"We will be arriving at Planet Frieza in approximately ten minutes, Lord Frieza," A small, big-headed alien reported to me, and I simply nodded approvingly in response.
I wasn't sure what had spurred Cooler to finally make a move against me, but I didn't need to know either. I had made the first move by killing King Cold, and Cooler's eventual appearance and retaliation was expected.
The fact that it took this long was what I didn't understand, and I figured there was a reason for it. I assumed that he had heard about my growing strength and how I was handling my Empire better, and to combat that, he probably had something up his sleeve.
Not that it would matter. King Cold had become much stronger from the initial training I did with him, but his growth hadn't been insane like mine was. My race's innate growth rate was definitely high, but it was Frieza's growth rate that was truly world-breaking.
Even if Cooler had spent every second since King Cold's death training, which I highly doubt he did, he still wouldn't be able to defeat me. All that was left was to see if he had any use alive, or if I should just kill him for going against me.
I would decide that sooner rather than later, as in just a few minutes, my ship arrived at Planet Frieza. As it landed and the ramp opened, I glanced around, taking in the sight of my 'home planet.'
When I had first come here to train against King Cold, the planet had been a bit underwhelming. There was a large castle-palace that King Cold lived in, and a couple of cities scattered throughout the planet that mostly soldiers and servants lived in, but aside from that, it was surprisingly bland.
Now, after my taking over, the planet was much more lively. I had ordered a massive capital city to be built, which acted as a trading hub between the planets within my Empire in this galaxy. I had also allowed for a few planet-less species to take refuge there, turning the overall empty planet into a moderately civilized one.
"We've received word that your brother has taken over King- ahem, Frieza Castle, my Lord," Zarbon relayed as he stepped out onto the ramp behind me, as the castle-palace hybrid King Cold had lived in had changed from 'King Cold Castle' to 'Frieza Castle' after his death, "Should we head over there immediately?"
"Yes, we will. 18," I glanced over my shoulder, nodding at the woman who was glancing out of the ramp opening but not stepping out, "You'll be coming with us. Zarbon, go grab Vegeta and Nappa."
"Yes, my Lord," Zarbon left quickly, but Android 18 just looked at me dryly from the top of the ramp.
"Go with you? Aren't you going to go fight with your brother?" She asked a bit doubtfully, "I know I said I wanted some action, but if he's anything like you, I'll think I'll pass on this one."
"Don't worry, he's not even in the same stratosphere as me," I shook my head easily, "And you won't be fighting him anyway. Just a couple of… grunts."
I was bringing Vegeta, Nappa, and Android 18 with me so they could get some more real-world combat experience, as the duo of Saiyans had been doing nothing but training with their clones for a while, and 18 wasn't training or fighting at all.
I wasn't going to chuck them at Cooler, as while he was far weaker than I, he still far outmatched all of them. I assumed he had trained at least a bit in preparation to fight me as well, so I would take him on. Besides that, I had definitely gotten some good fighting practice in with the androids, but they were just one type of opponent.
To diversify my skillset, taking on varying opponents of skill level and with different fighting styles would be best. I still had lofty goals for the far future of this world, and I would need to be nothing less than the greatest fighter Universe 7 had to offer to achieve them. I could only rely on the connections I was building with my empire so much.
In the end, I was Frieza. I was the man with unlimited and fast-reaching potential, and when it came time to put noses to the hardwood, I would be the one fighting against gods and angels. I would build my army and allies as much as I could, but in the end, it would come down to me.
"...If you say so," 18 just shrugged at my words, still not looking wholly convinced, "But I might be a bit rusty, so… um… look out for me."
I blinked, surprised as Andorid 18 looked away with a slight blush. It seemed even the stubborn and bratty woman had a cute side to her as well, huh?
I didn't have much time to think about her words, as a second later, a loud voice hollered behind me.
"Ha! Calling in the Super Saiyan to take on your brother because you're too afraid, Lord Frieza?!" Vegeta shouted, a large, arrogant grin on his face as he approached me from inside the ship, "I've really become a Super Saiyan this time, so I don't need to follow your orders, do I? Maybe if you bow down and beg me, I'll consider helping-"
He was promptly cut off as he gasped - a result of me appearing in front of him in the blink of an eye with my finger pressing into his forehead. Vegeta's new attitude wasn't new to me, and we had gone through this song and dance a few times already.
For the Prince of a dead race and one of the few remaining Saiyans in the universe, Vegeta had surprisingly low life-preserving skills. The man had not yet become a Super Saiyan, though he had grown in power a lot more through his training, despite his words.
Vegeta's boasting on Namek in the original timeline, where he mistakenly thought he had ascended to becoming a Super Saiyan more than a few times, wasn't a one-off mistake. He had come to me with this arrogant attitude nearly a dozen times already, boasting about how he was finally a Super Saiyan and would defeat me.
Sufficient to say, he was not a Super Saiyan yet, so I had to kick his ass a few times. It wouldn't have mattered even if he had really become one, because I'd just kick his ass anyway, but I was at least glad he was taking his training seriously.
"Do we need to do this again?" I asked Vegeta dryly, who glanced up at my finger pushing into his forehead, and then slowly shook his head.
