The light faded, revealing two figures.
"Jaco?" Merus was startled, then looked at the young man with a halo hovering beside Jaco.
"Merus! I'm glad you're here too!" Jaco said happily, then quickly introduced them. "This is Chiaki Setsuna-sama, the one who defeated Cooler, took over and reformed the Galactic Gourmet Force! He's here to help us!"
A flicker of barely perceptible shock passed through Merus's eyes. As a trainee Angel, he saw through Setsuna's nature at a glance.
That was the soul-light belonging to the 'dead'. According to universal law, the deceased should not linger in the realm of the living for long, nor should they interfere with the mortal world. Yet not only did Setsuna remain, but his soul was also incredibly stable.
'He is no ordinary spirit... his soul already possesses a certain 'divinity'...' This realization set off alarm bells in Merus's mind. Any being capable of breaking the fundamental laws of the universe, whether through sheer power or special means, was no ordinary individual.
"You two go rescue him." Setsuna paid no heed to Merus's scrutiny, his gaze fixed on the center of the execution ground. "I'll go deal with Slug."
The moment the words left his lips, his figure vanished from its spot.
On the execution platform, Slug was basking in the fanatical adoration of his underlings. Just then, an oddly calm voice came from the sky: "So you want to be Emperor of the Universe too?"
Everyone looked up sharply. There, hovering in mid-air, was a black-haired man looking down at them.
"Who are you?" Slug frowned, a glint of vigilance in his pupils. He hadn't even noticed when this person had appeared.
"Chiaki Setsuna." The man calmly spoke his name.
In an instant, the entire execution ground fell into eerie silence. A few seconds later, an even greater commotion erupted:
"C-Chiaki Setsuna? The monster who killed Frieza?"
"More than that, I heard he even subdued Cooler and is now the master of the Galactic Gourmet Force!"
"He's the only one in the universe who can compare to Slug-sama."
Slug's expression darkened. "Chiaki Setsuna, what are you doing here?"
Setsuna's gaze swept over Galactic King, tied up like a dumpling below the platform, then returned to Slug's face: "I'm just here to tell you one thing. In this universe, the only one who can be called [Emperor of the Universe] is me."
Slug's fury turned to laughter: "Good! Very good! Don't think that just because you defeated that waste Frieza, you can act arrogant in front of me!"
A violent, dark green aura erupted from his body, and the platform beneath his feet began to crack. "If it weren't for my age, and my body starting to decline... I would have unified the entire universe by now!"
"So much useless talk." Setsuna didn't even bother to listen, directly raising his hand.
Palm facing up, a silvery-gray energy sphere instantly condensed and formed, then he casually tossed it. The sphere shot out like a streak of light towards the ground.
"Oh no!" Merus's face changed, and he instantly flashed to Galactic King's side, tore off the chains in one swift motion, and grabbed the terrified Galactic King, whose tentacles had curled up in fright, retreating at his maximum speed.
Almost simultaneously, the silvery-gray energy sphere struck the ground. Centered on the impact point, everything within a ten-kilometer radius was instantly annihilated.
"Damn you!" Slug was furious. He didn't care about the lives of his underlings, but Setsuna's actions were trampling his dignity into the ground.
"I won't forgive you!" Slug roared, his dark green aura surging into the sky.
The entire atmosphere of Slug's Planet began to violently churn. Volcanoes erupted, the earth trembled. Slug brought his palms together, a dark green destructive energy gathering wildly.
This was a forbidden technique he used to forcibly fuse his own life force with the planet's core energy. The energy sphere's diameter instantly expanded to a hundred meters, the very space around it trembling.
"Super Makoho!"
A terrifying torrent of energy tore through the atmosphere, carrying molten rock and boiling magma as it barreled towards Setsuna like a roaring demon dragon. The power of this strike was enough to erase an entire continental plate from the planet's surface.
Setsuna's expression remained calm, but he deliberately put on a look of intense concentration.
He needed Galactic King to understand Slug's power so that he would insist on being personally escorted to Galactic Prison to ensure safety. Setsuna controlled his output, firing a Ki Blast.
