smoking wounds, his armor torn apart, chunks of flesh missing, his inner organs exposed to the open air.
Kyūjō frowned deeply.
That Namekian… he's this strong?
To push a transformed Great Ape to the brink of death… does his power exceed twenty thousand?
If I transformed… could I beat him?
...Though, I've never even seen my Great Ape form before.
He exhaled quietly, letting the thought drift away.
As the Saiyans began to gather their energy to form the Power Ball, the pirate commander—Lux, the green-skinned Namekian—noticed the sudden shift.
His sharp eyes darted toward the Saiyan camp.
The moment he saw the glowing energy sphere forming above their hands, he glanced down at the dying Lord Vic—
and made his decision instantly.
He turned tail and blasted into the sky, heading straight for the massive pirate flagship orbiting in the upper atmosphere.
The battle for Planet Arant was far from over—
but for now, the Namekian had chosen to retreat.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Full Novel Available!
All chapters are now complete and available in full on Patreon!
🔗 patreon.com/FaaanzKun
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —