Bardock and Ledgic attacked each other with powerful and clearly telegraphed swings, charging at one another from their different regions above the most technologically advanced sections of Planet Imecka. At this point in the fight, they sought to compare their battle powers more than anything. This was a test of each warrior's mettle, pride, and fighting ability.

The two hardened warriors collided farther toward Bardock's side, showing that Ledgic's speed was superior to that of Bardock's. Grunting in discomfort at this first defeat before most of the punches were even thrown, Bardock transitioned the clash with their elbows into a horizontal mid-section kick, which Ledgic evaded with a dive backward.

After having forced his opponent to retreat, even if just for a moment, Bardock pressed on his advantage. It was a neat idea to utilize his level of aggression and brute power to compensate for what he lacked in speed. Bardock threw himself at Ledgic with an overhead swing of his right hand, no ceremony, nothing fancy, just raw power and intent to inflict some serious concussive harm. Ledgic, instead of continuing to evade, or leaving himself trapped in his defensive position, dashed in with a backhand jab to Bardock's face.

The surprising hit dazed Bardock for a second, offering Ledgic his chance to spin around a dozen times, building up momentum, before delivering a devastating right kick to Bardock's jaw. After grunting in pain, the Saiyan warrior blasted off, crashing into an Imeckan skyscraper and becoming embedded in it. Ledgic reached for the silver spikes sticking out from the shoulders of his jacket. After removing them and holding them in his hands like daggers, the alloy they were made of became malleable in the hands of the mighty mercenary.

Molding them into a rod-like shape and then smacking the top with a slap, Ledgic poured his own energy into the alloy, assisting its flexible properties and creating a war hammer that he tightly clenched in both hands. Exclaiming from the strain of wielding such a tool, Ledgic dashed toward Bardock while winding the makeshift metallic weapon back for a smashing impact.

Bardock grunted in surprise after the first thing greeting his resumed perception over his fight, after shaking off the daze, was Ledgic rushing him with a gigantic war hammer dragged by both of the warrior's hands. "Hngh!" he grumbled, seeing no better way to deal with the incoming pain train than to brace himself for impact and tense the muscles of his entire body all at once. Ledgic's hammer smashed against the skyscraper with a thunderous slam, expelling a vertical, expansive halo of grounded dust and pressurized air that crumbled any buildings it resonated past.

Despite the expanding field of destruction around them, Bardock wasn't punted out from the crumbling building, revealing that he was still stuck inside and didn't submit to the swinging force of the hammer. After the Imeckan skyscraper collapsed around the two fighters and the dust cleared out somewhat, it became apparent that Bardock had caught and stopped the hammer by slamming his open palms against its surface, counteracting the force of the swing while entering another power struggle.

"Roaargh!" Bardock cried out, pushing his body past his limits and feeling his the muscle fibers in his shoulders and biceps burning up with pain. In an incredible feat of limit-breaking force, he pushed the head of the hammer away and rushed toward Ledgic, registering one good swing straight to the mercenary's jaw, which sent Ledgic flying back. The hammer dissolved into thin, diamond-shaped spikes in Ledgic's hands as the mercenary dragged his hand across his lip, wiping the slobber Bardock knocked out of him.

"You really are struggling right now. I wonder for how long you can keep up fighting at your peak like this because I'm just getting fired up, and this is too much fun for it to end too fast," Ledgic smirked, looking somewhat worried about the amount of strain Bardock pushing his body through in order to keep up.

"Who told you this is my peak?" Bardock asked with a look of bewilderment comparable to the one he had when Gine told him he was a father for the first time.

"You mean you're capable of more than this?" Ledgic matched Bardock's visible confusion.

"Oh yeah, lots…" Bardock's expression changed to that of malicious excitement as he clenched his fist in front of him, a sign of an oath. It was the Saiyan's idea of some sort of sick promise in the middle of a battle that only two fighters boiling in the same broth of brutality could relate to.

"You must be bluffing!" Ledgic hissed. "If you could become more powerful, you would have already. Nobody takes punishment and humiliation in battle if they can avoid it."

