The miniature stars orbiting Brian accelerated.
Hundreds of compressed ki spheres spun around him at different speeds, different distances, different trajectories.
Some circled his shoulders.
Some drifted above his head.
Others skimmed dangerously close to the ground before slingshotting upward again.
There was no formation.
No pattern.
No symmetry.
At least none Frieza could see.
Which immediately made him suspicious.
The tyrant hovered fifty meters away over the remains of the mountain range.
Brian stood on a fractured plateau below.
The elevation difference favored Frieza.
The distance favored Frieza.
The raw power favored Frieza.
Yet for the first time in the fight—
Frieza wasn't entirely sure what he was looking at.
And he hated that feeling.
---
Across the galaxy—
King Kai shot out of his chair.
"Nope."
Bubbles looked up.
King Kai pointed at the crystal ball.
"Nope. I know that look."
Inside the vision, Brian was staring at the spinning spheres with the same expression a scientist might have before testing a dangerous experiment.
King Kai grabbed his face.
"That's the look!"
Gregory buzzed around him nervously.
"The 'I wonder what happens if I do this' look!"
King Kai spun toward the sky.
"Goku!"
Nothing.
He frowned.
Then shouted louder.
"GOKU!"
Still nothing.
King Kai looked back at the crystal ball.
Brian was smiling now.
The worst possible sign.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me."
---
Back on Namek—
Frieza finally moved.
Not toward Brian.
Toward the spheres.
A single death beam shot from his fingertip.
The beam crossed the battlefield instantly.
One of the orbiting spheres exploded.
Nothing happened.
Brian's smile widened.
Frieza's eyes narrowed.
The tyrant fired three more.
Then five.
Then ten.
The destroyed spheres detonated harmlessly.
No chain reaction.
No hidden attack.
No trap.
Just energy.
Frieza frowned.
"Pointless."
Brian shrugged.
"Maybe."
The response irritated Frieza more than any insult could have.
Maybe?
Maybe?
What kind of answer was that?
Either something was a weapon or it wasn't.
Either it worked or it didn't.
Either there was a plan or there wasn't.
Frieza's eyes narrowed.
Brian wasn't behaving like a warrior.
He was behaving like an inventor.
And inventors were unpredictable.
---
King Kai leaned so close to the crystal ball his nose almost touched it.
"Don't destroy them."
Bubbles blinked.
King Kai pointed.
"Don't destroy them!"
Frieza destroyed another sphere.
King Kai groaned.
"Idiot."
Then his eyes widened.
"Wait."
He leaned closer.
Every sphere Frieza destroyed slightly altered the orbit of the others.
Not randomly.
Subtly.
King Kai froze.
"Oh."
Another sphere exploded.
The remaining ones adjusted again.
King Kai slowly sat down.
"Oh no."
---
Frieza fired another beam.
Another sphere vanished.
The entire constellation shifted.
Brian's grin widened.
Frieza immediately noticed.
His instincts stirred.
Something was wrong.
The battlefield suddenly felt like it belonged to Brian.
Not physically.
Conceptually.
The rules were changing.
Frieza hated changing rules.
So he attacked.
Directly.
The air shattered.
Frieza crossed the fifty-meter gap instantly.
Brian's pupils contracted.
The tyrant's fist descended.
Brian didn't dodge.
He pointed.
One of the orbiting spheres shot forward.
Frieza punched through it.
The sphere exploded.
For half a second, the blast obscured his vision.
That half-second was all Brian needed.
He moved sideways.
Not backward.
Not away.
Around.
Frieza emerged from the explosion and immediately found Brian standing somewhere he shouldn't have been.
Ten meters to his right.
A position Frieza hadn't accounted for.
The tyrant turned.
Brian pointed again.
Three spheres converged.
Frieza destroyed them instantly.
But Brian wasn't looking at the explosions.
He was watching Frieza.
Watching how he responded.
Watching which threats he prioritized.
Watching which angles irritated him.
Learning.
Always learning.
---
King Kai's mouth fell open.
"He's building a behavioral model."
Bubbles tilted his head.
King Kai pointed at the crystal ball.
"Look!"
Another exchange unfolded.
Brian never committed to an attack.
Never followed through.
Never pushed for damage.
Every movement was gathering information.
King Kai's eyes widened.
"He isn't fighting to win."
The realization sent a chill through him.
"He's fighting to understand."
Gregory buzzed nervously.
King Kai swallowed.
"And that's exactly what makes him dangerous."
---
Back on Namek—
Frieza stopped moving.
That alone was alarming.
The tyrant hovered thirty meters above the plateau.
Perfectly still.
Thinking.
Brian remained below.
The orbiting spheres continued moving around him.
The battlefield fell silent.
Then Frieza smiled.
Brian's smile disappeared.
That smile meant Frieza had figured something out.
"You're adapting."
Brian shrugged.
"No kidding."
Frieza shook his head.
"Not to my attacks."
The tyrant pointed at the orbiting spheres.
"To uncertainty."
Brian said nothing.
Frieza continued.
"You aren't creating techniques."
His eyes narrowed.
"You're creating variables."
Brian's grin slowly returned.
"Now you're getting it."
The atmosphere changed.
For the first time all battle—
Neither fighter looked amused.
Both looked interested.
And that was far more dangerous.
Because now they understood each other.
---
King Kai felt his stomach drop.
"Oh no."
Bubbles looked confused.
King Kai pointed at the crystal ball.
"That's the worst thing that could have happened."
Inside the vision, Frieza was smiling.
Not mockingly.
Not arrogantly.
Intellectually.
The same way Brian smiled when he discovered something interesting.
King Kai's eyes widened.
"He figured Brian out."
The realization terrified him.
Because Frieza wasn't stupid.
Far from it.
He had conquered worlds.
Ruled galaxies.
Manipulated armies.
Destroyed civilizations.
People often underestimated how intelligent he was because of his ego.
Brian wasn't fighting a brute.
He was fighting a genius with overwhelming power.
And now that genius had started paying attention.
King Kai immediately turned toward the sky again.
"GOKU!"
Nothing.
King Kai nearly screamed.
"WHERE ARE YOU?!"
---
Back on Namek—
Frieza lowered his hand.
Every orbiting sphere suddenly exploded.
All of them.
At once.
Brian's eyes widened.
The battlefield vanished beneath hundreds of overlapping detonations.
The shockwave tore across the continent.
The plateau disappeared.
The mountains collapsed.
The ocean itself rose.
For a moment, the world became white.
Then silence returned.
Smoke drifted through the air.
Frieza stared into the devastation.
Waiting.
Watching.
Looking for Brian.
Then—
A voice came from behind him.
"See?"
Frieza's eyes narrowed.
Brian hovered fifty meters behind him.
Completely unharmed.
The remaining spheres still orbited him.
Frieza turned slowly.
For the first time since reaching his final form—
He looked genuinely surprised.
Brian grinned.
"I wasn't testing whether you could destroy them."
The spheres accelerated.
The air began to scream.
"I was testing whether you'd want to."
Frieza's smile vanished.
And somewhere deep inside King Kai's crystal ball—
The old Kai felt a chill run down his spine.
Because Brian had finally stopped reacting to the battle.
He had started shaping it.
And those were two very different things.