"Ugh—gah! Gah!" His teeth chattered uncontrollably, clacking together.
His back arched violently. His shoulder blades cracked as three ghastly white spikes burst through his skin, their tips dripping with viscous black blood. His neck and skull stretched wildly, his cranium lengthening as if an invisible giant hand were pulling it. His features twisted and warped into a grotesque, nauseating visage.
At the same time, in the Frieza Force mothership's control room and at every monitoring station on Planet Vegeta, the screens of the giant Scouters went haywire. The Saiyans fell silent as one, their pupils shrinking to pinpoints.
"1.25 million... 1.46 million... 1.65 million... 1.79 million!!"
"King Frieza... has broken through 1.8 million!!!"
"Vegeta... is finished."
"Ridiculous! There's no way he could break 1.8 million!!"
The scientists serving under Frieza and the chief researcher on Planet Vegeta held vastly different loyalties, but all of them soaked through their clothes with sweat. Cold beads trickled down their temples and slid past their sideburns into their collars.
Every plaza, watchtower, and barracks on Planet Vegeta with a large Scouter had long since filled with Saiyan warriors.
But when the crimson number began to leap higher and higher—
1.83 million!
No one chanted slogans anymore. No one clenched their fists.
Only deathly silence remained, along with faces as pale and lifeless as paper.
Some thought of King Vegeta's long-planned ambush and managed a bitter smile.
Others stared at the glaring 1.83 million, feeling as though a boulder had crushed their chests—
An insect trying to stop a chariot? No. It was an ant gazing up at a collapsing mountain.
Even if Frieza hadn't preemptively eliminated King Vegeta,
even if the entire Saiyan race could transform into enraged Great Apes...
Against a power level of 1.83 million, they were less than moths flinging themselves into a flame.
Extinction? It would take no more than one step from him.
Destroying a planet? All he had to do was lift a finger.
More suffocating still, this wasn't even close to the end.
Frieza's neck swelled, his head dragged several times longer, his face stretched taut and cracked, his fangs jutting out and his eye sockets sinking like black holes...
At last, his second form fully took shape.
On the Scouter's screen, the number abruptly stopped:
2.12 million!
Hunched over with a protruding brow, Frieza's mouth split nearly to his ears. His voice rasped like sandpaper scraping iron. His body was so hideous there was no redeeming it; even the slightest trace of his former self had been crushed away.
"Bastard, the game's only just begun." He licked one of his fangs, his mouth curling into a cruel smile.
His power had doubled, and his confidence soared.
Barros, who had been able to hold his own before, was now nothing more than meat on a chopping block in his eyes.
But just as he looked down on the world—
Barros suddenly sneered, his voice cool as a blade. "That face of yours is revolting."
"What did you say?!" Frieza went rigid, veins bulging across his ugly face.
He had hated this form from the start, but it was still a power he could wield as he pleased!
Barros's unabashed insult sent his blood surging. Veins writhed beneath his skin like earthworms.
"Whoosh—!!"
A piercing whistle split the sky, and Frieza vanished from where he stood.
Barros's pupils contracted. His gaze swept across his surroundings like lightning.
The next instant, Frieza's figure filled his vision!
They were so close Barros could hear him breathe, yet there was no time to react.
"Bang—!!"
A heavy blow struck his abdomen. His internal organs felt as though a hammer had driven them into his spine, and Barros shot backward like a cannonball!
"Whoosh—!"
As he flew through the air, he snapped his eyes open and looked back toward where Frieza had been—there was no one there.
"Bang!!!"
A sudden, violent jolt struck his side, and a brutal force kicked him high into the sky!
The instant he rose into the air, Frieza intercepted him halfway, moving like a phantom—
"Thud!!"
A heavy punch slammed down. Barros fell like a meteor, a pale trail of fire streaming behind him as he plummeted straight toward Planet Vegeta!
Rumble—!!!
The earth shook. A crater burst open, smoke and dust billowed skyward, and shattered rocks scattered like rain.
Cracks spread wildly outward from the crater in a spiderweb pattern, covering the ground in an instant. They ripped through the earth, swallowed buildings, and stretched all the way to the horizon.
The scene was exactly like when Barros had crushed Frieza earlier.
Only now, with fortunes reversed, it was Barros who was pinned down and could barely fight back.
"Cough... ugh!" He swallowed hard, choking out a couple of breaths as he forced down the tumult in his chest. Then he bent at the waist and sprang from the ground like an arrow loosed from a bow.
His abdomen, side, and temple burned with pain, but only faint red marks remained.
Barros pressed his tongue to the roof of his mouth and sneered.
The pain cut deep, but Frieza's frenzied blow hadn't even truly torn his flesh.
They were only a few stinging scrapes. Before the dust had even settled, most of the injuries had already healed.
Unbelievably strong!
