A blinding white flash swallowed the battlefield.
For one impossible instant, the entire world seed painted in pure light.
Then ca the shaking.
The earth trembled violently beneath New York as the roar arrived a heartbeat later, a deafening explosion that rolled across the city like divine artillery.
Far from the impact zone, Invisible Woman and the others watched the horizon ignite.
A mushroom cloud climbed into the sky.
The expanding pillar of destruction shifted from pale gold to burning crimson as it rose higher and higher, layer upon layer of shockwave clouds stacking upward like the roar of so colossal beast.
Everything beneath it vanished.
The surface of the ground was erased by heat before the deeper layers were ripped upward by the explosion itself. Dust storms swallowed entire districts. The landscape transford into a gray wasteland.
The temperature alone annihilated all life within the blast radius.
Anything caught inside simply ceased to exist.
Concrete lted into glass.
Scorched earth crumbled into ash at the slightest touch.
From above, the city looked like it had been carved apart by an angry god.
Even structures outside the main blast zone weren't spared. Hurricane-force thermal winds tore through the surrounding streets, leaving only wreckage behind.
Long after the explosion ended, silence settled over the ruins.
Only drifting clouds of ash still floated through the sky.
The temperature slowly began to cool.
Everyone watching understood the sa terrifying truth.
A single living creature had unleashed destructive force greater than a nuclear weapon.
And Hulk had taken that attack head-on.
Now there was no movent from the green giant at all.
Maybe he was dead.
Maybe unconscious like Thing.
Nobody knew.
Despair spread rapidly across the battlefield.
Then soone appeared in the sky.
A black figure descended slowly through the smoke.
Dark Knight Drex.
Relief exploded through the city almost instantly.
"Seriously," Tony Stark muttered through damaged speakers, "why does this guy only show up at the last possible second?"
Of course, Tony also understood why.
Drex Valen practically carried half the planet on his back already. Director of S.W.O.R.D. Leader of Umbrella. Creator of technologies decades beyond humanity's reach.
The man probably didn't even rember what free ti looked like anymore.
Still...
Tony stared toward the smoking crater where Raditz floated.
After witnessing that monstrous attack, even he wasn't sure Drex could win.
Drex landed calmly on the shattered ground.
Raditz narrowed his eyes.
"And who are you?"
"The Dark Knight," Drex replied evenly. "Saiyan... what you said earlier about selling planets. Was that true?"
The question instantly drew the attention of the entire world.
Everyone wanted the answer.
"Of course," Raditz said with a grin while secretly recovering his energy. "We Saiyans make money selling high-quality planets. Earth fits the criteria perfectly."
"And humanity?"
Drex asked the question quietly.
Raditz looked confused for half a second before laughing.
"Idiot. We wipe out all native life before the sale."
His energy had finally recovered enough.
The grin on his face sharpened.
"You can't sell a planet properly with pests still crawling on it."
Drex nodded slowly.
"So negotiation is impossible."
The instant the words left his mouth, Raditz attacked.
An energy blast scread across the battlefield toward Drex.
At the sa ti, Raditz frowned at his scouter.
No reading.
The device couldn't detect Drex's power level at all.
Then the energy blast vanished.
Drex raised one hand casually.
A translucent energy barrier appeared before him, perfectly neutralizing the incoming attack.
Raditz's eyes widened.
"Energy neutralization technology," Drex explained calmly. "A specialized application of energy shielding."
Neither Raditz nor most of Earth's population understood a word of that explanation.
It sounded like advanced physics had wandered into a fistfight.
"Hmph. Then I'll just crush you directly!"
Raditz vanished.
A sonic boom detonated through the ruins as he appeared directly in front of Drex and threw a punch strong enough to pulverize skyscrapers.
Drex caught it effortlessly.
Raditz imdiately noticed sothing strange.
Drex's hand was vibrating at incredible speed.
His own punch had lost nearly all destructive force upon impact.
"Vibration can disperse kinetic energy extrely effectively," Drex said casually. "Very useful for defending against purely physical attacks."
His own fist began vibrating now.
The air around it distorted.
"And every material possesses a natural resonant frequency."
Raditz didn't understand a single word.
"Once you find that frequency," Drex continued, "you can destroy anything through resonance."
Then he punched.
Raditz instinctively blocked with his arm.
It was the wrong decision.
The instant Drex's fist connected, violent resonance surged through Raditz's arm. The vibrations amplified uncontrollably until the limb exceeded its structural limits.
CRACK.
The Saiyan's arm snapped apart.
"AAAAAAAH!"
Raditz staggered backward, clutching the ruined limb in disbelief.
What just happened?
Natural frequency?
Resonance?
What the hell was this guy talking about?
Only Tony Stark looked thoughtful.
Everyone else just stared blankly.
Panicked now, Raditz unleashed a furious barrage of energy blasts with his remaining hand.
Drex didn't even bother raising his arm this ti.
A pale blue energy field spread across the surface of his nanotech armor.
Every incoming blast dissolved harmlessly upon contact.
The attacks that had nearly killed multiple superheroes monts earlier now looked weaker than sparks against Drex's defenses.
Raditz couldn't process it.
Grinding his teeth, he began gathering energy again for another massive beam attack.
"Don't let him fire that thing again!" Tony shouted imdiately.
Drex nodded once.
Then he casually waved a hand.
Raditz froze.
For a brief second, nothing happened.
Then the Saiyan split cleanly in half.
No one saw the attack.
There was no visible projectile.
No flash.
No sound.
Just separation.
Drex didn't bother explaining this one.
The fight was already over.
But even while dying, Raditz started laughing.
Blood poured from his body as he grinned viciously.
"What are you laughing at?" Drex asked.
"Earthling..." Raditz wheezed. "You're strong... but I'm just a low-class Saiyan warrior... the weakest kind..."
His grin widened.
"Stronger Saiyans will co here eventually... and when they do... they'll kill everyone on this planet..."
He laughed until the last breath left his body.
Then silence returned.
But his final words struck Earth harder than any attack.
More Saiyans were coming.
Maybe in ten years.
Maybe tomorrow.
And Raditz...
This monster capable of leveling cities...
Had apparently been considered weak among his own people.
Aricans might not fully understand Saiyan military rankings, but they understood one thing perfectly:
Low-class ant low-ranking.
The implications were horrifying.
Would humanity survive the next invasion?
One week later, the Saiyan incident still haunted the planet.
Governnts across the world had entered ergency strategic talks.
Under the pressure of extinction, old rivalries suddenly felt aningless. Nations that had spent decades undermining one another were now forced to cooperate.
Humanity had finally found common ground.
Pure survival instinct.
anwhile, almost nobody talked about purchasing lunar residency slots anymore.
The arrival of the Saiyans had frightened humanity badly enough already.
Then Drex Valen introduced another idea to world leaders.
The Dark Forest Theory.
The concept hit like ice water poured down the spine of civilization.
Earth wasn't hiding from danger.
Earth was broadcasting its existence into an ocean filled with predators.
And suddenly, every world leader on the planet felt very, very small.
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