The God of Destruction Descends!

A year had passed since the two last met, and both had changed considerably.

Son Goku's eyes burned as he studied Vegeta from head to toe, his gaze grave. He took in every change in him.

Vegeta, meanwhile, fixed his sharp, arrow-like gaze on Son Goku and noticed the changes in him as well.

"Looks like you've been training a lot harder than me, Vegeta."

"If I'm not mistaken, you should have taken that step too, right?"

A warm smile spread across Son Goku's face. He was genuinely happy for his old friend.

"Hmph! I can't stay behind you forever, Kakarot. It's only Super Saiyan 4. I had my own way of achieving it."

"It's been a year, and you've gotten a lot stronger too, Kakarot."

Vegeta narrowed his cold eyes and released an invisible pressure, testing the depths of Son Goku's strength.

Faced with Vegeta's probing, Son Goku released a little of his own pressure, disrupting Vegeta's aura.

"As much as I'd like to fight you, we should hold back. This is Bulma's birthday party, after all."

"Even if we do fight, it should be after the party."

Son Goku suppressed his anticipation as he made the suggestion.

Vegeta said nothing and silently withdrew his pressure. He had no intention of fighting Son Goku right now anyway.

It was his wife's birthday party, after all, and as her husband, he would not do anything so foolish.

"Come to think of it, there's something I want to ask you." Son Goku leaned close to Vegeta's ear and asked cautiously, "How old is Bulma turning today, anyway?"

"Why are you asking that?" Vegeta frowned and looked at Son Goku in bewilderment.

Honestly, he did not know how old Bulma was turning today either.

"Just curious. Don't tell me you don't know either." Son Goku asked with a faint smile.

"Hmph! I don't care about such boring things," Vegeta said coldly.

As the two talked, something unexpected happened.

Beyond Earth, a streak of brilliant light pierced the atmosphere and descended to the left of Son Goku and Vegeta at a terrifying speed.

"What's going on?" Son Goku instantly went on guard.

"What the hell is that?" Vegeta became intensely alert.

The two stared sharply at the dazzling, multicolored light. When it faded, two people they had never seen before appeared before them.

The newcomers were Beerus the God of Destruction and Whis the Angel.

Who are these two?! Son Goku stared at them without blinking, a storm raging in his heart.

He had no memory of either of them.

Son Goku grew even more serious. Fixing his piercing gaze on Beerus the God of Destruction and Whis the Angel, he expanded his senses.

The moment he sensed them, he was startled.

This is... God Ki? Such pure God Ki! The result left Son Goku aghast.

Ever since Old Kai had given him a method to cultivate God Ki a year ago, he had not slacked off and had been using it to train.

By now, he had cultivated God Ki within his body.

Yet the God Ki of these two who had suddenly appeared before him was far purer than his own.

Could they be gods? Gods I've never seen before. Son Goku's expression grew grave as he thought to himself.

Unlike the puzzled Son Goku, Vegeta stood beside him with a vacant stare and a shocked expression upon seeing the two.

A long-buried memory flooded back into his mind.

Vegeta recalled seeing his father pinned beneath Beerus the God of Destruction's foot, as Beerus repeatedly threatened him to find the best pillow in the universe.

At the time, Vegeta had been young and had not understood how terrifying the God of Destruction was. He had wanted to rescue his father, the king, but a single glance from Beerus had frightened him so badly that he fell to the ground, unable to move.

From then on, the terror of Beerus the God of Destruction had been etched deeply into his mind.

His body's instincts had buried that memory deep in his mind. Now that Beerus the God of Destruction had appeared in person, the memory he least wanted to recall had been unearthed.

"Beerus the God of Destruction!" Vegeta's eyes were filled with hostility, radiating a bone-chilling cold.

"Beerus the God of Destruction? Vegeta, you know this guy?!" Son Goku turned to him and asked in disbelief.

In his previous life, he had never heard Vegeta mention anyone like a God of Destruction, nor had one ever appeared.

Could it be that the world he had been reborn into was different from his old one?

"Thinking back to the last time we met, decades have passed. The Saiyan Prince I once frightened to the ground with a single glance has grown up now." A sneer crossed Beerus's lips as he spoke from on high.

"Heh heh heh... I was just a child back then, but I'll never forget the humiliation you inflicted on the Saiyans, Beerus!" Vegeta's attitude was unyielding, his eyes icy.

Back then, Beerus the God of Destruction had toyed with his father, his people, and him. It was a disgrace to their race, one he could never forget.

As the Saiyan Prince, he would reclaim their lost dignity.

"That King Vegeta fellow had a fine son, it seems."

"Back then, your father was nothing but a groveling servant before me."

"His son has more backbone than he did. But Vegeta, let me remind you of one thing: a God of Destruction is terrifying!"

A sneer crossed Beerus the God of Destruction's lips. With a single thought, he released the pressure of a God of Destruction.

A very strange feeling settled over Vegeta and Son Goku, one they had never experienced before.

As a God of Destruction, his every action represented destruction. His pressure and his terror would make any living being feel fear instinctively and abandon any thought of resistance.

But that only applied to the weak.

The strong feared no one, not even gods!!

Son Goku and Vegeta were completely unaffected by the pressure emanating from Beerus the God of Destruction.

"For a God of Destruction, you're awfully rude. If you want to fight, I'll see it through to the end." Son Goku's expression turned cold. He had already decided that Beerus the God of Destruction was an enemy.

"Arrogant Saiyan. You defeated that third-rate piece of trash Frieza, and now you think you can stand against a God of Destruction?"

"Naive!"

Beerus the God of Destruction looked down on Son Goku. In his eyes, Son Goku was nothing but a brawny, simple-minded wild monkey.