The Frost Demon Race Had No Family Affection

Frieza had just given the videotape a merciless send-off when his brow furrowed. Since he had no eyebrows, though, he looked a little odd.

Fortunately, plenty of people in Dragon Ball had no eyebrows, so it was nothing unusual.

Thud~

The sound of something heavy hitting the ground came from outside the palace. Frieza sighed.

Cooler had arrived!

So be it.

Killing one was a crime; slaughtering ten thousand made you a hero!

Slaughter ten thousand among ten thousand, and you were the greatest hero of all!

Creak~ Creak~

This time, those weren't Frieza's footsteps. They were Cooler's as he walked into the palace—the distinctive footsteps of their race.

"Frieza, my dear little brother! You went and did the very thing I've always wanted to do. Tell me, how should your big brother thank you?"

The moment Cooler saw Frieza, he greeted him with the utmost enthusiasm. Meanwhile, the temperature inside the palace plummeted, dropping even lower than it was outside.

"Oh ho ho ho~!"

"It's something you wanted to do but didn't dare. Why would I, Frieza, fear it?"

"But you, after all these years, haven't improved in the slightest. Your battle power has only gone from 470 million to 500 million. How disappointing!"

"Oh ho ho ho!"

If Cooler hadn't entered the palace with such undisguised killing intent, Frieza wouldn't have been so quick to provoke him.

After all, this was the brother who had gone to Earth alone to avenge him!

But now it seemed Cooler had only used that as an excuse.

Cooler had no familial affection in his heart!

Or perhaps their race had never known such a thing!

Hearing Frieza's obnoxious laughter made Cooler's face twitch involuntarily. He really couldn't understand why his little brother had such a peculiar hobby.

"Frieza, you seem awfully confident! Don't you know I can transform one more time?"

Cooler folded his arms, intending to look down at Frieza.

Then he realized he couldn't!

"When did you get so tall?"

Cooler stared in disbelief. Once members of the Frost Demon Race reached adulthood, they couldn't change their body shape except by transforming—let alone grow this much taller!

"Oh ho ho ho!"

"If you want to fight, then fight. Why all the blather?"

Whoosh~

Two Death Beams shot from Frieza's eyes, piercing straight through Cooler's chest.

But Frieza showed no sign of triumph. His gaze shifted to the left.

Cooler's figure was slowly appearing there, while the one from before rapidly faded away.

"Hmph. A child's trick!"

Cooler flicked his tail dismissively, then slammed it into the ground. A fissure split the surface, plunging into unfathomable depths.

The one good thing about Ice Planet was that it could take a beating. The crack soon froze over, as if nothing had happened.

"Ah~~!! Aaaah!!"

Cooler didn't feel like wasting any more time either. He released his energy, and a wave of purple aura burst outward. Tagoma was blown away, vanishing from sight.

Cooler didn't care whether Tagoma lived or died, and neither did Frieza.

Even after Cooler powered up, Frieza remained completely unruffled. Five hundred million in battle power was nothing worth taking seriously.

Clang~~ Bang!

Their fists collided, and Cooler was instantly blasted out of the palace, crashing into the distant ice with a spray of ice crystals.

Fury filled Cooler's eyes. He rubbed his arm in disbelief. That punch had nearly crippled his left arm.

"Good! Good! Good! So that's where your confidence came from. You've gotten that much stronger!"

"But it's all in vain, Frieza! You've successfully enraged me!"

Whoosh~~!!

Cooler powered up again. He was going to transform further; it was the only way he could hope to defeat Frieza as he was now.

Bang!

Cooler was slammed beneath the ice once more. Frieza said coolly, "You talk too much!"

He extended his right hand and aimed his index finger at the crater where Cooler lay. A Death Beam, ten times thicker than the ones he'd fired from his eyes, shot out.

Boom!!

No matter how sturdy Ice Planet was, even it changed after taking that hit.

Huge chunks of ice bulged upward, and cracks spread across vast stretches of the ice sheet.

"Argh!! Frieza, you're asking to die!"

Boom!

With a roar, Cooler burst out of the ice, both arms hanging limp at his sides.

"Oh ho ho ho!"

"I thought my dear big brother would be so powerful. Turns out you're all show and no substance—a useless weakling!"

"Even Saiyans can take an attack like that!"

Cooler might have had high battle power, but he couldn't use his energy nearly as well as Son Goku and the others. Frieza found this fight utterly pointless.

"Transform. I'll give you time. I want you to die with no regrets!"

When Frieza had killed King Cold instantly, his battle power had only been 250 million. Yet King Cold could still transform twice. To be safe—and, more importantly, because Frieza couldn't use Star Transformation back then—he hadn't given King Cold even the slightest chance.

Perhaps it was because he'd spent some time with the Saiyans. Perhaps he'd always had a reckless streak. Either way, Frieza now felt that killing Cooler just like this would be utterly meaningless.

Cooler's furious eyes seemed ready to spit flames, but he still didn't give up on the chance to transform.

He'd underestimated Frieza and overestimated himself. Now, for the first time, he was terrified of dying!

After seeing the surveillance footage, Cooler's eyes had immediately lit up. He'd suddenly realized he could ambush King Cold just like Frieza had—and do it even more cleanly.

Since he'd decided that Frieza had ambushed King Cold rather than defeated him in a fair fight, Cooler had dared to come here alone.

Now he no longer dared to underestimate Frieza, because Frieza really did have the strength to kill him!

"You'll regret this! Hahahaha! You're going to regret this!"

Seeing that Cooler still had time to spout nonsense, Frieza used Shift to appear in front of him and drove a hard punch into his stomach.

Cooler's eyes bulged from the blow, and his mouth gaped wide. He spat out a green liquid that might have been bile or blood. Frieza felt nauseated.

Frieza unleashed another Inch Punch through his arm. Cooler let out another pained roar and flew a thousand meters away.

"You haven't found out whether I'll regret it yet, but I know you must already regret all that blathering!"

With Shift, Frieza appeared again and planted a foot on Cooler's chest. The sound of bones breaking rang out, and Frieza only lifted his foot after Cooler's agonized screams.

"Ten seconds. For some reason, I'm willing to give you another ten seconds. If you can't finish transforming by then, you die!"

A gleam flashed in Cooler's eyes. He didn't need ten seconds. Five would be enough.

"Oh, and even after you transform, you still won't escape death!"

"Just so you know, three seconds have already passed!"

Cooler froze. Frieza was distracting him with all that talk and even keeping count!

Cooler immediately stopped hesitating and frantically gathered all his energy. His bones cracked even louder than before, and at last, his body began to change!

"Ahhhhhh!!!"

"Frieza!! I'll make you feel what it's like to get the crap beaten out of you!!"

Cooler kept blathering even as he transformed, while Frieza calmly counted.

"Seven~ eight~ nine~ ten. Time's up!"

Whoosh~~!!!