Whis once taught Gran that true masters possess absolute control over their power, ensuring that not a single movement causes unnecessary destruction to the environment.
Gran had mastered this discipline within the Sumeru World, but at this moment, he chose to cast it aside. He wanted to flex his absolute might in front of Vegeta"
BOOM—!
The moment his one billion power level erupted, the sky itself recoiled. A blinding radiance instantly replaced the dim, gloomy atmosphere!
BANG!!
The scouter on young Vegeta's face instantly shattered into pieces.
"WHAT?!!!"
The sudden, suffocating pressure caused Vegeta's expression to twist in horror. He couldn't help but take a staggering step back.
"The scouter exploded?!!!" "This... what kind of power is this?!!!"
Cold sweat drenched Vegeta's forehead. For a split second, the explosion made him hope it was just a mechanical failure. But as the terrifying waves of energy crashed against him, he realised his own strength was utterly helpless against it. He was being forced back, step by step!
The scouter hadn't malfunctioned. It had simply reached its limit and disintegrated, unable to quantify the magnitude of the power before it!
"This... how is this possible? How did your power suddenly become so immense?" "No! You're just a piece of trash I threw away! How could a failure like you become this strong?!!!"
Watching the cataclysmic display of Gran's power, Vegeta felt his entire worldview crumbling. The "shame of the Saiyans" he had abandoned three years ago had returned as a titan.
On the other side of the battlefield, Raditz and Nappa's scouters met the same fate.
Raditz's legs were shaking like jelly. "The scouter can't even read his value anymore? What level of power is this?"
Nappa was trembling violently, fighting back his primal fear. "Gran is definitely not at 600... He was hiding his strength all along. How did he do it? What the hell did he go through in these three years?!!!"
Suddenly, a massive shockwave ripped through the air!
"AAAAHH! Nappa, grab me! I'm going to be blown away!!!" Little Raditz clung desperately to Nappa's waist.
"Let go of me! If you keep pulling, we're both going flying!!"
WHOOSH!
In the next second, both of them were swept away by the raging storm like autumn leaves!
Back at the centre of the chaos, a white aura surged around Gran, instantly towering a hundred meters into the air!
The rolling waves of energy levelled everything in sight. Boulders were swept up and instantly ground into dust by the sheer pressure. With Gran as the epicentre, the ground began to fracture, and within moments, the entire landscape collapsed into a cratered wasteland!
Even as Vegeta retreated, the pressure didn't stop. The magnetic field of the entire battlefield was thrown into disarray as gale-force winds howled.
The small, one-meter-tall Gran hovered in the eye of the storm. Radiating the majesty of a Peak Kai Dimension being, he looked like a god descending upon the mortal realm.
Gran relished the surging power within him. He was sure Vegeta would be quite "satisfied" with this display. Looking at Vegeta now, the prince's face was deathly pale, drained of all colour.
"So, Vegeta? My power... are you satisfied?"
Gran began to fly toward him. For every meter he advanced, Vegeta's spine bent further under the weight of the invisible pressure.
"No... impossible!"
"Why? How can your power be this great?"
Vegeta's earlier arrogance had vanished, replaced by a desperate, high-pitched hysteria.
"Why? Because of my talent, obviously!" Gran hovered in mid-air, his voice dripping with mockery. "Do you want to know exactly what my power level is?"
Vegeta didn't speak. He gritted his teeth so hard they threatened to shatter, fighting the urge to collapse.
Gran looked down, expressionless. "My power level is one billion."
The impact of those words was no less than Frieza's legendary "My power level is 530,000."
BOOM—!!
To Vegeta, and to Raditz and Nappa in the distance, those words hit like a nuclear detonation. All three of them lost their senses simultaneously.
It took thirty seconds for Raditz to regain his ability to speak. His jaw chattered uncontrollably. "Na... Nappa... Gran said his power is one billion. I misheard him, right?"
"No... I heard it too. He said one billion!" Nappa's face was a mask of pure terror.
What did one billion mean?
The strongest Saiyan warrior in history was barely over 10,000. Even the strongest Great Ape transformation only hit 100,000! One billion made 100,000 look like a rounding error. It was insanity! Not even the Galactic Emperor Frieza could surely reach such a height... or could he?
"Lies! All lies!!"
"No one in this world could reach a billion!!"
"Don't think you can fool me!"
Vegeta's psychological defences were being bombarded. He shook his head frantically, but his body betrayed him. He was shivering uncontrollably—a primal, biological reaction to a superior predator that he couldn't stop.
