Chapter 135 – When Mercy Fades

Goku's fist slammed into Frieza's gut and halted him mid-charge toward Porunga. The shockwave tearing through Frieza's body forced his mouth open in a silent gasp as blood erupted from his lips. His limbs gave out, and he dropped to his knees, retching as crimson spattered the ground.

Frieza's fingers clawed at the dirt as he struggled on all fours. His body shook with the mounting horror of his predicament.

The internal damage from Ajax's earlier Rokuogan, compounded by Vegeta's final, berserk blow, had shattered most of his ribcage and left his chest in ruins. The injury had only worsened, making each breath a struggle. For most people, this would have been the end.

Frieza wasn't "most people."

But then again, he wasn't invincible either.

"Get up," Goku said bluntly. He was emotionless as he wiped away the stray flecks of blood that had landed on his face.

Frieza didn't get up. He couldn't. And he had no desire to try.

Goku didn't wait. He hooked his foot under Frieza's armpit and, with a sharp flick, launched him skyward. Frieza barely had time to register what was happening before gravity was already yanking him back down.

When Frieza fell back down face-first, Goku had already pulled his arm back. His fist pulsed with energy, and his muscles were coiled like a Greek hero.

Goku's fist smashed into Frieza's face the instant he dropped into range. The punch sent Frieza across Namek's surface, plowing a deep trench through the soil before he finally came to a halt, where he lay motionless for a long, long moment.

A groan escaped Frieza as he sluggishly lifted his head. Half his face had already swollen, and his vision was darkening as one eye swelled shut.

Instinct demanded that he fight back. But those same instincts, the ones that had led him to countless victories, were also screaming to be afraid. Because this wasn't a battle, it wasn't an exchange of blows or a clash of power. This was a beating, plain and simple.

Frieza flinched when he heard the slow, rhythmic thud of boots against the ground.

The Saiyan was walking towards him.

"Wait!"

Frieza thrust out a hand, fingers splayed in a universal plea for pause. Desperation clawed at him, but he buried it beneath a layer of bravado. "You don't actually believe that was my full power, do you?! Challenge me at my absolute peak if you dare! Or live forever regretting not knowing if you could have truly matched me!"

Goku said nothing.

Frieza took that silence as acceptance.

A triumphant grin stretched across his battered face as he straightened. Deep purple energy bled into the air, crackling with wild arcs of electricity that snapped at the ground. Muscles swelled and veins bulged as Frieza overcharged his body with sheer power.

Frieza's eyes burned with manic determination as the ground beneath yawned into a crater from his energy. This was it. His true power. His ultimate form!

Frieza threw his head back, mouth opening wide to unleash a roar—

"EEEAAAGH— Ouuuurrrahff!!"

His scream twisted into a strangled gag.

Despite not piercing skin, Goku's knuckles had buried themselves deep into Frieza's gut. And because of it, Frieza had lurched forward, eyes bulging, his entire body forced into a deep bow over Goku's arm like a snapped pencil.

The crackling aura around Frieza dispersed, the electricity fizzling out. The power he had gathered—his greatest power—bled away in an instant, and his swollen form deflated back to its normal state.

Like a candle snuffed out.

Frieza wheezed as he staggered back. Bent over as he was, all he could do was stare up at the Saiyan before him. Goku was standing only a foot away, but he might as well have been an unscalable mountain, a towering figure whose form blotted out the sky and cast a shadow that swallowed Frieza whole.

Frieza collapsed onto the shattered ground.

"W-why…? Cough!" He forced the words out between ragged breaths as he looked up in confusion. "You Saiyans… always loved… fighting… the strong…"

Goku said nothing. Not a single word. He simply stood there. And while the look he directed down at Frieza contained neither malice nor cruelty, it was unmistakably merciless.

Within those piercing aqua orbs existed only certainty, and that certainty was worse than rage or hatred, Frieza thinks. Because the certainty in that piercing stare told Frieza that this wasn't a battle to the Saiyan. This wasn't about "fighting an enemy at their strongest" or honoring some foolish ideal of a fair fight.

