According to imperial tradition, an execution ritual required the sinner to first endure the utmost physical agony.
Through endless torment, their will and dignity would be ground away bit by bit.
Only at the very end would complete destruction come.
Broly and Kakarot stood to his left and right.
Boom!
Broly's fist was the first to smash into the Crown Prince's cheek.
The heavy force knocked his entire body sideways. A mouthful of blood sprayed from his lips, staining the ground before him red.
The Crown Prince silently straightened his kneeling posture.
The next second, Kakarot's knee drove into his chest and abdomen.
His chest caved in. His back arched high. Broken ribs pierced his spleen and lungs.
Crack!
Broly's fist came again, smashing the Crown Prince's entire jaw apart.
The Crown Prince did not resist.
He merely knelt back down in silence.
His body had long since grown used to pain. His face was completely numb.
Blood quickly dyed the throne hall red.
The bloody and brutal execution ritual moved everyone on the viewing platform.
"Stop!"
An enraged roar rang out.
Begetina had just regained consciousness after receiving Levos's healing, and her eyes were red.
Yet the moment she rushed forward, a fist pierced through her lower abdomen.
Beast!
"No one is allowed to stop the execution ritual. Such a beautiful scene should be appreciated by everyone together."
"Watch it enough, and you'll understand just how interesting this kind of sight really is."
Begetina clutched her stomach and coughed blood nonstop.
She raised her head and stared at the Crown Prince as he allowed himself to be beaten. Fury burned wildly in her chest.
She could not understand him. More than that, she hated his refusal to fight back.
"Fight back! Fight back to the end!"
"How can there be such a spineless guy among us Saiyans?!"
Hearing those words, the Crown Prince slowly raised his head, and their eyes met.
Countless fragments of memory flashed through his mind.
He remembered the day he woke inside the cultivation pod.
As the first hybrid child of Emperor Vegeta and an Earth woman, he had once been looked down on by his father because of his hair color and missing tail.
"Tch! A hybrid is still a hybrid. Blue hair is one thing, but you don't even have the tail that symbolizes us Saiyans!"
"Since you are the eldest son, I'll name you Vegeta."
"If not for the fact that the Saiyans are close to extinction, a mere hybrid would never have been worthy of this name."
After that, his father's disappointment grew by the day.
"A hybrid with Earthling blood has too many emotions. Too weak a personality."
During his childhood, he barely met his father.
Most of his time was spent in training camps.
In his free time, he liked reading books. Most of all, he longed for something recorded in an Earth book, something called family.
"Fathers and mothers accompany their children as they grow up. And when the children grow older, they accompany their parents as they leave…"
Closing the book, the six-year-old him had felt lost.
"I have a father… but he's never by my side. Then what about my mother?"
Perhaps only his father had the answer to that question.
He decided to become the strongest warrior in the empire and seek that answer.
Among his tens of thousands of younger brothers and sisters, his talent did not rank highly.
But to earn the right to ask that question, and to stay by his father's side, he began training like a madman.
As long as he worked hard enough and surpassed all his younger siblings…
He would surely earn his father's attention!
For that, he trained with his life on the line.
When the other siblings were receiving basic combat training, he had already begun traveling alone to harsh planets, fighting the most savage beasts.
When he returned to the homeworld, he challenged his limits again and again in the gravity chamber until he fainted.
In this way, he forced himself into becoming the strongest.
He wanted to prove himself.
To prove that even a failure mixed with Earthling blood could become his father's pride.
He only wanted one word of acknowledgment from his father, even if it was a perfunctory compliment.
But he was wrong.
His father's gaze would never stop for anyone.
And as he grew older, during the expansion of the Saiyan Empire, he personally uncovered the cruel truth behind the question from his childhood…
Pain surged through him.
Kakarot's knife-hand pierced his neck.
With his immortal body, such a fatal wound could only bring pain to his flesh.
Yet even pain had long since been discarded through countless trials of life and death.
A warm scene flashed before the Crown Prince's eyes.
It was during a mission in his youth, when he had saved a younger brother whose mission was about to fail.
The other boy had looked at him with confusion.
"Why did you save me?"
"We're family. Of course I should save you."
"Don't think I'll thank you just because you're my older brother. We Saiyans don't have any concept of family."
