"This… isn't right. Rather than 'no people,' it's more like something attacked this place." After capsule-izing and stowing the ship, Meruem immediately sensed something off in this dead-silent city.
On closer look, while the urban build-out was quite lavish, many areas were tattered and torn, as if they'd been hit by something.
It was Meruem who suggested turning the spaceship into a Capsule for Dr. Brief.
He only had the one ship. If it broke, that would be a real tragedy.
Meruem still couldn't freely survive in space. And Dr. Brief really had the skill to turn it into a Capsule; after all, that tech also came via Jaco the Galactic Patrolman. On the Galactic Patrol tech tree, spaceships are originally Capsule-format.
By the way, the Galactic Patrol and Lord Frieza's organization are enemies on paper, but in most cases the Patrol gets suppressed by the Frieza Force.
Bottom line, the Frieza race is too strong—lording over the universe and plunging it into chaos—and even the Kaiō who oversee the galaxy have little recourse.
He's also recruited a swath of elite fighters—many members with battle power over ten thousand.
And they don't pick fights with enemies who are too strong, like the Supreme Kai.
Most critically, the Patrol relies largely on high-tech weapons, and against elites with battle power over ten thousand, most of that tech does very little.
"Over there… lots of ki, with a few stronger ones. Looks like two groups; one side's ki is dropping fast. I don't like meddling, but I'll go take a look." Having learned to use ki on Earth, Meruem's scouting and sensing were already top-tier.
Ki really was convenient.
"Ahahaha! Kapoans, surrender. You cannot defeat us. I'll announce it again: we serve Lord Frieza, emperor of the universe. Lord Frieza wants your planet. You will evacuate this world and join the Frieza Force, or we will exterminate you all." A humanoid in odd armor with a frog-like face hovered in the air, addressing a group of machine suits like powered armor.
Those mecha were presumably piloted by the so-called Kapoans.
"This is our home. We won't leave. We don't know any 'Frieza.' Even if we die, we won't yield, and we definitely won't join you." The voice came from a silver-white, clearly non–mass production, high-grade mecha. The electronic synthesis made it hard to tell male or female.
Kapo Star was an extremely advanced mech-tech world, and these exosuits were its homegrown weapons. But in Dragon Ball, barring rare exceptions, most worlds with machine-based civilizations are trash-tier, with average battle power under 1,000.
Even in mechs, it was the same. Against Frieza Force grunts who averaged over 1,000, the mechs' damage was negligible.
Especially since this raid's squad leader had battle power over 3,000.
Even the world's best—those flashy silver-white and gold mechs—couldn't inflict meaningful losses on the Frieza Force.
Unless the pilots suicidally ate a laser to the face, the mechs basically couldn't hurt them.
Frankly, even a squad of Saibamen could do the Kapoans serious harm.
Of course, Earth's Android 16 from the Red Ribbon Army's Dr. Gero is a special case.
That's top-of-the-pyramid mecha-tech for the Dragon Ball plane, comparable to the Big Gete Star's mechanical mutation.
"Heh-heh… you've chosen death." The same frog-faced humanoid let out a cold chuckle and waved toward the Kapoan mechs. Dozens of Frieza Force members rushed the Kapoans.
These were grunts among grunts in the Frieza Force, but across the universe their battle power exceeded the peak of many worlds by a lot.
Battle power over a thousand is quite decent. Think of Earth's common folk at a mere five, or Demon King Piccolo, who at just over two hundred could plunge the world into carnage.
Yes, there are countless stronger beings in the universe, but on Kapo Star, there weren't many.
Those high-grade mechs' strongest strike barely reached 1,500—about the level of a standard warrior-type Namekian. That's the mechs' max output; it doesn't mean they could match a warrior-type Namekian.
Their defense topped out at a few hundred.
The Frieza Force had two motives for attacking Kapo Star. One, planetary resale, which is their bread and butter.
The other was Kapo's mecha tech.
The Frieza Force's technology is top-tier across the universe, and their attitude toward other worlds' tech is simple: plunder.
Kapo's mechs might look unimpressive now, maxing out at 1,500, but the Frieza Force has plenty of researchers.
After retrofits, their grunts might see sizable boosts wearing them.
Even if it only pushed a grunt to 1,500, planetary pacification would speed up. Don't think only 10,000+ elites handle planet deals. The universe is huge, with countless worlds.
Those few 10,000+ elites can't do it all. Most planets are taken by these grunts.
Only when resistance features fighters over 5,000 do higher-level elites step in.
"Yahaha! Learn the price of defying Lord Frieza." Dozens of grunts kept shredding the Kapoan forces.
The mass-production suits simply couldn't hurt them. Their weapons were only a notch above Earth's artillery—doing a hundred-something, maybe two hundred damage at best.
Meaningless against someone with battle power over a thousand. The Kapoan side's only real output came from those few high-grade mechs.
"Damn Frieza!" Watching comrades die one after another, the pilot of the silver-white mech cursed bitterly. She still had no idea who Frieza even was.
Frieza may be the emperor of the universe, but not every planet knows his name. Earth, for example. Kapo Star, for another.
She was Princess Erika of Kapo Star, and its strongest mech pilot.
"Damn it! Take my Divine Fire Cannon!" Erika dodged a grunt's ki blast with agile piloting and hammered the trigger, firing a laser toward him.
At 1,500 battle power, the shot deleted the grunt in an instant. Despite higher battle power than Earth's martial artists, these grunts' technique and defense were terrible. If an Earth martial artist had their numbers, a 1,500 strike wouldn't one-shot him.
He'd be injured at most.
Erika then used superb piloting to pick off three more grunts. It didn't decide the battle, but it did lift Kapoan morale.
"Hmph. You don't know your place. Time to show you Lord Obi's power—and what absolute strength means." Seeing another subordinate go down to a laser, the frog-faced humanoid finally moved.
He might not rank in the Frieza Force overall nor catch Lord Frieza's notice, but he still had a tidy 3,000 battle power.
On Kapo Star, no one exceeded that. No one could hurt him.
"Lady Erika's fighting this hard—we men can't back down. Let these damned invaders know Kapoans aren't pushovers!" boomed a gold mech. Synth-voice or not, he sounded like a big-bearded, hearty man.
"Eat my Divine Fire Cannon!" The gold mech fired a laser straight at Obi.
"A measly 1,500 battle power, you trash. Die." Obi blocked it with one hand, effortlessly.
"What?!"
"No! Uncle Dika, look out!" Erika reacted first, shouting a warning the instant the attack failed—but it was still too late.
Obi's ki blast pulverized the gold mech. One of Kapo's strongest high-grade suits was instantly erased.
"You're next." Obi leveled his gaze at Erika's silver-white mech.
"Excuse me… what is this place?" At that most critical moment, a voice cut in out of nowhere.
(End of Chapter)
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