Age 771, March.
Planet of the God of Destruction.
"Aaahh– yawn…"
Half-asleep, Beerus shuffled out of his palace, yawning nonstop.
"Hey, Whis… has Son Gohan shown up yet? Aaah–choo!"
He sneezed toward the sky.
One of the satellites orbiting Beerus' planet exploded on the spot.
"Hehe, Lord Beerus, it seems you're taking this promise quite seriously. You even woke yourself up on time," Whis chuckled.
Clang, clang.
Whis tapped his staff lightly against the ground. The shattered satellite rewound in time and restored itself.
"Hmph. If that brat doesn't give me a satisfying answer, I'll wipe out Earth for sure," Beerus grumbled, rubbing his eyes rapidly with his fingers, still groggy.
"Ho ho ho… Lord Beerus, his answer may exceed even your expectations," Whis said.
Over the past two years, Whis had never stopped monitoring Son Gohan.
He had also seen Broly's existence. In his opinion, Broly might actually be more suited to the role of God of Destruction.
But in the end, that still depended on Beerus' decision.
Mount Paozu, Earth.
"Gohan, bring everyone over. Lord Beerus has awakened," Whis' voice sounded directly in Son Gohan's mind.
"Yes, Master, understood!" Gohan replied immediately.
He quickly gathered all the Saiyans living on Mount Paozu.
Then he went to find Tien Shinhan, Krillin, and Piccolo as well.
He planned to bring all of them to Beerus' world.
Planet of the God of Destruction.
Whoosh!
Nine figures appeared out of thin air.
"Hey, hey, hey… Son Gohan, I asked for one person. You brought eight?" Beerus complained immediately.
"Hehe, that's just so you can pick, Lord Beerus," Gohan said, then began introducing them one by one.
"Piccolo, a Namekian race personally created by Dragon God Salama—tremendous potential.
Tien Shinhan, young master of the Three-Eyed God Clan—no need to even mention his talent.
Krillin, technically a modified human, but his martial arts realm isn't inferior to mine.
"But the most important ones are these two:
Vegeta, Prince of Saiyans.
Broly, the Legendary Super Saiyan, with the most primitive Saiyan blood in his veins. His potential is practically limitless.
"I personally think his berserk bloodline makes him especially suited to your position as God of Destruction.
"As for the rest—my dad, my uncle, and Nappa—I was hoping to trouble Master Whis to train them for a while. They're not part of your candidate pool.
"You know as well as I do our Seventh Universe is currently ranked second from the bottom. I'm just trying to raise our ranking a bit so Lord Zeno doesn't focus on us."
After introducing everyone, Gohan subtly reminded Beerus: it was about time to buff the Seventh Universe.
Beerus' expression grew more and more satisfied.
"Good, good. Looks like you're taking this seriously. I like your attitude. But their power still needs to be verified," Beerus said, nodding. Then he suddenly frowned. "By the way, when did you become Whis' disciple, anyway… Whis?"
"Ho ho ho. Lord Beerus, this only proves Son Gohan has excellent taste," Whis said smugly.
Beerus himself had once thought about taking Son Gohan as a disciple—only to be turned down.
"Come now, Lord Beerus, don't sweat the details. Let's get to the main point. Who do you like best?" Gohan hurriedly changed the subject.
Beerus straightened up, eyes gleaming coldly as he swept his gaze over the eight candidates.
Krillin, Raditz, and Nappa all tensed up, as if some terrifying beast had locked onto them.
Piccolo, having served as Earth's guardian before, simply couldn't move under the crushing pressure of this higher dimension.
In contrast, Vegeta and Son Goku felt their fighting spirit boil. Broly even started powering up on the spot, violent, bloodthirsty energy exploding outward.
Tien Shinhan remained as calm as still water, directly ignoring Beerus' aura.
After all, he was the young master of the Three-Eyed God Clan. In the inherited memories of his race, there were images of Gods of Destruction.
In Universe 13, their clan's strongest warrior had once served as God of Destruction. Facing this type of pressure was nothing new for Tien.
"Him. Him. And him. They stay. The rest… forget it. They can't even withstand one ten-thousandth of my aura," Beerus said lazily, pointing at Vegeta, Son Goku, and Broly.
