A Saiyan's Journey

"Hey, you're not planning on attacking me, are you?"

Elec noticed Zuke's movements and realized that Zuke seemed ready to attack him. A faint smile appeared on Elec's face.

Without a combat power detector, Elec clearly had no idea about the power gap between him and Zuke, or perhaps he simply didn't care.

Zuke said nothing. He watched Elec's figure, focusing on Elec's "Ki." Once he pinpointed its location, Zuke used the Instant Transmission he'd just learned from Shenron.

In an instant, Zuke vanished from his original spot. Almost simultaneously, his massive fist, brimming with powerful Ki, struck Elec's face directly.

Elec hadn't even realized Zuke had closed in on him. By the time he snapped out of it, his face had completely deformed, and he was sent flying as if struck by a cannonball.

Crash—!

Distant trees shattered as Elec's body smashed through them, leaving him half-lying amid the splintered wood. His gaze toward Zuke was filled with fury.

"You… damn Saiyan!"

"You have over a thousand combat power, yet you can't even put up a fight?"

Zuke ignored Elec's curses because he knew Elec's personality well. This guy even dared to look down on Frieza—no one knew where his confidence came from.

When it came to business, Elec was indeed skilled. But to someone as powerful as Frieza, Elec's business empire was nothing more than a backup treasury.

Using Instant Transmission again, Zuke appeared in front of Elec. This time, Elec was quick to react. Despite having some combat ability, he instinctively drew a laser gun and fired rapidly at the afterimage that had appeared before him.

The laser gun, already modified to increase its power, became even more destructive with Elec's energy injection. If aimed at the moon, it could likely blow it apart.

However, the barrage of shots didn't harm Zuke. Before they reached him, he had fortified the target area of his body with Ki, enduring the lasers head-on.

This defensive move was Zuke's manual version of Ultra Instinct, modeled after Son Goku's technique. Unlike Ultra Instinct, which allows the body to autonomously channel Ki to the relevant areas for defense and offense, Zuke had to do it manually.

Though it required more thought and couldn't provide the automatic power boost of Ultra Instinct, for Zuke, who had full control over his Ki, it was a solid way to enhance his capabilities.

At the very least, it allowed him to deliver attack and defense beyond his recorded combat power.

"Damn you, monkey…"

When his attack proved useless, Elec finally panicked. Yet, his mouth remained stubbornly defiant, still hurling insults at Zuke.

Testing his Ki control on Elec, Zuke was pleased with the outcome. This "manual Ultra Instinct" could come in handy at critical moments.

He stepped up to Elec, grabbed him by the neck, and lifted him off the ground.

"W-wait! We can still talk about this…"

Being held up like a ragdoll, Elec finally sensed the gravity of the situation and softened his tone.

In the past, relying on his influence, he'd ruled the cosmos unchallenged, even gaining Frieza's respect. This made him look down on those with power, fostering his arrogance.

But now, he finally realized that some people simply didn't care about his influence—his vast empire across the universe was meaningless if they could crush him with ease.

If he could survive Zuke's grasp, perhaps Elec would come to value the strength he'd always overlooked.

"There's nothing to discuss. You may not know me, but I know you very well."

Zuke looked into Elec's pleading eyes and slowly shook his head.

Just as he'd learned about Monaito's meek personality from the comics, he'd also learned about Elec's character.

This guy might be weak, but his cunning was genuine. If Zuke let him go, he'd bet he'd face Frieza's troops the very next day.

After all, Zuke's actions clearly constituted betrayal against Frieza's forces. Frieza wouldn't tolerate such behavior, and even if he didn't deal with Zuke personally, his subordinates would make trouble.

"You…"

Elec tried to speak, but Zuke didn't let him finish. With a forceful squeeze, Elec's neck snapped with a crack.

Zuke tossed Elec's lifeless body to the ground, then extended his right hand, firing a Ki blast to disintegrate the corpse, just in case Elec had any tricks up his sleeve.

And so, Elec, the leader of the renowned Heeter Clan in the universe, perished quietly in a remote corner of Planet Cereal, leaving no trace.

"Colder than I expected…"

Zuke looked at his right hand, which had just choked the life out of someone and destroyed the body, yet he felt oddly calm.

After all, he had already watched other Saiyans invade the Cereal people's cities with indifference.

"The burst of Ki from that last blast might've attracted attention. I should leave."

Initially, Zuke planned to suppress his Ki, pretending to be a wild animal until he could leave this world.

But plans change. Elec's appearance forced him to act. Though Elec was weak and didn't require much effort, it still took some power to finish him.

If someone had scanned the area with a combat power detector when he used the Ki blast, they might have detected a powerful presence nearby, so he had to leave.

"Log out."

Now, Zuke didn't need to suppress his Ki or hide. The "log out" option had appeared, allowing him to disappear from this world.

Though he hadn't progressed in the main mission tonight and couldn't synchronize his strength back to reality, he had still laid a solid foundation.

To be continued…