The truth was, this Saiyan was here to kill him.

Frieza's mind raced. His assumptions had crumbled. He had gambled on the Saiyan race's supposed love for battle, expecting him to take the bait and be lured into facing him at full power.

But now?

Frieza clenched his teeth. He won't let me power up. The moment he tried, the Saiyan would strike him down just as effortlessly as before. Which meant brute force was no longer an option.

His thoughts spun through possibilities at a blistering pace. Dozens of strategies flashed through his mind, each calculated, analyzed and discarded within seconds.

Then—there it was.

The plan with the highest probability of success.

Frieza nearly scowled. He hated it. What a humiliation.

"Wait, please! Mercy!"

He flung up both hands and forced every ounce of sincerity into his voice, cracking it just enough to sound desperate. His face twisted with anguish, while his body trembled with carefully crafted remorse.

"I… I understand now. I was blinded—by my power, by my arrogance! But you… you've opened my eyes! I see the pain I've caused, the lives I've destroyed!" He clutched his chest as if the weight of his sins had finally come crashing down upon him.

"If you spare me, I swear I'll change! I will make amends! With my position in the Cold Empire, I can do far more good for the universe than I ever did harm! I can fix this!" His voice softened to a near whisper. "Please… I—I promise you… you'll never have to fight me again."

Silence.

Then, Goku spoke.

"I don't care."

"W-what?"

For a moment, Frieza couldn't process what he'd just heard. The words simply didn't make sense. That wasn't right at all! That wasn't how these situations were supposed to go! There was no way this fool had seen through his act—it was flawless!

Goku stepped forward once again.

Frieza instinctively scooted back, his tail curling tightly around himself. A real shudder of fear slithered down his spine because this damnable indifference was something he had never truly faced before.

His mind scrambled for an angle, a way out. Desperate, he tried again.

"You kill me now, and you're no better than me or any of the countless tyrants that plague the universe! Look at me—I can barely stand! I have nothing left in me! You're just executing a defenseless opponent! If you go through with this, Saiyan, you're no hero. You're just another murderer!"

That, at least, made Goku pause. For a long moment, the two mortal enemies stared at each other before Goku finally spoke.

"People often tell me that I'm too easygoing. Too naïve. Too forgiving."

Goku slowly shook his head in disagreement. "But I never thought so. While I deeply believed that sometimes a second chance was all someone needed to turn their life around, I never gave chances to people who didn't deserve them. I didn't waste my time on those who were too set in their ways. But I wasn't perfect, so I was lenient. And so far… I haven't been proven wrong."

Goku's gaze drifted downward, and his expression shifted into something almost…distant. It was as if he wasn't really standing there anymore.

"I'm not the same person I was before I died." He trembled faintly as his voice softened. "I could feel it. And that scared me. I was afraid of changing. Afraid that if I let go or took one step too far, I wouldn't be able to turn back… that I'd lose myself and become someone else completely. So, I tried to not change at all."

His fists clenched at his sides, knuckles whitening. Shadows crept over his face as his head dipped even lower.

"But someone I trust once told me it's a leap of faith," he continued. "They both said not to be afraid. That change isn't something to fear—it's growth. And that someday, when I look back on this, I'd probably laugh and realize… there was never anything to worry about in the first place."

Goku's fingers curled tighter, nails pressing so deep into his palms that they'd drawn blood. He let out a sharp breath.

"But I still am. I'm terrified that if I go too far… I won't be Son Goku anymore. That I'll become…" He swallowed, his brows knitting together as if forcing the words out took everything he had.

"…Maybe Kakarot, instead."

Slowly, Goku raised his hand and studied it. His fingers trembled—his entire body did—even as his golden aura licked around his skin like restless flames.

"But now… I think I finally understand what Grandpa and Ajax were trying to tell me all those months ago.

"Because no matter how much I change, as long as I never forget what matters most to me… then I'll still be me."

