43

2,963Chapter 43: Touch of Preparation

It was the alien that moved first. The symbol before him flashed a blinding white for a moment, forcing me to narrow my eyes. In that same moment, the three multicolored balls that floated above the alien shot forward, racing towards Vegeta. Vegeta dodged them with ease, turning around to face the alien as he suddenly teleported behind him, moving through some kind of rift in space.

I expected Vegeta to launch an attack to vaporize the alien. Instead, Vegeta backed off, deftly dodging as the rainbow-colored balls raced forward towards him, trying to hit him. They moved increasingly fast, but it was easy enough to track them with my eyes. The only real risk that they posed was the fact that the alien couldn't just teleport himself. The balls vanished into small rifts before reappearing elsewhere, just as the alien himself continued to teleport near Vegeta.

My jaw clenched as I realized that Vegeta was on the defensive. He wasn't losing - he dodged every attack with ease, but he was purely on the defensive. Worse, judging by that deep scowl entrenched onto my brother's face, it wasn't because he wanted to be. Vegeta wasn't losing, but he wasn't winning either.

"Why doesn't he hit back?" Broly asked as we watched the fight. He looked down as well, taking note of the thousands of soldiers beneath us that had their weapons trained on us. They didn't shoot. Either because they were trusting their fate to the leader alien, or they realized that whatever deal he made with Vegeta would be off if they attacked us.

"I don't know," I answered, watching the fight. This was my second time seeing magic being used. The first was back during the invasion of Sereall where Lord Frieza had enslaved an entire race of magic users to open up a portal to Sereall large enough a massive fleet could pass through it, bypassing the Reach's countermeasures.

Now, I was looking at magic in a more one on one combat scenario and it didn't fail to impress. Teleportation in combat was versatile, those multicolored orbs were a useful distraction at the very least and the symbol was enough that Vegeta didn't simply end the fight by punching through it then the alien. There was obviously a piece I was missing because as impressive as it was, that shouldn't be enough to keep Vegeta on the defensive. Even if it somehow destroyed evil, I figured Vegeta would simply overpower it.

There was definitely a piece I was missing, but I got a hint of what it was when the balls suddenly split apart, three becoming six smaller orbs before they began to fire thin beams of rainbow light. "What's the matter, Prince Vegeta! Where did all that bluster go?" The alien shouted as he ramped up the intensity of his attacks. "I'm not even the strongest of my kind. You wiping out my race? As if I'd let you!"

I crossed my arms as I watched Vegeta flip and dodge out of the way, glaring at the alien and the large white symbol that he maintained. Ki gathered in his hands as he twisted in the air before he found his opening. Vegeta darted forward, moving in a blur and the balls of light were left behind. Vegeta came to a stop in front of the alien's symbol, close enough that he could touch it.

The alien's eyes widened before he unleashed a roar matching Vegeta's, his symbol glowing brighter before ki washed over the alien, the blast slamming through ancient buildings behind him as Vegeta forever altered what was left of the skyline for the once Truffle city.

"Whoa!" Broly gasped, grabbing me by the shoulder before he pointed at the blast that Vegeta had unleashed. "Did you see that?!" He questioned loudly as he shook me to get my attention.

"I did," I answered grimly, my eyes focused on Vegeta as the blast tapered off. He looked like he was braced-

My eyes widened as I saw Vegeta lurch back as if he were hit by some unseen force. Wounds opened up across his body and blood flying free as Vegeta winced in pain. The wounds were superficial, but the fact that they were there was worrying. Vegeta tsked underneath his breath when the dust cleared and the alien was still there. Undamaged.

The symbol before him flickered, the alien heaving for breath as sweat dripped from him in a river before red blood dripped from his nose. He was exhausted, but alive.

"Heh. That shield of yours is getting weaker. That wasn't even close to being as powerful as the last attack you sent back at me," he mocked. I peeked up at that, looking at the symbol with interest.

It was reflecting the damage? No, it had to be doing more than that. That ki attack that Vegeta used wasn't anywhere near as strong to do the amount of damage that had been done to him. It amplified the reflected damage as well. By how much, I couldn't say, but all of a sudden Vegeta's hesitance made a great deal more sense.

