To say Quitela didn't want revenge would have been downright unnatural.
Quitela dreamed of revenge.
But faced with an angel as powerful as Ken, Quitela didn't even dare let out a fart.
Just when he was about to give up on the idea of payback, a world-shaking announcement came down from the divine realm.
Broly wanted to become the leader of all Gods of Destruction—the Great God of Destruction.
And angels were strictly forbidden from getting involved.
Quitela was so happy he could laugh in his sleep. He shot out from the God of Destruction realm of Universe 4 and started scouring the cosmos for any trace of Broly.
What tempted Quitela the most was that even if he completely erased Broly, the Grand Priest wouldn't blame him.
You had a perfectly good job as the God of Destruction of Universe 18 and you just had to come fight over the position of Great God of Destruction?
You're the one asking to get stomped. Who are you going to blame?
"Liquiir, step back and let me handle him," Quitela snorted, giving Liquiir the order.
After a brief hesitation, Liquiir held his tongue and immediately flew off into the distance, clearing the field for Quitela.
At the same time, Liquiir had to admit to himself that Broly was still very strong.
It had only been a little over twenty years, and he'd already grown to level 54 in power.
What a pity. The brat had gotten way too full of himself. Level 54 and he wanted to rule over every God of Destruction?
You're dreaming.
Quitela slowly floated to a stop in front of Broly.
Majin Buu sensed something was off as well and immediately dropped down to land at Broly's side.
"Oh? You absorbed that idiot Champa and that's how you ended up like this, right?" Quitela sneered.
Majin Buu nodded, then suddenly thought of something, pointed at Quitela and spat out a single word. "Ball!"
Quitela's face went from bad to worse.
"Very good. You've successfully made me angry. I'll be sure to give you some extra special 'care' later," Quitela smiled coldly.
Majin Buu just grinned, completely unconcerned.
"But anyway, the rules this time say you two aren't allowed to kill any of the other Gods of Destruction. You didn't kill that Champa idiot, did you?" Quitela snorted, narrowing his eyes at Buu.
"He's temporarily fused with my body. He won't die," Majin Buu replied. "But if it goes on too long, he might."
"Even if he dies, it's no big deal. I was just asking," Quitela snorted again. "This absorption of yours is kind of a pain to deal with. Even a moron like Champa can get sucked up by you… but as long as I pay attention, it should be pretty easy to counter."
"In a bit, we're going to kick you around like a ball again," Majin Buu grinned.
"Is that so? Last time that angel was on the scene, so I couldn't do anything to you. But did you really think I'd let it slide this time?" Quitela's forehead veins were bulging. "I'll show you exactly what happens when you mess with me!"
Broly didn't dare be careless. He instantly pushed his power to the limit.
Majin Buu puffed out his big belly, raised both fists, and got ready to brawl.
"You two can come at me together," Quitela snorted. His body turned into a streak of purple-red light that shot straight toward Broly and Majin Buu.
In an instant, he flashed past both of them and hammered each with a heavy blow.
Bang! Bang!
Broly and Majin Buu both took the hit square in the face.
"What's wrong? The two of you together only amount to this?" Quitela smiled in contempt.
Broly rubbed his stinging cheek and said nothing.
Majin Buu's face snapped back to normal at once. He opened his little triangular eyes and squinted at Quitela.
"As expected of Quitela," Heles sighed.
"I feel like his strength has improved again. He's even stronger than before," Liquiir nodded, analyzing calmly. "If we were to put a decimal after his level, I'd say he's at 55.9."
"You're not wrong… He's been training hard this whole time, obsessed with surpassing Beerus," Heles agreed.
"Beerus is a genius. He gets stronger even while he sleeps," Liquiir muttered.
The moment that was said, both of them felt a stab in the heart.
This was a real genius.
Does nothing but sleep all day, and his power still increases.
It was downright unfair.
Whoosh.
Quitela attacked again, instantly appearing right in front of Broly.
Bang!
An uppercut slammed directly into Broly's jaw.
