Dark green light flared across Broly's body, his expression tightening as he finally stopped holding back.
Crackling arcs of energy wrapped around him like serpents of lightning.
He pointed at the arrow Heles had fired.
With a boom, the arrow detonated in midair and vanished into sparks.
"Finally couldn't sit still anymore, huh?" Heles laughed. "That teammate of yours is way too pathetic."
Broly didn't bother answering.
"I could tell from the start that that fat guy's power is about level 53. Same as me," Heles said with a pleasant smile. "But I use divine power. Gods have their own way of fighting. Didn't your angel ever explain that to you?"
Broly looked at her with a cold, unreadable stare.
"And your power—sure, you've hit level 54 already. But that's just raw energy. Today I'll show you what kind of advantage a true God of Destruction has when it comes to divine power," she went on.
Before she could finish the sentence, Broly's body exploded into a dark green blaze and shot straight at her.
He was so fast that Heles's pupils dilated in shock.
In an instant, he was right in front of her.
He reached out and clamped one big hand over her face.
Still palming her head, Broly rushed forward at full speed, dragging her through the emptiness of the World of Void as he looked around for something solid to grind her against.
Heles was completely thrown. She had never imagined his speed would be this insane.
She reacted fast, though. Her palm slammed into his chest with a heavy thud.
Broly grit his teeth and tanked the blow.
Heles hammered two more palms into him in quick succession, purple-red destructive energy blooming in her hands.
That destruction energy, however, simply refused to bite into him.
That didn't mean it didn't hurt.
Broly bared his teeth at the pain, then casually switched her from his right hand to his left as if he were swapping hands with a ball.
Heles: "…"
Are you playing basketball here?
You even have to cross over and switch hands?
Broly's own palms answered for him—two sharp impacts right into Heles's chest.
She screamed twice in agony, then glanced down and froze.
Her chest was… gone. Clean, flat, like a field after the bulldozers came through.
Heles almost blacked out from rage.
This bastard!
Who fights like this?!
"AAAAHHH!"
Her fury erupted. Purple-red energy boiled off her body and she drove a vicious uppercut into Broly's stomach.
Broly took the hit with a grunt, pain ripping through his midsection—but his eyes lit up when he suddenly caught sight of a blazing star in the distance.
Dragging Heles along by the face, he tore across space and dropped into a nearby universe. Then, still holding her by the head, he aimed straight for that star and charged.
The closer they got, the more the heat roared.
In an instant, the star's terrifying temperature burned Broly's clothes away.
They'd just been normal fabric, after all.
Heles, on the other hand, was wrapped in full God of Destruction attire. This level of heat didn't even singe the outfit.
"Hey! Your clothes!" she snapped through clenched teeth.
Broly glanced down, went silent for a beat… then twisted his wrist and caught sight of the watch strapped there. Without hesitation, he stuck his tongue out and tapped the switch.
Heles: "…"
"Koo-koo, kaka!"
In an instant, red battle armor flowed over Broly's body.
Under the aura of his Legendary Super Saiyan form, the armor's color shifted to a dark green.
Right now, as a Legendary Super Saiyan Two, Broly was already at level 54.
The armor's boost capped out at level 50. At his current tier, it didn't give him any extra power at all.
At least it didn't drag him down.
For Broly at this point, the armor was just clothing.
Very durable clothing.
"Wait—that material… isn't that Mosco's tech?" Heles blurted, her expression twisting. "How do you have something like that?!"
Before she could get an answer, Broly had already slammed her down against the surface of the star.
Roaring flames swallowed the two of them.
But with both of them at God of Destruction level, this kind of heat wasn't enough to do real damage.
Broly's fist rocketed upward, burying itself in Heles's gut.
She gagged and spat up a mouthful of sour bile.
It turned to steam before it even hit the air.
Broly seized her by the ankle and started rag-dolling her through the star, smashing her body up, down, left, and right.
The raging stellar fire was churned into chaos.
