The first sphere entered the atmosphere like a second sun.
Brian saw it coming from the corner of his eye and immediately changed direction, banking hard to his right as the glowing mass tore through the clouds. The pressure wave arrived a moment later, flattening what remained of the nearby vegetation and throwing curtains of ocean water into the air.
He didn't try to destroy it.
That would have been the obvious answer.
Instead, Brian accelerated toward the ground.
The sphere followed.
Frieza watched from several hundred meters above the ocean, his hand extended toward the descending attack. He wasn't controlling it with brute force anymore. His fingers moved subtly, guiding its trajectory while the other fragments continued their own descent across Namek.
Brian noticed immediately.
One hand is controlling the main sphere.
His eyes shifted.
The others are moving on predetermined paths.
That meant Frieza had divided the problem.
The main sphere was under active control.
The smaller ones were essentially projectiles.
Brian's mouth curled upward.
"Okay."
He suddenly pulled his flight upward.
The sphere followed.
Brian climbed at an angle, dragging it away from the nearest stretch of land. At the last possible moment, he rolled beneath it and redirected himself toward the ocean.
The sphere continued upward.
Frieza corrected it.
Brian expected that.
He changed direction again.
Frieza corrected it again.
Brian watched his fingers.
There.
A tiny delay.
Less than a fraction of a second.
But it existed.
Brian's expression became serious.
Every correction has a cost.
His body was exhausted, yet his mind had become frighteningly clear. Without the enormous power of his transformations clouding his senses, he could focus on the tiny details that had been impossible to notice while he was fighting purely through speed and instinct.
He wasn't going to beat Frieza by becoming faster.
He was going to make Frieza work harder.
Brian dove.
The main sphere followed.
Frieza's fingers twitched.
The sphere changed direction.
Brian immediately reversed.
The sphere changed again.
Brian reversed again.
For several seconds, the two of them moved through the sky in a strange dance, Brian never allowing himself to get close enough to be struck while repeatedly forcing Frieza to make corrections.
Then a smaller sphere appeared behind Brian.
He sensed it a moment before it reached him.
Brian dropped vertically.
The projectile passed overhead.
But instead of continuing away, it curved.
Brian's eyes widened.
"You're controlling those too?"
Frieza smiled.
"Did you think I would allow you to exploit the same weakness twice?"
The smaller sphere swung around and came back toward Brian.
He accelerated sideways.
It followed.
Another projectile approached from his left.
Brian rolled beneath it.
The two spheres narrowly missed each other.
Brian's eyes followed their trajectories.
Then he smiled.
"Thanks."
Frieza frowned.
"For what?"
"For showing me that."
Brian stopped running.
The two smaller spheres continued toward him.
At the last moment, he moved directly between them.
They nearly collided.
Brian fired a tiny ki blast between the two.
The blast didn't hit either sphere.
Instead, its shockwave altered the trajectory of one.
The projectile curved.
Straight into the path of the other.
BOOM!
The collision produced a tremendous explosion.
Brian was thrown backward, but he used the blast to accelerate away.
Frieza stared.
Brian had just learned something.
The spheres could be manipulated after being launched.
But their trajectories could also interfere with one another.
Brian looked toward the remaining projectiles scattered across the sky.
There were still dozens.
A dangerous number.
But no longer an impossible one.
They're not weapons anymore.
He wiped blood from his mouth.
They're pieces.
Far away, Goku leaned closer to King Kai's crystal ball.
"He's using Frieza's attacks against each other."
King Kai stared.
"He's actually figuring out how those things move?"
"Yeah."
Goku smiled.
"That's Brian."
King Kai glanced nervously at him.
"You sound almost impressed."
"I am."
Then Goku's expression became serious.
"But Frieza knows that now."
As if answering him, Frieza abruptly stopped moving.
Brian stopped as well.
The two hovered above the ocean, separated by roughly eighty meters.
The remaining spheres hung around them.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then Frieza lowered his hand.
The spheres stopped.
Brian's eyes narrowed.
Frieza had realized something.
He didn't need to chase Brian anymore.
He didn't need to attack.
He simply needed to wait.
