As Wright was blown to pieces, a deathly silence once again descended upon the World of Void.
Very quickly, voices erupted from the various spectator stands.
"This... how is this possible?!"
"How long has it even been? Another Destroyer candidate has been eliminated already!
"But weren't they just trading blows evenly? How did that ancient creature get obliterated in an instant?"
"What is the background of this Universe 7 candidate? A Peak Godly Dimension, Peak Sixth-Tier power... is this the kind of strength and talent a mere candidate is supposed to have?!"
"Forget candidates—I bet even Beerus wasn't this terrifying back when he was a candidate. There is definitely something wrong with that guy!"
The Supreme Kais of the other universes were the ones speaking. They were completely unable to grasp the finer details of the battle between Gran and Wright.
However, in the eyes of the Gods of Destruction, the realization finally dawned on them. It had appeared as though Wright was on equal footing with Gran, but in reality, Gran had been holding back. Or rather, Gran had simply been using Wright as a warm-up partner!
The gap between them was immense. It wasn't just a difference in power and dimension; it was a total disparity in martial arts mastery.
And it made sense. Wright had lived a long time. In the years since his awakening, he had focused solely on devouring the fear of mortals. He had never received guidance from a Destroyer or an Angel, and he didn't even know how to use the Power of Destruction.
Gran, on the other hand, had been trained by an Angel since he was young. His entire martial path was flawless. One could say that out of the twelve candidates on that stage, Gran was the only one who truly qualified for the title.
"Lord Quitela, we've been eliminated!" Pell, the Supreme Kai of Universe 4, stood up and cried out in terror.
"Shut your mouth!"
Quitela shoved him back into his seat. He took a deep breath, his teeth gritting. "Beerus's candidate is too dangerous. If he's given more time, he will undoubtedly reach Beerus's level—he might even surpass him!"
"Then what do we do?"
"The Omni-King's decrees bind Beerus; he can't lay a finger on another Destroyer. But his candidate has no such restrictions. A person like that cannot be allowed to remain!"
"But we've been eliminated! There's nothing left to do!"
"Who said we were eliminated?" Quitela lowered his voice. "Did you forget what Wright actually is? He's not just an ancient creature."
Not just an ancient creature? Pell blinked, and then he suddenly remembered Wright's unique trait: he fed on the fear of mortals. As long as fear existed in the multiverse, his life would never truly end!
"Ah, I see! Wright is an undead being..." Pell's face flushed with excitement.
"Keep it down!" Quitela glared at him. Fortunately, Cognic was sharp; he had already placed a sound barrier around their area.
"Wright isn't dead at all," Quitela hissed. "And it's a good thing that brat Gran refused the alliance. Now we don't have to worry—there's no way Wright will side with him now. You don't need to worry about an undead being's death. Aside from a Destroyer's Hakai, almost no other power has any effect on him!"
Quitela looked toward the arena, a wicked grin spreading across his face. "I suspect most of these candidates have grasped the Power of Destruction, but there's no way they've reached the 'Rule' level in just ten short years! In other words, Wright has been standing on invincible ground from the very start. He's guaranteed to win!"
As Quitela spoke, Pell could no longer contain himself and began hooting with joy. Seeing this, the other Gods and Kais assumed the poor Supreme Kai had finally snapped under the pressure of elimination.
On the other side, Shin exclaimed excitedly, "Ancestor, the candidate from Universe 4 is dead!"
Elder Kai frowned. "I have a feeling it's not that simple."
"Huh?" Shin was taken aback.
Beerus stood at the edge of the stands, arms crossed. "That wolf is clearly an ancient being. Usually, those types are incredibly difficult to kill with pure physical force—unless that force is so absolute that it shatters all laws and logic."
Shin's mouth fell open. "Lord Beerus, are you saying Wright's physiology is like Majin Buu's? That he'll regenerate?"
"No, it's much worse than that," Beerus shook his head.
"Buu's body is a joke compared to Wright's," Champa chimed in. "From what you told us, that Buu fellow only needs one cell to survive. But Gran just unleashed the full might of the Peak Sixth-Tier. He likely wiped out every single cell in that wolf's body, yet the creature might still survive."
Having stayed in Universe 7 for a few years, Champa was well aware of who Majin Buu was.
"This ancient creature is that broken?" Shin's eyes widened.
"Hmph. Even if he regenerates, so what?" Beerus sneered. "Without the strength to back it up, he still can't touch Gran. Gran hasn't even shown half of his true power yet. And don't forget—Gran knows the Rules of Destruction! The Hakai is the natural predator of beings like that. He won't escape!"
On the arena stage, a figure was blurring toward the southern region. His features were sharp and handsome, his muscles looking as though they had been perfectly sculpted. Dressed in his Destroyer-candidate vestments and carrying a gaze of divine indifference, he looked every bit like a primordial god.
This was Gran, and he was racing toward Hit's position. He could sense that two other candidates were double-teaming Hit, and Hit's ki was finally beginning to plummet.
He had to get there fast!
However, as Gran sped across a massive ocean, four figures suddenly appeared to intercept him.
Bert, the lion-man from Universe 1.
Harry, the mummy from Universe 5.
Joel, the silver fox from Universe 8.
Blair, the golden sea-beast from Universe 12.
