Chapter 45: The First Dragon Ball in Hand

"L-Lord Levos, please don't joke like that!" one of the soldiers stammered. "Within the Frieza Force, our ranks are determined strictly by power levels. A warrior of your caliber could never be a mere recruit. You must be one of the highest-tier elite fighters!"

Levos's face darkened slightly. Apparently, no one had explained any of this ranking system to him.

He noticed someone discreetly using their scouter to send a message but didn't stop them. He was curious to see how Frieza himself would handle it.

Moments later, a thick, dark crimson beam of energy tore across the sky.

BOOM!

The massive tournament arena hovering above West City exploded into dust and debris.

Everyone looked up in utter shock.

At the origin of the beam, a colossal energy orb over a hundred meters wide burned with a dark red glow, slowly drifting in their direction. It radiated the destructive aura of an apocalyptic force.

"L-Lord Frieza, have mercy!" the soldiers of the Frieza Force dropped to the ground in fear, trembling and prostrating themselves.

But the energy orb didn't strike them. It merely hovered past overhead, coming to a halt beside the shattered remains of the tournament arena.

Its intense heat distorted the air, bathing the entire area in a red glow like a raging furnace. Everything near it metal, stone, even the ground was reduced to ashes in an instant.

Just then, a voice echoed in Levos's mind.

[Who?! Who did this?! What are you trying to do?!]

It was Babidi.

A moment later, another voice replied cool, mocking, and unmistakable.

"Oh ho ho ho, Lord Babidi, there's no need for you to know who I am. Let's just say I have a few... minor complaints about the rules you've set for this little tournament."

It was Frieza telepathically conversing with Babidi.

[You dare meddle with my tournament?! I'll kill you for this!]

[Hmph?! My magic... It's not working?! Why can't I kill you?!]

[Well then... If you have any, uh, concerns... do feel free to bring them up.]

Babidi's arrogance quickly deflated, replaced by nervous groveling.

"I just think banning weapons and armor will make the tournament dreadfully boring. Oh, and let's get rid of that silly 'no killing' rule too, shall we?"

Frieza's voice was polite, but it carried a tone that brooked no disagreement.

[Fine, fine! As you wish! I only put those rules in place because I was too lazy to come up with better ones anyway.]

[Everyone on Earth did you hear that?]

[Weapons and armor are now allowed in the tournament. And aside from knockouts and surrender, you're also free to win by... killing your opponent! Fufufu! Hehehe! Give it everything you've got!]

The voice faded from their minds.

At the same time, the enormous red energy sphere vanished into thin air.

"Wonderful, Lord Pilaf! Your mechs can finally be put to use!" cried the dog-like ninja, Shu, practically vibrating with excitement in his purple ninja outfit.

"But... going up against all these aliens... I'm not so sure we can handle that!" Pilaf groaned in dismay. "We might get killed before we even lift a finger."

"Maybe we should just not enter the tournament at all?" Mai suggested nervously.

"But if we don't participate, we'll be wiped out when Earth is destroyed!" Pilaf grumbled. "We have no choice now we have to fight!"

Levos, Bulma, and Android 16 exchanged glances.

"No matter what, I'm not killing anyone in the tournament," Bulma said firmly. "Sorry, Levos."

"No need to apologize," Levos replied. "If I had to fight my own people, I doubt I'd be able to go through with it either."

"It's an honor to be your teammate," 16 added with a small smile. "As long as we win by knocking them out, that's enough."

"What's our next move?" Bulma asked.

Levos glanced at the Frieza soldiers still groveling on the ground. One of them met his gaze and immediately scrambled to his feet, bowing at a perfect ninety degrees.

"Lord Levos, we've received orders from our superiors! You are now the temporary commander of our squad!"

Levos raised an eyebrow. "What's your mission?"

"Sir! After registering for the tournament, we are to locate the Dragon Balls and the Red Ribbon Army base. We'll return when the tournament begins!"

"Dragon Balls?" the Pilaf trio stiffened, ears perked.

Mai instinctively clutched her waist pouch tighter.

Levos nodded. "Then proceed as planned. Don't worry about me for now."

"Yes, sir!" the soldiers responded in unison before flying off.

As they left, Levos turned to Bulma. "Bulma, may I borrow the Dragon Radar for a second?"

Something about Mai's behavior had tipped him off he wanted to confirm his suspicions.

Bulma handed him a small, round device. "You know how to use it?"

"Er... not really. Could you teach me?"

The moment Bulma took out the radar, the Pilaf trio looked like deer caught in headlights.

"Lord Pilaf, this looks bad!" Shu whispered, placing a paw on his sword hilt protectively.

"Are you sure your device works? We're this close can it really mask the signal from the Dragon Ball?" Mai whispered urgently to Pilaf.

"O-Of course it works! My inventions have never failed!"

"Strange... the radar only shows six Dragon Balls," Bulma frowned. "Is it broken?"

The Pilaf trio let out a collective sigh of relief.

But Levos had already pieced it together.

"The radar's fine. You can put it away now," he said calmly.

"O-Okay..." Bulma returned it to her belt, still puzzled. "But why is it only showing six?"

"Maybe someone's using a special container to block the signal," Levos said with a smile as he stepped toward the Pilaf trio.

Pilaf stiffened. "W-Why are you looking at us like that?"

"You were eavesdropping on my conversation with Dr. Bulma just now, weren't you?" Levos teased.

"Huh?! W-We absolutely were not! We were just about to leave!" Pilaf stammered.

"Carrying a Dragon Ball around is incredibly dangerous," Levos said sternly. "What if a villain finds you? Do you think you'd survive?"

"We don't have a Dragon Ball!" Shu shouted, clutching Mai's waist pouch protectively.

"Also," Levos said coolly, "hand over your signal-blocking device. In exchange, I promise not to kill you."

All three of their faces turned pale.

That was a blatant threat. No sugarcoating it.

How had he figured it out? Only the three of them even knew about the signal jammer!

"Lord Pilaf, what do we do?!" Shu's trembling hand hovered over his blade.

"If we've been found out... j-just give it to him..."

Pilaf could only watch helplessly as Mai reluctantly handed over the box containing the Dragon Ball.

Suddenly, a terrible thought struck him.

Once this guy got what he wanted... he'd probably kill them all to keep it quiet!

"S-Shu... Mai... I'll see you in the next life...!"

The trio clung to each other in despair, bawling their eyes out.

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