Broly tumbled head over heels through the starry void.
Majin Buu lunged at Quitela, claws bared.
Bang!
Quitela's kick sent Majin Buu flying clean out of sight.
Then, with a cold snort, Quitela shot upward and hammered a kick into Broly's side.
"From the way he's moving, Quitela's planning to wipe out both of them," Heles said, propping up her chin as she watched.
"Seems like they had some bad blood already," Liquiir mused.
"Then that explains it." Heles nodded in sudden understanding. "By the way, did you go to that God of Destruction candidate tournament in Universe 18 last time?"
"I didn't. I don't like crowds," Liquiir shook his head.
"I didn't either," Heles replied with a smile.
"Everything still all right… over there?" Liquiir couldn't help flicking a glance at Heles's chest.
"Get lost!" Heles's face darkened.
Meanwhile, Broly and Quitela kept trading blows.
After a few exchanges, Broly was clearly no match and was beaten back again and again.
Bang!
Quitela suddenly slammed a palm into Broly's chest.
Broly spat a mouthful of blood. The dark green aura around him flickered unsteadily.
"What's this? Is this your true power? With this level you want to be the Great God of Destruction? Don't make me laugh!" Quitela sneered, his big rodent teeth jutting out and making his face look all the more vicious.
Broly wiped the blood off the corner of his mouth, his fighting spirit burning even hotter in his eyes.
Swoosh.
Majin Buu shot in from a distance, his healing flame washing over Broly's body.
In the blink of an eye, Broly's injuries were completely healed.
"Oh? Healing techniques?" Quitela chuckled. "Not bad. But even if you can get healed up, your level's not going to increase."
Rumble.
A massive surge of energy erupted from Broly again. The dark green flames around him flared back to their former brightness.
Quitela's smile froze.
He could clearly feel that Broly's power had risen—if only a little.
"What's going on? Broly's still level 54, but if he was 54.1 before, then right now he's at least 54.2! Am I imagining things?" Liquiir blinked, genuinely surprised.
"You're not. I feel it too," Heles murmured.
"What's happening here?" Liquiir grew more and more stunned.
"It's nothing special. When a Saiyan comes back from the brink of death, their power increases. Even though Broly wasn't actually dying, recovering like this still boosts him a bit."
A calm voice suddenly sounded right beside Heles and Liquiir.
The two of them flinched, pupils contracting as they instinctively turned toward the source.
There, floating beside them, was a young man holding a staff.
He had short, silver-white hair, and a pale cream-colored angel halo hovering at his neck.
But what drew the eye most was the silver-white tail swaying lazily behind him in the void.
"So handsome! I've never seen such a good-looking angel!" Heles's cheeks flushed red.
Liquiir: "…"
"Are you that desperate for a man?" Liquiir shook his head.
The two quickly guessed who this newcomer had to be.
"You're that human who became an angel through training, right?" Liquiir greeted Ken with a gentle smile.
"It's my first time seeing an angel with a tail. And your skin color is kind of weird too," Heles said as she stepped closer and ran her hands over Ken's arm and chest.
Ken flicked her hand away.
"Don't rub your hands off on me," he said irritably.
Heles: "…"
Heles's chest heaved with anger as she ground her teeth, itching to jump him and take a bite.
This angel's mouth was brutal.
"It's fine. You two keep talking. I just came to watch," Ken said with an easy smile. "Since this is a battle for the Great God of Destruction position, angels aren't allowed to interfere."
"Hmph. You say that like you'd make a difference even if you did step in," Heles shot him a nasty look.
"Man, my temper really has improved. Back in the day… Forget it. You're lucky," Ken said with a faint smile, quietly marking it down in his heart.
Bang!
Quitela was still pummeling Broly and Majin Buu.
The two of them together still couldn't match him.
Even though Broly's power had bumped up again, the gap between him and Quitela was just too big.
Quitela was having the time of his life, laying on the beating with a radiant grin.
But in the middle of his full-on offensive, he suddenly felt something was off.
