The God of Destruction Awakens

Two years after the battle with Majin Buu.

The inverted giant tree in the God of Destruction Realm trembled gently in the void, purple light spreading from its roots to its crown. Beerus opened his eyes. Lying on his side atop a floating stone bed, he let out a yawn that lasted several minutes before sitting up and scratching his ear. The Oracle Fish swam frantically in the water sphere beside him, its shrill voice piercing. "Lord Beerus! The prophecy has been updated! A new opponent appeared during your hibernation—not a Saiyan, but something even stranger! There's a Saiyan carrying a power that even I can't see through!"

"A Saiyan?" Beerus tilted his head, a faint flicker of interest passing through his lazy expression. "Before Frieza destroyed Planet Vegeta, he said that the legendary Super Saiyan would eventually emerge among the Saiyans. At the time, I thought he was merely looking for an excuse for his slaughter. Looks like that lizard might not have been wrong." He rose to his feet, picked up his God of Destruction staff, and tapped the ground. A ring of purple ripples spread from the point where the staff touched the floor, instantly traveling throughout the entire God of Destruction Realm.

Whis stepped out of the void and lightly tapped his Angel Staff against the ground. "Lord Beerus, you only slept for thirty-nine years this time. By a God of Destruction's standards, that does not even count as a light nap."

"Thirty-nine years? How far could Saiyans have grown in that time?" Beerus rolled his wrists, replaying the Oracle Fish's words in his mind. That Saiyan whom even the Oracle Fish could not see through had some kind of power within him that resisted divine perception. "Let's go. To Earth. I want to see exactly what those Saiyan monkeys have evolved into."

Whis cut a slit through the void between the God of Destruction Realm and Universe 7 with his staff, and the two stepped inside.

Earth, The Lookout.

Talos stood at the edge of The Lookout's plaza, his senses fully expanded. After the battle with Majin Buu, he had trained his perception to its limits—not merely detecting the magnitude of qi, but sensing the subtle differences in an energy's nature. Beginning a week ago, the energy signatures coming from the depths of the universe had become increasingly distinct: one was pure destructive will, heavy as it pressed against the edge of his awareness; the other was more ethereal, yet seemed to be everywhere. A God of Destruction and an Angel.

"Everyone, assemble at The Lookout."

In less than three minutes, everyone was in position. Goku and Vegeta had maintained Super Saiyan 2 steadily for a full two years, and the patterns threaded through their golden auras had become clearer. Piccolo's Qi Fractals activated the entire Lookout sensing array, pale-gold tendrils extending from the edge of The Lookout toward the horizon and merging with the warning runes Mr. Popo had arranged. Krillin and Lazuli stood side by side at the center of the formation, golden lines from the Star Topology Network spreading beneath their feet—after two years of refinement, the network could cover the entirety of The Lookout with submicron precision. Tien Shinhan and Chiaotzu, Nappa and Lapis, each took their places. Bulma rushed up from the underground laboratory with an energy analyzer in hand, its screen pulsing with waveforms she had never seen before.

Talos turned toward everyone. "Beerus. The God of Destruction of Universe 7. He possesses the authority of 'destruction'—anything he judges as 'meant to be destroyed,' whether organic matter, inorganic matter, or energy, will be completely erased. It cannot regenerate or be revived. His Angel attendant, Whis, is even more unfathomable. I do not need you to defeat anyone today—I need you to keep the formation intact before the strongest enemy we have ever faced. The Star Topology Network cannot break. Qi Resonance cannot break. This battle is not about whether we win. It is about whether we can make the God of Destruction acknowledge that Earth deserves to exist."

"Destruction... sounds even more troublesome than Majin Buu." Nappa grinned, white qi already coiling around his fists.

"Not even in the same dimension. Do not think about confronting his destructive authority head-on—wear him down with the formation, delay him with precision. Krillin, the Star Topology Network is the core. Beerus's destructive authority can absolutely erase both physical and energy attacks, but your Qi Net is not an attack—it connects and severs. He has to understand what you are doing before he can erase it with his authority. The longer you delay him, the more intelligence we can gather."

