Dragon Ball: Ascension

"Hmph! Cooler, that technique doesn't seem to be very useful after all," Karnel said, turning to face his opponent with casual indifference.

"Don't underestimate me!" Cooler snarled, his expression cold with fury at seeing his signature attack neutralized. "I am Cooler, the most powerful warrior of the Cold family! I will not lose to you!"

He launched himself forward, throwing a devastating punch with all his might.

The crackling sounds of combat resumed as both warriors clashed with renewed intensity. Karnel maintained his advantage, steadily pressing Cooler back and landing small hits while avoiding most counterattacks. Before long, Cooler had accumulated several minor injuries from the sustained assault.

Getting overconfident... Karnel thought with growing concern. He had been dominating the fight for so long that pride was starting to cloud his judgment.

Too late!

In the midst of their exchange, Cooler's tail whipped around and caught Karnel's ankle. Before the Saiyan could react, Cooler hurled him toward the frozen surface, creating a crater over a hundred meters wide.

Careless, Karnel chided himself as he stood among the ice debris. In the heat of a winning battle, I let my guard down... I can't afford such rookie mistakes. Against a more dangerous opponent in the future, a small flaw like this could be fatal. I need to remember this lesson.

At that moment, a calculating gleam flashed in Cooler's eyes, and his expression brightened with sudden inspiration. Another supernova began forming on his fingertip.

"Another planet-buster? Are you running out of ideas, Cooler?" Karnel brushed ice fragments from his clothes and looked up just in time to see the new death bomb taking shape.

"You're finished this time, Saiyan!" Cooler's face twisted with a victorious sneer. With a gesture, he sent the supernova flying, but not toward Karnel.

Karnel leaped from the crater and flashed to the left, avoiding where he expected the attack to come. He prepared his hands for another Kamehameha technique.

But this time, the supernova wasn't chasing him at all.

"It's over, monkey!" Cooler's maniacal laughter echoed across the void. "Let's see you die along with this planet! As long as I destroy it, you, who cannot survive in the vacuum of space, will perish with it!"

Cooler reveled in his tactical victory, convinced he was about to eliminate this troublesome Saiyan once and for all.

"So that was your plan..." Karnel murmured, patting his chest with mock concern. "I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed."

A wave of relief washed over him. Fortunately, his second wish had been to enable himself to survive in any cosmic vacuum environment. If he had instead wished for instant transmission like the Yardrats, he would have needed at least two wishes to achieve both abilities.

Facing planetary destruction with only combat power to rely on, he might have been forced to flee to another world just to survive.

It was ironic, really, the planet that had birthed the Cold family for generations was now being destroyed by one of its own children.

A brilliant white light flashed across space, lasting for several seconds. When it faded, nothing remained where the planet had once existed.

"Father, let's go," Cooler said, floating in the vacuum with King Cold. "We'll return to Frieza and have him hunt down every remaining Saiyan to finish what we started." Unlike their own people, Saiyans couldn't survive in the void of space. Cooler was absolutely confident that the Super Saiyan had perished along with the vanished planet.

King Cold, his strength mostly recovered, felt the dark shadow that had been weighing on his heart finally lift. The terrifying Saiyan was dead.

"Oh? Cooler, I have to say your strategy was quite clever. But I didn't die, did I? Sorry to disappoint you." Karnel's voice came from directly behind the father and son, calm and tinged with dark amusement.

"You... you can survive in vacuum? How is that possible..." Cooler's composure shattered completely as shock overwhelmed him.

Karnel's expression hardened, fury building in his emerald eyes as he spoke in an ice-cold tone. "It's unfortunate that your strategy could have actually worked. If I hadn't already obtained the ability to survive in cosmic vacuum through certain means, that situation might have truly killed me. I have to thank you for that humiliation, I'll repay it with your death."

Karnel struck with pure resentment, exerting 120% of his strength. His fist connected with Cooler's still-stunned face, sending him flying into a distant asteroid. The impact shattered both the mask covering Cooler's mouth and the asteroid behind him into countless fragments.

"Damn... damn it all..." Cooler steadied himself in the starry void, wiping blood from the corner of his mouth.

"Come on," Karnel said, clenching his fists as he stared down Cooler. He spoke each word with deadly precision. "I'll let you experience the same fear of Super Saiyans that your ancestors felt."

An enraged Super Saiyan was truly terrifying. With each punch thrown in anger, he could exceed even his normal maximum output.

Faced with an opponent against whom he could barely see hope of victory, Cooler experienced something he had never felt before in his life, genuine fear.

Watching Cooler getting beaten relentlessly, clearly approaching death, King Cold felt desperate anxiety. If Cooler died, he would have no chance of escape.

"Perfect opportunity!" King Cold spotted a brief opening when Karnel's hands were occupied. His eyes brightened as he began gathering all his recovered energy into his fist, concentrating high-density power that emanated a crimson glow.

"Die, Saiyan!"

King Cold's roar came from behind as Karnel sensed an unusually concentrated energy signature approaching.

As Karnel turned to assess the threat, his ongoing battle with Cooler carried them several kilometers away from their previous position.

Cooler felt the Saiyan's figure blur and disappear from in front of him. Sensing something was wrong, he tried to warn his father, but it was too late.

King Cold appeared behind Karnel and drove his crimson-glowing fist into the Super Saiyan's back with tremendous force, feeling the satisfying impact of flesh and bone.

"As long as this Saiyan is wounded, Cooler has a chance at victory!" King Cold's face lit up with joy, his sneak attack had finally succeeded.

When Karnel's back took the full brunt of King Cold's assault, his body shuddered slightly. Then he slowly turned around, catching King Cold's arm with a smile that made the Frost Demon's blood run cold.

An terrible premonition filled King Cold's heart. He tried to pull away, but Karnel's grip was like a steel vise, there was no escape.

Energy within Karnel's body began to fluctuate wildly as his form started emanating brilliant white light. This was the prelude to an energy explosion.

BOOM!

After a violent detonation, blazing white light expanded outward in a sphere thousands of meters in diameter. King Cold couldn't survive even as scattered atoms in such a devastating explosion of concentrated power.