Chapter 96: Chapter 96: First Clash with Frieza (Conclusion)
Frieza's punch ultimately didn't land on Taro's face.
The intense ki aura surging from Taro's body, along with the faint purple Susanoo-like armor encasing him, created a barrier that significantly reduced the force of Frieza's strike.
At the critical moment, Taro extended his hand and caught Frieza's punch.
"What?!" Frieza exclaimed in shock.
He knew Taro had defeated Gemini, so he started this fight using roughly 30% of his power. Even so, he believed that was already generous given his opinion of the opponent before him.
Yet, what should have been an effortless strike was stopped by Taro.
Through the faint red glow of his ki, Taro's Ripple Jewel Eyes stared calmly at Frieza.
Then...
Fortyfold Dojutsu
60 million!
Taro unleashed his full power. His Nine Tomoe Rinnegan spun wildly, and the Susanoo armor enveloping him became almost tangible. Inside, his immense ki reserves of 1.5 million churned like raging rivers. Under the control of his Doujutsu, that ki was released in an instant, erupting with fortyfold intensity.
Grabbing Frieza's fist, Taro pulled him forward, then struck his neck with a blazing white elbow!
BAM!
"Crack…!" Frieza, though a biological creature with a respiratory system, relied on oxygen to breathe. Caught off guard, the fierce elbow strike to his neck momentarily cut off his airflow.
His eyes bulged slightly, and he gritted his teeth, his expression turning grim.
BAM!
Taro followed up with a powerful kick, sending Frieza flying!
Frieza tumbled several times mid-air before stabilizing himself. Wiping the purple blood from the corner of his mouth, he glanced at it, his fury igniting.
"To think someone other than my father could injure me in this form... You're the first! Fine, very well!"
"It seems I'll have to use half my—"
Before Frieza could finish his sentence, a barrage of ki blasts rained down on him like a storm.
Frieza was enraged. How dare Taro interrupt his speech!
50% power... 60 million!
Frieza opened his palm and swiped horizontally from left to right in front of him.
BOOM!
A massive, horizontal energy sphere collided head-on with the incoming barrage of ki blasts. The clash produced a deafening explosion in the air, waves of energy rippling outward.
Before the smoke and fire from the explosion could dissipate...
Whoosh!
Taro, shrouded in his faint red Susanoo armor, appeared beside Frieza!
"Such speed!" Frieza thought, startled.
He recalled the first punch Taro had landed on him earlier. At the time, he'd assumed it was because his power was restrained, which had caused him to miss Taro's approach. But now, even after using half of his strength, he still couldn't react in time.
Taro didn't give him a moment to think. A fist was already barreling toward him!
At their current levels of power, battles became incredibly straightforward.
There were no unnecessary techniques.
Only speed and strength.
Move faster to close the distance.
Strike harder to defeat the opponent.
That was how victory was decided.
Taro, with his Instant Transmission, had absolute speed. His movement speed nearly matched the electrical signals traveling through his trigeminal nerves to his brain—arguably the fastest in the universe.
But... his strength was a different matter.
BAM!
Frieza was caught off guard again, eating another punch from Taro—this was the second blow Taro had landed directly on his face! As Frieza tumbled through the air, his frustration grew. Relying on his combat instincts, he retaliated with a tail whip.
CRACK!
Frieza's Fury Unleashed
Frieza's tail whipped violently, leaving a red mark on Taro's body.
But Taro didn't back down; he outright ignored the pain. Instead, seeing that Frieza's tail was within reach, he grabbed it without hesitation.
Wham, wham, wham!
Just like Goku had done in the original timeline, Taro swung Frieza by his tail, spinning him around wildly before hurling him toward the fractured ground with immense force.
As Frieza tumbled, Taro raised his hands, unleashing two Destructo Disk that hummed audibly as they tore through the air.
The slicing discs shot toward Frieza with a sharp, high-pitched sound caused by their friction with the atmosphere. Taro didn't stop there. With swift, continuous hand movements, he unleashed wave after wave of Energy Slicers—two, four, six, eight—until dozens of them filled the sky, raining down upon Frieza like a deadly storm.
The sheer number of Energy Slicers formed a dazzling array, resembling a deadly vortex of blades.
Given their sharpness, even a single moment of carelessness could result in Frieza being sliced open. A direct hit to the head could very well end him on the spot.
"What is this?!" Frieza shouted.
His feet dug into the ground, the massive impact causing the already fractured terrain to sink even further. Stabilizing himself, he glanced upward, only to see the torrent of Energy Slicers bearing down on him.
Frieza, however, was no ordinary being. Having ruled the universe for over a century, he wasn't easily rattled. If even Vegeta had understood the lethality of the Destructo Disk at a glance, how could Frieza not?
"Powerful, perhaps, but far too slow!" Frieza sneered, dismissing the approaching blades. Without giving them another glance, he darted into the sky, his figure becoming a blur.
Relying on the high rotational energy to enhance their cutting power, Energy Slicers inherently traded off speed for destructive potential. And this trade-off, in Frieza's eyes, was their greatest flaw.
Or so he thought.
Before he could finish that thought, his right hand detached from his body.
More accurately, it was severed.
Taro, holding an Destructo Disk in hand, had appeared behind him. As they passed each other in midair, the blade sliced cleanly through Frieza's right arm with a sharp shhhk, continuing toward his waist for a follow-up cut.