After his second transformation, Frieza's power had soared past two million. He moved so fast that all Barros saw were afterimages. He hadn't even seen Frieza lift a hand before the punch was already in his face. React? There was no time!
He drew a deep breath. In the instant before the gray haze cleared, his fists clenched, his knuckles cracking like thunder. He pushed off hard and shot toward Frieza, tearing through the air in a streak of white light!
Bang!!
Frieza's pupils narrowed. That wild monkey was completely unharmed? Surprised but not rattled, he shot out his right hand and caught Barros's fist as it came crashing toward him with tremendous force!
His eyes were cold as a snake's. His tail lashed out in a sharp whistle and smashed into Barros's back!
Smack! Smack! Smack!
His tail lashed down like a torrential downpour, each strike following close on the heels of the last. Even the air trembled.
Smack! Smack! Smack!
With both arms locked, Barros could only endure it. The Saiyan armor on his back had already been blasted to dust. Purple-red stripes quickly rose beneath his clothes, but not a drop of blood appeared.
Frieza's heart tightened. This body was far more bizarre than he'd expected!
Even under the relentless blows, Barros did no more than grit his teeth and frown. His skin hadn't split once.
Whoosh—!!!
Two blazing white energy blasts hurtled in from the sky, tearing through the air!
Frieza's expression changed. He released Barros and flashed away, reappearing a hundred meters away.
Rumble—!!!
The ground on Planet Vegeta collapsed with a thunderous crash. The crater was bottomless, the rock layers twisted and broken, and shattered stones burst into the air like rain.
"Two more scruffy monkeys!" He glared up at Xuesaiya and Xuesaili, his eyes boiling with murderous intent. He raised a hand and fired a stream of purple flashes—an unending barrage of Death Beams, radiating destruction as they descended upon the two women!
Barros's blood rushed to his head.
He had never expected Xuesaiya and Xuesaili to suddenly attack, much less that Frieza would dare try to kill them!
"Frieza—!!!"
His roar made the air vibrate. A layer of white flames burst over his body, and he vanished in an instant. When he reappeared, he was already standing in front of the two women!
"Haah—!!!"
The white flames surged like a tide as he crossed his arms to block!
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Seven or eight energy blasts exploded against his palms in succession, numbing his arms and splitting the skin at the base of his thumbs!
When the blaze of light faded, he opened his hands. His flesh was scorched red, wisps of smoke curling from it, and the pain seared deep.
"Hah..." He glanced sideways at Xuesaiya and Xuesaili, their faces pale and their fingertips trembling, and slowly let out a long breath.
Then, while the shockwaves kicked up a sky full of dust, he grabbed Xuesaiya with one hand and Xuesaili with the other. With his remaining hand, he scooped up Palanti, who had collapsed on the ground. The three figures flickered like phantoms and vanished from Planet Vegeta's skies, escaping into the Legend of the Condor Heroes World.
This time, Frieza had underestimated him and held back a third of his strength.
Next time? Barros knew all too well—Frieza wouldn't give him even the slightest chance to catch his breath.
Besides, Frieza's second form was far stronger than he had expected.
Even Barros himself had no guarantee of victory. As for protecting Xuesaiya and Xuesaili, whose power levels were barely over a hundred thousand, and Palanti, whose was under thirty thousand? That would be nothing less than gambling with their lives.
Taking them away was their only chance to survive.
The scene shifted, and Barros appeared once more above the wasteland of Planet Vegeta.
The wind blew, and the dust slowly settled.
"Damn you! You filthy monkey!!!"
Frieza's face twisted into a savage scowl, his eyes bloodshot, his murderous intent almost tangible.
Before his words had even faded, his afterimage still lingering in place, his real body had already appeared above Barros like a phantom!
He raised both arms and brought them together with the force of a collapsing mountain, smashing them down toward Barros's head!
But the battle just moments ago had already forced Barros to reach his full potential—his reflexes, speed, and nerves were pushed to their absolute limits!
The instant the air shifted above him, he bent his knees. His right fist shot up like an enraged dragon rising from its lair, meeting Frieza's devastating blow head-on!
Thud—!!!
The gap in their strength remained enormous.
Even with bones like steel and flesh like iron, Barros still shot straight toward the earth like a meteor hurled through the sky!
Rumble—!!!
The moment he struck the ground, the entire planet seemed to tremble. The already shattered surface exploded again, a deep crater forming as spiderweb cracks spread wildly outward!
Frieza looked down coldly from above at the cloud of dust rising below. A dark purple sphere quickly formed in his palm, its deathly aura so intense it suffocated the air around it.
The next second, he hurled the sphere. It dropped toward the bottom of the crater with a piercing whistle!
"Whoosh—!!!"
Barros's pupils contracted. Without hesitation, he rolled and kicked off the ground, using the recoil to dart sideways like a fish an instant before the sphere hit!
