Fiery pain spread throughout Raditz's body. A wave of soreness and convulsions shot through him like an electric current, and sudden panic gripped his heart.
A power level of 18,000 was truly no joke! He hadn't expected Vegeta's attack to be so powerful—much stronger than any opponent he'd faced before. This single punch contained endless energy fueled by Vegeta's rage.
Vegeta's fury had been unleashed! As the prince of all Saiyans, Vegeta had crushed adult warriors by the time he was just five years old. His natural talent surpassed all other Saiyans, and King Vegeta regarded him as the hope of their race. In his own eyes, he was the strongest Saiyan alive—even his father, King Vegeta, simply had the advantage of age, something Vegeta would overcome in time.
Those so-called "elite fighters" were all garbage in his estimation! Low-class warriors like Kakarot and Raditz weren't even worth his notice. When Raditz and his team had carried out missions in the past, they never dared speak loudly in Vegeta's presence, seeking his approval for every decision. Vegeta believed he had kept Raditz around purely out of recognition for his hard work.
But now? These two inferior Saiyans were openly defying him, even daring to threaten him! And most infuriating of all, Raditz claimed to possess power that exceeded his own! That was impossible! Vegeta roared in anger as he unleashed punch after punch on Raditz's body. Each blow shattered more of the durable battle armor, creating fissures in the ground below and turning the battlefield into chaos.
"Raditz, where's this strength you wanted to show me? SHOW ME!!!" Vegeta gathered his power and delivered a ruthless blow to Raditz's cheek, sending him flying.
Raditz's body tumbled through the air for dozens of meters before skidding along the ground and finally coming to rest amid a cloud of dust.
"What? Raditz was knocked down!" Tien exclaimed in shock.
From where they stood, they had just witnessed Raditz being pummeled by Vegeta and thrown to the ground. There hadn't been even a hint of resistance. Was Vegeta truly that powerful? Everyone grew nervous, clenching their fists.
Yamcha asked worriedly: "Goku, didn't you say that Raditz wasn't training as hard this past month? Is that why this is happening?"
"No, my brother took his training very seriously. But out of eight hours of daily training, he spent four hours focusing on the most basic physical conditioning."
"Could it be that his body isn't responding well?"
"No, you need to sense more carefully. His energy hasn't weakened at all!" Goku smiled confidently. "In fact, that energy is still expanding, reaching an unprecedented level!"
"This..." The voices of the group suddenly fell silent.
They were all masters at sensing ki, and once they focused, they immediately felt Raditz's still-formidable energy.
Looking at him again, sure enough, Raditz slowly pushed himself up from the ground and rose to his feet.
"Hmph, I'm impressed you can still stand." Vegeta said sarcastically. "It seems you weren't completely bluffing. The fact that you can withstand so many of my punches shows your strength has indeed increased significantly. If I'm not mistaken, both you and Kakarot must have power levels above 10,000!"
Raditz wiped blood from the corner of his mouth and nodded. "You guessed correctly."
"No wonder you've grown so confident! But so what?!" Vegeta charged forward with a yell, his figure vanishing into thin air.
Raditz tensed, immediately sensing danger behind him. The hairs on his neck stood on end as he instinctively spun around. But Vegeta's attack had already arrived—a vicious elbow strike aimed at his head. Raditz barely managed to cross his arms and block. Immediately afterward, Vegeta leapt around to Raditz's front, lifting his leg for a kick. Raditz, still recovering from the previous blow, twisted at an impossible angle to avoid the strike.
Vegeta watched Raditz desperately dodging and shouted arrogantly: "No matter how much you've improved, my power level still exceeds yours! There's a difference in talent between us—this is an unchangeable fact! Do you understand?!"
As he yelled, he gathered energy in his palm. A white light glowed in his hand before he released a barrage of energy blasts!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Each energy bomb made the ground tremble. People thousands of miles away thought a massive earthquake had struck and fled to open areas in terror. Even Tien and the others couldn't help but break into a cold sweat. The pressure felt like needles piercing into their muscles and bones, filling them with dread.
The relentless bombardment blasted the already cracked ground into countless fragments. A huge mushroom cloud rose between heaven and earth as smoke and dust billowed in the wind. Not a blade of grass remained in the area, stone chips scattered everywhere, and Raditz lay motionless in a deep crater.
"Hmph, trash will always be trash. You couldn't handle it after all. If you have the ability, stand up and show me! Stand up—" Vegeta's words caught in his throat as he realized Raditz hadn't been defeated at all.
His powerful form slowly emerged from the smoke, stepping out of the crater with steady feet, standing before Vegeta once more, as immovable as a mountain.
"I apologize, but the warm-up is over. I now understand your strength." Raditz placed his hands on his hips, exhaling softly as a burst of white aura erupted around him.
"You actually...!"
Vegeta was stunned, feeling an invisible pressure rushing toward him. The numbers on his scouter jumped violently from just over 10,000, finally stopping at 20,000.
This had to be a joke. Twenty thousand power level!
"Impossible! Impossible! You're just a low-class warrior!" Vegeta broke into a cold sweat, his body suddenly going cold as his breathing faltered.
He had considered many possibilities for Raditz's growth, but never imagined he could surpass him. In Vegeta's mind, that simply couldn't happen! It had only been two years since they'd last been together—what could possibly accomplish such growth in that time? No matter how much someone improved, class was determined at birth and couldn't be changed! The prince's pride took a devastating blow. Vegeta ripped off his scouter and crushed it to pieces.
"The scouter must be malfunctioning. Raditz, you can't surpass me!"
Raditz brushed the dust from his body, rolling his shoulders and wrists with audible "clicks," as if warming up before exercise. Apart from his tattered battle suit, he showed no signs of injury—even the blood at the corner of his mouth seemed insignificant.
He had been careless to fall victim to Vegeta's surprise attack, but he'd used the opportunity to gain a thorough understanding of Vegeta's power, speed, and fighting style. With an 8,000 point difference in their power levels—not an insignificant gap at this stage—Raditz still wasn't afraid.
"Now it's time for me to show my true strength." Raditz assumed a fighting stance, his eyes sharp as a blade.
Vegeta and Nappa were filled with horror, while the Earth's defenders watched with anticipation. Goku especially felt his blood boiling with excitement!
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