Chapter 46: The Death of Cryos

Goku stared at Cryos, unsure how to approach the fight. Getting into close combat with this guy was an absolute disadvantage—his limbs ended in razor-sharp claws that could easily pierce flesh, and his body was covered in thick, armored scales. On top of that, his tail was deadly and unpredictable, even more vicious than his claws! At this moment, Goku really wished he had some kind of divine weapon—he'd charge in and finish Cryos off in one blow.

"Heh~ Since you're not going to attack, I'll take the initiative!" Cryos grinned, spreading his claws. They glinted with a chilling light as his figure blurred. In a flash, he slashed down toward Goku with a shimmering arc of cold steel.

Had Goku been even a split-second slower, he would've been sliced clean in two!

Cryos's claws were terrifyingly sharp and unbelievably powerful—nothing short of monstrous. Goku definitely didn't want to experience what it felt like to be cut open again.

"Swish! Swish! Swish!"

Seeing Goku hesitate, Cryos attacked without restraint, slashing wildly with his claws. Occasionally, he'd whip out his deadly tail in a surprise strike, forcing Goku into a desperate defense. Deep gashes soon appeared across Goku's body.

"Damn it! You're really pushing your luck!" Goku roared. He kicked off the ground and launched himself backward, thrusting both hands forward as a Kamehameha surged forth, slamming directly into the pursuing Cryos.

"Ahhh!" Cryos screamed as the blast sent him flying, exploding with a thunderous boom in the distance.

Goku shot into the sky and began raining down energy blasts like a madman.

"Die! Die! DIE—!"

The ground shook under the relentless bombardment. The supposedly indestructible Rock Star began to fracture, chunks of stone flying in all directions. It was a spectacular display of destruction.

When Goku finally stopped, panting from exhaustion, a massive crater lay before him. Rock Star had been blasted dozens of meters deep, the solid ground pulverized. Scattered around the battlefield were colorful, glowing minerals—adding an eerie kind of beauty to the chaos.

At the center of the crater, the debris shifted—and Cryos emerged. Gone was his previous confidence and style. His scales were cracked in many places, and his wounds were crusted with frost, preventing his blood from flowing. One of his claws was broken, his left eye tightly shut with a frozen streak of blood trailing from it—it had been blinded during Goku's bombardment. He looked absolutely wrecked.

Gone was the arrogant smile; in its place was a face twisted with rage and bloodlust. He rose slowly, landing on the edge of the crater, glaring up at Goku in the sky.

"Well done… You're the first person who's ever managed to injure me! Killing a strong opponent like you... will be quite the accomplishment!" His voice was ice-cold and filled with murderous intent. "Now… are you ready to die? HAAAAH—!"

With a furious roar, Cryos's power spiked. His muscles bulged, limbs thickened, and his entire body began to morph. Sharp bone-like spikes shot from his joints, shoulders, and back, glinting like icy blades. His tail transformed into a long, sword-like appendage, covered in serrated barbs—just one strike could split a person in half.

His scales thickened, curling slightly like jagged metal plates—getting slashed by them would peel flesh right off a fist. At this point, Cryos looked more like a humanoid weapon than a living being—deadly and terrifying. Though his claws had regenerated, his left eye remained blind.

"what the fuck… this guy looks scarier than a porcupine on steroids! How the hell am I supposed to fight that?" Goku was visibly stunned. Not only was Cryos's power well beyond Super Saiyan 2, but his body was basically a walking arsenal. There was no obvious weakness.

Cryos smirked. "What's wrong? Are you scared of my final form? This is my ultimate evolution!"

His personality seemed to shift too—more arrogant, more full of himself. Confidence in his power, maybe?

"Well, since you've transformed… I guess it's my turn, too," Goku said calmly, stretching his shoulders.

"Oh? Don't tell me you can transform again? What are you going to do, turn into a giant ape?" Cryos mocked, his disdain obvious.

"You're really confident in your power, huh?" Goku replied flatly. "Then let me show you how fragile that confidence truly is. Watch closely—this is the result of my recent training! Beyond Super Saiyan 2… Super Saiyan 3!"

"RAAAAHHHH—!!"

As Goku screamed, his energy skyrocketed. Lightning crackled around him, and his golden hair grew longer and longer, flowing down his back.

"HAAAAAH—!"

With one final roar, his energy reached its peak. Goku had officially entered Super Saiyan 3—his reward for three months of intense training. Super Saiyan 3 was one of the easiest forms to achieve among transformations, as long as one could gather enough ki and master the technique. But it was also the most energy-draining.

"This… this can't be! You really transformed again?" Cryos was visibly shaken—Super Saiyan 3 Goku had completely outclassed his power level.

"What's power if you can't even land a hit?" Cryos barked, vanishing in a blur. His claws shot toward Goku's face.

Knowing how sharp those claws were, Goku didn't take the risk—he dodged immediately. A massive boulder nearby was sliced clean in half, the surface smooth as glass.

"That was close… One hit and I'd be in two pieces," Goku thought, growing more cautious.

Cryos twisted his body midair, claws slashing down again.

"SWISH!"

A golden arc of energy sliced toward Goku's waist.

With a grunt, Goku brought his hands together, rapidly condensing golden ki into a barrier around him. Cryos's energy slash struck it—and bounced back even faster, narrowly missing Cryos's face before slicing a distant mountain clean in half, leaving a deep gouge in the earth.

Cryos grunted and lunged again, claws raining down like a storm of deadly blades.

But Goku was faster—dodging each strike with uncanny precision. As he evaded, he thought to himself:

'This won't work… He can teleport. If I use Kamehameha, he'll just dodge. Getting close is too dangerous… Screw it, let's take a risk!'