Instead of risking hitting him with a single massive attack and hoping that he overcame the alien's barriers, he chose to accept some light damage to whittle down the alien. It was a surprisingly cautious thing for him to do. And I was glad for it.

"I… still have enough in the tank to deal with the likes of you," the alien rasped out, his chest heaving as he greedily took in air.

Vegeta scoffed, "More empty bluster." He mocked, blood dripping down his face before his gaze flicked to me. "These soldiers are mine. If you want to kill any, then go find one of the other armies that they dropped."

"I wasn't going to," I said with a shake of my head. "I'm just waiting for you to finish up so we can coordinate a defense. I think it would be a good time for the recruits to get used to fighting in actual life and death situations before we bring them to the Reach."

Vegeta scowled, "They are saiyans. They shouldn't need to be bloodied before they go off to war."

"I'm not talking about that. I mean decision making. Elery organized a free-for-all team tournament over who got to fight a squad," Vegeta looked at me with an exasperated expression. Which was fair enough. "I figured this would be a good opportunity for them to learn what their priorities should be in an active invasion."

"Hm. Fair point. Very well, we'll coordinate purging our planet of this filth with the recruits-" then he shot a sharp look at me, "but I will be the one that avenges this slight on the Sayian race!" Meaning he would follow through with his threat. Which could be a problem.

"We should send a message to Lord Frieza before we do anything. They attacked us first, so I don't think he would mind, but I'd rather not-" I started, only to cut myself off as Vegeta was forced to dodge an attack. I narrowed my eyes into a glare at the alien, who wore an expression of utter fury.

"Don't," he spat, letting the symbol drop and fade into nothing. Instead, his hands began to glow white. Instead of ki forming in the palm of his hands, it was another symbol. Three rhombi touching in the middle, making a triangle with nonexistent lines, and the point that they touched glowed that same multicolored light. "Act like you've already won Saiyans."

Vegeta smirked at the alien, "Oh? Is there a reason why I shouldn't, Trash?" He asked, forming his own ki attack to meet the alien head-on. It seemed that reflection ability only applied to that symbol that they wore. I felt the battle drawing to an end, and I was glad for it. The sooner I could regroup with the others, the better.

"Because… I've noticed vile beings like you… always spend your time looking down on everyone else," the alien rasped out, bracing himself as he calmed his breathing. His hands glowed, hints of color entering the white light that surrounded his hands. "But never do you look up."

Slowly, I started to look up just in time to see something begin to descend through the clouds. An enormous ball of light fell from the sky, easily the same size orb that I used when destroying a city. Carried by the heavy gravity, it quickly made its descent, but it was slow enough that the alien took the time to gloat. "With the two of you out of the way, the King and Queen will pose no challenge-"

I stopped listening. The only thing more pointless than banter was gloating. Grabbing Broly, I rushed over to Vegeta, who seemed torn between glaring at the descending ball and the alien. Just as the ball would reach us, I held out my hands and formed a bubble of ki around us to protect us from the blast.

For the briefest moments, as the ball fell upon the city, I thought about dropping the shield. I didn't, nor would I, but there was a nagging sense of curiosity urging me to do it. Just to see what would happen. To see if I would be considered evil or not.

I've killed… I don't even know how many people. Tens of millions. Maybe a hundred million by now. Such… a ridiculous number. To think I had once puked and panicked over killing one alien only six years ago. And, in the end, killing them was just a part of the job. I was a soldier, and my job was to kill. Because I was powerful, I killed more than most to make sure that my soldiers didn't throw their lives away.

I didn't enjoy it. I didn't particularly hate it either.

But did that make me evil like the alien accused? Justifications or not, up to a hundred million lives were snuffed out by my hands. More counting the actions I had set into motion. Simply because they fought on the wrong side. Was it worse to kill with malice or to kill for such an empty reason?

I've long since abandoned the notion that I was a good person, but I've never considered myself evil before. Now I was curious if some higher power or magic would tell me the answer.

But now wasn't the time to entertain such thoughts.

"Sorry about getting involved, but I wanted to introduce you to Broly," I said, turning to Vegeta as I maintained the shield. Who was scowling but he didn't seem particularly displeased as he turned to Broly, who gave him a hesitant smile.

