On the massive stage.
Thud!
The arena was as large as a literal planet, featuring a diverse array of terrains. Gran descended, landing amidst a jagged cluster of rocks.
"Wait... where did Hit go?"
Gran's brow furrowed. The moment his feet touched the ground, he realized Hit was nowhere to be seen.
Could it be?
He snapped his head up, looking toward the high bench where the Grand Minister stood. Coincidentally, the Grand Minister was already looking back at him, offering a faint, elegant smile.
"A randomized teleportation to separate me from Hit... that Grand Minister..."
Gran didn't know whether to laugh or cry. It seemed the Grand Minister knew exactly how easily Gran could carry anyone to the end, and he was intentionally cranking up the difficulty.
"Too bad I have Instant Transmission. Your little teleportation trick won't—"
Gran pressed two fingers to his forehead, only to realize with a jolt that the technique wouldn't trigger.
"Oh no!"
Gran's expression shifted instantly. He wasn't just unable to use Instant Transmission—he couldn't fly, either. Of course, if that were the only restriction, Gran's sheer speed would still allow him to reach Hit in the blink of an eye.
But the nerfs didn't stop there. The arena seemed to exert a crushing weight of suppression; the stronger the warrior, the more intense the pressure they felt.
In Gran's line of sight, the Grand Minister's smile seemed to grow even more radiant.
"..."
Gran was utterly speechless. Is the old man seriously targeting me? He's getting a bit too playful for his age.
Just then!
"Gran! Go find Hit, now!"
A booming voice thundered from the spectator stands. It was Beerus, looking down with a face full of visible anxiety. Beside him, Champa and the Universe 6 Supreme Kai, Fuwa, were equally frantic. Even Old Kai was breaking a sweat on Hit's behalf.
"Hahaha! Still think you can find the Universe 6 Candidate for God of Destruction?"
"You think we'll give you the chance? This time, Champa, you can share your punishment with Beerus!"
"Belloc! You're closest to the Universe 6 candidate. Take that guy out first, then come back so we can jump Beerus's brat together!"
The voices of the various Gods of Destruction echoed through the Null Realm. The atmosphere of this Battle Royale for the Destroyer candidates was ignited in an instant. Tension, thrill, and raw excitement... at this moment, not a single God could remain calm.
"A bunch of trash."
Gran ignored the jeering Gods. He had already locked onto Hit's energy signature. Clearly, Hit was intentionally leaking his ki so that Gran would know his location. Hit was incredibly sharp; in this chaotic free-for-all, he was technically one of the weakest participants. Without Gran, he was a dead man walking.
However, by exposing his ki for Gran, Hit was also lighting a flare for every other candidate on the field.
"I'm coming. Hang in there, Hit."
Gran was forced to abandon flight and teleportation. Just as he prepared to dash toward Hit's location, a blue wolf came charging out of the distance.
"Hahaha! A candidate with a Godly Dimension? Let's see just how strong you really are!"
The intruder was Bergamo, the candidate from Universe 9 under the God of Destruction, Sidra.
"Excellent! I didn't expect Bergamo to be the first one to reach him. Go, Bergamo! Show them all what you're made of!" Roh, the Universe 9 Supreme Kai, cheered at the top of his lungs.
"Roh is right! Universe 9 might have a low rank, but my candidate isn't weak! Go, Bergamo! Take down Beerus's boy!" The dwarf-like Sidra stood on the stands, pumping his fist.
Back on the stage, hearing the cheers of the gods, Bergamo's adrenaline surged. He wanted to show the supreme beings exactly how terrifying "Bergamo the Crusher" could be.
"Awooooo!"
"Die!"
"Wolf Fang Penetration!"
With a predatory howl, a streak of crimson light tore through the rock formations. The attack carried the weight of a Fourth-Tier powerhouse.
"Garbage."
Faced with the incoming strike, Gran's face remained expressionless. He raised his hand, fingers splayed, and made a crushing motion toward the empty air.
Crack!
An invisible force grounded Bergamo's "Wolf Fang Penetration" to a dead halt. The moment Gran exerted his power, every God of Destruction in attendance instantly sensed his base strength.
