The winds beneath the vast sky fell utterly silent.
The energy blasts that had roared moments ago, the battleship engines' bellow, the sharp ring of fists and feet colliding—all vanished without a trace.
Only a suffocating pressure, rising from the depths of the soul, remained between heaven and earth. It weighed heavily upon every inch of land and every living being. The swaying branches in the forest froze in midair. Countless flying stones and clouds of dust stopped dead. Even the restless energy particles in the air fell completely still beneath that overwhelming majesty.
The aura surging in from the depths of space was domineering, cold, and utterly contemptuous of all things.
It was neither the Saiyans' savage bloodlust nor the sinister chill of the Nether Killing Art. It was the absolute majesty of an emperor who ruled over countless seas of stars, deciding who lived and who died.
Frieza!
No hint was needed. The name that struck terror throughout the North Galaxy appeared in everyone's mind at once.
Gilos had been raging in midair, gathering himself to burn through his strength and deliver a killing blow. Now the killing intent around him suddenly crumbled away. His formidable body, with a battle power of 9,500, trembled against his will. All the arrogance, cruelty, and resentment on his face gave way to utter terror.
He was Frieza's personal guard captain and had followed the emperor through countless campaigns. He knew better than anyone what this aura meant.
This wasn't a projection or an envoy sent in his place.
Frieza himself had come to Earth!
"N-no... That's impossible..." Gilos's Adam's apple bobbed as he muttered, the light gone from his eyes. "It's just a lowly world of primitives. We're only here to exterminate one stray Saiyan. Why would the emperor cross the stars himself...?"
When he'd been sent on this mission, he'd received only a simple order to wipe out the remnants. It had never crossed his mind that such a trivial matter would rouse Frieza himself from his throne to look down upon the stars.
At last, he understood.
He had been a pawn marked for sacrifice from the start.
The emperor had never expected him to kill the mutated Saiyan. He'd sent Gilos and his team here with a handful of elite soldiers and a few expendable lives only to test the Half-Saiyan hiding on Earth, force him to reveal his full potential, and identify every variable on this planet.
Every clash, every standoff, every stalemate had been under Frieza's control from beginning to end.
Above the clouds, the Saiyan Kallen's composure shattered. For the first time, his defiant gaze turned grave. He drew in the restless purple aura around him, not daring to let even a trace leak out. His battle power of 8,700 was as insignificant before the emperor's majesty as a firefly against the moon.
"He's coming down himself... Frieza really left the Throne Sector for a mutated bloodline."
Kallen's voice was low, tinged with disbelief and apprehension. He had spent years pursuing ancient prophecies and investigating countless Saiyan ruins. He knew how deeply Frieza feared the Super Saiyan. The emperor would sooner remain in his stronghold to safeguard his dominion than personally campaign in some distant sector. What he'd done today proved that Lin Chen's special bloodline had already become a threat to the foundations of his rule.
Beside him, the Golden Full-Power Super Saiyan finally grew solemn.
The composure with which he'd restrained the others and watched the battle vanished. His golden aura surged in layers, crackling with lightning as he raised his defenses to the utmost. He had lived for ages, fought in the fall of Planet Vegeta, and witnessed Frieza single-handedly destroy the entire Saiyan civilization. He knew better than anyone how terrifying the Universe Emperor was.
His strength had never been something a battle-power reading could simply define.
In an instant, the entire balance of the battlefield was overturned.
The fragile equilibrium between the four factions collapsed as the true overlord arrived.
At the edge of the forest, Bulma's hands were ice-cold as she clutched the scouter, trembling. Its screen had gone completely black; it couldn't withstand the terrifying pressure crushing the entire sector. She didn't understand the difference in strength between cosmic powers, but instinct told her they had provoked someone utterly beyond their reach.
Goku stopped moving too. His small body stiffened as he instinctively ducked behind Lin Chen. For the first time, the innocent child felt a true fear of death—a suffocating terror no matter how powerful the foe or fierce the killing intent had ever made him feel.
Lin Chen stood at the center of the battlefield, his heart pounding violently.
His unhealed wounds throbbed. His peak battle power of 6,000 held steady throughout his body, yet beneath the emperor's overwhelming presence, he was still like a tiny boat on a raging sea, liable to be torn apart at any moment.
But he didn't retreat.
Not a single step.
The more desperate the situation, the more fiercely the pride in his Saiyan blood burned. He had survived the destruction of Planet Vegeta, endured drifting through space, and broken through his limits in one desperate battle after another. He had never been one to kneel and accept his fate under someone else's pressure.
More importantly, as Frieza's majesty covered heaven and earth, the ancestral will that had lain dormant in the depths of his blood for ten thousand years finally awakened.
Humm—
A silent tremor burst from the deepest reaches of his bones and blood.
It wasn't the roar of an energy surge, but an ancient resonance spanning the river of time. It coursed through his meridians and throughout his body, washing over his flesh, aura, and soul.
The fragmented remnants of ancient memories that had surfaced in his mind earlier came together, merging into a complete whole.
Scenes sealed away for ten thousand years flooded his mind with perfect clarity.
The ancient Saiyan golden age: the people crossing the stars to wage war and expand their territory, their bloodline flourishing as prodigies rose one after another. Divisions between factions took root, their ideological disputes escalated, and kinsmen turned their blades against each other as war engulfed their homeworld. Enemies infiltrated in secret; ambitious conspirators colluded with foreign powers and betrayed the lifeblood of their people, dragging the flourishing Saiyan civilization into the abyss. In the final battle, several ancestors fought to the last drop of blood, sealing the source of their people's power with their own bodies and preserving the last spark of the mutated bloodline—all in the hope that one day their destiny would be renewed and their name cleared.
"Ten thousand years of lying in wait... the last child of the mutated bloodline... at last, you have appeared..."