"Hi? You're kind of hurt… do you want to pet Bah's ear to help with the pain?" Broly offered the ear before a nervous expression passed over his face, "but you can only pet his ear. And only a little bit," he added a few restrictions, echoing himself when Beets had broken down crying.

Vegeta looked at him for a moment, then at me, a demand for an explanation in his blazing yellow eyes. I answered with, "Broly, stop suppressing your power level."

Broly looked confused for a moment before he nodded, obeying the order. Vegeta looked like he had been struck when the realization settled in.

Both of us had been dethroned as the strongest saiyan several times over.

"You- how?!" Vegeta spluttered, completely caught off guard while Broly shifted, fidgeting underneath the attention he was getting. "How could you possibly-" He started to shout, making Broly flinch, and that made him cut himself off. Not out of fear of reprisal but confusion that Broly would flinch at all.

"I trained with Bah a lot?" He tried before a look of unparalleled sadness passed over his face. "Before Dad shot off his ear… after that, he didn't want to play with me anymore…"

Vegeta looked like he had absolutely no idea how to respond to that.

"Broly gets stronger over time, naturally. At least that's the out explanation I found that makes any sense. The wildlife on Vampa wasn't anywhere close to being strong enough to push Broly to this level," I explained, maintaining the bubble shield was relatively easy as we waited for everything to stop exploding on the other side.

"Hm! The spiders used to be really tough, but I've been able to scare them away for a long time now," Broly seconded, looking extremely proud of himself. "Not even Dad can do that. He always shouts for me to come when the spiders come to save him and Beets." And given the situation that they had been in, I probably shouldn't judge Paragus too harshly for that, but Vegeta didn't know the context and I doubt he would care regardless.

"Paragus made you fight for him?" Vegeta questioned, his tone dripping with disgust. Broly looked hesitant to answer, and he was saved from having to when the blinding white light that surrounded us began to fade. I expected to see the city destroyed, a massive crater in the ground. Instead, it looked more or less the same as it did before.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised. The ground and buildings could hardly be classified as evil.

Letting the bubble shield drop, I moved out of the way as Vegeta floated forward towards the alien. Despair was etched into his face as he realized that his trump card did nothing.

"You look defeated already," Vegeta commented and I could hear the smile in his voice. "What were the terms of our deal? That I would fight you in a one on one match and leave your troops out of it?" He asked and I knew exactly where this was going. It was too easy to see. The alien realized what Vegeta intended, shouting as he desperately lunged towards Vegeta but it was too late.

A ki blast launched from the palm of his hand and it flashed down towards the troops that resided below us. I felt hundreds of presences vanish in the explosion that came next that claimed several buildings as a crater replaced a city block. Before the first had even finished, Vegeta fired off several other - massacring the army that was below and reducing the saiyan capital to rubble with a handful of blasts.

And I think I had my answer, I realized as I heard the alien howl with grief. Because I was more annoyed at the theatrics than I was horrified at the callous act of making the alien watch as his troops were killed in front of him. The troops had to die - that much was certain. We couldn't let something like this stand, otherwise, it would become a common occurrence. Even still, was it really to make the alien watch as Vegeta killed him? Wouldn't it be more efficient to kill the alien now before it tried something?

As if to prove my point, the alien lunged at Vegeta, the sleeves of his undersuit were suddenly blasted off by a white aura before symbols were carving themselves into his arms. All the while, he screamed his hate for the world to hear, "VEGGGEETTAAAA!" The alien screamed, flying towards my brother. My time with the saibamen taught me what a suicide attack looked like.

Vegeta knew as well. With the symbol down, Vegeta wasted no time taking aim and firing a ki blast at the crazed alien. When the ki blast hit him, a large explosion rang out, confirming what the alien had intended to do. When the dust cleared, there wasn't even a trace of the body left and I felt his presence vanish.

"Hm. I feel kinda bad about that one," I commented, making Vegeta look back at me with a questioning look. "He was taking this so seriously and really was giving it all that he had, but…" But Vegeta was toying with him pretty much the entire time. "Did you get his name?"

