After Kusu and the others departed, the Sacred World of the Kai remained silent for only a heartbeat before erupting into a roar of celebration. In this confrontation, Universe 7 had decisively defeated Universe 6 on both fronts—the Destroyer and the Angel. It was a total victory, and the excitement was infectious.
"Lord Beerus! Whis! You guys were incredible!" Gran cheered, pumping his small arms in the air.
"Exactly! They actually had the nerve to try and poach our Candidate for Destruction. Watching them get put in their place was the highlight of my century!" Old Kai added, puffing out his chest with an air of immense arrogance.
"Pfft. Please. I once stood my ground against eleven other Destroyers at once. Beating one fat slob is hardly worth throwing a parade over," Beerus remarked. Despite his dismissive tone, the smug grin plastered across his face told a completely different story.
He turned his gaze toward Whis and chuckled. "I knew I'd win, of course, but Whis... seeing you pull off a victory at the end was actually a surprise."
All eyes shifted to Whis. They had all assumed the Angel was headed for a loss.
"Hey now, what's that supposed to mean?" Whis asked, sounding slightly offended. "I'm quite capable, thank you very much."
"You are," Beerus teased, his eyes dancing with mischief. "But you did lose that match several thousand years ago."
That loss was the reason everyone doubted him. It turned out Whis had been playing his cards very close to his chest.
"As if you've never lost a fight, Lord Beerus," Whis retorted with a roll of his eyes. In truth, he hadn't really been hiding his power; his victory was largely due to the intense month of training he'd undergone with Kusu a few years back.
"Whis, hearing you talk to your sister... I didn't realize your potential was that staggering!" Gran chimed in. He always knew Whis was a monster, but this confirmed it.
The conversation sent the Old Kai into a fit of mental math. Universe 7 now boasted the strongest Destroyer and the most gifted Angel. And then there was Gran—a prodigy whose talent had been acknowledged by the Grand Priest himself. He started counting on his fingers. With these three treasures... no, wait! He added a fourth finger for himself. Heh! With the four of them, Universe 7 was practically destined for the top spot.
"Alright, enough about me. Let's talk about you," Whis said, waving off the praise as he looked at Gran. "Thanks to my sister's projection, you saw the entire battle. What did you think of combat at the level of a Destroyer and above?"
Beerus leaned in, curious to hear the boy's take. They had hoped the spectacle would serve as a grand lesson for the young apprentice.
"My thoughts?" Gran's expression turned a bit sheepish. "To be honest, a lot of it went way over my head."
Beerus and Whis nodded understandingly. The gap in power was still a literal chasm, so it was only natural. "Tell us the parts you did understand then," Beerus prompted.
"Well," Gran began, choosing his words carefully. "In Lord Beerus's fight, his control over his power was absolute. At my level, even though I try to control my energy, I still have so many wasted movements. I'm constantly leaking stamina without meaning to. It's a habit I just haven't been able to break yet."
"I also saw that Lord Beerus and Lord Champa use a state called Ultra Ego. According to Lady Kusu..." Gran continued to break down his observations with surprising clarity.
The two masters nodded in unison, clearly impressed by the boy's intuition. When Gran finally finished, he looked up at Whis, waiting for a verdict.
"The 'wasted movement' you mentioned is a matter of combat instinct, technique, and experience," Whis explained with a smile. "Essentially, your physical state hasn't reached that level of autonomy yet. For now, don't overthink it. As you raise your Dimensional Tier, your body will naturally shed those inefficiencies."
Whis continued, "As for Ultra Ego, it is a Technique of the Gods unique to the Destroyers. It shares a common root with Ultra Instinct. While Ultra Instinct is a matter of the state of the heart and mind, Ultra Ego is a matter of absolute will."
Whis paused, then shook his head. "Since you've already grasped the basics of Ultra Instinct, mastering Ultra Ego is really just a matter of time for you."
As a Candidate for Destruction, Gran would eventually have to master the Laws of Destruction. Having Ultra Instinct as a foundation would make learning Ultra Ego significantly easier.
"And what about the Angelic battle?" Whis asked, shifting gears.
"That... well, I understood even less of that," Gran admitted, scratching his head. He was, after all, still a child under the age of ten. Asking him to dissect the moves of the highest tier of divinity was a tall order.
"It's fine. Just tell me what little you did see."
"I saw a tiny bit," Gran said, squinting as if trying to recall the blurry images. "Your attacks looked so... simple. But they felt like they contained the very secrets of the universe. Is it what Old Kai calls 'returning to the source'? Like, the simpler the move, the more lethal it is?"