"Why don't you follow your own advice, then?" Bardock smiled. "Besides, your attitude only shows me that you know what Saiyans look like, but not much else. If I go ahead and transform too soon, this fun slobber-knocker will be over before I break any sweat. "I'd much rather enjoy a much more challenging fight in my base form!" the Saiyan berserker punched his other open hand, smiling in excitement.

"You mean your monstrous Great Ape form? I thought the Saiyans required the full moon for such a transformation. While Planet Imecka has two moons in interchangeable cycles, neither of them is in their full moon phase," Ledgic said with an expression dyed in bewilderment.

"Heh, I would hate to spoil anything and ruin this fight for you. How about we just enjoy it to the fullest and both have fun?" Bardock replied with a slightly devious glint in his voice. "If you want to see my full power, HOW ABOUT YOU TRY AND MAKE ME SHOW IT TO YOU!?"

Bardock rushed forward again, Ledgic extended his two diamond-shaped spikes at his opponent, making them merge and grow out into a tree-like shape that branched out far and wide with metallic spikes. Bardock's image flickered upon freezing in place. The horrific image of the Saiyan's impalement vanished, proving itself to be merely an afterimage. No matter how much Ledgic's twisted metallic tree weapon branched out and how many Bardocks it impaled, all of them faded out, revealing themselves to be afterimages.

Clamoring with a proudful roar, Bardock rushed in from behind with a stiff kick to the back of Ledgic's head, sending the vicious mercenary flying while his weapon returned to its handheld default state. Erupting with a sky-blue aura around him that flowed with vibrant, blazing jets of energy, Bardock exploded with a flurry of spin kicks that knocked Ledgic around and made it difficult for him to defend himself while still clasping to those weapons of his. After the last spin kick hit him, the stunned warrior smashed through a skyscraper wall and ended up covered in industrial wreckage and tangled in wires.

Bardock gave his opponent no time to sulk in his bed of smashed factory machines. A barrage of yellow Ki blasts followed Ledgic through the hole, forcing the mercenary to force himself out of the wreckage and race toward the roof while evading the series of Ki blasts coming in from different sides, blasting inside through walls and windows and shooting in a straight line. A silver-colored X split the high-standing factory roof into four after Ledgic burst out with a shoulder tackle right through.

The Saiyan greeted his opponent's emergence with a soaring elbow slam, followed by a body blow, a hammering arm slam to the back, then a flying uppercut that dazed Ledgic enough to undo his twin swords and fly off into Planet Imecka's lower atmosphere. Bardock appeared behind where Ledgic would have ended up with a sharp snap and spun around with a spinning downward backfist. The Saiyan put some wallop into that fist, as evidenced by his forearm glowing with energy and swinging in a radiant arc. The impact was explosive and sent Ledgic crashing and dragging down all the way to ground level.

A compact, television-like drone with two intense torchlights beaming off from the sides leveled itself with Ledgic in the wreckage while the crash-landed alien warrior kicked up and returned to a standing position with only minor scrapes after Bardock's crafty attack. The image reflected on the drone's screen was staticky because of all the dust and energy radiating in the area, making it difficult for the technology to function properly.

"L…dgic! Wha… A… You D…ing? Des…y th… Sai…n now!" Don Kia's panicking shrieks came out chopped up. Even if the space tyrant didn't know it, it was probably for the better, since Ledgic was this close to snapping and blowing the sniveling fool up with his prized building. Instead, the alien mercenary extended his left spike into the shape of a sword and stabbed through the monitor, causing the malfunctioning drone to fall by his feet. Right where Ledgic could smash it to bits with a wrathful stomp.

"Letting off some steam?" Bardock taunted Ledgic after plunging to his level with his arms crossed and a stony expression on the Saiyan's face. "I'm your opponent, so you should vent your frustrations on me. If you're so puny that you can't do that, there's no point in us fighting."

"You're too good to be this cocky," Ledgic's furious expression cooled down to that of deep-seated malice as he adopted a fighting position and formed twin one-handed swords with his metallic spikes. Instead of rushing straight for Bardock, the alien warrior imbued them with Ki, slashing thin air and sending rending aerial Ki projectiles toward Bardock.