"Why bother?" Vegeta shot back, shaking his head. Then he turned his gaze to Broly, "What is with that sniveling expression of yours?" He demanded, making me glance at Broly to see that he was looking at Vegeta with an expression of horror and disgust. He gripped Bah's ear as he looked around himself, at the death and destruction.

"Why… would you do that?" Broly asked, sounding upset.

Before Vegeta could say anything, I answered for Vegeta. "It's like how your dad called for you to kill the spiders. These people are the spiders. They came here to hurt our race, to kill every saiyan that they could. Vegeta destroyed them before they could hurt anyone," I said, trying to phrase it in a way that he would understand.

Broly hesitated, gripping the ear that much tighter. "But he sounded so sad…" He trailed off and my lips thinned.

"Yeah. He did," I agreed and left it at that. I turned to Vegeta, who stared at Broly with an uncomprehending expression, and said, "We should regroup with the others. Do you know where they are?"

Vegeta turned to me before he nodded, "Yeah. Follow me," he said before he blasted off. I grabbed Broly before I took off after him, leaving the battlefield behind us.

"Brother!" Elery greeted me as I entered a bunker that had once belonged to the Truffles, built towards the end of the war as a safe haven to protect what was left of their race. It was a sprawling underground labyrinth, easily large enough to supply three million saiyan children, even if it looked like it hadn't been touched since the battle to purge the last traces of the Truffles.

Elery was fine judging by the large smile on her face. She had more than a few injuries scatter across her body, but the most glaring was the lack of her tail.

"You seriously got your tail cut off," I remarked, trying to keep myself calm about the observation as Elery scowled at me.

"No! I cut my tail off," Elery corrected as if that was any better. "Some funny looking alien grabbed it so I had to cut it off to escape," she explained unhappily, her hand going back to the stump that she had left.

"That's why I kept telling you to wear the newer armor to protect your tail," I pointed out, earning a scowl from Elery. "But your tail will grow back. Other than that, how are you?" I asked, my eyes drifting over the dried blood on her knuckles.

"I…" Elery hesitated for a moment, and that told me all that I needed to know. Elery never hesitated. She looked away from me sharply, suddenly finding the ground very interesting. "I… I almost got beaten," she admitted, making me close my eyes for a brief moment. Because I knew when she said beaten, she meant killed. "I put up a shield but I wasn't strong enough to beat that stupid colorful attack! It didn't do anything to me, but…!"

But it could have. Elery was young, extremely young, but she understood that much.

I nodded, turning my attention to the others that were gathered. There were the hundred that I was training, along with countless other kids. Vegeta was off talking to some of them, so I'm guessing that they were his troops. Mom and Matillo were also here, while Gine was hunting down other children that had taken it upon themselves to explore the bunker.

"You survived, and right now that's enough. Use that defeat as motivation to grow stronger," I told Elery, who scowled at the ground for a moment. I knew she wouldn't like to hear that simply because she never liked to hear it after she lost. To soothe her pride, I reached out and rubbed the top of her head. "You did well, Elery and I'm proud of you," I told her.

That did the trick, her scowl easing away to a small smile. "And, while you're here, I want to introduce you to Broly," I said, stepping to the side and gesturing to Broly, who had been following me around everywhere I went since he couldn't find Beets or Paragus. Broly looked at Elery for a moment, shuffling his feet.

Elery blinked once, her attention quickly falling to Bah's ear with interest. "Who are you? I want one of those-" Elery started, making Broly hold the ear closer to himself. Elery frowned, but she seemed to sense that Broly was rather skittish at the moment. He hadn't so much as said a word since we got here.

"Broly is going to be attached to your squad," I told Elery. It was more than a little selfish but my main motivation was that Broly would be able to protect Elery if she ever bit off more than she could chew. Just like she had during the fight that cost Elery her tail. And I hadn't been here to keep an eye on her to make sure that she survived.

Whether I liked it or not, Elery was a warrior and she was going to find herself in a similar situation. Just like I had for years. I wouldn't be able to hover over her shoulder to make sure that she was alright all the time. So, Broly would be the safety net for her and her team until they were strong enough to not need one.

