Right now, Beerus and Levos were trading blows inside a kaleidoscopic, otherworldly space.
"I've seen that technique before," Beerus remarked, almost lazily.
"It's called Kaio-ken," Levos replied. "It tunes the body to its optimal combat state and spikes power dramatically."
"Kaio-ken, hm? This is getting interesting." Beerus' voice dropped to a murmur. Then, more clearly: "Say the word and we begin."
The aura sheathing Beerus warped and writhed, as if even this space could barely contain him.
"Come on, then."
Levos nodded. His eyes flared scarlet, burning like twin flames. He raised a fist and drove it forward.
In an instant, detonations of ki stitched the void. Beerus answered with a punch of his own space around his arm collapsed the moment he threw it.
BOOM !
Two utterly different powers collided; the scene around them shattered to dust.
Shockwaves tore layer after layer from the void, carving black abysses that yawned without end. Space-scraps drifted like ash; for a heartbeat, the chaos around them felt like the universe's first breath.
They hammered at each other every clash snapping the plane into jagged ripples.
Crack. Crack. Crack…
Who knew how many strata of subspace splintered? Levos had no idea where they were anymore. There was no room to think only fists and feet, traded by the thousand, by the ten-thousand.
At last both men grunted and broke apart.
Beerus was mottled with bruises, both ears drooping. Levos wasn't any better: his red-green carapace was crazed with fractures, deep enough to bare bone beneath. Pale purple fluid welled and ran, a stark, ugly sight.
He willed himself to mend and found his reserves nearly bled dry. Worse, the wounds resisted him, knitting slow.
"As expected of a God of Destruction," Levos said, brow lifting. "Damage that even I can't shrug off."
"Hmph." Beerus' tone was flinty. "Your power eclipses that of a typical Destroyer. Be proud."
They moved again.
Another storm of exchanges each leaving more damage, more ragged breath.
"You are worth taking seriously," Beerus admitted at last, face set. "I planned to end you quickly save myself the trouble. Didn't think you'd stomach all that."
He snorted. "You exceeded my expectations. But…"
"On raw power… you still won't beat me."
"Let me show you a technique that belongs to gods alone."
The next heartbeat
A constellation of thumb-sized black holes bloomed around Beerus, each one humming with pure Hakai. Even brushing space made the spheres erase it.
The pattern of space twisted around him, unfurling into a warped domain. That black-holed field spread outward, rolling to envelope Levos.
A chill pricked Levos' core danger so absolute it burned.
So this is the Destruction God's rule power…?
"Haaaah!"
The flames on Levos' body blinked out. Silver light flashed he shifted into Mechanical Form.
"Analyze it. Now."
His mind raced, leveraging the form's talent for real-time parsing, probing the strange energy for a seam, a flaw.
Beerus shook his head and chuckled. "You're a mere mortal. You can't comprehend the rule of destruction."
He leaned forward. The void inverted; an infinite spiral of black holes birthed itself, expanding devouring even the vacuum that held them.
Levos' heart sank. So this is Hakai, uncut. You don't meet it with bigger numbers.
It wasn't just power; it was primacy. It could seize anything time, space, matter, energy, life and death on a whim.
Even his soul trembled under its reach.
So he's finally stopped holding back…
A shiver ran through him. The sensation crawled up from marrow.
Can't meet that head-on. Not like this.
He tried to disengage and discovered he couldn't. The field had him locked.
No choice!
His eyes bled red. He cupped both hands; every last scrap of energy he could muster howled between his palms.
"Stellar Annihilation!"
BOOOOOOM !
A thousand lances of light ripped free, a downpour of radiant artillery arcing into the onrushing Hakai domain. For a blinding instant, the technique's brilliance filled everything. Wherever the beams passed, space caved in.
Rrrrrrr KRA-KOOM!
The barrage hammered the black-hole field. Fire bloomed in endless chains; shockwaves pulsed in rings; the deep void shook.
And from far, far beyond out where the dark was thickest came a chorus of howls, as if something vast had felt those impacts…and wanted out.
Levos didn't spare it a glance. Beerus' domain chewed through beam after beam, inexorable. But the assault wasn't for nothing: the spread of the field slowed.
Levos gritted himself and poured more in.
Ka-chak. Ka-chak. Ka-chak…
A crisp, chain-snapping sound ticked at the edge of perception. Levos, locked in the dead heat of the struggle, didn't notice.
But from that black distance, a heaving mass of twisted, roaring silhouettes was closing fast.
Then
A gentle radiance lanced the dark. Levos blinked and found himself and Beerus back over Earth, mid-sky, their powers still grinding.
"You two ENOUGH!"
A sharp, furious voice cracked like a whip.
Levos risked a look. He and Beerus were both inside a colossal barrier woven by two angels. The shell was crazed with hairline fractures as if one more push would pop it like a bubble. Outside floated a small, livid figure, glaring daggers at them both.
The Supreme Kai of Time Chronoa? Does she have nothing better to do? Why is she here again? Levos thought, baffled.
But this was no time to be distracted. He and Beerus were at the knife's edge. Even if he wanted to pull back, he couldn't; the moment he slackened, the Hakai domain would swallow him.
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
RRRMMMM !
Neither yielded an inch. Both looked ready to push until one of them broke.
"Lord Beerus, please stop," Whis said, voice uncharacteristically stern.
"Impossible," Beerus snapped. "I'm a God of Destruction. I don't lose and I'm about to win."
"Mr. Levos, you as well stand down," Vados urged, soft but firm.
Levos said nothing. This clash mattered. His mind was still racing, mapping, learning the texture of destruction. If he let this window close, who knew when he'd get another chance?
Come on he snarled inwardly finish the analysis already!
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