The Saiyan vaulted backward a few times, but then he noticed how uncannily those projectiles moved. They weren't just energy bullets, but lashes that undulated, rippled, and shifted their speed around to confuse the enemy. One of them ripped straight into Bardock's chest and sent the Saiyan flying back through some military barricades before the Ki projectile detonated in a fearsome burst that sank the entire block in dust and debris.

"Just doing my best to keep your head in the game!" Bardock barked out after erupting in an explosive burst of aura that scattered all the debris pinning him down aside and erupting into a blitzing dash toward Ledgic. Bardock extended his hand, firing a fusillade of Ki blasts for Ledgic to deflect with his swords before Bardock snapped straight up to Ledgic's face and head-butted his opponent into a stagger. "You're the best challenge I've had in a long time, so I'd hate your business with that tyrannical asshole to get in the way of our fight."

"Make no mistake, Saiyan. The only reason I'm tolerating Don Kia is because, after I heard of the Saiyan invasion on Planet Imecka, I thought you'd eventually come back to finish the job. If I ever wanted to prove myself against the strongest warrior race in the universe, my best chance of encountering you would be on this planet. I never thought it would take this long for you to come back though…" Ledgic replied while pulling his swords back and brushing his sore forehead with the back of his hand. After he was done reeling, the alien warrior straightened his back and stood proud.

"Well, if it's any worth to you, I acknowledge you as one tough guy," Bardock snickered.

"Sorry, it doesn't much matter to me what you think of me. In my line of work, reputation speaks louder than anything. I need my clients to believe that I am the best, not just something they settle for because they can't get a Saiyan mercenary. I'm done settling for the label of mediocrity despite the work I do, purely because of who I am not," Ledgic hissed out before merging his metallic spikes and transforming them into a trident.

The sudden burst of aggression from Ledgic's side caught Bardock a bit off-guard. The Saiyan began dancing around Ledgic's thrusts, only for Ledgic to twirl the trident around him and catch Bardock slipping with the back end of his trident, knocking the Saiyan rolling and bouncing away. Winding his trident back with a strong right arm, Ledgic put his left out in front of him, as if to measure the distance and the angle between him and Bardock, who bounced off of an abandoned war machine and rode inertia all the way into the air. A swift and decisive hurl of his trident impaled Bardock through the chest.

Bardock's face shifted in agony and shock as he spat out blood. The noise of clanking chain telegraphed Ledgic grabbing hold of the chain attached to his jacket and his spiky weapons and pulling himself toward Bardock up in the air. Ledgic grabbed hold of the trident's solid shaft with his right hand while extending his left up in Bardock's face and unleashing a powerful, point-blank Ki burst that knocked Bardock away and planted him inside of a crater down on the street.

"Hmm… You certainly weren't a weakling, but I expected a bit more of a fight, I will admit," Ledgic spoke to what he imagined would be his opponent drowning in their own blood. "If I didn't need your head, I certainly would let you choke on your arrogance that led to you underestimating my abilities."

Another broadcasting drone leveled itself to Ledgic's side, temporarily distracting the cobra-headed alien, who turned toward it with an aggravated tsk. The image on the screen flashed with vibrant color, only intermittently chopped up by static. The image of a pale-skinned tyrant in a regal bathrobe pressing to the broadcasting camera in his penthouse chamber preceded Don Kia's gloating.

"Excellent work, Ledgic! I knew that I was hiring the best! And to think my own commanders second-guessed and questioned my decision to hire a mercenary who only agreed to fight Saiyans and keep him on my payroll all these years!" Don Kia put his hands on his waist and turned at his bundled commanders, Gale and Sheila, who struggled to believe what they were seeing in how quickly and thoroughly Ledgic mopped the floor with the Saiyan they couldn't even graze. "Now, do it! Finish him, Ledgic! As much as I'd love to keep him around as an excellent workhorse, he's just too dangerous and rebellious to be kept alive!"

"Groargh…!" Ledgic grumbled before erupting into a wild shout, molding his metallic spikes into a javelin, only to turn around and hurl it into the sky. With that incredible pitch, it was as if an oppressive weight had rolled off of Ledgic's shoulders as the mercenary turned to the broadcasting drone.

