Before Zarbon even finished speaking, he stomped down on Vegeta's head with a brutal kick.
Squish.
Vegeta's face was ground mercilessly into the wet, slimy mud.
The humiliation was worse than the physical pain.
Zarbon twisted his foot, pressing harder, as if trying to crush Vegeta's skull.
"How about it, Prince?"
"Do you like the taste of mud?"
"This is what a traitor deserves! This is what you get for disobeying Lord Frieza!"
He raised his foot, and a purple energy sphere condensed in his palm, aimed at the back of Vegeta's head.
Vegeta's life was seconds from ending.
…
On a faraway mountaintop—
Loren was lying down reading manga.
Suddenly—
[Ding! Detection complete! Important associated character Vegeta is on the verge of death! His death will lead to Frieza gathering the Dragon Balls early!]
"Oh? Vegeta's getting beaten up again?"
"He must've run into Zarbon."
"Poor bastard can't stay cool for three seconds."
[Ding! The God-level selection system has triggered a choice. Please select!]
A glowing screen appeared in front of him.
[Choice One: Stand by and let Vegeta live or die on his own.
Reward: A box of special-grade fermented herring cans.]
[Choice Two: Your prestige must not be provoked! Intervene, save Vegeta, and punish Zarbon.
Reward: Battle power +30,000.]
Loren glanced at "fermented herring cans" and curled his lip.
That stuff was a biological weapon. No way.
"Thirty thousand battle power… now that's something."
"System, I choose Two."
"Vegeta, try not to die yet."
[Ding! Host selected 'Your prestige must not be provoked.' Reward: +30,000 battle power!]
A surge of power flowed into Loren's body.
He vanished instantly from the mountaintop.
…
Just as Zarbon was about to fire the killing blast—
Loren appeared silently behind him.
Zarbon stiffened.
That aura… terrifying.
And he hadn't sensed him arrive at all.
"Who are you?" Zarbon asked, suddenly alert.
Loren yawned.
He didn't answer—he simply glanced at the half-dead Vegeta lying in the mud.
"Tsk. Pathetic."
"Vegeta, how did you get beat up this badly?"
Then he finally looked at Zarbon.
"Hey. You—ugly one."
Zarbon's face twitched.
"If you're gonna fight, can you not make such a damn mess? My ears are ringing."
"And you're so ugly it's a crime. Don't run around scaring people."
"Look what you did to our Prince Vegeta."
"And I think I heard you call Saiyans trash. I'm a Saiyan too. You picking a fight with me?"
Loren's aura burst out.
Zarbon trembled.
"I—I am Zarbon, under Lord Frieza!" he blurted. "You'd best not meddle!"
"Frieza?" Loren scratched his head.
"Never heard of him. Is he famous?"
Zarbon nearly fainted.
In this entire universe, someone dared to not know Lord Frieza's name?
"Lord Frieza is the Emperor of the Universe! He has a battle power of 530,000!"
"If you stop now, I can pretend nothing happened!"
"Five hundred thirty thousand, huh… sounds impressive."
Loren tapped his chin.
"Oh yeah—earlier I casually crushed a pink fat guy. I think he was called Dodoria? That one of Frieza's men too?"
BOOM.
Zarbon went pale.
Dodoria… dead!?
Killed by this Saiyan!?
Escape.
He had to escape immediately.
He turned and blasted off at full speed, becoming a streak of light heading toward Frieza's ship.
"Running already?"
Loren's voice rang in his ear.
Zarbon turned in terror—Loren was right beside him, casually picking at his ear.
"I told you to keep it down, but you didn't listen."
Loren's aura surged.
He didn't even unleash his full strength—only about sixty or seventy thousand.
But it was enough.
Zarbon froze in mid-air, completely immobilized.
"Game over."
Loren flashed past him.
Zarbon stopped.
He looked down.
A massive hole had been punched clean through his chest.
His eyes widened in disbelief.
It's… over…
He fell from the sky.
Splash.
The lake swallowed him, then went still.
As if nothing had happened.
Loren descended beside Vegeta and the Four-Star Dragon Ball.
He sighed.
"What a damn mess."
"So troublesome."
[Name: Loren]
[Battle Power: 179,200] (partly from daily leisure tasks)
[Skills: Kamehameha, Flight Mastery, Blutz Wave Immunity, Autonomous Great Ape Transformation, Instant Transmission (Supreme Kai version)]
"I've grown increasingly powerful. Even the Ginyu Force is no longer a match for me."
…
Inside Frieza's spaceship—
The temperature plummeted.
On the life-tracking monitor, Zarbon's signal flickered several times… then went dark.
Following Dodoria, Zarbon had died as well.
Two elites dead, almost back-to-back.
This was a direct insult to Frieza's authority.
But instead of raging, Frieza sat calmly on his floating throne.
His soldiers, however, felt suffocated by the pressure radiating from him.
"Oh ho ho ho ho…"
"How interesting."
"Very interesting."
"In this universe, besides my dear father, someone actually dares to provoke Lord Frieza?"
Frieza slowly lifted his head and looked at the communication console.
"It seems it's about time… to let those guys stretch their muscles."
He pressed the highest-level communication button.
The signal shot across the stars.