A minute later, the star tore itself apart with a thunderous boom, fragmenting into thousands of fireballs that scattered in all directions through space.
Heles's skin was cooked bright red now; she wasn't nearly as dark as before.
Broly clamped a hand around her neck and hoisted her high above him.
"Had enough?" he asked.
Heles couldn't force a sound out. All she could feel was a crushing sense of humiliation.
Seriously… I'm the one who came in hyped and got wrecked before I even made it out of the opening round…
Talk about tragic.
How is this guy this strong?!
"If you're done, then stamp the card." Broly pulled out a card and waved it in front of her eyes.
"I… I'm done. I'll stamp it," Heles said miserably. All her previous confidence was gone without a trace.
Broly finally loosened his grip.
Heles rubbed her throat, then looked down at her chest again.
Still a perfectly flat plain.
Her chest rose and fell in impotent fury—metaphorically, anyway.
"Stamp it." Broly handed her the card that had her information on it.
"Stamp your own damn card!" Heles snapped. She flicked it at him like a thrown playing card.
Broly tilted his head. The card skimmed past his cheek and carved a long scratch across his helmet.
Then Heles drove a sudden kick into his abs.
Broly flew backward and plunged into one of the drifting fireballs.
Heles conjured her bow in a flash and loosed three shots in a row.
The three arrows slammed into Broly's armor one after another, coming within a hair of piercing through it.
As soon as she fired, she spun around and bolted.
Broly glanced down at the burn marks and dents on his armor and felt his heart twist.
So this thing's gotten that fragile already?
And that woman has absolutely no shame.
He took off after her at once.
He hadn't chased far when a streak of fiery red light suddenly slashed past from his right.
Broly flinched and leaned back hard, barely dodging the purple-red blaze. He turned his head and narrowed his eyes.
In the distance, he saw Champa—and next to him, a fox-like God of Destruction.
When Champa noticed Broly looking over, he deliberately pulled a face at him.
"Hey, Broly! Come over here and hit me if you dare!" Champa cackled, laughing harder and harder.
The two Gods of Destruction on Broly's right were Champa and Liquiir, God of Destruction of Universe 8.
Before this, Champa had finally gone and dragged Liquiir in from Universe 8 to help him.
Broly gave Liquiir a quick once-over, then pulled his card deck out again and rifled through it until he found the matching portrait.
Liquiir: God of Destruction of Universe 8. Level 54.
Seeing that number, Broly's heart tightened and his face changed slightly.
Same level as me…
I'd better tread carefully.
And beyond that fox, there were two more of them.
Broly's expression grew even more grave.
"Heles, over here," Champa shouted, waving her over.
Heles hooked around in the starfield and quickly regrouped with Champa and Liquiir.
The other two Gods of Destruction promptly gave her a long, scrutinizing look.
"Wait, hold up… Heles, why do you look like a guy now?" Champa snorted, already on the verge of laughing.
"Mm. She's missing… a little something," Liquiir added with a grin.
Heles: "…"
"What are you staring at?! Go beat him down for me!" Heles roared, shaking with fury.
"So that's Broly?" Liquiir chuckled. "That armor he's wearing looks a lot like Mosco's work."
"Looks like armor forged from condensed universe essence," Heles agreed with a reluctant nod. "That stuff is ridiculously tough."
Champa hesitated.
He really wanted to tell them both that Sidra and Mosco had already been erased by Broly.
But the more he thought about it, the more he decided that saying it out loud was a bad idea.
If they got scared, they'd definitely run faster than he could.
He was level 51; they were 53 and 54.
If anyone got left behind to get beaten, it'd be him.
Champa swallowed the words back down.
"What were you about to say?" Liquiir asked, giving him a sideways glance.
"Nothing… nothing at all," Champa said quickly, shaking his head.
"Hmph. And with that level of strength, he thinks he can be the leader of all the Gods of Destruction?" Liquiir sneered. "Even Beerus doesn't strut around that arrogantly."
