"Don't get it twisted. I wasn't saying that I... I'm just not interested in killing you." Taro looked at the other with cold indifference. Though Freeza had realized he couldn't land a hit on Taro, he still hadn't exited his 100% Final Form. Most likely, he feared Taro might suddenly teleport and use that slicing attack to cleave him in two in an instant.
Taro could see right through him, but didn't care. He said calmly, "In this universe, there are far too few beings with 'galactic-level' power. And among those who can be casually used for killing practice, it's pretty much just you and your father—two leftover relics of the Frost Demon race."
"Kill one, and there's one less."
"I'd better use you sparingly."
Taro's tone was as cold as a gust of winter wind, but to Freeza, it was infuriating!
Unforgivable!
Absolutely unforgivable!
What the hell was this bastard talking about? Who did he think Freeza—the mighty emperor of the universe—was?
"Casually used for killing practice"?!
A joke! What an outrageous insult!
Freeza's eyes flared with fury!
Bzzzzzz—
Two parallel streams of ultra-dense energy surged from Freeza's ruthless gaze, searing heat radiating from them!
Fssh...
The energy beams blasted out from Freeza's eyes without warning, so fast and sudden that there wasn't even time to raise a hand—an outright sneak attack! It seemed even Taro was caught off guard, as the beams pierced cleanly through his chest!
The attack vanished in an instant, but in the vision of Zarbon and the two by the ship's hatch, the image of those scorching beams still lingered. They grinned.
"This guy's fast, but since he couldn't dodge Lord Freeza's attack this time, he must be dead for sure…"
Freeza himself was just about to smile as well, thinking along the same lines as Zarbon and the others. But that smile quickly froze.
Taro, despite having his chest blasted through, acted as if nothing had happened. Wisps of smoke still curled from the wound over his left chest, but the charred hole was already healing at a speed visible to the naked eye. Even the clothes burned by Freeza's attack were repairing themselves.
'What... what was going on?
That blast... it should've gone right through his heart, shouldn't it?'
Freeza was both shocked and confused.
At that moment, Taro cast a glance over his shoulder. Standing at the hatch of Freeza's spaceship were two aliens—one young and one old—wearing what looked like researcher uniforms, observing the battle from afar. Outside the ship, nearby, hovered the ever-watchful Zarbon.
'Scientists, huh...'
Taro's gaze deepened, as if it saw right through everything.
The moment this fearless man who dared to stand against Lord Freeza looked their way, the two aliens at the ship's entrance jumped in fright and fell backward on their butts. The older one—who had been the first to report the results from the ship's new energy detection system—suddenly felt dazed and disoriented.
"Lord Ferrolet, are you alright?" the younger alien beside him reached out to steady him.
"I'm fine, I'm fine," the elder replied, his face pale as he recovered. He looked toward Taro, who had already turned away in the void of space, and let out a long sigh. "What a terrifying man… No wonder he dares challenge Lord Freeza…"
Sensing that Kakarot's ki had already flown far into the distance, Taro lost interest in lingering.
Everything was done—time to leave.
"Freeza, you detected the spacecraft that escaped from Planet Vegeta earlier, didn't you?" Taro smiled, giving Freeza a deep look. "In no more than twenty-five years, you'll die at the hands of that child. That is your fate… oh great emperor of the universe."
"What?!—"
Freeza jolted in shock, just about to speak—when Taro vanished before his eyes.
Just like back then, just like just now—he appeared without a trace, and vanished without a shadow. It was as if he were a ghost that never existed. Freeza was completely powerless against him. And worse, he didn't even understand the principle behind that instantaneous movement—so how could he possibly restrict or bind him? Was he truly going to be helpless every time he encountered this guy?
Damn it!
Damn it!
Damn it!!
Damn it!!!
Freeza raged like a madman. His muscle-swollen body erupted with unimaginable, terrifying energy, which in turn fired off as countless scorching, high-density energy beams—whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh—all shooting like a torrential downpour toward the area where Planet Vegeta had once exploded into a nebula.
---
Only after Freeza finished venting his fury—leaving everyone on edge—did Zarbon and the others respectfully wait by the ship.
Zarbon glanced at the rain-like energy waves bursting from Freeza. As a seasoned veteran of countless space campaigns, he knew perfectly well: the energy loss of these blasts during flight would be minimal. They would keep going… and going… until they finally struck some distant planet.
And destroy it.
Just this half-minute outburst of Freeza's had launched who knows how many extremely high-density energy waves. In the days, months, or even years to come, planet after planet—whether inhabited or desolate—would be annihilated by these unknown "natural disasters" from out of the void.
The power of the emperor of the universe… was no idle tale.
"You recorded it, I presume?" Freeza floated back to the ship, his voice cold and devoid of emotion. His physique had returned to normal—no longer swollen with muscle, now back in his final form's standard state.
Zarbon bowed and looked toward the elder alien still standing by the hatch.
"Yes, Lord Freeza… we've obtained a complete set of new energy signature data at 100% capacity. And this time, we had enough duration to gather it thoroughly. With this, Your Majesty, the efficiency of tracking the target will improve significantly…" the old alien replied.
Freeza floated into the ship, speaking icily: "How's the research on space-time technology progressing? When will it produce results?"
"There's been some recent breakthroughs…" the old alien thought for a moment and said, "Thanks to Your Majesty personally forcing the target to use space-time displacement several times in a row, hehe… the entire process was recorded by our onboard equipment. I believe we'll have some targeted results very soon."
"Hmph. You'd better hurry…"
He could hardly wait another moment to kill that bastard.
No one had ever mocked Lord Freeza and lived to tell about it.
Chilled energy wrapped around Freeza as he flew deeper into the ship, his voice echoing behind him for the old alien and Zarbon to hear:
"From now on, direct our detection and tracking efforts toward that… spacecraft that escaped from Planet Vegeta earlier."