The sphere descended.
Slowly.
Not because it was weak.
Because it was enormous.
The red energy hanging above Namek had grown beyond anything Brian could reasonably overpower. Its surface churned like a miniature sun, illuminating the ocean and fractured land beneath it.
Brian stared upward.
His arms remained raised.
His body shook.
Every instinct told him to transform.
To pour everything he had left into one final attack.
But that wasn't what he needed.
Don't fight the sphere.
His eyes shifted toward Frieza.
Fight the person controlling it.
Frieza watched him from several dozen meters away.
"You've finally realized that you cannot stop it."
Brian's mouth twitched.
"No."
He lowered one hand.
"I realized I don't have to."
Frieza's expression hardened.
Brian suddenly flew sideways.
Not upward.
Not toward Frieza.
Sideways.
His exhausted body skimmed over the shattered terrain as the enormous sphere continued descending behind him.
Frieza followed with his eyes.
"Running?"
Brian ignored him.
He flew toward the largest remaining section of exposed seabed.
A jagged plateau rose from the ocean, perhaps two hundred meters long and nearly fifty meters above the water.
Brian landed on its edge.
His knees nearly buckled.
He caught himself.
Come on.
His breathing was ragged.
He placed both palms against the stone.
Frieza watched.
"What are you doing?"
Brian closed his eyes.
The rock beneath his hands felt different now.
Earlier, he'd used it to create fractures.
Now he needed something else.
A pathway.
A direction.
He pushed his remaining ki into the plateau.
Not much.
Just enough.
The stone vibrated.
Frieza's eyes narrowed.
Brian opened his eyes.
"You've been throwing all this power around."
He looked at the enormous sphere.
"So let's see how good your control really is."
Frieza's expression changed.
Brian kicked the ground.
The plateau tilted.
Not physically.
Not yet.
Brian had fractured the supporting rock beneath one side.
The entire mass began sliding toward the ocean.
Brian jumped off.
The enormous energy sphere continued descending.
Frieza's eyes widened.
"Stop."
Brian grinned.
"No."
The sphere was now directly above the moving plateau.
Frieza thrust his hand forward.
The massive attack stopped.
For a moment, the entire battlefield froze.
Frieza was controlling the sphere remotely.
Brian watched carefully.
There.
Frieza's arm trembled.
Only slightly.
But Brian saw it.
Controlling an attack that large required concentration.
Frieza wasn't merely releasing energy.
He was constantly correcting its trajectory.
Brian smiled.
"You can't just throw it."
Frieza's eyes narrowed.
"What?"
"You have to control it."
Brian raised his hand.
"Which means..."
He snapped his fingers.
The plateau beneath the sphere erupted.
A gigantic column of stone shot upward.
It struck the underside of the energy sphere.
The sphere shifted.
Only a few degrees.
But that was enough.
Frieza immediately corrected it.
Brian's eyes widened.
Fast.
Frieza forced the sphere back toward him.
"You are finished."
Brian didn't answer.
He watched Frieza's arm.
The wrist.
The shoulder.
The eyes.
Every correction.
Left.
Right.
Down.
Up.
Each time Frieza corrected the sphere, his body made a tiny adjustment.
Brian memorized it.
Then he attacked.
Not Frieza.
The terrain.
His palm struck the ground.
A fracture raced beneath the plateau.
Then another.
Then another.
The enormous rock shelf began breaking apart.
Frieza realized what was happening.
"You foolish—"
The plateau collapsed.
Thousands of tons of rock fell into the ocean.
The resulting wave surged upward.
Frieza's sphere remained suspended above it.
Brian used the wave.
He flew along its face.
The water carried him upward.
He reached the height of the sphere.
Frieza turned.
Brian was already there.
His fist came toward Frieza's face.
Frieza blocked.
BOOM!
The impact sent both of them apart.
Brian spun through the air.
Frieza recovered first.
He looked furious.
"You are attempting to distract me."
Brian steadied himself.
"Yeah."
Frieza's eyes narrowed.
"From what?"
Brian pointed upward.
Frieza glanced toward the energy sphere.
His expression changed.
The sphere was drifting.
Not much.
But it was moving.
Away from Namek.
Toward open space.
Brian had spent the last several seconds forcing Frieza to repeatedly correct its position.
And now Frieza had made one mistake.
