"Ahhh!!!"
High above, Louis clenched his fists. The silver glow around him vanished, replaced by a flash of golden light.
Veins bulged on Louis's forehead as his roar grew louder.
Rumble—!
The mountains trembled and the earth split apart!
A beam of golden light shot into the sky.
Louis's hair turned golden in an instant.
Super Saiyan!!!
His battle power surged from one billion to fifty billion!!
"Not bad, kid! What kind of transformation is this?"
"Hah... hah..."
Louis hovered in the air, panting heavily. "It's a special transformation unique to the Saiyan race. It's called Super Saiyan!"
Super Saiyan?
Beerus suddenly recalled a scene from his dream. It seemed that one day he would meet a powerful opponent called a Super Saiyan God!
But...
Beerus looked at Louis and frowned. "Kid, is that the full extent of your power?"
That was right!
Even though Louis's power had increased fiftyfold, he still wasn't much to look at.
In the Super anime, one hundred billion battle power should be about the same as Son Goku's when he first encountered Beerus on North Kai's Planet.
But when Son Goku challenged Beerus, Beerus had crushed him into the ground with a single finger!!!
In Beerus's eyes, Louis was still far too weak!
"Louis, in just ten years, your dimension has advanced to the Kai level, your power has increased considerably, and you've even developed the Rudimentary Autonomous State..."
"You really do have incredible talent, but you're still too weak right now."
"Keep training for a few more years. Let's call it here for now!"
Beerus shook his head, deciding not to continue the fight. If they kept going, his God of Destruction Realm would be completely destroyed.
Lava was erupting everywhere in the God of Destruction Realm, and the pungent smell of sulfur filled the air. The scene looked like the end of the world.
In a little while, two minutes would have passed. If that happened, Whis wouldn't be able to restore the God of Destruction Realm to its original state.
"Lord Beerus, take one last punch!"
Louis had felt utterly frustrated fighting Beerus, since he'd been on the receiving end the whole time.
Now that he'd transformed for the first time, he had to feel the power of the strongest God of Destruction in the Zeno Universe, no matter what.
"Then come at me!"
Beerus clasped his hands behind his back, his expression serious.
"Whis, Louis..."
"Don't worry. He'll be fine!"
On the ground, Whis shielded Tights from the lava around them.
High above, Louis clenched his fist as golden energy covered it. The space around him trembled slightly.
He poured his power into it!!
Fifty billion units of power gathered in his fist.
"Here I come!"
Louis moved!!
A streak of golden light shot across the sky, rushing toward Beerus.
Beerus remained expressionless. He raised his index finger and gently pointed it forward.
Rumble—!
A blinding flash erupted where the fist met the finger, and the powerful impact rang out across the entire God of Destruction Realm.
The lava below looked like an ocean as the tremendous force sent up wave after wave!
One part of the God of Destruction Realm crumbled, and the destruction spread faster and faster!
The recoil sent Louis skidding backward through the air for tens of thousands of kilometers. His upper body was bare; his God of Destruction uniform had shattered under the strongest God of Destruction's blow!
Yet Louis wasn't injured, thanks to the effect of "Immunity."
"Th-that's... incredible!"
Louis swallowed. Only then did he realize that even after using every trick at his disposal, he hadn't managed to ruffle a single hair on Beerus's head.
Soon, under Whis's Temporal Do-Over, the God of Destruction Realm returned to the state it had been in before the destruction.
Stunned by the incredible reversal of time, Tights couldn't help glancing at Whis. He seemed even more terrifying than the two Gods of Destruction.
By the lake.
Louis and Beerus's fight was over, and two more cups of instant noodles sat on the table. Beerus sat in a chair, watching the steaming noodles and swallowing repeatedly.
Whis was no better.
His eyes shone as he stared fixedly at the instant noodles on the table, wishing the two minutes would hurry up and pass so he could eat them again.
Louis no longer looked as disheveled as he had moments ago. He glanced at Beerus with a teasing smile.
"Lord Beerus, Tights brought these instant noodles. Can she stay in the God of Destruction Realm?"
"If anyone dares to kick Tights out, they'll have me to deal with!!!"
Beerus didn't look at Louis. His gaze stayed fixed on the instant noodles.
Louis glanced at Whis,
as if to say, See? I told you Lord Beerus wouldn't object.
Whis rolled his eyes. With food this delicious, even if Lord Beerus did object, I'd beat him until he changed his mind!
"Hehe, Tights, how are you going to thank me?"
After getting Beerus's approval, Louis turned to Tights with a smug look.