In Goku's upraised hand, visible to only him, an orange orb with four stars shimmered as though it held a light of its own. But as his fingers curled into a fist, the illusion unraveled.

"It's just a leap of faith." His voice steadied, as if some unfathomable weight was finally being lifted off his shoulders, piece by piece. "That's all it is."

The air suddenly shifted as a high-pitched whine of energy shot through it.

Goku tilted his head slightly—so casually, it was as if he were simply listening to the wind. And that's when a razor-thin, red laser seared past his cheek, a silent, last-ditch strike that just barely missed its mark. For the first time since he began speaking, Goku lifted his head. And his eyes, so brilliantly aqua, shone sharper and brighter than any sun.

With blinding speed, Goku's hand shot out and clamped around Frieza's outstretched arm. His grip tightened with such crushing force that Frieza's bones groaned and then cracked. A savage twist followed, a brutal wrench that forced the limb to bend at an unnatural angle at the elbow. Even as Frieza screamed, Goku didn't release him.

Without hesitation, Goku drove the flat of his foot into Frieza's midsection. The impact was so fierce, so devastating, that it nearly tore the mangled limb from its socket. But it didn't. Instead, blood sprayed through the air as Frieza was ripped from Goku's grasp and sent careening before he finally skidded to a stop on his back.

Goku walked toward Frieza, the picture of calm. Yet with each step, his expression darkened.

"I should thank you," he said, his voice dangerously even. "It's all because of you, Frieza, that right here, at this moment—I am no longer afraid of changing."

The earth began to shake.

"And do you know why? It's because you have crossed a line, Frieza. My line." His voice rose. "You laughed when you killed Krillin! You smiled as you crushed Ajax's heart! But more than anything—!"

The golden inferno surrounding him blazed ever higher.

"YOU. TORTURED. MY. SON!!"

A deafening boom rang across the battlefield as the golden energy roared to the heavens. The sheer force of it sent boulders and debris spiraling into the sky. One particularly large chunk of stone hung suspended in midair for a heartbeat before, without warning, an errant bolt of golden electricity lashed out and reduced it to nothing but dust.

Down below, Frieza lay sprawled in the dirt, lungs flooded with blood that he could only barely manage to cough up. He managed to scream nonetheless.

"You think you're the only one with power? Who do you think you are?! If you kill me, you're dead; do you hear me?! My father is far more powerful than you can ever imagine! Killing me doesn't end a war—it starts one!"

Goku almost laughed.

"…Who do I think I am? Let me tell you, Frieza. I am Son Goku. I'm a Saiyan and an Earthling. But most importantly—

"I AM A FATHER!!"

Goku took a single step forward, and his Ki rose with such force that the ground beneath him fractured. His voice was heavy with the weight of an unbreakable promise.

"I will be the one to end you! And if you ever return, no matter how many times you do, I'll be there to bury you again. And again. And again! As many times as it takes for you to stay dead!"

Frieza's pupils dilated, his spine stiffening as terror settled in.

"Because you, Frieza—"

Frieza scrambled to turn, desperate to escape.

"—Are the only person I will never regret killing!"

Goku raised his hand to his side, palm facing downward, fingers curling like a predator's talons. A storm of Ki erupted, swirling in a vast spiral several meters across, a vortex of energy that twisted and condensed like a galaxy collapsing into a singularity beneath Goku's palm. It glowed azure.

As the orb expanded, its deep blue glow was interspersed with flashes of gold from the Super Saiyan aura. Bathed in that fusion of blazing gold and ferocious blue, Goku had never looked more like death incarnate.

"KAAAAA…!"

As Goku charged his attack, the sheer pressure of the Ki became unbearable—so overwhelming that Frieza felt that his energy sense was a curse. He fled, but his energy sense shrieked at him so loudly that his thoughts melted into a frantic, chaotic blur. And then, for the first time in his existence, with absolute clarity, Frieza realized:

I'm going to die.

His legs buckled as pure dread ate him alive. He hit the ground face-first and frantically clawed at the ground as he tried to inch himself away from Goku's slow but inevitable approach.