A voice—vast, ancient, weary, yet unshakably resolute—resounded directly within Lin Chen's mind, undetectable to everyone else.
It was the last remnant of an ancient Saiyan ancestor's will. After spanning ten thousand years, it had finally found the successor of destiny.
Lin Chen's mind reeled.
At last, he understood his destiny completely.
He wasn't merely a mutated being who had crossed over into this world. He was the sole spark of hope left behind by the ancient Saiyan ancestors, who had wagered the fate of their entire people on him. His blood carried every hope of clearing their name, ending their enslavement, and restoring their people's glory.
Frieza had destroyed only the weakened, diminished Saiyans of the modern era.
The blood in Lin Chen's veins was the most ancient and purest ancestral bloodline, carrying the righteous legacy of his people.
So... none of this was a coincidence.
His arrival on Planet Vegeta, the mutation of his soul, his repeated breakthroughs in desperate situations, his ability to easily pry open the Super Saiyan seal—all the advantages he'd been granted had been planted as seeds of destiny ten thousand years ago.
"Stray Saiyan, hiding in the lowly dirt, surviving for ten thousand years... You certainly made this king search."
A languid, indifferent voice rang across the world, cold and merciless.
It wasn't loud, yet it pierced the clouds and shook the earth, carrying an absolute authority that controlled everything.
The clouds above parted layer by layer. A slender white figure, yet one whose presence oppressed all life, slowly stepped forth.
His battle armor was pure white, his form elegant and cold. Beneath his pale skin lay enough terrifying power to shatter stars. Frieza hovered ten thousand meters above the ground, his crimson eyes gazing down indifferently. His eyes drifted over Lin Chen as though he were a collectible soon to be acquired.
There was no raging energy or surging killing intent around him. Yet it seemed as though he alone possessed and controlled all the power in the world.
"I must admit, I'm surprised. A race of lowly insects on the brink of extinction managed to produce a variable like you."
Frieza spoke slowly, his voice laced with mocking contempt. "A mutated hybrid, breaking through his limits in desperate battles, even stirring an ancient bloodline from its slumber. No wonder all those stray remnants and devotees of prophecy have crossed the stars to protect you."
His words confirmed every suspicion in Lin Chen's heart.
Frieza knew everything.
The ancient prophecy, the secrets of the Saiyans, the bloodline's destiny, the surviving factions—he knew it all. He had enslaved the Saiyans for years and purged countless remnants. He had never merely feared the Super Saiyan. He had been searching all along for the mutated spark that could topple his rule.
He had come in person today to root out the danger and extinguish every possibility of the Saiyans turning the tables.
Gilos stood frozen in place, his face ashen. He had become completely irrelevant, all but invisible. At last, he understood how insignificant he was. In the emperor's grand design, he was no different from the dust beneath his feet.
Kallen stood tense, his eyes filled with resentment and apprehension. He had spent his life pursuing the prophecy. Now that the child of destiny had appeared, the most despairing opponent had arrived to meet him.
The Golden Super Saiyan closed his eyes, a quiet sigh settling in his heart. The cycle of destiny that had lasted ten thousand years could not, in the end, be avoided.
Frieza narrowed his crimson eyes slightly, fixing his gaze on Lin Chen. His voice suddenly turned cold. "I'll give you one chance."
"Submit to me. Join my empire and offer up your mutated bloodline. I'll spare the people of Earth and grant you the right to live forever. You'll become the one and only bloodline warrior under my command."
His words would decide everything.
Submit, and he could survive, protect Earth, and wield boundless power.
Resist, and he would be annihilated in an instant—his body, bloodline, and soul, along with the billions of people on this azure planet, reduced to cosmic dust.
The desperate choice lay before Lin Chen.
The world fell silent. All eyes were upon him.
Lin Chen slowly raised his head to face the emperor's overwhelming presence, the Universe Emperor looking down upon all life from above. There wasn't a trace of fear in his eyes, only a clear and unwavering resolve.
The ancient ancestor's will blazed within him. Ten thousand years of humiliation, enslavement, betrayal, and sacrifice converged in his heart.
He stepped forward. The cracked earth beneath his feet exploded as his full battle power of 6,000 erupted. White aura, wrapped in golden lightning, soared skyward. His half-step Super Saiyan presence forced open a sliver of fierce Saiyan pride amid the world smothered by the emperor's might.
"The Saiyan bloodline never submits to its enemies."
"Ten thousand years of humiliation end today. I'll settle the score."
The short declaration landed with a clang, shaking mountains and rivers.
Frieza paused at his words, then began to chuckle softly.
His laughter was gentle, yet carried a bone-deep chill. The temperature of the entire sky plummeted in an instant.
"Interesting."
"Since you insist on courting death, I'll crush this so-called ancestral will with my own hands and wipe out every last Saiyan remnant that has endured for ten thousand years!"
As the words left his mouth, an immense, pale energy erupted around Frieza, blotting out the heavens. His terrifying pressure doubled, the entire atmosphere convulsed, and countless clouds vanished in an instant.
But just as Frieza was about to strike, the ancestor's ancient whisper sounded again in Lin Chen's mind. This time, it was no gentle counsel, but a warning revealing a shocking secret.
"Child, beware... Frieza before you is not at full strength!"
"The true culprit behind our people's destruction was the Outer Chaos Alien Race... and they have already followed the emperor's presence, quietly descended beyond Earth's atmosphere!"
Lin Chen's pupils shrank. The blood in his body froze.
Frieza wasn't the final boss?
Was there a foreign race hiding behind the Saiyan catastrophe of ten thousand years ago?!
Now, with killing intent looming above and the emperor's killing blow about to fall, a more terrifying, unknown darkness had already begun to silently envelop the planet from beyond Earth!
Before you continue