Just then, a pink blur streaked in from the distance and stopped at Broly's side.
"Broly, you okay?" Buu asked.
Broly slowly shook his head.
"What're you doing wearing that thing?" Buu asked curiously.
"My clothes got burned off," Broly said.
"I'll whip up a new set for you," Buu said. He brought his hands up and made a sweeping motion at Broly from a distance.
With a soft pop, a fresh set of clothes appeared on Broly's body.
Broly glanced down at himself, then dismissed his armor and faced Liquiir and the other Gods of Destruction in his true appearance.
"Wait… you let that fat guy make your outfit?" Heles stared at him, lost for words.
"My clothes burned away. He made these," Broly said honestly.
"You really don't know? We Gods of Destruction can condense new outfits with our own energy," Champa finally couldn't stand it anymore and shouted at him. "The clothes we're wearing right now are as tough as our bodies. You could stand on a star and they still wouldn't burn."
"Uh… let me try," Broly muttered, scratching his head.
He flexed, and the clothes Buu had conjured shattered into scraps around him.
As far as Broly was concerned, the ones opposite him were just a couple of animals.
Changing in front of animals… what's the problem?
The other one barely counted as a man.
So Broly didn't feel even a flicker of embarrassment as he blew his outfit to pieces.
"This bastard! What does he think I am?!" Heles trembled with rage.
Champa and Liquiir remained diplomatically silent.
Then Heles muttered under her breath, "…Though I'll admit, the kid's built pretty well."
Champa: "…"
Liquiir: "…"
Energy gathered in Broly's hand, and in an instant a new outfit wrapped around him, identical in style to his old one.
Buu: "…"
"There. Much better," Broly said, nodding in satisfaction. "Clothes you condense yourself really do feel more comfortable."
The three Gods of Destruction honestly had nothing to say to that.
"Enough prattle," Liquiir said, stepping forward. "Let me see for myself how strong you really are."
He turned his head slightly and spoke to Heles and Champa. "You two stay out of this for now. I'll handle him alone. If the three of us gang up on a rookie and then brag about it, we'll be a laughingstock among the veteran Gods of Destruction."
Heles and Champa both nodded. No objections.
"Come on then, 'future leader of the Gods of Destruction,'" Liquiir said with a smile, crooking his finger at Broly. "Show me what you've got."
Broly saw no reason to stand on ceremony. He launched himself at Liquiir.
In the blink of an eye, they clashed.
They traded blows in the starfield, their speed and power rising higher and higher.
Massive energy waves burst from their bodies, echoing through the sea of stars.
Their battle quickly spilled out of that region and into a nearby galaxy.
Liquiir's tail suddenly flexed behind him and split into nine.
They stiffened like cannons and spewed out a dense barrage of energy blasts.
The glowing projectiles screamed toward Broly.
Broly brought both hands up and slapped them away one after another, knocking them off their paths like stray balls.
Explosions tore through the galaxy. Planet after planet disintegrated under the blasts, reduced to dust and scattered starlight.
Dark green light flooded out from Broly's body as he pushed his power to the limit. Arcs of dark green lightning crackled around him.
The powerful energy wave rolled outward, swallowing countless planets whole.
"Thanks for the help," Liquiir said, the corner of his mouth quirking up in a smile.
"That shameless fox is using this chance to do some cleanup work for his universe," Heles said through gritted teeth, rolling her eyes.
"He's probably wanted to erase this galaxy for a long time," Champa said as he looked around and realized this particular galaxy was a bit redundant.
"Liquiir's a total workaholic. He takes his job very seriously," Heles said with a nod. "Otherwise his universe wouldn't be doing so well."
"Hah. And what good does that do him?" Champa sniffed. "So what if a universe is well developed?"
"You're not wrong," Heles admitted. "In the end, it doesn't matter that much. As long as the universe's life force is intact, it's fine." She cut her eyes toward Buu. "Anyway, us standing here spectating doesn't feel right. Why don't we go give his teammate a proper beating?"
