The mist swallowed everything.
There was no sky.
No ocean.
No horizon.
Only white.
Brian hovered somewhere inside the enormous cloud of steam, his feet just above the water. His breathing was rough now, each inhale dragging against his ribs.
His aura still burned around him.
But it wasn't steady.
It flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Brian's eyes narrowed.
That's not good.
He clenched his fists.
The pressure of Ikari surged through his muscles as he tried to force more power into his body.
His aura expanded—
Then suddenly contracted.
Brian's body jerked.
"—Tch!"
His knees bent.
For a moment, his vision blurred.
He reached instinctively for more energy.
Nothing came.
Not nothing.
There was power there.
Plenty of it.
But his body wasn't converting it efficiently anymore.
Brian looked down at his hands.
They were trembling.
Tiny.
Almost imperceptible.
But he noticed.
Of course he noticed.
His regeneration had already repaired the worst of his injuries. The puncture through his side was closed. His shoulder had stopped bleeding. The bruising across his ribs was fading.
Yet he felt exhausted.
That was the problem.
I'm regenerating faster than I'm recovering.
Brian's eyes widened slightly.
He'd been treating regeneration like a safety net.
But a safety net didn't mean he could keep throwing himself off the roof.
Every wound demanded energy.
Every transformation demanded energy.
Every burst of ki demanded energy.
And Frieza had forced him to spend enormous amounts of it just staying alive.
Brian slowly exhaled.
The aura around him shrank.
Frieza noticed.
Even through the mist.
His eyes narrowed.
"Interesting."
Brian heard the voice somewhere ahead.
He couldn't see Frieza.
But Frieza could clearly sense the change.
"You are weakening."
Brian smiled faintly.
"Yeah."
His aura continued shrinking.
The pressure disappeared.
The violent energy surrounding him vanished completely.
His body returned to its normal state.
Base form.
For several seconds, Brian simply hovered there.
His shoulders rose and fell.
Then—
Frieza appeared through the mist.
He was perhaps fifteen meters away.
His body was still remarkably composed.
There were scratches across his chest.
A thin cut along his cheek.
Nothing comparable to Brian's condition.
Frieza looked at him.
"Have you finally accepted the difference between us?"
Brian wiped the blood beneath his nose.
"No."
He lowered his fists.
"I accepted the difference between my stamina and yours."
Frieza's eyes narrowed.
Brian smiled.
"There's a difference."
Frieza disappeared.
Brian barely moved.
BOOM!
Frieza's fist slammed into his guard.
Brian was driven backward across the surface of the ocean.
His feet skipped across the water.
Five meters.
Ten.
Twenty.
He stopped himself with one palm.
The water beneath his hand exploded outward.
Frieza was already above him.
A downward kick.
Brian rolled sideways.
The kick missed his head and struck the water.
KRAAASH!
A gigantic column of seawater erupted.
Brian used the spray as cover.
He didn't attack.
He moved.
Low.
Fast.
Efficient.
No wasted energy.
Frieza followed.
A punch.
Brian slipped outside it.
A second punch.
Brian leaned backward.
A tail strike came from the opposite side.
Brian ducked.
He didn't counter.
Frieza's eyes sharpened.
Another attack.
Brian stepped away.
Another.
He stepped again.
Frieza accelerated.
Brian continued retreating.
The distance between them remained almost identical.
Five meters.
Four.
Six.
Four again.
Brian wasn't running.
He was managing space.
Frieza suddenly stopped.
Brian stopped too.
They hovered across from one another.
Frieza's expression changed.
"You aren't fighting."
Brian breathed through his nose.
"I am."
"You've abandoned your strength."
"I've abandoned wasting it."
Frieza's tail slowly curled.
Brian watched it.
He was tired.
Very tired.
But his mind was clearer than it had been in minutes.
Without the overwhelming energy coursing through his body, every sensation became easier to separate.
The movement of the ocean.
The wind.
Frieza's breathing.
His tail.
His shoulders.
His eyes.
Brian remembered something.
