Years ago, when Gran had sparred with the Grand Elder of Planet Metamor, his physical instinct had broken through to the Second Stage.
In the years that followed, under the guidance of Beerus and Whis, he had pushed that instinct to the very peak of the Second Stage. This was the absolute limit for mortals. Now, a decade later, during this fierce battle with Champa, that bottleneck was finally beginning to shatter.
"He really did it!" The Old Kai observed closely, his voice brimming with ecstatic joy. "I thought he was just looking for a beating, but he was actually forcing a breakthrough!"
"Lord Kai, I'm afraid your eyes have deceived you this time," Whis said, shaking his head.
"Huh?" The Old Kai's mouth fell open wide enough to fit an egg.
"You old fossil, you've truly gone senile!" Beerus crossed his arms, huffing with annoyance.
"Gran's physical instinct hit a wall ages ago. He's tried to break through countless times over the years and failed every single time. He'd actually given up on it—didn't you see how bored he was fighting that guy from Universe 4? Gran just wanted a good, honest fight. Who would have thought..."
Beerus couldn't help but chuckle. "Who would have thought that, by some twist of fate, this accidental clash would be exactly what he needed to loosen that bottleneck!"
The elegant Vados remained silent, though she bit her lip slightly. She was, quite frankly, envious of Universe 7's luck once again.
CRASH—!
In the distance, the sound of violent collisions echoed through the shattered stars once more. A silver radiance and a purple glow were intertwined, locked in a deadly dance.
Sensing that Gran's bottleneck was loosening, Champa didn't hold back; instead, he became even more brutal.
POW!
Their fists collided. Space compressed, expanded, and then tore apart. Black holes formed and collapsed in a frantic cycle, looking like a portrait of Ragnarök. It was enough to make anyone's skin crawl. Champa quickly redirected the momentum, twisting his body to land a heavy hook squarely on Gran's jaw.
"AAAAAGH!!"
The searing pain caused Gran's consciousness to flicker, but he didn't fly backward. Instead, his head snapped back at an unnatural angle, his eyes fixed with predatory intensity on the "fat cat" in front of him.
"Lord Champa!" Gran roared. He abandoned all defense and threw a desperate counter-punch.
BOOM!
The blow finally connected with Champa's cheek. The power of the First Stage of the Divine Realm exploded on impact, tearing the surrounding black holes into ribbons. This time, it was Champa who was sent hurtling through the void.
"Hahaha! Keep it coming!" Gran hadn't even realized his instinct was evolving; he was simply lost in the pure adrenaline of the fight.
Whoosh!
Like the fastest streak of light in existence, Gran lunged forward.
"Good lad!" Champa stabilized himself. Seeing Gran charging at him, he felt a surge of excitement. "Interesting! Truly interesting! Let's see how much longer you can last!"
The two gods clashed again, both seemingly abandoning defense in favor of the most lethal offenses possible.
The battlefield continued to expand. Countless stars flickered, shattered, and were extinguished in the wake of their shockwaves. Their fighting trail resembled a celestial arrow piercing through the heart of the Milky Way.
"Hahaha! This is it! This is a real fight!" Gran shouted, his silver aura growing increasingly blinding. A swirling vortex of silver heat radiated from him. Clad in this burning energy, he moved like a localized galaxy, his movements becoming lighter and more ethereal with every passing second.
BAM!
Using the momentum of a rebound, Gran soared tens of thousands of meters into the air before descending at a terrifying velocity.
"Bring it on!" Champa didn't retreat. He stepped off the void itself, rising like a tide of pure destruction to meet the challenge.
A Saiyan "monkey" and a purple fat cat. One descending, one ascending. In the blink of an eye, they collided.
KABOOM—!
It was like a localized Big Bang. More than half of Universe 7 felt the tremors of that impact.
"What a... what a hot-blooded battle!" Shin watched the projection, feeling his own blood begin to boil.
"Hot-blooded my foot! Our universe is about to be blown to bits!" The Old Kai delivered a sharp knock to Shin's head.
"Almost there. He's about to break through!" Beerus was practically vibrating with anticipation. He glanced at Whis. "How much time is left in the three minutes?"
"Thirty seconds," Whis replied, checking the divine hourglass.
"Thirty seconds? That's cutting it close!" Beerus's expression turned anxious. "But... it'll have to be enough."
Beerus uncrossed his arms and transformed into a streak of purple light, racing toward the battlefield.
"What is Lord Beerus doing?" Shin asked, confused.
"You idiot, isn't it obvious? He's going to give Gran the final push!" The Old Kai knocked Shin's head again.
In the depths of space, Gran felt as if his very blood were on fire. The "fist-to-flesh" combat was intoxicating.
Dammit, why hasn't he broken through yet? Champa thought. He could feel that Gran's physical instinct was only a hair's breadth away from the Third Stage. But time was running out. Any longer, and the damage to Universe 7 would become irreversible.
"Curse it, kid! Can't you move any faster?!" Champa intensified his assault. By now, Gran's face was beaten into a swollen mess, and he was constantly coughing up blood. Yet, the breakthrough still hadn't come.
Suddenly, a purple light streaked toward them. Champa realized immediately what Beerus was planning.
"Listen up, brat! Potential is best realized on the brink of death! Are you ready?!" Champa roared, delivering a massive kick that sent Gran spiraling upward.
As Gran tried to stabilize for a counter-dive, he finally felt it. The shackles on his physical instinct were trembling violently. Is this it?