Out of the corner of his eye, Quitela caught sight of Ken in the distance.
His pupils shrank. His face went pale in an instant. The fist he'd been swinging froze, and he hastily pulled it back.
Ken said nothing, just watched him with smiling eyes.
Quitela was scared now. His expression changed again and again.
"It's fine. I'm just passing by to take a look," Ken said pleasantly. "Angels aren't allowed to participate in the Great God of Destruction battle. I'm just watching from the sidelines. Go ahead."
"F-fine… then I'll keep going…" Quitela gritted his teeth, clenched his fists, and prepared to attack Broly again.
He threw out a probing punch at Broly—
But as he struck, he couldn't help darting a nervous glance in Ken's direction.
Bang!
Because he hesitated, Broly actually beat him to the punch and socked him square in the nose.
Broly followed up with a vicious kick that sent Quitela skidding, then clapped his hands together to gather energy.
Rumble!
A dark green blast roared toward Quitela.
Quitela jumped, waving his hand wildly to swat the blast away into nothing.
Then, furious, he turned back into that streak of purple-red light and charged at Broly again.
Just as he reached Broly, Majin Buu came sailing down from above and aimed a kick at Quitela's head.
Quitela's reaction was lightning fast. He twisted slightly and slipped past Buu's foot.
Bang!
He fired back with a side kick that sent Majin Buu crashing backward.
Broly rushed in again, launching a fresh flurry of attacks.
Quitela dealt with him easily. After a few quick exchanges, another fist and another kick smashed into Broly and drove him back yet again.
Majin Buu came charging in from afar once more.
The longer Quitela fought, the more energized he became.
Even with Broly and Majin Buu teaming up, they were completely outclassed.
But in the middle of the brawl, Quitela's peripheral vision snagged on Ken again.
Right. I forgot. That guy's still here…
This is bad.
He'd gotten so into the fight he'd forgotten that little detail.
The moment his focus slipped, Broly and Buu seized the opening and hammered him with a heavy combo.
Quitela grunted, backhanded Majin Buu across the face, and kicked Broly so hard he staggered.
"You two! Don't push your luck!" Quitela roared, ready to launch another attack.
Crack.
At that exact instant, Ken's staff brushed lightly against the fabric of space.
A crisp sound echoed out.
Cracks spread suddenly across the cosmos around them.
Quitela froze for a heartbeat, then snapped his head in that direction.
One look, and his soul just about bolted out of his body. His face went ghost-white.
Ken was smiling, eyes narrowed, saying nothing as he watched Quitela.
Quitela glanced at Ken, then at the fractures spider-webbing under the tip of that staff, and fear swallowed him whole.
In the very next second, Quitela didn't hesitate for an instant. He turned tail and ran.
He suddenly remembered how close his own skull had come to cracking open like that.
There was no way he was going to keep fighting Broly now. He turned back into a purple-red streak and bolted from the battlefield.
Heles and Liquiir both stared at the spot where Ken's staff had tapped space.
When they saw the fissures in the cosmic fabric, the two Gods of Destruction stared at each other wide-eyed, faces pale with shock.
This trainee angel was even more terrifying than they'd imagined.
He'd already gotten this strong?
But wait… weren't angels not supposed to meddle in this?
Ken yawned, turned his head to look in the direction Quitela had fled, and asked in confusion, "What happened? Why did that mouse run away?"
Heles: "…"
Liquiir: "…"
You seriously don't know why he ran?
"I just remembered, I have an appointment with the most beautiful woman in our universe for a beauty treatment…" Heles giggled quickly.
"Could you get them to do my tail while you're at it?" Liquiir asked.
"Of course," Heles nodded.
"Ken, we'll be taking our leave," Liquiir said with a polite nod.
Heles also waved to Ken as she said goodbye.
"Don't go. You're not going to stay for a match?" Ken pointed toward Broly and Majin Buu.
Heles and Liquiir shook their heads without a second of hesitation.
Right after that, they both turned into streaks of purple-red light and vanished from the scene.
