Aftermath

A remote planet in the North Galaxy.

The ruins of a collapsed structure were surrounded by water vapor.

Vegeta sat on a fallen stone, munching on fruit from the planet. Nearby lay the corpses of several dinosaur-like creatures. They had been on this planet for a long time, and the native inhabitants had almost been wiped out. Soon, they would be able to return to their home planet.

Just then, several Saiyans beside him received a message from the Frieza Force. They opened it, and every one of them was stunned.

A grown Saiyan said in shock, "Prince Vegeta, the Frieza Force sent a message saying that Planet Vegeta was struck by a huge meteorite and the entire planet was destroyed. All the Saiyans on it are dead."

"What do you mean, all dead?"

Apart from Vegeta and Raditz, the other three members of the Vegeta Squad were grown Saiyans. They all froze at the news.

"Every Saiyan had returned to Planet Vegeta by then, so they died too. That means only five of us are left." Nappa still had hair at the time, and his battle power had yet to reach its peak.

Raditz held his injured arm. "We were really lucky this time. Good thing we didn't follow the recall order and return to Planet Vegeta."

Vegeta coldly spat out the fruit in his mouth. "What a shame. I thought I could become the Saiyan King!"

"Prince Vegeta, you have a younger brother, don't you?"

"Yeah. I don't know if he's alive or dead. Whatever, I won't bother with him." Vegeta went on eating fruit. His younger brother, Tarble, had been too weak at birth, so the King Vegeta of that time had secretly exiled him to a low-level planet to avoid bringing shame to the royal family. Not many people knew about it.

"What about Raditz's younger brother?" A few of the grown Saiyans showed concern for their teammate's family.

Raditz shrugged. "I don't know. He's only a low-class warrior, so he's probably in the Incubation Pod back home..." He suddenly remembered a message his mother, Gine, had sent him a while ago. She seemed to have sent his younger brother to some planet or other. He didn't care, anyway.

"Uh... I see!"

His teammates were at a loss for words. It seemed Vegeta and Raditz didn't care much about their younger brothers. Perhaps they'd spent so much time away on missions that the Frieza Force had influenced them, and they'd forgotten the bonds between Saiyans.

Planet Vegeta was one of the few advanced planets in the North Galaxy. Its destruction naturally caused an uproar across the entire North Galaxy.

Countless aliens who had been forced to wander the universe after suffering Saiyan attacks heard the news. They all clapped and cheered, laughing aloud.

Many others on different planets heard the news and wore gloating, scornful smiles. Plenty of wealthy people lamented Planet Vegeta's destruction, though they weren't mourning the Saiyans. They were sorry they'd missed the chance to acquire an advanced planet.

On a beautiful planet.

King Cold sat leisurely on his throne, gently swirling a glass of wine in his hand and taking the occasional sip. What a carefree life he led.

Five years earlier, he'd handed the King Cold Legion over to Frieza and had it reorganized into the Frieza Force. King Cold had then officially retired and settled on this beautiful planet with a few trusted aides. He only spoke out when major events occurred across the universe, just to remind everyone he was still around.

"I heard Frieza wiped out all the Saiyans?"

"That's right, King Cold," an alien beside him replied cautiously.

King Cold burst out laughing and crossed his legs. "Good. Even if they submitted, the Saiyans would never truly be loyal. It's for the best that Frieza wiped them out."

"Apparently, Lord Frieza left a few Saiyans alive... One of them is named Vegeta, and he seems to be a Saiyan prince."

"Oh?" King Cold said with interest, taking a sip of red wine. "It's fine. The Saiyans are nothing to worry about. Vegeta will be no better than his father. At most, his battle power will reach ten or twenty thousand someday. Killing him will be as easy as swatting a fly."

King Cold wasn't as powerful as Frieza, but his battle power was still in the tens of millions. He had complete control over the energy in his body, so he didn't need to suppress his power by transforming like Frieza. Before Frieza, he had been the undisputed ruler of the North Galaxy.

In his eyes, weak Saiyans like Vegeta were nothing but toys to amuse himself with when bored. Once he tired of them, he could kill them whenever he pleased.

That was why he'd let Frieza keep Vegeta and the others around.

Of course, the Saiyans on Planet Vegeta truly weren't very strong. If Goku, the protagonist, and Vegeta, one of the main supporting characters, hadn't brought the race some renown in the original story, ordinary Saiyans from Planet Vegeta would have been little more than somewhat capable fighters. There were plenty of aliens in the North Galaxy stronger than they were.

From that perspective, neither King Cold nor Frieza had made a mistake.

But they didn't know that this seemingly insignificant decision would one day bring doom upon both father and son.

On a planet not far from Planet Vegeta, a dazzling, multicolored light suddenly appeared at the very moment Planet Vegeta was destroyed.

Whoosh!

Space twisted abruptly. More than ten meters above the ground, Roland, Sephiria, and Hertz appeared in midair.

Thud! The three of them dropped helplessly from a height of more than ten meters.

Roland had forced himself to bring others along when he used the Transfer Technique and was now completely exhausted. Sephiria and Hertz had little energy left after their earlier struggle against Frieza's Destruction Ball. They had also been caught off guard by the sudden transfer to an alien planet, and their minds hadn't caught up yet. All three crashed into the ground, leaving three craters.

Roland struggled out of his crater. His face was deathly pale from the energy he'd expended, and the fall made him feel even worse.

"Are you all right?" Sephiria came to his side, her voice cool. Her hair was a little disheveled and she looked haggard, as if she'd suffered a severe blow. Her battle suit was torn in several places.

Roland waved a hand. "I'm fine. I've just used up a lot of energy."

"Thanks to you, we were able to leave Planet Vegeta." Sephiria's mood was low. She knew Planet Vegeta wouldn't meet a good end. It might already have been destroyed, just as Roland had said earlier.

"You're not thinking of taking revenge on the Saiyans, are you?"

Roland studied Sephiria. Frieza was far too powerful for them to challenge right now. He was genuinely worried that she might lose her head and rush off to seek revenge.

Sephiria shook her head. "No. The Saiyans' extinction was simply a defeat in the struggle of the strong against the weak. Countless planets have fallen at our hands. There's nothing to regret about dying in battle. I'm just unwilling to accept that Frieza is so much stronger than us."

Her defeat had dealt a heavy blow to Sephiria, who'd always considered herself a genius. But it had also made her recognize the gap between herself and the strongest fighters. Her meager battle power was nothing to be proud of.

"True. We're no match for Frieza."

Roland fell silent for a moment, then took three Senzu Beans from his pocket and handed one each to Sephiria and Hertz. "Here. Eat one of these and you'll recover your strength instantly."

Sephiria accepted it without hesitation. As soon as she ate it, she regained her vigor. Feeling the power surging through her body, her dark eyes widened.

Her younger brother really had all kinds of good stuff!

Hertz examined the Senzu Bean in his hand. "What's going on? How did we get here? And what happened to Planet Vegeta?"

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