Karochi frantically used Instant Transmission, so flustered that even he could feel his own panic.
Whoosh!
Karochi appeared in the control room.
"Little Chi, you just—" Tights had barely started speaking when Karochi cut her off, his face stricken with terror.
"Go, hurry! We can't stay here." He spoke at a frantic pace. Even after leaving Akasque, he could still feel that deathly terror.
Sixth Sense was blaring its warning like crazy. It had never done that before.
Tights was just as dumbfounded to see Karochi like this. In the more than five years they'd known each other, she'd never seen him so panicked.
No matter what kind of enemy they'd faced before, Karochi had always been brimming with confidence.
This time had been no different. He hadn't given the Armored Squadron a second thought, and he'd dealt with them without much effort.
So what had happened to make him so terrified and panicked?
Tights didn't ask any more questions. Karochi had already rushed to the console and activated the ship's warp drive!
He hadn't simply set the ship to fly away. He'd initiated a long-range warp.
Only after they entered the warp tunnel did the warning from Sixth Sense finally stop. Karochi let out a breath of relief.
"What happened? You can tell me now, right?" Tights immediately asked, curiosity getting the better of her.
Karochi scratched his head. "I can't really explain it. Sixth Sense was going crazy with warnings, and I really did feel like I was facing death. That's why I was in such a hurry."
Tights was at a loss. She knew Sixth Sense was a secret technique Karochi had learned on Yardrat, but what could have made him react like that?
"By the way, Sis Tights! The scouting machines are still on Akasque, right? Can we contact them from this far away?" Karochi was also curious about what could have set off Sixth Sense so badly—and he had undeniably felt his life was in danger.
"Of course!" Tights immediately started working the controls.
Meanwhile, aboard Cooler's ship, an alien hurriedly reported, "K-King Cooler, the signal from the Armored Squadron has disappeared!"
Cold sweat poured down the alien's body. He wasn't sure he'd make it out alive.
Cooler's expression didn't change in the slightest, as if the dead men hadn't been his subordinates at all. He stood before the spaceship, arms crossed.
"Oh? Did they run into a powerful enemy?" His voice was hard and utterly devoid of warmth. Cooler was far more mature than Frieza.
That maturity had nothing to do with physical development or power. It was a matter of temperament.
When the Ginyu Force had died, Frieza had taken it as a personal insult and flown into a rage. He'd gone straight to Fidel Planet and destroyed it. Cooler, on the other hand, was weighing whether it was worth wasting his time.
"According to Lord Salza's Scouter readings, there was no powerful being in the area." After all, the readings had all been zero. That meant there was nothing there, right?
Every member of the Armored Squadron had a battle power of over a hundred thousand. If they'd lost contact after encountering an enemy, that enemy's power would have to far exceed all three of theirs!
"Interesting. Are you saying Salza and the others defected?" Cooler turned around and fixed the alien with a pair of icy eyes. The bone-chilling glare made the messenger drop to his knees.
He had a feeling he could be killed at any moment!
"Y-Your Majesty, I don't think they defected. Lord Salza used his full power just before contact was lost! The other two lords did the same!" Since Cooler hadn't installed listening devices on his subordinates, he couldn't get any more information.
That was Cooler's arrogance. He simply didn't care what the cannon fodder under his command thought!
"Heh! Interesting. Do you think it might be the Spirit Fruit Tree?" Cooler licked his lips, the cold glint in his eyes enough to make anyone tremble.
The alien who'd delivered the report didn't dare answer. He could only lie there, shaking.
"Pass down the order. We're heading for Akasque!" Cooler planned to see for himself. A treasure like the Spirit Fruit Tree could certainly tempt those worthless fools into keeping it for themselves.
"Y-Yes, Your Majesty!" The alien felt as though a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders. At least he'd be able to deliver Cooler's order, so he wouldn't have to die just yet.
"Come back!" Cooler barked from his seat before the alien had even made it out of the room.
The alien immediately dropped to the floor again, trembling. "Does Your Majesty have anything else for me to relay?"
He was on the verge of a breakdown.
"How long will it take to reach Akasque?" Cooler asked, staring coldly ahead without looking at him.
"Your Majesty, about two days!" The alien answered truthfully.
Cooler fixed him with a stare. The bone-chilling cold made the alien tremble uncontrollably. "One day. I want to arrive in one day."
