"No, I am the Emperor of this Universe."
Frieza's crisp, faintly sinister voice echoed across the battlefield.
Before Richard's brain could even process the statement—
Whoosh!
It was as if a single frame had been yanked out of reality itself.
The white demon who'd been a hundred metres away a heartbeat earlier now stood nose-to-nose with Richard. They were less than ten centimetres apart.
Richard could see his own terrified face reflected in Frieza's scarlet eyes.
"Wh—"
Richard's heart lurched, it was the primal jolt of prey meeting predator.
As a legend of the Nova Corps and a super-soldier empowered by the Nova Force, his reflexes were second to none. Golden energy flared inside him and he snapped a fist upward, ready to shatter the monster with the blow.
Yet—
Too slow.
The instant his fingers curled into a fist, a freezing chill—like liquid nitrogen—immobilised his very soul.
It felt like a rabbit finding a tyrannosaur's breath on its face.
He couldn't move—couldn't even twitch.
Richard realised in horror that his body had mutinied, rigid as stone.
"A Centurion of the Nova Corps?"
Frieza tilted his head, a cruel, elegant curve lifting his lips—the smile of death readying his scythe.
"I see fear in your eyes."
"What? Didn't your Nova Prime ever mention me?"
Frieza extended a finger and tapped Richard's hard golden helm.
"In this Universe, some beings aren't even qualified to be looked up at."
"Wh-what emperor?"
Richard forced the words through a throat raw with terror, clinging to the last shred of Nova pride.
"The archives of the Nova Empire… have never recorded anything about you."
"Oh dear, what an ignorant country bumpkin." Frieza sighed, the crimson light in his eyes blazing brighter.
"Not knowing just now is fine."
"Because—"
Frieza's finger curled, a brilliant violet spark gathering at the tip.
"—you're about to remember it for the rest of your lives."
"Go to hell and memorise it there."
"Farewell, little glow-bug."
Crack!
Frieza flicked the finger as though brushing off a speck of dust.
Just like that—
Boom!
A savage burst of telekinetic annihilation detonated inside Richard's body.
No scream.
No struggle.
The mightiest warrior of the Nova Corps couldn't even rely on his supposedly indestructible black-gold armour. Against that absolute power, his frame burst like a water-filled balloon.
Splurt!
A crimson mist laced with shards of golden armour blossomed into a grim firework in the air.
One hit—total kill.
The entire battlefield plunged into deathly silence.
Nova soldiers mid-charge watched the drifting scarlet cloud, their rifles clanging to the ground.
Even Richard Rider… dead?
He hadn't lasted a single second?
"Tch."
Hovering amid the blood-mist, Frieza used his Ki to keep the filth off himself.
He glanced at the members of the so-called Ginyu Force still standing below.
Apocalypse, frozen mid-growth, stared slack-jawed.
Erik forgot to hurl the iron sphere in his hand.
"Really…"
Frieza sighed, exasperated.
"I knew counting on you losers would be painfully inefficient."
"Can't even squash a few bugs without me wiping your backsides."
He ranted silently, 'Why is everyone in this Marvel Universe so fragile?'
Back in the day, Zarbon or Dodoria alone could wipe out a galaxy-level civilisation.
Look at the clowns under his command now. They struggle just to conquer Earth.
Even that so-called universal tyrant Thanos leads the pathetic Black Order—every last one a push-over.
In the end, Thanos still had to swing the blade himself.
If not for Star-Lord's blunder, Thanos would've lost the gauntlet on Titan and croaked.
"Seems I still have to do everything myself."
Frieza shook his head, his scarlet eyes sweeping the city below.
"Apocalypse—take your trash and clear off." His icy voice descended.
"Quit getting underfoot. I'm not laundering bloodstains later."
At his Master's command, Apocalypse shuddered back to his senses.
"Yes, Lord Frieza."
Instinct screamed that hesitation meant a gruesome death.
"Pull back! Now! Regroup behind Lord Frieza!"
Apocalypse cancelled his enlargement, formation abandoned. He beckoned Erik and Loki and bolted into the sky behind Frieza.
Once the nuisances were safely distant, Frieza turned toward the gleaming, futuristic and now despair-soaked capital of the Nova Empire—Xandar.
Arms spread wide, he arched backward, forming a perfect cruciform shape. Under the sun, his white form glowed with a holy, terrifying radiance.
"Ants of Xandar."
Though soft, his voice stabbed into every mind like a demonic whisper.
"Since you still don't know what the Emperor of the Universe is..."
"Since you dare aim your laughable water-pistols at me..."
"Today—"
He raised his right hand, index finger pointing skyward.
"—I'll graciously give you a live lesson."
"The title: Annihilation."
Bzzzzzz—
A tiny crimson sphere no larger than a ping-pong ball ballooned wildly above that fingertip.
Though Frieza kept the energy in check as he still needed the Planet for development, the dreadful energy ignited Xandar's very atmosphere.
"I-is that… a god?"
On the ground, Irani stared at the screen, collapsing into her chair, eyes vacant.
"Catch."
Frieza gazed at the beautiful city below, a blissfully vicious grin on his lips.
"A little greeting gift from your emperor."
"Off you go."
He flicked the sphere with a finger.
Rumble!
The orb descended, slow but apocalyptic, a few kilometres away.
The instant it kissed the ground, sound ceased.
Light and heat devoured everything.
A continent-sized mushroom cloud erupted skyward in the distance.
Shockwaves unravelled skyscrapers like sand castles and countless lives vaporised in an instant.
The entire city beyond, together with the Nova Corps garrison, in a heartbeat, was wiped from existence.
"Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho!"
Frieza laughed maniacally at the rivers of lava and fire.
"What a magnificent firework."
"Now, does anyone still claim they don't know my name?"