Chapter 76: Vegeta's Regret (Patreon)

As soon as the words left his mouth, Frieza's ki surged violently.

The shockwave from his enormous body rolled outward like a solid wall, crushing everything in its path.

Rock was torn from the ground and trees were ripped out by the roots. In the instant he released his ki, the terrain for kilometers around was completely reshaped. Vegeta crossed his arms in front of him, his pupils contracting sharply.

He was sizing up Frieza's Power Level. By his judgment, he could fight this, but he had no real advantage.

The next second, Frieza appeared in front of him.

Frieza's hand snapped around his ankle. Before Vegeta could react, he was slammed hard into the ground.

His body smashed through the surface strata and he was buried in rubble.

Agony tore through him. He felt as if his spine was about to snap.

He hadn't even caught his breath when Frieza's foot came stomping down.

Vegeta threw himself into a roll with everything he had. The huge foot came down right where he'd been lying, leaving a crater more than ten meters across.

Before Vegeta could recover, a fist crashed into his face.

Frieza kicked, and Vegeta went flying through another mountain.

Vegeta struggled up out of the rubble and glared at Frieza as he approached.

Frieza stopped and pointed a finger at him.

"Hmph. Have you lost your fighting spirit already?"

A purple beam of energy shot from Frieza's fingertip and hit Vegeta in the abdomen.

Frieza was deliberately avoiding his vital points. He only wanted to torture him.

The beam pierced Vegeta's body. His legs gave out and he collapsed straight to the ground. Frieza walked over, rolled him onto his back with a foot, and left him staring at the sky.

"Oho ho ho ho, Vegeta, at last you've fallen into my hands! When you stole my Dragon Balls, I swore that when I caught you, I wouldn't let you die so easily. I'd make you suffer to the fullest!"

Frieza kicked Vegeta again and again.

Vegeta howled and screamed and struggled, but he no longer had any strength left to resist.

Frieza planted a foot on him and smirked obnoxiously. "Oho ho ho ho… So this is your Super Saiyan? I thought you'd at least force me into my Third Form. Looks like I overestimated you. Apparently a Super Saiyan is nothing but trash. I, Frieza, am forever the strongest in the universe, and not even a Super Saiyan can change that. Oho ho ho…"

To say a Super Saiyan couldn't beat him. Frieza had struck right at the heart of Vegeta's convictions.

Vegeta gritted his teeth and tried to rise. Frieza stamped a foot down hard on his chest and drove him back into the ground.

"Crunch…"

Vegeta felt his ribs breaking one by one.

Blood drained away and his strength faded. His vision blurred, and Frieza's snarling face swam further and further out of focus.

Can't even a Super Saiyan beat Frieza?

Then something flashed through his mind like lightning. He sensed two immensely powerful ki signatures, born on the far side of Namek.

Those two ki were overwhelming.

He had never reached such a height himself, so he couldn't begin to comprehend the strength of those who had.

Before, Vegeta had thought Frieza's Power Level of 530,000 was enormous. To him, it had been like a frog in a well gazing at the moon.

But after sensing those two ki, he felt like a mayfly looking up at the vast blue sky.

And those two ki were very familiar.

Vegeta's pupils trembled.

Could it really be Oryon and Kakarot?

Had they succeeded?

Was the Grand Elder's unlocking of potential really that powerful?

A guess took shape in his mind!

Were they the ones who had truly become Super Saiyans?

All he had done was raise his Power Level a fair bit. Compared to a Super Saiyan, he was still far behind.

With his Scouter blown apart, Frieza couldn't read anything and hadn't noticed a thing.

He simply went on torturing Vegeta.

Seeing Vegeta seem to realize something, his face full of disbelief, Frieza grew angry again.

Frieza seized him by the hair and hauled him up from the ground, then smashed another fist into his face.

"Oho ho ho ho, Vegeta, you still have the presence of mind to get distracted? It seems I've been too gentle with you.

"Hiyah!"

Frieza drove a savage kick into Vegeta's side.

Vegeta screamed again.

The next few seconds felt like hours to Vegeta.

Frieza's fists rained down on him like a storm. Each blow landed with precision on his most fragile spots. Each carried enough force to kill, yet deliberately veered away from the vitals, beating him so that he couldn't even break free of it.

His nose was broken, his eye socket cracked, the corner of his mouth torn open, and who knew how many ribs were snapped.

His left arm had lost all feeling.

He looked like he'd been fished out of a pool of blood, drenched in it, unable to stay on his feet.

Frieza lifted him by the neck to eye level and stared at him with cold, blood-red eyes.

"Any last words, Vegeta?"

