.
6.
The dare and the fury
Unlike the ones I've seen so far, Madoria is exactly what I call a planet.
It's three times bigger than the trash rock my father gave me and its people are much more developed. From the top of the ship I glimpse numerous cities wedged between the red mountains: solitary groups that have no way of communicating with each other unless after a hard climb.
They're even civilized... I didn't expect it.
The ship stops in mid-air just above one of the large squares located in the center of the towns. As I demanded, the lower hatch opens.
«Lord Frieza, we await your order» Granium bows. I nod and, without hesitation, leap over the hatch jumping into the void.
My father has two flaws: the first is that he hates getting his hands dirty, so he lets his men fight and enjoys the show from the throne in the spaceship, if not from his vile planet.
The second is his pity, although he will never admit it. Leaving the battlefield to avoid destroying the entire planet and all its resources or eliminating the whole population is something I would never do, as well as sending others in my place. I have to introduce myself and I have to make myself respected. Or maybe I just love enjoying the expressions of sheer terror of those in front of me when they find out who they're dealing with.
The difference is clear: he wants to conquer, I want to possess.
As I slowly descend I notice that the whole city has its eyes on my ship and, as I imagined, a moment later they are all looking at me. The inhabitants of this planet are sturdy and muscular, with heads equipped with large spikes; some have flesh red like blood, others turn into pink. I don't like them at all: their massive bodies have no elegance or sophistication. By the way, it's now clear to me what Granium meant by resistance.
«Hello, my dear friends» I greet them, placing my feet on the ground.
Someone must have recognized my appearance in this form because many retreat, upset, and the most brave come forward with a threatening look. I smile. At least I won't have to be totally ashamed of my father even though he got chased off this planet like a rat.
«I come in peace» I say, widening my arms.
«You!» growls one of them with a guttural, hollow sound. He looks at least twice as tall as I am and his muscles are tensed in agony under the blotchy skin. He is really disgusting. «You, damned!»
«You're mistaking. I'm not who you believe, but his son. And, as I said, I come in peace.»
«What do you want, worm?» says another, coming towards me courageously alongside his companion. Perhaps they believe they are facing a being of equal or lesser power than King Cold. They will soon realize that I inherited neither power nor patience from my father.
Despite the burning desire to blow up the skull of that impudent vulgar, I decide to have some more fun. I want to see how far they will push themselves; in any case I already know how all this will turn out.
«Is this how you welcome guests to this planet?» I shake my head. «You really have horrible ways and it doesn't surprise me. Horrible ways for horrible beings.»
A buzz rises all around. The small group of Madorians that was coming towards me suddenly stops, forming a barrier that divides me from their families. As if a pile of corpses could stop me.
One of them points a brawny finger at me.
«We've already expelled your stinking race from this planet» he tells me. «We won't have any problems doing it a second time. Get out!»
«Yes, you are definitely annoying. Don't you even ask me why I'm here?»
«We know why you're here!» spits at me another one of them. «That coward of your father doesn't even have the courage to come back by himself, and then he sends his stupid son...»
He doesn't have time to finish the speech. He bends over, collapsed with pain, while he tries to stem the blood gushing from his leg with both hands right where my energy beam has pierced it.
«Don't you dare talk to me like this. I am no longer under the command of my father. Now I am Lord Frieza and that's what you must call me. Am I clear enough?»
In case I wasn't, I point the finger at the small group of heroes, who recoil as they are targeted. It would take me very little to slaughter them all; one misstep and this game would be over before it even started. But it seems that this time they understood. No one opens his mouth anymore, and in the silence the only sound I hear are the groans of pain of the inexperienced young man who dared to call my father cow...
Me stupid. Who dared to call me stupid.
«I thought I already told you that I come in peace. Don't take advantage of my patience.»
«W... what do you want from us?» stammers the first who had spoken. This time, however, his tone is completely different: no longer proud and menacing, but trembling and submissive. Exactly as it should be.
«I'm here to take over the planet, of course. But I don't want to start wars or struggles. It will be enough for you to bow before me and accept me as your sovereign. That's all.»
«Never! We will never give up our freedom for a bastard like you. Not without a fight!»
«I said I don't want to, not that I can't. Beware, dear Madorians, I warn you that you have no idea who you are facing.»
They don't seem to take my warning; on the contrary, the little group does nothing but watch me from head to toe. I know what they're thinking: that they can easily overwhelm me because my body is small, much smaller than my father's and theirs. I cannot deny that this is just what I want. I want them to underestimate me, I want them to attack me, I want to surprise them with my power and show them that fear is not enough: in front of me they must tremble.
It doesn't take long before I'm satisfied. The biggest of them suddenly rushes towards me, emitting an indecipherable scream that vibrates with anger. Behind him, his teammates get into position and, one after the other, launch into the attack.
«I see you have chosen!» I scream, but my voice chokes when I dodge the first blow by leaning to the right. Each of them tries to hit me from one side; no one seems to want or to know how to use the aura. Just punches, kicks and butt heads with their skulls covered in sharp spikes.
Obviously not even one of their shots hits. After dodging for a few minutes, while they are panting with fatigue, with a leap I place myself in the center of the semicircle that many dozen Madorians are forming around me. The strongest ones, I suppose; many of the people who were here until a few moments ago ran to barricade themselves in the houses, as if this way they could be safe from my anger.
«Warning number two. Do not tempt fate more than you should. You have no hope. Give up now!»
«Never!»
