A cold wind swept past.
With Cooler's arrival, the noisy battlefield fell silent in an instant.
The warriors of Cooler's Armored Squadron, who had been on the verge of despair moments before, seemed to come back to life, breaking into excited cheers.
Earth's defenders, however, were utterly silent.
Everyone felt the terrifying aura radiating from Cooler.
"S-so terrifying!"
"He's Cooler? How is that possible? He's terrifying!"
"Lord Cooler!"
Salza and his two companions flew to Cooler's side and bowed in midair, their faces filled with relief, but also fear.
Their incompetence had forced Cooler to act personally. Under normal circumstances, he would have punished them for it.
Fortunately, this time Cooler said nothing about it.
"Salza, take your men and fall back. If you're going to die, you'll die on Planet Vegeta!"
"Y-yes, my lord."
Salza immediately understood what Cooler meant.
Their ultimate destination was Planet Vegeta.
Cooler did not want to lose too many troops before the final showdown with the Saiyans.
Having narrowly escaped punishment, Salza turned back and gave Son Goku and the others a gloating smile.
"Now that you've forced Lord Cooler to act himself, you'll regret not dying at our hands, Saiyans."
Vegeta's expression was grim beyond measure. He realized he had been completely wrong.
Raditz had been right earlier. They should have left Earth sooner. This wasn't Planet Vegeta; even if it was destroyed, it had nothing to do with them.
But now it was too late to leave. The aura radiating from Cooler alone made Vegeta's body stiffen.
Son Goku's expression was just as grim. He took out a Senzu Bean, fed it to Piccolo, and said, "Piccolo, hurry and take Gohan and the others away. They can't help with this fight anymore."
Piccolo got up and said, "Son Goku, you're being too