At that moment, Frieza had just crawled out of the pile of shattered rock. He was about to curse in fury when he looked up and saw a scene that sent a chill through his entire body.
That energy was no longer on the same level as before.
The blue-and-red sphere gathering in Goku's hands looked like a collapsing miniature star.
The destructive force compressed inside it made Frieza's scalp go numb.
If that attack hit him head-on, even his body might be completely vaporized.
"What kind of joke is this...?"
Frieza's pupils shrank to pinpoints. For the first time in his life, the shadow of death truly loomed over him.
A crack finally appeared in his overwhelming pride.
"Ka... me..."
Goku's voice rang out like the tolling of a judgment bell. Every syllable shook the ground violently beneath them.
"HAAAAAAAAAA!!!"
The final word exploded from his throat.
A blue-and-crimson beam over a hundred meters wide roared toward Frieza below, carrying enough force to erase everything in its path.
In that instant, the world lost all color.
The entire planet of Namek trembled before the attack. The atmosphere was torn open by brute force, revealing the endless blackness of space beyond.
"No! I won't accept this! I can't die here!!"
Faced with the descending wave of destruction, Frieza finally abandoned all restraint, all arrogance, and every shred of royal composure.
Thirty percent power?
Toying with his enemies?
All of it became a joke in the face of death.
If he held back now, he would really die.
"Fifty percent... No! GO HIGHER!!!"
Frieza screamed wildly as the abyss-like power inside him finally burst loose.
BOOM!
A storm of black-purple energy exploded from his body, forming a massive semicircular barrier in front of him.
That was sixty million power level.
Half of Frieza's true strength.
The blue-red Kamehameha slammed into the black-purple barrier head-on.
Two planet-destroying forces collided in midair.
There was no dramatic crackling sound.
For a brief moment, it felt as though sound itself had been erased by some higher law of existence.
Only light and darkness remained, devouring and annihilating one another in silence.
At the center of the storm, Frieza was far from calm.
"Grrrraaaahhh...!"
Both hands pressed desperately against the beam. His once sleek, armored arms trembled violently under the pressure.
The purple skin split open from strain, black fluid leaking from the cracks.
"That damned Saiyan... forcing me to use fifty percent of my power...!"
Frieza crushed his teeth together.
This level of strength had been reserved for the legendary Super Saiyan. For conquering the entire North Galaxy.
It was supposed to be his ultimate trump card.
And now?
Now he was using it as nothing more than a shield to survive the desperate attack of a so-called lower lifeform.
The humiliation burned hotter than the pain.
But what terrified him even more was this:
Even at fifty percent power... he was struggling.
That Kamehameha carried more than raw energy.
It carried absolute resolve.
A mad determination to destroy the enemy, even at the cost of Goku's own life.
"GET BACK!!!"
Veins bulged across Frieza's neck as he forced every cell in his body to release more power.
The ground beneath him had already vanished.
Everything within several kilometers had been erased into molten vapor. He floated alone above a sea of lava.
"HHAAAAAA!!!"
High above, Goku had reached his limit.
Blood poured from his eyes, nose, ears, and mouth, evaporating into crimson mist the instant it touched the scorching air.
The backlash from the twenty-times Kaioken crashed through his body like a tidal wave.
His organs felt as though they were being twisted apart by dull blades. Every bone screamed under the strain.
"I... can't lose...!"
His vision had already blurred, but his eyes remained locked on the purple figure below.
If he lost, everyone would die.
Piccolo would die.
Krillin would die.
Earth would eventually fall too.
"Just a little more... GIVE ME JUST A LITTLE MORE POWER!!!"
Goku roared with everything he had left.
The beam, which had already begun to weaken, suddenly expanded once again under the pressure of sheer will.
BOOOOM!!!
The balance shattered.
The Kamehameha crushed against Frieza's barrier and forced it backward.
"What?!"
Frieza's eyes widened in terror as the blue light drew closer and closer.
"That's impossible! I'm already using fifty percent of my power...!"
Before he could finish speaking, a tiny crack appeared in the barrier.
Then another.
And another.
The fractures spread like a spiderweb.
CRACK!
That crisp shattering sound became the final blow.
With nothing left to stop it, the Kamehameha engulfed Frieza completely with unstoppable force.
"NOOOOOOO!!!"
His desperate scream vanished inside the flood of energy.
Then came an explosion powerful enough to be written into Namek's history forever.
For one terrifying instant, Krillin felt as though he were staring directly into a collapsing star.
Blinding white light swallowed everything.
Scouters, ki sensing, vision itself... all of it failed at once.
A colossal mushroom cloud rose into the sky. Instead of gray, the clouds shimmered in unnatural rainbow colors from extreme ionization.
The shockwave spread outward like an invisible giant scythe.
Mountains were sliced apart.
Rivers evaporated instantly.
The planet's surface was peeled away layer by layer.
"Get down!"
Krillin reacted immediately. He grabbed the still-stunned Piccolo and used Instant Transmission to retreat behind a massive canyon over ten kilometers away, quickly raising an energy barrier around them.
RUMBLEEEEE!!!
The earth screamed.
Everything within hundreds of kilometers was completely reshaped.
Even behind cover, Krillin and Piccolo were battered senseless by the shockwaves.
Countless rocks rained down overhead like artillery shells. The entire canyon shook violently, as though the end of the world had arrived.
The trembling continued for a full five minutes.
When silence finally returned, the air reeked of sulfur and scorched dust.
"Is... is it over?"
Piccolo shoved aside the boulders pinning him down and climbed to his feet unsteadily.
Even he swallowed nervously at the apocalyptic sight before him.
The mountain ranges that once covered the land were gone.
In their place was an enormous basin filled with flowing magma.
What kind of battle was this?
If they had stayed where they were earlier, not even ashes would have remained.
Krillin brushed the dust off his bald head and stared grimly toward the center of the explosion.
[System Scan in Progress...]
[Environmental interference severe. Residual energy levels too high. Precise location unavailable.]
[Son Goku Status: Extremely weakened. Ki nearly extinguished. Critical condition.]
At the center of the massive crater, an orange-clad figure floated shakily in the air.
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