"Goku-san! Vegeta-san!" Trunks's voice was urgent. "We must join forces now! Fighting alone, we have no chance!"
"Join forces?" Vegeta's tone remained stubborn. "You haven't even started fighting yet, and you already want someone's help? How do you know you can't break through in battle?"
Trunks was speechless. If he was also seriously injured, what good would three seriously injured people working together do against the enemy?
Fortunately, a reassuring voice came through at that moment: "See? You 'naturalized' Earthlings really are unreliable."
Setsuna appeared abruptly, laughing and teasing: "At a critical moment, you still need me, a true Earthling."
"Setsuna!" Krillin shouted excitedly.
"Great! Now that Setsuna is here, it's settled!" Yamcha, Tien, and the others breathed a long sigh of relief. They now had an almost blind confidence in Setsuna.
"Don't get too excited," Vegeta threw cold water on their optimism, his tone grave. "Before, I couldn't see this guy's limits, but now I can. His power level should be over 300 million, not exceeding 400 million. We Saiyans can break through in battle. With just a little improvement in base form, the transformation multiplies it fiftyfold. But he's not a Saiyan. He can't just magically gain 100 million in power level in one fight."
Cooler's gaze swept over Setsuna: "You're the one who killed Frieza?"
"That's right," Setsuna admitted frankly.
"Good." Cooler said coldly. "I don't have much affection for that foolish younger brother of mine. He can die for all I care. But the one who killed him is ultimately a threat to me."
He slowly raised his right hand, fingers spread, dark purple destructive energy gathering in his palm. "So, you must die."
"If you can," Setsuna said with a calm smile.
The moment the words left his mouth, Cooler moved. His speed was so great that no one present except Goku and Vegeta could track his trajectory. Dark purple energy wrapped around his fist as he threw a punch, as if carving a black hole into space. Setsuna didn't retreat. He met it with a punch of his own.
Their fists collided in the void, producing a clear metallic ring, an invisible shockwave spreading outward.
"What?" Vegeta's pupils contracted sharply.
In his perception, the energy intensity Setsuna was currently unleashing was indeed only around 350 million, far lower than Cooler's 470 million.
But incredibly, in a pure power exchange, Setsuna was not at a disadvantage.
The two turned into streaks of light, engaging in a dazzling offensive and defensive battle in the air and on the ground.
Cooler's attacks were broad and forceful, each carrying the momentum to destroy a star. Setsuna's movements were the opposite… concise, precise, efficient. He seemed able to predict Cooler's every attack intention, always evading or blocking at the most opportune moment with minimal movement and delivering precise counters.
Despite the energy intensity gap of over 100 million, the battle showed a strange balance.
"How is this possible?" Vegeta muttered to himself, his eyes filled with disbelief. "His combat awareness... can actually bridge a power gap of over 100 million?"
The longer he lived on Earth, the more he appreciated the depth of Earth's martial arts. Although martial arts wouldn't allow him to achieve ultimate power overnight, it was a path of continuous growth. But now it seemed his understanding of martial arts was still too shallow.
Cooler grew more alarmed as the fight continued. He had never encountered such an opponent. The other party clearly didn't have the advantage in power or speed, yet he could always predict his attack trajectory, evade killing blows by a hair's breadth, and precisely counter the weakest points of his attacks.
Unable to secure victory after a prolonged assault, Cooler's patience finally wore thin. He abruptly retreated to create distance, raising his hands high.
A dark purple energy sphere over a hundred meters in diameter instantly took shape, its terrifying energy fluctuations making Earth's entire atmosphere tremble.
"Since I can't kill you," Cooler's voice was icy cold, "I'll destroy this planet instead and let you die slowly in the vacuum of space!"
The others on Earth wanted to intervene, but found they couldn't even get close to Cooler at this moment.
"Damn it!" Krillin was furious. "Is the tragedy of Namek going to repeat itself?"
Even Vegeta felt a flicker of regret. Perhaps he shouldn't have been so insistent.
However, facing this world-ending attack, Setsuna simply laughed: "You really are just like Frieza. When you can't win, you blow up the planet."
Setsuna shook his head: "But perfect. I just developed a new technique recently and was worried about finding a suitable target to test it on..."
Just as Cooler was about to unleash the sphere of destruction, Setsuna moved.
"Sekishiki Keimonha."
Setsuna threw a punch. Cooler instinctively closed his eyes, preparing to endure it with his body. But one second, two seconds, three seconds passed. Nothing happened.
Cooler opened his eyes, paused for a moment, then burst into wild laughter: "Hahaha, this is your ultimate technique? You're just tickling me..."
Setsuna smiled and said: "Why not look behind you?"
"Hmph, trying to ambush me while I turn around?" Cooler sneered, but found all the Earthlings staring wide-eyed behind him. Eventually, unable to resist, Cooler carefully looked back.
Then he saw a sight he would never forget.
Another 'Cooler' was floating blankly a few meters behind him, still holding the massive energy sphere aloft, a wild laugh still frozen on his face.
Cooler looked down sharply and realized he seemed somewhat transparent.
"Wha... what is happening?" He shrieked, panic evident in his voice for the first time.
Setsuna smiled: "It's simple. That punch I just threw pulled your soul out. The one floating outside is your soul, and the one standing there is your physical shell."
Cooler's soul finally snapped out of its daze. He screamed and lunged for his body: "Give me back my body!"
But Setsuna's figure was already blocking the path between his soul and his physical shell.
Setsuna smiled and said: "You have a body, and I don't. That's too unfair. Now this is a fair fight."
He casually threw a punch, and Cooler let out a miserable shriek, his very soul dimming.
Without a body, Cooler could only exert one percent of his strength, and was naturally beaten one-sidedly by Setsuna.
The people on Earth watched, dumbfounded.
'Setsuna had an ability like this?'
Even Vegeta, putting himself in that situation, felt a sense of despair. In a fight on the soul level, who could beat Setsuna? This ability was simply cheating.
He had originally thought that if he increased his base power level by a few million, he could catch up to Setsuna after transforming. But now it seemed that while transforming into a Super Saiyan multiplied his strength fiftyfold, having his soul extracted weakened it a hundredfold. The power he gained from transforming was less than the power he lost from having his soul extracted.