Whis beamed with pride. He reached out and ruffled the boy's hair. "Very good! You really did learn something. Precisely. At the level of an Angel, we don't bother with flashy, over-the-top techniques. Those moves have too much 'startup' time; they're easy to dodge and they waste a massive amount of energy. True mastery is about efficiency—the least amount of effort for the maximum amount of lethality. It's the ultimate simplicity."
Whis then added a pointed observation: "Given that you understand this now, you surely realize that your 'gold-haired' form is a massive waste of energy—"
"Stop right there!" Gran cut him off, giving him a flat look. "I'm a Saiyan. If I can't go Super Saiyan, am I even a Saiyan anymore? It looks cool! I'm not giving it up. Besides, this path isn't a dead end. Once I hit my final form, I'm going to look even more legendary!"
To prove his point, Gran snapped into a Super Saiyan state, his golden aura flickering. Seeing the "blonde" transformation again made Beerus and Whis both clench their fists in annoyance.
"Whoa, what's with the faces?" Gran asked, sensing the sudden tension. "Whis!"
"Explain yourself," Whis said, his fist trembling slightly. If this kid didn't have a good reason for defying his teachings, he was going to get a very stern lesson.
Gran's eyes darted around, then he smirked. "In the very last moment of your fight with Vados, you threw a punch, didn't you?"
"Yes. And?"
"Didn't you say that 'true masters' don't cause any damage to their environment? If you're so perfect, why did you shatter multiple layers of space and freeze time for four minutes?"
"..."
Whis was silenced. He knew exactly why he did it—it was for the dramatic finish. It was for the "cool factor." Beerus and the others saw right through him and struggled to hold back their laughter. The boomerang had come back and hit Whis right in the face.
Whis felt his grip on his staff tighten. A second later, a childish yelp echoed across the planet. "OW! MY BUTT!"
Shortly after the "lesson," Whis and Beerus took Gran back to the Destroyer's Realm. They had been away for a long time, and it was time for Gran to begin his next phase: Dimension Training. Once he broke through this ceiling, he would truly become a deity.
A month passed. The shockwaves of the battle in the World of Void had yet to settle in the divine community. The clash between Universe 6 and 7 was the talk of every tea party and meeting.
While no one was surprised that the brothers fought, the Angels' trading blows was a scandal. However, since Zen-Oh hadn't punished them, it was clear they had permission. The mystery of why they fought remained a hot topic, while the participants themselves acted as if nothing had happened.
Back in the Destroyer's Realm, three figures stood before the grand palace.
"Gran, it's been four years since you arrived here, hasn't it?" Whis noted.
"Four years exactly," Gran nodded. It was now Age 741. He had been in this world for four years.
"Four years... time flies," Beerus remarked. Internally, he was still floored. In just four years, this kid was ready to start Dimension Training. He was getting used to being surprised.
"You know what comes next, right?" Whis asked, his tone becoming serious.
"I'm ready. Dimensional Tier training!" Gran said, his fists tight with excitement.
"Good," Whis said, raising his staff. "In this multiverse, focusing on your Dimensional Tier is the only 'correct' path. Do you know why?"
Gran looked out at the lake and nodded. "Because of the life span. No matter how strong a mortal becomes, once their time is up, they turn to ash."
"True, but that's not the whole story," Beerus added. "There's a place called the Other World—the Check-In Station and Hell. When people die, they go there. If you were a hero, you might even get to keep your body and train there."
Gran knew this from his knowledge of Goku's history, but he also knew the limitations.
"I see you've guessed it," Beerus laughed. "Even if you keep your body in the afterlife, you are bound by the laws of the dead. You are limited. That is the tragedy of mortality."
Gran asked the question that had been bugging him: "What about us? What happens if a Destroyer or a Supreme Kai dies?"
Beerus was silent for a moment. "You know, there have been many generations of Supreme Kais, right? I don't know which generation I am for the Destroyers, but look at the Old Kai—he's from fifteen generations ago. Do you see any of the others walking around?"
Beerus sighed. "Our life spans are incredibly long, but if we die, we are dead. Truly dead. We're no different from mortals in that regard."
Long life didn't mean immortality. Gran felt a pang of disappointment, but it made sense. Then, he looked at Whis. "And the Angels? Do you guys die?"
"Unlike Lord Beerus, we Angels possess eternal life," Whis said simply. "Even if the entire multiverse were to vanish, we would remain."
"What if Lord Zen-Oh erases you?" Gran asked, apparently forgetting the concept of "taboo."
WHACK!
The staff came down hard on Gran's head. "Ow, ow, ow!" Gran crouched down, clutching his scalp.
"Honestly, kid, do you ever stop talking?" Whis asked, half-annoyed and half-amused. "Now, do you want to learn how to ascend your Dimension or not?"
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