"Understood. I'll let him watch me weave the net first." Krillin formed a hand seal, qi threads condensing into pale-gold filaments at his fingertips.

The sky split open.

A purple rift tore open directly above The Lookout, and Beerus and Whis stepped out of the void. The God of Destruction stood upon the clouds, his lean purple body wrapped in loose robes, his ears twitching slightly. He looked down at the group in orange martial arts uniforms on the plaza, his gaze passing from Goku's golden hair to Vegeta's purple markings, from Piccolo's tendrils to Krillin's qi threads, before finally settling on Talos.

"So it's you. The Saiyan from the prophetic dream whom even the Oracle Fish could not see through." He leaped down from the clouds and landed in the middle of The Lookout's plaza. With his hands behind his back, he tilted his head and studied Talos. "Interesting. Your qi is mixed with something that belongs neither to Saiyans, nor gods, nor any race I have ever encountered. Do you know what that means? It means I can fight you at full strength without worrying about accidentally killing you."

The corner of Talos's mouth lifted slightly. "Then come at me."

Beerus vanished from where he stood. In the next instant, he appeared before Talos, one finger pointing toward his chest. The motion did not look fast, yet the air ahead of that finger compressed into a visible purple membrane—the condensed form of destructive authority. Anything it touched would be erased directly from existence. Talos twisted aside, stacking Kaioken atop Super Saiyan 2 in a double amplification that pushed his power to an unprecedented peak. Rather than taking the finger head-on, he deflected Beerus's forearm with his wrist, shifting the direction of that destructive authority away from its original trajectory.

Beerus's brow rose slightly. "You dodged it. Even Supreme Kais would not dare take that finger head-on, yet you knew how to knock it off course."

"Destructive authority requires target designation." Talos resumed the opening stance of the Turtle Hermit School. "As long as your finger touches another target before it hits me, the authority will take effect on that target first."

"You have seen destructive authority before?"

"For the first time. But before you strike, your finger locks onto its target—I can sense the direction of that lock."

Beerus fell silent for a moment, then smiled. It was the first genuine smile a God of Destruction had shown a mortal in tens of millions of years. "Interesting. Very interesting. Whis! Did you see that? He saw through the mechanism of my authority! Not through power, but perception!"

"I did. And Lord Beerus, you have not noticed something else—the Qi Net beneath your feet has been woven ever since you landed." Whis stood atop the clouds, his tone as gentle as ever.

Beerus looked down. Countless impossibly thin golden qi threads had somehow covered the entire Lookout plaza, each one precisely linked to every person's wrist. The Star Topology Network operated steadily with Lazuli's perpetual energy reactor as its central node, all qi flowing, sharing, and stacking—not attacking him, but constantly expanding and reinforcing around him.

"What is this net of yours for? To trap me?"

"Not to trap you." Sweat beaded on Krillin's forehead, but his voice remained steady. "It is to show you that what stands before you is not one person, but a network. Every node shares everyone's perception and energy. Every one of us felt the finger you aimed at Talos just now. Next time—we can all dodge it."

Beerus swept his gaze around. Boosted by the Qi Net, Goku and Vegeta's Super Saiyan 2 forms were simultaneously stabilized at their peaks; dozens of Piccolo's tendrils were connected to the network's nodes; Tien Shinhan's third eye was fully open, tracking every one of Beerus's joints; Chiaotzu had distributed localized paralysis techniques across all energy nodes of the Qi Net, ready to activate them anywhere at any moment; with infinite energy supplied by the central node, Nappa and Lapis's frontal suppression power had tripled—not just one person fighting, but everyone sharing the same pair of eyes, the same set of nerves, the same heartbeat.

"Very good." Beerus's smile faded as the authority of the God of Destruction fully erupted. Purple flames exploded from his body, and the entire Lookout trembled faintly beneath his feet. "Since you are giving it everything you have—I will do the same. This next attack is one I use against the Oracle Fish. Let's see whether your net can take it."

He extended one finger. This time, the purple membrane in front of it condensed into a sphere, its energy density enough to make even Whis raise his eyebrows. The destruction sphere shot from his fingertip, trailing purple fire as it blasted toward the center of The Lookout's plaza.