"Y-Yes, Your Majesty! I'll pass that along right away." The alien was about to cry. It wasn't as if he could make the ship get there just because Cooler said so!
The alien left the chamber. Excitement glimmered in Cooler's eyes. As far as he was concerned, the Tree of Might had to be on Akasque.
"Heh! Whoever dares take this king's treasure deserves to die!" Cooler could barely contain his excitement.
On Akasque, less than a hundred kilometers from where Karochi and Salza had fought, a tremendous explosion rang out.
The loud blast and flash of fire sent the birds and beasts scattering from the forest. Thick black smoke blotted out the sky, making it impossible to see what had happened.
"Sis Tights, it's over here! There must be something inside!" Karochi said at once, after spotting the scene from inside the ship.
Tights had noticed it too. "All right, all right! I see it. I'll head over now. It's a little far, though."
A hundred kilometers was just a stone's throw to Karochi, but a small scouting machine would take a long time to get there.
In the smoke, a beautiful young woman with long orange hair and blue skin looked around in confusion, as if she had many questions.
She was about the height of a young girl, but had a stunning figure and pointed ears, like an Elf.
"I... Who am I?" Her voice was ethereal and extraordinarily pleasant, yet she was confused about who she was and why she had appeared here.
The woman looked up at the sky. A powerful burst of force instantly swept away the smoke and dust around her! She rose into the air, and the terrifying power sent the approaching scouting machine flying in an instant.
"What?!" Tights was stunned. She'd unleashed such destructive force from a hundred kilometers away! What kind of person was she? Tights looked at the devastated land and forest.
At last, Tights understood why Karochi had been so desperate to escape earlier.
Karochi's pupils contracted when he saw this. Even a Super Saiyan might not be able to do that! At least, a newly transformed Super Saiyan couldn't unleash that kind of power.
But Karochi couldn't sense any powerful energy from her. That was strange! Anyone with power like that had to be absurdly strong, yet the only beings whose energy he couldn't sense were usually Androids.
"Sis Tights, approach slowly! She's powerful, so don't startle her," Karochi said gravely. They didn't know who she was yet, or whether she had any special abilities.
It was always better to be careful.
"Yeah, I know!" Tights shot Karochi a look. If that brat hadn't insisted on investigating, she would've given up already.
The woman's strength was just too outrageous. They didn't even know what she'd done, yet it had caused all that destruction!
The scouting machine edged closer, taking more than half an hour to reach the site of the blast.
The area had been completely devastated. Vast swaths of land had been scorched, and all around them, it looked as though an eraser had wiped everything away.
"Huh? No one's here!" Tights was baffled. But that made sense. The woman wasn't going to wait in one spot for them to show up.
Tights turned to Karochi. "Looks like she left. Maybe we should stop scouting. It's pretty dangerous."
Karochi stared at her in shock. Oh, heavens above! Tights knew what the word "dangerous" meant now? This was a miracle. Tights had finally stopped charging in headfirst.
"We're already pretty far away. I... I think we should be fine, right?" Karochi couldn't be sure. There were far too many strange abilities in this universe.
For all they knew, she might actually crawl through the internet and come after them!
On Akasque, directly above the scouting machine Tights and Karochi had sent out, the woman grew more and more agitated. She couldn't remember who she was! It seemed that sleeping for too long had caused her to forget certain things.
"L-Leader... Who's the leader?" the woman kept asking. She only remembered that the leader was terrifying! There had been five of them, she thought, and some being had left them gravely injured.
That was why they'd gone into hibernation on this planet, but she couldn't remember! All she had were scattered fragments of memory.
The woman turned in confusion and looked in the direction of the scouting machine. Though it was tiny, she could still tell it wasn't a living being!
Whoosh!
The woman vanished from the air and appeared in front of the scouting machine the next instant.
"Huh? A mechanical scouting device." The woman spoke in puzzlement. She'd just searched the planet, more or less, and found no intelligent life. Who had left this here?
Karochi saw it happen from the ship. His spine went cold, and he froze in place! Three years ago, he'd even said that Frieza was courting death.
But damn it! What kind of Frieza was courting death? Wasn't I the one courting death?
Was I just dancing at King Yemma's doorstep and somehow got away with it? Karochi asked himself, stunned.
Seeing Karochi's complicated expression, Tights couldn't help freezing too. Had her little brother fallen for that woman?
Before you continue