At the end of the temporal maelstrom, the raging red light instantly swallowed the two of them.
The weightlessness passed in a flash. Son Gohan and Trunks' boots slammed onto the hard ground with a dull thud.
The temperature around them was scorching. The air reeked of pungent sulfur, thick blood, and the acrid stench of building materials melting under extreme heat.
Son Gohan quickly suppressed his ki to nothing and scanned the surroundings. They were on a barren, crimson planet with roughly three times Earth's gravity. Yet everywhere he looked, he saw the ruins of metal structures built with advanced technology. Roaring flames consumed the rubble, while black smoke blotted out the dark red sky.
This was clearly a highly advanced planet, but at that moment, it was undergoing a horrific massacre.
Rumble!
A series of dazzling bursts of energy erupted on the distant horizon, followed by deafening explosions and shrill screams.
Two unrestrained, violent auras were pouring from that direction, pressing down on the planet.
"Gohan, do you feel those ki signatures?!" Trunks clenched his fists, disbelief written all over his face.
Son Gohan had sensed them too. One aura was searing and sharp, the other fierce and domineering. He and Trunks knew them all too well.
"Let's go take a look." Son Gohan lowered his stance and shot across the ground like a blur, racing toward the explosions.
Trunks immediately followed.
They rounded a fallen metal tower, and the view ahead opened up. Across a vast plaza of ruins, thousands of strange-looking alien civilians scattered in every direction like headless chickens. Their clothes were ragged, and the elderly, women, and children clung to one another as they fled, their cries filling the air.
Above them, two familiar figures hovered in the billowing smoke.
The one on the left was a bald man with no nose and six incense-burn scars on his forehead. The one on the right was tall and powerfully built, with a third eye right between his brows.
Krillin! Tien Shinhan!
But the two before them were nothing like the friends Son Gohan remembered. They wore ornate Battle Suits woven with black and dark gold, each bearing a glaring blood-red insignia on the chest. An eerie, brutal aura radiated from them, and their eyes held nothing but indifference toward life and a sickening zeal.
"Run faster! Faster! At that pace, you'll be dead in no time! Hahahahahaha!" Krillin cackled maniacally, raising his right hand high.
Sizzle!
A huge golden Destructo Disc formed in his palm, several times larger than the one from the original timeline. Its edge churned with violent, sawtoothed currents of energy. Krillin flicked his wrist, and the disc sliced into the fleeing crowd along a bizarre arc.
Dozens of civilians were cut in half before they could even scream. The Destructo Disc kept going, carving through three massive metal bunkers before finally dissipating with a thunderous boom.
"Quit playing around, Krillin. Hurry up and wipe out all this trash. King Kakarot is waiting for us to report back." Tien Shinhan snorted and pressed the tips of his index fingers together.
"Dodon Ray!"
Rainlike streams of bright yellow beams poured down. Each one blasted a bottomless crater into the ground, sending flesh and blood flying.
Trunks' scalp prickled. He couldn't make himself connect the two demons slaughtering innocents before him with the comrades who had fought with everything they had to protect Earth.
Just as Krillin was about to throw a second Destructo Disc, a figure clad in white and purple burst out of the ruins below.
The figure surged upstream against the barrage of energy blasts and flung both arms wide, raising a vast purple barrier that forcibly blocked Krillin and Tien Shinhan's follow-up attacks.
"Frieza!" Son Gohan's eyes widened, and he cried out in shock.
"What? That's the evil emperor of the universe you told me about when I was a kid, Gohan? Frieza?!" Trunks exclaimed, stunned.
The one struggling below to hold the line and cover the civilians' escape was none other than Frieza, the former emperor of the universe!
Frieza was in a terrible state. The purple skull atop his head was dented, and his thick tail had been cleanly severed at the base, purple blood still seeping from the wound. Yet he kept the barrier up, turning to roar at the crowd below. "Forget about me! Everyone, get out of here! Survive!!"
His words and bearing made him seem like a superhero willing to sacrifice himself for the greater good.
Son Gohan felt like this world had gone completely insane.
In midair.
"Oh? Frieza, you filthy rat, you still have the strength to fight back?" Krillin raised an eyebrow, a cruel sneer twisting his lips. "You could've joined us and enjoyed wealth, glory, and absolute power. Instead, you're protecting these lowly civilians like a dog. That laughable sense of justice makes me sick."
"Shut up!" Frieza gritted his teeth, blood spilling from the corner of his mouth. "You Saiyan lackeys! One day, the universe will pass judgment and utterly destroy your evil empire!"
"Judgment?" All three of Tien Shinhan's eyes blazed with murderous fury. "In this universe, the Saiyans are absolute gods! And we are their most loyal hounds! Who could judge us? Who would dare? Hahahaha! What a joke!"
Tien Shinhan formed a triangle with his hands in front of his chest.
"Neo Tri-Beam!"
Boom!
A square column of energy, far beyond anything anyone had ever seen, crashed down. Its overwhelming force crushed Frieza's barrier. Frieza screamed and fell like a kite with its strings cut, slamming into the ground and gouging out a massive crater.
He struggled to get back up, but his injuries were too severe. He couldn't even lift a finger.
Krillin formed another Destructo Disc at his fingertips and aimed it at Frieza's neck. "Goodbye, you mangy stray."
The Destructo Disc screamed through the air, bringing certain death with it.
At that crucial moment—
A brilliant golden streak tore across the battlefield. Before the Destructo Disc could even touch Frieza, a fist wearing a golden Bracer clenched around it and crushed it in midair!
Boom!
The blast wave swept away the smoke and dust around them. Golden Super Saiyan energy swirled around Trunks as he stood firmly in front of Frieza.
He couldn't stand to watch any longer. He would never let Krillin and Tien Shinhan slaughter people while wearing those familiar faces!
"Who are you?!" Krillin cried, startled by the sudden turn of events. When he felt the terrifying pressure emanating from Trunks, his expression changed.
Trunks didn't answer. He drove off the ground, and the earth caved in with a boom.
Whoosh!
Krillin's vision blurred. Trunks was already in front of him. A vicious roundhouse kick slammed into Krillin's abdomen. Krillin's eyes bulged as he spewed blood, his body flying like a cannonball into the ruins behind him. He lost consciousness on impact.
"Krillin!" Tien Shinhan cried in alarm. His three eyes fixed on Trunks as his hands once again formed the opening stance of the Tri-Beam.
Thud.
A hand silently came to rest on Tien Shinhan's shoulder.
Son Gohan had appeared behind him without a sound. He hadn't even transformed into a Super Saiyan. He simply struck the back of Tien Shinhan's neck with a casual chop. Tien Shinhan's eyes rolled back, and he fell straight out of the sky.
The battle was over in an instant.
Trunks dropped out of his transformation, and his golden aura vanished. He turned toward Frieza, who lay barely alive at the bottom of the crater.
"Hey, are you all right?" Trunks reached out to help him up.
Frieza barely managed to open his swollen eyes. When he recognized Trunks' signature hairstyle and the remnants of the golden aura he had just unleashed, the former emperor of the universe began to tremble uncontrollably.
It was a fear etched deep in his genes.
"A Saiyan! You're a Saiyan!" Instead of taking Trunks' hand, Frieza shrank back in terror. He ignored his grievous injuries and dropped to his knees among the rubble, pressing his forehead to the ground as his voice broke with despair.
"Please, don't kill them! I'll surrender! I'm begging you, just spare those civilians!"
Trunks' outstretched hand froze in midair.
Before you continue