Beerus' Planet
Whis stared toward the Demon Realm's direction, a rare trace of worry in his eyes.
"What? You're worried about that brat?" Beerus asked. After billions of years together, he could read Whis' moods with ease.
"It's not that," Whis replied lightly. "I'm just thinking… did I throw him into the Demon Realm a little too early?"
"Tch. When you trained me, you didn't look worried at all," Beerus grumbled, clearly displeased.
"Oh ho ho ho… I didn't expect our Lord Beerus to get jealous," Whis teased with a smile.
"Whis, relax," Beerus said, waving it off. "That kid isn't simple. When I was his age, I wasn't anywhere near that strong. And that brain of his… hmph. If anything, you should be worrying about the demons."
"Fair point," Whis said, amused. "A mortal who can make Lord Beerus suffer a loss of face… he's the only one."
"Hm? Are you mocking me?" Beerus flared, embarrassed anger rising.
"No, no. I'm just stating facts…"
Demon Realm
"The once-every-three-years Selection is open again… This time, the location is Death Valley! You have three days to reach it. Three days from now, the barrier will rise. Warriors of the Demon Realm move out!!!"
A domineering voice rolled across the entire Three Heavens, shaking air and bone alike.
Dark Forest
"Pt ugh. This demon beast meat tastes like trash," Gohan spat, scowling at the half-charred slab in his hands. "I dumped in that much baijiu and the stink's still so heavy. It's finally starting… damn it, I hope you guys bring real food!"
He heard the announcement clearly.
He didn't know where Death Valley was but he had Instant Transmission.
A million auras were rushing toward the same direction. There was no need to guess where Death Valley lay.
Still, he didn't teleport in right away.
Death Valley would definitely be under the watch of the two major clans. If he suddenly appeared inside the valley, it could draw the wrong kind of attention.
Gohan rose into the sky. A thin strand of Death Power coiled around his body.
Before, he could only mix a trace of Death Power into an energy blast.
But over the past month, he'd trained like a madman. Now he could cling that faint thread of Death Power directly onto his skin.
The dead silence. The despair. The cold eyes that looked down on life.
At this moment, he looked even more like a demon than the demons themselves.
Not transforming into his Death-Mystic form was also deliberate partly to suppress his strength, partly because this wasn't just about surviving the Selection.
It was about stacking experience.
And he had no intention of relying on energy attacks either.
This time, he would enter with only one weapon:
His body.
When he was about fifty kilometers from Death Valley, a pitch-black energy sphere suddenly screamed toward him.
BOOM!!!
The blast swallowed him in smoke and dust.
"Hahaha! Even small fry like you think you can join the Selection?"
A young demon still not fully grown, but with a vicious glare laughed wildly.
Then, from within the dust, a calm voice answered:
"Heh. My mistake."
"The Selection… already started during the journey."
Smoke.
But no injury.
"That's impossible! That was my full-power strike!" the young demon shrieked, staring at Gohan like he'd seen a ghost.
Gohan's lips curved slightly. "Impossible?"
Whoosh BAM!
In the blink of an eye, Gohan's body occupied the young demon's position.
And the young demon
Vanished.
Blood rained from above.
Gohan's clothes were drenched as if someone had poured a bucket of gore over him.
Broken limbs and shredded flesh scattered in every direction. Fragments of bone shot out like shrapnel, some piercing straight through nearby rocks.
He hadn't punched.
He hadn't blasted.
He'd simply accelerated and rammed the demon into a red mist, exploding him on impact.
Gohan ran his tongue across the blood at the corner of his mouth.
His gaze turned feral cruel, savage, hungry.
The demons hiding in the shadows took one look and fled at full speed, instantly abandoning any thoughts of targeting him.
Second Heaven
"Hahaha! I like this kid!" the War Demon Clan's chief roared with laughter.
"Hmph. Just a brainless brute," the Blood Demon Clan's chief said with disdain.
…
Just as Gohan predicted, the Selection had eyes on it.
He'd done it on purpose.
If he looked like a native demon violent, ruthless, soaked in slaughter then the higher-ups would be less likely to question his origins.
And strangely…
He didn't feel disgust.
He felt exhilaration.
The strange, primal aura coiled in his tail thrashed like something waking from a long sleep.
A Saiyan's wild nature long suppressed was beginning to roar back to life.
Death Valley
Despite the name, it wasn't a narrow gorge.
The region was vast an enormous basin encircled by four mountains, each over a thousand meters tall. The linked ranges formed a natural cage.
Demons poured into the valley in endless streams.
Even so…
It was like raindrops falling into the sea.
Gohan arrived in only ten minutes.
The barrier hadn't even risen yet, and the slaughter had already begun.
Bam bam bam BOOM!
Explosions. Bodies colliding. Flesh and bone turning into thunder.
The instant Gohan touched down, dozens of energy spheres purple, black, blood-red, and more hammered toward him at once.
"Good!"
"Yes… come on!"
"Hahaha!"
The barrage didn't hurt him. Not really.
But that faint, long-missed sting on his skin the tiny prick of impact
It made him even more excited.
He moved.
Fast.
Too fast.
Fists, palms, elbows, knees every strike erased a demon.
Every strike turned a living body into splattered ruin.
His orange gi was no longer orange. It had been dyed purple-black with blood.
Suppressing his power and fighting with his body alone Gohan didn't even know how long he could keep going.
All he knew was this:
Every time he blew a demon apart, the Death Power on his skin stirred drinking in the enemy's life force and converting it into his own energy.
His stamina stayed full.
Bottomless.
A demon trembled, legs shaking so badly he could barely stand. "R-run! Run! He's a devil!"
Gohan laughed, eyes brimming with bloodlust.
"Aren't you the ones who wanted to gang up on me?"
"Why are you leaving?"
"Come on. Keep going."
BOOM!
One punch.
The demon's head exploded.
White brain matter sprayed across the ground.
Three minutes later
Within ten kilometers of Gohan…
Not a single demon remained.
"…Uh. I overdid it," Gohan muttered, rubbing his chin. "If everyone runs, I won't absorb much experience. Guess I need to hold back even more."
He started walking east.
The demons watching from the east fled so fast they looked like they'd grown extra legs.
He went west same thing.
South same thing.
North same thing.
No matter where he went, the demons scattered in terror like birds before a storm.
Gohan sighed, exasperated.
"You guys… keep your mouths shut and get lost already!"
With no other choice, he drove them away.
Then he found a water source, washed himself clean, scrubbed off the clotted blood and sticky fresh gore
And used ki to dry his clothes.
After that, he sat down on the spot and waited for new arrivals.
Because within ten kilometers…
There was no one left.