Like the violent collision of two planets, all matter within a ten-kilometer radius sphere was completely 'evaporated' within one ten-thousandth of a second.
The shockwave expanded spherically, and the volcanic crater where the execution ground was located was instantly leveled. Mountain ranges within hundreds of kilometers collapsed like dominoes, continental plates were forcibly torn apart, and crustal fissures dozens of kilometers deep spread like spiderwebs.
Crimson mantle magma gushed from the planet's wound like blood, shooting thousands of meters into the sky. The oceans of Slug's Planet boiled over, and volcanoes erupted simultaneously across the globe. The atmosphere was torn open with a massive hole, as cosmic rays and solar wind poured in wildly.
"This... this is apocalyptic-level combat!" Jaco's face was pale as he 'shielded' himself with Merus. Even hundreds of kilometers away, the residual force of the shockwave made it difficult for him to breathe.
"Slug is too terrifying! He doesn't even care about his own planet! Setsuna-sama must win!" Galactic King cried out in fear.
Merus frowned slightly. He didn't care about this planet's future... under Slug's rule, it had long become a haven for space pirates. Its destruction was probably a good thing.
He was just slightly puzzled. He felt that this man named Setsuna seemed to be deliberately holding back.
A moment later, Merus rationalized it himself: 'Could it be that, like me, he is bound by some kind of restriction? To remain in the mortal world as a deceased person, he cannot unleash his full power either?'
The center of the battlefield.
Before the aftershocks of their first clash had subsided, the two figures collided again.
"Phantom Illusion Assassination Formation!"
Slug roared, his body instantly splitting into dozens of clones. Each clone possessed thirty percent of his original's power, attacking simultaneously from all directions.
Each clone moved at speeds surpassing ten thousand times the speed of sound, tearing the air with white vacuum trails in their wake, layers upon layers of sonic boom clouds turning the battlefield into a hell of sonic booms.
"Sekishiki: Thousand Dragon Heaven's Destruction!" Setsuna opened his eyes, their pupils reflecting the birth and death of cosmic stars. With his current strength, he was sufficient to elevate the Five Dragon Heaven's Destruction of Hado #99 to the level of a thousand dragons. Over a thousand dragons emerged from the void, tearing apart Slug's clones.
"Waaah!"
Slug's real body recoiled as if struck, spewing a large mouthful of purple blood. The backlash from his clones being destroyed caused his soul intense pain. But true to his nature as a Great Demon King, he forcibly changed tactics even while severely injured.
"Life Drain!"
He plunged his hands into the ground, his evil energy spreading out like roots, madly draining the very life force of Slug's Planet itself.
The entire planet wailed. The earth visibly became ashen and desolate at a visible rate, ocean levels plummeted. Microbes, plants, even the 'planetary life force' contained within the planet's geological activity were forcibly extracted, surging into Slug's body as a green torrent. His injuries healed at an astonishing rate, his aura surged wildly, dark red patterns like flowing magma emerging on his skin.
This was a [Planetary Rampage] state triggered by the forcible infusion of planetary life force.
"You see? This is my true power!" Slug laughed maniacally, his voice like thunder. "Fueled by an entire planet, I am now a true god!"
He stamped his feet on the ground.
Boom!
The entire crust within a hundred kilometers was upheaved, trillions of tons of rock and magma hurled into space by the terrifying force. A super-crater over two thousand kilometers in diameter appeared on Slug's Planet's surface, the planet's rotation even slightly shifting due to the force.
Using this reactive force, Slug transformed into a dark red meteor, carving visible trenches in space as he charged.
"Planet Destruction Fist!"
This punch condensed thirty percent of Slug's Planet's life force.
Facing such an attack, Setsuna grew slightly more serious.
"Sekishiki: Soul Burial Destruction!" Setsuna directly ignited the souls of Slug's underlings who had died in this catastrophe. Slug's planet-shattering punch passed through Setsuna's incorporeal, phased-out soul.
Meanwhile, the souls Setsuna had ignited caused Slug to wail as he plunged into the abyss.