Dragon Ball Roshi

Taro was not a bloodthirsty person, but after his training in the ninja world, once he decided to kill, he would never show a shred of mercy.

"Crack, crack..."

Holding Le Orio's fist, which had attempted to strike him from behind, Taro's iron-like grip tightened bit by bit, causing the bones in Le Orio's hand to creak as if they were on the verge of breaking.

The muscles on Le Orio's arm tensed and trembled slightly, but he could not move Taro's hand even a fraction.

"Why? Your aura is clearly weaker than the two of us combined, but why is your attack so powerful?" Le Orio asked coldly, his expression unmoved by the pain in his fist. His eyes fixed on Taro's calm face, his confusion evident.

This didn't make sense. Taro's energy didn't feel stronger than Di Orio's, yet he had defeated him in an instant.

The speed of the exchange was beyond comprehension. Even as a spectator, Le Orio hadn't been able to follow the movements. By the time he realized what had happened, Di Orio had already been punched through the chest, his skull shattered, and his body thrown aside.

This defied logic.

Taro had no interest in answering such questions. His expression remained cold as he held Le Orio's fist in one hand and flipped his other palm—

"Buzz..."

A bright white ball of energy, radiating a terrifying aura, quickly formed in his palm.

Tenfold Muken!

Le Orio's eyelid twitched. The image of Di Orio being punched through earlier was still vivid in his mind. He couldn't afford to let this attack land.

"Boom!" A blazing purple energy flame erupted from his body. With one arm restrained, he channeled all his strength into a powerful kick aimed at Taro's head.

How devastating was a kick from a warrior with a battle power of one million?

If a mountain stood in his way, it would be shattered. If he stood on an island, it would sink beneath his feet.

In an instant, the leg shadows tore through the air, generating violent gales as they streaked toward Taro's head.

"You dare use physical attacks against me?"

Taro shook his head in disdain.

To him, Le Orio's combat style was crude. Perhaps his immense power had always allowed him to bulldoze through obstacles with sheer force and speed, leaving no need for technique.

But while Le Orio's kick was fast, Taro's movements were faster.

Le Orio's strength was overwhelming, but Taro's was even more so.

Without any dramatic display of power, within a fraction of a millisecond—at the exact moment Le Orio's muscles tensed to unleash his kick—Taro raised his own leg and struck at the air in front of him.

Tenfold Muken.

A phantom collided with a phantom.

Boom!

Crack!

A severed leg, dripping with blood, fell from the sky.

The white energy flames around Taro's leg vaporized the splattered blood before gradually dissipating.

Though he acted second, his response was faster than the initial attack.

"How is this possible?!" Le Orio gasped, his voice filled with confusion rather than despair as he stared at his severed leg. He couldn't understand why Taro, whose aura had remained relatively unchanged, could deliver such impossibly powerful attacks.

Yes, it was a matter of "aura".

For years, Le Orio and Di Orio had traveled to various planets with unique abilities. During one such journey, they had stumbled upon the skill to "sense" the "aura" of others. However, they had never trained this ability seriously—why would they? Across the entire universe, aside from Frieza, there was no one who could make either of them use even half their strength.

Naturally, they had little reason to hone such a skill.

Le Orio could vaguely sense it—the aura of the person before him...

It was undeniably weaker than his and Di Orio's!

Much weaker!

If he and Di Orio both had power levels of over one million, this individual's strength was, at most, 200,000!

A mere 200,000. Trash.

And yet, how had this trash turned the tables on him, countering his attack and breaking his leg with an incomprehensible burst of power?

The might of Taro's Muken, derived from his unique eye techniques, lay in its ability to unleash strength multiple times greater than its baseline. This was why Taro believed it to be akin to the Dao. Once mastered, the technique allowed its user to instantly generate strength many times greater than their usual limit, all with minimal effort.

The technique's brilliance lay in its ability to manipulate every ounce of ki in the body with meticulous precision, creating a power that seemed to straddle the boundary between dormant and unleashed. To those who had not reached the pinnacle of martial arts, it was nearly impossible to perceive this explosive potential—only subtle hints might appear at the moment of an attack.

Le Orio, not even a proper martial artist, stood no chance of grasping the intricacies of Taro's abilities.