Dozens throw themselves at me.
I can keep up with them for a while but I still don't master this form perfectly. The lightness of my body deceives me and at a certain point, somewhere, a fist hits me in the face.
For a moment I am blinded; I back up jumping a little farther, in an open space free from those monsters, and they do not follow me but remain where they are trying to catch their breath, ready to start the attack again.
I can't believe they hit me. It is almost traumatic: not so much for the power of the punch itself as for the fact that their dirty hands have dared to touch my face.
I could get over them all in an instant if only I started to fight seriously; so far I was enjoying the battle but the taste of blood on my tongue makes it much less fun.
«Thirty against one. You're really unfair» I say, rubbing my affected cheek, swallowing the bitter blood. «Warning number three. And it's the last one. After that, don't complain about anything that may happen to you and your useless planet!»
My voice is broken with anger and even all around me the ground begins to crack. The power that I have relegated begins to throb painfully in my veins. I need to free it, to destroy the one who dared to touch me and his entire lineage. I need to get real!
This time they don't even reply: they just launch themselves against me in a third assault. As soon as I see them approach, anger pervades me. A blind anger.
«How dare you?» I growl. The power grows stronger, the ground trembles under my feet. «Congratulations, you have wasted your chance!»
The fury takes over me and although I do everything to keep it, it leaves me no way out. I feel the muscles swell, the exoskeleton and armor dilate; my weight increases. The ground under my feet cracks and everything around is enveloped in a blinding light. An explosion of energy prevents anyone from approaching me while my transformation is completed.
Then, I relax.
I open my eyes and I see everything from a new perspective. Maybe I wasn't expecting it; I'm surprised at how incredible the landscape is seen from this height and how small those damned insects are now. My first transformation is completed: now my power has increased tenfold, even if it's not even near to the maximum I can reach.
I laugh, listening how deep my voice has become, when I see them back away. I immediately understand what they are looking at and what they think they see now that my height and my prowess have greatly increased.
«What is it, do I remind you of someone? Well, I'm sorry to tell you that the similarities to my father end here. I'm not going away until you're mine, even if that means disintegrating you all!»
They seem to give each other courage but they understand that it will not be enough; nevertheless their pride overwhelms their common sense. They return to the attack and I was expecting nothing else.
«Good. Come on, stop playing!»
I stab the first one with a lethal beam. He falls, but his comrades don't see him or pretend not to, because they hurl themselves against me with a new desperate rage.
I will have no mercy on this scum!
My fists smash everything they hit: skulls, arms, ribs. My tail is a bundle of tense muscles that strikes mighty, crushes, hurls away. My horns rip and pierce and the purple blood that impregnates them drips on my face, its scent intoxicates me. The more I hit the more I thirst for violence; they continue to hit me too, but I no longer feel the pain.
It takes me a few minutes to clean up. Around me lie dozens of corpses with an incredible variety of wounds; someone is still alive but no longer has the strength to move or barely breathes.
I'm out of breath. I spent a lot of energy keeping up with these worms, more than they deserved.
I concentrate, relaxing my muscles and slowly sliding into my first form, in which I already feel much more comfortable. However, the anger shows no sign of abandoning me as well as my desire to destroy. The inhabitants of Madoria have challenged me and I cannot accept it.
«You wanted it.»
I nod towards the ship and it slowly moves. A few moments later it's docking behind me, crushing some houses that get in its way.
My troops approach me led by the elite, waiting to know how to move.
«Remove this garbage from my planet» I gasp. «Exterminate all those who oppose, but spare all the most deserving, those who resist until the end, those who make the most victims among my men. I want them alive.»
The four élite commanders bow and leave with the troops in tow. Granium approaches me, to whom I point those who lie at my feet.
«Have those who survived brought in and have them healed. Let them join the others in training.»
«Yes, Lord Frieza!»
I'm done here: breathing this death-torn air starts to disgust me. I return to the spaceship, sitting on my throne and looking out of my window.
The show begins very early. Explosions, flashes of energy that enlighten the sky like lightnings, cries that come to my ears muffled through the glass. Swirls of smoke begin to rise from the burning houses and twist in midair, enveloping in a macabre embrace and finally dissolving.
They are so captivating that I can't stop observing them and, for a moment, I'm sure to see inside them the reflection of the falling snow, of the raging storm, of our shadows.
Three shadows only. Three, who made their way through the white dunes, slipping into every crack in the ground and climbing up every snow-covered skeleton of what must have been trees. Shadows as black as the smoke that rose from the villages behind us. The shadows of the fugitives, followed by a trail of death of such an entity that none of us would have imagined leaving behind, least of all I who now carried the greatest burden. The difference between me and them was that they, despite denying it, felt sorry for each life unjustly interrupted.
At contrary, it was a single death that weighed on me: a shadow that had now taken possession of my thoughts, an obsession that did not allow me to sleep anymore. This, however, I could not say to them, much less to myself. I couldn't admit it.
Frieza…
All the other lives I took in that mad crossing were only the price to pay for my freedom, my father's and my brother's, and it didn't matter if my own arcosian blood ran in the veins of my victims. But that…
Frieza…
That one life...
Why did you do this to me, Frieza?
No, no, no, no.
I look away and sit more comfortably, relaxing my legs and tail. Nothing will wreck this moment.
Now there is nothing but the show of how the rebel cities of Madoria, one by one, explode and crumble under the army of the Great Frieza.
Next chapter:
The new Commander
31.01