"W wait!"
The desperation in King Cold's voice rang out the moment he felt Vegeta's killing intent.
The tyrant's composure shattered in an instant.
He tried to beg.
That sight alone stunned Vegeta.
So this really was the King Cold of legend.
The same man who fell apart in front of Future Trunks.
The same emperor who instantly abandoned dignity the moment genuine fear touched him.
Some creatures, once broken, went straight to groveling.
"Any last words? Or will the mighty King Cold kneel before me right here?" Vegeta asked slowly as he stepped forward.
King Cold stumbled backward, panic rising in his throat.
"Ve… Vegeta, listen… I…"
He never finished.
Pain ripped through him as Vegeta's fist sank into his abdomen.
The impact folded his enormous body in half.
Blood dribbled from his lips.
"Sorry. You looked open, so I went ahead and hit you. Now then… what were you about to say?" Vegeta asked with a mocking smile.
"I… I… ugh!"
He tried again but howled instead.
Vegeta yanked his fist free, and King Cold's entire frame shook violently.
The hit had almost ruptured him.
Compared to this, even Goku's desperate Kaio ken thirty surge earlier was nothing.
A casual strike from Vegeta had caused several times more damage.
Cold tried again to speak.
Vegeta did not let him.
A spinning kick launched the tyrant through the sky like a burning comet.
Shockwaves shredded the air behind him.
Had the clash been closer to the surface, entire islands would have been pulverized.
Vegeta advanced calmly.
One step.
Two steps.
Each step teleported him forward.
Before King Cold even finished recovering, Vegeta appeared behind him and delivered another devastating kick.
Cold's body bent unnaturally.
He spun through the air, screaming in agony.
He could not even locate Vegeta anymore.
Despair overwhelmed him.
He wanted to beg, but every heartbeat brought a new attack that crushed the words in his throat.
He felt regret.
Deep, bitter regret.
He should have investigated Frieza's death more thoroughly.
He should have questioned how Vegeta had grown so terrifying.
He should have retreated when he sensed the danger.
Instead, blind arrogance had led him here.
Now he was little more than a ball for Vegeta to kick.
Finally, Vegeta tired of the game.
He flashed forward, seized King Cold by the throat, and lifted him effortlessly into the air.
The same humiliating grip King Cold had used on Goku earlier.
Despite Cold's massive size, Vegeta held him up like a trophy.
"This is your end. I even gave you time to speak. You chose silence," Vegeta said calmly.
His fingers tightened.
Cold struggled, arms flailing, but he could not pry the Saiyan's hand loose.
The once mighty emperor of the cosmos dangled helplessly, reduced to prey.
Vegeta smirked and gathered energy in his free hand.
A small sphere of deep azure light formed, swirling with chaotic energy.
It vibrated like a star on the verge of exploding.
This was a technique Vegeta had been refining.
King Cold would be the perfect test subject.
Cold felt death coming.
True death.
He poured every last drop of strength into resisting.
Useless.
Vegeta slammed the sphere into King Cold's chest.
"Boom."
"Aaaaaaah!"
The blast detonated, swallowing King Cold in a cyclone of energy.
The sphere wrapped around him like a living storm, tearing into flesh and spirit alike.
The destruction was slow and cruel, a grinding annihilation.
Vegeta drifted backward to a safe distance and watched the tyrant's body get shredded by the spiraling force.
To him, King Cold was nothing more than a minor milestone.
Vegeta's path was already set.
With another month or two of training, even his normal state would surpass ten million.
Cooler would not be frightening then.
He sensed no trace of Cooler in this region of space.
Good.
The next few months would be his alone.
According to the original timeline, Cooler did not reach Earth until nearly a year after the Namek conflict.
If he was even heading this direction at all, he would take months to arrive.
Plenty of time for Vegeta to keep rising.
The storm reached its peak.
A mushroom cloud tens of thousands of meters tall rose above the horizon.
The explosion tore through the atmosphere like a colossal shockwave.
For hundreds of miles, hurricane winds ripped across the ocean.
King Cold was gone.
Nothing remained.
Vegeta did not even look back.
He turned away, eyes narrowing toward the distant stars.
One emperor had fallen.
But another threat loomed.
The Underworld Super Squad
was already on the move.
~~~~~~
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