Dragon Ball: Ascension

"I haven't used this technique in actual combat since I developed it," Karnel mused, watching the explosion fade. "The first real test shows impressive results, but the energy consumption is enormous."

As early as when Cooler had been knocked back, Karnel had wanted to test this new ability in real battle. He had deliberately created a high-energy clone in his original position while teleporting to a concealed location hundreds of meters away using instant movement.

Due to the vast difference in their power levels, King Cold couldn't perceive Karnel's speed at all.

Cooler had seen Karnel blur and vanish, but it was too late to warn his father.

"Cooler, your father died without regret," Karnel said, crossing his arms with satisfaction. "It's quite an honor to perish under my latest technique."

Cooler clenched his fists until his knuckles cracked, teeth grinding as he stared at the Saiyan who had just obliterated his father.

"Don't look at me like that," Karnel continued, his expression becoming more serious. "After I finish you off, I'll hunt down Frieza next..."

For some reason, Cooler began laughing, a low, bitter sound. After a moment, he sneered with contempt. "Father was always useless anyway. His death means nothing. As long as I kill you, that's all that matters. Tell me, Saiyan, I can sense your energy has dropped by about a quarter. Was that from the technique you used to kill my father?"

Originally, Cooler had been fighting extensively and fired two supernovas. His own energy reserves were already more than half depleted. Against Karnel at full power, he would have had no chance whatsoever.

However, using that high-consumption technique for the first time, Karnel had poured roughly 30% of his total energy into the explosive clone to eliminate King Cold.

With Karnel now at only 70% capacity, Cooler glimpsed what seemed like the dawn of hope, a real chance to kill this accursed Super Saiyan.

"Well, if you think you can beat me in this condition, you're welcome to try," Karnel replied with dismissive confidence. Even at 70% power, he remained certain he could defeat Cooler.

A confident smile spread across Cooler's face as he launched the first attack.

The battle resumed with desperate intensity.

After several brutal exchanges, Karnel landed a solid punch to Cooler's abdomen. The Frost Demon's body shuddered from the impact, and Karnel followed up with an elbow strike to his shoulder, sending Cooler tumbling through space.

Cooler finally managed to stabilize himself, breathing heavily.

"Do all you Cold family members love empty boasting this much?" Karnel taunted, his own breathing slightly labored from the extended combat. "You just claimed you were going to beat me, what happened to all that confidence?"

Although there was no air in the vacuum environment, Karnel's body could produce the required oxygen through divine enhancement from his wishes. The sensation of not breathing through his nose was strange, almost like being an unborn child.

"Damn Saiyan..." Cooler gasped after the prolonged battle, exhaustion finally taking its toll as he glared with murderous intent.

Abandoning any fear of death, he launched another frenzied assault.

Karnel's energy reserves were also running dangerously low, barely enough to maintain his Super Saiyan state and perhaps fire one more major technique. Both fighters were operating at significantly reduced speed and strength compared to their peak performance. If King Cold were still alive to coordinate an attack, Karnel might have genuinely been in mortal danger.

But there were no second chances in this universe.

Karnel barely managed to block Cooler's increasingly desperate strikes, his movements slowing with fatigue.

Suddenly, Cooler's expression turned manic. Drawing on reserves of strength from somewhere deep within, he lunged forward and wrapped both arms tightly around Karnel's waist.

"Saiyan, you've lost!" Cooler laughed wildly, his face twisted with insanity as his entire body began to swell ominously.

Karnel felt a chill of dread. Cooler's body was expanding while violent energy surged around him, this was the result of burning through his remaining life potential in one final gambit.

Karnel began struggling frantically to break free from the hold around his waist, but Cooler clung to him like a drowning man clutching driftwood. No matter how hard he fought, the grip wouldn't loosen.

"It's useless, monkey!" Cooler screamed, exhausting every last fragment of his life force. "You're coming to hell with me!"

Cooler's body turned crimson red as it swelled to the absolute limit.

BOOM!

Cooler detonated.

The intense light from the explosion stretched across tens of thousands of miles. From a distance, the detonation resembled a supernova's death, beautiful and terrible in its finality.

In the lonely starry void, ripples suddenly appeared in the fabric of space itself.

After the disturbance settled, an unconscious figure materialized in the emptiness.

Time passed, minutes or hours, impossible to tell in the void.

Karnel slowly awakened from his coma.

"Ugh... feels like my entire body was hollowed out," he groaned, cramping throughout every muscle as consciousness returned. Wincing in pain, he reached into his pocket and retrieved a senzu bean, swallowing it quickly.

During the battle with Cooler, after being trapped in that deadly embrace, Karnel had felt the most intense crisis of his life. He never anticipated that Cooler would resort to self-destruction. The fierce, chaotic energy waves generated by the explosion had continuously eroded every muscle and cell in his body, penetrating his internal organs as he felt himself being torn apart from within. For a terrifying moment, he had genuinely believed he would die. With no way to escape, only his desperate will to survive had kept him conscious through the waves of destruction, though he had blacked out after mere seconds.

"Damn," Karnel muttered, cold sweat beading on his forehead as the memories flooded back. "Right before I passed out, I was certain I was finished. I wanted to defeat him honorably in combat... can't be that reckless in the future."

After consuming the senzu bean and fully recovering, Karnel discovered that his base combat power had increased dramatically to 15 million, giving him a staggering 750 million when transformed into Super Saiyan form. The near-death experience had triggered a huge Zenkai-power boost.