Ken was just about to fly over to Broly—
Swoosh.
Suddenly, space twisted and warped.
The Grand Priest flickered into existence near Ken.
Ken blinked in surprise, then immediately stepped forward and bowed.
Broly and Majin Buu saw him arrive and hastily dropped to one knee in respect as well.
The Grand Priest didn't speak at first. He just smiled gently at Ken.
"Grand Priest, if there's something you need, please just say it," Ken said with a smile.
"Wait a moment. I have something to ask Broly privately," the Grand Priest replied, turning to look at Broly.
Broly bowed again.
Swoosh.
With a snap of the Grand Priest's fingers, the two disappeared in an instant.
Roughly a minute later—
Swoosh.
The Grand Priest returned to where Ken and Majin Buu were.
But Broly was nowhere to be seen.
While the Grand Priest had been away, Majin Buu had spent his time doing cartwheels and having a blast.
The moment he saw the Grand Priest come back, Buu zoomed over and started kowtowing furiously.
"Mr. Buu, could you please return Champa now?" the Grand Priest asked with a smile.
Majin Buu nodded hard and spat onto the ground.
Splut.
The glob of spit instantly turned into Champa.
His body snapped back to normal in a flash.
Champa shook himself out, then flew into a rage the moment he came to, charging straight at Majin Buu with murder in his eyes.
But then he caught sight of the Grand Priest and Ken standing right there.
"Greetings, Grand Priest!" Champa instantly dropped to one knee, not daring to be the least bit careless.
"You two may leave now," the Grand Priest said kindly. "The competition for the Great God of Destruction is still ongoing. Do as you like."
"Yes!" Champa answered.
Majin Buu didn't say anything. He just kept kowtowing again and again.
The Grand Priest: "…"
Do you think this is a funeral?
"Go on, go on," the Grand Priest waved them off, signaling for the two of them to scram.
"Where's Broly?" Buu finally asked, lifting his head.
"He's in one of the universes. Go look for him," the Grand Priest replied with a smile.
Majin Buu: "…"
"Which universe?" he pressed.
The Grand Priest's eyes narrowed slightly, amusement flickering in his expression.
"Are you an idiot? Can't you look for him yourself?" Champa yelped, grabbing Majin Buu and dragging him away from the scene.
In no time at all, the vast space of Universe 8 was left with only Ken and the Grand Priest.
"Ken, we agreed angels aren't allowed to interfere in this," the Grand Priest sighed softly.
"Why'd you toss Broly into Universe 2?" Ken asked, raising his staff and sweeping it once. It was child's play for him to locate Broly's current universe.
The Grand Priest: "…"
I was talking to you just now. Did you even hear me?
"I sent him to Universe 2 so he could finish some unfinished business," the Grand Priest said blandly. "I spoke with Broly alone. He still wants to push beyond his limits and become the true Great God of Destruction."
"Yeah, that's exactly what he wants," Ken nodded.
"But you saw it yourself. Forget about Quitela—against any of the other level-54 Gods of Destruction, he can barely fight to a draw," the Grand Priest went on.
"He still needs a lot of tempering," Ken sighed.
"Exactly. That's why I hope you won't get involved anymore," the Grand Priest said, giving Ken a serious look. "It's for his own good. You can't protect him for his entire life, can you?"
"Angels have eternal life. Even if I protected him forever, it wouldn't really be a problem," Ken replied earnestly.
"So in that case, the Great God of Destruction business ends here?" the Grand Priest's face darkened.
This kid loved to argue.
"There's no taking back a drawn bow," Ken said with a shake of his head.
"In that case, I'd like you to focus on training Goku during this period," the Grand Priest changed the subject. "I want Mr. Goku to train hard and become a true angel as soon as possible."
"That's fine," Ken thought it over and nodded.
"The road to becoming the Great God of Destruction is bound to be full of hardship. All of that is part of Broly's journey," the Grand Priest added.
"Yeah, yeah, I get it," Ken said with a small smile. "I really was just here to watch the show. Quitela got scared all on his own. How is that my fault?"
