Waves of energy spread outward from the ultimate explosion, with gloomy black light at the center that slowly transformed into pure white brilliance. The flames of destruction burned blazingly, surrounding the collapsed space.
After confirming the scene, Raditz nodded slowly, then teleported back to the spaceship.
The forces led by Angila had placed Vegeta and the others in the latest medical bay for recovery. Among them, Vegeta and Pepara had suffered the most serious injuries, while Zangya was only lightly wounded.
They slept peacefully in the treatment chambers. Raditz watched through the glass for a while, then walked to the main cabin.
Angila and the others immediately knelt down. "Lord Raditz, you're also injured. Why don't you enter a treatment chamber to recover?"
"Not right now. Tell me, how many ships came in total?"
"Seventeen large battleships, 52 medium-sized vessels, and hundreds of smaller craft," Angila reported truthfully.
Raditz nodded. "That should be sufficient. Wait for word here. Jeice and the others will send star maps once they're completed. I'm leaving the cleanup of the Demon Realm's remnants to you!"
Eliminating the demonic remnants—wouldn't this be a perfect opportunity for quick battles? Angila and all his subordinates were overjoyed. Recently, he'd specialized in administrative duties and hadn't been able to flex his combat skills for far too long. There had been no opportunity to use his considerable fighting power. Finally, he had a chance.
Lord Raditz hasn't forgotten about us.
"Pay attention—don't cause any problems beyond eliminating the demons. Understood?"
"Yes!"
Cause extra problems? How would they dare? Angila took the lead in voicing their agreement.
Only then did Raditz breathe a sigh of relief. "After the first treatment cycle is complete, open the chambers. I'll take them back then."
"Yes!"
...
Half a month later, Angila reported the good news that the West Galaxy crisis had been completely resolved. King Kai, upon hearing this news, was extremely grateful to Raditz and immediately agreed to arrange a meeting with the Grand Kai. After recovering, the Saiyans learned of an even higher realm and trained themselves harder than ever, striving toward Raditz's level as their goal.
In the gravity chambers, their sweating figures and endless panting could always be found.
At night, in the only practice room with lights still on, Raditz and Zangya sparred together.
Two figures flickered as the control panel displayed "20," indicating they were moving under twenty times Earth's gravity.
"BANG!" Their legs collided with each other before they separated instantly, each bouncing backward several steps. Zangya stepped off the wall and rushed forward again, disappearing from Raditz's sight with a "whoosh"—nowhere to be found in the huge training room.
High-speed movement!
Raditz smiled slightly and followed, suddenly intercepting Zangya's rapid motion with an aerial kick. Zangya's slender waist twisted slightly, avoiding the heavy blow as she fired a ki blast that struck Raditz's thigh.
In the shocking impact, Raditz was hit by the energy blast, sent flying into the wall where he struck hard.
"Tsk—careless."
Seeing Zangya rushing again, Raditz hastily formed a psychic barrier.
Like a flying bird, Zangya flipped over lightly and nimbly, her fist making tight contact with the wall. There was a muffled "boom" as the energy was controlled to precisely match the psychic barrier's limit, creating perfect resonance!
The resonance shattered the psychic wall, and her punch continued toward Raditz at such speed it left afterimages. Raditz jumped up quickly, reached out to grab Zangya's wrist, and used the momentum of her attack to spin half a circle before throwing his own punch in return.
Unable to break free from his grip and feeling the strong wind close at hand, Zangya immediately lowered her body to avoid the punch, then twisted her waist, locked Raditz's midsection with her legs, and pressed him down. The impact made them both crash to the ground with a "BANG" as Zangya ended up straddling Raditz.
Though the position was somewhat awkward, Raditz was impressed by her agility.
Zangya had given him tremendous surprises these past days. Even without the Demon Star's enhancement, her fighting talent remained exceptional. No matter what technique he showed her, she could master it in one or two attempts at minimum, three to five at most. Her progress was much faster than when Raditz had been learning!
Genius!
No wonder the old man had thought so highly of Zangya, regarding her as the hope of their entire people. She truly was extraordinary.
Zangya, awakened from the Demon Star's influence, had eliminated her demonic nature and become that delicate woman again. But the power contained within her body remained formidable—she would often inadvertently punch holes through iron doors with a casual wave or step craters into the ground.
At first, Zangya had struggled to accept her changes, and it was even harder to accept the news of her "grandfather's" death. Raditz had put considerable effort into comforting her, gently explaining the cause and effect. After a long period of grief, Zangya finally decided to face life again and accepted Raditz's kindness.
So Raditz had taken on the task of teaching her to control her strength, agreeing to special training sessions in the gravity room every night.
This was one such sparring match between them.
However, this time several people had secretly followed, trailing Raditz quietly. After Raditz and Zangya entered the gravity training room, they crouched on the glass observation deck outside, secretly peering in.
"Hey, Pepara, you said you were bringing us to catch a bad guy. Why are we watching the instructor train?"
"Yeah, what's the point of this?"
"Shh—" Pepara said seriously. "Keep your voices down so the instructor doesn't overhear. Just look at him. The bad guy I'm talking about is HIM. Usually he never pays this much attention when training US, but suddenly a beautiful woman shows up and he's so enthusiastic? What else could it be but ulterior motives?"
Tarble whispered a quiet "hehe" and smiled. "If you let the instructor find out, you'll be in trouble, Pepara."
"You wouldn't dare tell on me," Pepara glared at Tarble, placing a finger to her lips. "Stop talking and just watch." She peered inside with her head poking around, her eyes suddenly widening. "Oh my God! Raditz and Zangya..."
Her voice cut off mid-sentence, her face flushing as if she'd witnessed something shocking. Seeing the change in Pepara's expression, everyone became curious and looked inside, turning one pair of wide eyes into several pairs.
"They... goodness..."
"I heard the instructor knew Zangya before, and he was also her savior," Tarnip added meaningfully.
Everyone nodded with looks of sudden understanding, though they were surprised in their hearts.
Zucara's snow-white face bloomed with red clouds as she said shyly, "Instructor Raditz, he..."
"He's a big pervert," Pepara took over the conversation, cursing repeatedly, though there was an indescribable feeling in her heart.
On the other side, Raditz and Zangya in the gravity room separated from each other, resumed their fighting stances, increased the gravity multiplier to 50 times, and continued sparring.
It was just that every time they made contact, there would be bursts of exclamations and gasps from outside...