"You can still smile? Damn you, are you ignoring my existence?" Seeing Meruem, completely pinned and unable to move, show a faint smile, Cooler's rage flared again.
His anger reignited, the fists that had slowed lifted once more. This time the punches driving at Meruem were even more vicious.
"King!!!" To the Chimera Ants, Meruem was a god. Watching their King get thrashed like this, the elite Ants could no longer sit still.
Even knowing they would likely die and hardly help Meruem, they would rather lay down their lives than watch their King beaten down.
But their charge was checked by Musashi's outstretched hand.
"What are you doing?!" The elite Ants glared at Musashi blocking their way, even though they knew he was Meruem's clone.
"You idiots. You'll just be throwing your lives away." Musashi's words were harsh, but true.
And the Ant elites knew it.
But…
"So what if we die? To die for the King—we won't hesitate!" Chimera Ants never feared death. Some Ants might harbor plots and private thoughts.
But before their King, all of that could be cast aside.
"Look closely. Don't be fooled by Meruem being on the back foot. Haven't you noticed? That purple-skinned bastard's ki is starting to fade!" Musashi's eyes bulged, ringed Rinnegan circles surfacing again.
Musashi's aura wasn't small, though it was nothing before Cooler and Meruem.
"Wait… Lord Musashi isn't lying. That purple one's ki really has weakened a bit." Some of the more ki-sensitive Ant elites spoke up.
In the Naruto world, such members would be called sensory ninja.
"So what?" Those with that mindset were the pure combat faction among the Ants. No other thoughts were needed—just fight.
"Fools. The purple demon's ki is steadily weakening. And the King's? It hasn't dropped at all—if anything, it's edging up."
"That means if this keeps up, that purple demon will lose to the King."
That is the Saiyan trait: to constantly refine themselves in battle, power rising as they fight.
After recovering from mortal injury, a Saiyan's power can jump enormously—that's why they're a warrior race.
Cooler once more closed in tight and fired a point-blank, full-power ki blast into Meruem. Though Cooler had gone all out,
this time it did Meruem no harm—didn't even leave a mark.
"Huh? What's going on? Did I hold back?" Cooler looked at his hands, puzzled.
Too bad Cooler couldn't sense ki. If he could, he would have known his own ki was steadily dropping.
A person's, any creature's, strength is finite. Overuse requires time to recover.
Cooler's unrestrained spamming of ki had caused huge waste. Meruem was different. After many worlds, he knew how to conserve strength and still get the best effect.
Their different histories made the difference. Like Frieza, Cooler was born with immense power.
In a universe where average battle power is under ten thousand and over ten thousand is elite, those with hundreds of millions never had to think about such things.
Though Cooler lost to Frieza, it wasn't because they were close. Frieza's power exceeded Cooler's by a tier. In his life, Cooler had only faced that once.
He had never really fought a war of attrition, never learned stamina management, never mind using minimal strength for maximal return—he knew nothing of it.
Even fighting on instinct, he could contend with Meruem's refined techniques—but he was spending far too much.
At that rate, over time, the gap would widen.
To think this would end in an endurance battle, not by the absolute power suppression he'd always relied on.
"Huff… huff… You're tougher than you look. You took that many of my attacks. I'll grant it—you're strong. Aside from Frieza, you're the strongest I've met in this world."
"But the winner is still me! Because I am Cooler." Cooler was gulping air, but his tone still carried that peculiar superiority.
He still hadn't realized that victory had already begun to slip away.
"I'm the one who won't lose." At last Meruem spoke. As he did, he easily tore free of Cooler's tail.
Then he chopped with his hand like a blade—severing Cooler's thick tail in one stroke.
"AAAH! Damn you! You—dare—you dare cut off my tail?!" Cooler's eyeballs looked ready to pop, the whites veined scarlet. Whether from pain or fury, it was hard to say.
"I'll kill you!" Cooler hauled back his right fist and drove it straight at Meruem, his absolute all poured into the punch.
It didn't deliver the result he expected. Meruem caught it cleanly with one hand.
"How? Impossible! Impossible! How can you take my attack with your battle power? Were you hiding it all along? No! I don't believe it! Aaaah!" Cooler thrashed, trying madly to yank his right hand free, but Meruem didn't allow it.
No matter how he strained, his right hand didn't budge in Meruem's grip. As Meruem's pressure increased, Cooler's fist creaked.
Meruem gave Cooler a strange smile. It chilled Cooler's heart with nameless fear.
Meruem twisted his arm. A crisp crack sounded.
Then Meruem released Cooler's fist.
"Impossible. I… lost to the likes of you." Cooler's right arm hung at an unnatural angle.
The arm had been snapped—or rather, the bones ground to splinters.
Meruem knew: for Frieza's race, such an injury was nothing. With a nutrient healing bath, Cooler would recover soon enough.
Frieza could be sliced to bits and revived if there was healing fluid. Though compared to Cell—who can regenerate as long as a core remains—and Buu—who can reform from a single cell—this paled, it didn't mean Frieza's race was weak.
Their vitality was monstrous. Aside from those two monsters among monsters, no race could compare.
Even Cell bore Frieza's cells, after all.
"Grr… damn you." Cooler glared at Meruem with pure hatred. If looks could kill, Meruem would have died a thousand times.
"Even Frieza never humiliated me like this… Then let's die together. Let everything be destroyed!" A crazed, broken smile twisted Cooler's face. A deep black sphere blossomed in his remaining left hand.
Tiny red orbs orbited the black sphere. This was the strongest technique of Frieza's race, with a fittingly domineering name—the Planet Annihilation Cannon, above even the Death Ball.
And it looked like Cooler meant to drag Meruem down with him.
"Has he gone mad? How pathetic. One setback and he seeks death. So Frieza's race really are greenhouse flowers—bullies who only pick on the weak. The moment someone stronger appears, their legs turn to jelly."
"You've got no path to victory left. But you still have plenty I want."
"Become nourishment for my growth. Let me devour you."
"Behold the power of the King of the Chimera Ants."
"Ha… you're the real monster." Cooler spoke his last words.
"Hm? What is that feeling?" Elsewhere in the universe, on the other side of the battlefield, in another saucer-shaped ship, a short alien seated in a hover throne, horned and very like Cooler, suddenly spoke up.
"Lord Frieza, what is it?" Noticing the change, a handsome green-skinned youth at his side asked.
"Zarbon… it's nothing. Just a strange feeling."
"Lord Frieza must be happy that we're close to gaining immortality," said the plump, sausage-lipped brute with the sea-cucumber haircut on Frieza's other side.
"Indeed, Dodoria. Make ready to set course… for Planet Namek! Vegeta has brought us delightful news. Ho-ho-ho-ho~"
[A special discount will be available from December 30th until Three Kings' Day.]
[Use 37B44 to get 33% off all levels until January 6th]
[Unlock +20 Advanced Chapters on Patre on. com /Mutter]
[For every 50 Power Stones, 1 Bonus Chapter will be released]
[Thank you for reading!]