Later, that younger brother became his close friend.
"Brother, I admit you're different from the others. That warmth of family you told me about before… I think I felt it."
"In the future, I'll try to look after the other brothers and sisters too, just like you."
"Oh, right. I think… I've fallen in love with a girl."
He had been sincerely happy for his younger brother.
The warmth his father had never given him had instead been passed on to someone else by his own hands.
Later, because that brother refused to accept an assigned breeding mission, his father labeled him a traitor and had him purged.
He also remembered a younger sister named Lilibet.
She was highly talented, yet kind by nature, often secretly rescuing survivors from conquered planets.
"Brother, do we… do we really have to do this?"
"Those people only wanted to live."
He had looked into his sister's clear eyes and had no answer.
In the end, she and the planet where those survivors had hidden were personally destroyed by his father.
Bang!
Broly's kick slammed hard into the Crown Prince's abdomen.
The Crown Prince's body curled like a shrimp, and all his organs shifted out of place.
Another scene appeared in his mind.
It was a vast execution ground.
Dozens of younger brothers and sisters he once knew well knelt on the execution platform.
A few of them had been close enough to be called friends.
Some had even received his personal training guidance.
There were also several whose mistakes or failed missions he had once helped cover up.
They were accused of colluding with rebels.
The cause was that during an order to destroy a planet, they had released some of the civilians.
"You will execute them, Crown Prince."
His father assigned him as the executioner.
"Only the child I trust the most is qualified to carry out this task."
He remembered his hands trembling at the time.
He also remembered the despair and disbelief in the eyes of those younger siblings.
The command of the supreme emperor could not be disobeyed.
Because his father had said he was the child he trusted most.
He did not follow tradition and make them endure extreme pain before death.
Instead, he cleanly cut off their heads one by one with a knife-hand strike.
Each time a head hit the ground, his heart clenched violently.
He began learning to suppress the part of his heart that belonged to Earthlings.
As long as he became a purer Saiyan, his father would be satisfied.
From that day forward, all tasks involving the slaughter of kin fell upon his shoulders.
As the Saiyan Empire expanded madly, the younger brothers and sisters around him became fewer and fewer.
Some were sacrificed as cannon fodder in wars to conquer certain universes.
Some were purged by his father's order over the slightest hint of disloyalty.
His heart went from torn, to unwilling, to numb.
His status grew higher and higher. His authority grew greater and greater. His father trusted him more and more.
But his heart became emptier and emptier.
On countless nights, he tried to seek release through suicide.
Yet the immortal body his father had granted him with the Dragon Balls in earlier years, meant to make him a more perfect tool, had become the most vicious curse.
Broly and Kakarot showed no mercy. Their fists and feet fell upon the Crown Prince like a storm.
The sound of bones shattering could be heard clearly.
The Crown Prince's body was already a bloody mess, yet he still knelt firmly, never falling.
He had seen everything hidden behind the empire's operation.
As his father's trust in him grew, he began to come into contact with the empire's secrets.
He saw how his father deliberately created famine and war across various star regions, making countless people slaughter one another.
All to filter out strong warriors like Beast.
He also saw how his father, in order to completely control Broly, designed the deaths of Broly's friends and biological father.
And how he used false emotions to turn him into an obedient tool.
The Saiyan Empire was built on bones and lies.
And he was the sharpest, filthiest blade within it.
"I am a Saiyan. This is simply what our race is like."
He had comforted himself with those words countless times.
Until today.
After arriving in this different timeline, he saw another way for Saiyans to live.
The Saiyans of Universe 6 carried justice in their hearts and protected peace.
The Saiyans of Earth in Universe 7 fought to protect their friends and their planet.
That pure justice, those smiles from the bottom of the heart, were things he had dreamed of possessing.
So…
Saiyans could live like that too.
That was the place his heart had truly longed for all along.
Begetina's body was firmly suppressed, unable to move.
She could only watch as the Crown Prince's life was drained away bit by bit under merciless blows.
The dying Crown Prince seemed to sense her gaze.
He slowly raised his head.
On his mangled face, his eyes were hollow and numb, without a trace of light.
Their eyes met.
It was despair that had already given up on everything.