Champa glanced at Majin Buu and nodded in full agreement.
They flickered out of sight and reappeared, one in front of Buu and one behind him.
Buu looked at Heles in front, then at Champa behind, then grinned.
"Hey, fat cat, don't you think our body types are kinda similar?" he said.
"Get lost! I'm a dignified God of Destruction. How could my physique be anything like a trainee's? Don't try to put yourself on my level!" Champa snorted.
Before he finished talking, Buu kicked straight back. His leg stretched like rubber, extending hundreds of times its length and slamming square into Champa's face.
Champa howled in pain, nosebleed pouring out of both nostrils.
"You dare act up in front of us after losing?" Heles roared, summoning her bow again.
An arrow shot straight through Buu's body and stabbed into Champa's chest behind him.
Champa: "…"
"Heles! You useless teammate!" Champa yelled, furious.
"You're the useless one! You knew I was about to shoot—why didn't you move instead of standing there like an idiot?" Heles shouted back.
"Damn it!" Champa grabbed the arrow and yanked it out of his chest, baring his teeth at the pain.
"Be grateful that fatso blocked part of it, or you might've died on the spot," Heles snorted. "You're this weak, and you're from the same mother as Beerus?"
"You… what did you just say? What's that supposed to mean, you muscle-headed tomboy?!" Champa yelled, practically foaming.
"Who are you calling a tomboy?!" Heles's temper snapped.
"You, obviously. If you've got guts, hit me!" Champa stuck his tongue out and pulled a face at her.
"Just you wait—I'll show you what 'hit you' means!" Heles yelled, chest heaving as the part Broly had flattened earlier slowly regained its shape.
Buu watched this and gave a serious, thoughtful nod.
So that works too, huh.
"Fatso, we'll fight again later. I've got to deal with that giant furball first!" Heles snarled, shooting toward Champa.
As she passed Buu—
He drilled a fist straight into her chest.
It flattened again with a satisfying smack.
Heles nearly jumped out of her skin with rage.
To make things worse, Champa was nearby, laughing like an idiot at the top of his lungs.
Heles finally snapped. She grabbed Buu by the head tentacle and whipped it across his face, smacking him so hard his features twisted out of shape.
Then she planted a kick in his side and sent him flying across the starfield like a shooting star.
She dove after Champa.
Champa didn't hesitate for even half a second—he turned tail and ran.
"You think you can run from me?!" Heles shouted. She drew her bow and fired another arrow.
The arrow shaved a line across Champa's arm and shot off into deep space.
Cold sweat broke out all over him, and he ran even faster.
In the distance, Liquiir drove a kick into Broly's chest and sent him flying backward.
He frowned and shouted at Heles and Champa, "What are you two doing? You can fight anytime you want—why pick now to start fighting each other?!"
"Stay out of it, Liquiir! I'm not going to calm down until I beat that fat cat into the ground!" Heles snapped.
"Hmph. Don't you know? Cat speed is seven times cat speed!" Champa declared proudly. "When it comes to speed, I've got a huge lead!"
Even Buu had no idea what that was supposed to mean.
As soon as he finished bragging, Champa pushed his speed to the limit. In the time it took Heles to blink, he'd vanished from sight.
Heles: "…"
"You coward!" she shouted, livid.
"Come catch me if you've got the guts! Come on, try it!" Champa called back, smug. He looped around again, just close enough to smack his own backside at her in mockery.
Heles's fury spiked even higher.
Then her pupils shrank slightly.
Without anyone noticing, Buu had already appeared right behind Champa.
"Absorption!"
Grinning from ear to ear, Buu's body suddenly spread out into a huge sheet of pink flesh, snapping around Champa and wrapping him up like a dumpling.
In the blink of an eye, he absorbed Champa entirely, fusing him into his own body.
In that moment, Buu looked exactly like some kind of cat-themed Majin.
"What? He actually absorbed him?" Heles's face drained of color.