"No, no! Stay away! Stay away from me!!"

Frieza's voice cracked with fear as he scrambled backward. His hands snatched up the nearest rocks and flung them at Goku in frantic desperation. The rocks bounced off Goku's face, clinking harmlessly as if they had struck solid steel. When Frieza could no longer find rocks, he grabbed fistfuls of dirt and tossed them all the same. The grains barely clung to Goku's skin before the wind swept them away.

"MEEEEE…!"

And so, the wolf continues to stalk the rabbit across the snowy plain.

Frieza shrieked, scrambling to his feet in a desperate attempt to flee. But as he pushed up, his footing failed when the loose earth crumbled beneath him. He was sent sprawling forward with an undignified grunt, where his hands hit the ground first, followed by his face. Snarling, he forced himself up again—this time, successfully—and with a panicked surge of energy, took to the skies.

He glanced back moments later, and his stomach dropped. The Saiyan was right there on the ground, matching his speed perfectly to maintain the exact same distance as before.

How could he outrun someone far faster than him?

Then, a thought struck, and a wild grin split his face.

Mid-flight, he twisted sharply and thrust out his arm. A flicker of fiery light ignited at his fingertips and rapidly swelled into a volatile sphere. Within moments, the Supernova had grown into a miniature sun, its searing orange brilliance drowning out the real suns above.

Yes! He'd use the momentary struggle between the two attacks to slip away—straight into space!

"HAAAAA…!!"

Goku's voice rang out like a countdown ticking toward zero. Meanwhile, the small Kamehameha in his palms wobbled, quivering as if it had a will of its own. Then, in a split second, it exploded outward and swelled to the size of a massive medicine ball.

But just as suddenly, it collapsed. The enormous sphere caved in on itself, compressed into a perfectly round, impossibly dense orb no larger than an eyeball. Like a black hole, it continued to suck energy inward in a spiral.

As Goku and Frieza charged their attacks, Namek groaned—a deep, tortured sound that echoed across the planet. The very planet seemed to scream in agony as a violent tremor shook its surface. The earth split open—not with mere cracks or battle scars, but with vast, gaping rifts that stretched across entire continents.

The land tore itself apart, revealing immense chasms. By peering into their depths, one could glimpse the planet's very core in the form of a hellish glow—lava, once buried miles below, now seething and exposed.

Slug's attack had finally struck home.

Neither Goku nor Frieza understood the cause of the devastation beneath their feet, but both knew the planet's end was imminent. Yet, neither chose to flee.

And it was in this moment, with Frieza hovering high above, his Supernova expanding into a miniature star, and a Saiyan below, arm raised to charge a blue Ki blast against the backdrop of the dying planet, that Frieza suddenly experienced a wave of déjà vu.

It struck like a lightning bolt, so intense and powerful that for a brief instant, time itself seemed to warp. The battlefield before him—Namek, the Saiyan—was engulfed by a vision so vivid that reality itself rippled at the edges, blurring the line between memory and the present.

The brilliant green sky of Namek darkened. The jagged cracks in the earth morphed into a different landscape. The familiar image of Namek was replaced by another planet.

Planet Vegeta.

The Saiyan before him was suddenly no longer Goku. In his mind's eye, the figure had become someone else—someone long dead. For a fleeting moment, the two figures merged—Goku's stance blending with another's, his fiery gaze replaced by a hatred Frieza had once encountered before.

A scar marred the cheek. A crimson bandana fluttered in non-existent winds.

Frieza's mouth fell open in recognition as he stared at the Saiyan below.

"I remember! I remember now!" His voice was shrill. "I have met you before! You challenged me when I destroyed Planet Vegeta!"

But the absurdity of his own words sank in a moment later. It couldn't be. It was impossible. That Saiyan was dead. He was dead! And yet, as he stared at the Saiyan before him, Frieza could feel the past clawing its way into the present.

"No… No, it can't be…" His voice faltered, his teeth clenched so tightly that they nearly shattered. "You must be related to him! That Saiyan!"

