Fierce Battle

Broly did not answer.

He slowly lowered his gaze, looking at his spread palms—the faint residual energy ripples from their previous clash still lingered there.

He took a deep breath, the inhale long and heavy, as though he meant to draw the air from the entire battlefield into his lungs.

Then he closed his eyes.

He began to restrain himself.

At first, it was the emerald-green aura enveloping his entire body, blazing like a star.

The light had originally flared wildly, bathing several kilometers around him in sickly green. Now, however, it was as if an invisible hand were pressing it inward, and it slowly began to contract.

It was not weakening, nor was it dispersing. It was being drawn inward—as though an unseen membrane had wrapped around him, pressing every last trace of that surging, roaring energy back into his body, locking it within every inch of muscle, every bone, and every cell.

His aura began to plummet.

The pressure that had once soared into the heavens and shaken the clouds receded swiftly like an ebbing tide.

With every drop, the light around him dimmed further, and his presence grew fainter.

The cracked earth beneath his feet no longer trembled. Floating stones fell one after another, and even the wind seemed to curve around him.

In the end, his aura nearly vanished completely.

The person standing there still bore the form of a Legendary Super Saiyan—long emerald-green hair draped over his shoulders, his muscular body covered in a faint green glow.

Yet the feeling he gave off was completely different.

Before, he had been a blazing flame too brilliant to look at, fierce and untamed, his mere existence enough to scorch one's senses. Now, he was like a peerless blade sheathed in its scabbard—ancient and still, every edge concealed, with only the faintest chill lingering around him.

Beerus narrowed his eyes slightly, and his tail stopped swaying.

"He learned it that quickly?"

He murmured to himself, his tone giving no hint whether he was impressed or wary.

Broly opened his eyes.

The surging streams of energy were gone from them. His emerald pupils were clear and deep, like a silent cold pool after a torrential rain.

He slightly rolled his neck, his bones giving off soft cracks, then calmly met Beerus's gaze.

"Try it."

His voice was soft, nearly scattered by the wind, yet every word seemed branded directly into Beerus's consciousness, arriving with perfect clarity.

Beerus smiled.

The expression pulled at the corners of his mouth and exposed sharp teeth, dangerous and excited.

"Fine."

The instant he spoke, his figure vanished again.

But this time, Broly did not lose track of him.

In that brief "gap" when Beerus restrained his aura and was about to move—the tiniest tension in Beerus's muscles, the most tightly compressed contraction of his energy, even the faintest ripple of killing intent—Broly caught it all.

What he caught was not an aura, nor an energy trail, but the "intent" behind Beerus's attack, like a blade flash that vanished in the darkness.

Broly's body reacted almost before his mind could.

His left foot shifted half a step back, his center of gravity sank slightly, and his right arm rose. His five fingers loosely curled into a fist as all the power restrained within his body silently gathered beneath its edge, waiting to collide head-on with the incoming destructive blow—the distant rocky mountains crumbled into dust without a sound, while the air between the two began to hum under unbearable strain.

It was battle instinct forged through Beerus's countless years of warfare, an intuition that had long seeped into his blood, as natural as breathing—impossible to deliberately suppress or conceal.

Yet Broly, this legend born in the wilderness, had caught that intangible, formless flow in just a few minutes.

At the instant Beerus's fist was about to tear through the air, Broly's body seemed to possess a will of its own—he did not retreat, nor did he block. He merely tilted his neck slightly to the right.

The fist wreathed in purple destruction energy grazed past his unruly hair and ear, the wind it carried slicing a thin bloody mark across his cheek.

At the same time, Broly's right fist shot up from his waist like a lurking beast, smashing upward from below!

The muscles in his thick arm tightened layer upon layer like steel cables. The power of his entire body rose from the soles of his feet, twisted through his waist and hips, and poured wholly into this punch as it struck Beerus's unguarded left ribs with solid force!

Bang—!

A muffled boom rang out. It did not sound like an impact, but like a star imploding.

Beerus's lean body abruptly folded, his purple pupils shrinking at once as a flash of pure astonishment crossed his face.

The next second, irresistible force erupted. His body became a blurred afterimage as he shot sideways, smashing through two towering, jagged mountains of black crystal in the distance.

The thunderous collapse of the mountains arrived a moment later, while dust and shattered stone cascaded down like waterfalls.

