Beerus froze for a moment. Clearly, he hadn't expected Son Goku to say something like that to him.
"Afraid?"
Beerus glanced at Son Goku, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.
"If you're not afraid, then please fight me. I really want to see how powerful you are."
With that, Son Goku assumed a fighting stance and looked at Beerus expectantly.
"Fine."
To everyone's surprise, Beerus agreed.
"But if you defeat me, or if you help me find the Super Saiyan God, then I'll let this go.
"But if you can't do either of those things, then after I defeat you, I'll destroy the entire Earth and the North Galaxy."
Beerus's words were shocking, but no one thought he was joking.
"This..."
Son Goku froze.
"Come on, while I'm still a little interested."
Beerus yawned as he spoke, looking completely unconcerned.
"Whoosh!"
In his Super Saiyan form, Son Goku charged straight at Beerus.
He was so fast that he closed the distance in an instant.
"Kakarot's gotten a lot stronger while training in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber!"
Vegeta's eyes narrowed. Even he was surprised by Son Goku's speed.
But he didn't think Son Goku had the slightest chance in this state.
After all, against Beerus...
"Too slow!"
Beerus didn't even care about Son Goku's lightning-fast attack. The moment Son Goku reached him, he shifted his feet slightly and dodged, making it look as if Son Goku had simply missed.
"Take this! Take this! Take this!"
His attack missed, and Son Goku launched another furious assault.
Every strike was made with all his strength, yet none of them landed. Beerus avoided them all with seemingly casual movements.
It wasn't that Son Goku had poor timing.
Every time his attacks came close to hitting Beerus, Beerus easily dodged at the last possible moment.
It seemed Son Goku's speed was nothing to him—not enough to interest Beerus in the slightest.
And that was exactly the case.
As the God of Destruction and the strongest being in Universe 7 besides the Angels, Beerus possessed a level of power Son Goku couldn't even imagine.
To put it more plainly, Son Goku and Beerus weren't even in the same league!
"Lord Beerus, if you keep dodging, this fight won't go anywhere."
Son Goku stopped, fists clenched. He was exhausted.
More than that, he was bored!
"Bored?"
Beerus glanced at Son Goku.
"You're far too weak. Even when you transform into a Super Saiyan, you're no different to me."
Beerus spoke without a care.
"How about this, then?"
Beerus's words didn't make Son Goku especially angry.
But since Beerus had put it that way, Son Goku had to show him something. Otherwise, he wouldn't be Son Goku.
"Boom!"
An even more powerful aura burst from Son Goku's body.
"This is a transformation that surpasses Super Saiyan. I call it Super Saiyan 2."
After transforming into Super Saiyan 2, Son Goku's aura was twice as powerful as before.
"I didn't expect you could transform a second time!"
Beerus took a little more interest in Son Goku.
Of course, it was only a little.
"But so what if you can transform a second time? It doesn't seem to make any difference against me.
"If you think this second transformation will let you fight me, you're being far too naive."
Beerus spoke slowly as he watched Son Goku.
"Super Saiyan 2 is a hundred times stronger than my normal state. There's no way that's still not enough!"
Son Goku stared at Beerus, determination in his eyes.
"Whoosh!"
Son Goku charged forward. He was so fast that he reached Beerus in the blink of an eye.
"Bang!"
As soon as he got close, Son Goku clenched his fist without hesitation and threw a fierce punch at Beerus.
The devastating blow shot straight toward him.
"Boom!"
But the powerful punch never struck Beerus. At the last moment, Beerus calmly dodged it.
"That's still not enough. If that's all you've got, then I'm sorry!"
Beerus looked at Son Goku. He knew Son Goku probably wouldn't do much to surprise him, but deep down, he still had some expectations.
How much he was expecting, though, only Beerus knew.
After all, no matter how much Son Goku's strength changed, it still amounted to little in Beerus's eyes.
"Ahhh!"
Son Goku clenched both fists, and an immense power erupted from his body.
"Boom!"
The air roared with a storm of unimaginable force.
This was the improvement he had gained while fighting Son Gohan and Vegeta in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber.
A large part of it, of course, came from Soya's guidance.
Son Goku's Super Saiyan 3 form was now much stronger than when he had fought Soya before.
"This is getting a little more interesting!"
Beerus glanced at Son Goku, a strange look in his eyes.
Son Goku's normal form, Super Saiyan, and Super Saiyan 2 had done nothing to catch Beerus's attention.
But after Son Goku transformed into Super Saiyan 3, his strength was still separated from Beerus's by an uncrossable gulf. Even so, the rate at which he had grown was enough to surprise Beerus.
"Lord Beerus, this is the strongest transformation I can achieve. It surpasses Super Saiyan 2, and I call it Super Saiyan 3!
"As for its power, it's four times stronger than Super Saiyan 2.
"That makes it eight times stronger than Super Saiyan.
"And four hundred times stronger than my normal state!"
Son Goku's gaze sharpened.
Meanwhile...
Inside the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, atop the Lookout.
Soya, who was still training, opened his eyes, which had been tightly shut.
A faint smile tugged at his lips, as if he had sensed something.
"So he's here?"
He murmured to himself, then closed his eyes again and resumed his training.
"Looks like I'll have to pick up the pace."