"Okay?" Elery agreed easily enough, looking faintly puzzled by the sudden introduction. Then she offered Broly a wide smile, "How strong are you? Bet you're not stronger than me!"

Broly looked caught off guard by the sudden friendliness, but he offered a far more hesitant smile before he told her that she was very wrong with that declaration. As much as I might have enjoyed the moment, my attention was stolen when I saw Matillo was waking up towards me. His eyes lingered on Broly for a moment, who was having to prove that his 'base' power level really was eight hundred before he nodded at me.

"My Prince. You've made a timely arrival," he greeted me.

"So it seems, but from the look of it, you had everything handled. Were there any losses?" I asked, stretching out my ki sensing abilities, but it was impossible to tell just how many people were down here beyond the ballpark of a lot.

"A few hundred at most from those that chose to take on the invading armies themselves. Their techniques seem to be ineffective on the children but their weapons are," Matilo answered. It wasn't the answer that I wanted to hear, but it was the one that I expected. "We've also located the remaining few armies. Queen Teach and Prince Vegeta have made quick work of most of the invading force. With King Vegeta crippling the fleet, they're stuck here without hope of escape."

"Perfect. It seems that the Sky King is too strong for them. For now. We'll use those remaining armies instead," I decided, earning a nod from Matillo.

"A wise choice. It'll get them used to fighting in war rather than battle," Matillo agreed.

I glanced over at my troops - the hundred leaders with their future troops behind them as they wandered around, eager to go out and fight. Most were learning my techniques, while a few enterprising troops from other units took the time to learn them as well. In time they would spread and the current generation would have a solid base of techniques to work with.

My gaze landed on Broly and Elery - the former panicking as the latter was either trying to choke him out or give him a hug around his neck. Any worry that Broly would freak out was crushed at the laughter in his eyes, enjoying the byplay. I hadn't considered it until now, but he must have been lonely on Vampa.

"Yeah, it will. Are your troops ready to head out?" I asked, turning back to Matillo.

However, before he could answer, I felt Mom's presence rush over towards me. I glanced over to see that she looked annoyed but resigned. "Tarble put this on. Your father is on his way and he wants us to be all dramatic," she informed me before she threw a short red cape at me. I caught it, realizing that she was wearing a similar cape that flowed down to the floor.

He was on his way.

"...Sure," I agreed, accepting the cape and shrugging it on. It had some weight to it, more so than its appearance suggested. With the magnetized clips, I put it on and saw Mom nod approvingly. She cracked a smirk at me before she reached down and ruffled my hair, much like I had done to Elery.

"Looks good on you Tarble," she said. And as she said the words, a nagging voice in the back of my mind wondered if she had known about the bomb. I didn't think that she did. Mom hadn't cared about me at all until she had Elery, but she wasn't the type of warrior that could accept using mundane weaponry. If she wanted me and my team dead, then she would have killed us with her own hands. "Now let's go look important for a bit before we go take out the trash," Mom continued.

There was a platform by the vault door that overlooked an open space. A killbox for the Truffles to use and it obviously hadn't worked. What it did do was offer a decent view of a crowd of saiyans, a mere fraction of the millions that wandered the halls in search of fights and food. Mom stood next to me, with Vegeta standing on her other side. My eyes found Elery, who looked absolutely pissed that she hadn't gotten a cape as well. I would give her mine since I didn't want it.

I felt King Vegeta's presence before the doors opened and he came striding through. He wore a smile on his face, his armor scuffed and the white of his clothing was dyed red with blood. I'm guessing that it was the first time he cut loose since the war began. I tried not to stare at him as he approached, reaching the railing that overlooked the crowd below.

He tried to kill my team. With a bomb.

I shouldn't say anything about it. That was the smartest move. To just pretend that I hadn't learned about the bomb or that I didn't believe Beets. Things would continue as they had. No rift would form between me and King Vegeta. Vegeta would be force to decide who to be angry with - our father for being willing to kill me to kill my team or me if he thought I was lying. Mom would grow to hate King Vegeta any more than she already did if she flat out didn't try to kill him.

If I kept my mouth shut, then things wouldn't get any worse.

But I couldn't do it.

I've been left in the dark long enough about things I wanted to know.