"Bastard! Why won't you fight back?!"
"Hey! You shouldn't live for anyone else's approval! You should follow your own heart and become the person you truly want to be!"
The Crown Prince's body trembled violently.
Begetina's voice scattered the fog that had covered his heart for so long.
"How laughable! We are Saiyans. We are born to fight and conquer!"
Emperor Vegeta sneered, and the killing intent in his gaze toward Begetina grew even stronger.
A terrifying killing intent solidified and pressed down.
Begetina's entire body trembled.
But before that terrifying pressure, she forced her heavily injured body to stand little by little.
"The true pride of us Saiyans doesn't come from bloodline. It doesn't come from conquest or destruction!"
"It comes from correctly understanding who we truly are, and never betraying the convictions in our hearts!"
Those words shook the hearts of many Saiyans present.
Bardock crossed his arms, a trace of emotion appearing in his eyes.
He remembered his own life.
From a low-class warrior who knew only battle and slaughter, to someone who swore to protect his family.
Perhaps he had been one of the earliest Saiyans to awaken.
To atone, he had done everything to protect his family, even if it meant sacrificing himself.
"She's right," Bardock said in a low voice. "The meaning of our existence as Saiyans isn't blind revenge, nor endless conquest. It's fighting for the justice we recognize in our own hearts!"
Goku also stepped forward, his expression especially serious.
"What makes me happiest has always been protecting Earth and protecting my friends! For that, no matter how strong the opponent is, I'll challenge them!"
Time Patrol Vegeta's aura rose sharply. He transformed into Super Saiyan 4 and stood beside Begetina.
"The meaning of Saiyan existence is not conquest, not destruction, and certainly not blind obedience to the strong!"
"If you can't even understand that, then you're not worthy of being my son!"
"Besides, what kind of qualified father orders the death of his own child?!"
Time Patrol Vegeta roared.
"Ohohoho…"
Frieza, fearing the world was not chaotic enough, also stepped forward to add fuel to the fire.
"You naive fools only know how to say things that move yourselves, don't you?"
"What this king sees is simply someone deliberately labeling Saiyan traits and feeding lies to monkeys who aren't very bright."
"Love of battle, conquest, destruction. Aren't those just the words rulers love to throw around to satisfy their own desires?"
Although those words came from Frieza, they pierced straight to the heart of the matter.
One figure after another stood beside Begetina.
Trunks, Gohan, Goten, Latilis, Caulifla…
And Time Patrol Goku, Time Patrol Pan…
Trunks's eyes carried understanding and sympathy.
"I can feel the pain inside your heart. In that kind of environment, your true thoughts were twisted."
Future Trunks also spoke.
"Running away and giving up won't solve anything. What you need to do now is make a choice."
At some point, Broly and Kakarot had stopped the execution ritual.
Those words entered their ears one after another.
Broly remembered himself when he had been controlled by his father.
The Crown Prince's experience was so similar to his own.
Both had been used by their fathers.
Then, confusion flashed through his eyes.
"Did His Majesty Vegeta truly see me as a friend…"
The Crown Prince smiled, and something warm flowed from his eyes.
Slowly, bit by bit, he stood up from the ground.
Although his heart had fallen into conflict, Broly still stepped forward, intending to continue faithfully carrying out the supreme emperor's order.
"Ohohoho… Mr. Broly, Vegeta can order the execution of his own son without hesitation. You don't truly think he sees you as a friend, do you?"
Broly's movement froze.
Emperor Vegeta suddenly rose from his throne and raised his hand toward the entire viewing platform.
"Annoying insects!"
Boom!
A primitive and tyrannical ki erupted instantly!
Beast, who had been in front of Begetina, was uncontrollably forced back dozens of meters!
Cumber, who had remained silent all this time, suddenly stepped forward.
His gaze landed on Begetina and the group of younger Saiyans, and a pleased smile appeared on his face.
"Not bad."
"The spirit you Saiyan descendants are showing right now is exactly what we were like in the beginning."
Cumber moved, his figure vanishing from the spot.
The next second, his outstretched hand clamped around Beast's neck, and he drove straight toward the Saiyan spaceship while dragging him along.
"Come, Saiyan Emperor! It's time for us to fight!"
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