When everything settled somewhat, Beerus was kneeling on one knee in the center of a crater covered in cracks. A thread of faintly glowing purple divine blood slowly seeped from the corner of his tightly pressed lips, dripping onto the scorching rocks with a soft hiss.

He raised his head and looked through the drifting dust toward the green figure standing atop the ruins. His expression had changed completely.

There was no longer any lofty appraisal, no longer any casual probing, but something close to trembling—shock.

"You..."

His voice was hoarse, thick with stunned disbelief. "You actually... 'learned' even that?"

Broly slowly lowered his arm and shook his slightly numb fist.

He bared his teeth in a grin. The wildness and chaos from before were gone from it, replaced by the pure exhilaration of focused understanding.

"Thank you... Master."

The word "Master" made Beerus's eye twitch violently.

"Who the hell is your master?!"

His furious roar exploded as Beerus vanished from where he stood. It was not Instant Transmission; he had simply suppressed his speed and presence to the absolute limit, as though he had merged with space itself.

A green glint flashed through Broly's eyes, and almost at the same instant, he made the same choice.

The violent aura surging around him instantly drew inward and fell silent.

And so, beneath Vampa's dim yellow sky, a silent dance of death began.

There were no shrieking energy blasts, no eruptions of soaring auras.

Only two shadows, almost impossible to track with the naked eye, crossed, separated, and collided again and again over the shattered sky and earth.

Their fists, feet, elbows, and knees became the most primitive—and most lethal—of weapons.

Every contact was soundlessly light, yet at the instant of impact, their power collapsed inward and erupted with terrifying force.

Where their fists struck, faint ripples spread through space; where their feet landed, the ground did not crack—it silently turned to dust.

Bang! Smack! Thud!

The soft sounds of flesh striking flesh fell in a dense rain, yet they were more chilling than any explosion.

Because every ounce of their destructive power had been perfectly compressed into the tiny points of contact, without the slightest waste or leakage. That made it all the more deadly.

Vampa groaned beneath their feet, unable to bear the strain.

The entire planet's structure had long since reached the brink of collapse.

Web-like cracks spread across the globe, bottomless in their depth. Scorching material from the planetary core surged from the fissures like blood gushing from wounds. Crimson lava poured into the void, then rapidly cooled and hardened in the frigid cold of space, becoming twisted, grotesque black stone pillars like gravestones erected after the planet's death.

This savage planet, three thousand kilometers in diameter, was slowly and irreversibly disintegrating from the inside out amid the battle of two beings who defied common sense.

Above Vampa's silent orbit, Whis had long since put down his barrel of colorful cosmic snacks.

His hands overlapped atop his staff. The easy smile that usually hung on his face had been replaced by an unprecedented focus and gravity.

His pale violet eyes reflected the two figures flashing and colliding across the planet below—especially the green light.

"Mr. Broly..."

He murmured so softly it was almost a sigh. An indescribably complicated light shifted in his eyes. "Your rate of 'growth' can no longer be described as merely 'astonishing.'

"This is simply... the manifestation of a law.

"If this continues—"

His words abruptly stopped.

Because the battle below underwent another decisive change.

After an utterly unadorned exchange of full-force punches, Beerus and Broly finally separated once more. They drifted backward in opposite directions before coming to a stop at opposite ends of the planet, facing each other from afar.

New wounds had appeared on both of them. A piece of Beerus's shoulder guard had shattered, while a deep burn mark scarred Broly's chest.

Neither of them breathed steadily anymore, their chests rising and falling faintly. Yet the battle intent burning in their eyes was hotter and more violent than the flames within the planet's core.

The drifting stardust slowly settled, and a brief silence descended over the shattered world.

Beerus raised a hand and gently wiped away the blood that had once again seeped from the corner of his mouth.

He stared at Broly in the distance, then suddenly spoke. His voice was unexpectedly calm, like air frozen before a storm.

"Broly."

"Hm?"

A low question echoed over Vampa's barren wasteland.

Broly slowly raised his dust-covered face. His coarse black hair stirred faintly in the blood-scented wind.

His bare upper body was covered in old and new scars layered over one another. His muscles rose and fell like rock with every breath, while deep within those green eyes, a wildfire seemed to burn in silence.

Beerus floated not far in front of him. Under the dim starlight, his purple skin gleamed with a cold, hard luster.

