KRA-KOOOM!!!!!
The muffled impact exploded in the vacuum, silent to ears but visible as a shockwave that rippled through space itself.
The Celestial Judicator—thousands of miles tall, a crimson colossus that looked like a living star—actually staggered from a punch so tiny it was less than a speck of dust.
Its moon-sized metal head snapped backward.
The momentum carried the entire towering frame with it, slamming through an entire asteroid belt behind him. Countless rocks shattered into powder against the dark red armor.
"That's it? You're going down already?"
Frieza floated calmly in the void, gracefully pulling his fist back.
He hadn't even touched the Infinity Stones. Hell, he hadn't even gone full power.
Just the raw kinetic force packed into his perfectly remade, six-foot-six final form.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk…"
Frieza watched the giant struggling to right itself in space, his face twisting into pure disgust.
"Big guy, sure."
"But your footing is pathetic."
"Do you Celestials even bother with leg day?"
Down below on Welfareza-002—the planet formerly known as Xandar—billions of aliens who'd only just snapped out of their forced happy daze stared up at the sky.
The atmosphere blocked direct sight, but the colossal red shadow getting knocked flying? That was crystal clear.
A god… just got punched across the solar system?
By the King?
[Fear Value +50 Billion!]
[Fear Value +50 Billion!]
The sweet notification chimes rang in Frieza's head like music. His mood soared.
He tapped the vacuum lightly with one foot.
Whoosh—
He vanished.
Next instant, he was right back in front of the Celestial's faceplate.
"Mortal…"
A massive, icy psychic wave detonated inside Frieza's mind.
The Judicator—Gammenon the Gatherer—had stabilized.
Those six enormous electronic eyes flickered wildly, running some frantic calculation.
"You dare profane the Creators!"
"Profane?"
Frieza tilted his head, crimson eyes dripping with mockery.
"I'm just teaching you a very simple lesson."
He slowly raised his right hand. At the tip of his index finger, a purple Death Beam condensed at blinding speed.
"When you talk to someone, you look them in the eye."
"Not down your nose from a hundred miles up!"
Zip! Zip! Zip!
Before the words finished leaving his mouth, multiple purple beams lanced out.
Compared to the Celestial's bulk, they were thinner than needles.
Pffft! Pffft! Pffft!
They punched straight through the supposedly invincible cosmic armor like it was tissue paper, leaving clean, glowing holes right through the faceplate.
Golden cosmic blood—molten and radiant—gushed out, spraying into space like lava.
"Warning! Warning! Armor compromised! Energy leak detected!"
The Celestial didn't feel pain, but it registered the threat to its core.
"Purge protocol—execute!"
BOOM!!!
No more talking. The giant clapped its enormous hands together.
Between the palms, raw cosmic energy compressed into a miniature star—blazing with planet-melting heat and radiation—and slammed down toward Frieza.
It was like trying to swat a mosquito with two mountains… while holding a nuke between them.
"Heh…"
Frieza didn't even bother dodging.
He just folded his arms across his chest and hovered there, letting the colossal hands close around him.
"Too slow."
"And…"
A flash of disappointment crossed his face.
"Way too weak."
KRA-BOOOOOM!!!!!
The palms slammed shut. Energy detonated. Light bright enough to illuminate the entire star system flooded everything.
But before the glare even faded—
"Is this really the power of a Celestial?"
That same elegant, ice-cold voice rang out from the epicenter—completely unharmed.
Crack!
The tightly closed hands suddenly jerked apart like they'd touched a live wire.
Frieza floated out, arms still crossed.
A thin layer of purple aura shimmered around him like a casual shield.
The star-melting cosmic energy hadn't even disturbed a single ripple on it.
"Impossible…"
For the first time, the Celestial's flat electronic voice glitched—like a computer hitting a logic error.
"Nothing impossible about it."
Frieza drifted forward until he was right in front of those massive eyes.
He reached out and casually tapped the thick faceplate—ding, ding—like knocking on a metal door.
"I figured anyone bold enough to come judge me would at least be a fighter."
"Like that blue-armored brawler they call the Exitar—the one built for combat."
"But you…"
Frieza shook his head, disgust practically dripping off him.
"This is it?"
"Your energy output's huge, sure, but you wield it like a club."
"Your movements are strong, but slower than a rusted tank."
"You don't even have the battle instincts of that purple grape Thanos."
The corner of Frieza's mouth curled into a cruel, knowing smirk.
"If I had to guess…"
"You're the desk jockey of the Celestials, aren't you?"
"The bureaucrat? The one who stamps the forms?"
"Judicator… pfft. Basically the guy who writes the verdict, right?"
Hit right in the ego, the red lights in Gammenon's eyes flared brighter.
"Insolent pest! I am the enforcer of cosmic law! I am—"
"You're trash."
Frieza cut him off without mercy.
"If you're a paper-pusher, stay in your office sipping coffee and reading reports."
"Coming out to the battlefield to get wrecked? That's on you."
His eyes turned glacial.
He snapped his right leg up—classic Frieza whip kick.
BOOM!!!
The kick didn't connect with the face.
Instead, it unleashed a purple crescent blade of energy big enough to slice a planet in half.
"Break!!!"
The crescent shot forward, expanding to tens of thousands of miles long, and carved straight across the Celestial's neck joint.
Ssssshhhhh—!!!
Like a hot knife through butter.
The "indestructible" Celestial armor parted like cheap tin.
In one clean instant, the colossal metal head separated from the body.
Golden blood fountained into space—a glittering golden storm in the void.
The severed head drifted away into the dark, its electronic eyes fading to black.
"Too brittle."
Frieza lowered his leg.
"Didn't even count as a warm-up."
He glanced at the headless giant corpse floating nearby and sighed dramatically.
"Should've just dismantled you planetside. Could've turned it into a nice landmark."
"Now I've gotta call someone to clean up this fancy junk."
Just as he reached for his communicator to have Thanos send a salvage crew for the high-grade scrap—
Bzzzzzzzzz—!!!
A presence hit—far grander, far more terrifying than the Judicator's.
It wasn't from one point.
The entire starfield trembled.
Frieza whipped around, crimson eyes narrowing.
He stared toward the direction of the World-Forge.
In the pitch-black backdrop of space, countless scarlet stars suddenly ignited.
No.
Not stars.
Eyes.
Row after row, packed so densely they filled the entire visible horizon.
Riiip! Riiip! Riiip!
Space tore open brutally.
One after another, figures even larger and more menacing than the Judicator emerged from hyperspace.
Some carried warhammers that could shatter stars.
Others bore greatswords capable of slicing dimensions.
Still others radiated pure destructive energy that warped reality.
Exitar the Executioner. Eson the Searcher. Gammenon the Gatherer. Hargen. Jemiah. Nezarr. Oneg. Ziran…
The Celestial Host—combat formation.
Assembled.
"Oh ho?"
Frieza stared at the steel legion that looked ready to fill the entire Milky Way.
There wasn't a shred of fear on his face.
Only a wild, ecstatic grin that bordered on madness.
He slowly spread his arms wide.
"Now that's more like it."
"Beat the kid, the parents show up."
"Killed the pencil-pusher, here come the soldiers."
He licked his lips, practically tasting the violence.
"This kind of turnout rivals the day Odin took on the Celestials!"
"Too bad for you… you're not facing that old geezer Odin."
"You're facing me—Universal Emperor Frieza!"
"Oh ho ho ho ho ho…"