The sky had been torn apart by the aftermath of the previous clash. Massive chunks of dark cloud hung across the horizon like shredded cotton.
Frieza floated in midair, his mangled body now marked with even more wounds from the lingering explosions.
Drops of purple blood dripped onto the ground, sizzling with corrosive heat.
His gaze locked onto Krillin.
More precisely, onto the bald human wrapped in flowing crimson-gold light, with a radiant halo hovering behind his head.
Shock.
A level of shock unlike anything he had ever experienced spread through him like wildfire.
"Sixty million…"
Frieza ground his teeth so hard the words barely escaped.
"How is this possible? A noseless Earthling actually reached this level?!"
That punch earlier had sent his planet-destroying energy sphere flying back at him.
That required more than power. It required a physical body so absurdly durable it bordered on insanity.
His scouter had long since been destroyed during the battle.
But his instincts as a warrior told him everything he needed to know.
This bald human was no weaker than the Saiyan from before.
If anything… he was more stable.
The Saiyan had been burning through his life force.
But this human stood calm and composed, his energy perfectly steady.
"Damn you… damn you all!"
Frieza felt humiliation burning through his veins.
First a Saiyan had nearly beaten him to death.
Now a bald Earthling dared stand before him and lecture him.
When had the mighty emperor of the universe fallen so low that inferior mortals could take turns humiliating him?
"Unforgivable! Saiyan or Earthling, it makes no difference! Every last one of you insects deserves to die!"
Frieza's shriek became sharp enough to scrape against the air like nails on metal.
BOOM!!!
A far darker and colder aura erupted from his body.
This wasn't a power-up.
It was a floodgate bursting open.
The shattered rocks around him began floating against gravity before being crushed into dust by the sheer pressure of his ki.
Planet Namek trembled violently, as though the world itself feared him.
"He's getting stronger again?"
Krillin frowned slightly.
[System Alert: Target energy levels rapidly increasing.]
[Frieza (Final Form • Enraged State)]
[Current Energy Output: 70%]
[Estimated Power Level: 84,000,000]
"Eighty-four million…"
Krillin's heart skipped a beat.
This wasn't how the script was supposed to go!
In the original story, Frieza was already overwhelmed at fifty percent against Super Saiyan Goku.
But now, after getting provoked by one punch from him, the guy had jumped straight to seventy percent?!
So this was the butterfly effect.
Sure, Krillin could forcefully match him by cranking Kaioken up to fifty times.
But if he did that, there was a real chance he might actually kill Frieza.
Then how would Goku awaken?
What happened to the S-rank mission?
"AAAAAAHHHHH!"
Frieza threw back his head and roared as violent purple ki exploded around him like a living storm.
His muscles swelled, his battered body bloating unnaturally under the pressure of his energy.
"Now witness… true hell!"
Frieza lowered his head.
His remaining eye had become completely blood-red.
Whoosh!
He vanished.
Not high-speed movement.
True disappearance.
"Krillin! MOVE!!"
In the distance, Piccolo couldn't even shout aloud. He could only scream internally.
BAM!
A dull impact echoed through the battlefield.
Krillin's vision blurred as something slammed into his abdomen like a meteor traveling at full speed.
Pain.
Pure, overwhelming pain.
His organs felt like they had been displaced in a single instant.
Even with the protection of the Crimson Lotus Sacred Buddha form, even with hyper-regeneration, his body still felt fragile before such overwhelming force.
Krillin folded over like a shrimp, coughing out a spray of crimson-gold blood mist.
His body blasted backward like a cannon shell, smashing through three mountains before finally stopping.
"Cough… cough…"
Krillin climbed out from the rubble and wiped the blood from his mouth.
[Warning: Body damage at 30%. Rapid regeneration in progress… complete.]
He cursed internally.
"Damn, that hurt."
"Seventy-percent Frieza really is no joke. If that hit someone else, their guts would've exploded out on impact."
"Oh? You survived?"
Frieza appeared above him like a ghost, staring down with mild surprise.
"That kick carried seventy percent of my strength. Your body is sturdier than I expected."
"But that's all."
Frieza raised one finger.
A blinding purple light gathered at the tip.
"If one kick won't kill you, then I'll use two. If two aren't enough, I'll slice you into pieces!"
Pew pew pew pew!
Countless purple Death Beams rained down like a storm, each one locked perfectly onto Krillin's energy signature.
"Damn it!"
Krillin crossed his arms before his chest as the golden halo behind him spun rapidly, forming a defensive barrier.
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!
Explosions thundered nonstop, plowing the earth over and over again.
Krillin struggled through the smoke and destruction.
His current situation was painfully awkward.
Sixty million against eighty-four million meant he was completely outmatched.
But he also couldn't unleash more power and outright defeat Frieza.
Was this the suffering actors had to endure?
In the distance, Goku watched helplessly as Krillin was battered across the battlefield.
"Krillin! Forget about me! Run!"
Goku tried to stand, only for Piccolo to force him back down.
"Don't move, Goku!"
Piccolo gritted his teeth so hard veins bulged across his forehead.
