A Clash of Wilds

This was a threshold—a cold, direct test personally set by the God of Destruction.

"Catch it." Beerus held the tiny purple Source of Destruction on the tip of his finger, speaking as casually as if discussing the weather. "If you can catch it, you're qualified to keep talking to me here. If you can't, then..."

He did not finish, but his slightly narrowed eyes and the faint smile at the corner of his mouth made the meaning perfectly clear—if Broly could not catch it, he was not even qualified to be a "toy" or a test subject. Everyone understood what that meant.

"Whoosh—"

Beerus flicked his finger lightly, and the purple Destruction Sphere left his fingertip.

It was not fast. It was even somewhat slow, drifting through the heavy, oppressive air toward Broly.

Yet it left behind a faint purple trail.

The dust and shattered rocks around that trail made no sound as they all broke down directly into their most basic particles and vanished.

They were not vaporized by extreme heat. Their very "existence" had been erased—pure destruction.

The terror brought by that thing pierced straight into the depths of the soul, instinctively making one want to flee, as though life itself were about to be torn apart.

Broly stared fixedly at the purple sphere of light, countless scenes and emotions flashing through his eyes: his struggle against his mad instincts during forty-one years of dark imprisonment; the rage and unwillingness of twice trying to break free of his shackles, only to fail in his pursuit of the stars; and the despair and gut-wrenching pain of watching his father, Paragus, turn into motes of light before him...

All these years of endurance, waiting, suppression, and retreat—he had had enough.

Those words had long since filled his soul with disgust and brutality.

This purple cat-man who called himself the "God of Destruction" stood above him, lightly deciding others' lives, deaths, and qualifications...

Perfect. This moment was the best time for the flames he had suppressed for so long to erupt!

Dodge? With the power inside him now and speed that surpassed lightning, evading this slow-moving energy sphere would be nothing.

Retreat? That would mean admitting defeat, admitting that he was being judged and selected, admitting that he would continue enduring that sickening patience.

No! He had had enough!

A low, beastlike roar rumbled from Broly's throat.

He neither dodged nor retreated.

Just as the purple sphere representing the universe's ultimate destruction was about to touch his chest, he abruptly raised his muscular, vein-lined right arm!

His five fingers spread wide. His palm was rough, covered in calluses and tiny scars. Without even a trace of excess energy light, he used nothing but flesh and blood, meeting the Destruction Sphere head-on in the most primal, brutal manner possible!

"What?!"

Beerus, who was always composed, had his pupils suddenly contract. For the first time, an almost astonished expression appeared on his face as he blurted out, "Are you insane?! You brat, are you trying to get yourself killed?!"

"Pff—Bzzzt—!!!"

There was no earth-shattering explosion.

When the purple Destruction Sphere touched Broly's broad palm, it only produced a bizarre, teeth-grating sound—like a red-hot branding iron pressed against oily skin, or the groan of space itself being torn apart.

The deep, pure purple power of destruction, carrying the aura of annihilation, collided head-on with the violent, wild emerald-green energy within Broly!

The purple light sought to corrode and break everything down, dragging all things into the abyss of "nothingness" and erasing them directly from the laws of existence.

Meanwhile, the emerald-green energy was like the most primal, unyielding life force, boiling and roaring as it fought desperately against it, even trying in turn to devour and assimilate that purple destruction.

Two extreme and equally terrifying powers clashed at close quarters in Broly's trembling palm, locked in a tug-of-war!

The energies tore at one another, purple and green arcs of electricity spraying in every direction. The piercing shriek grew sharper and sharper, like two invisible primordial beasts fighting to the death in his hand.

The muscles in Broly's right arm swelled to their limit. His skin bulged and caved in from the clash of energies, as though something were writhing wildly beneath it.

His feet sank deep into the scorched earth, and the ground cracked apart once more.

Yet he stood firm like a mountain. Even as the earth shook and the mountains swayed, he did not take a single step back.

The muscles across his body trembled violently, veins bulging on his forehead. Sweat mixed with dust slid down from his temples and finally gathered into a murky droplet at his chin.

His fingers dug deeply into the Destruction Sphere. Purple energy coiled around his arm like venomous snakes, crackling and hissing.

The rock beneath his feet could no longer bear the pressure. Cracks spread madly as fragments of stone floated in the turbulent energy currents, shattered apart, and finally turned to powder.

He clenched his teeth so hard his gums nearly bled, forcibly holding back the flood of destruction with his palm, refusing to let it explode or devour him.

Time seemed to stretch.

One second—the battle suit tore apart inch by inch from his arm, exposing muscles taut as iron;

Two seconds—the purple light began to collapse inward, producing the shrill sound of glass being crushed;

Three seconds—the flow of energy abruptly stalled, as if an invisible hand had seized it by the throat.

At last, the Destruction Sphere capable of erasing a continental plate let out one final low hum in Broly's palm. Its light receded like the tide, shrinking away and dispersing.

Only a few wisps of scorched smoke slowly rose from between his fingers.

The entire planet Vampa fell into dead silence.

Under the crimson sky, fine crystal dust drifted over the wilderness plowed by energy storms, while the broken mountain range in the distance twisted in the heat haze.

The wind stopped. Even the sandstorms that howled across the planet year-round seemed to hold their breath.

Beerus's pupils abruptly contracted, and his formerly languid back slowly straightened.

The wisp of destructive energy in his hand silently dissipated, leaving only a few purple sparks at his fingertips.