His arms were folded, and his white robe remained spotless, utterly out of place amid the shattered rock and swirling dust.

His narrow eyes were slightly squinted, his tail swaying slowly and rhythmically behind him.

"Do you know why Saiyans are considered a warrior race?"

Beerus's voice was not loud, yet it clearly pierced through the howling wind.

Broly froze for a moment. His lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, he merely stood there in silence, like a volcano suddenly turned to stone.

The cracked ground beneath his feet still bore dark red, lava-like scorch marks left by their previous clash of energy.

Beerus did not expect an answer. He continued on his own, every word like a carefully polished stone striking the ground with weight.

"It's not because their power is so brutish, nor because of those flashy 'transformations' where their hair changes color."

He shook his head lightly, his gaze seeming to pass through Broly and into a far more ancient time.

"It was because they evolved in battle.

Every agonizing fracture of their bones, every near-death experience from damaged organs, became nourishment for their transformation, allowing them to claw their way out of the ashes stronger than before.

This savage constitution, which turned injury into strength, was unique among all the races in the universe."

He paused, and his gaze suddenly sharpened like a drawn blade, piercing deep into Broly's chaotic, violent soul.

The air around them seemed to thicken and grow heavy beneath the gathering might of his divine power.

"But you are different, Broly."

Beerus lowered his voice, carrying the amusement and scrutiny of someone who had discovered rare prey.

"You don't merely evolve in battle—you 'devour' in battle.

Like the greediest abyss, like a black hole that can never be filled.

You devour your opponents' battle-honed experience, devour the signature techniques on which they built their reputations, devour every ounce of potential and wisdom they unleash at the edge of life and death... then brutally and efficiently crush and reconstruct it, turning it into a part of your own 'legend.'"

Broly remained silent.

Only fine emerald-green arcs of energy began to leak uncontrollably from around his body, crackling as they scorched the rock beneath his feet with faint hissing sounds.

His broad palm slowly clenched, his knuckles cracking with a teeth-grating sound.

After a long while, he finally forced two hoarse words from deep in his throat:

"So what?"

"So—"

A meaningful smile slowly curled across Beerus's lips, carrying even a trace of cruel delight.

The space around him began to distort slightly, a sign that the power of destruction was about to boil over.

"I'm beginning to understand why that treacherous, cunning Frieza felt such bone-deep fear toward the seemingly weak Saiyan race back then.

It wasn't because they were so powerful at the time, but because... they possessed something even gods could scarcely predict: 'infinite potential.'"

He gracefully and slowly raised his right hand, curling his five fingers slightly.

In an instant, profound, noble purple energy brimming with the aura of destruction began to wildly gather and spin in his palm, forming a dazzling sphere of energy that continuously collapsed inward.

Fine black lightning writhed around the sphere like venomous snakes, emitting a chilling hum.

Its mere existence caused the ground below to sink and disintegrate soundlessly, reduced to its most primitive particles.

"And you, Broly," Beerus declared, his gaze fixed on his opponent, "are the most extreme, wildest, and most uncontrollable manifestation of that 'potential.'"

Almost at the same moment, Broly raised his heavily muscled right arm as well.

There was no elaborate opening stance, no roar—only the driving force of pure will.

With a thunderous burst, violent, untamed emerald-green energy surged into the sky, condensing in his palm into an enormous ki blast that pulsed fiercely like a green sun.

Its glow illuminated his crazed face, as well as the sky above this desolate planet.

Two utterly opposing forces, each equally capable of shaking the stars, once again formed a terrifying standoff beneath Vampa's thin atmosphere.

This time, neither of them rushed to attack.

Beerus stood as steady as an ancient boulder, with only the tip of his tail trembling faintly as it sensed the most subtle shifts in the flow of energy.

Broly, meanwhile, was like a primordial beast poised to strike, every heavy breath making the aura around him rise and fall like ocean tides.

Their gazes met in the air, colliding in invisible sparks.

They waited.

They waited for that one-millionth of a second when the other's aura stalled, for the nearly nonexistent tiny flaw in the transition of energy, for even the slightest lapse in spiritual will that might arise during the drawn-out standoff—that would be the most precise, most lethal, and only opportunity they needed.

It was as though time on Vampa had been pulled to a standstill by these two supreme powers.

The wind stopped. Dust hung suspended in midair. Even the rubble flung into the sky by the aftershocks of energy had frozen there in eerie stillness.