"As for that three-eyed one… he's not suitable to be the Seventh Universe's candidate God of Destruction. His clan comes from a universe Lord Zeno erased. Even though they were spared, to avoid any unexpected trouble, better to leave him out."
Just like that, Tien Shinhan lost the chance to become a candidate God of Destruction due to his Three-Eyed lineage.
But Tien didn't feel discouraged.
He believed that with his inherited memories, he could push himself to a level comparable to a God of Destruction on his own.
"I think my dad should sit this one out. You making him God of Destruction? Heh. His personality really isn't suited for it. He's way too soft-hearted," Gohan said, rolling his eyes.
"Is that so? …Fine, then we'll cross one more off the list," Beerus replied, thinking it over and finding Gohan's point reasonable.
"Master Whis, I'll leave them to you. I've already given each of them a trace of divine power, but my dad and the rest still haven't successfully broken through to that form," Gohan said tentatively.
"Mm. Leave it to me. My staff's inner space is much more conducive to their comprehension," Whis said without hesitation.
Seeing so many talented fighters gathered in one place delighted even Whis. After all, the universe rankings were directly tied to whether or not he'd get to taste more delicious foods in the future.
If their universe got erased, he wouldn't die—but he would fall into a very, very long sleep.
"Lord Beerus, there's one more thing," Gohan said, his expression suddenly turning serious.
"Oh? Brat, looks like in these ten years you've powered up quite a bit. You sure you want to fight me?" Beerus asked, instantly seeing through Gohan's intent.
Because he could feel Gohan's battle spirit rising.
"Lord Beerus, I know I'm still weaker than you, but at the very least, I can help loosen up that rusty body of yours," Gohan said confidently.
"Hehe, you really know how to talk. All right then, come. Show me what you've got," Beerus said, floating slowly into the air to face Gohan head-on.
Seeing that Gohan was about to fight Beerus, Goku and the others all lit up with excited anticipation.
"Well, since everyone's so interested, we'll watch first and train later. Haa—" Whis waved his staff, and a green barrier spread out to shield the onlookers.
Beerus clasped his hands behind his back.
The invisible pressure he unleashed forced Gohan to transform whether he liked it or not.
Gohan activated his Mystic Form directly.
A titanic aura erupted from him.
Beerus' eyes flickered with surprise. He could clearly feel that Gohan's current strength had reached the First Stage of the Great God Realm.
(From now on I'm not bothering with specific battle power numbers anymore. Too much hassle!)
Battle power was battle power, and dimension was dimension.
While Gohan's strength rivaled the First Stage of the Great God Realm, the level of his energy was still that of a mortal.
Because at the moment, he hadn't activated his Death Form or Life Form. This was pure Mystic Form—at a 2,000-fold multiplier.
After the birth of the Life Rule, his original 1,000-fold Mystic multiplier had doubled—and that was without invoking either Death or Life.
If he activated those two, the multiplier would double again, hitting 4,000-fold.
It had only been two years since Gohan returned from the Dragon God Realm, and he still hadn't fused the Rules of Life and Death.
"Son Gohan, if this is all you've got, I'm not interested," Beerus said bluntly. He was surprised by Gohan's power, but he himself had already reached the Eighth Stage of the Great God Realm and could break through to the Ninth—and thus complete the realm—at any time.
Stages One to Five were early phase,
Six, Seven, and Eight were mid phase,
Nine was late phase.
Beerus was already standing at the very peak.
"Don't rush me, Lord Beerus. Let me at least warm up step by step. I haven't fought in two years—I don't even know how strong I am now," Gohan said, excitement flickering in his eyes.
Over the past two years, he'd focused almost entirely on comprehending the Rules of Life and Death, not on increasing raw power.
But deep inside his body, divine power continued to constantly excavate his potential.
Even without training, his base strength had risen by another twenty billion, reaching a total of 120 billion.
"All right then. Come at me," Beerus said, extending one hand, gesturing for him to attack.
"In that case, I won't hold back! Yaaah!" Gohan vanished in a burst of speed, appearing behind Beerus and chopping his hand toward Beerus' neck.
Whoosh!
His hand cut through nothing but an afterimage.
Suddenly, the hairs on his back stood on end—
Bang!!
Gohan was sent flying, smashing into a distant forest and snapping dozens of towering trees as he crashed through them.