The Return of the Dead
The moment Cooler descended, the shockwave from his footsteps alone turned several relatively intact buildings in the city blocks into ruins.
A mushroom cloud rose into the sky, as if the end of the world had arrived ahead of schedule.
Immediately afterwards, the other foot landed.
His massive body slowly emerged from the passage, its enormous shadow covering half of the West City.
The monster, hundreds of meters tall, had sharp, cold lines, and its tail lashed out slowly like a steel whip, each strike tearing through the air with a sharp whistling sound.
Cooler looked down, his cold, metallic face framed by two burning blood moons, his crimson compound eyes fixed on the city below, which resembled an anthill, and the Z Fighters flickering amidst the ruins—like looking at a swarm of insignificant fireflies.
Cooler.
Frieza's older brother, another heir to the bloodline of the Cosmic Emperor.
The Ice Prison Demon who was once defeated by Super Saiyan.
Now, he has returned from the realm of death, larger and more terrifying than he remembered, with dark red energy patterns flowing across every piece of his carapace.
Just standing there, the air seemed to freeze.
The fighting movements of Gohan, Trunks, and the others in the distance were so oppressed by this sense of pressure that they almost couldn't breathe.
He opened his enormous mouth, and his voice did not travel through the air, but instead reverberated directly into the depths of everyone's soul.
The voice was as cold as iron, and so arrogant it was outrageous.
"Saiyan... you ants... I'm back."
"Earth..."
Cooler's voice was deep and hoarse, like a demon crawling out of the abyss, each word carrying a chilling echo.
He floated above the shattered city, with broken overpasses and burning car wrecks beneath his feet.
Black smoke billowed into the sky like giant dragons, obscuring half the heavens.
His entire body was covered in dark purple armor, which gleamed with a hard metallic sheen in the sunlight. The four bone spikes on his back trembled slightly with each breath, as if they could tear the air apart at any moment.
"I'm back."
His gaze slowly descended, finally settling on the figure dressed in an orange-red martial arts uniform.
Gohan stood atop the tilted television tower, the wind whipping his black hair, his brow furrowed beneath his bangs.
Cooler's lips twitched slightly, but it wasn't a smile; rather, it was the uncontrollable trembling of a predator's muscles when it sees its prey—cruel, manipulative, and with naked murderous intent.
"Son Goku's son?" His voice held a hint of sarcasm. "Interesting."
Before the words were finished, Cooler's figure suddenly became blurry.
Amidst the shrill whistling sound of the air being torn apart, he burst forth like a streak of purplish-black lightning, the shockwave carving a deep trench into the ground.
He clenched his right fist, and black flames shot up his arm from between his fingers, coiling around it like a venomous snake.
Before the fist even landed, the air in front of it was already compressed into visible, distorted ripples.
"I'll start with you."
Gohan's pupils contracted sharply.
Since the Baby incident, he almost ruined himself in the gravity chamber, and his strength is no longer what it used to be for a teenager.
The newly grown tail instinctively straightens in times of crisis.
But he knew very well that he had not yet reached his father's limit— the Super Saiyan 4 barrier remained unbreakable.
No refunds.
"Drink it--!"
He gritted his teeth and stomped his right foot hard, making the steel frame of the TV tower groan.
Facing the black lightning bolt, he swung his right fist, and golden flames erupted from his body. Although they lacked the intensity of Super Saiyan 4, they still created a stubborn light in the dimness.
"Bang--!!!"
The moment the fists collided, time seemed to be paused.
The next second, a violent shockwave exploded, shattering all the glass in buildings within a hundred meters, with fragments raining down like a storm.
The ground bulged and cracked, sending debris flying like cannonballs.
The TV tower beneath Gohan collapsed completely, and he himself was pushed backward by the immense force, his shoes carving two charred furrows in the cement. He slid back more than ten meters before coming to a stop.
The sleeve of my right arm was torn to shreds, my entire arm was trembling, and I felt a sharp pain deep in my bones.
The smoke and dust gradually dissipated.
Cooler remained suspended in his original position, slowly retracting his fist, black flames dancing at his fingertips.
He looked at Gohan's trembling arm and sneered.
"Not bad," he said, as if he were commenting on a dish, "Far inferior to your old man... but you're not bad either."
As soon as he finished speaking, Cooler's figure disappeared again.
This time it's faster and more ruthless!
He suddenly appeared to Gohan's left, his left leg sweeping like a battle axe; before the wind even arrived, Gohan's face felt a sharp pain.
He barely managed to raise his hand to block.
"Boom!"
He was sent flying, crashing through three office buildings before finally embedding himself in the load-bearing wall of the fourth building.
Paper and scraps of paper flew everywhere.
Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.
Cooler slowly flew closer, his right hand outstretched, a spinning black energy ball condensing in his palm, the surrounding air distorted by the intense heat.
"The game's over, kid—"
Suddenly, he stopped talking.
A golden light cleaved the heavens and earth without warning.
That wasn't Gohan's ki.
More fiery, more savage, more arrogant.
The golden light fell straight down from above, faster than the naked eye could react, leaving only a burning mark on the retina.
Before Cooler could even turn his head, an incredible force slammed into his face.
"Bang!!!"
The dull thud was clearly audible, as if bones were breaking.
Like a meteorite struck by a warship's main cannon, Cooler spiraled backward, crashing through a row of skyscrapers, leaving a trail of shattered glass in his wake.
Finally, he crashed into the center of the Twin Towers, where the reinforced concrete collapsed like paper, burying him in the rubble nearly 100 meters deep.
Smoke and dust billowed into the sky once again.
In mid-air--
Vegeta floated, his entire body covered in crimson fur, as if he were on fire.
Long black hair danced wildly behind him, the ends of which were wrapped in golden light.
Those eyes were pure gold, with pupils that were vertical like a beast's eyes. There was no anger, no excitement, only a contempt that had been frozen for millennia.
Super Saiyan 4.
He didn't even change his posture, he just slowly retracted his right fist, as if he had just casually flicked away a speck of dust.
"Miscellaneous fish."
Vegeta's voice wasn't loud, but it pierced through the clamor of the entire battlefield like an icicle.
He couldn't even be bothered to look at the ruins; his gaze was fixed on a distant point on the horizon—that's where his real concerns lay.
"Don't block the way."
"Boom--!"
The ruins exploded, Cooler burst out, his carapace riddled with cracks, purple blood flowing from his forehead, staining half his face red.
One bone spike broke, leaving three trembling in fury.
Shame burned through his reason.
He's Frieza's brother, the emperor of the universe, a monster feared by countless galaxies—how could he possibly be...?
"Vegeta...!!!"
A roar tore through the sky.
Vegeta didn't even turn around; he simply raised his right hand, fingers casually spread, and aimed it at the purple figure charging towards him.
The air in front of his palm began to rotate and compress, and a golden energy ball took shape in an instant—without charging up or shouting, the movement was as natural as breathing.
A light flick of the fingertip.
Call out--
A thin beam of golden light shot out.
That's too fast.
It happened as fast as a thought, a heartbeat.
Cooler remained charging forward as the beam of light silently pierced his chest—a direct hit to the vitals, entering from the front and exiting from the back, leaving a charred hole the size of a fist.
Cooler's body froze in mid-air.
He looked down at the transparent hole in his chest.
Black flames erupted from the wound, like the final sigh of life.