By the time Frieza counted to nine, Cooler had finished transforming.
Two thick, antenna-like things jutted from his forehead, forming a "V" shape.
His ears stretched out, turning into two more antennae. One more, and he'd have a five-pointed star.
His chest muscles were covered in white armor, while his abdomen, hands, and feet turned purple. He'd grown quite a bit taller, reaching the same height as Frieza.
If there was one thing Frieza liked about his fourth form, it was that he'd grown a lot taller. The rest? He could only laugh.
He could transform, too, but he'd never do it. His path was different from Cooler's.
He preferred the Saiyan approach: changing his hairstyle and hair color. But he couldn't do that. Frieza had no hair.
So instead, he'd change the color of his skin—and make sure he could change it back.
"Frieza!! Now, it's time to let you experience the agony of a bloodcurdling scream! Don't resist. It feels great!"
Cooler's confidence returned, but Frieza shattered it with a single gesture.
"Oh ho ho ho!!"
"You—"
Bang!!
Frieza's obnoxious laugh sent Cooler into an instant frenzy. With a full 1.5 billion in battle power, he slammed his iron-hard fist into Frieza's chest.
Boom~~
Caught off guard, Frieza couldn't dodge the blow. He crashed straight through the entire palace.
Amid the ruins, Frieza coughed up a mouthful of blood. Pain flared in his chest, and his fury soared!
If he hadn't forced himself to take half a step back at the last moment, keeping Cooler's punch from landing with its full force, the nearly twofold difference in their strength might have left Frieza unable to stand.
Boom!!
Whoosh~~!!
Frieza was furious. A purple aura surged skyward as his battle power erupted past 800 million. The palace ruins were blasted away in every direction.
Creak~ Creak!
"So you have 1.5 billion in battle power. That's nothing special!"
"Still talking tough, Frieza? You can't laugh now, can you? Soon—very soon—you'll get to see our dead father!"
"Raaah~~!!!"
Cooler let out a bizarre cry and charged at Frieza at tremendous speed. The purple aura around him was clearly larger than Frieza's.
Frieza didn't dare underestimate him. The difference in their battle power was obvious; in a direct clash, he'd definitely be at a disadvantage.
So Frieza used Shift again and again to evade Cooler's attacks. He also took advantage of Shift's incredible speed to land several heavy blows on Cooler.
However, Cooler's current form wasn't just powerful and fast—it had astonishingly high defense, too!
Frieza's attacks didn't inflict anything like the massive damage they had before. Cooler only had to swell the aura around his body to block ninety percent of Frieza's strength.
"Frieza! You can't beat me by running away! Moving that fast must take a lot out of you. Let's see how long you can keep it up!"
Cooler launched a storm of attacks. Frieza was like a small boat caught in towering waves, seemingly on the verge of capsizing at any moment, yet somehow managing to evade one wave after another.
Boom!
Cooler's fist struck the ground, and the entire Ice Planet trembled. More ice shattered. Blocks of ice as big as mountains burst upward, while the ground sank in many other places.
Huff~ Huff~
Frieza appeared in the distance, breathing hard.
With nearly a twofold difference in battle power, even this brief exchange had left Frieza visibly exhausted.
"Oh ho ho ho!!"
"Cooler, today I'll show you my greatest trump card. You're lucky—you're the first person to see it!"
"Oh~~!! Hah~!! Aaaaaah!!"
Frieza wrapped his arms around his shoulders. The aura around him changed from purple to black, then from black to a rainbow of colors. Flecks of starlight appeared within it.
Cooler sensed that something was wrong. Instinctively, he fired a blast at Frieza.
But to his surprise, the instant the blast hit Frieza, a star flickered sharply within the rainbow aura.
Pff~
With a sound like some creature passing gas, Cooler's blast vanished into thin air.
Frieza's power continued to rise. Before long, it had reached 2.4 billion!
"Oh ho ho ho~!"
"Cooler, this is my trump card: Star Transformation: Triple Wave Overlap!"
Cooler froze. What the hell was that? What was Triple Wave Overlap supposed to be?
A mocking smile spread across Frieza's face as he taunted him.
"Feeling uncultured because you don't understand? Let me explain. Triple Wave Overlap triples my battle power!"
"It isn't as easy to use dozens of times over as Kaio-ken, but Star Transformation doesn't have Kaio-ken's side effects. And it lasts a long, long time—long enough to make you question your whole life!"
Whether it was two times or thirty times, Kaio-ken put a strain on the body.
A lot of people suspected Son Goku's Viral Heart Disease was caused by drinking Ultra Divine Water. But Frieza thought Kaio-ken was far more likely to be the culprit!
When the strain on the body reached a certain point, the body would give out. And that was the perfect opportunity for viruses from the outside world to invade.
That was why having a strong, healthy body and not overtaxing it was the key to success.
It wasn't that Frieza thought Triple Wave Overlap—that is, a threefold increase in battle power—would be enough to beat Cooler, so he'd decided not to raise his power any higher.
The main reason was that when he first learned Star Transformation, he'd discovered it was incomplete. He'd filled in the missing parts himself before finally mastering Triple Wave Overlap.
As for the first level, Pillar Supporting the Sky, he'd dismissed it with a sneer and ignored it.
What a ridiculous name. It sounded way too suggestive.
The second level was called Two Dragons Playing with a Phoenix. That name had been a lifelong source of pain for Frieza!
That was why Frieza had never used Star Transformation before mastering Triple Wave Overlap.
Though even this so-called Triple Wave Overlap sounded a little suggestive. It felt like it was saying "Mountain Splitter"—figure that one out for yourself.
At least it wasn't quite as obvious.
"Tremble!!"
"Cooler!! You can go see King Cold now!!"
"Oh ho ho ho ho!!"
Whoosh~
Cooler was completely stunned. This time, he genuinely couldn't see Frieza anywhere.
Frieza was a little stunned, too.
He'd only meant to use Shift and Lightning Flash together. But then—
He'd ended up in an unfamiliar place!
Here, birds sang and flowers bloomed.
Here, nothing seemed threatening.
There was a short man with a tuft of white hair and grayish-white skin.
And another man whose skin was the same color as Dodoria's, with plenty of wrinkles on his face.
At that moment, both of them looked as if they'd seen a ghost. They stared at the murderous Frieza, feeling numb all over!
Uh...
Wasn't this Supreme Kai Shin and his attendant, Kibito?
Damn it, how had he ended up here?
It wasn't the right time to meet them yet. Those two were both arrogant as hell, and killing them would mess up the plot.
Time to get out of here~~
"Hello~"
"Goodbye!"
Whoosh~
Frieza used Instant Transmission and vanished~
Before you continue