"Hahaha! Vegeta, where is that 'High-and-Mighty' Prince now? Why do you look so pathetic?"
Gran didn't care if he believed it or not. His only goal was to break this "Eternal Number Two." He moved forward again.
"SHUT UP!!!"
Seeing Gran draw closer, Vegeta's royal pride forced him to try and stand tall, but he simply couldn't under the crushing weight of Gran's presence. The gap between 6,000 and 1,000,000,000 was too vast.
"I haven't even laid a finger on you, and you're already in despair?"
Gran savoured Vegeta's expression of helplessness and resentment. He wanted to dismantle Vegeta's spirit piece by piece. After all, that was exactly how he felt while waiting for Whis all those years ago!
"AAAAHHH! I am the most talented Prince of the Saiyan race! How could you be stronger than me?!"
"Prince? You think you're fit to be our Prince?" Gran sneered. "Three years ago, your 'Vegeta Squad' had seven or eight members, didn't it? And now? You've abandoned every single one of them, haven't you?"
"Shut up! My business is none of your concern!"
"Hahaha! Fine. I won't worry about the 'Saiyan Prince.' It's time for my revenge. Prepare to face my fury!"
Seeing Vegeta's spirit crack, Gran's mood soared. He vanished from sight instantly.
"Dammit!!!!"
"Where is he??"
"Come out, Gran! Fight me head-on if you have the guts!!"
Vegeta spun around like a madman, searching for a trace of his opponent. Suddenly, a small hand clamped onto the back of his head.
"You should have thought about the consequences before you abandoned me. Enjoy my revenge!"
Gran's voice was ice-cold. He slammed Vegeta's head into the ground.
CRASH—!
The impact was so violent that the ground, which hadn't yet cracked in this area, shattered into a web of fissures.
"AAAAAGH!" Vegeta let out a blood-curdling scream of pain.
"Didn't you say you were the only one who could become a Super Saiyan? If you don't transform now, things are going to get very ugly!"
Gran sneered, grinding Vegeta's face into the dirt as he dragged him forward at high speed!
BANG! BANG!
The ground looked like it had been torn up by a plough, with massive slabs of rock flipping into the air.
"Weren't you the 'Most Talented Prince'? Why can't you even resist?"
"AAAAAAHHH!!!"
"Is this all the strength you have? You think you're worthy of being arrogant?"
"AAAAAAHHH!!!"
Gran's face was cold as he dragged Vegeta for over 300 meters before hurling him into the sky. He took off like a missile, chasing the ascending Prince!
Reaching a point above Vegeta, Gran locked his hands together and hammered down on the Prince's back.
BOOM—!
Vegeta fell like a meteor. Gran caught up in an instant, appearing beneath him to deliver a brutal kick upward!
BOOM! BOOM!
"AAAAHHH!!!" "AAAAAAHHH!!!"
Vegeta was tossed around the sky like a soccer ball, receiving blow after agonising blow.
"Nappa, what do we do? Vegeta is getting slaughtered!" Raditz asked urgently.
"So what if he is? What does his life have to do with us?" Nappa's fear had shifted into a cold, eerie calm.
"What do you mean? Are we just going to watch him die?" Raditz asked, incredulous.
"What else can we do? Gran said it himself—he has a power level of a billion. You think we can win if we jump in?" Nappa spat on the ground. "When he abandoned Gran, we tried to talk him out of it. And what did he say? He told us if we spoke up for Gran again, he'd leave us behind on that planet too!"
"Hmph. This is their grudge. I'm not helping Vegeta. Honestly, I wouldn't dare anyway. If you want to be a hero, go ahead!"
"Me?" Little Raditz shuddered. He stayed exactly where he was, rooted to the spot.
"What's wrong? I thought you wanted to help him?" Nappa teased.
Raditz's eyes turned cold, and he spat on the ground as well. "Help that cold-blooded bastard? I'd have to be insane!"
Shin and Kibito, who were observing the fight from a distance, were speechless. Weren't these three supposed to be comrades? Their 'ship of friendship' sure sank fast.
What the Supreme Kai didn't realise was that early Saiyans—except Bardock—were exactly this ruthless. If there were a conflict of interest, they would turn on their own fathers without hesitation.
The Final Humiliation
Gran was indeed using his one billion power, but with every strike, he controlled the force with surgical precision to ensure Vegeta remained within his physical limit. Killing him too quickly would take all the fun out of it!
