In that instant, time seemed to freeze.
Tony, who had closed his eyes, waiting to die, suddenly opened them.
Charles, Reed and everyone else in the distance fixed their gaze on the man's back.
A mere mortal, standing shoulder to shoulder with the gods. Perhaps it wasn't just about strength, but also this moving willpower.
However—
"Pfft..."
A burst of laughter that couldn't be held back shattered the solemn, tragic atmosphere.
Frieza's shoulders began to shake. Immediately after, the laughter grew louder and more exaggerated.
"Oh ho ho ho..."
"Hahahahahahaha!"
Frieza threw his head back and laughed, tears almost streaming from his eyes.
He looked at Steve as if he were an idiot, his eyes filled with absurdity. "Stall for a whole day?"
"Are you serious, little ant?"
Frieza stopped laughing, his expression turning instantly cold. There was no trace of amusement left in his eyes, only endless cruelty.
"I admire your courage."
"However..."
"Courage, in the face of absolute power, is the biggest joke."
Frieza didn't even raise his hand. He simply looked at Steve, his gaze hardening slightly.
Boom!
An invisible yet terrifying aura instantly erupted, centered on him.
"Ugh..."
Steve only managed a muffled groan.
The next second.
Bang!
Like a tomato crushed by a hydraulic press, under this terrifying pressure, Steve's body, enhanced by the Super Soldier Serum, instantly disintegrated.
Bones shattered, muscles tore and blood splattered.
There was no room for resistance.
No miracle occurred.
He didn't even last the first second of that 'whole day.'
The man who symbolized the American spirit was instantly blasted into a puddle of indistinct gore, evenly spread across the ruined ground.
Only the star emblem on his chest wasn't completely shattered yet. It lied quietly in the pool of blood, appearing especially glaring.
Frieza glanced at the substance that had once been called Steve and a sneer of extreme disdain appeared on his face.
"Stall for a whole day?"
Frieza elegantly spread his hands toward the puddle of flesh.
"Please."
"Do you even have the power for that?"
Tony still slumped inside the deactivated Anti-Frieza armor. His brown eyes stared blankly at the pool of blood and flesh.
"Jarvis..."
"Yes, sir."
"Turn off the alarms."
"Sir, your heart rate is..."
"I told you to turn them off!"
Tony yelled hysterically, then deflated like a burst balloon, collapsing completely.
"It's too loud... it's really too loud..."
He closed his eyes, and two lines of clear tears traced paths down his oil-stained cheeks.
There would be no 'stalling for a whole day.'
That little guy from Brooklyn.
That fool who always got back up, even when knocked down, and said, "I can do this all day."
He truly could never stand up again.
In the face of absolute power, willpower was like a soap bubble, popped with a single poke.
Meanwhile, elsewhere on Earth.
The heads of state and military brass who had witnessed everything through the live feed—
At this moment, their fingers, trembling on the nuclear launch buttons, recoiled as if shocked by electricity.
Some even seemed to have their bones removed, slumping helplessly in their chairs.
Launch?
What a joke!
Watching the magnificent yet tragic meteor shower of moon debris in the sky on the screen, a cold shower named despair extinguished the last flicker of hope in everyone's hearts.
That man could casually blow up the moon!
That man could reverse time!
That man could crush a spiritual icon like Captain America as easily as stepping on a cockroach!
Nuclear bombs?
In front of him, they probably wouldn't even count as firecrackers.
They gave up.
From this moment on, human civilization as a whole, had its spine utterly broken under the gaze of those scarlet eyes.
And this was exactly what Frieza wanted.
[Ding! Detected that all of humanity on Earth has fallen into absolute despair and submission!]
[Fear Points +100 Billion!]
[Ding! Detected that governments worldwide have abandoned the will to resist!]
[Fear Points +200 Billion!]
...
Listening to the notifications in his mind, Frieza curled his lips into a smile of extreme pleasure.
The speed at which the numbers jumped was faster than a heartbeat.
900 billion... 950 billion...
Finally, the eagerly awaited threshold was broken.
[Ding! Congratulations, Host! Cumulative Fear Points has exceeded 1 Trillion!]
[Achievement unlocked: Master of the Planet!]
[Unlock conditions met! Frieza Template (Final Form) is unlocking...]
Without any warning, a terrifying, indescribable aura suddenly erupted from Frieza's seemingly slender body.
The previously clear sky instantly turned pitch black.
Purple lightning streaked wildly through the clouds, as if even Earth's magnetic field was being disrupted.
"Oh ho ho ho..."
Frieza's laughter became distorted, it was the ecstasy brought by overflowing power.
"Is this true power?"
His body began to glow.
His head, which had been in human form, began to shrink and become rounded. His size did not increase. Instead, it began to shrink, becoming more compact and streamlined.
After just a few seconds, the light faded.
A completely new Frieza appeared before everyone.
He was no longer the elegant gentleman in a suit. His entire body was white, covered only by purple, gem-like armor on his head, chest, and shoulders.
His figure was slender and symmetrical, every muscle appearing like a masterpiece meticulously carved by God. Yet, this seemingly small body contained enough energy to make galaxies tremble.
Frieza—Final Form!
It was also his most original and most true form.
Power Level—120 Million!
Frieza slowly opened his eyes; his scarlet pupils now even deeper.
He gently clenched his fist.
Crackle!
Space itself seemed to groan in his grasp.
"This feeling..."
Frieza took a deep, intoxicated breath.
"It's truly wonderful."
"No wonder Frieza usually suppressed his power using his First Form. This feeling, where a slight twitch of the finger could poke a hole through Earth, is quite troublesome."
He didn't even need to consciously sense it. Just by releasing a tiny bit of his aura, the entire atmosphere of Earth trembled with his breath.
If it were the Frieza from moments ago, he would have needed to charge a blast to destroy Earth. But now, he only needed to sneeze at the ground, and this blue planet would shatter like a glass marble.
This was the horror of a Power Level in the hundreds of millions.
Just then—
Zzzzt!
A sound like shattering glass suddenly came from the space not far away.
With the death of the Ancient One, the Mirror Dimension, which had been maintained for so long, collapsed completely, having lost its magical support.