Brian's stamina was the limiting factor.
Frieza had noticed his heavy breathing.
He had noticed the lack of transformation.
He had noticed the tremor in Brian's arms.
And now he was going to exploit it.
"You have been very clever," Frieza said.
Brian said nothing.
"But cleverness cannot replace energy."
Frieza slowly lowered his hand.
The spheres remained suspended around the battlefield.
"I can wait."
Brian's stomach tightened.
Frieza smiled.
"You cannot."
Brian looked at his hands.
They were trembling again.
His regeneration had slowed considerably.
His muscles were beginning to feel heavy.
Frieza was right.
Brian couldn't sustain this forever.
But he didn't need forever.
He needed one opening.
Brian looked around the battlefield.
The ocean stretched beneath him.
Broken chunks of seabed floated among the waves.
Steam drifted across the horizon.
The sky was filled with Frieza's remaining spheres.
And Frieza himself hovered above them all.
Brian's eyes narrowed.
One opening.
Then he remembered something.
The very first thing Frieza had taught him during this battle.
Frieza never wasted movement.
Never attacked without purpose.
Even his anger had become controlled.
Brian smiled.
"You know..."
Frieza raised an eyebrow.
"...you're really annoying."
Frieza's expression darkened.
Brian continued before he could answer.
"You keep trying to make me solve the battlefield."
He looked toward the suspended spheres.
"But that's not actually the problem."
Frieza's eyes narrowed.
Brian pointed directly at him.
"You're the problem."
He suddenly flew straight toward Frieza.
Frieza's hand lifted.
The spheres moved.
Brian didn't dodge.
He accelerated.
One sphere passed beside his head.
Another crossed behind him.
A third came from below.
Brian twisted his body around it and continued forward.
Frieza fired a Death Beam.
Brian shifted his head.
The beam grazed his cheek.
Blood sprayed.
He didn't slow down.
Ten meters.
Five.
Three.
Frieza's fist came forward.
Brian raised his forearm.
CRACK!
The impact nearly broke his guard.
Frieza followed with his tail.
Brian caught it.
For half a second, they were locked together in midair.
Frieza smiled.
"Finally."
His knee drove upward.
Brian took the hit across his abdomen.
His body folded.
Frieza pulled his tail free and prepared another strike.
But Brian had already accomplished what he wanted.
He had gotten close.
Close enough to see Frieza's face.
Close enough to see his breathing.
Close enough to feel the rhythm of his movements.
Brian smiled through the pain.
"Got you."
Frieza's eyes widened.
Brian's palm pressed against Frieza's chest.
A tiny pulse of ki entered his body.
Frieza immediately struck Brian across the face.
Brian went flying.
But Frieza didn't pursue.
His expression had changed.
He could feel something wrong.
Not pain.
Something subtler.
Brian's ki had entered his body and disappeared.
Frieza looked down at his chest.
"What did you do?"
Brian tumbled through the air before stabilizing.
He was barely standing.
But he smiled.
"I don't know yet."
Frieza stared at him.
Brian's eyes sharpened.
"But I'm about to find out."
The tiny pulse Brian had planted inside Frieza's body began to resonate.
Not enough to injure him.
Not enough to explode.
It simply responded to the energy Frieza was producing.
Brian felt it through the connection.
His eyes widened.
Frieza's energy wasn't chaotic.
It had rhythm.
A flow.
And now Brian could sense it.
He had spent the entire fight studying Frieza from the outside.
Now he had a window inside his defenses.
Brian's exhaustion suddenly became irrelevant.
Not because he had recovered.
Because he had finally found what he'd been searching for.
A weakness didn't exist in Frieza's body.
It existed in the way Frieza controlled his power.
Brian's smile disappeared.
"Okay..."
He raised his fists.
"...now I understand you."
Frieza's expression turned murderous.
The remaining spheres around them began accelerating.
Brian didn't move.
He simply watched.
For the first time since the battle began, he wasn't reacting to Frieza.
He was waiting for the exact moment Frieza's energy rhythm changed.
And somewhere deep inside Brian's exhausted body, his Saiyan instincts began screaming one thing:
Now.