Only the two destructive cores of energy roared soundlessly, crushing against and eroding the fragile space between them.

Vampa had reached the end of its life.

The surface of the once desolate yet intact planet had now become a scene of apocalypse.

Massive cracks webbed across the entire planet. Magma erupting from deep within its core instantly cooled in the vacuum of space, solidifying into twisted, grotesque black stone pillars like monuments mourning the planet's death.

The rocky planet, three thousand kilometers in diameter, was beginning to collapse from within under the world-destroying forces of these two beings beyond all others—huge chunks of rock slowly broke free and drifted into the icy void like scattered building blocks.

Every aftershock from their clashing energy triggered planetwide earthquakes, driving the already fragile planetary structure further toward the abyss of destruction.

And at the center of this devastation, Broly and Beerus still faced each other in midair like two stars about to collide.

Both had undergone earth-shaking transformations.

The violent purple destructive energy that had once erupted around Beerus had now been drawn in to the utmost limit, becoming a thin, almost imperceptible pale-purple glow clinging tightly to the surface of his deep-purple skin.

That glow was not still. It flowed slowly like a living thing, and every ripple caused a subtle distortion in the surrounding space.

His aura had been completely restrained, with not the slightest trace leaking out, yet that only made it more terrifying—it was the dead silence before a storm, proof that his power had been condensed to its absolute limit.

Broly's transformation, however, was far more direct—and even more shocking.

His wild golden hair had now completely transformed into a deep, rich emerald green, as though it had condensed infinite vitality within it.

That was the color possessed only by the Legendary Super Saiyan, a symbol of the most ancient and most savage power within Saiyan bloodlines.

The emerald aura no longer surged skyward as it had before. Instead, it coiled around his body like living flame, burning steadily and fiercely, every flicker containing enough power to shatter stars.

What caught Beerus's attention most was his eyes.

Those eyes were completely different from the "Legendary Super Saiyan" described in Whis's intelligence—there were no crimson veins, no frenzied beastliness, no uncontrollable rage.

In their place was a clear gaze as cold as polar ice, yet burning with blazing fighting spirit.

That gaze was sharp as a blade, as though it could pierce through all falsehood, precisely locking onto Beerus's every subtle movement and every point where his energy flowed.

Savage power and absolute rationality—two traits that should have contradicted each other—had achieved an eerie, unsettling unity within him.

He had completely mastered this legendary power that should have consumed his reason.

His figure vanished from where he stood.

It was not an afterimage left behind by high-speed movement, but a true disappearance, almost like spatial teleportation.

Beerus's deep purple pupils abruptly contracted to pinpoints!

His dynamic vision, capable of tracking the trajectories of entire galaxies, finally caught a blurry green streak within a thousandth of a second—that speed was more than three times faster than before!

The air—even though the planet's atmosphere had become nearly nonexistent—did not even have time to produce a sonic boom. Space itself seemed to have been forcibly plowed apart by that green streak of light.

Danger!

The God of Destruction's instincts made him dodge sideways in an almost reflexive motion.

At the instant his head tilted aside, a boulder-sized fist wrapped in emerald aura grazed past the skin of his cheek!

"Screech—!"

Where the fist passed, the void was forcibly torn open into a long, narrow spatial rift, its edges flickering with ominous black light!

A heart-palpitating suction from the void surged out of the rift, instantly swallowing several house-sized rocks nearby and grinding them into dust.

The attack did not pause in the slightest just because that dangerous strike had missed.

A left fist blasted upward like a cannonball toward Beerus's jaw!

Beerus had barely raised an arm to block when Broly's right elbow came crashing toward his temple like a warhammer!

Beerus tilted his head aside to evade it, only for a heavy knee strike wrapped in green lightning to drive into his abdomen!

That was followed by a lightning-fast sweeping kick aimed at the foot supporting the God of Destruction's weight!

A raging storm!

A true raging storm!

Broly's attacks were no longer a simple outpouring of strength. They formed an airtight, interlocking web of death.

Every blow was plain and direct, aimed straight at vital points. All needless flair had been discarded, concentrating destructive power into the shortest attack paths and the fastest possible strikes.

Even more terrifyingly, his attacking rhythm was accelerating, while his angles became more tricky and more unpredictable.

