PART THIRTEEN: DISCLOSURE! HIDDEN CHARACTERS AND FORMS!

Chapter 62

Translated by joshuaissac, Qtjinla15, Jake Devaro, and npberryhill

As he transformed, Cold became not just increasingly stronger but visibly larger. His arm and leg muscles thickened. But that was only the beginning of his transformation. His lips began to enlarge as his entire face stretched forward. His head became elongated, while his horns moved and changed color. His cape flew in the turbulent aura that surrounded the King of the Frost Demons. His armor, which had begun to crack, started falling apart. It was pierced by four enormous spikes: the two largest pushing upwards from his shoulder blades, the other two just below and directed downwards. Tapered, solid horns protruded from Cold's natural schynbalds and vambraces, as his shoulder pads fell away to reveal his milky-white body. His nose disappeared, merging into his larger upper lip. The king's abdominal expansion shattered the armor, which fell to the ground in pieces as the aura that surrounded him subsided. Finally, the ring stopped shaking.

Cold opened his eyes and smiled. He laughed. It was finished. Before Videl stood a whole new opponent, one much stronger and faster. She would have to be careful just to survive.

"Ah, that's much better," Cold said, revealing his voice had also changed.

'So...at last, Father decides to drop his restricted-power form!' thought Coola. 'It's been decades since he was last in the third stage. If he and Freeza follow my example, they'll surpass me for sure...with my augmented transformation I was the strongest, but that won't be the case anymore!"

In space 12, Trunks was talking to #16:

"Say, if I had let him transform back then, the fight wouldn't have been so simple!"

"H-he is so much stronger than before!" said a shocked Freeza, standing next to his brother.

"It's unfathomable. Even in his first form restriction, he is beyond me", added Coola in surprise.

"Now things really heat up," Gohan said, slightly shaking his fists. He hoped that Videl could still end it, and fast.

Videl attacked first, using her Kaioken. She extended her left arm and opened her palm towards her opponent, then fired several bursts of glowing energy balls, which crashed into the well-prepared demon. Those that did not hit him exploded in the ring around him. Taking advantage of the rising dust, both fighters attacked. Videl swung her sword at her opponent with superhuman strength, but Cold avoided it by jumping, not out of anticipation but by sheer luck; she had sought to surprise Cold by flying up to attack from the air.

The sword caught him completely unprepared. Upon hearing the shock-waves of the sharp weapon rebound against the ring, his reflex reaction was to avoid it by bowing to the ground. Videl back-flipped away from the demon and was ready to launch new energy bursts. She stared at the cloud of dust without blinking. Finally, she saw the top the monster's skull emerging from the white smoke. She swung her sword at him a dozen times, then continued while flying, gaining height. But Cold remained in his place and dodged all of her attacks. Then suddenly, Videl threw herself behind Cold and launched energy attacks. The demon was undamaged and swung his fist to deliver a crushing blow to his opponent.

The Earthling held both hands forward to meet his punch, catching his fist, which alone was the size of both of hers combined. Taking advantage of the kinetic effect, she slid her legs in front of her to put her foot on the ring as soon as possible. Then she grabbed the sword just as quickly. Gritting her teeth, she attacked Cold from below, the Frost Demon still unaware of her craftiness or skill-full tactics.

The timing had to be precise. If she attacked too late, he would counter. If she attacked too early, it would scratch him at best, and miss and worst. The one detail she had forgotten, however, was the smokescreen caused by the explosion of attacks. Spinning with the sword in hand, she found her eyes suddenly pricked by dust, bringing a hesitant uncertainty about her move. Blindly, she swung the sword horizontally. But it hit something!

She didn't wait to assess the damage; it was best to gain some distance while she waited for her eyesight to recover. When she could see again, Cold was standing, in one piece, and in perfect condition.

"A smart little one... I admit that I did not expect such flexibility. I should have been wary of your sword too," said the demon, approaching the young woman. "I still have to congratulate you; you are the first to have even scratched me in a very long time. On the other hand, slashing my toe wasn't very useful, was it?"

'He's not worried about me,' she thought. 'But at least he's allowed me to confirm my hypothesis: I can definitely cut him with this sword!'

This thought comforted the fighter, who stood ready for a new assault.

"Enough playing around. She deserves to be taught a lesson," said Cold.

This time, Cold charged first, screaming. He tried punch the woman with his right first, but she jumped over and started a vertical stroke with her sword to cut Cold in half. At least that was what she wanted him to believe, from her position! Cold, being the great fighter he was, saw this trick coming when he noticed Videl subtly changing her grip on the sword. He stooped immediately, avoiding a sudden horizontal strike: phew! If he had been wrong, he would have been cut into two!

Spending no time for further thought, Cold attacked again with his right fist, a fast and powerful blow that Videl narrowly avoided by stepping back a few inches. Cold's left fist connected with her face.

The frail woman seemed to fly as easily as a kickball. The sound from the impact rang two seconds, and when Videl regained consciousness, she stood to her feet again.

"Damn, what a blow! I'm not gonna be able to hold out long unless I crank up the power! Now it'll really become a race against the clock!"

She heard Cold scream once more. He had jumped up towards her from the ring. Videl broke his upwards "fall" and gripped her sword with her left hand. She concentrated and shouted:

"Kaioken next level!"

