The revelation landed like a thunderclap. Aira's eyes widened, not with fear, but with sheer, unfiltered disbelief.
King Cold and Zarbon, two of the most powerful beings in this quadrant of the galaxy, were... dancing?
Their movements were grotesque, a parody of synchronization. Arms flailed, legs kicked in bizarre patterns, bodies twisted in ways that defied both grace and dignity. It was a ritual, clearly, but one so absurd that Aira's battle-ready mind simply... stalled.
What. In. The. Actual. Hell.
She had expected traps. She had expected ambushes, power-ups, hidden armies. She had not expected to witness the two leaders of a galactic empire performing what looked like a rejected audition for a circus.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" The words tore from her throat, a mixture of rage and utter bewilderment. Her aura exploded—Great Ape Power flooding her veins, multiplying her strength tenfold in an instant. Over one billion units of power radiated from her, warping the air, cracking the ground beneath her feet.
She didn't wait for an answer. She didn't want one. She just wanted this insanity to stop.
Energy blasts, wild and devastating, erupted from her hands, streaking toward the two still-dancing fools. The planet itself seemed to shudder in anticipation of the carnage.
King Cold's eyes, even mid-dance, flickered with satisfaction. The fusion—the forbidden technique he had acquired at great cost—was nearly complete. And the Saiyan, instead of interrupting, had stood there in shock, giving them the precious seconds they needed.
Foolish monkey, he thought, as the blasts closed in. Your rage is your undoing.
The white light was blinding, a searing explosion of energy that sent Aira's ki blasts scattering harmlessly. When her vision cleared, King Cold and Zarbon were gone. In their place stood... something else.
The creature was a grotesque fusion of its components—the general shape and horns of King Cold, but with Zarbon's elegant features twisted into something alien and strangely beautiful. It was wrong, unsettling, yet possessed a dark, magnetic presence.
"Hahahaha!" The creature—Kuganbo, it called itself—gazed at its own hands with rapturous delight. "Such power! Every time, it makes my heart sing!"
Aira's mind raced. Fusion? They fused? Like the Metamorans? But this was different. Darker. Wrong.
"What are you?" she demanded.
The creature's eyes, cold and amused, finally focused on her. "I am neither King Cold nor Zarbon, little Saiyan. I am Kuganbo. And you..." It smiled, a predatory curl of its lips. "You are going to die."
Aira's senses screamed a warning. Kuganbo's power was immense—far beyond her own, even with Great Ape Power. This was not an opponent she could overwhelm with brute force.
And yet...
A slow, fierce smile spread across her face. Finally. Finally, an enemy worthy of her fear. Finally, pressure that might crack her limits wide open.
She didn't hesitate. Great Ape Power flared, and she attacked.
High above the planet, invisible to the combatants below, space rippled. A figure materialized in the void, his eyes immediately drawn to the furious battle raging on the surface.
Rhode.
He had finally found his way home, the complex navigation through spacetime nodes leading him back to his own universe. Earth had been empty of her presence, her energy signature absent. A quick scan, a brief check of the dimensional map, and he had followed the trail here.
His gaze swept over the battlefield, cataloging the combatants. Aira, fighting with a ferocity he hadn't seen in years, her power multiplied by Great Ape Power, pushing against an enemy of terrifying strength.
Then he saw Kuganbo.
"Fusion?" The word escaped his lips, surprise coloring his tone. This was no Metamoran technique—the movements had been wrong, the energy signature twisted. This was something else. Something dark.
His eyes narrowed, watching the battle unfold. Aira was holding her own, but the creature was stronger. The question was whether that strength would be her doom... or her salvation.