"Hmph!"
Beerus gave a low growl, tightened his core, and swung his arm with a sudden burst of force!
Vitelli felt an overwhelming force crash into him. His body instantly went limp, and he was hurled away like a stone flung from a catapult!
Whoosh—! His figure streaked through the air, leaving a long silver trail behind him.
But Beerus was faster than Vitelli could fly! The instant he flung Vitelli away, Beerus vanished from where he stood as if by teleportation. The next second, he appeared precisely behind Vitelli's flight path!
Smack—!!!
A sharp, thunderous crack rang out, loud enough to break the sound barrier!
With a mischievous smile that said he'd pulled off a prank, Beerus delivered a powerful, precisely angled kick that landed squarely on Vitelli's completely unguarded... butt!
"Gah—!"
Caught off guard, Vitelli sucked in a sharp breath from the pain!
It wasn't just physical pain. More importantly, this sudden, utterly undignified low blow—completely unbecoming of a god like Beerus—instantly disrupted the elusive state of mind he was struggling to maintain!
The silver glow around his body wavered violently, nearly collapsing altogether!
Vitelli forced himself to steady his body and clutched his stinging butt. His silver-white eyes brimmed with incredulous embarrassment and anger as he glared through gritted teeth at Beerus, who wore an "innocent" smile in the distance.
"Beerus! Can't you take a hit?! You're the God of Destruction, and you kicked me in the butt?!"
"Hohoho~ It's a fight. All that matters is winning. Who says you can't kick someone in the butt?"
Beerus spread his hands, looking completely unapologetic.
Vitelli was speechless with rage. He stopped wasting words!
His hands moved rapidly in front of him, generating countless silver Ki Blasts compressed to their absolute limit. They poured toward Beerus like a torrential downpour!
At the same time, Vitelli hid his figure behind the storm of Ki Blasts and charged again!
Beerus remained calm. His hands blurred into a purple curtain of light, batting the incoming Ki Blasts away with precision as casually as swatting flies!
His golden, slit-pupiled eyes stayed fixed on the figure following close behind the Ki Blasts!
Vitelli's stern face, still twisted with embarrassment and anger, broke into a barely noticeable smile as he charged.
Just as he reached the final Ki Blast and was about to get within striking distance of Beerus—
Vitelli abruptly brought both hands up beside his forehead, palms open and aimed at Beerus's sharp golden eyes!
"SO—LAR—FLARE—!!!"
His shout rang out like a clap of thunder!
Hummm—!!!!
An indescribably blinding golden light burst without warning from between Vitelli's palms, swallowing Beerus's vision in an instant!
The light was so intense, it was as if the entire sky had turned gold!
Below the two fighting in the sky, Bulma couldn't see a thing from inside her aircraft. She complained, "Hey! I can't see anything like this!"
"Hohoho~" Whis chuckled as he stood beside Bulma's aircraft, casually batting away a few Ki Blasts Beerus had knocked aside that might otherwise have reached them.
Hearing Bulma's complaint, he gracefully waved the Scepter in his hand, and a clear projection instantly appeared inside the cockpit of Bulma's aircraft.
It showed Vitelli and Beerus fighting, but the action had been slowed down countless times, like a slow-motion replay that let Bulma see every detail.
"Wow! Thanks, Whis!"
Bulma exclaimed in delight, her eyes immediately fixed on the projection.
And then... disaster struck.
The projection happened to be replaying, in slow motion, the moment Vitelli brought his hands to his forehead and unleashed that golden flash...
Hummm—!!!
Even through the slow-motion projection, Vitelli's Solar Flare still caught Bulma off guard.
"Ah—! My eyes!!"
Bulma let out a miserable cry and quickly covered her eyes with her hands.
After Beerus, she too had been successfully blinded by the "Solar Flare"...
In the sky, the devastating golden light flashed and quickly faded.
Beerus kept his eyes tightly shut, a helpless tear seeping from the corner of one eye.
He shook his head hard, trying to clear the lingering spots of light and dizziness from his vision.
As the God of Destruction, his eyes couldn't actually be injured, but the sudden blinding effect left him feeling more... frustrated than ever!
Vitelli hovered in the distance, smiling as he watched Beerus's sorry state. His silver-white eyes glinted with mischief.
"Oh? What's wrong, Lord Beerus? Even a noble god... can get his eyes hurt by a little mortal trick?"
He put particular emphasis on the word "noble."
"Bastard!!!"
Beerus abruptly opened his still-uncomfortable eyes, fury blazing within them!
That bastard—he'd only kicked him once, and now he was acting like his sneak attack was perfectly justified?! How outrageous! (And both of them were bastards.)
Humm!
Space seemed to twist.
Beerus's figure was still standing where he'd been, but another "Beerus" appeared before Vitelli without warning, as if by teleportation!
He moved faster than Vitelli's current state could even perceive!
Beerus brought his fingers together and formed a blade with his hand. His arm swept toward Vitelli's chest like a sharp knife, accompanied by a shrill sound that tore through space!