One tiny mistake.
The sphere was no longer directly above Namek.
Brian smiled.
"You lost control of it."
Frieza immediately reached for the attack.
But Brian was already moving.
He slammed both palms forward.
A concentrated blast struck the sphere.
Not enough to destroy it.
Enough to push it.
The gigantic mass of energy accelerated away from the planet.
Frieza's eyes widened.
"No!"
He shot after it.
Brian followed.
The sphere climbed higher.
Past the clouds.
Past the atmosphere.
Brian's body screamed at him to stop.
His lungs burned.
His muscles felt empty.
His vision blurred.
But he continued.
Frieza reached the sphere first.
He placed both hands against it.
The energy pushed backward.
Frieza gritted his teeth.
The sphere stopped.
For a moment, Frieza smiled.
"You failed."
Brian hovered behind him.
Barely.
His arms hung at his sides.
His body was exhausted.
But his eyes were focused.
"Did I?"
Frieza turned.
Brian's expression was completely different now.
There was no grin.
No arrogance.
Just calculation.
"You've been controlling that thing this entire time."
Frieza's eyes narrowed.
"Yes."
"While fighting me."
"Yes."
"While flying."
"Yes."
"While destroying the battlefield."
Frieza's tail twitched.
"Get to your point."
Brian looked at the enormous sphere.
Then at Frieza.
"You've been splitting your attention."
Silence.
Brian raised one finger.
"And you can't control everything at once."
Frieza's eyes widened.
Brian fired.
A tiny ki blast.
Barely larger than a marble.
It struck Frieza's wrist.
Pop.
Frieza looked at the insignificant explosion.
Then back at Brian.
Brian smiled.
"That's all I needed."
The sphere moved.
Frieza's concentration broke for less than a second.
But the sphere was already drifting.
Brian had anticipated the correction.
Frieza pushed it back.
Brian fired another tiny blast.
Another.
Another.
Not at Frieza's body.
At his hands.
His arms.
His shoulders.
Every point involved in controlling the sphere.
Frieza deflected one.
Another grazed his wrist.
A third forced him to shift his hand.
The sphere drifted farther away.
Frieza snarled.
"ENOUGH!"
He released a burst of energy.
Brian was blown backward.
His body tumbled through space.
Frieza turned back toward the sphere.
He reached for it.
But the sphere was already too far away.
Frieza's eyes widened.
Brian stopped himself.
He was breathing so hard that his chest hurt.
Then he saw it.
The massive red sphere crossed beyond Namek's atmosphere.
It continued upward.
Away from the planet.
Frieza's face twisted.
Brian pointed toward it.
"Go get it."
Frieza stared at him.
Brian's smile returned.
"That's your attack."
He spread his arms.
"So go control it."
Frieza's hands clenched.
For several seconds, neither moved.
Then Frieza smiled.
A terrible, calm smile.
"You believe you have outsmarted me."
Brian's smile faded.
Frieza raised one hand.
The gigantic sphere suddenly split apart.
Not exploded.
Split.
Hundreds of smaller spheres separated from the main mass.
Brian's eyes widened.
Frieza had changed the technique.
The fragments began spreading around Namek.
Brian's expression fell.
"Oh."
Frieza laughed.
"You have spent this entire battle adapting to my techniques."
His fingers curled.
"Did you truly believe I would not adapt to yours?"
The fragments began descending.
One toward the ocean.
Another toward the mountains.
Another toward the distant horizon.
Brian looked around.
There were too many.
His body was exhausted.
His transformations were unavailable without risking collapse.
And Frieza had just turned one attack into dozens of separate threats.
Far away, King Kai stared in horror.
"He's going to bombard the planet!"
Goku stood.
His eyes remained fixed on Brian.
"No."
King Kai looked at him.
"What do you mean, no?"
Goku's expression was strangely calm.
"Look at Brian."
King Kai looked back into the crystal ball.
Brian wasn't looking at the falling spheres.
He was looking at Frieza.
And despite everything—
Brian was smiling.
Because Frieza had just made the exact mistake Brian had been waiting for.
He had given Brian more variables.
Brian wiped the blood from his mouth.
"Okay, Frieza."
His fists slowly tightened.
"Let's see if I can solve all of them."
The first energy sphere entered the atmosphere.
And Brian flew.