In a flash, Goku appeared behind Cryos, swinging a punch at the back of his neck—

But Cryos vanished just as quickly, reappearing behind Goku, his claw jabbing toward Goku's back.

Goku twisted midair, catching the incoming claw with one hand. In the same motion, he disappeared and reappeared behind Cryos, grabbing hold of his sword-like tail. Despite the pain of the barbs slicing into his palm, Goku used the tail to coil around Cryos's body, binding his arms.

"Gotcha!" Goku grinned, ignoring the blood streaming from his hands. With Cryos restrained, it was over. In his Super Saiyan 3 state, their power gap was enormous—once caught, the battle was already decided.

"Goodbye, Cryos. Ki Blade Slash!"

A spinning disk of golden energy formed in Goku's left hand. With a few swift strikes—"SWISH SWISH SWISH SWISH—!"—Cryos was cut into several pieces!

"Impossible… How could I lose… This can't be happening…" Even in pieces, Cryos let out a final, furious roar.

"You lost because you chose the wrong enemy… You should never have made an enemy of me!" With that, Goku fired one last energy blast—completely disintegrating Cryos, leaving nothing behind.

---

After the fight, Goku descended into the massive crater left behind. He casually picked up a blue crystal-like mineral the size of a washbasin and gave it a hard squeeze.

"Pretty tough stuff. No idea what kind of ore this is... but it sure looks nice! I bet the girls will love it."

With a wave of his hand, Goku swept all the strange-looking minerals in the area into his World Ring. Then, he summoned hundreds of thousands of shadow clones, dispersing them in all directions across the planet to begin searching! What he was after now were rare, hard, and mysterious minerals—something he could use to forge a divine weapon when he returned. After fighting Cryos, Goku truly understood how important it was to have a weapon in battle.

As the saying goes, many hands make light work. The clones dug and searched, and before long, they began returning with all kinds of unusual ores—some incredibly hard, some that emitted light, some fragile, and even some that were strangely soft and squishy. Goku didn't know which were useful and which weren't, so he simply stored everything into his World Ring.

Half a day passed. A once-pristine planet of stone had been ravaged by Goku. He had nearly dug through the entire Rock Star! But the harvest was massive—he had collected a mountain of rare and exotic ores.

The greatest find, however, was a perfectly round black mineral, about ten meters in diameter. Goku had dug this from the very core of the planet. For now, he decided to call it the Heart of Rock. It looked just like the beating heart of the entire planet.

Its color was jet black, and even when Goku punched it with full force in his Super Saiyan 3 state, it didn't crack or break. That's how incredibly hard it was!

Honestly, Rock Star wasn't all that big—just about twice the size of King Kai's planet. After Goku was done with it, the place was basically ruined. You could say the entire planet was scrap now.

Seeing there was nothing left of value, Goku used Instant Transmission to teleport back to Earth.

---

By this time, the World Martial Arts Tournament had ended. The arena, once bustling and grand, now lay in ruins. The fighting stage was shattered, debris scattered everywhere.

Taurus (Goku's henchman) took the championship trophy and prize from the trembling hands of the announcer, patting him lightly on the shoulder.

"Good call, kid. At least you know what's up! Cancelling my boss's match? Like the boss said—that's just asking for death!"

"Y-Yes sir! I'll never do it again!" The announcer, who usually wore cool sunglasses and carried a stylish vibe, now had a swollen face and a broken nose—courtesy of Taurus.

Krillin and the others were standing at a distance, not daring to get too close. When Taurus returned and found out his match had been canceled, he didn't say much at first. But the moment he learned Goku's qualification had also been revoked, he flew into a rage. Without a word, he stormed onto the stage, knocked both Krillin and Tien—the current finalists—off the platform, then gave the referee a brutal beating. Finally, he stomped the ground with his massive hoof, unleashing a shockwave that completely destroyed the arena.

If Bulma and the others hadn't stopped him in time, the whole tournament grounds would've been leveled!

The referee, scared stiff by Taurus's sheer presence—and with Krillin and Tien willingly giving up the title, knowing they didn't deserve it—had no choice but to hand over the championship to Taurus.

---

Just then, Goku appeared out of nowhere, teleporting right into the middle of the crowd. The girls, overjoyed to see him safe and sound, immediately rushed over and surrounded him, bombarding him with questions.

"Goku's back! Looks like that guy Cryos was defeated!"

"I wonder how strong he is now?"

"He's gotten so powerful, we're not even qualified to watch his fights anymore..."

Seeing Goku return safely, Krillin and the others were relieved—but also quietly disheartened. The gap between them and Goku had grown even wider.

Taurus ran up eagerly, holding out the gold medal and prize money with a flattering smile.

"Boss! You're finally back! I knew it—you're the best! Here, this is your championship reward! Those idiots actually tried to cancel your match—I gave them a good beating and took the trophy back!"

"Well done, Taurus. I don't care about the money—split it among yourselves," Goku replied with a satisfied nod. He truly appreciated what Taurus had done. Goku didn't care about the championship itself, but his qualification wasn't something others could just revoke on a whim.

Taurus was ecstatic. Grinning like a fool, he rushed off to split the prize with the others.

"Alright, now that everything here is settled, let's head home."

Goku waved goodbye to Krillin and the others, then left with Bulma and the rest in a luxurious car.

---

Meanwhile, nine kilometers southwest of South City, deep in the ocean was a massive island. On that island sat an enormous city. Inside one of the city's underground labs, all kinds of scientific equipment filled the room—clearly a high-tech research facility.

An old man carrying a plastic bag entered a peculiar room. If Goku had been there, he would've immediately recognized it—it looked strikingly similar to the Hyperbolic Time Chamber.

The old man himself would've surprised Goku, too.

It was none other than Dr. Gero, the creator of Android 18 and the other androids.

_____

T/N:

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