"Damn it, damn it, damn it!! How could this king lose to a stupid monkey like you?!" Frieza shouted.
He desperately unleashed his power to hold back the attack, but even so, he could barely keep it up.
At last, he felt despair. He realized that his excessive arrogance had kept him from ever imagining things could turn out this way.
If he'd reacted immediately, he could have dodged.
Below.
Vegeta, still pouring out energy, no longer held back.
"I told you that your arrogance would lead you to ruin! Your era ends here! The ship sailing toward the future can't carry you, a relic of the old age!"
His words fell.
"Rumble~~!!!" With a muffled boom, Vegeta suddenly put on a burst of strength, and the power of the Galick Gun in his hands doubled once more.
"No! This king won't lose! How could I possibly lose?! Damn it!! How could I... be killed by my own attack... Aaaaargh~~~!!"
Frieza let out a hysterical, furious roar.
The energy kept driving his body higher into the sky, until he burst through Planet Namek's atmosphere.
Faced with such overwhelming force, he had no chance to escape, nor could he break free from his predicament.
At last, Frieza could no longer resist the energy's push. His entire body went limp, and the terrifying force hurled him toward a distant, blazing star.
At this point, no matter how unwilling he was to admit it, Frieza knew he was facing certain death.
He regretted everything. Memories from his past began to surface.
Back then, he had taken control of the army from his father. With his absolute power, he had been so full of himself.
He had looked down on every living being and never given anyone the time of day.
The so-called warrior race, the Saiyans, had been no more than ants in his eyes. He could have wiped out their entire race without even transforming.
He remembered the first time he'd met Vegeta. He remembered everything he'd done...
After wiping out the Saiyan race, he never should have let that stupid monkey live.
To indulge his own desires, he had spared Vegeta, thinking he could toy with him now and then for amusement.
He'd been wrong—horribly wrong. He'd raised a tiger that would come back to bite him, and now he was paying the price.
I shouldn't have shown mercy back then... Why didn't I wipe them all out...?
If I had another chance, just one more chance, I'd never give you another chance!
Frieza let out a silent scream.
Before coming to Planet Namek, he'd had countless opportunities to kill Vegeta.
Especially after learning that Vegeta had fled to Frieza's Planet 79, gravely injured. He should have killed him then.
Unwilling to accept his fate, Frieza thought of all the time he'd wasted on Planet Namek.
If he'd known things would turn out this way, he should have acted personally and gathered the Dragon Balls as quickly as possible to make his wish...
It had all happened because he'd been too arrogant.
As Vegeta's Galick Gun drove the Planet Destroyer Bomb and crushed Frieza against the enormous, blazing star, Frieza experienced unimaginable agony.
No matter how unusual, tough, and powerful Frieza's body was, he couldn't withstand the double crushing force.
The enormous star was larger than the sun and hotter, too. Frieza's body burned and caught fire, while his flesh and soul endured extreme torment.
He wanted to escape, but the crushing force of the Planet Destroyer Bomb and the Galick Gun left him completely unable to move. The energy could no longer protect his body. Frieza's consciousness gradually faded, and in the end, he was utterly consumed by the star along with his flesh...
The Universe Emperor had fallen.
On Planet Namek.
Vegeta kept firing the Galick Gun until he was certain Frieza's ki had vanished completely. Only then did he stop.
He reined in his ki, steadied himself, and let out a long breath.
It was a little disappointing that Frieza had been so easy to kill. Vegeta had planned to beat him down thoroughly before finishing him off.
He hadn't expected things to end this way.
He had to admit, Frieza's death resembled Cooler's on Earth, when Kakarot had pushed him into the sun with a Kamehameha.
But Cooler had been lucky enough to survive. Frieza certainly wouldn't.
Vegeta was completely confident. Unlike Kakarot, he wasn't indecisive or softhearted.
Though I didn't get to enjoy myself, this is fine too. Frieza's dead, and all the weight on my mind has vanished. From now on, I won't have to feel this negativity anymore. Vegeta took a deep breath, and then his transformation faded, returning him to his normal state.
Maintaining the Super Saiyan state really did consume a great deal of energy, and it was exhausting.
Vegeta had known that, of course, but he hadn't realized the strain would be this severe.
Put simply, with his current strength, he could maintain his Super Saiyan form for no more than five minutes of intense fighting.
Even if he fought Frieza the way he had earlier, playing around and conserving as much energy as possible, he could only maintain it for ten to fifteen minutes at most.
So his next goal was to reach Full Power as quickly as possible.
Only by reaching Full Power could he truly master the power of Super Saiyan First Grade and fight for an extended period in that state.
He would have to work out the exact method little by little.
Although he knew the original story, Vegeta only had a vague understanding of the training methods. He knew the general idea, but not the details.
Of course, Vegeta had a plan. He'd come up with it as soon as he'd successfully transformed.
In any case, there was no way he could achieve it in just a few days. It was a long road, one that would take at least several months.
"This battle gave me some insights. Frieza may not have been as strong as I am as a Super Saiyan, but his fighting style is something I can incorporate into my own," Vegeta murmured.
Learning from others wasn't pointless just because they were weaker than you. There was always something to gain.
And there were the techniques Frieza knew, too. Even though he hadn't used some of them, Vegeta could still recreate them.
He also needed to hurry up and master the Final Flash as an energy blast.
That move was essential for defeating stronger opponents.
Vegeta even set his sights on Gamma Burst Flash. That was his ultimate trump card.
After being lost in thought for a long while, Vegeta finally came back to himself.
The reason was simple: Frieza's spaceship was taking off. The army members inside seemed to know that Frieza had been killed and were trying to escape.
"I can't let you leave, especially when those five Dragon Balls are still on the spaceship." Vegeta narrowed his eyes, vanished in an instant, and flew toward the ship.