Vegeta was no good man, but he was tough to the bone! He'd sooner die in battle than beg for mercy, and he went on howling and mocking Frieza.

Vegeta bared his blood-filled mouth in a twisted grin.

"Frieza, you're dead… The real Super Saiyans have already come. I can sense their ki. Every one of them is better than me… Every one of them can crush you."

The hand around Vegeta's throat tightened, and Frieza bellowed, "Nonsense! I am the strongest!"

Vegeta's windpipe creaked under the pressure, and his face turned purple from lack of air.

His consciousness began to slip away, and the world went black.

Just as he thought he was about to die, a golden light tore through the darkness.

A figure with golden hair and teal eyes appeared before him and Frieza.

It was Super Saiyan Goku.

He said to Frieza, thrilled, "You're Emperor of the Universe Frieza, right? Let me fight you!"

Frieza's pupils narrowed.

"You are…"

"I'm Goku, from Earth!"

Frieza glanced at Vegeta, then turned his head to look at Goku.

His voice held a hint of amusement as he asked, "So you're the Super Saiyan Vegeta was talking about? If you disappoint me, you'll die even more miserably than Vegeta."

Goku took his fighting stance.

"Come on! Show me what you've got!"

Soon Oryon arrived too, but he didn't join the fight.

Piccolo and Krillin followed one after another.

"Th-that's Frieza?"

"Sure enough, he transformed. And he got this big…"

Frieza was in his Second Form at the moment.

Frieza struck first. His huge body lunged at Goku at an incredible speed, his fist wrapped in purple aura, aimed at Goku's head.

Goku sidestepped, moving with complete ease.

Frieza's second punch followed right behind, and Goku dodged it by a hair.

Frieza's assault grew fiercer and fiercer. Dense flurries of fists covered nearly every angle Goku could dodge to.

Yet every time, Goku evaded them with precision.

Goku's brow furrowed. He countered with a punch to Frieza's abdomen, a second to his jaw, and a kick to his knee. After three moves, Frieza's massive body was knocked half to the ground, a thread of purple blood trickling from his mouth.

Vegeta lay in a pool of his own blood and watched it all with his one remaining eye.

His lips trembled, and with the last of his strength he shouted at Frieza, "Frieza… you're finished… you're completely… finished…"

Frieza ignored him. He stood up from the ground and wiped the purple blood from the corner of his mouth.

"So you do have some skill. It seems I'll have to get serious."

With that, Frieza roared.

His skull stretched forward, his eye sockets bulged, and his lips thinned. His whole face took on a terrifying, alien shape.

Third Form Frieza let out a low growl, and a shockwave exploded outward with him at its center.

The blast stripped a layer off the ground, and huge boulders were ground to powder in the shockwave.

Goku frowned slightly. "He doesn't seem able to sense ki…"

Oryon nodded.

"That's right. He has no idea how to sense ki, so he doesn't know there's a real gap between his strength right now and yours! Give him a taste of pain and make him hurry up and bring out his last transformation!"

Goku nodded, then punched Frieza and sent him flying.

Frieza had meant to rely on the speed of his Third Form to handle Goku with ease.

But after a few exchanges, he couldn't even touch the hem of Goku's clothes.

Beads of sweat popped out on Frieza's forehead.

Third Form Frieza was completely suppressed.

"Could he really be a true Super Saiyan?"

Vegeta lay among the rubble, broken laughter rasping out of his throat.

"Frieza, you're finished! I told you long ago, a Super Saiyan is invincible!"

But Frieza sneered. "Oho ho ho ho, quit joking. My Final Form is the strongest!"

"What? You have a Final Form?"

Vegeta's face filled with shock.

Goku looked thrilled too, practically bouncing to get started.

"Hurry, hurry up and show me what you've really got. It's no fun like this…"

Frieza roared, and the ki pouring off his body began to erupt.

Bones reassembled, muscle fibers tore apart and regrew.

In this round of changes, his body didn't grow larger. It shrank.

Every bulge, horn, and spike retracted into his body.

His form became smooth and refined, almost perfectly streamlined.

His skin turned pure white, with purple patches set into it like the markings of some higher life form.

Final Form Frieza stood before them all.

His body was much smaller than in the Third Form, even smaller than in the First, but his ki was several times stronger than the Third Form's, and stronger than all his previous forms combined by countless times.

His icy presence made the very air begin to freeze, and all of Namek seemed to tremble under his pressure.

The last trace of color drained from Vegeta's face.

His pupils shook violently. Having grasped some ability to sense ki, he could feel that Frieza's power had gone beyond anything he'd imagined, and every estimate he'd ever made of Frieza turned into a joke.

Helplessness and despair drove into his heart like two knives, and he could barely breathe.

But Goku reacted completely differently.

