The headbutt Broly delivered sent Zyleth to his knees, the ground beneath them crumbling away.
"Urrgh!"
That headbutt was the first time Zyleth had felt pain since this fight began, and it hit him like a freight train.
As he pushed back, Zyleth felt something warm traveling down the bridge of his nose, his eyes widening once he understood what the sensation was.
Blood.
The sudden realization that he was bleeding ran through Zyleth like pure lightning. His face shifted through multiple emotions. Shock, disbelief, and finally, anger.
Seeing the red liquid on his hand, his hand clenched into a fist, his nails digging into his skin and causing him to bleed even more.
How long had it been since someone had managed to make him bleed?
No one but Cooler had ever been able to do it, not since their first encounter back on planet Vegeta, not since they had first started training, and even then it had slowly stopped the more and more powerful he became.
But back then, he rationalized it.
Cooler was a Frost Demon, brother to THE Frost Demon, son of the former Emperor of the Universe, and was now the current Emperor of the Universe.
He was a child.
How else could it have gone?
But now?
He didn't train all this time, went through all the grueling and sadistic training, all to be suddenly power-crept by a goddamn child.
Just then, taking the moment to strike while he was distracted, Broly aimed his fist right at Zyleth's head and brought it down with the power of his full strength behind. It looked as though it was about to connect when Zyleth suddenly reached up with blinding speed, catching the fist firmly in his grip.
Using his other hand, Broly aimed another punch, only for that hand to be caught as well.
The hulking Saiyan grunted in frustration as he tried pulling his hands out of the other Saiyan's grip, only to pause when he heard a growl that hadn't come from him.
"Rrrrrrrrrggghh..."
Zyleth's hair had casted a shadow over his eyes that shielded them from view. And just then, his Ki suddenly fluctuated, increasing in intensity, his muscles suddenly increased in mass, and the hair covering his face parted, revealing pure-white eyes with no visible pupils.
"RRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!"
---
From up on high, Zyleth's sudden burst of energy caused Cooler, Lila, and even the entire ship hovering behind them to be slightly blown back from the sheer force behind it.
"What the-?!" Cooler exclaimed in utter shock and disbelief as his back slammed against the outer hull of his ship.
This energy! Just how much of his strength was he holding back?! Cooler couldn't help but wonder.
"Zyleth, no!" Lila yelled out as she tried to fight against the raging whirlwind that was pushing her back.
She didn't understand what had just happened. Just a second ago, Zyleth had been fine, completely in control. But it's like a switch had been flipped at the drop of a dime and she couldn't make any sense of it.
"Salza, fly the ship into the planet's stratosphere, NOW!" Cooler yelled.
Without delay, the ship began to move ascended upwards toward the planet's stratosphere, pulling itself out of harms way.
---
Zyleth, with Broly's hand still firmly in his grip, pushed the hulking Saiyan back, driving back his free hand and then delivered such a devastating punch to Broly's face that he had driven him into the ground.
"Urrrrgh!!" Broly grunted before roaring out in defiance, the sound waves infused with his rampant energy, "RRAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!"
The Ki infused roar he had let out momentarily deafened Zyleth, who had gripped both his hands on the side of his head in an effort to block the noise. Seeing that his enemy had let go, Broly charged forward, his chest forming a concentrated ball of green energy.
Zyleth finally gathered himself, but it was too late as Broly slammed his chest against his, the concentrated orb sending Zyleth flying into the distance.
Not giving him any opportunity to recover, Broly increased his energy higher and surrounded himself once again inside dome made of his own Ki.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHH!!!" Letting out another roar, the dome around Broly shot off multiple blasts in every direction, indiscriminately blowing up the entire area.
As the blasts pelted the ground, light shone from Broly's mouth as he unleashed a powerful beam. First towards the sky, and then snapping it in the direction of Zyleth.
Zyleth himself had just recouped from the earlier blast attack and just barely managed to bring his hands out in front of him in order to catch the beam.
"Rrrrrnngghhh!" Zyleth growled as he pushed back against the blast, the flesh of his hands burning and his dark aura fluctuating before he then charged a blast in his own mouth and fired it, pushing Broly's beam right back. "RRRAAAAAHHH!"
Broly increased his power to push right back, and the two Saiyan Berserkers were now suddenly locked in a beam clash.
On one side, an unstable green energy.
On the other, a rampaging mix of black and red.
And neither side was willing to back down.
They both increased their power, but it was obvious which side was winning, as bright green finally gave way to the ominous red, engulfing the entire area in a black flash of white.
"ZYLETH!" Lila called out to him with worry as she flew forward.
"DON'T-!"
Cooler reached out to grab her before she could be erased, but they both had managed to be blown away by the impact of the blast.
