Bang!
Aira materialized on the surface of Planet Vegeta in a flash of displaced air, crashing into a panicked Saiyan as she did. The sky was a chaos of fleeing figures and screams. Before she could orient herself, a crushing, apocalyptic pressure from above stole her breath.
She looked up. A Planet Destruction Ball, massive and seething with violet fire, filled her vision, blotting out the sky.
Yet, there was no panic. Her battle power, forged in the Time Chamber, was in the high hundred-thousands. This was a formidable attack, but not an insurmountable one for her.
Frieza. Her senses locked onto the cold, monstrous aura in orbit—unmistakable, glaringly obvious.
Bang!
Instead of charging straight for him, Aira planted her feet on the trembling ground. Her aura erupted, a white-hot geyser of power that pushed back the suffocating dread. She brought her hands to her waist, the familiar stance grounding her.
Kamehame—HA!
A torrent of blue-white energy, thicker and more concentrated than any she'd ever produced, roared from her palms, a defiant spear aimed to pierce the heart of the descending apocalypse.
In space, every scouter on Frieza's ship simultaneously screeched and exploded in a chorus of pops and sparks.
"To what level has the combat power on that planet risen?!" Frieza snapped, accepting a fresh scouter from a trembling aide.
The reply over the comms was a stammer. "L-Lord Frieza… the ship's main scanner… it reads over five hundred thousand! It's… it's currently at five hundred and sixty thousand!"
Five hundred sixty thousand?! A genuine jolt of surprise shot through Frieza. Beings who could challenge his suppressed form were rarities.
Whoosh.
A presence. Silent. Unannounced. Right beside his viewport.
Frieza's head swiveled. His guards gasped, weapons snapping up to surround the intruder who had appeared from nowhere.
"Huh?" The newcomer—Rhode—looked momentarily bewildered by the frantic welcome party. He ignored them completely. His eyes were on Frieza. Almost curiously, he reached out and… tapped Frieza on the smooth, domed head.
It felt… waxy. Unpleasant.
The guards froze in abject horror. He touched the Lord's head. They were all dead men.
Frieza himself was stunned into momentary paralysis. No one—no one—had ever done such a thing. Not King Cold, not anyone. A volcano of pure, incandescent rage began to boil in his veins.
"BASTARD!"
The roar was pure fury. His finger shot up, a Death Beam lancing out point-blank at Rhode's chest.
Bang.
Rhode's hand came up, a casual, almost bored motion. The crimson beam dissipated against his palm with a sizzle.
Whoosh.
Rhode blinked backward, putting a polite distance between them, finally taking in the scene: the doomed planet below, the violet orb of destruction, Aira's rising counter-attack. Ah. So this is the moment.
He didn't intervene. If Aira wanted to play savior, he wouldn't stop her.
Beep-beep-beep~
Frieza's new scouter whirred to life, pointed at Rhode.
Battle Power: 3.
Frieza's eye twitched. A power suppressor. The Death Beam deflection proved it. Then his gaze sharpened, catching the telltale brown tail coiled around Rhode's waist.
"You… are a Saiyan?!" The realization dripped with venomous intrigue.
"Yes," Rhode confirmed, utterly calm.
"Oh ho ho ho!" Frieza's anger momentarily transformed into a giddy, cruel excitement. "Have you come to stop me, then?" His confidence was unshaken. His current form was a cage; the true monster slept within.
Rhode's gaze finally lifted from the planet below and settled on Frieza. His voice was flat, devoid of bluster.
"No," he said. "I've come to challenge you."
"Challenge me? Oh ho ho ho~!" Frieza's laughter echoed in the metal corridor. "Could it be… you and that insect down there… are the 'legendary' Super Saiyans?" The words were laced with mockery, but a new, hungry light gleamed in his eyes. The hunt had just become interesting.
"Not yet," Rhode answered with a calm smile, meeting Frieza's forced elegance. "But certainly, one day."
Frieza's composed facade cracked. The elegance evaporated, replaced by a predator's cold focus. His voice dropped to a lethal whisper. "Does the Super Saiyan… truly exist?"
"It does," Rhode stated, his tone factual, unflinching. "The Super Saiyan, the Legendary Super Saiyan, the Super Saiyan God—they are not myths. They are inevitabilities of the future."
He paused, his own smile fading, his gaze sharpening into a blade. "However… whether you, Lord Frieza, will live long enough to witness them… that is far less certain."
"Oh ho ho ho~" Frieza's laugh was back, but it was hollow, a sound that carried no warmth, only a spillover of icy, homicidal intent. "If your power is akin to that insect's below, then you cannot kill me." The spaceship's readings had given him a ceiling—560,000. Even if this one was stronger, it was within the realm of his suppressed form's control. His confidence was absolute.
"How will you know without trying?" Rhode replied, and as he did, his dormant aura began to awaken.
Immediately, the panicked voice of a technician buzzed in Frieza's ear via communicator. "Lord Frieza! The target's power level is rising! Five hundred thousand! Seven hundred thousand! Nine hundred thousand! One million!"
The numbers climbed in terrifying, impossible leaps within seconds.
Then, a faint, golden-brown glow shimmered around Rhode—the subtle, controlled application of Oozaru power, magnifying his base form without transformation. His aura detonated.
"This—this is impossible! Lord Frieza, the power level—it's spiking! Ten million! IT'S OVER TEN MILLION!"
"WHAT?!" For the first time, genuine, unadulterated shock flashed across Frieza's face. The numbers defied all logic, all his understanding of Saiyan biology.
But Rhode was already moving. His hands snapped to his waist in the iconic pose.
"KA—ME—HA—ME—"
His eyes locked onto Frieza's. The energy between his palms swelled, a miniature sun contained by will alone.
"HA!"
The final syllable was the trigger. But Rhode didn't fire from a distance.
He vanished.
In the space between one instant and the next, using the Super Instant Transmission he had mastered, he was there—not in front of Frieza, but beside him, inside his guard, inside the perimeter of his shocked guards.
The fully-formed Kamehameha, a river of condensed stellar fury, was not launched. It was unleashed from point-blank range, directly into Frieza's side.
There was no time to dodge, no time to power up, no time for arrogance or speeches. There was only the all-consuming, blinding-blue light of annihilation, erupting at zero range, swallowing the tyrant whole.