Chapter 54: Zarbon's Demise

Xavier's lips parted slightly, and he uttered in a chilling tone, "Time, halt!"

Indeed, Xavier could wait no longer. The gap between him and Zarbon seemed insurmountable, but who dictated that battles must be fought solely based on power levels?

This was not a mere sparring match; it was a matter of life and death, permitting all manner of tactics!

Suddenly, the entire planet turned into a world of blue. Everything on Planet Phydia came to a standstill.

This was the second time Xavier utilized his time-based psychic powers against an enemy. The first was against Celine, who had transformed into a giant ape. Now, he faced Zarbon.

Time-based psychic powers differ from spatial ones. Despite the years, there had been no significant improvement, and with his current power level, Xavier could only pause time for a mere three seconds. Moreover, the duration could decrease depending on the strength of the target.

As expected, when he included Zarbon, whose power level had reached 25,000, within the scope of his time freeze, Xavier's energy began depleting rapidly. He estimated that he could probably sustain the pause for no more than two seconds.

Just two seconds! Yet, that was all Xavier instinctively concluded he needed.

With a rough estimate in mind, Xavier transformed into a streak of light and appeared before Zarbon in the blink of an eye.

In the icy blue world, everything but Xavier was frozen. Mid-air, Zarbon’s face was locked in astonishment, his grotesque, frog-like visage staring blankly ahead.

Given Zarbon's immense power, Xavier dared not overestimate his abilities. Without any superfluous movements, he reached out, placing his palm directly over Zarbon’s heart.

A sharp glint of cold light flashed through his eyes as Xavier's fingers curled slightly, channeling his energy rapidly toward his palm. The center of his hand lit up with a dazzling, piercing light.

The buzzing vibration intensified as a sphere of energy was compressed within his palm.

Sizzling sounds filled the air.

The vast energy eventually condensed into a tiny, bright white flash the size of a peanut, surrounded by tendrils of pale blue electrical arcs that crackled incessantly.

This minute white flash, after being maximally compressed, had its power amplified a hundredfold or more! Xavier believed that the energy of this tiny flash, if unleashed, could obliterate everything within a ten-kilometer radius.

"Zarbon, you can die now."

A cold, clear voice rang out as Xavier looked on emotionlessly.

Crash! The icy blue world shattered abruptly.

At that moment, Zarbon regained his ability to perceive. For him, time had never halted; it seemed that the enemy who should have stood before him had inexplicably vanished.

A foreboding sense of doom rose from the depths of his heart, and instinctively turning around, Zarbon felt an inexplicable shiver.

Thud!

A beam as thin as a pinky finger pierced through his chest and exited from his back. A sudden, excruciating pain tore through his heart. Zarbon slowly lowered his head, only to be met by Xavier's dark, icy eyes.

How could he be right in front of his chest? Zarbon's mouth dropped open in disbelief as he looked down to see his heart charred, the hot blood mingling with the smell of seared flesh oozing out.

His heart had been pierced?

Zarbon could hardly believe it.

For the vast majority of beings in the universe, a pierced heart meant death! Zarbon's physiology was not robust enough to survive such a wound...

How could this be? Zarbon's eyes widened in shock.

He couldn't understand how this seemingly insignificant adversary had managed it!

He swallowed, blood spurting from his throat due to the lack of oxygen, his brain uncontrollably dizzy, his lips quivering as he spoke with palpable resentment, "To think that I, Zarbon, would die at the hands of a nobody..."

"You were too arrogant," Xavier said coldly.

He had managed to defeat Zarbon through a series of fortunate coincidences. Had Zarbon not underestimated him from the start, opting instead to toy with him like a cat with a mouse, and had he used his full strength immediately, Xavier might not have had the chance to employ his psychic powers.

"Ha... yes, I was too arrogant," Zarbon coughed out with a laugh, blood trickling from his mouth, his consciousness fading. "But Lord Frieza will not let you off..."

It was unimaginable that Zarbon, a close confidant of Lord Frieza, would meet his end on such an obscure planet.

Boom!!

Zarbon's body swelled and, in a violent explosion, turned to ash.

Xavier sighed. Even a lion uses its full strength to hunt a rabbit, and complacency on the battlefield was absolutely forbidden. Zarbon's fate was a stark reminder. No matter the opponent's strength, maintaining a minimum level of caution was essential. As Zarbon had said, his death was indeed tragic.

If only he hadn't been careless... If Xavier hadn't possessed various strange psychic powers... If Xavier hadn't impulsively consumed a Senzu Bean... the outcome might have been different.

Alas, Zarbon had no 'ifs'.

Dozens of kilometers away, the aliens following Zarbon had witnessed their esteemed leader perish at the hands of a youth, and were struck dumb. They stared blankly ahead, the scene falling into silence.

After a moment, a hairy alien finally snapped out of it, exclaiming in shock, "Lord Zarbon is dead!"

"Ah, Lord Zarbon is dead..."

As the shouts echoed, panic spread quickly among them. The aliens screamed and looked at Xavier with fear, then scattered in all directions.

But Xavier would not let them escape. Dealing with these small fry, with power levels of only a thousand or two, required little effort!

With a flash, Xavier appeared in front of the aliens, "You've done enough evil; join Zarbon in hell!"

With a slight wave of his hand through the air, the sky cooperated, and a vast, boundless energy spread in marvelous ripples all around.

The bodies of the aliens were instantly immobilized, eerily suspended mid-air.

Swish! Deep, dark red fissures appeared in the air and opened like the gaping maws of primordial beasts, swallowing the aliens one by one. Soon, dozens were devoured by these spatial rifts.

These dark fissures were fragments of space itself, an unpleasant realm where, in just moments, the aliens were ground into dust by the relentless force of space.

"Phew, all done!" Xavier clapped his hands, and the sinister fissures vanished without a trace.

He landed on the scorched earth, which had been drastically altered by the previous battle. It looked as if it had sustained the bombardment of numerous high-yield nuclear bombs; giant craters, some several kilometers in diameter, pockmarked the landscape, with molten lava spewing from their centers.

After Zarbon's space attacks and the fierce battle with Xavier, the tectonic plates of Planet Phydia were irreversibly destabilized, likely to slip into the mantle soon. The planet would resemble hell for the foreseeable future, no longer suitable for life.

Resting for a while on a half-man-tall boulder, Xavier fully regained his energy. He then sensed the presence of other aliens still on Planet Phydia. Besides those who had accompanied Zarbon, there were about a dozen other aliens scattered across the planet, some with power levels up to 3000.

"To fully eradicate the weed, you must pull out its roots!" Xavier thought, then teleported next to those aliens.

These aliens, seeing Xavier suddenly appear, regarded him as mere prey, not taking him seriously at all. They jostled each other, eager to strike. Naturally, the outcome was the same for all of them; Xavier threw each one into the spatial rifts.

After about thirty minutes, Xavier had eliminated all the aliens on Planet Phydia.

The sudden loss of over a hundred soldiers from Frieza's army, especially a high-ranking officer like Zarbon, would surely provoke a reaction. Xavier mused darkly about Frieza's likely reaction, finding it amusing.

However, knowing Frieza's temperament, there wouldn't be a trace of sadness, but anger was a certainty.

Imagining Frieza furiously smashing his wine glass, Xavier felt a deep sense of satisfaction.