---
The swampy marsh that had previously been the surface of the planet was now transformed. Molten lava rivers and lakes of fire were all that was left of the swamps of Cooler Planet-555.
A rock suddenly shifted, and from underneath crawled Cooler, his body now transformed into his Full Powered State.
"Salza..." Cooler called over his Scouter, but all heard was static. "Salza! Shit..."
His gaze shifted downward, where Lila was lying in the hole he had just crawled out of. At the last second, Cooler transformed into his Full Powered State and shielded both himself and Lila from the apocalyptic explosion.
Of course, this action was unnecessary, as Lila was leagues stronger than him, but he didn't know that.
Bending down, Cooler extended a hand, to which Lila took without hesitation. When she finally got up to her feet, she cupped her mouth and shouted, "Zyleth!"
No answer came.
She tried closing her eyes and feeling for his energy, but she came back with nothing.
"Where is he...?" She muttered worriedly before turning to Cooler, "Do you think...?"
"That he blew Broly and himself up?" Cooler asked before shaking his head. "No. Even out of his mind, I doubt Zyleth would do something that foolish."
"Then where..." Lila stopped, shaking her head before cupping her hands around her mouth again. "Zyleth! ZYLETH!!!"
Suddenly, the ground around them started to shake as it started to give way for something that had suddenly began to rise up right beneath their feet.
Eyes widened, they both jumped back as the ground gave way and revealed the hulking Saiyan, Broly, somehow still alive and standing even after that last attack.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Cooler yelled out in both disbelief and frustration.
Just how much will it take to bring him down?!
Hearing the frustrated shout of Cooler, Broly's gaze fell upon the Frost Demon, his eyes widened before his power suddenly shooting up to unprecedented levels.
The Frost Demon himself flinched a bit as the Saiyan Berserker's power seemed to grow and overflow with seemingly no end in sight, with him seemingly being the cause.
"Fr- FRIEZAAAA!!!" Broly yelled out as his anger pushed his power to even greater levels, the influx of green energy suffocating the air around them.
Cooler's eyes narrowed at the sound of his brother's name, but he pushed that aside and quickly powered up, readying himself for a fight.
"Don't think that you'll make it off this planet alive!" Cooler yelled in anger as he powered up.
But just before Broly could reach towards the two spectators, Zyleth had suddenly come out of nowhere and grabbed Broly by his face, slamming him right into the ground.
Zyleth followed this up and slammed Broly into the ground a few more times before throwing him into the distance and taking off after him.
"He's alive..." Cooler muttered, as he watched Zyleth blitz towards Broly.
---
Zyleth reached Broly in the blink of an eye and kicked him back down towards the ground. As he fell, he rushed towards him and hit him with a heavy punch as soon as he landed, pushing him down even deeper.
Broly gets up and tries to power up again, but Zyleth quickly gripped his hand over his mouth and delivered a brutal headbutt to the Legendary Super Saiyan.
Stunned, Broly gripped his head and stumbled back, giving Zyleth the chance to punish him further. Intertwining his hands together, Zyleth wound his hands back over his head and slammed them down, delivering a sledgehammer right to the back of Broly's skull.
Broly hit the ground face first, and finally, after a long arduous battle, the green glow in his hairs finally faded and returned to its usual black color.
But that wasn't enough for Zyleth.
He slowly rose up towards the sky, his dark energy and whited-out eyes making him look as though he was a vengeful god.
After establishing a good enough distance away, he held both his arms to the sky and poured all his power into this last attack. But not just his power.
He had also poured his rage, his hate, his self into this last attack.
This wasn't just any final blow.
In his frenzied mind, Zyleth had managed to perform yet another signature move he had seen previous to his new life.
The Revenge Death Ball.
---
"He's... He's going to kill him..." Lila muttered softly under her breath as she saw Broly's hair starting to flicker, but Zyleth didn't show any signs of slowing down.
"He's going to kill all of us..." Cooler muttered, looking at the dark sphere in Zyleth's hands that was growing larger and larger each passing second.
"Please, you... you have to help him..." She says, her eyes not leaving Zyleth's out of control rampage.
"Help him?!" Cooler exclaimed.
"Yes, help him!" Lila yelled back. "You're his friend, aren't you?!"
"THERE IS NOTHING--"
Cooler was about to let his anger get the best of him when he quickly got a hold of himself. He was always a bit more prone to aggression in his Full Power State than in his True Form, but he learned to get a handle on it.
The woman obviously cared about Zyleth, that much was clear, but it was clear that she didn't seem to grasp just how dire the situation seemed to be.
Zyleth was on the verge on releasing that sphere, and once he does, everything on this, possibly even this entire star system would be wiped out.