"If you go over there now, you'll just die! Krillin is… he's buying time for you!"
"But…"
"His energy is fading… he's going to die! He's really going to die!"
Tears welled in Goku's eyes as he stared at the battlefield swallowed by flames.
At the center of the warzone, Frieza seemed to have grown tired of playing cat and mouse.
He stopped attacking and floated high above the land, slowly spreading his arms.
"How boring. Truly boring."
His voice was cold enough to resemble a death sentence.
"Earthling, your resilience surprised me. But this pointless struggle is becoming irritating."
"I no longer have the patience to play games with you."
Hummmm…
An enormous sphere of energy rapidly formed above Frieza's head.
It was ten times larger than the previous one.
Massive enough to blot out the sky itself, staining the heavens in hopeless dark violet.
The destructive energy inside was so concentrated that even space around it began to fracture.
"This planet, along with all of you filthy insects, will vanish into cosmic dust!"
Laughing wildly, Frieza thrust both hands downward.
The gigantic sphere descended slowly like a dying star.
The enormous energy ball compressed the atmosphere as it fell, producing a horrifying grinding sound.
The rocks below began melting into rivers of lava.
Krillin stood at the center of the molten landscape, staring up at the massive orb of death filling his entire field of vision.
The scorching heat rushed against his face, nearly burning off his nonexistent eyebrows.
[System Notification: Planetary-level destruction detected.]
[Recommended Action: Activate Super Bald Form and destroy the sphere with one punch.]
[Story Mission Reminder: This is the optimal "death" timing. The item "Substitute Scarecrow" has been activated.]
"Haaa…"
Krillin slowly exhaled, forcing the scorching air from his lungs.
He knew it was time for the climax of the performance.
If he dodged now, the planet was finished. Goku and Piccolo would die.
If he destroyed the attack outright, Frieza would probably flee in terror or die from rage, and the Super Saiyan awakening would never happen.
There was only one option left.
Take it head-on.
Then die gloriously.
"COME ON!"
Krillin roared as his spirit energy exploded without restraint.
"Crimson Lotus Sacred Buddha, Final Secret Art!"
He abandoned all concern for conserving energy and poured every ounce of power into his right fist.
The crimson-gold light reached its peak brilliance, outshining even the violet dead star overhead.
With a powerful step, Krillin launched himself upward like a blazing meteor, charging fearlessly toward the descending sphere of destruction.
"Crimson Lotus Sacred Buddha Form… Serious Punch!!!"
BOOOOOOM!!!
The tiny fist collided with the gigantic energy sphere in midair.
For one frozen instant, time itself seemed to stop.
A visible shockwave swept across the land, shaving an entire layer off the planet's surface below.
Krillin gritted his teeth and held the sphere back.
The muscles in his arms split apart, blood instantly staining the golden aura around him.
"GO BACK… AAAAHHH!!"
Krillin roared, veins bulging across his forehead.
He pushed his sixty-million power level to its absolute limit, trying to resist Frieza's eighty-four-million force.
But a gap was still a gap.
The purple sphere paused only briefly before continuing downward with unstoppable momentum.
"USELESS! USELESS!!"
High above, Frieza laughed maniacally as he kept pouring power into the attack.
"With your pathetic little light, you dare challenge the moon itself? DIE!!"
Crack.
A fracture appeared in the golden halo behind Krillin.
The crimson aura around him began getting devoured by purple energy.
Krillin felt every bone in his body screaming.
Every inch of skin tearing apart.
The pressure felt like carrying the entire sky on his back.
He knew he couldn't hold on anymore.
Or rather…
The script demanded that he couldn't.
Krillin slowly turned his head.
Through the sea of violet light and crimson-gold flames, his eyes locked onto the figure lying far away in the distance.
Goku's eyes were wide open.
Blood and tears streamed across his face as he screamed something desperately.
But amidst the deafening explosions, Krillin couldn't hear a thing.
Still, he understood that expression perfectly.
Fear.
The fear of losing his best friend.
Suddenly, an unfamiliar emotion stirred in Krillin's chest.
Even though all of this was part of the mission, seeing Goku look like that still twisted painfully at his heart.
[Sorry, buddy. Even if this is acting… this part really hurts.]
Krillin smiled.
A bright, familiar smile.
The same smile Goku knew best.
"Goku…"
Using the last of his strength, Krillin moved his lips softly.
His voice was faint, but through a strange resonance of spirit energy, it reached Goku's ears clearly.
"Goodbye. You have to live."
The next second…
Krillin released all his defenses.
He spread his arms wide as though embracing the destruction rushing toward him.
"NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"
Goku let out a heart-wrenching scream, reaching forward desperately, only to grasp empty air.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!
The purple sphere completely swallowed the crimson-gold figure.
Then came an explosion powerful enough to destroy heaven and earth.
Blinding white light instantly erased everyone's vision.
The world itself seemed bleached blank.
No sound.
No image.
Only endless, despairing white.
Krillin's energy…
Vanished.
Completely.
Utterly gone.
--------------------------------
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