Meanwhile, the ball of ki in Taro's other hand had not dissipated. The searing white energy had reached its peak intensity, ready to strike.

Just as Taro prepared to deliver the killing blow, Le Orio's lips curved into a faint smirk.

Taro froze for a moment, sensing something amiss. He quickly turned his head, just in time to see a barrage of energy beams pierce through the clouds below, surging toward him like torrential rain. The beams formed a deadly net, closing in on his back.

This net, woven from countless energy beams, concealed lethal intent. Not all the beams were of equal strength; they ranged from weak to overwhelmingly powerful, cunningly mixed together. Some beams were so weak as to be negligible, but others—hidden amidst the weaker ones—carried intense energy and flew at treacherous angles, designed as lethal traps.

However...

To a seasoned martial artist capable of discerning energy fluctuations, such tricks were little more than child's play.

Taro's expression remained unchanged. In a split second, he swung Le Orio's body—still clutched by the arm—toward the incoming energy net. With a flick of his wrist, he hurled the ki blast he had been holding straight into the barrage.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Le Orio was struck by multiple purple Ki beams, including the strongest among them. Moments later, Taro's own ki blast collided with him, engulfing his body in a fiery explosion.

Floating in place, Taro extended his arms outward—

Buzz!

A white ki barrier enveloped him.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The purple beams struck the barrier in vain. Spotting an especially powerful dark-purple beam headed straight for him, Taro clenched his fist and lashed out—

Smack!

The energy beam reversed course, hurtling toward its source below.

Emerging from the skies was none other than Di Orio, the very man Taro had seemingly killed earlier. His body, which had been pierced and his skull shattered, now appeared completely restored, though his clothes were in tatters.

Di Orio was not only alive but fully regenerated!

Di Orio soared upward from below, his face dark and cold.

He narrowly avoided the redirected dark-purple energy beam. But immediately after, more purple energy beams deflected by Taro came hurtling back toward him.

Di Orio twisted and turned in midair, trying to evade. When escape was impossible, he let out a loud roar—"Boom!"—and took the hit head-on, enduring the blast.

As the gray smoke dispersed, his previously disheveled appearance now looked even more miserable.

On the other side, Le Orio, whose leg had been broken and who had been injured by energy blasts, had somehow completely regenerated. He flew to Di Orio's side, wearing an expression identical to his twin's.

Coupled with their identical appearances, their demeanor and aura now seemed eerily unified—as if they were one person.

"Immortality?" For the first time, a look of surprise crossed Taro's face.

He recalled what he had heard from King kai before—their incredible strength, a gift from Frieza. Could it be tied to this seemingly immortal state?

"I must admit…" Le Orio began.

"You're strong," Di Orio continued.

Le Orio: "If we keep fighting like this…"

Di Orio: "We might actually lose to you."

Floating midair, Taro stared at them coldly. "Whatever tricks you have, feel free to use them."

A crazed smile spread across both Le Orio and Di Orio's faces as they spoke in unison, voices filled with malice. "Ever since I abandoned all my pride and gained this power from him… I've never needed to go all out. You're impressive—stronger than anyone I've ever faced. You… deserve to witness my full power!"

Taro's heart grew cautious, but his face remained impassive. "I don't know what you're talking about, but relying on power begged from someone else? It's pathetic you can even bring yourself to boast about it."

Le Orio and Di Orio's expressions darkened, their voices blending into one eerie, chilling tone. "What do you know!? Living is everything! Living is the future!"

And then—

In the blink of an eye, everything changed.

There was no drawn-out transformation, no dramatic combination sequence, no excessive theatrics. In a single instant—like a brief lapse in awareness—the two figures of Le Orio and Di Orio, once hovering side by side, were gone.

In their place stood a single figure in midair.

A man identical in appearance to both Le Orio and Di Orio, yet taller and more imposing.

He gazed coldly at Taro, his expression that of someone looking at an ant—an ant he could crush effortlessly with one finger.

"To survive… to have a chance to kill him… I'll discard everything. I don't care what I become!"

A terrifying aura erupted from this new form, like an overwhelming tsunami engulfing everything around it.

Taro's breath caught in his throat. He narrowed his eyes.

At least ten million.