After Bardock established his base of operations and fully recovered, he decided to act again. The first raids and conquests went smoothly, without any serious resistance.
But soon, the two strongest Bursalians came to confront him. Bardock did not give them a fight or even a chance to engage — he simply fled.
He repeated this tactic many times, and it began to make the inner circles of Bursa tremble. Soon, infighting broke out between the two elites who had once been as close as brothers in times of peace. Now, in times of danger, they had different ideas about how to deal with the Saiyan.
Two months passed.
The Bursalians adapted. They began developing tactics. They moved massive portions of the population into the metropole formed by their two largest cities. A strict rule was established: no one was allowed to leave unless they were in a group of at least three warriors with power levels of 8,000, and they were not permitted to go beyond the forest surrounding the metropole.
All other cities were turned into rubble. The entire planet looked like something taken straight from an apocalyptic movie.
Bardock, of course, was not simply killing everyone he encountered. He used his time to search for anything valuable on the planet. He did not find anything particularly extraordinary, but he noticed a pattern — the most valuable items were usually stored in museums.
So in every city he entered, he would first eliminate any Bursalians left behind to die, and then begin searching.
He did not know exactly what he was looking for. He only hoped to find something that could help him clear his next planet faster and more efficiently.
After two more months, Bardock had cleared all cities outside the major metropole. His search had still yielded nothing significant. It was reasonable to assume that anything truly valuable had been relocated when the population migrated to the metropole.
Meanwhile, more and more Bursalians were being trained into troops. The planet's overall power level was rising rapidly. If Bardock did not act soon, it was possible that another warrior could reach the level of the former King.
Even worse — if two or more reached that level.
He knew that under massive pressure and continuous training, power level growth was natural.
So he began planning quickly.
He concluded that the best solution for destroying the metropole efficiently would be to breach the outer walls and eliminate anyone near them. Then, he would go underground and head directly toward the location of the strongest enemies, striking where he was least expected.
Bardock chose the south side of the wall because it was closest to the forest. This would make them believe he had been hiding there.
He formed a ki blast and compressed it to increase its explosive force. Then he threw the reddish sphere.
The moment it touched the wall, a massive section evaporated instantly, erasing nearly one-fifth of the south side of the city.
Alarms rang throughout the metropole almost immediately.
Bardock reacted instantly and flew into the forest. He did this so he would not leave traces of burrowing underground directly from the breach site. Once hidden, he used his ki to dig more efficiently, quickly tunneling his way beneath the city.
At first, he lost his sense of direction. He surfaced briefly to catch air and observe his surroundings, then burrowed again — this time heading toward the west side of the city.
He sensed strong ki signatures moving toward the southern breach. He did not want to fight them yet, not without weakening their side first.
He chose the west side deliberately. It had been the capital city of Bursa before the formation of the metropole. It was the most populated and most developed district. Even if he were forced to retreat, the economic damage would be massive.
Bardock was not stupid.
He understood that in times of crisis, economy fuels warriors. The largest portion supports food production; the rest supports training and military growth.
For months before this attack, Bardock had been systematically destroying crops and food supplies.
He finally emerged onto a street that looked like something from medieval Europe — filthy, narrow, and filled with an almost intolerable stench.
But Bardock continued walking.
He followed his ki sensing toward the strong opponents who had remained behind to respond to any unexpected problems.
Soon, he found a Bursalian committing a vile act, forcing himself on someone against their will.
Bardock was no saint.
He simply stomped down on both of them, his leg passing through their torsos and leaving a deep imprint in the rocky road.
He stood before one of the buildings that looked more like a guild, and inside were many aliens of different strengths. Of course, Bardock wouldn't make the stupid choice of going straight through the main doors. All Bursalians were wary of what was happening, so they wouldn't let their guard down — not even inside this guild-looking place.
Instead, Bardock slowly levitated toward the roof and quietly moved toward a window of the room where he sensed the strongest power level. He slowly looked inside and saw the alien who had given the command for his torture. Then he pulled out the knife from his belt, which had been placed under his tail. He gathered ki into his knife and formed a reddish blade.
He threw the knife at the Bursalian from his side. The Bursalian didn't have a chance to react and was instantly killed without even making a scream, giving Bardock the opportunity to surprise the aliens on the lower floor.
Bardock went inside the room and instantly gathered a ki blast, aiming his arm at the ground — exactly at the strongest alien on the first floor. The blast first disintegrated the floor and then grew wider and bigger, engulfing the whole guild.
The aftermath was that everyone was dead or seriously injured. Bardock quickly killed the injured and instantly started throwing explosive blasts at the entire west side of the city. Enemies were coming, but none of them were elites who could give him trouble. He would quickly finish them and continue his rampage inside the city walls.
When he destroyed the whole west side, he went to the east side. But this time, aliens that had gone to the south side returned and started giving much greater resistance. He was killing them, but then came another special Bursalian — who was now the King of this planet.
They were of similar strength, but Bardock had superior fighting instincts and a weapon that gave him a great advantage. On the King's side, he had a great number of troops and help from his people.
The battle erupted on the east side of the city. The Bursalians tried to force Bardock outside of the metropolis, but Bardock, even under great pressure, kept the fight inside it.
Bardock had a much easier time with his knife, which he was accustomed to using. It was a great help in dealing with anyone, strong or weak — it didn't matter. Bardock was gaining a great advantage without much problem. He was moving the battlefield toward the most populated parts of the metropolis, making their attacks much calmer than his own.
Soon, the King ordered everyone to defend the civilians and declared that he would deal with Bardock himself.
They started fighting.
Bardock was throwing every combination he had used millions of times to kill. His experience allowed him to injure the King by cutting his short torso with his knife.
The fight went on. The injury was nothing major. Their torsos were very short and thick, without much blood — mostly fat. But Bardock continued to make injuries on his enemy, and soon the King was no longer in a state to be equal to him.
The King decided to sacrifice something for a chance to win. It was the highest risk, highest reward.
Bardock fought and found an opening, slashing his knife with his tail. But the King gave him an opportunity and kicked him high into the air. The cost was losing both a leg and an arm in that short exchange.
The King went after Bardock into the air, and when Bardock stabilized himself, the King didn't stop. Instead, he tried to hug him. Bardock stabbed at the King, and the blade went inside the King's chest.
But the King tightened his muscles and grabbed Bardock. Soon, he started turning yellowish from the energy building inside his torso.
Then it happened.
A very loud sound echoed, almost consuming the city under the battlefield.
Bursalians instantly went to search and found that nothing was left.
Not even parts of the planet's air layers.