Tights covered her mouth and giggled. "Lord Louis is the most handsome and wonderful!"
"Of course, of course!"
Louis raised his head, savoring the praise. The tail behind him was practically sticking straight up into the sky.
"By the way, as a condition of protecting you, I'm putting you in charge of our meals from now on."
"Of course, when I go out on missions, I'll take you along to find material for your novels. You don't need to worry about that."
"Okay."
Tights breathed a sigh of relief. At last, she had somewhere safe to stay.
Two minutes later, Beerus and Whis were devouring the instant noodles.
Whis had eaten them once before, but he still couldn't help marveling at how delicious they were.
Since it was Beerus's first time trying them, he nearly cried as he ate. What kind of swill had he been eating all this time?
After a while,
once the two had eaten their fill, Louis asked, "Lord Beerus, how much stronger do I need to get before I can reach the God Realm?"
Beerus reclined in a lounge chair, sipping a drink Tights had brought out. He pondered the question.
"The difference between mortals and gods lies in their dimensions. Although your dimension has advanced to the Kai level, strictly speaking, you still belong to the mortal level."
"And it's difficult for a mortal to fight a God of Destruction through sheer power alone."
"That's because a God of Destruction's power is imbued with divine energy. Ordinary mortals can't withstand it."
Beerus looked at Louis. "There are exceptions, though. There's a guy in Universe 11 named Jiren. It seems he can fight a God of Destruction despite being a mortal."
"If you want to fight me too, Louis... well, in your Super Saiyan state, you'd need to get at least one hundred thousand times stronger before you'd qualify to trade a few blows with me!"
One hundred thousand times!
Louis stared in shock. Even Super Saiyan 3 only increased power four hundredfold. If he started with one billion and multiplied it another one hundred thousand times, how high would his battle power be?
And that would only qualify him to trade a few blows!!
"Louis, in the eyes of a God of Destruction, battle power can no longer be used to measure strength."
Seeing Louis's confusion, Whis explained, "Dimensions are divided into the levels of King Enma, Kai, gods, angels..."
"Power, on the other hand, is divided into mortal, God Realm, and Angel Realm..."
"The God Realm is further divided into five levels. Lord Beerus is at the fifth level. As for the other universes' Gods of Destruction, only Quitela of Universe 4 has just reached the fifth level. The rest are all at the fourth level of the God Realm!"
Tights, who was standing nearby, exclaimed in shock, "Wow, does that mean Lord Beerus is the strongest God of Destruction?"
"That's right, that's right!"
Hearing Tights's cry of admiration, Beerus's vanity was thoroughly gratified.
No wonder Louis had let her stay. She really knew how to flatter someone.
Not bad, not bad!
Louis was speechless. Then he asked, "Whis, what should I do to break through to the God Realm?"
Whis began, "There are two ways to break through to the God Realm."
"First, as Lord Beerus just said, someone in Universe 11 can fight a God of Destruction using mortal power. That's because he's trained his mortal power to the absolute limit."
"As far as I know, that guy named Jiren should have mortal power slightly greater than that of someone at the fourth level of the God Realm!!"
Whis saw the astonished looks on Louis and Tights's faces and continued, "The second method is to train your dimension until it reaches the level of the gods. That will transform your power from mortal power into divine power."
"Mortals can't sense divine power, and its strength is beyond anything mortals can match."
"Take Shin, for example. He's merely a creation deity, and his own power isn't very strong. But Shin's dimension is at the level of the gods, and his power is divine. That's why he's stronger than Frieza."
Hearing this, Louis understood. "I get it. With equal amounts of power, divine power is stronger than mortal power, right?"
"So if I start with my current one billion battle power and transform the mortal power in my body into divine power, can I break through to the God Realm?"
"Haha, that's the idea, but one billion battle power isn't enough for you!"
"So if you want to break through to the God Realm, you should focus on training your dimension until it reaches the level of the gods."
Whis smiled, then suddenly grew serious. "By the way, Louis, that transformation you used earlier was actually the wrong one. Don't use it again."
Before Louis could say anything, Tights asked, "Why? Louis looked so handsome with golden hair!"
"Tights, you don't understand. Maintaining that form takes a huge amount of stamina, and it also puts tremendous strain on his body."
Whis had noticed the drawbacks the moment Louis transformed into a Super Saiyan.
Beerus set down his drink. "Louis, Whis is right. True strength comes from within. That transformation is the wrong path. Give it up!"
Was it really the wrong path?
Louis thought of the perfect form from the original story: Super Saiyan 4!
"No, this is a transformation unique to the Saiyan race. You'll understand in the future."
Before you continue