Cold laughed when he came close to the fighter from universe 9. With her new power she was faster and more versatile; she swung the sword again to try to slash her opponent upwards. But he managed to stop himself just in front of the swipe, the blade nearly reaching his raised chin! So fast! He was both really strong and a true tactician; he knew the sword was heavy and that with the strength she had used to swing she would be helplessly pulled backwards by the momentum. Videl was now a prime target! He attacked with his fist, her face so close that it was almost too easy!

Cold had time to see the unwavering determination of the warrior. She did not acknowledge defeat. She took advantage of the weight of the sword, spinning herself back faster and just narrowly avoiding the punch. She concluded by flanking the demon's stomach with both feet. She was much more powerful than Cold imagined. The first few clashes between them had not been indicative of her true power.

Cold lost a little ground as he let out a surprised gasp. Videl attacked without sparing a single moment for rest: she tried to cut him, violently swinging the Z sword, each time a little closer to the goal. She was both strong and fast, and Cold could not risk attempting to parry the blade with his arm.

In Universe 1, the gods were commenting on the fight.

"It appears as if she is finally fighting with her maximum power," said the East Kaioshin.

"She's running out of breath quickly as the fight drags on," added the South Kaioshin. He continued. "This Videl is clearly weaker than a Kaioshin, yet somehow she was able to remove the sword."

"We all tried to remove it, in vain of course," the North Kaioshin pointed out. "But this confirms my previous hypothesis. I have always theorized that the Z-sword was specifically protected against being wielded or removed by a Kaioshin. Perhaps it was intentional, that the sword would only name a hero from the lower realms."

"So who is she then, this hero?" asked the West Kaioshin. "We must go and talk with her afterwards. I for one am very curious regarding how she came to possess the blade."

Not far from the gods, in the space for universe 3, the warrior Tapion had heard everything. He had noticed that this sword gave off a special aura, a heroic aura. This was consistent with the various statements of the gods. He told this to his old friend Dr. Raichi. He was keeper of a vast amount of knowledge, but this particularly mystery was one he seemed uninterested in. The pointy-eared fighter, who had still not stepped into the daylight, expressed a similar sentiment. He seemed barely aware the tournament was even taking place. Tapion hadn't even learned his name.

No matter, he was not going to fight him. Raichi, however, could potentially meet him in the next match. But Tapion was waiting eagerly for his own match!

The fight continued on the ring. Cold had taken the bull by the horns and was attacking every now and then. Videl managed to maintain a distance, using the sword to keep him on edge at all times. On the other hand, to lose would be a different story.

In the space of Universe 16, Videl was in deep thought. She had never been able to be as strong as the other fighters. And at that moment she regretted it. If she had been stronger, perhaps she would have had the guts to intervene and save her daughter... If she were serious, and had followed the same training as her daughter...perhaps things could have ended differently? If that day when she, for once, decided to follow Pan to train with Vegetto and Bra, she had been serious, everything might have changed. If she had flown with all of her heart when Vegetto instructed his students to fly around the planet. If only...

A tear rolled down the cheek of a mother who had lost her daughter, who blamed herself for not being strong enough. Gohan put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her, while continuing to follow the fight of his wife from an alternative universe.

"Nice stamina!" said Kulilin from universe 9. "She really has improved, but I didn't know it would be this much. I certainly wouldn't have lasted this long against King Cold. Well, either him or the exhaustion from the use of Kaioken intensively and continuously would have gotten me. But she's keeping the demon at a distance despite the weight of the sword."

"That's our little Videl," Yamcha said, who smiled with proud at her progress. She was sort of the darling of the new generation, the most promising.

"Surely the sword mustn't weight too much more than your shell, Master Kulilin," Trunks intervened to defend his girlfriend. "If, at your age, you're able to tote that thing around, it makes sense that she should be able to do at least the same."

"You see, my former pupil, I'm just really impressed," Kulilin replied. "I'm just not sure I would have lasted this long."

"As usual, you underestimate yourself," replied Trunks.

Kulilin smiled and ended it at that. What mattered now was Videl's fight.

She had apparently cornered the demon and used the opportunity for a full power slice! It was a sharp swing from top to bottom that just barely missed the target! The sword dug into the ring. Cold had engineered it all; he had dodged the blow but waited until the last instant. Videl had seen it all, realized it too late, and could do nothing; if she let go of the sword in order to dodge the next blow, Cold would never let her recover her weapon. Worse still, he might take it for himself! Videl preferred to just take the hit while keeping the sword.

But that's not what happened. Cold had a different plan. The sword bothered him for two reasons: first, for the reach it offered to his opponent, making it tricky for him to get close. Then, for the potential danger of the blade. She had managed to scratch him when he was in first form of restriction. His conclusion: he had to get rid of the sword. No better way to do that than to break it!

He punched it with all his might. To the surprise, not just of Videl from universe 9, but also of the gods of the universe 1, the sword broke. The long piece flew who knows where and the other remained in the shocked Videl's hand. In space 18, Son Goku could not help but smile. He knew what was coming. Vegetto, in space 16, knew it too. For the warrior of universe 9, the fight would take a really hard turn.