Although he was in his Super Saiyan state, out of respect for the fight he hadn't used all his ki from the start.

Goku roared, and the ki pouring off him soared. In a moment it caught up with Frieza's, and even surpassed it.

Vegeta watched Goku, and the despair in his eyes gave way to regret.

He regretted not going with Oryon and the others to find the Grand Elder. He regretted his momentary arrogance and pride.

If he had unlocked his potential too, if he could have become a Super Saiyan at that level, he wouldn't be lying here like a puddle of mud, watching others fight.

He painfully turned his head toward Oryon and pleaded, "Please, take me to the Grand Elder. Have Dende heal me, have the Grand Elder unlock my potential. I'm sure I can become a Super Saiyan too. I can fight Frieza too. I'm begging you."

Oryon looked down at Vegeta and shook his head. "Sorry, it's too late."

Vegeta froze. "What… what do you mean?"

"The Grand Elder has passed away peacefully."

"What!"

The words went off in Vegeta's head like an energy blast.

His eyes bulged so far they nearly fell out of their sockets.

He gaped for a long moment, unable to find any words for how he felt.

"The Grand Elder is dead?"

Oryon nodded.

"Yes, he's dead. But luckily the Dragon Balls have been passed down and still work."

A light lit up in Vegeta's eyes.

"Then can we still revive the Grand Elder and have him unlock my potential?" Vegeta asked.

Oryon was taken aback, then shook his head.

"The Grand Elder died naturally, his lifespan spent. The Dragon Balls can't bring him…"

"Boom!"

It struck Vegeta's mind like a bolt of lightning.

The Grand Elder was gone?

So he could no longer have his potential unlocked either?

He looked at Oryon, and at Kakarot.

Regret gnawed at him.

Why? They'd had their potential unlocked and simply transformed.

Vegeta hadn't known it would work this well.

And he hadn't known that a true Super Saiyan has golden hair and teal eyes!

Oryon watched the regretful, remorseful Vegeta and considered saying a few words to console him.

In truth, training properly and becoming a Super Saiyan wasn't hard. For Vegeta, there was just one thing that was hard.

He had to live a good life for a few years, settle his mind, and only after some S-Cells were born in his body could he transform.

Just as Oryon was about to tell him, a system notification flashed through his mind.

[Ding! You have subjected Vegeta to inhumane bullying. His Power Level is 1,060,000. You gain 30 days of cultivation progress, and you have mastered the skill: Instant Transmission (Full Version).]

Oryon's gaze sharpened.

When did I bully Vegeta again?

And what's this full version of Instant Transmission?

Suddenly, an insight into ki surged through him, and Oryon's eyes trembled. The moment he turned his awareness to Instant Transmission, several clear coordinates popped into his mind.

Those were Earth's…

Oryon's pupils contracted.

"Could this be the Supreme Kai's version, Instant Transmission 4.7? Can I really go back to Earth with just a thought?"

Krillin walked over from the side to Vegeta and tried to comfort him. "Sorry, Vegeta, the Senzu Beans were all used up on you. There's not a single one left."

Vegeta's body went limp as if every ounce of strength had been drained from it.

He lay on his back, staring up at Namek's green sky with empty eyes, no longer even feeling the injuries that would have knocked an ordinary person out ten times over.

"Damn it!"

"Could I be the only one who can't become a Super Saiyan?"

Oryon saw that the standoff between Goku and Frieza was about to get exciting. But their fight might destabilize the planet.

So he sidled up to Krillin and said in a low voice, "Krillin, could you go to Frieza's Attack Ball and steal the Dragon Balls, and take them to the Grand Elder's place…"

Krillin's mouth twitched, and he answered reluctantly, "Wh-why me? I want to watch Goku and Frieza fight…"

Oryon raised an eyebrow. "You really want to be a sacrifice that badly?"

Krillin blinked in alarm. "What sacrifice?"

"Why don't you go yourself? You're obviously way faster than me…"

Oryon said, "I'm staying here to back Goku up. What if he slips up and can't win?"

Krillin stared at him. "…You make a good point."

Oryon urged him, "Go, hurry up.

"If we wait too long, the planet blows up, and we'll have nowhere to run!"

"But…"

Krillin looked into the distance and asked anxiously, "There aren't any enemies left in the Attack Ball, are there?"

Oryon shook his head. "Absolutely not. Vegeta killed all of Frieza's men. You can just loot the place.

"Oh, and his Attack Ball is in that direction. Go around, and don't let Frieza spot you!"

Krillin nodded. "So that's it. No wonder Frieza hates Vegeta so much!"

Krillin slipped out of view of the fight and flew off toward Frieza's Attack Ball.