With a furious roar, Frieza unleashed his power.
The battle armor covering his body was struck by the tremendous shockwave and exploded instantly, shattering into countless fragments that scattered in every direction.
"Amazing!"
"His battle armor shattered that easily?!"
Gohan and Krillin's faces turned deathly pale at the sight.
Battle armor was incredibly durable. Even if they attacked with all their strength, they could barely damage it.
Yet Frieza had merely flared his aura...
And it had completely blown apart.
When everyone finally saw Frieza's exposed body, they froze.
Especially when they looked at the confident expression on his face.
Was... this his transformation?
It didn't seem very different.
Unable to contain himself, Vegeta was the first to mock him.
"Hey, Frieza! What kind of joke is this?"
"Taking off your armor counts as transforming now?"
Although he spoke confidently, cold sweat unconsciously covered his body.
Because while he was talking...
He could clearly sense Frieza's aura growing stronger and stronger.
"Heh... heh..."
Frieza let out a cold, piercing laugh that seemed capable of chilling the soul itself.
As he laughed, every bone in his body began cracking violently.
Crack... crack... crack...
The horrifying sounds echoed through the battlefield, making everyone's hair stand on end.
Suddenly,
Frieza's expression twisted in agony, as though his own body were enduring unbearable pain.
Unable to suppress himself any longer, he let out one deafening roar after another.
With every roar...
His body began expanding at an astonishing rate.
His originally slender limbs rapidly swelled with powerful muscles.
His body stretched higher and higher.
In the blink of an eye,
his height had more than doubled.
At the same time,
both his arms and legs grew significantly longer and thicker, overflowing with explosive power.
When the final roar faded...
Frieza's transformation was complete.
His height had increased from a mere one meter forty...
To well over three meters tall.
He now resembled a demonic war god descended upon the world—
An immovable mountain of destruction.
His appearance had become similar to that of a towering, muscular minotaur.
A pair of razor-sharp horns protruded from his head, radiating an overwhelming aura of terror.
Even his face had matured, becoming far more savage and intimidating.
"H-How..."
"...How is this possible...?"
Vegeta stared with eyes wide open, completely dumbfounded.
This transformation was nothing like Zarbon's.
It was unimaginably terrifying.
That vast, sinister aura flooded over him like a tidal wave, making it difficult even to breathe.
Gohan and Krillin fared even worse.
The sudden change left them rooted to the spot.
Their bodies trembled uncontrollably.
They couldn't even force themselves to take a single step.
Compared to them,
Goku remained much calmer.
Although his expression had become extremely serious,
his eyes still shone with excitement mixed with astonishment.
After all,
this was the first time he had ever encountered an opponent as powerful as Frieza.
Even someone as battle-hardened as Goku couldn't help but be moved.
Standing nearby,
Dende had long known that Frieza's strength was unfathomable.
He had mentally prepared himself for Frieza's transformation.
Even so,
seeing the gigantic, three-meter-tall Frieza with his own eyes still made him inhale sharply.
The pressure Frieza emitted far exceeded anything Dende had imagined.
Frieza simply stood there like an insurmountable mountain,
quietly enjoying the horrified expressions on everyone's faces.
After a long moment,
the corners of his mouth curled upward into a mocking smile.
"Finished admiring me?"
"Since I've already transformed into this form..."
"I won't be holding back anymore."
His icy voice sounded as though it came from the depths of hell itself.
It sent chills down everyone's spine.
"After all..."
"Even I have trouble controlling my strength in this form."
"Oh, and one more thing."
"My current power level..."
"...is over 1.5 million."
The moment Frieza revealed his power level,
Vegeta's face turned deathly grim.
His teeth clenched tightly.
His heart filled with disbelief and fury.
"N-No..."
"Impossible!"
His eyes widened in horror, and even his voice began trembling.
Originally,
Vegeta had believed that after pushing beyond his limits, his strength would finally rival Frieza's.
He estimated his own power level had risen to around 700,000.
Even if Frieza transformed beyond his original 530,000, Vegeta had been confident he could still challenge—and defeat—him.
Reality...
Delivered him a devastating blow.
He had never imagined that Frieza's transformation would raise his power level to over 1.5 million.
The sheer magnitude of that increase completely surpassed everything Vegeta had expected.
Against such an opponent...
Even if he were pushed to the brink of death once again and recovered through Dende's healing,
it still wouldn't be enough.
Thinking that,
an overwhelming fear surged through Vegeta's heart.
It wasn't fear of death.
Nor fear of defeat.
It was the despair of realizing...
He could never surpass Frieza.
For years,
Frieza had been the greatest obstacle standing before him.
Vegeta had always dreamed of defeating him—
To prove his own strength...
And restore the pride of the Saiyan race.
But now,
Frieza's overwhelming power made him realize that all of his previous efforts seemed utterly meaningless.
The gulf separating them remained as vast and unreachable as ever.
"...What a terrifying opponent."
"So this..."
"...is the true power of the Emperor of the Universe?"
Seeing the once-arrogant Vegeta finally sink into despair,
Frieza smiled in satisfaction.
"Heh... heh..."
"Feeling hopeless now?"
"Too late."
As he spoke,
Frieza's aura erupted once more.
With nothing more than a casual lift of his hand,
an unimaginably powerful wave of energy burst outward.
Centered on Frieza,
everything within several kilometers was instantly engulfed.
The earth itself crumbled into dust.
Everyone hurriedly flew into the sky,
barely escaping the catastrophic shockwave.
"Dende!"
Krillin and Gohan were the weakest among them.
Although they had been standing farther away and narrowly escaped Frieza's indiscriminate attack,
they immediately began searching anxiously for Dende.
To their surprise,
they found him being carried safely through the air by Vegeta.
Seeing Dende unharmed,
Gohan let out a sigh of relief.
After all,
to them,
Dende was simply a helpless Namekian child with no fighting ability.
"Krillin!"
"You're bleeding!"
Gohan suddenly noticed fresh blood running down Krillin's bald head.
"I'm fine."
"It's just a scratch."
Krillin answered in a low voice.
Seeing this,
Goku immediately flew over,
placing himself protectively in front of Gohan and Krillin.
One was his beloved son.
The other was the brother-in-arms who had grown up fighting beside him.
He absolutely would not allow either of them to die.
Especially Krillin.
Krillin had already died once before.
Even the Dragon Balls could no longer revive him.
Standing atop the only small patch of intact ground,
Frieza crossed his arms and looked at everyone with amusement.
"You little ants are quite fast."
"But..."
"That was only a tiny greeting."
"Even an ordinary Saiyan could accomplish something like that."
With the mentality of someone toying with insects,
Frieza coldly looked over the group.
"Vegeta."
"You should understand this feeling better than anyone."
"The pleasure..."
"...of playing with insignificant bugs."
"It's just that..."
"This time..."
"You're the insect."
"You have absolutely no idea..."
"...how great my power truly is."
"So..."
"I'll let you witness a tiny fraction of it."
His gaze swept over the two groups before him.
On one side—
Vegeta and the Dende he was carrying.
On the other—
Goku, standing protectively before Gohan and Krillin.
"You."
Frieza made his choice.
The instant the word left his mouth,
his aura exploded.
He shot into the sky with terrifying speed.
He was at least twice as fast as before.
No one present...
Could even follow his movements with their eyes.
-------------------
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