Frieza's eyes widened in disbelief, meeting Taro's calm gaze.
BOOM!
A blinding explosion of white energy erupted from Frieza's body, halting the Destructo Disk mid-cut. Though it had sliced into his waist, it couldn't penetrate any further. Blood trickled from the wound, staining his sleek form.
"You filthy creature!" Frieza roared, bloodshot veins spreading across his eyes.
The Emperor of the Universe was furious—truly furious. To think his right hand, his dominant hand, had been severed by this insufferable being!
His power surged once more, and with a ferocious kick, he aimed for Taro's hand—the one still holding the Energy Slicer.
CRACK!
Frieza's kick, fueled by his rage and surpassing 80 million power, struck Taro's arm with devastating force. A loud snap echoed as the arm twisted unnaturally, clearly fractured.
90 million!
Frieza's aura continued to climb, his rage pushing him to unleash the full extent of his terrifying power. He no longer cared if the energy would damage his own body—he wanted to annihilate Taro at any cost.
Raising his intact left hand, Frieza formed a massive energy wave and launched it directly at Taro's face from point-blank range.
Taro remained calm.
At the last possible moment, just as the enormous energy blast seemed certain to hit him, Taro vanished.
The blast sailed past, slamming into the distant ground with catastrophic force. Entire continents crumbled under the impact, fire and magma surging skyward as seawater was displaced in violent waves.
"That speed again! Impossible! You can't be this fast!" Frieza growled, his eyes darting around frantically. Unable to sense energy, he relied solely on his eyes to locate his elusive opponent.
Pain flared from the stump of his right arm, intensifying his frustration.
"There!" Frieza snarled, spotting Taro hovering a short distance behind him.
Enraged, Frieza enveloped himself in a white energy shield and blasted forward, transforming into a streak of white light. In an instant, he closed the gap between them.
As he approached, Frieza fired a concentrated energy beam from his shield directly at Taro, intending to catch him off guard.
But Taro once again disappeared like a phantom, evading the attack effortlessly.
Halting mid-air, Frieza seethed with anger, his chest heaving as he struggled to contain his fury. Glaring at the battlefield around him, he smirked coldly.
The white energy shield surrounding him expanded violently.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Relentless Assault
Countless energy beams burst forth from Frieza's energy shield, scattering in all directions like a chaotic storm. There was no pattern, no target—just unrestrained devastation raining down indiscriminately.
"What a waste..." Taro muttered as he weaved through the barrage with uncanny precision. With a swift kick, he redirected one of the stray beams toward the ground—straight toward Frieza's severed arm.
Boom!
The energy beam hit its mark, incinerating the limb into a charred, smoking mess.
Frieza's eye twitched as he witnessed the scene.
In the next moment, another Energy Slicer descended upon him, crashing into his energy shield.
The blade failed to cut through.
"Hmph, useless." Taro remarked, switching the Energy Slicer to his left hand as his broken right arm hung limp. His tone was calm, though his fractured arm hinted at the ferocity of Frieza's earlier attack.
Frieza narrowed his eyes. Yet again, Taro vanished.
"Enough of this." Taro's voice called from above.
Frieza snapped his head around, his face twisting into a sadistic grin.
"You think this battle ends when you decide?"
"It does." Taro replied with a smirk. His twisted right arm was already regenerating, slowly returning to its normal state—a testament to the monstrous resilience of his divine physique.
"If you don't spend the rest of your life hiding behind that energy shield, or build yourself a turtle shell, don't blame me if you lose your head someday
" Taro quipped.
Frieza's expression darkened.
NPointing a finger at the tyrant, Taro continued with a mocking smile:
"Well then... see you in 200 years, mini-boss."
In truth, Frieza was the only villain Taro regarded as a true "boss" from the original story. He hadn't been able to resist the temptation to face him in battle.
BThough he'd had opportunities to finish Frieza, leveraging his Instant Transmission and Destructo Disk, Taro chose not to deliver a killing blow.
"Think you can run? Not a chance!" Frieza roared in fury, unleashing a volley of purple energy beams toward Taro.
But just as the beams neared their target, they hit nothing but empty air. Taro had vanished once more, leaving no trace behind.
"Aaaaaaah!" Frieza screamed, his voice echoing across the desolate battlefield. Veins bulged on his forehead as his rage boiled over. His gaze fell upon the smoldering remains of his severed arm, further fueling his wrath.
"That wretched insect! How dare he humiliate me like this!" Frieza bellowed, his energy surging uncontrollably. His power erupted skyward, dispersing the oppressive clouds that had loomed overhead.
On the dying planet, the apocalyptic scenery was punctuated by the ominous descent of a black energy sphere, which plunged deep into the planet's core.
---
Elsewhere in the Universe
Far away, in the depths of the cosmos, nestled between the realms of life and death, stood a massive celestial body radiating divine energy.
On this sacred planet, an elderly man with a white beard and sunglasses stood outside a modern villa. He carried a large speaker, swaying to music with youthful enthusiasm. Suddenly, he paused mid-dance, raising a finger to stop the music with a soft click.
The old man, still holding the speaker on his shoulder, gazed across the vast expanse of space with a curious expression.
"Huh... someone's fighting Frieza?" He muttered, a grin spreading across his face. "Now this... this is interesting."