As soon as I felt it happen, I dropped most of my limiters without hesitation. My power shot up, my speed exploding along with it. Suddenly, space that I'd been expecting to cross in minutes began blasting by in seconds.
It wouldn't be fast enough. I knew it wasn't fast enough. I could feel every second that I was wasting, as if they were grains of sand slipping through the hourglass that represented the last of one of my closest friend's lifespan.
Zeck's power had exploded too, From the mid-high hundred thousands range into the low millions range… but against this evil, he was utterly screwed. Whatever tricks he was using to survive, they wouldn't work against such an incredible power gap.
I needed to get there immediately.
The urgency seemed to prod my ki into a higher gear, sharpening my power for the singular purpose of getting to the battlefield before my friend could die. This was, unequivocally, the absolute fastest I'd ever flown… and still I knew it wasn't enough.
In my head, I'd already figured out just about everything that I needed to know.
I'd crossed the edge of the metal 'ceiling' a while ago, and everything had slid into place after that.
The only villain from the main series that I could think of who used metal to blot out the sky was 'Lord Slug', the evil Namekian. Why he was here early, I didn't know… but clearly, he'd not only regained his youth somehow, but also used Zeck as some sort of sharpening stone to polish his mastery of his younger body.
That… wasn't terrible. Even the strongest version of Slug was specifically designed to be definitively weaker than Frieza. It wouldn't be easy, but I could at least match him… No matter how oppressive his aura felt.
As for Zeck, I'd long ago figured out from the lack of aura fluctuations that his power level was mostly pulled from a prototype of his Infinite Energy Converter that he'd been researching.
Novem had a prototype in it, too. Its energy generation was so impressive now that, as far as output went, even I wasn't certain of what it could get to before its body began to collapse from the stress.
I also had zero desire to test that. Novem didn't seem to care much for fighting by nature, and I didn't particularly want my android to be a front-line combatant either. It was, by both design and nature, a caretaker, after all.
As for the Saiyans' landing, I'd noticed something, but the relatively tiny power levels were naturally overshadowed by the massive power let-off as an effect of Slug and Zeck's battle. As far as living things went, aside from Slug and Zeck, the entire area was basically a massive dead zone from my perspective. It didn't matter at the moment. It wouldn't matter until the threat of Evil Namekians killing my friends and destroying the planet was put to an end.
My flight blasted me through the darkness toward the site of the battle.
I got there less than a second too late.
I had a front row seat to see it. From my perspective, it seemed to happen in slow motion. That was probably only part adrenaline. Zeck was coming out of a Hyper-Motion technique, and he was halfway into a second one. The transition was smooth, but not quite perfect. There was a single instant where his movements were slowed. It was one of the built-in weaknesses of the Hyper-Motion Technique.
Slug took advantage of it beautifully… not that he needed to.
I was too far out. I couldn't do anything about it. Not even an energy attack would get there in time to stop him.
I tried anyways. Failed.
My eyes didn't drift to the empty socket, as Slug casually reached across and wrenched my friend's arm from his body. My eyes were stuck on Zeck's. A kaleidoscope of emotions shifted through his face before settling on a last one.
Resignation.
The rage inside me grew brighter.
In the same motion as he'd use to wrench Zeck's arm off from his body, Slug raised his free arm.
Relative to his actual power level, Slug didn't actually use much power… he didn't have to.
A casual blast, and Zeck's body was gone.
Not just dead. Gone. In an instant, my friend's body was utterly obliterated. Nothing was left.
My pupils dilated. My world tunneled to a single point.
…Zeck had this coming, in a way. He'd been an idiot for keeping me from this battle. He'd seen the low number on Slug's suppressed power level and gotten cocky.
But he was still one of my best friends. And… I was pretty sure that the original, weaker Shenron didn't have the ability to remake a fully destroyed body, though I didn't know for certain… and it didn't matter right now.
Slug's ki wasn't particularly stable, which meant that his ability to sense external energy was almost crippled, but he still felt me a moment before I struck.
He didn't have enough time to fully defend, but he did manage to react, at the last second. "BLITZ EXPLOSION!"
The world exploded with the bright light of my SSJP ki at full force.