"Vegeta, where's that Super Saiyan transformation you're so proud of? Come on, show me!"
In mid-air, Gran flew above Vegeta. He cocked his leg back and spun with unnatural fluidity.
360-Degree Roundhouse Kick!
CRACK!
Vegeta's spine shattered instantly.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!"
Vegeta screamed in agony as he was sent hurtling into the ground like a cannonball.
BOOM—!
A ten-meter-deep crater appeared. Vegeta lay in the centre, moaning in pain. With his spine broken, he had lost all ability to stand. The gap of a billion was simply insurmountable.
Despair. Helplessness. Humiliation.
Vegeta lay in the pit, his expression one of pure, unadulterated resentment. He never imagined that he, the Prince of all Saiyans, would ever be reduced to this.
Tap. Tap.
Gran landed in the crater, planting a foot firmly on Vegeta's head.
Finally. Revenge. It felt incredible.
"High-and-Mighty Prince Vegeta... I bet you never imagined this day would come!"
"D... Dammit!!" Vegeta couldn't move, but he forced the words out through gritted teeth. "If you... If you have the guts, just kill me!"
"Kill you? Don't be in such a rush."
"?"
"Actually, besides revenge, I had another reason for coming here today," Gran smirked and crouched down, whispering into Vegeta's ear. "Let me tell you a secret: the legend of the Super Saiyan is real."
"Wh... what?" Vegeta's pupils shrank.
The legend of a warrior appearing once every thousand years was a core part of their culture. Gran had become this strong in only three years—did that mean he was already a Super Saiyan?
Seeing his expression, Gran laughed. "You think I'm a Super Saiyan right now?"
"Is... isn't that it?"
"Hardly. This is just my base strength!" Gran clenched his fist, satisfied with his power. "My other goal... is to transform into a Super Saiyan right in front of your eyes!"
Physical torture wasn't enough. Gran knew Vegeta's last pillar of hope was his dream of becoming the legendary warrior. In the original Namek Saga, Vegeta was obsessed with reaching that state to kill Frieza. Later, when Goku became the first to reach it, Vegeta's pride was shattered.
Gran wanted to destroy that hope now.
"No... impossible!!!"
Despite his shattered spine, Vegeta struggled, trying to claw his way up. He screamed hysterically from the dirt. "No! Even if the legend is true, you couldn't be the one! The only one who can become a Super Saiyan is me! ME! PRINCE VEGETA!!!"
"You really are a lost cause. Even now, you cling to that arrogance."
Gran removed his foot and kicked Vegeta out of the crater. "Watch closely as I crush the last of your pride."
Back at the lakeside, Beerus and Whis were watching their daily "program" while sitting on small stools. The projection showed Gran's battle.
"Lord Beerus, Gran has broken through again. First-stage instinct in six months, second-stage after a year... this kid is a total freak!"
"I'm not blind, Whis. I can see that."
"Ohoho~ I was just trying to liven up the atmosphere."
"Will you shut up? You're giving me a headache!" Beerus glared at Whis.
However, in the next second, Beerus noticed Gran didn't look like he was heading back. "Wait. His power, mind, and instinct have all hit a bottleneck. If he's not coming back, what is he doing?"
Whis was suddenly very quiet.
"Whis? Why are you silent now?"
"You told me to shut up, my Lord. I was merely following orders," Whis said calmly.
Beerus: "..." (I really want to hit him.)
"Oh? He went to find Vegeta?" Whis noted the change in the projection. He remembered the kid; he had once seen Beerus step on Vegeta's father's head.
"Revenge, huh? I was wondering where he was going." Beerus watched the screen, tutting. "A God of Destruction Candidate bullying a mere mortal. How embarrassing."
Whis giggled behind his hand. Beerus never missed a chance to poke fun at Gran.
Suddenly, Gran's voice rang out from the projection: "I'm going to transform into a Super Saiyan right in front of your eyes!"
Transform?!!!
BOOM—!
Those words hit Beerus and Whis like a thunderclap. Both of them simultaneously recalled the transformation of the Saiyan ancestor, Otis.
"That is a mistaken transformation!!!"
Beerus's face went pale with fury and fear. He roared, "Stop him, Whis! We cannot let him go down that path! HURRY!!!!"
"Yes, my Lord!"
Without another word, Whis grabbed Beerus and turned into a streak of light, launching into the cosmos at maximum speed!
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