"Children of the Saiyan race," King Vegeta started to deliver a grandiose speech. His voice echoing through the ancient speakers throughout the base. "And veteran warriors. A blow has been struck to the Saiyan race's Pride this day. Our planet has been invaded by lesser life forms hardly fit for eating on some pointless crusade. Just as we had purged the Truffles from this planet, they wish to do the same to us."

King Vegeta slammed a fist against the railing, warping it around his fist. "This will not stand. Every last one of them will be purged from this planet. We will find their planets and raze them to the ground! Only after every last member of their pathetic species is dead, after every hint of their existence has been destroyed, only then will this slight be repaid in full!"

The crowd shuffled, eager to get out of the bunker to fall upon the enemy.

"On this day, you have become soldiers. Warriors. You will kill and you will kill until all the enemies of the Saiyan race lay dead at your feet. And only then will you be permitted to die," King Vegeta told them. "But, for now, you are weak. Because of that weakness, you need the strong to defeat enemies you have no hope of defeating," he said before he made a dramatic gesture to me, Mom and Vegeta.

"My wife and sons are the ones you will follow into battle. You will obey their orders without question. You will kill and you will die at their word. Prove yourselves worthy of fighting beside them," King Vegeta ordered. He wasn't answered with uproarious cheer or grim silence. Some talked, others argued, some even jeered at him. They were children and they wanted to fight.

It was up to us to turn them into soldiers.

King Vegeta turned to us, "gather your troops and crush this invasion. I want it done by nightfall," he said. Mom wasted no time rushing down to the troops, though I suspected it didn't have to do anything with wanting to obey the order. Vegeta nodded before he did the same. Yet I lingered for just a moment, looking at King Vegeta's face, who looked increasingly confused why I was just staring at him.

This was the only chance I would get for years.

I had to know.

"Did you order a bomb to be planted on my team's ship six years ago?" I asked, my voice quiet but King Vegeta heard me. His expression answered my question for me. He didn't look shocked or angry at the undeserved accusation. He wore an expression that was remarkably similar to one that Elery occasionally wore.

The expression of someone that had been caught red-handed.

I… had hoped that Beets was lying, even though he would have no reason to.

"I-" King Vegeta started to defend himself, but I couldn't bring myself to listen. Maybe I would in time. He might even have valid reasons for what he did that made sense to him. Maybe things had changed a great deal in the past six years after I've proven myself worthy to be a part of the Royal Family. Maybe, maybe, maybe. In the end, it didn't matter, because right now if I had to look at King Vegeta for a second longer, I was going to punch him in the face.

"The next time you try to kill my team, do it yourself," I spat at him, my voice tightly controlled before I turned around to leave the bunker. The other could come to me. Matillo knew what to do. I… I didn't want to stay in the same room as King Vegeta. Simply because I didn't trust myself not to make a scene. Anger burned in my chest like a lump of burning coal, simmering and spreading the searing heat throughout my body.

If I stayed, then, no matter what, I would end up punching him in the face at least once. Because they were my Team and he tried to murder them with a bomb. And that's not what we needed right now, not when we were being invaded.

I had my confirmation without either Vegeta or Mom finding out about the bomb.

I wanted it to stay that way.

It took no time at all for me to reach the surface, stepping through a vault door that was disguised as a massive rock. The vault was within a mountain, the entrance near the peak some ten miles up from the base of the mountain. I welcomed the cool air because my blood felt hot in my veins, my iron control over the Wrath State threatening to slip, if only barely.

Not a second later, I was greeted with a message. "This is Admiral Hesting of the 881st fleet-"

"This is Prince Tarble of the 501st. State your intentions or be destroyed. We've been attacked by the Frieza-force once already," I answered promptly, looking up at the sky to find the fleet but I simply saw countless pricks of light in the darkening sky.

"We read you Prince Tarble. The 881st comes in peace. I'm here to deliver your unit's reinforcements," the admiral informed, quiet distaste in his tone. Though I couldn't tell if it was for me or not.

My eyes narrowed as I used my scouter to trace where the call was coming from and my gaze found specs in the distance. The fleet. "The reinforcements for the 501st were meant to be delivered to the army, not to Planet Vegeta." I questioned, a warning in my tone that I didn't believe the story they were trying to feed me.