Goku didn't answer. No confirmation. No denial either. He simply met Frieza's gaze, uncaring, as if the tyrant's panic and revelation were of no consequence.

And at this moment, they truly weren't.

Suddenly, another orb of blue energy appeared in Goku's free hand. It hummed violently, and without a moment's hesitation, he slammed both orbs together. They deformed under the immense pressure, warping, stretching, and collapsing into each other until they eventually fused into a single, blinding sphere. The intensity of its radiance was so fierce that the very air around it seemed to scorch.

But Frieza saw something more—something impossible.

To him, and him alone, the Saiyan warrior from his past began to peel away from Goku's body. The image of the bandana-wearing Saiyan now stood beside Goku, seemingly real. The scarred Saiyan shot Goku a proud glance before turning those same damned, rebellious eyes upon Frieza.

Then, without a word, Bardock thrust his hand beneath the glowing Kamehameha, as though he could add his own strength to it by fighting from beyond the grave.

For one brief moment, Bardock gave Frieza a knowing smirk.

As if he had already foreseen how this would end.

Then, just as suddenly as he had appeared, he vanished, as though he had never existed at all.

"MEEEEEEE…!!"

Frieza's composure shattered. The heavy vision, the overwhelming stimuli from his new sense, and the crushing terror of this nightmare he was trapped in—it was all too much to bear.

His shriek tore through the sky, raw and hysterical.

"No, NOOOO! DIE! DIE! DIEDIE! DIEEEEE!!!"

With a maddened, desperate howl, he hurled his Supernova downward with all his might. The monstrous sphere of fire and destruction burned through the atmosphere as it plummeted.

Goku lifted his head and locked eyes with Frieza.

Goodbye, Frieza. May we never meet again.

Goku planted his left foot forward and twisted his entire body back as he drew every last bit of energy into himself. Then, with an earth-shattering roar, he thrust his hands forward.

"HAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"

The Kamehameha exploded from his palms as a pillar of pure, concentrated devastation, causing massive chunks of Namek's crumbling surface to break apart and rise into the air. The terrain before Goku was torn apart by the Kamehameha's force, carving a vast trench as the energy shot upward, straight toward its target.

In that moment, past and present seemed to blur as history began to repeat itself.

Like Bardock, Goku stood before Frieza. Like Bardock, Goku faced down a Supernova. Like Bardock, Goku placed everything on a decisive clash of Ki.

But unlike Bardock, Goku was a Super Saiyan.

And unlike Bardock's ill-fated Riot Javelin of decades past, Goku's Kamehameha punched straight through the Supernova as if it were a fragile balloon.

Frieza's most powerful Supernova had failed to buy him even the slightest moment of time.

The Kamehameha reached Frieza in less than a second, a spear of incandescent fury tearing through the sky. Out of desperation, Frieza thrust out his only functional arm, his fingers splaying wide in a last, hopeless attempt to stop the incoming blast.

But it was like trying to hold back a tidal wave of molten lava with nothing but his bare hands.

The energy didn't even slow, much less stop. It flowed around his outstretched fingers, blasting through his Ki forcefield as if it didn't exist and crashing into him like a tsunami. His flesh seared instantly, the heat beyond anything he had ever known.

"EAAAAAAGHHHH!!!"

A desperate thought clawed its way through his mind. A final, pleading wish.

If only I had a second chance… everything would be different!!

For the first time in a long while, Frieza felt regret. Regret for underestimating the Saiyans. Regret for toying with his prey. Regret for his arrogance, his weakness, and his failures.

But regrets could not save him.

The Kamehameha tore through him, shredding his once-mighty form until there was nothing left but scattering ash. But even those ashes were swallowed by that storm of light.

And so, Frieza—the emperor of the universe, the tyrant who had laid waste to entire civilizations—met his end drowning in the same bitter, helpless despair as the countless souls he had condemned.

At last, the battle that started decades ago with Bardock's final stand had ended here, at the hands of his son!

Son Goku!

The first Super Saiyan in over a thousand years!