"Heh-heh… heh-heh… hahahaha! Hahahahaha!" Buu's mouth nearly split to his ears. "I absorbed the big fat cat!"
A moment later, an enormous surge of power erupted from his body.
"What now?" Liquiir muttered, frowning.
"His level… his level just hit 54!" Heles said, face going stiff.
"Only one level?" Buu scratched his head, his brain clearly overheating. He started counting on his fingers. "I was level 53, the big fat cat was level 51. I absorbed him, so I should be level 104!"
Liquiir: "…"
Heles: "…"
That is absolutely not how that works.
"You hit me so hard just now… so I'm going to beat you flat," Buu said, grinning as he squinted at Heles.
Heles had just experienced Broly's power up close.
Gods had their own style of fighting, sure—but once someone's raw power climbed high enough, it could make up a lot of the difference in technique.
Before, Buu and Heles had both been level 53.
But Buu had only just stepped into 53—call it 53.0.
Heles, on the other hand, was closer to 53.6.
Add in the fact that, as a God of Destruction, Heles had far more battle experience than Majin Buu, and it made sense he couldn't beat her.
Now, though, with Majin Buu sitting at level 54, the pressure on Heles ramped up hard.
Buu's arm stretched like rubber, lengthening tens of thousands of times as he threw a punch at her.
Heles reacted fast, flashing sideways to dodge the extended fist.
She smirked.
Then her smirk froze on her face.
Buu's absurdly long arm suddenly snapped back, coiling around her like a rope and binding her from head to toe.
He yanked her in and hauled her right up in front of him.
Then he slammed his forehead into her face.
Heles let out a bloodcurdling scream. Her whole body felt like it was coming apart.
"These two idiots," Liquiir muttered, grinding his teeth. "I seriously regret teaming up with them."
Just then, a dark green streak came screaming in from the distance.
Broly's fist slammed into Liquiir's chest like a comet.
Liquiir coughed up a mouthful of blood.
"Well, well. Things are lively over here," a new voice suddenly drifted across the starfield.
Broly's ears pricked up at the familiar tone and he turned to look.
In the distant void, a purple-red figure slowly came into view.
A short creature with a smirking mouth that just screamed "shifty."
Broly recognized him at a glance.
Quitela—the one hailed as the second-strongest among the twelve Gods of Destruction.
If Beerus doesn't show his face, who can outdo Quitela?
Almost eleven months ago, right when Ken had just completed his transformation into an angel, Quitela had shown up near Buu and Broly and taunted them nonstop.
Then Ken woke up and beat Quitela half to death. The rat had knelt and begged for mercy over and over, while Broly and Buu spent a long time kicking him around like a ball.
If Ken hadn't been short on spare Gods of Destruction, Quitela would've been wiped out on the spot.
Now, Quitela had come back, reappearing close to Broly's battle as he watched Broly and Liquiir with a bright, predatory smile.
He clapped his hands and flashed a perfect set of rodent front teeth.
"Not bad, not bad. Very nice fight," Quitela said, his grin growing more and more radiant.
Broly paused his clash with Liquiir and turned to stare at Quitela warily.
Buu gave Heles two more hard slaps across the face, then body-checked her away with his backside.
"Liquiir, you're such a disgrace," Quitela said with a faint chuckle. "You've been fighting a newly promoted trainee God of Destruction all this time and still haven't put him down?"
"Quitela, this has nothing to do with you. Beat it," Liquiir snorted.
"Nothing to do with me? Isn't this the brat who wants to become leader of all the Gods of Destruction? Am I not a God of Destruction?" Quitela sneered. "Does he really think he's hot stuff now?"
He kept on laughing coldly. "And as for you two—don't think I've forgotten what you did to me last time. I've been meaning to settle that debt. This opportunity is just too perfect."
As he spoke, Quitela's eyes swept over Broly and then over Majin Buu, the smile in his gaze growing darker and darker.
(End of Chapter)
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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