Chapter 13 –
"Underestimating your opponent is a bad habit," Goku grunted through the pain, flashing a blood-stained grin. Before Coola could withdraw his impaling arm fully, Goku's hands shot up and clamped onto the sides of Coola's head. With a roar, he brought both fists together in a thunderous, concussive strike against Coola's temples.
CRACK!
The impact sent a visible shockwave rippling through the rock beneath their feet.
"GYAAH—!" Coola screamed, a sound of pure, disoriented agony. His vision swam, his equilibrium shattered. On pure instinct, he yanked his bloodied right arm back and threw Goku off with a violent surge of force.
Goku's desperate counter had only worked because he'd struck one of the few vulnerable spots on Coola's body. The natural, bladed armor of scales covered nearly everything else, but his head was unprotected, and the temples were a critical weak point.
"Heh… that got your attention, didn't it!" Goku spat out a glob of blood as he landed roughly, watching with detached fascination as the gaping hole in his chest sealed itself shut. Immortality is a hell of an ability… just wish it didn't hurt so damn much.
Knowing he had to capitalize on the momentary advantage, Goku didn't hesitate. His golden aura erupted anew, now laced with violent arcs of white lightning. Super Saiyan 2.
He flickered forward, becoming a storm of golden afterimages, his fists a relentless barrage aimed at Coola's still-reeling form.
Yet, the furious assault did little more than scuff Coola's armored scales. Instead, it was Goku's own fists that suffered—each scale was like a finely honed blade, and soon his knuckles were a raw, bloody mess.
By the time Coola shook off the disorientation, his eyes blazed with frigid fury. An aura of palpable, soul-numbing cold exploded from him. His barbed tail lashed out like a whip of living steel.
WHAM!
The tail connected with Goku's side, the barbs ripping through flesh and aura alike, sending him hurtling through a nearby stone mountain before he skidded to a stop in a cloud of dust and debris.
Goku pushed himself up from the rubble, a violent shiver wracking his body. He looked down at his chest and mangled hands. The wounds weren't just deep; they were rimed with a layer of crystalline frost that seemed to bite into his very bones. Coola's power had not only increased, surpassing Super Saiyan 2, but it carried an elemental chill that was flash-freezing the very rock around them, coating the landscape in thick, blue-white ice.
"Puzzled? Wondering why my ki carries such… frost?" Coola didn't press the attack immediately. Instead, he began to explain, his voice a calm contrast to the glacial energy rolling off him. "I told you. Like Frieza, I am a genetic mutant. But our mutations diverged. My body is sheathed in natural armor. And my ki… is inherently glacial. As my power grew in my youth, the cold became uncontrollable, until I eventually… froze myself solid. For millennia. A rather poetic form of imprisonment, don't you think?"
A cruel smile touched his lips. "So, I must thank you once more. Your magnificent power destroyed Planet Frieza. The cataclysm shattered my icy tomb, and the subsequent inferno of the planet's death… combined with the sheer, blazing heat of your Super Saiyan ki… it thawed the core of frost within me. After eons of subconscious adaptation, I can now wield this chill as a weapon, instead of being entombed by it."
"You keep thanking me for saving you, yet you're still trying to kill me! Are you insane?!" Goku jabbed an accusing finger toward Coola, his frustration boiling over.
"Gratitude and hatred are not mutually exclusive," Coola replied, his smile twisting into something truly murderous. "I am grateful for my freedom. But I despise you for the helpless, primal terror I felt in that single moment of awakening. It is a stain on my existence. And I will erase that stain… with your death."
"Fantastic. Another ego-maniac with a grudge. Less talking, more fighting—let's see who ends who!" Goku sank back into his stance, ready to launch another assault.
Coola's eyebrow lifted slightly as he observed Goku's chest, now fully healed without a scar. "Rapid cellular regeneration? An interesting trait. Is that common among Super Saiyans?"
Goku just snorted. Only an idiot gives the enemy a detailed breakdown of his abilities.
Close-quarters combat was becoming suicidal. Those claws were like monomolecular blades, the scales were like grinding plates, and the tail was a segmented nightmare. If only I had a weapon… something that could cut through all this defense…
"If you won't begin, then I shall." Coola's claws gleamed under the starlight as he blurred forward, a slashing arc aimed to cleave Goku's head from his shoulders.
Goku threw himself backward, feeling the wind of the passing strike against his throat. A heartbeat slower and it would have been over.
The sheer cutting power of those claws was absolute. The agony of being sliced open was an experience Goku had no desire to repeat.
"Swish! Swish! SWISH!"
Coola pressed the attack relentlessly, a synchronized whirlwind of slashing claws and lashing tail. Goku was forced into a desperate, frantic defense, new lacerations opening on his arms and torso with every near-miss.
"Enough of this flashy crap!" Goku roared. He disengaged with a powerful leap backward, putting precious meters between them. Cupping his hands at his side, he didn't wait. "KAMEHAME—HA!"
A colossal beam of blue-white energy erupted from his palms at point-blank range, engulfing the advancing Coola.
Coola's roar of surprise and pain was swallowed by the blast as he was hurled backward into the distance, where he vanished in a titanic explosion.
Not giving him a moment to recover, Goku shot into the air. He thrust his hands forward, palms glowing. "DIE! DIE! DIE!"
A relentless barrage of ki blasts rained down on the epicenter of the first explosion, hammering the planet's super-dense crust. The sustained bombardment cracked the stone continent, sending massive shards hurtling into the air—a silent, spectacular display of raw destructive power against the starry backdrop.