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Tagoma wiped his hand on the tunics of the two fallen aliens, a thin, satisfied smile twitching at the corner of his mouth.
He then moved slowly toward a door that looked more appropriate for a planetary overlord than a simple ship commander. He knocked with respectful precision.
"Frieza Sama… may I enter?"
Frieza's smooth, almost silken voice drifted from within. "Please, come in, Lord Tagoma."
Only after receiving permission did Tagoma nervously push the door open and step inside. He bowed low, greeting his master with practiced reverence.
"Frieza Sama, we will arrive at Planet M2 in approximately ten minutes." He paused, gathering his nerve. "I was wondering, my lord, do you intend to meet with King Cold first, or Lord Cooler?"
Frieza slowly spun the hovering pod he was seated in, his crimson eyes locking onto Tagoma. For a moment, that gaze seemed to bore into him, growing deep and utterly unknowable.
The look alone was enough to send a familiar, icy dread crawling up Tagoma's spine. He immediately broke eye contact, his head bowed in complete submission, as if Frieza's silent stare had communicated one clear message: You don't need to know.
But the next instant, Frieza's features softened into a polite, almost inviting smile. "Well then, Lord Tagoma, who do you think I should see first?"
Tagoma snapped to attention, his voice stiff and formal. "Frieza Sama, that is a decision that naturally falls to your personal judgment." He instantly regretted his earlier question and scrambled to course-correct.
Yet, Frieza seemed intent on pressing the issue.
"Lord Tagoma," Frieza continued, his tone calm but utterly chilling, "you are the chief commander of my forces. Surely, it is only fitting that you offer your honest counsel."
With that, Frieza rose from his pod. He clasped his hands behind his back, his eyes continuing to circle Tagoma like a predator leisurely toying with its meal.
Tagoma's nerves were stretched taut. His palms were slick with sweat, and he barely dared to glimpse Frieza from the corner of his eye. Frieza walked up right beside him, his hands still linked behind his back. The next moment, one of them came to rest lightly on Tagoma's shoulder.
"Lord Tagoma," Frieza murmured, his voice soft. "What is there to be afraid of?"
"I merely asked who you believe I should visit first."
"After all, you were the one who first reported that my father and Cooler had been resurrected."
At those words, a flicker of raw, sudden alarm crossed Tagoma's face. Frieza caught the change immediately.
"Is something the matter, my dear chief executive? Have I caught you at a loss for words?"
Finally, after that long, suffocating silence, Tagoma raised his head. The timid submissiveness from moments ago was gone, replaced by a strange, hard resolve.
"Frieza Sama," he said firmly, "since you dared to come here yourself, you've already made your true decision."
He took a breath. "If you'll allow me to be frank, I believe it would be best to deal with Lord Cooler first."
As he spoke, the spaceship shuddered, announcing their arrival at Planet M2.
"Very well then, Lord Tagoma," Frieza said with a faint, tight smile. "We shall do exactly as you suggest."
"We'll begin… with Cooler."
Tagoma nodded sharply. "Yes, Frieza Sama! As you command!"
He opened the door and hurried out of the room.
Out in the corridor, his gaze darted nervously from side to side. A cold knot of dread churned in his chest, and his heartbeat began to accelerate, pounding so fiercely it felt like it might fracture his ribs. His breathing grew heavy and shallow. The more anxious he became, the quicker his steps grew, light and hurried, like a man desperate to outrun a nightmare.
It seems… Frieza is already suspicious… Tagoma thought, his dread spiraling., Whoosh!, A figure suddenly materialized directly behind him.
"Lord Tagoma."
It was Frieza's voice.
Tagoma's legs instantly began to tremble. He turned around, forcing his lips into a smile that barely held together. "L-Frieza Sama… is something wrong?"
Before he could even finish the question, Frieza's form flickered, and in an instant, he appeared right at Tagoma's side. The suddenness of the move nearly ripped the breath from the commander's body.
"W-What is this, Frieza Sama?!"
Frieza's expression darkened. He spoke, almost to himself, "Lord Tagoma… no, that's not right. You are not Lord Tagoma."
His voice dropped to a near whisper. "Who are you, really?"
Sweat streamed down Tagoma's forehead. He contorted his face into a grotesque, forced grin. "L-Frieza Sama… I don't understand what you're implying."
"If I'm not Tagoma… then who else could I possibly be?"
As he spoke, the crushing weight of Frieza's aura slammed down on him, leaving him unable to resist. The words themselves lacked any conviction.
Frieza's sharp gaze glinted coldly. "Heh heh heh… you could be anyone, my friend, but you are definitely not my loyal Tagoma."
"Because from the very beginning… you've been lying to me."
Frieza's words were like shards of glass in Tagoma's ears. He grew frantic, instinctively staggering a few steps back. He had sensed Frieza was becoming wary, but he hadn't expected this sudden, brutal realization.
Damn it! How did he find out?! My disguise should have been flawless! What went wrong?!
Tagoma's eyes grew unfocused, his panic raw and unmistakable. Seeing this, Frieza's smirk deepened with smug satisfaction.
"Heh heh heh… just as I suspected."
"Would you like to know where you made your fatal mistake, 'Lord Tagoma'?"
Frieza looked at him with utter disdain, continuing in that same casual, mocking tone:
"It's because… Cooler and my father could never have been resurrected."
"The tall tale you spun about them being revived by the Two-Star Dragon Ball, that's simply a biological impossibility."
Frieza's words lashed Tagoma's nerves, but what came next finally, agonizingly, revealed the precise location of his blunder.
Frieza's eyes narrowed to cold slits. "Because the Two-Star Dragon Ball has been in my possession ever since I used it to make my wish."
"No one else in the universe knows this single fact, only me."
"From the very start, I only pretended to play along with you. I merely wished to see what grand scheme you were truly pursuing."
As he spoke, a faint crimson glow began to flicker in Frieza's hand, the tip of his finger gleaming with concentrated energy.
"Now, speak. Who are you really, and what is your objective?"
But instead of answering, Tagoma's face darkened. He lowered his head and began to softly chuckle. That low, muffled sound quickly swelled into wild, deranged laughter.
"Ha… hahahaha! As expected of the Emperor of the Universe, Frieza!"
"But do you truly believe… that King Cold and Cooler haven't been revived?"
"Since I've been exposed anyway…"
Before he could finish the sentence, a sudden surge of power erupted in Tagoma's right hand, and he slammed it, with full force, directly into his own chest!
Schkk!
Blood sprayed through the air. With his final, ragged breath, Tagoma glared up at Frieza and rasped:
"You'll… never know who I am. Because… you won't get the chance to find out."
"Now that… you've come to this planet… my mission… is complete…"
With that, Tagoma collapsed lifelessly into a pool of his own blood.
Frieza extended his senses, confirming that Tagoma's life force had completely and definitively vanished. Still, to be certain, he flicked his finger, and a thin, red laser beam pierced cleanly through the center of Tagoma's corpse.
"Heh heh heh… a suicide agent? How utterly tiresome."
"Well then… we shall see for ourselves what kind of amusement is truly waiting for us in this world."
Kicking Tagoma's body aside with a casual lift of his foot, Frieza stepped over the mess without a hint of hesitation and strode out of the ship.
(End Of This Chapter)