This Grudge, I'll Remember It

High in the sky, Aila stood on the left, filled with fury, while Rhode stood on the right, looking exhilarated, his desire for battle stirred. As the Turtle School Ki Waves erupted, neither side held back, driving their power to the limit!

"Ahhh!"

As they roared, surging energy continuously burst from their bodies.

After recovering from near-death for the first time, Rhode's combat power had already surpassed five thousand. Although the effects of his second near-death recovery had been greatly reduced, it had still raised his combat power by several hundred.

As such, Rhode's combat power had now reached at least six thousand!

Yet at this moment, as the two clashed in a Burst of Power, Aila—whose combat power had originally been lower and who had only recovered from near-death once—actually managed to hold Rhode at a stalemate for a short time.

"Ha!"

Rhode's face turned cold. With a furious shout, he unleashed his full strength, and even greater power burst from his body. The locked Kamehameha held out only briefly before losing balance and being swiftly pushed back toward Aila.

Boom!

In an instant, Rhode drove the Turtle School Ki Wave right before Aila. The next moment, the raging energy swallowed her whole, triggering a violent explosion.

In the end, the outcome was no surprise. Aila was engulfed by the explosion, and Rhode emerged victorious.

"Whew..."

In the sky, Rhode took a deep breath and calmed his turbulent emotions. His eyes remained fixed on the place where the Energy Blast had exploded.

Whoosh!

The wind swept through the sky, dispersing the smoke and dust. Aila appeared in Rhode's field of vision, looking disheveled and gasping for breath.

Aila's battle suit was damaged, and blood still stained her body. Her aura had become extremely weak, but surprisingly, her eyes were terrifyingly bright, filled with excitement and intense Fighting Spirit.

"Not bad!"

Seeing that Aila was injured and her aura was weak, yet not seriously hurt, Rhode felt quite pleased. This guy finally knows how to use her brain.

Just before Rhode's unleashed Turtle School Ki Wave had struck her, Aila had not chosen to take it head-on. Instead, she had detonated it in advance, dispersing its power. That was why she had not been completely swallowed by the Turtle School Ki Wave.

Otherwise, if she had taken Rhode's fully unleashed Turtle School Ki Wave head-on, even if Aila had survived, she would have been severely injured rather than merely lightly wounded as she was now.

Still, although Aila's final response during their beam clash pleased Rhode, what surprised him more was how greatly her combat power had increased after recovering from near-death.

After recovering from the battle on Planet Rhyner, Aila's combat power had been around twenty-six hundred. During the several months of space travel, her strength had remained stagnant with little improvement. Though she had learned to train after arriving on Earth and further strengthened her control over ki, the time had been limited.

By that calculation, Aila's accumulated foundation was far inferior to his own. Yet during their earlier beam clash, the strength she displayed had clearly been at least around five thousand combat power!

She had accumulated less than him, yet her increase was even greater?

Rhode recalled that the difference when the two had exploited the bug was that Aila had suffered a sudden attack from him, causing her emotions to fluctuate violently and giving rise to an intense sense of mortal danger.

In contrast, although he had severely injured himself, he had long known what would happen afterward. His emotions had barely changed, and he had felt no sense of danger.

Thinking it over, intense emotional stimulation and the sense of crisis brought about by the line between life and death indeed seemed to affect exploiting the bug to some extent.

However, although that effect existed, Aila's own foundation was insufficient. Thus, even with the boost from that intense life-or-death stimulation, her strength could not surpass his.

"Hmph!"

Faced with Rhode's praise, Aila gave a haughty cold snort and did not respond.

At this moment, although she had lost to Rhode, her strength had nearly doubled from before, so Aila was still in a fairly good mood. It proved that Rhode had not lied to her back on Planet Rhyner.

After all, the strength she had gained in just these few short months had surpassed the total improvement of the previous eight years. In the past, that would have been unimaginable!

"However..."

Seeing Aila's obvious self-satisfaction, Rhode's expression immediately turned serious. "You may have learned to think, but the fact that I managed to ambush you earlier was completely unacceptable!"

Although he had attacked suddenly without any warning, failing to react was still Aila's problem.

The moment those words came out, Aila's previously good mood instantly turned foul. She Gnashed Teeth and cursed Rhode, "Rhode, you Bastard!"

Even after cursing Rhode, Aila was not satisfied. Baring her fangs and claws, she threatened him, "You'd better sleep with one eye open from now on. Otherwise, sooner or later, I'll avenge today's ambush!"

Faced with Aila's threat, Rhode merely grinned indifferently. "You're welcome anytime, but let me make this clear—you won't get the chance in this lifetime!"

There was little affection between Saiyans. Aila had failed to avoid Rhode's attack earlier not because she trusted him, but because she had been too absorbed in the method Rhode had given her for rapidly increasing her strength, causing her to lower her guard.

Perhaps after living on Earth for a long time, Aila would become less cold and ruthless and develop trust toward others. But right now, she had no such unnecessary thing.

Therefore, her threats were entirely within Rhode's expectations. As for ambushes, just as she said, he welcomed them at any time. In fact, Rhode even hoped Aila would help him train his ability to react to sudden attacks.

Seeing that Rhode was unmoved by her threat, Aila secretly gritted her teeth and swore that she would train hard and improve herself. Sooner or later, she would defeat this guy and ruthlessly trample him.

However, since she could not defeat him right now, no matter how furious she was, she could only endure it. With a cold face, Aila came before Rhode and held out her hand. "Give me one of those beans from earlier!"

"No."

Rhode did not even hesitate before directly refusing Aila's request.

"You..."

Still, although he had refused Aila, when he saw her flushed face, Rhode unusually gave her an explanation. "Your little injury doesn't warrant wasting a Senzu Bean. Recover on your own!"

What an awful guy!

Cursing inwardly, Aila glared at Rhode. She did not withdraw her hand and continued asking, "I'm not eating it now. I'll keep it for later."

Hearing Aila say that and seeing that she had not withdrawn her hand, Rhode pondered for a moment. He took out two Senzu Beans from his pocket and placed them in her hand, reminding her, "These are lifesaving items. Use them at critical moments."

After receiving the Senzu Beans, Aila glared at Rhode again. Then she rose into the air, found the right direction, and flew toward West City. She intended to return to the Healing Tank in the spaceship to recover her body.

Her temper was still this awful. Looks like she had not been beaten enough.

Rhode had helped raise her combat power and even given her something as valuable as Senzu Beans, yet not only had this guy failed to thank him, she had even glared at him. That annoyed Rhode, and he thought he would need to discipline her more in the future.

That was what he thought, but Rhode also knew that changing a Saiyan was not something that could be accomplished in a short time. It would be a long-term project.

Not dwelling on Aila's temper, Rhode did not leave. Instead, he remained suspended in the air and began meditating. He wanted to restore his control over his power to the level it had been before his massive increase in strength.

Several days later, Rhode successfully suppressed his outward combat power to four. Once he had accomplished that, he no longer remained in the Wasteland and headed for West City as well. It was time to try out the Gravity Chamber.