Every time Frieza committed to an attack, there was a fraction of movement beforehand.
Not much.
A shift in his hips.
A tightening of his fingers.
A change in the tail.
Tiny things.
Earlier, Brian had needed tremendous speed to compensate.
Now he didn't.
He only needed to recognize them.
Frieza raised one finger.
A death beam appeared.
Brian didn't flinch.
Frieza fired.
Brian moved his head.
The beam passed beside his cheek.
A second beam came.
Brian twisted his shoulder.
A third.
He ducked.
A fourth.
He stepped sideways.
The fifth beam cut through the water behind him.
Brian continued forward.
Frieza fired again.
Brian shifted.
Again.
Again.
Again.
Each movement was tiny.
Barely enough to avoid the attacks.
Frieza's expression hardened.
Brian was approaching.
Not quickly.
Not dramatically.
Just steadily.
Frieza fired a final beam directly at his chest.
Brian moved half a step.
The beam passed beside him.
Brian entered Frieza's range.
Frieza's eyes widened.
Brian's fist drove into his stomach.
THOOM!
Frieza folded slightly.
Brian immediately released the attack and retreated.
No combination.
No transformation.
No attempt to overpower him.
Just one clean strike.
Frieza straightened.
His hand pressed against his abdomen.
Brian's chest heaved.
He smiled.
"Still got it."
Frieza's expression became cold.
"You believe conserving your energy will allow you to defeat me?"
"No."
Brian's smile disappeared.
"I think it gives me enough energy to survive until I figure out how."
Far away, King Kai stared at the crystal ball.
His mouth hung open.
"He's actually doing it."
Goku nodded.
"He had to."
King Kai looked at him.
"What do you mean?"
Goku folded his arms.
"Brian was trying to fight Frieza with everything he had."
His eyes remained on the battlefield.
"But Frieza can keep fighting at that level longer."
King Kai slowly understood.
"So Brian's changing the fight."
"Yeah."
Goku smiled.
"He's making Frieza spend more energy trying to catch him."
King Kai's eyes widened.
"That's incredibly risky!"
"Definitely."
Goku's smile faded.
"Because if Brian gets caught..."
He didn't finish.
On Namek, Frieza raised both hands.
The mist around them began to churn.
The ocean surface trembled.
Brian's smile disappeared.
Frieza wasn't going to chase him anymore.
Instead—
Frieza began destroying the battlefield.
The ocean erupted in every direction.
Massive waves rose.
The mist vanished beneath violent bursts of heat.
The water itself became dangerous.
Brian jumped backward as a wall of boiling seawater surged beneath him.
He landed on a small section of exposed rock.
It was barely large enough for both feet.
Frieza floated above the ocean.
"You wished to conserve your energy."
His hand pointed downward.
"Then I shall simply remove the battlefield upon which you intend to conserve it."
Brian stared upward.
The ocean around him continued to boil.
His breathing remained heavy.
His muscles were exhausted.
His transformations were still available.
But he knew better now.
If he powered up recklessly, he'd burn himself out.
If he stayed in base, Frieza would continue forcing him to move until there was nowhere left to move.
Brian looked at the boiling ocean.
Then at Frieza.
Then at the tiny patch of stone beneath his feet.
A thought occurred to him.
His eyes slowly widened.
"...Oh."
Frieza noticed.
"What?"
Brian's grin returned.
"You just gave me an idea."
Frieza's eyes narrowed.
Brian crouched.
His fingertips touched the rock.
He didn't transform.
He didn't unleash a massive aura.
Instead, he released a tiny pulse of ki into the stone.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
The rock cracked.
Frieza stared.
Brian smiled.
"Let's see how much of this planet you can destroy before you realize you're helping me."
For the first time in several minutes—
Frieza didn't immediately attack.
He simply stared at Brian.
And Brian knew from that silence that he'd finally made Frieza hesitate.
The fight had changed again.
But this time, Brian wasn't trying to become stronger.
He was trying to make Frieza spend his strength for him.