During the first few exchanges, Beerus could still rely on his vast experience and divine techniques to attempt counterattacks. He even seized a brief opening and chopped a hand wrapped in purple destruction energy toward Broly's neck.

But Broly merely tilted his head slightly, letting the hand strike scrape across his shoulder guard and scatter sparks, while his own counterattack followed immediately after—the technique even faintly resembled Beerus's previous attack, yet it was more brutal, more direct, and its power more condensed!

He was learning!

At a terrifying speed, he absorbed, digested, and altered his opponent's techniques in battle, merging them into his savage fighting instincts and making them his own!

"Bang! Boom! Crack!"

The dull impacts of fists and feet colliding, the explosions of clashing energy, and the cracking of overloaded space intertwined into a symphony of destruction.

Beerus, a god who had wielded the authority of destruction for countless years, was actually being forced back step by step beneath this raging, tsunami-like offensive!

With every retreating step, rings of visible purple energy ripples spread through the void.

This was the first time in this battle that he had been suppressed head-on by an opponent in a direct clash!

This... monster...

Stormy waves surged through Beerus's heart.

It was not merely shock at Broly's terrifying power and rate of growth. There was also a trace of disbelief, and... a fiery passion that had been suppressed for far too long, finally ignited.

How many years had it been?

Hundreds?

Thousands?

He no longer remembered the last time he had encountered an opponent like this.

An opponent who did not rely on ancient inheritance or divine status, but had grown savagely through battle and desperate circumstances alone—someone who could continuously evolve in life-and-death combat, continuously break through his limits, and continuously bring entirely new "surprises"!

A long-lost thrill, so intense it almost made him tremble, shot through his entire body like an electric current.

Defense?

No!

The corners of Beerus's deep-purple mouth suddenly split wide, curling into a wild grin of utter exhilaration that revealed his sharp teeth.

"Interesting!"

He growled, his voice trembling slightly with excitement. "Too interesting!!"

"Haah—!!"

Beerus no longer retreated. No longer defended.

The restrained purple aura around him suddenly erupted with a blinding radiance!

His immense power as a God of Destruction was no longer used for defense. Instead, like countless rivers flowing into the sea, it surged wildly toward his poised right fist, compressing, then compressing further!

The space around his fist began to collapse and vanish across a vast area, turning into pure darkness. Within that darkness, a point of purple destructive light condensed to the absolute limit, igniting like the core of a supernova!

At the same time, Broly seemed to sense the elevation of his opponent's resolve.

A sharp gleam burst from his emerald eyes, while the green aura around him shot skyward. Thick jade-green lightning, as massive as dragons, began to crackle within it.

He likewise withdrew all his elaborate attacks, pouring the full power of the Legendary Super Saiyan into his own right fist without holding anything back.

The green light around that fist was pure and violent, as though he were clutching a green star on the verge of eruption.

No shout. No warning.

Two fists containing utterly different powers of destruction, yet each equally capable of making entire galaxies tremble, tore through the brief distance between them above the shattered Vampa, amid countless floating planetary fragments—head-on! They collided!

BOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!

In that instant, sound lost all meaning.

First came the light—pure, ultimate purple destructive radiance collided with violent, blazing green legendary light, like two stellar cores smashing together and unleashing a terrifying brilliance that drowned out all sight.

Wherever the light reached, all matter—whether rock, metal, or still-molten lava—was instantly vaporized and annihilated.

Then came the shockwave—it was not a disturbance in the air, but a terrifying ripple created when the structure of space itself was violently warped and torn apart by overwhelming force!

Ring-shaped destructive ripples, mingled with purple and green, spread madly in every direction through the vacuum of space from the point of impact!

Wherever those ripples passed, the massive planetary fragments that had already broken away from Vampa and floated in orbit exploded into finer dust, like building blocks struck by an invisible sledgehammer!

Broly was blasted backward by that world-destroying punch, his body carving a scorching trail thousands of meters long through the void.

Space rippled from the friction of his body along the way, while shattered stardust trailed behind him in scattered tails of light.

As he tumbled, he adjusted his posture, then kicked fiercely against the void with both feet, forcibly halting his retreat.

Blood seeped through his clenched teeth, forming dark-red droplets in the vacuum that drifted slowly away.

Yet the eyes burning with emerald flames were even fiercer than Vampa's former twin suns, his fighting spirit erupting like a volcano.

Beerus hovered where he was, waves of numbness running through his right fist.

