Peak Showdown

The ground was indigo-blue, smooth as glazed glass.

But in an instant, dense cracks spread across the entire surface like a spiderweb, plunging so deep that their bottoms could not be seen, as though a sheet of ice had been shattered by a heavy hammer.

Chunks of rock were forced out of the fissures by a terrifying power. The moment they rose into the air, purple light coiled around them, silently grinding them into powder that vanished into a violent vortex of energy.

In the distance, the conical stone pillars that had stood for countless ages seemed to have had their skeletons pulled out. They began collapsing from their bases, tilting, then toppling one after another amid a series of deafening roars.

Massive boulders tumbled down and dust surged into the sky, but the moment the purple light swept over them, they vanished completely, as if they had never existed.

Looking upward was even more terrifying.

The once tranquil amber sky had now been torn apart by black fissures.

The cracks looked like eggshells clenched and crushed by some invisible giant hand.

Within them churned a void of chaotic colors, like wounds in the world bleeding out the void of its very essence.

The entire God of Destruction Realm groaned beneath this power that surpassed all limits. The structure of space teetered on the verge of collapse, looking as if it would completely break down and return to chaos the very next second.

At the edge of the temple, Whis frowned slightly.

The gem atop the staff in his hand suddenly erupted with a gentle yet resilient radiance.

He lightly planted the staff before him. The light poured forth like mercury, swiftly spreading into a translucent barrier covered in intricate divine patterns, firmly protecting him and the temple's core area.

"Lord Beerus is getting serious." Whis's voice remained calm, though it was a little faster than usual and carried a hint of gravity. "The energy level has already surpassed the threshold that can be maintained under normal conditions. If he continues releasing it without restraint, the spatial anchor points of the God of Destruction Realm will be torn apart, and even its foundational laws will be unable to hold."

Vados moved almost the instant his words fell.

Her slender fingers brushed over her staff, and a ray of light rose up, intricately overlapping with Whis's barrier.

The two Angel powers merged and resonated. The protective barrier instantly became incomparably solid, its luminous patterns growing even more complex and profound as it stabilized the last remaining patch of relatively stable space around the temple.

"Qi Heng's power... has already far exceeded my initial expectations." Vados stared at the destructive purple sun in the distance, as well as the figure standing opposite it, her voice carrying rare solemnity.

Light and shadow flowed through her violet eyes, as if she were rapidly calculating something.

"He actually managed to force Lord Beerus this far... but Beerus's power..."

She did not continue, merely drawing a quiet breath.

Yet Whis fully understood what she meant.

Beerus, the God of Destruction of Universe 7, was also acknowledged throughout the twelve universes as the strongest being standing at the pinnacle of all Gods of Destruction.

His power could no longer be described merely as "powerful." It was more like a bottomless abyss of darkness, or a divine mountain with only the tip of its iceberg exposed.

Even in tranquility, he was enough to make galaxies tremble. But when he was truly enraged and struck with all his might, just what extent could he reach—no one knew.

Over the long ages of hundreds of millions of years, no existence had ever forced out his limits, glimpsed the true depth of that abyss, or seen the full form of that divine mountain.

It was a terror tempered through countless eras, fused with the very essence of the authority of destruction, to the point that it had almost become a concept itself.

And between the shattered sky and the turbulent earth, amid the raging purple aura of destruction and the continually spreading spatial cracks—Qi Heng and Beerus still faced each other.

Qi Heng's figure was somewhat blurred beneath the purple light, but he stood straight, surrounded by an equally supremely condensed shimmer of energy that kept the aura of destruction firmly at bay within three feet of him.

His gaze pierced through the violent currents of energy, tightly locking onto the feline figure at the heart of the radiance. There was not a trace of fear in his eyes; instead, an even fiercer fighting spirit burned within them, mixed with excitement and resolve.

The void between them had already been warped and filled by pure power, forming a terrifying force field visible to the naked eye, where purple-black arcs of electricity continually surged.

At the edges of the force field, fragments of space peeled away and flew about like shards of glass, only to be annihilated in even stronger clashes of energy.

The storm had reached its peak.

A symphony of destruction resounded throughout the universe.

Silver-white aura and deep purple destructive power collided in the void, bursting forth with countless dazzling arcs of light, like two stars making their final struggle before extinction.

At the point where their energies met, space was torn and twisted out of shape. A massive vortex spun wildly, devouring the surrounding light and dust while emitting a low, continuous hum.

Qi Heng floated at the center of the shockwaves, his long silver-white hair dancing wildly in the energy storm, every strand flowing with arc-like light.

His pupils were clear as silver, tranquil as a winter lake, yet silent flames burned in their depths.

He could feel it—Super Saiyan 5's power was like an ancient dragon awakening, surging and roaring through his bloodline.

This was not merely a surge in power, but an ascension of his very level of life.

The slightest ripples in the air, the most concealed refractions in the light, even every tiny increment in the passage of time—all of it was crystal clear to his senses.

Beerus's figure was still as fast as a phantom, but now Qi Heng's eyes could finally barely keep up with that purple trajectory.

It was no longer the hopelessly blurry afterimage from before, but real movements that he could capture, analyze, and predict.

"Come." Qi Heng's voice was soft, yet it cut through the silence like a sharp blade.

The moment the words left his mouth, his figure vanished from where he stood—not through teleportation, but through a visual illusion caused by speed erupting to its absolute limit.

Almost at the same instant, Beerus moved as well.

The two figures crossed paths in the shattered sky, moving so fast that even light had no time to leave a trace. Only the continuous shriek of torn air proved their paths.

Their first collision took place three hundred meters above the ground.

Qi Heng's right fist was wrapped in spiraling silver-white aura, while Beerus's fist carried boiling purple energy of destruction.

The instant their fists collided, time seemed to freeze for a frame.

A translucent spherical shockwave burst outward. Wherever it passed, the rock strata within a thousand meters below were completely ripped up, and shattered stones sprayed out like a torrential downpour.

The second collision followed immediately after.

Qi Heng spun in midair, driving his left knee up like a battle axe. Beerus flipped his palm and pressed down, a mass of highly compressed purple lightning gathering in his hand.

Knee and palm collided. There was no deafening boom—only the teeth-grating hiss of energies grinding against each other.

Silver-white arcs and purple lightning coiled together like two giant serpents locked in a death struggle. Every spark they threw off burned a tiny black hole into the air.

The third collision came from behind them.

At some point, both their tails had risen like steel whips, slicing through the air with piercing whistles.

Their tails lashed against each other in midair, but what erupted was not sparks—it was a ring of milky-white sonic boom clouds.

Space visibly caved in at the point of impact before springing back. The resulting tremor pulverized several nearby floating boulders.

The fourth collision was the most violent of all.

After three exchanges, the two of them had both chosen the most primitive, most savage method—charging straight in and smashing their foreheads together!

Silver-white and purple auras compressed and exploded where their brows met, becoming a circular shockwave that swept away everything in its path.

The fragments still hanging in the distance were pushed onward by that invisible force, as if swept aside by a giant's hand. They howled toward the horizon, carving countless pale trails through the dim sky.

Qi Heng slid backward from the recoil, his feet scraping two silver streaks through the air.