The Gains...

"You had a great time beating me up before, didn't you? Now it's my turn, you bastard!"

Betkas stared coldly at the Blue-Haired Man. His voice was calm, but his eyes were filled with merciless killing intent. That simple murderous glare made the Blue-Haired Man feel as though he'd been plunged into an icy cavern, as if the temperature had suddenly dropped.

There's no way this guy was still hiding his strength! Otherwise, we would have detected it.

The Blue-Haired Man's face had gone deathly pale. He couldn't understand it. He had sensed the astonishing burst of energy radiating from Betkas. Its immense power far surpassed his own; he had no chance of winning now. He couldn't understand how Betkas had become so powerful in an instant.

"Bang!"

The very next second, the Blue-Haired Man suddenly felt a sharp pain in his abdomen. By the time he reacted, Betkas was already in front of him, driving a fist into his stomach. The agonizing pain and tremendous force sent something hot surging up his throat. He let out a "Bwah!" and vomited as he was sent flying.

"Bang!"

As the Blue-Haired Man flew backward, Betkas appeared behind him once again. He bent his knee to roughly a right angle and slammed it into the Blue-Haired Man's back.

"Crack!"

"Ah!"

The Blue-Haired Man let out a miserable scream. A moment later, the sound of cracking bones rang out, and he was sent flying forward and upward again, his limbs splayed as if he'd lost all strength to resist.

"Bang!!"

The Blue-Haired Man was still flying when Betkas shot past him and blocked his path. Before the Blue-Haired Man could react, Betkas clasped his fists together, raised them high, and brought them crashing down into his abdomen with all his strength.

"Pfft!"

"Rumble!"

The heavy blow made the Blue-Haired Man's body fold into a bow. Blood gushed from his mouth once more as he plunged toward the ground, crashing down with a thunderous roar.

A huge, human-shaped crater, webbed with cracks, appeared in the earth. The Blue-Haired Man was like a candle flickering in the wind as he gasped for breath inside it.

"I wanted to finish you in five seconds, but... I still feel like playing around a little."

Betkas looked down at the Blue-Haired Man in the crater, his expression cold and his tone hostile.

"Oh, wait... I've done it again. I'm showing that Saiyan arrogance. Sure enough, the stronger I get, the more I want to play around in a fight..."

Betkas paused, then shook his head. He seemed to have made the same mistake again without even realizing it. Saiyans were apparently all like that. Even Son Goku and the others in the original story sometimes let their strength make them play around too much in battle, which could easily lead to tragedy. The Cell incident was one such tragedy. That needed no further explanation.

Betkas tried hard to control his mindset and keep the immense power from affecting him. After all, he only had ten minutes. He needed to finish things quickly, not drag them out. He didn't want things to end in tragedy.

"For the sake of the world... no, for the sake of peace in the universe, rest in peace. Don't worry, I'll send everyone on this planet to the afterlife. Mm, all you have to do is wait a few minutes."

Betkas suddenly pointed a finger at the Blue-Haired Man, who still couldn't move in the human-shaped crater, and spoke coldly. Then he fired a golden beam of light straight down.

"Boom!!"

Unlike the piercing attack before, this one exploded on impact. A mushroom cloud slowly rose into the sky, marking the departure of yet another life from the world.

"Next... There seems to be a dying woman nearby. Heh heh... She should be over... there. I can sense a faint trace of energy. Sorry about this. If you want someone to blame, blame yourselves for being too weak. The weak are guilty!"

Betkas carefully sensed his surroundings, looking thoughtful for a moment before speaking. Then he pointed his palm in another direction and fired a golden Ki Blast straight toward it.

"Boom!"

"Hahaha!!! This trip has been quite eventful!"

Betkas suddenly burst into laughter as he watched the explosion ahead. He could sense and even control energy now. That meant he could conceal his power in front of Frieza and the others. He had nothing to worry about anymore. He had the Blue-Haired Man—before he fused—suddenly raise his power to thank for that. It had helped Betkas catch on to the trick.

That alone had taught him how to use energy. That was why he could sense its presence.

"For me, a scouter is just a prop now. But that's not even the biggest thing I've gained... Heh heh..."

Betkas was in high spirits. Learning to control energy was already a huge surprise, but an even bigger one made him happier. That was...

Fusion, and the "Ultra Fusion" that followed it.

He had witnessed both with his own eyes.

Betkas was thrilled—no, delighted. He had grasped the essence of both techniques. With a little recollection and a few tries, he could immediately learn advanced techniques like Fusion and Ultra Fusion.

This could even be considered his "talent." No matter what kind of special move it was, Betkas only needed to see it once to grasp its essence. Majin Buu had done the same: after seeing Son Goku use the Kamehameha, he had immediately been able to perform it. Betkas, meanwhile, could see a move once and reproduce it perfectly from memory, then even learn it within a certain amount of time.

So this time, he really had gained a great deal. Fusion might prove to be a rather useless trick in the future, but Betkas believed that Ultra Fusion would absolutely be an ace among aces!

After all, a fighter with a power level of just over ten thousand could reach a million after fusing and then using Ultra Fusion. That was a hundredfold increase! The thought made Betkas eager to try it. He wanted to see just how powerful a Super Saiyan would become after Ultra Fusion.