BOOM!
It was like a thunderclap in a clear sky. The sheer weight of the revelation left every God stunned.
Sidra gasped in disbelief. "That... that's Sixth-Tier power!"
Quitela's eyes nearly bulged out of his head. "Impossible! It's one thing for his Godly Dimension to be at the peak, but why is his raw power so monstrous?!"
Belmod, the clown, looked on in horror. "Training both the Dimension and raw Power simultaneously? How can someone his age master both at once?!"
The fox god, Liqir, gritted his teeth. "There's something wrong with this guy. No one can reach this level in just a few hundred years!"
Even the Angels were visibly shaken, their gazes shifting toward the Universe 7 stands. There, Whis and Vados were wearing identical smiles, clearly having known about Gran's true strength all along. It made sense—Whis was Gran's master. This very knowledge undoubtedly fueled and Champa's decision to ally with Universe 7.
Finally, the Angels turned their eyes toward Kusu and the Grand Minister, hoping to glean the secret of this "little monster" from Universe 7.
"Hahaha! 'Take down my candidate'? Sidra, your guy isn't up to the task!" Beerus didn't care about the other Gods' chatter. Their candidates might be trash, but Gran certainly wasn't.
"You..." Sidra was trembling with a mix of rage and terror. He knew Bergamo was finished. Fourth-Tier power stood no chance against the Sixth-Tier.
"Gran, stop wasting time! Kill that blue wolf and get to Hit!" Champa yelled at the stage, his anxiety mounting.
Meanwhile, on the battlefield.
"You wanted to kill me? Then you can be the one to die."
There was no mercy on Gran's face, only the cold, detached gaze of a Destroyer looking down upon the masses. Gran tightened his fingers into a fist.
BOOM!
The halted "Wolf Fang Penetration" instantly imploded. Gran shifted his stance, and with a thunderous thud, the ground beneath him disintegrated into fine powder. By the time the dust rose, Gran was gone.
"Not good!"
Bergamo sensed the danger and turned to flee. But it was too late.
Schlick!
The sound of something being pierced reached his ears. Bergamo's pupils shrank to pinpricks. He looked down to see a gaping hole where his heart used to be.
Pain! Pure, unadulterated agony!
He tried to scream, but his consciousness was fading fast. His throat couldn't produce a single sound. With a heavy thud, Bergamo collapsed onto the pulverized earth. As he hit the ground, the dust billowed up before settling slowly over his face—over eyes that remained wide with shock even in death.
Bergamo was dead.
Silence.
The Null Realm fell deathly quiet. No one had expected a contestant to be killed so early in the Battle Royale. The most devastated was Sidra. Bergamo was the strongest warrior in his universe, having spent an extra 1,000 years training in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. Beyond his Fourth-Tier power, his physical instincts were at the Third-Tier, and he had even begun to grasp the Power of Destruction. He could even absorb an opponent's energy to make it his own—but he never got the chance to use any of it.
After a long moment, the silence was broken.
"Big brother!"
"Brother!"
From the stands, Bergamo's two brothers let out heart-wrenching cries.
"It's over..."
The Supreme Kai and God of Destruction of Universe 9 buried their faces in their hands, their expressions masks of terror. Bergamo's death meant Universe 9 was the first to be effectively eliminated. Now, they would have to face Grand Zen-Oh's judgment.
"Lord Sidra, we're the first ones out! What are we going to do?" Roh cried out in fear.
"You're asking me?! How should I know?!" Sidra roared in a fit of helpless rage.
The other Gods showed no sympathy. Instead, their wariness of Gran reached a fever pitch. A Peak Godly Dimension, Sixth-Tier raw power, and Third-Tier physical instincts... this was just what the kid had shown so far. With power like that, it was no wonder he dared to disrespect the Gods.
Quitela stared intently at Gran's receding figure, remembering Gran's earlier words: Don't let my power scare you.
I really am scared now, Quitela thought, a dark premonition bubbling up inside him. This kid is too much of a genius. He cannot be allowed to grow any further!