Gran paused for a split second, but he didn't slow down. If anything, he sped up. These four came from universes with Mortal Levels exceeding 7. Their true strength had remained a mystery since the start of the tournament. No one knew just how powerful they were, though according to Whis, the representatives from Universe 1 and Universe 12 had physical instincts at the Fourth-Tier.
"The Universe 7 guy's power just spiked to the Peak of the Sixth-Tier. Be careful!" Bert shouted as he sprinted across the waves, glancing at his three companions.
"No wonder they wanted all ten of us to team up. This guy is monstrous!" Harry the mummy said grimly.
"Less talk! He's right in front of us. Get ready!" Joel the fox took a combat stance.
WHOOSH!
A streak of light flashed past the four of them so fast they didn't even have time to react. It wasn't until the massive tidal wave kicked up by Gran's wake crashed over them that they snapped out of it.
Blair, the sea-beast, blinked stupidly. "Did... did we just get ignored?"
The words stung the pride of the other three. As candidates from the strongest four universes, being treated as non-existent was a supreme humiliation!
"DAMN HIM!!!" Joel's face turned bright red. "He actually ignored us!"
"After him!" Harry hissed through gritted teeth. "Catch him! I'm going to tear him to pieces!"
The four slighted candidates spun around and gave chase. However, as they pursued him, they quickly realized that no matter how hard they pushed, they couldn't close the gap with Gran at all.
In the Southern Region.
What was once a lush forest was now a barren wasteland, eroded by the Power of Destruction. Large chunks of the ground had been pulverized; if one were to fall through the gaps in the floor and out of the arena boundaries, they would be disqualified.
"Damn it! Why is this guy so hard to kill?!"
Belloc, the slime from Universe 3, was currently charging toward a distant mountain range where Hit was attempting to flee. Under normal circumstances, Hit—who only possessed Fourth-Tier power—should have been no match for a Fifth-Tier like Belloc. Facing Belloc was like his encounters in the anime; he couldn't even break through the slime's defenses.
But things were different this time. The arena was the size of a planet. Furthermore, Hit had no intention of a head-on confrontation. He was constantly utilizing his time-based abilities to evade. This proved Champa's earlier point: Hit might not be the strongest, but if he wanted to run, almost no one could catch him.
After all, Hit commanded time-manipulation techniques akin to those used by Angels!
"Running away isn't a skill! If you've got guts, fight me head-on!" Belloc roared, pursuing him toward the mountains. Belloc's method of travel was somewhat comical—his squishy body curled into a ball, and he rolled along the ground like a high-speed bowling ball.
"Hmph. If I can't beat you, why wouldn't I run? You think I'm suicidal?" Hit looked back with a cold snort. "If you've got guts, try fighting Gran head-on when he gets here!"
Unlike Belloc, Hit's movement was graceful and efficient. With a light tap of his toe on the ground, his body would glide forward a massive distance. However, Hit was still fundamentally weaker than Belloc. As the slime pushed itself to the limit, the distance between them began to shrink.
At this point, Hit stopped using his "Time-Skip." Instead, he pulled out his ultimate trump card: "Time Lag" (Time Cage).
This technique didn't involve him jumping through time. Instead, it applied his temporal power directly to his opponent. "Time Lag" separated the opponent's time from the rest of the world. If the opponent were weaker than him, it would freeze them completely. If they were stronger, their movements would be significantly slowed.
While this move was still affected by the opponent's absolute power, it still had a noticeable effect. Every time Belloc got too close, Hit would use this technique to reopen the gap. This created a stalemate where Belloc couldn't catch him.
"Stay still!" Belloc, driven to distraction, hurled a sphere of Destruction Energy.
BOOM!
The distant mountain range was instantly erased, but Hit had already used "Time Lag" to vacate the area. The arena was so large that, without a third party interfering, this balance between Hit and Belloc might never have been broken.
But just as Hit fled toward an even larger and more complex mountain range, a plump woman with wings suddenly appeared in his path. Her outfit had previously resembled Cupid's, but now she was dressed in the vestments of a Destroyer candidate. This was Heles's candidate from Universe 2, the Goddess of Love, Rosa.
She was quite large, easily weighing over 300 pounds!
"Hmph. Can't even catch a piece of trash with Fourth-Tier power? What a loser!"
Rosa blocked Hit's path, her voice grating on Belloc's ears. Belloc stopped rolling, his squishy body shivering as he glared at the fat woman. "What did you say?"
"I called you a loser! If Heles hadn't ordered me to cooperate with you lot first, I would have eliminated you ages ago!"
"You—!"
Belloc and Rosa immediately began bickering. Caught between them, Hit started to break out in a cold sweat. Against one candidate, he could maintain a balance and keep himself safe. But against two at once? He was finished.
"Hmph. Watch how I kill him!" Rosa suddenly took to the air.
Seeing someone fly, both Hit and Belloc were stunned. They quickly realized that the woman was using the wings on her back to achieve flight.
Wait, that works?
Belloc's eyes darted around. His slimy body suddenly morphed, sprouting a pair of wings of its own. He flapped them experimentally.
WHOOSH!
With a gust of wind, Belloc took to the sky as well. Surrounded by two airborne opponents in an arena where ki-flight was forbidden, Hit's expression grew increasingly grim.
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