"Star Topology—full power!" Lazuli formed hand seals with both hands, her perpetual energy reactor pouring infinite power into the Qi Net at maximum output. Golden patterns raced through the topology, delivering energy to every node at once. Krillin shifted the Qi Net from severance mode to a defensive matrix, and all the qi threads layered upon one another along the destruction sphere's path, weaving hundreds of golden barriers. The destruction sphere struck the first barrier—the barrier vaporized instantly, but a layer of purple flame was stripped from the sphere as well. The second, third, fourth—every barrier weakened the destruction sphere by another fraction at the instant it was erased.

At the same time, Goku used Instant Transmission to appear beside the destruction sphere. Super Saiyan 2 stacked with threefold Kaioken, he unleashed a Kamehameha at point-blank range, forcibly knocking the sphere's path several degrees off course. At the exact instant it shifted, Vegeta filled the opening with a precise Final Flash, widening the angle further. Tien Shinhan's Third Eye Beam cut precisely into the destruction sphere's weakest energy node, while Chiaotzu's localized paralysis technique temporarily froze the energy flow at that node for a few tenths of a second. Piccolo's Qi Fractals pulled at the sphere's outer shell from dozens of directions at once, and at the final moment, Nappa and Lapis struck together with both fists—Compressed Tri-Beam and Infinite Barrage slamming simultaneously into the destruction sphere's already weakened side.

The destruction sphere finally veered off course, grazing the edge of The Lookout and flying high into the sky before exploding beyond the atmosphere. Purple light illuminated half the heavens, and the aftershock left fine cracks across even The Lookout's stone tiles.

Beerus remained where he stood, watching as his destruction sphere was stripped away layer by layer, deflected step by step, and ultimately sent soaring into the sky. He stayed silent for a very, very long time. Then he withdrew his authority and placed his hands behind his back again. "You lot are qualified to live into the next era."

"Thank you, Lord Beerus." Talos lowered his stance.

"That was not praise for you. It was praise for all of you." Beerus turned and walked toward the sky, pausing as he passed Whis. "Who taught that bald little fellow to use that Qi Net?"

"The Turtle Hermit School. Master Roshi." Talos replied.

"The Turtle Hermit School. I remember that name. The last time I heard it was three hundred years ago, when an Earthling named Mutaito sealed King Piccolo with the Evil Containment Wave. If that fellow had lived until now, he probably could have taken that attack of mine too. Tell him—his disciples are far stronger than I expected." He leaped into the clouds. Whis gave everyone in The Lookout's plaza a faint smile, tapped his staff lightly, and the two vanished into a rift in the void.

The Lookout's plaza remained quiet for a long time. Krillin released his hand seal and collapsed onto the ground, staring at his still-trembling hands—he had woven a total of three hundred and seventy-two barriers just now. Every single one had been vaporized head-on by the destruction sphere, and when the final barrier was pierced, he had nearly thought his hands would break. Lazuli stood beside him, a rare trace of sweat glistening at her temple. For the first time, the perpetual energy reactor's peak output had exceeded even her projections.

Nappa lowered his eyes to his fists, where red marks remained from being scorched by the destruction sphere's purple flames. "He said we were qualified to live into the next era—is that a good thing or a bad thing coming from a God of Destruction?"

"A good thing," Talos said. "Beerus never praises people."

Goku ran back from where he had used Instant Transmission, panting hard. His golden hair had reverted to black from the excessive drain, but he was grinning broadly. Vegeta lowered his fist, the corner of his mouth lifting slightly. Rarely, he did not offer a single sarcastic remark.

Master Roshi emerged from deeper within The Lookout. At the final moment, when the destruction sphere had been pushed into the sky, he had stood at the edge of the plaza with one hand gripping his cane, a qi barrier already condensed before him—if needed, he would have unfolded that defensive wall without hesitation and stood before anyone. He lowered his cane and looked at his disciples, then removed his sunglasses and wiped them against the corner of his clothes without saying a word. Yet everyone could see it—a smile he could not suppress spread across that wrinkled face.