"N-No… S…S-S…S-Sor…S-So…" Vegeta opened and closed his mouth, slowly getting closer to apologizing as my presence loomed over him, but I just turned around and left him stuttering. For the arrogant prince, the fact that I didn't need to demand an apology was actually more impressive than any apology he could force out.
"Hey, Vegeta! Hey, Vegeta! Why'd you back out?! I thought you said you were going to finally kill Lord Frieza! You said you were going to rip his tail off and shove it up his-"
"B-BE QUIET, NAPPA! I never said that!" I watched, amused, as Vegeta forcefully clamped Nappa's mouth shut to hide what disrespectful thing he'd said about me.
"If you're that confident, then I'll let you have a shot at Cooler," I called back to him, which caused Vegeta's eyes to widen with a mixture of surprise and excitement. "If you can defeat him, then I'll even release you from my service. You and any descendants of your race will be free to live as they want."
"R-Really?!" Vegeta spat out, looking at me in disbelief, and I couldn't blame him. The Saiyans had been serving under Frieza for a long time, ranging back to even before Vegeta's father's days, and the only way any of them escaped the 'contract' they had with my empire was through death.
I was essentially giving him a 'get of out life-long enslavement free card,' but the deal wasn't as sweet as he believed. Vegeta had become much stronger, as his power level was encroaching on a hundred million, but he was no match for Cooler. Honestly, I would be impressed if he even managed to scratch this body's brother.
"Really. Defeat Cooler, and you'll be free," I said, smirking slightly as his expression brightened, "Now, I've wasted enough time talking. Let's get to the action, shall we?"
I was eager to get some more real-world combat experience, and even more eager to crush Cooler under my boot. I wasn't nearly as cold-hearted as the original Frieza had been, but I still had to have some pride, y'know? Cooler wasn't just going to attack the damn capital of my empire and get away with it!
I hovered up into the air, the duo of Saiyans, Android 18, and Zarbon following behind me, and narrowed my eyes forward. I was pretty adept at sensing energy at this point, but I didn't need a high level of skill to find exactly where Cooler was. My brother would've stuck out on pretty much any planet in the entire universe, and this one was no exception.
I shot forward, the air breaking and streaming around me as the group followed behind me. I had to fly slowly to ensure I didn't leave them behind, but even 'slowly' meant we crossed the entire planet in roughly a minute, and I arrived exactly where I expected Cooler to me.
The previously named 'King Cold Castle' loomed over the entire planet, as the building reached thousands of feet into the air. It was an extravagant structure, with varying levels of roofs as it was really multiple buildings connected together, and a large garden stretching out in front of it.
There was even a fountain sitting in the garden, along with a massive gate - which I always thought was pointless, because who the hell on 'Planet Frieza' was going to be stopped by a metal gate? - at the front. Overall, it didn't look too far off from a multi-million-dollar mansion on Earth.
I had been surprised upon seeing it for the first time, as I didn't think King Cold of all people would be taking inspiration from Earth architecture, but I was grateful he did. It was now aptly named 'Frieza Castle,' and during the rare times when I was staying on the planet, it was definitely a nice home. I spent most of my time in a pretty crammed spaceship, so getting the full 'Galactic Emperor' experience from time to time was nice.
"H-Halt! T-This i-i-i-s L-L-Lord C-Cooler's C-Castle-" As I paused and floated above the palace, a voice shouted up to me. Far below, in front of the gate, a small orange alien was shaking and stuttering as he called out to my group.
Obviously, he was a guard set here by Cooler, but he wasn't feeling very confident in his guarding abilities as he realized he was trying to stop Frieza. Luckily for him, I wasn't the old Frieza, so he didn't get a Ki blast to the forehead for his words.
Instead, I just vanished and appeared behind him with Instant Transmission. One slap of my hand later, and he went reeling to the side, and then promptly fell unconscious - probably. It was hard to be gentle when you had enough strength to destroy entire mountain ranges with your punches, but I didn't think he was dead.
"You got something to say?" I glanced to the side, where another guard was standing at the other side of the gate. This one had more survival instincts and shook his head quickly as he fell onto one knee.
I let him off the hook as I appeared next to 18 again, casually nodding at the small group as I shot forward again and flew over the gate - which, once again, was so useless! Everyone on this planet can fly, so who the hell is a gate going to stop?! - and headed towards the large set of double doors in the front of the palace.
Cooler must've realized my arrival on the planet by now, and considering the layout of the palace, I knew exactly where he would be. King Cold had wanted his power to be known the moment someone entered the palace, and that was evident in the layout of the main entrance.
I landed in front of the doors with the group behind me landing a second later, and casually placed my hand on the front of the doors. This would be annoying to fix later, but I should have a dramatic entrance, shouldn't I?
A burst of Ki came out of my hand, and the door was promptly torn off its hinges. The pair of towering doors, easily towering over twenty feet tall each, were sent tumbling into the interior of the palace. I casually strode forward through the dust that came from my action, smirking lightly as I immediately spotted who I was looking for.
"You finally arrived… brother," An arrogant voice spoke, and sitting on a massive throne in view of the door was Cooler.
I looked up, my eyes locking with his, and my smirk grew wider. He was confident now, but I was about to remind him of something that I should have long ago.
In this world, you either bowed before me or…
You died.
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AN: Thank you for reading! The next chapter will be posted in about 5 days!
As always, the next 20 chapters are already posted to my Patreon! (Which is also 'Koyon')