"That was the plan, sir, but we caught wind that you were here and…" the admiral trailed off, hesitating for the briefest seconds. "To be blunt, your fleet and army are deep in Reach territory." Meaning that he didn't want to risk his ships or life transporting them all the way there.

It made sense. My recall to Planet Vegeta was sudden but hardly a secret, so it was possible. Especially considering his attitude - the higher I climbed in rank the more it became clear that the Saiyan race was one of the only races that actually wanted to fight in the war. The admirals and generals didn't take risks, the soldiers only fought because they would die if they didn't. At times, it felt as if the entire Frieza-force was dragging its feet.

I made a split-second decision before I input a few coordinates and sent them over. "Land the transport pods there," I ordered. "Have you received any SOSs or requests for evacuation?" I asked and there was a telling pause on the other end.

"We have," He answered shortly.

"You are to disregard them. All of them," I ordered as I sent a message to Matillo on where to meet me. Blasting off, I waited for the admiral to respond. It took him a long time, long enough that I arrived at the target destination before he responded.

"Prince Tarble… some of them wish to surrender and submit to trial. The attack on your planet was unsanctioned-" that was good to confirm.

"They came to this planet to murder three million children and drive my race into extinction," I cut him off. And… I really didn't need that colorful blast to tell if I was evil or not.

In the end, it didn't matter. I was what I had to be.

"They don't get to surrender," I continued. I was used to not taking prisoners by now but there was always that thin veneer of a justification. The Reach citizens were ticking time bombs. It wouldn't be wrong to say that the Reach had no citizens, and each one was an insurgent waiting to happen because that's what happened time and time again. In the end, I didn't have a choice. There was no better option. I had looked, I had tried, and people died. No matter what anyone said, there wasn't a better option.

That wasn't the case here. I could accept their surrender.

But I wouldn't. My list of reasons was long, but in the end, it simply came down to the fact that they were the enemy. My troops needed to be tested and bloodied. The saiyans needed the experience of fighting together, to hammer home what I was trying to teach them so they would survive on a tougher battlefield. My recruits for the 501st, I needed to see if they were as good as the records showed.

And the battle wasn't done until the enemy was dead.

Again, the admiral was silent and I could feel his seething hate on the other end of the communication. I had no clue who he was or what he looked like, but there wasn't a doubt in my mind that he was considering helping out the invaders despite my warning. I could only imagine that the ruined fleet that hovered in high orbit was a convincing argument not to.

"Your reinforcements are on their way down. 881st out and leaving the system," the admiral informed curtly before he ended the call. To confirm his words, I saw the transports racing towards my position. The very second that they were deployed, the fleet turned around and left the system.

It didn't take long for the transporters to reach us and by that time my troops arrived. Twenty-five thousand elite-class recruits reinforced with another twenty-five thousand elite-class from Matillo. That fifty thousand was further reinforced by seventy thousand low-class troops that would eventually be led by the Team, Lotuce, and Gine.

A hundred and twenty thousand saiyans stood and floated behind me as the transport pods made their descent. Eleven thousand soldiers that I had handpicked over the past two years for maximum impact and synergy. I felt powerful presences amongst the pods, and under the right circumstances, they could even be more powerful than me.

These eleven thousand troops were picked to utterly crush whatever Reach force that we encountered. To be an army by themselves.

The first pod that opened revealed a familiar face that I hadn't seen in years. Light gray skin, pitch-black eyes, and white hair with saiyan-like features. An alien I hadn't seen since the fall of Sereall when she and her race opened up a portal to transport our fleet through it. Tucked tightly against her was a younger girl who came about midway to her stomach. Her little sister.

Other pods opened, revealing more aliens of all shapes and sizes. All with various powers that made them a fighting force to be feared.

I stood still, waiting for them to gather. Unlike the saiyans behind me, the troops before me stood in perfectly straight lines that were organized by what I had recruited them for - from being scouts to vanguard to magic users to support.

There were so many presences around me that it was difficult to tell them apart. But, in time, I would learn them all so I would be able to pick them out on any battlefield. For now? Now it was time to see what they all could do.

"Let's go to war."