He lowered his arm and saw several fine cracks across the surface of his fist, still covered in purple divine light. Beads of blood slowly seeped from them—divine blood belonging to a God of Destruction, gleaming with a dark-purple luster.

The droplets separated from his skin and floated, spinning in the vacuum, every single one containing a terrifying pulse of energy.

He shook his wrist. The fractured bones instantly healed beneath the shroud of divine power, and purple destructive energy coiled around his fist once more like a living thing, producing faint crackling sounds.

"You're injured."

Broly's voice crossed the vacuum and echoed directly within Beerus's divine consciousness.

His voice was as calm as a deep pool, yet beneath its surface surged an undercurrent of almost crazed excitement.

"So are you."

Beerus slowly curled his fingers into a fist. Purple-black sparks burst between them as destructive energy flared. "But this is only the beginning—warm-up's over."

Their gazes collided amid the shattered starry sky, producing invisible ripples visible to the naked eye.

Wherever those ripples passed, tiny meteor fragments silently turned to powder.

The next instant, they vanished.

No—not vanished. Their speed had surpassed the limit of what the naked eye could perceive.

Only two trailing afterimages crazily intersected in space, one purple as an abyss, the other green as jade.

When they appeared again, they were already above the remains of what had once been Vampa's continental plates.

Beerus chopped downward with a hand strike, and Broly raised an arm to block it head-on. At the instant of impact, the rocky ground for a hundred miles around surged upward like ocean waves, only to be ground into powder by the spreading shockwave a second later.

This time, neither held anything back.

Beerus's fists and kicks became a rainstorm of purple, every strike carrying the power of a God of Destruction capable of annihilating a planet.

His figure flickered and shifted through space, appearing at Broly's left one moment to sweep out with a kick, then flashing above him the next to press down with a palm strike.

Everywhere he passed, space split with spiderweb cracks like shattered glass, and the darkness of nothingness seeped from those fissures.

Amid the furious assault, Broly lowered his stance and planted himself firmly, his arms moving so fast they formed an emerald barrier.

At first, he only blocked, but after three exchanges, he began to counterattack.

Fist for fist, kick for kick.

Every collision of their limbs detonated a ring of energy mingled with purple and green light.

Wherever the aura swept, the floating fragments of continents were completely vaporized, leaving not even a speck of dust behind.

And amid this ultimate clash, his aura surged wildly.

Early eleventh-dimensional tier—his blazing aura swelled by thirty percent, and the tips of his hair began to rise.

Mid stage—the emerald radiance deepened, and fine energy patterns emerged within his pupils.

Late stage—when his aura finally stabilized, he had already reached the peak of the eleventh-dimensional tier.

At this moment, the energy winding around him was so dense it seemed tangible, and every breath he took made the surrounding space tremble faintly.

At this level, he was only a hair's breadth away from Beerus in his serious state.

Beerus's expression finally turned utterly grave.

He could clearly sense that this Saiyan was not merely growing stronger—he was "evolving."

With every exchange of fists and kicks, Broly's control over the power of the Legendary Super Saiyan became more refined; with every collision of energy, his grasp of the rhythm of battle grew more seasoned.

More frighteningly, his opponent was instinctively learning the ways "gods" fought—how to condense power into a single point, how to make energy vibrate on a microscopic level, how to predict spatial trajectories.

If this battle continued like this...

A dangerous thought flashed through Beerus's divine consciousness: this genius of a battle race might truly break through that threshold in the midst of life-and-death combat, reaching a realm that even a God of Destruction would have to take seriously.

"I can't hold back anymore."

Purple light flared in Beerus's eyes.

He suddenly withdrew, retreating a hundred li, and slowly crossed his arms before his chest.

That simple motion caused the flow of energy across the entire battlefield to reverse.

Countless purple motes emerged from the void, gathering in his palms like a hundred rivers flowing into the sea.

A fist-sized sphere of destruction energy began to form, then rapidly expanded—ten meters, a hundred meters, three hundred meters!

Like a miniature black hole, it hovered above Beerus's palms. Liquid purple-black arcs of lightning flowed across its surface, while from within came a collapsing hum that made the stars tremble.

The energy sphere continued to grow, its edges beginning to distort the surrounding light. Even the rays cast by distant stars were devoured and bent by it.

Its very existence was enough to make the laws of physics in this star system begin to collapse.