"Gran, if you can't dodge this, you die!" Beerus's cold voice echoed from the distance.
"And me! I'm not holding back this time!" Champa's voice boomed from below.
Two massive beams of Hakai (Destruction) energy erupted from the hands of the two Destroyers. In the face of the Rules of Destruction, all things are reduced from "one" to "zero."
The most extreme light imaginable sliced through the broken stars. Gran felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up. This was a simultaneous attack from two Gods of Destruction. These beams were moving at a speed that a Second Stage instinct simply could not evade.
Break through, or die.
"Dammit! I can't move fast enough!" Gran's eyes strained as the light filled his vision.
Whis and the others held their breath. Is he going to fail? The beams were inches away. Time seemed to freeze.
CRACK.
A sound like breaking chains echoed in the void. Suddenly, the "frozen" world snapped back into motion. Faced with certain death, the silver light around Gran soared toward the heavens. His body reacted with a terrifying, subconscious fluidity.
He twisted. He ducked. The movements were natural, graceful, and perfectly executed.
He dodged it.
The two Destruction beams passed through the space where Gran had been a millisecond prior, soaring across the cosmos and obliterating two distant planets into nothingness.
Ding!
The sand in Whis's hourglass finally ran out. He flicked his staff instantly. The supreme power of an Angel erupted, covering the entirety of Universe 7 in a shimmering veil.
The stars and galaxies of Universe 7 began to reel backward at high speed. In an instant, everything returned to how it was three minutes ago. The Sacred World and the shattered star systems were restored as if the terrifying battle had never happened.
Silence returned. Gran hovered in the void, his head still swollen and bruised, but he had no time to worry about his injuries. He kept his swollen eyes closed, sensing his internal state.
Third Stage Physical Instinct. After ten long years, he had finally reached this level. He didn't have the words to describe it; he simply felt terrifyingly powerful. If his martial arts were at the mortal limit before, he had now officially stepped into the realm of a Combat God.
"Well done, brat!" Beerus flew over, slapping Gran's shoulder with excitement.
"Ow, ow, ow! Pain! Pain!" Gran opened his puffy eyes and winced. Now that the adrenaline was fading, the injuries were making themselves known.
Champa arrived shortly after, mocking him. "Feeling the pain now, are we? Do you still have the guts to challenge me next time?"
"Whether I do or not is for later, but for now... thank you, Lord Champa." Gran dragged his battered body toward Champa and bowed deeply. "If you hadn't held back, I'd be nothing but stardust. And without your help, I never would have broken through."
Gran knew Champa had been playing with him. Despite the bruising, if Champa had fought seriously with that same power level, Gran would have been dead in seconds.
"Hmph. Glad you realize it!" Champa raised his round chin proudly. For anyone else, Champa would have Hakai-ed them the moment they suggested a spar. Only this kid got special treatment—partly because his talent was scary, and partly because he was Beerus's only disciple.
"Hey, hey! What about me?" Beerus grumbled, grabbing Gran's collar playfully. "I deserve half the credit for that breakthrough!"
"Yes, yes. I almost died back there; that was all your doing, Lord Beerus," Gran muttered, his face still looking like a lumpy potato. This was the closest he had ever felt to death since arriving in the Dragon Ball world.
"Ha... haha." Beerus let go, laughing awkwardly. "I just saw you were stuck, so I gave you a little taste of death's pressure. See? It worked!"
Gran's mouth twitched, sending a jolt of pain through his face. He took a sharp breath but bowed to Beerus anyway. "Thank you for the final push, Lord Beerus."
He wasn't ungrateful. He knew that without Beerus firing that first lethal shot, Champa never would have followed suit with such intensity.
"He's pretty banged up. Whis, fix him up," Beerus said as Gran coughed up a bit more blood. His ribs, nose, and legs were a mess—the inevitable price of fighting a Destroyer. Champa looked away guiltily, avoiding Beerus's gaze. He had beaten his brother's student pretty badly.
"Right away," Whis said, waving his staff. A soft light enveloped Gran, and his injuries vanished instantly.
"How does it feel to have finally reached the Third Stage?" Whis asked.
Gran stretched his limbs. "It's hard to describe. It feels... surreal."
"Surreal is the right word." Whis patted Gran's shoulder. "Physical instinct isn't like raw power. While power has levels like the Divine Realm and the Angel Realm, physical instinct consists of nine distinct stages. Each stage is a world of difference—a jump in dimension."
Whis continued his lecture as Gran listened intently. "If the Second Stage makes you a Grandmaster among mortals, the Third Stage makes you a God of Martial Arts. It is the entry-level requirement for a Combat God."
"When you dodged that final strike, you felt its power. Now, even if ten 'previous' versions of you attacked at once, they wouldn't stand a chance against the current you. Of course," Whis smiled, "the Third Stage is just the beginning. Gods like Lord Champa have already reached the much more formidable Fourth Stage."
"Hey!" Champa snapped. "Whis, what are you doing telling him my secrets?!"
Beerus scoffed. "Your power level isn't exactly a secret among the gods, fatso. What does it matter?"
"Oh yeah? Well, maybe I should tell Gran exactly how strong you are—"
Beerus quickly covered Champa's mouth. "Gran, didn't you have a suggestion for Champa regarding his candidate?"
Gran blinked, realizing he'd missed his chance to hear about Beerus's true ceiling. "Lord Champa, since you sparred with me, I'll keep my promise."
Gran looked Champa in the eye. "If you're looking for a candidate, I suggest you take a look at the Saiyans of Universe 6."
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