"Wh-What was that, Ledgic? The Saiyan is on the completely opposite side… Honestly, you may be the best guy for the buck, but you really need to work on your ai…" Don Kia was in the middle of his ignorant scolding of his finest hire when the javelin Ledgic tossed into the sky traveled all the way to Don Plaza and whizzed past Don Kia's head, trimming his spiky pink hair, before slamming into the sophisticated chair the tyrant of Planet Imecka relaxed in.

"What did I tell you about giving me orders, you scum?" Ledgic hissed, staring right at the screen with a death-inducing stare in his purple eyes. "The next time you open your mouth, have in mind that I have no further need of you and that every second you spend living in this depressing dystopia you've created tolls only because nobody will be able to pay me enough to crumble this monument to your own greed you live in and wash the stench of desperation off these streets in the torrent of your own blood. From this day forth, I am the best mercenary in the universe!"

Don Kia fell on his rear end, skittering back and away from the broadcasting drone in sheer terror with bulging, bloodshot eyes, drooling and wearing snot all over the well-maintained, silky-smooth skin of his face. With the despot stumbling away from the broadcast, a shy, blue-haired woman dashed up to it and pulled the drone toward her.

"Bardock-san! Bardock-san! What's wrong!? Why aren't you fighting!? Please, wake up, Bardock-san!" Launch cried out with a volume of voice that was entirely uncharacteristic of this version of her self. Ledgic's glare softened at the sight of a grieving woman replacing the disgusting mug of a greedy dictator on the drone's display screen. He was about to say something before sighing and raising his hand. The links of the chain connecting his malleable spikes with his jacket had been stretched so far that they came apart, connecting through a meekly visible energy trail.

The chain links began pulling closer together, removing the javelin from Don Kia's throne and reeling it back at incredible speed back to the hand of its wielder. The coming alive of the deadly weapon under Ledgic's control, frightened the soldiers, also Gale and Sheila, and made them press with their backs to the walls to avoid impalement. Because of that, they couldn't pull Launch off the drone immediately after she took over the broadcast from the cowardly Don Kia.

With a tight clinch, Ledgic caught the returning javelin and turned the alloy it was composed of malleable again. With a controlling stroke of his hand and an invisible emission of his Ki, Ledgic made the spikes mold together into the form of a great axe. Clenching it in one hand, Ledgic heaved it over his head and took off with a sky-scraping jump, coming down onto Bardock's sprawled and lifeless body, thundering down with a decisive swing to remove the Saiyan's head.

CLANG!

The look of shock pulsated through Ledgic's face as the ruthless mercenary felt his axe getting stuck in something before it could connect with his target's neck. "He caught it!?" Ledgic exclaimed in disbelief after seeing Bardock's right hand wrapped around the edge of the axe's blade. A sudden gale, washing with a golden whiff, robbed Ledgic of all his force with which he pressed down on Bardock from above. The crater in which Bardock laid stretched out widened with successive pulses, deepening it further and further, except Bardock's laid-out body hovered exactly where it started in.

The golden burst proved to be a vivid aura washing over Bardock's entire body. Before Ledgic could make a decision, if he was going to release his axe and flee, or keep pushing its edge down, a spine-tingling, chunky shattering noise decided for Ledgic. His metallic great axe shattered in Bardock's hands, turning to dripping, mercury-like chunks while Bardock erected himself with a radiant, golden glow around him and black, wildly spiked-up hair. The Saiyan's expression was pure rage and even his eyes were whited out completely.

Then, with one terrifying roar, a fiery halo passed Bardock from his feet to the tip of his wild hair, dyeing the hair gold as it washed over the Saiyan. Then, clarity returned to Bardock's look in the form of teal eyes, peering straight at Ledgic.

"Well done, punk," Bardock muttered with a tone of subdued, deep-seated craving for violence. "You've gone on and pushed me into it now," the Saiyan muttered while staring at Ledgic with a glare that was sharper than the deadliest weapon. Ledgic saw the terrifying power dormant within this new, golden-haired transformation of Bardock's and felt how fickle the barrier between the Saiyan's restraint and all that rage erupting upon him at once truly was at this moment.

With Bardock getting serious, the ball was in Ledgic's court to keep up the pace he called for all this time.