"There is nothing I can do." Cooler said as his hands clenched into fists. "I don't have the power to challenge Zyleth right now, and my Scouter was fried during the last blast, so I can't even save my own crew from destruction. There's nothing else to do but wait..."
"There... There is something we could do..." Lila said suddenly, looking over towards Cooler.
"There... There is something we can do..." Lila muttered, looking Cooler in his eyes. "You need to transform."
Cooler looked down at her with a raised eyebrow, wondering what she was talking about.
And, just as Lila had did before, Cooler made up his own presumptions, thinking that she had heard from Zyleth that his species had multiple transformations and that she thought that he himself had more to show.
"Seems I have to have a word with Zyleth..." He said, not happy that Lila had been privy to his private information. "But you misunderstand, I have no more forms to show. This form is my most powerful."
"I'm not talking about your current form." Lila said, shaking her head before continuing on, "Inside especially exceptional Frost Demons lies a dormant transformation that, once released, gives you the power to rival even the gods." She explained. "It's locked deep within you, all you have to do is tap into it."
"The power to rival gods...?" Cooler muttered, looking at Lila as though she had gone crazy. "How do you know this? What evidence do you even have?"
"I just... I just do." She said, looking away from him, seeing that Zyleth's energy was running more and more rampant. "Please, just save Zyleth and Broly and I'll answer whatever questions you want!"
Cooler stared at the woman with an analytical eye, wondering what secrets she was keeping inside that mind of hers. Eventually his focus turned back towards Zyleth and he clicked his tongue against his cheek.
Having no other choice but to believe in her words, Cooler clenched his fists and yelled out as he pushed his power to greater and greater levels than he had ever dared to attempt.
If this woman was telling the truth and there really was some Form locked away inside of him that he had yet to achieve, he will achieve it!
For he was Cooler!
The TRUE Emperor of the Universe!
He wouldn't let himself fall behind anyone! Not his brother! Not Broly! Not anyone!
Not even Zyleth!
"Haaaaaa--HAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"
The second that Zyleth's name reverberated in his mind, Cooler felt something inside him give way, like an invisible barrier that had been preventing him from reaching his full potential had suddenly broke apart.
And as it broke. Cooler's energy burst from his body, but the normal purple glow had instead shifted to a bright grayish-white color. His body changed, taking on a bright metallic sheen with some small parts of his body being metallic grey, but still shining just as magnificent as the rest of his body.
He looked down at himself, feeling more power coursing through his body than he could have ever imagined.
This was entirely different level of strength than anything he had ever felt in his life.
This was power.
Simple, pure, unparalleled power.
"Cooler!" Lila called out.
Lila's shout snapped Cooler out of his trance and he turned his gaze upward, seeing Zyleth about to deal the finishing blow to Broly.
"We'll talk about this later." Cooler told her before rushing towards Zyleth.
---
Current Power Levels:
Zyleth (Base) - [5,979,000,000]
Zyleth (Evil Saiyan) - [1,494,750,000,000]
Zyleth (Evil Saiyan) (Rage Boosted) - [5,000,000,000,000^]
Broly (Base) - [1,790,000]
Broly (Legendary Super Saiyan) (Rage Boosted) - [500,000,000,000^]
Cooler (Base/Fourth Form) - [538,000,000]
Cooler (Full Power/Fifth Form) - [26,900,000,000]
Cooler (Platinum Fifth Form) - [Unreadable]
---
[Word Count: 2,452.]
---
Author's Note:
Some explanations,
Back during the original version of the chapter, I noticed some of you had issues with the "Unreadable" power levels I had put in. And while I understand the frustration to a certain degree, I'm not changing it.
Anything on the level of Saiyan God and higher has no official Power Multiplier, they are all just speculation. This is along with the fact that, canonically, God Ki can't even be read, and is instead measured by the amount of pressure one gives off. Now while I know the Frost Demon Metal forms (I have no idea what else to call them) aren't God Forms, they are basically God Forms in terms of actual power boosts, with it being able to match and outperform Saiyan God and Super Saiyan God.
Eventually, I will switch to a sort of Tier List or Ranking System to showcase Power Levels rather than the numbers, and this is for two reasons.
One, because beyond Z, there are no official Power Levels for any of the characters.
And two, because even if I did try and calculate Power Levels of these characters, they are so ridiculously high that they wouldn't be able to fit on a single line of text, let alone my calculator.
Once a calculator starts reading out letters instead of numbers, that's when I draw the line at recording Power Levels.
Now to adress Platinum Cooler, one of the comments in the original chapter informed me that Gold isn't the default form of the Super forms for Frost Demons, but rather what Frieza had chosen as a color. I don't know whether this is true or not, but I liked the premise of it and decided it would be a good way to introduce "Metal Cooler" without actually having to use the robot body.