The Fall

"These two are unbelievably strong..."

Cold sweat poured down Nail's face. He shielded the Grand Elder behind him and landed with the others on a safe foothold.

"Yeah, they are."

Son Goku looked into the distance, his tone filled with emotion. "But the one who wins in the end will definitely be An Xiu. That guy is practically a monster. Forget Ginyu—even if I fought him myself, I couldn't beat him with even one finger."

Vegeta's expression froze when he heard that.

He wanted to speak, but his attention was firmly locked onto the battlefield in the distance. He could not look away at all.

"H-How is this possible...?"

Vegeta's body trembled, his eyes lost and unfocused. He was plunged into immense shock, as though some scene before him had overturned everything he believed.

Ginyu had lost.

Even after mastering the Super Saiyan state, Ginyu had been knocked straight back to normal by An Xiu's punch. His entire arm exploded like firecrackers, shattering into several pieces.

"Ah... aaah..."

Ginyu clutched his blood-soaked injured arm, his aura rapidly weakening. He stared at An Xiu, his eyes filled with confusion and disbelief. "H-How is this possible...?"

Frieza was left utterly dumbfounded by the sight.

Though he had never fought the current Ginyu, he did not believe he could defeat him so easily either. Yet An Xiu had done it—and so effortlessly!

Bang!

Not daring to lower his guard, he immediately flung out an energy blast at An Xiu. Its purpose was not to attack, but to provide cover.

By the time An Xiu swatted the energy blast apart, Frieza had already flown a thousand meters into the sky. A cruel smile appeared on his face as he rapidly condensed a dark crimson energy sphere at his fingertip, like a tiny sun.

"You filthy monkeys, turn to cosmic dust along with this planet!"

The instant he finished speaking, the red energy sphere slowly descended, crashing directly into An Xiu and forcing him, body and all, into the planet's crust.

Cold sweat broke out across Vegeta and the others as they witnessed this. Aside from Son Goku, who knew something of An Xiu's strength, every single one of them wore expressions of terror and shock.

Just as everyone stood at a loss, the red energy sphere suddenly began to rise.

It was An Xiu—he was not dead!

Everyone was astonished.

An Xiu held up the planet-destroying energy sphere with one hand, his expression unchanged.

"Damn it..."

Frieza was stunned, but his body reacted swiftly. Several purple ki blasts shot from his hands and rapidly struck the red energy sphere.

Boom!

The red energy sphere detonated.

A massive mushroom cloud rose into the air, accompanied by an almost world-destroying flash of explosion that was so blinding the spectators in the distance could not even open their eyes.

"What terrifying energy... After taking that head-on, I really don't know whether that guy can withstand it..."

Other than Son Goku, everyone present wore grave expressions.

High in the sky, Frieza looked down at the mushroom cloud produced by the explosion. He could not sense ki, so naturally, he could not detect An Xiu's presence through the smoke and dust.

Just as he sighed in relief, believing he had successfully killed An Xiu—

Suddenly, a large hand clamped tightly onto his shoulder!

Frieza shuddered violently and quickly turned his head. In his field of vision, a massive fist was rapidly growing larger.

Bang!

A solid punch slammed viciously into Frieza's face. The powerful impact knocked him from the sky, sending him crashing through several mountain peaks and islands before he skidded thousands of meters across the ground and barely came to a stop.

That punch shattered half his skull. If not for Frieza's tenacious vitality, anyone else would probably have died from that blow long ago.

Frieza had lost.

The system mission was complete, yet no notification sounded. Instead, a surge of energy—and an instinctive method of using it—was etched into An Xiu's body and even his soul in an instant.

"Kakarot, catch."

An Xiu did not rush to use that energy. He withdrew his fist and tossed Ginyu, who had reverted to normal and fainted at his waist, toward Son Goku.

Then, with a flash, he appeared in front of Frieza.

Thanks to his powerful physical talents, Frieza had not lost the ability to move even with half his head shattered.

Yet he did not flee. Perhaps he knew he could not escape, or perhaps he wanted to preserve the dignity of his status as the emperor of the universe.

I actually lost to this damn filthy monkey. It's utterly unforgivable...

Gritting his teeth, Frieza staggered to his feet and glared at An Xiu with venomous hatred.

The corners of An Xiu's mouth curled slightly, finding it somewhat amusing.

"Heh, Frieza, go on and leave. I'll spare you this time. I hope that when we meet again, you'll be able to give me a more enjoyable fight."

"What?!"

Frieza's eyes nearly burst from their sockets at those words, and the fury and hatred in his heart deepened.

I am Frieza, Emperor of the Universe, yet in your eyes, I'm merely a toy to amuse you...

Frieza clenched his fists, his eyes seeming ready to spew fire. Just as he was about to make a move, An Xiu cowed him with a single glare. "I advise you not to be ungrateful. Leave this place while I haven't changed my mind. And let me remind you—I'll be watching until you're gone. Don't even think about pulling some trick like blowing up the planet. That won't work on me."

"Very well. I'll remember you, An Xiu. I, Frieza, swear that I will repay today's humiliation a hundredfold!"

After delivering that threat, Frieza flared his energy and fled.

Watching his retreating figure vanish into the distance, An Xiu remained expressionless. He did not care in the slightest about Frieza's earlier threats.

Even if Frieza returned someday after training into his Golden form to seek revenge, to An Xiu, he would merely be another handy golden punching bag.

Frieza was gone.

An Xiu then returned to the others.

Taking advantage of Ginyu's desire to switch bodies, he successfully helped Son Goku reclaim his body.

As for Ginyu, under Vegeta's tender care, he was sent to the underworld to reunite with his Special Forces members.

Not long afterward, Piccolo, who was far away on Earth, used the Dragon Balls to make a wish and successfully revived the Namekian natives who had been killed by Frieza and his group.

Vegeta also followed An Xiu and the others aboard the Spacecraft back to Earth.

Thus, the matter of Namek came to an end.

One month later, the spacecraft successfully returned to Earth.

During that time, since Son Goku and Vegeta were roughly equal in strength in their normal states, An Xiu suggested that they spar and train together.

Under his guidance, Vegeta successfully broke through his bottleneck in less than a month and became a Super Saiyan. Of course, in terms of raw strength, he was still no match for Son Goku.

Because they had spent so much time together aboard the spacecraft, Vegeta gradually reined in the evil within his heart.

His determination to grow stronger, along with his prideful desire to surpass An Xiu and Son Goku, deeply attracted Bulma.

The story developed just as it had in the original work. At Bulma's invitation, Vegeta naturally moved into the home of Earth's richest family.