This strike carried all the fury Beerus felt at being toyed with, along with his true power!
Vitelli's pupils contracted to pinpoints! He didn't even have time to dodge!
Yet before his mind could give the command, his arms crossed in front of his chest as fast as a reflex!
The God Ki he had cultivated under Whis instinctively gathered around his arms!
Boom—!!!!
A dull, terrifying impact rang out!
Vitelli felt as if a planet flying at high speed had slammed into him head-on!
Pain shot through his arms, and his bones groaned under the unbearable strain!
He was blasted away like a cannonball by the irresistible force! A trace of blood spilled from his mouth!
Beerus didn't pause for even a moment! His figure blurred again, instantly catching up with the flying Vitelli and appearing above him to one side!
This time, Vitelli's body couldn't react in time!
Boom!!!
A heavy punch packed with tremendous force slammed squarely into the left side of Vitelli's face!
"Gah!"
Vitelli's vision went black as pain and intense dizziness washed over him!
His body went completely limp, and he plummeted toward the ground like a broken kite!
Rumble—!!!
Vitelli crashed into the rocky wasteland like a meteor, kicking up a vast cloud of dust and forming a massive crater!
"Vitelli!"
Bulma's heart leapt into her throat. Forgetting the sting in her eyes, she stared fixedly at the projection.
The dust slowly settled.
At the center of the crater, Vitelli knelt on one knee, supporting himself with his right hand as he gasped for breath.
Blood streaked the corner of his mouth, and his left cheek was swollen and bruised, but his silver-white eyes remained sharp as he glared at the God of Destruction in the sky.
Beerus slowly descended to the edge of the crater and looked down at him. His golden, slit-pupiled eyes still burned with anger, but there was also a hint of solemn respect in them.
"Yeah! Vitelli! Hit him back!"
Seeing that Vitelli didn't seem to be in too bad a shape, Bulma couldn't help pumping her fist and cheering softly.
"It's too soon for that, Miss Bulma."
Whis had somehow taken out another bag of snacks and was eating elegantly, but his purple eyes shone brightly.
"Lord Beerus is about to get a little more serious. And as for Vitelli... his real fight may only just be beginning."
Boom—!!!!
As if to prove Whis's words, an even more terrifying purple aura erupted from Beerus!
He stopped hovering and instead kicked off the ground! The rocky wasteland beneath his feet collapsed and shattered instantly, like a brittle biscuit!
A massive sonic boom exploded behind him! He became a destructive purple meteor, charging wildly at Vitelli in the crater with enough force to crush everything in his path!
Here he comes!
Vitelli's pupils shrank. His body seemed to feel the terrifying force that could crush him before it even reached him!
He endured the pain and circulated his energy frantically!
With a flash, he stopped trying to take Beerus head-on and flew rapidly toward the higher reaches of the sky—the stratosphere above Earth!
Beerus sneered and followed close behind. The two figures broke through the clouds one after the other and reached the edge of Earth's atmosphere.
The air was thin here, and sunlight poured down without obstruction. Below them stretched the curve of the blue planet; above them lay the boundless depths of space.
The two hovered thousands of meters apart near the edge of the nearly airless stratosphere. The raging winds and aftershocks from their earlier battle were faint here.
The purple aura around Beerus slowly subsided, but his destructive pressure grew even more concentrated.
He looked at Vitelli with his golden, slit-pupiled eyes. The mockery and anger were gone, replaced by a hint of... admiration?
"Kid,"
Beerus's voice carried clearly through the thin air to Vitelli.
"You're pretty good."
He narrowed his eyes slightly, as if making a decision, and grinned enticingly.
"Think about becoming Universe 7's Apprentice God of Destruction?"
Vitelli froze, surprise flashing through his silver-white eyes.
He'd imagined that Beerus would keep attacking, taunt him, or maybe even use a more powerful technique...
But he'd never expected Beerus to make him an offer in the middle of their fight! An Apprentice God of Destruction?
Uh... Vitelli barely hesitated before slowly shaking his head.
"I refuse."
His voice was calm and firm.
Why become a God of Destruction? What he sought was the absolute pinnacle of personal power! The unfathomable Ultra Instinct! Once he truly mastered Ultra Instinct Technique, what could a mere God of Destruction possibly mean to him?
Beerus seemed to have expected that answer. He snorted and said nothing more.
The battle lust in his golden, slit-pupiled eyes burned even brighter! If Vitelli didn't want to become a God of Destruction, he could prove his path through strength!
There was no need for words! Vitelli's gaze sharpened, and silver radiance surged around him once more! This time, he launched the first attack! His figure became a silver bolt of lightning that tore through space as he charged straight at Beerus!
Purple light blazed around Beerus as he likewise became a streak of destructive purple light and charged to meet him!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom—!!!
Only now did the fight truly reach its boiling point! Neither of them held anything back!
The edge of the stratosphere seemed to erupt with countless nuclear bombs!
Every clash of fists and feet unleashed a storm of energy ten times more terrifying than before!