Only when he himself was panting from the exertion did Goku finally cease his relentless barrage.
As the dust and smoke slowly settled, a massive, smoldering crater was revealed in the planet's surface. Even this absurdly dense world had been blasted dozens of meters deep.
In the process, colorful, exotic ores had been unearthed, scattered across the ravaged landscape like strange, glittering jewels, lending an eerie beauty to the scene of destruction.
At the center of the deep pit, rubble shifted. A figure slowly pushed itself upright.
It was Coola. But he was no longer the composed, pristine figure from before.
Many of the bladed scales covering his body were cracked or shattered from the explosive impacts. Wounds glistened, quickly sealed over by a layer of his own frost, preventing any blood loss. One of the sharp claws on his left hand was broken off at the base. His left eye was tightly shut, a faint trace of blood frozen at its corner.
His frantic bombardment had cost Coola his left eye.
He looked utterly disheveled.
The calm, mocking smile was gone from his face, replaced by a grim, icy mask of pure killing intent.
He slowly ascended, landing on the rim of the crater. He looked up at Goku, hovering in the starry sky, and spoke, his voice a chilling whisper that carried unnaturally in the vacuum. "Impressive. Truly. In all my long existence, no one has ever been able to wound me to this extent. You are the first."
A cruel light flickered in his remaining eye. "Killing a worthy opponent like you… I imagine the satisfaction will be unparalleled. So. Are you prepared to die? HAAH!"
Coola roared. His aura didn't just flare—it swelled, climbing steadily. His muscles bulged, his limbs and torso thickening with dense, powerful muscle, exuding a terrible, weaponized aesthetic. With sharp cracks, bone spurs shot out from the joints of his limbs, his shoulders, and even along his spine, each one gleaming like a honed blade.
The tip of his long tail morphed, forming a single, vicious sword-like point, the barbs along its length seeming even sharper. A strike from it would either flay a target or cleave it in two. The scales covering his entire body grew thicker, their edges sharper, some even curling slightly outward—striking them now would be like punching a grater.
In this moment, Coola was no longer just a warrior. He was a magnificent, terrifying, walking engine of destruction.
Though his broken claw had already begun to regenerate, the blinded eye remained a ruined, frozen socket.
"No… no way! This guy looks more dangerous than a porcupine now! How am I supposed to fight this?!" Goku stared, momentarily dumbfounded.
It wasn't just the aura, which now clearly surpassed Super Saiyan 2. It was the sheer, overwhelming armament. The guy was a living weapon. How could he even get close?
"What's the matter? Intimidated by my true form?" Coola's voice had shifted too, laced with a smug, arrogant edge. Was it overconfidence in his newfound power? "Let me enlighten you. This is my ultimate state."
"Since you've shown your true form… I suppose it's only fair I show you mine as well." Goku cracked his neck, his tone deceptively calm.
"Oh? You can transform further? Don't tell me you're going to turn into a giant ape. How… primitive." Coola's mocking laughter was silent but clear in Goku's mind, his disdain palpable.
"It seems you're very confident in your power," Goku said, his gaze steady. "In that case, allow me to completely shatter that confidence."
He took a deep breath, though there was no air to breathe. "Watch closely. This is the result of my recent training. The form that surpasses Super Saiyan 2…"
"SUPER SAIYAN… THREE!"
"HAAAAAAAAAAAH—!"
As Goku's long, silent roar echoed psychically, his aura erupted violently. The lightning around his body crackled with insane intensity. His golden hair visibly lengthened, flowing down past his shoulders and back.
"HAH!" With a final shout, his power peaked and stabilized.
He had transformed.
Super Saiyan 3.
This was the culmination of his focused training over the past months. Achieving this form was, in theory, straightforward—accumulate a monstrous reservoir of ki and master the triggering essence. The true challenge was sustaining the staggering energy drain.
"This… this is impossible! You can… transform again?!" Coola was genuinely shaken. The aura radiating from Super Saiyan 3 Goku completely overshadowed his own, a pressure that felt tangible even across the distance.
"A stronger aura means nothing! Can you even touch me?!" Coola roared, channeling his fear into rage. He flickered, a blur of blue and silver, his regenerated claws lancing forward to impale Goku's face.
Knowing their sharpness, Goku didn't attempt to block. He vanished, reappearing a dozen meters away. The claws shot past, severing a nearby boulder the size of a house. The cut surface was perfectly smooth, a testament to their monomolecular edge.
"Too close. That would have been the end," Goku thought, his caution ratcheting up another level.
Missing his strike, Coola pivoted with blinding speed. He swung his arm, and a crescent of golden, frost-tinged energy shot from his claws, scything toward Goku's waist.
Goku snorted, clapping his hands together. Golden ki rapidly condensed between his palms before expanding outward, forming a domed energy shield around him.
SCREEE—!
The energy crescent struck the shield not with an explosion, but a piercing shriek. Instead of breaking through, it deflected at a sharp angle, shooting back past Coola's head at even greater speed. It sliced clean through a distant mountain range, leaving a canyon of molten glass in its wake.
Coola sneered, undeterred. He bent forward and charged again, his claws becoming a storm of cold light—chopping, slashing, stabbing—a relentless, inescapable net of razor-sharp attacks.
Yet, each time, Goku dodged by the narrowest of margins.
This isn't working, Goku thought, weaving through the assault. He knows Instant Transmission too. A full-power Kamehameha would just give him time to teleport away. Close combat is suicide… Alright. Time to gamble.
Goku's figure flickered, appearing directly behind Coola. His fist, blazing with golden energy, shot toward the base of Coola's skull.
Coola vanished. He reappeared instantly behind Goku, his claw already thrusting toward the Saiyan's spine.
In a move of breathtaking speed and risk, Goku spun on his heel. Instead of dodging, he reached out and grabbed the thrusting wrist. At the same moment, he flickered again, this time wrapping his other hand around the barbed, sword-like tail that was already whipping toward his side.
He ignored the searing pain as the scales and barbs tore into his palms. With a mighty heave, he used Coola's own thrashing tail to bind the Frost Demon's arms against his body, immobilizing them.
"I've got you now!" Goku yelled, his hands bleeding freely but his grip like iron. The difference in raw power between Super Saiyan 3 and Coola's enhanced form was now decisive. Once caught, Coola's struggle, though fierce, was futile.
"Goodbye, Coola." With his free left hand, Goku conjured a spinning disc of razor-sharp energy. "Kienzan!"
SWISH! SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!
The Destructo Disc flashed multiple times.
Coola's body froze. Then, cleanly segmented sections of it slid apart.
"Im… possible… How… could I lose…? This… cannot be…" Even dismembered, Coola's consciousness lingered for a moment, his psychic voice a roar of utter disbelief and denial.
"The reason for your loss," Goku stated, his voice cold and final, "is that you chose to make an enemy of Son Goku."
A final, focused Ki blast followed, annihilating every last fragment, leaving not even cosmic dust behind.