Heavenly Chasm

That fist carried a destructive shockwave powerful enough to crush a planet, whistling past Qi Heng's furry purple ear tip by a hair, without even stirring a single strand of fur.

Qi Heng's punch had just missed, its force spent, when Beerus's tail, which had been swaying all along, suddenly snapped.

Fast, fierce, precise.

The tail instantly went taut, its surface coated in a dark purple metallic gleam as it tore through the air with a piercing shriek.

Like a living steel whip, it lashed directly into Qi Heng's left waist.

The force exploded. With a thunderous BANG, it was like a million-ton hammer smashing into a solid planetary core.

There was no restraint in that power. Qi Heng felt as though every bone in his body was crying out in agony.

His vision went black, and he nearly passed out.

"Ugh—!" he groaned, his whole body sent flying sideways like a hurled meteor.

His feet plowed two deep trenches through the purple-black ground, shoving dirt and rubble to either side and kicking up towering waves of earth.

He slid nearly a hundred meters before his heels barely managed to brace against a piece of palace rubble.

The stone exploded with a crash, fragments spraying everywhere, while the dust from his landing had yet to fully settle.

Beerus still hovered where he had been, not even changing his arms-crossed posture, as though that strike had merely been a casual swat at a fly.

He tilted his head, the boredom and disappointment on his purple catlike face growing heavier. His scarlet eyes looked down at the disheveled Qi Heng in the distance, his voice impossibly cold. "This is... your strength?"

He smacked his lips, the tip of his tail curling idly. "It's not even enough for a warm-up."

At the bottom of the crater, dust was still slowly drifting down, while loose stones clattered and rolled.

Qi Heng knelt on one knee atop the fractured rock, breathing heavily. Every breath he drew felt like fire burning through him.

He slowly raised his head. Sweat and dust had plastered several strands of red hair to his face, yet those blazing golden eyes remained fixed on the purple figure in midair.

Beerus hovered there casually. Afternoon light slanted over from behind him, tracing a faint halo around his body and making him seem even more unfathomable.

He had not even taken a stance. His arms hung loosely at his sides, and his tail curled lazily behind him.

He looked like someone who had just casually dealt with an annoying insect.

A deathly silence fell.

Even the air seemed frozen.

Only the edges of the distant ravines occasionally collapsed, chunks of earth falling with dull thuds.

The gap.

Those two words pierced Qi Heng's mind like icy needles.

This was not a small difference. It was a chasm, an impassable gulf, the kind of despair mortals felt when they gazed up at the heavens.

Memories rose uncontrollably.

Not long ago, beneath this same starry sky, he had faced Champa, the God of Destruction of Universe 6, in his Super Saiyan 4 form.

Back then, every heavy punch he threw had made Champa's body tremble and retreat. Every kick had left wounds and cracks upon Champa's indestructible body.

That had been domination—an overwhelming advantage in the level of their power.

But now, facing Beerus, Qi Heng felt that his own strength, which could shake the stars, had become clumsy and laughable.

The energy within his Super Saiyan 4 form, before Beerus's bottomless aura, was like a child who had just learned to walk insisting on challenging a world champion standing at the pinnacle of the boxing ring.

This was not merely a difference in power. His control over power, understanding of battle, and grasp of timing had all been crushed to dust.

"Heh..." A sleepy yawn broke the silence.

Beerus raised a hand to cover his mouth, and there were even tears at the corners of his eyes from yawning.

"Stop standing around and wasting time." His voice was languid, yet it carried an irresistible pressure. "If this is all you can do, then this wager is far too boring."

His eyes shifted, his gaze casually falling beyond the crater as his tone dripped with undisguised mockery. "Champa, after twenty years... this is the only thing you managed to produce? What an 'eye-opening' sight."

"You—!" Champa's face at the edge of the crater turned liver-red, his eyes bulging wide and bloodshot.

His chest heaved violently. His fists clenched until they went white, his joints cracking as though he might charge at Beerus and punch him at any moment.

"Damn it... that bastard Beerus..." he ground out, every word filled with humiliation and fury.

The rocks beneath his feet cracked into a spiderweb pattern from the aura leaking out of him.

"Lord Champa," Vados, who had been standing beside him all along, spoke as calmly as a lake under moonlight, without a trace of emotion in her voice. "You should have expected this outcome long ago. Lord Beerus is recognized as the strongest God of Destruction among the twelve universes. He did not earn that title through luck."

"Shut up, Vados!" Champa suddenly turned around and roared at his own angel, nearly spraying her face with saliva.

Like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, he was furious to the point of madness. "Qi Heng hasn't lost yet! The battle isn't over! He definitely still has... still has..."

His voice abruptly cut off.

Deep down, he understood just how powerless the unspoken words "trump card" sounded now.

Against absolute dominance like Beerus's, what did Qi Heng have left? Even if he had something, what kind of waves could it possibly stir?

That realization chilled his heart, mixing an indescribable frustration into his rage.

And while Champa raged furiously, Whis, standing behind Beerus, remained as calm as though nothing had happened.

His hands were folded over the Angel Staff, a faint, habitual smile on his face, as though he found everything fascinating.

Those azure eyes carefully examined the figure at the bottom of the crater, still regulating his breathing.

Whis's gaze swept over every inch of Qi Heng's red-furred muscles like a scanner, sensing the golden aura that was still blazing yet had already grown chaotic, before finally settling on those still-bright golden eyes.

A trace of curiosity flashed through his eyes before quickly vanishing, as if he had discovered an intriguing yet baffling riddle.

"This is... quite interesting." Whis murmured to himself, the smile at the corners of his lips deepening slightly.

Oh?