Large Magellanic Cloud, Hala.
In the sky, gone were the usual bustling trade ships, gone the patrolling Kree Accuser fleets.
Instead, five thousand pure-white warships bore a purple "Frieza" crest, sealing off every orbit around Hala like a vast white net.
That was the Frieza Force's fleet.
"Oh my…"
On the observation deck of the flagship Emperor.
Frieza sat in a golden hover-pod, swirling a millennium-old vintage from the Asgardian cellars.
His scarlet eyes looked through the transparent shield. He gazed down at the Planet below—high-tech yet reeking of stale decadence.
"So this is the capital of the Kree Empire? These dreary colors are exactly like that Ronan's face—utterly nauseating."
Frieza curled his lip in disgust. "As my future Asset No. 004, this hideous decor will have to be razed and rebuilt."
Behind him, Apocalypse, Loki, Erik and the others, clad in white-and-purple combat suits, stood with heads bowed. Though they straightened their backs, after seeing Frieza one-punch Galactus into oblivion, reverence was carved so deep they hardly dared breathe.
"What's this?"
Frieza tilted his head, frowning at the silent group.
"All struck dumb?"
"Must I personally hand out flyers to those blue freaks announcing their property's been seized?"
"N-no, Lord Frieza!"
Apocalypse shuddered and dropped to one knee.
"I will lead a force down and evict those unruly squatters at once!"
"Evict?"
Frieza sighed at him, disappointment written across his face.
"Apocalypse, take a look."
Frieza pointed at the dense Kree fortifications below and said, "That's the Kree Empire's heritage of millennia—hundreds of thousands of elite Accuser-level troops. With the sorry lot of you, charging down would just be serving yourselves up as side dishes. Then I'd have to fish you out myself—how embarrassing."
Apocalypse and Loki exchanged glances and lowered their heads in shame. Reluctant as they were to admit it, Frieza was right.
They might rule on Earth, but before a true star-spanning empire they were outclassed. A single broadside from those warships would be more than they could handle.
"Honestly…"
Frieza set down his glass and rubbed his brow in exasperation. "I'd meant to be a hands-off boss. Instead, I recruited a cheer squad that only knows how to chant 'nice one'. This batch of employees is hopeless."
He drifted out of his hover-pod.
Looking at these loyal, if weak, first-generation subordinates—still fairly handy—he sighed.
"Very well. If we're to do great things, first sharpen your tools."
Frieza raised his right hand. In his palm, a mass of near-liquid purple Ki began swirling violently.
It wasn't ordinary energy—it was the boundless Ki from within Golden Frieza.
"Open your mouths."
"Huh?" Loki blinked.
"Lord Frieza, this…"
"Less talk."
With a casual wave, Frieza sent several purple streaks shooting like living things into Apocalypse, Loki, Erik, Sebastian and the rest.
Boom!
In an instant, a terrifying aura exploded across the bridge.
Apocalypse felt his body about to burst. The power surged through every cell, and a purple-gold sheen surfaced on his once-blue skin.
"Roar!!!"
He threw his head back and howled, body no larger, yet the pressure a hundredfold greater than his previous giant form.
Loki stared at his hands in shock as his magic transformed under the wash of Ki. He felt he could slap away his hammer-wielding oaf of a brother even if the man stood revived before him.
"T-this is Lord Frieza's power?"
Erik trembled with excitement, the metal deck groaning under his magnetic field.
Frieza watched, satisfied. "Not bad."
He did a quick mental conversion.
'By Dragon Ball standards, these guys' power levels are easily over a hundred thousand now.'
What does a power level of one hundred thousand even mean?
Back in the day, Captain Ginyu only had one hundred twenty thousand.
And in this Marvel Cinematic Universe…
'That's roughly equivalent to…'
Frieza rubbed his chin. 'An entire legion of Odins who aren't holding Gungnir?'
Even without the divine weapon's boost, their raw physical strength and energy output are absolutely overwhelming.
"Alright, stop admiring yourselves." Frieza waved a hand, cutting through the crowd's excitement.
"I've already given you the power. If you still can't conquer this lousy planet…"
Frieza's gaze turned ice-cold. "Then I'll have to flush every last one of you down the toilet."
"Understood?"
"Yes, Lord Frieza!!!"
By now, Apocalypse and Loki's confidence had swollen to its peak. They felt they could tear warships apart with their bare hands and crush Planets beneath their feet.
"Move out!" Apocalypse roared.
He led the group in smashing straight through the bridge's glass and plunged toward the planet below—Hala.
Hala.
Supreme Intelligence Hall.
A vast green face appeared on the screen—the crystallized intellect of the entire Kree Empire: the Supreme Intelligence.
Yet at this moment, the perfectly rational bio-computer was trapped in a logical loop.
"Probability of victory: zero…"
"Probability of survival: zero…"
"Recommendation: surrender immediately, petition to become a slave class, preserve the genetic spark."
The fanatic who had succeeded Ronan as leader of the Kree Accusers, standing below, suddenly yanked his war-hammer free.
"Shut up, you broken machine!"
He smashed the control panel linked to the Supreme Intelligence.
"The Kree Empire will never be slaves!"
"That so-called Frieza, no matter how strong, is still just one being!"
"We have hundreds of billions of citizens! Endless fleets! We'll bury him in bodies if we have to!"
The Accuser leader turned to face the equally zealous Kree officers behind him.
"All of you, hear this!"
"For the glory of the Kree!"
"Fight to the death!"
"Kill them all!!!"
Rumble—
Hala's surface split open instantly.
Countions hidden anti-air turrets rose, and dense swarms of Kree fighters poured from the atmosphere like hornets.
Even against the monster said to have felled Galactus with a single punch, this most stubborn warrior race in the cosmos still chose to bare its blade.
The instant they broke through the atmosphere, several figures radiating terrifying aura plummeted like meteors.
"Is this the Kree Empire's welcome ceremony?"
Apocalypse, leading the charge, looked at the sky-filling barrage, his blue face twisted into a savage grin.
He could feel the surging, seemingly inexhaustible power inside him—a strength he had never known before.
"Too weak."
"Far too weak."
Apocalypse flung his arms wide.
No need to grow gigantic, no need for telekinetic tricks—he simply released the Ki within.
Boom!!!
A purple energy tempest erupted from him, sweeping across a hundred kilometers of sky in an instant.
The Kree fighters that had just taken off were like paper planes caught in a hurricane. They disintegrated, exploded, and turned into balls of fire that filled the air.
"Hahaha! Is this the power Lord Frieza granted?"
Laughing madly, Apocalypse punched the air. The fist-compressed air became a cannon that razed an entire military base to the ground.
Elsewhere, Loki's figure flickered like a phantom through the Kree fleet. The dagger in his hand had been replaced by an energy blade forged from Ki.
"So this is what it feels like to be a god?"
With a casual swipe, he sliced a thousand-meter heavy cruiser cleanly in half as if it were tofu.
The sensation of cutting metal like butter made Loki shiver with delight.
"I am a god! A true god!"
"Thor, if you were still alive and saw me now, you'd wet yourself in terror."
Erik, even more in his element, had his magnetic control range cover half the planet under the boost of Ki.
"All of you… crumble!"
He clenched his fist and thousands of Kree warships beyond the atmosphere were instantly crushed into metallic pancakes by their own hulls.
High above.
Frieza lounged in his hover pod, sipping his wine as he admired the brilliant carnage below.
"Not bad."
"Now this looks like the imperial guard of the Emperor of the universe."
"Seems my investment has finally paid off."