Boom—!!!
A world-shattering explosion tore through the heavens and the earth!
Planet Vegeta seemed to have been pierced through. The ground collapsed, lava erupted, and the shock wave hurled billions of tons of rubble through the air. A hurricane swept black smoke straight into the sky!
As the dust began to clear, Barros knelt on one knee at the crater's edge, his fingers dug deep into the scorched earth. The veins at his temples throbbed as he fixed his blade-sharp gaze on the purple figure hovering overhead, laughing uproariously.
I can't drag this out... The gap is too great. If I keep fighting him head-on, we'll all be wiped out.
There's only one way...
"Haah—!!!"
He threw his head back and roared. His voice exploded like thunder, scattering the dust that had yet to settle!
His muscles bulged and twisted, and thick veins coursed beneath his skin like dragons, as if they might burst through at any moment!
At that moment, Barros's blood surged like a raging sea breaking through a dam, hidden beneath his skin. As his bones and flesh neared the breaking point, the ki inside him seemed to burst free of every restraint, exploding and surging higher and higher until it could no longer be contained.
Three years of silence, and now he had returned. Facing Frieza, whose power exceeded two million, Barros once again kindled the forbidden flame he had sealed away with his own hands: the berserk state beyond his limits.
"That... that Saiyan... his power level..."
"1.09 million! No... that can't be possible!"
Aboard Frieza's ship, the scientists stared fixedly at the rapidly fluctuating number on the Scouter. Their faces were as pale as paper, their pupils contracted, as if they had just seen a ghost!
A power level in the millions? They had never even heard of one before, let alone seen it with their own eyes.
Yet today, in the space of a few moments, two had appeared!
They could just barely accept Frieza breaking a million. After all, he was the supreme overlord who had swept across the galaxy for centuries and earned the title "Emperor of the Universe."
But that green Saiyan brat had also forced his way past the million mark? They felt the world spinning around them, their whole understanding of reality shattered!
At the same time, on Planet Vegeta—
"I-is that Barros? That aura... it's terrifying!"
"It's still rising! 1.12 million... 1.18 million... 1.2 million!"
"Could he... be the 'Super Saiyan' recorded in the ancient texts?!"
"1.24 million! 1.25 million! Don't stop—!"
Every Saiyan held their breath, eyes fixed on the dancing light on their Scouters. Their fingers gripped so tightly that they turned white, their palms slick with cold sweat, yet their eyes burned with fervent, all-or-nothing hope.
Frieza's surge in power brought suffocating despair.
But each leap in Barros's power was like a ray of light tearing through the darkness, cleaving through the fear and humiliation they had carried in their hearts for so long.
Besides, King Vegeta was dead, and Prince Vegeta hadn't returned from his expedition.
Even if the king were still alive, after Frieza's earlier declaration that he would wipe out their race, the Saiyans would never bow to their former master again. Whoever wielded a million in power was the new king!
The strong preyed on the weak, and the victor reigned supreme. Those words were carved into the Saiyans' bones and seeped into their blood. They were no empty boasts!
In fact, even if none of this had happened with Frieza, the moment Barros revealed his power level of a million, people would have taken off their helmets, knelt on one knee, and shouted his name.
By blood, he was a purer elite Saiyan than King Vegeta.
By strength, a million in power made him a rare peak in Saiyan history, unmatched until the Super Saiyan appeared.
Flawless bloodline and godlike strength—who could oppose Barros taking the throne? Who would dare?
"Yaaah—!!!"
His roar faded, but the boiling aura surging around him made even Frieza narrow his eyes, a chill creeping down his spine.
1.35 million!
This was the absolute limit Barros could reach at that moment!
The explosive will that burst forth from his battle-hardened, almost inhuman body at the instant it shattered its limits had finally propelled him back into the arena, where he could fight Frieza's second form on equal terms.
Of course, it was only a match in power!
1.35 million against 2.12 million—the gap was still enormous, almost impossible to overcome.
But the difference wasn't a million; it was less than 800,000. And Barros had a body of steel that could withstand the shockwaves of a star! That gap might not be impossible to close!
Barros slowly clenched his fists, his knuckles cracking. A hint of satisfaction stirred in his heart at the immense power he had reached.
He looked up at Frieza, who stood with his arms folded and an amused expression on his face. Barros's lips curled into a cold smile. "Been waiting long, Frieza? It's time we settled our score."
"Oh-ho-ho! What astonishing growth! To think a Saiyan would produce such an anomaly!" Frieza sneered. He still looked as relaxed as ever, but his gaze had already raked over Barros like a blade.
Even with Barros's surging aura, his power was merely comparable to Frieza's when he'd first transformed.
But Frieza had now undergone a second transformation—his power had doubled, placing him above all living things!
Before you continue