At the central bench, Grand Zen-Oh watched the Gods' reactions before looking back at the stage, clapping his small hands. "He killed that wolf so easily! Gran is so cool!"
The Grand Minister smiled. "Gran's strength is indeed quite extraordinary. It's a good thing I placed those restrictions on the arena; otherwise, this would have been a very one-sided slaughter."
"Mm-hmm! The Grand Minister is so smart!" Zen-Oh nodded vigorously, looking as innocent as could be.
Over with Beerus, neither he nor Champa was surprised by the ease with which Gran dispatched Bergamo. If Gran had actually struggled, that would have been the real shock.
"Stop worrying, you fat cat. Gran is already heading toward Hit."
Beerus watched as Gran, without even a backward Grance at Bergamo's corpse, sprinted away from his starting position.
"But..." Champa gritted his teeth, staring at Hit's coordinates on the map. "He's been intercepted by the candidate from Universe 3, and that guy has Fifth-Tier power! Hit, you better hold on!"
On the stage.
Inside a dense forest, a small stream flowed gently. Suddenly, the water froze—not into ice, but as if the entire frame of reality had been paused in time.
A second later... CRACK!
The frozen image shattered like a falling mirror, pieces of the "moment" scattering on the ground.
"Is that a time-stop ability? It feels a bit different."
A slime wearing the uniform of a God of Destruction hopped out of the stream. This was Belloc, the candidate from Universe 3. He was a soft, pale blue, looking squishy and deceptively weak.
But in Hit's eyes, he was a monster. The creature's power had reached the Fifth-Tier!
"Dammit!"
Hit remained hidden in the shadows. After this guy had cornered him, Hit had tried his Time-Skip once, but it was countered instantly. It was exactly as Gran had warned: if an opponent possesses absolute, overwhelming power, the Time-Skip loses its effectiveness.
"Come out, now."
Belloc stood by the stream, scanning the surroundings. His voice sounded soft and muffled. "Your time-stopping trick won't work on me. If you come out quietly, I might not kill you."
The forest remained silent. Aside from the babbling brook, there wasn't a sound. Hit was nowhere to be seen.
Right then, a massive explosion erupted from a great distance, followed by a terrifying wave of power that washed over the forest. It was the aura of the Sixth-Tier—the moment Gran had crushed Bergamo's attack.
"..."
Belloc Granced in that direction, sensing an aura rapidly fading into nothingness. Sixth-Tier power? Is that the candidate from Universe 7? If that's his level, this is going to be a problem.
Hidden in the brush, Hit recognized the energy immediately. It was Gran. He was moving this way. Hit focused on keeping his breathing steady and his emotions flat. He just had to stall until Gran arrived!
"Still not coming out? If I have to find you myself, you're going to die."
Belloc's expression turned cold. Seeing that Hit still hadn't appeared, his gelatinous body suddenly morphed, sprouting two large palms.
"If you won't come out, I'll just destroy everything!"
"Hakai!!"
Belloc raised both hands high. Two spheres of purple energy shot into the sky, climbing thousands of meters before exploding like lethal fireworks. The trails of Destruction energy rained down like falling stars.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The moment the energy touched the forest, countless trees were erased from existence, followed by violent secondary explosions of released power.
"He's learned the Power of Destruction? Though it's not quite at the level of 'Law' yet."
"If it were 'Law-grade' Destruction, there wouldn't be this much residual energy leakage when he erases things."
"Still... to grasp the Hakai and reach the Fifth-Tier of power... the boy is a genius."
On the stands, the other Gods of Destruction looked toward the robot-god Mosco with surprise. No one expected his universe to be hiding a Fifth-Tier powerhouse. However... compared to Beerus's candidate, this slime was like a flickering candle next to the sun.
Back on the stage.
Whoosh!
A streak of white light tore across deserts, snowfields, and volcanic ridges. It was the fastest thing in existence, leaving a deep trench in the earth wherever it passed. Gran was closing in on Hit, already sensing that Hit's ki was becoming erratic.
Suddenly, a cloud of black smoke materialized in his path, coalescing into the form of a wolf.
It was the ancient creature from Universe 4—the Dire Wolf, Wright!
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