The Grand Priest: "…"
A brief, heavy silence.
"Looks like I'll have to block Broly from your sight entirely," the Grand Priest muttered. With that, he vanished in an instant.
Ken frowned, quickly lifting his staff and peering into the crystal at the top to observe Broly.
Thankfully, he could still see him for now.
Ken lowered the staff and thought it over seriously. Then he chose not to keep watching Broly.
"The Grand Priest is right. If we really want Broly to grow, and you keep stepping in, then with his current strength, it'll be almost impossible for him to break through," Amarella spoke up. "This is Broly's own choice. Let him go all out."
"All I can do for him is this one time," Ken sighed. "I believe that after this clash with Quitela, he'll really understand the gap between them."
"Exactly, exactly," Amarella nodded quickly.
Ken said no more. He left behind a streak of light in the cosmos of Universe 8, shining like a star, and soon vanished from sight.
…
Universe 6, Planet Sadala.
The desert.
In a barren wasteland where no one ever passed by, there was a small shelter.
It was full of children under fifteen.
The leader of the shelter was a five-year-old girl named Caulifla.
At such a young age, she was already the boss of the kids.
Right now, on the open ground in front of the shelter, Caulifla was leading a dozen or so children in training.
Bang.
With a dull thud, a little girl was knocked to the ground by a boy around her age.
"Waaah!"
The little girl burst into tears.
Caulifla stepped forward and helped her up.
"Kale, don't cry. We're Saiyans. We're a warrior race. We bleed, but we don't shed tears," Caulifla said, her childish face solemn, like an older sister lecturing the kids.
Kale sniffled and wiped her tears away, still feeling wronged.
"Kale, if you want to survive in this desert, you need to become strong first," Caulifla told her.
"Yes…" Kale nodded meekly.
Just then, a violent wind kicked up, sand whipping through the air.
Caulifla and the others immediately shielded their eyes.
When the wind finally died down, they all let out a small breath.
The weather in the desert was always this brutal. Caulifla and the others were already used to it.
"Keep training. We have to keep getting stronger," Caulifla said, giving a rousing speech to the gathered kids.
They all nodded obediently, faces fired up.
Only the boy who'd been sparring with Kale suddenly felt something was wrong. He yelled, "Boss, Kale's gone!"
Caulifla froze, then glanced around. Sure enough, Kale was nowhere to be seen.
"She was just next to me," the boy muttered, scratching his head.
"Maybe she went back to her room. She's always been timid…" another kid guessed.
"Go check her room," Caulifla ordered.
Two children dashed into the shelter to look for her, but there was no sign of Kale anywhere.
Caulifla led the others to search the area around the shelter, but they still came up empty.
"This is weird. Where could she have gone?" Caulifla frowned in worry.
…
Deep space.
Merus was flying quickly through the stars, carrying a little girl.
"Um… who are you?" Kale rubbed her eyes and looked up at him.
"I'm Merus. We've met before," Merus replied with a gentle smile.
"Merus?" Kale stared at him shyly, clearly unable to remember who he was.
"When you were three, I came to see you. I told you that when you got a little older, I'd take you to train. You forgot?" Merus asked kindly.
"Oh… I remember. You're that big brother," Kale said, suddenly realizing, her face lighting up.
"I'm taking you to train. I want to raise you into the strongest god in the universe," Merus said softly.
"I… I don't want to be a god. I just want to live with my sister," Kale answered in a tiny voice.
"When you become a god, you can go back and live with her," Merus said with a smile. "Don't you want to be able to protect your sister?"
"My sister's amazing. She can protect me. I don't need to protect her," Kale said, shaking her little head, her face dark from the sun.
"What if your sister meets someone even stronger than her? Then only you'll be able to protect her," Merus coaxed patiently. "And Kale, you're the Legendary Super Saiyan, the one that only appears once every thousand years among Saiyans. You could be the strongest Saiyan of all."
"Me? I can really do that?" Kale asked, still lacking confidence.
(End of Chapter)
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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