The Vicious Gods Wrath
Chapter 24: The Apex of Destruction
Being beaten bloody is something of a foreign concept to Beerus The Destroyer. He has suffered injuries and great exertions at the hands of his Whis, his master and attendant eons ago when the universe and he were young. But those were the wounds and bruises of a controlled nature, meant to teach through pain and mistakes, not to severely wound or cripple.
Through his countless voyages across the stars of his domain, the Seventh Universe of Twelve, once Eighteen, Beerus has certainly witnessed what it is to get beaten into a mess barely resembling a person. He has, through various degrees using his power, rendered countless beasts, men, women, and children into such conditions many would consider gruesome. Not him, however, he has no capacity for something like that.
Even Monaka, the last great warrior to truly challenge him, to truly make him feel alive prior to his meeting with Goku, only fought him to a standstill in their last climactic battle. Pushing Beerus to use half of his power. It was not their last battle by Beerus or Monaka's choice, fate was cruel during one of his slumbers, having Monaka die of a cursed chain letter from a deliveryman before the two could do battle once more
Many solar systems perished that day.
But now, as he lies in a smoldering crater with a horrid pain permeating through every fiber of his being and a paralyzing fear he never knew he could feel, Beerus finally understands what it feels like to get crushed to pieces.
The metallic taste of blood fills his lips, making every attempt to breathe a monumental struggle. Every attempt to lift any part of himself creates a seething pain throughout his muscles and body, forcing whatever limb he tries to raise back to the ground. His muscles feel like they've been torn and shredded inside his body, and a sickening crunch of bones beneath his flesh makes him feel sick to his stomach. To say nothing of the horrendous ache cleaving his skull in half, perpetually keeping him in a limbo between consciousness and death.
Yet even in this jumbled mess, a lone figure stands prominently, a shadowy warrior walking slowly towards him with a black aura resembling fire twisting and turning all around him. Besides that, he can recognize no other discernible features. No peculiar hair or body shape or tail. Just a simple muscular humanoid approaching him, making the ground quiver and the air burn with every step.
Beerus cannot remember how or why, but as he stares at this peculiar being, he simply knows he's to blame for the state of his miserable body. A faint anger ignites then dies inside his chest, perpetually kept at bay by a horrible sense of finality. Of imminent death.
Soon, the rest of the world burns too, devoured in the shadowy fire of this strange being. From where he lies, Beerus can see everything whither away and die in the inferno. Not simply burned or changed: devoured. In no time at all, even the ground Beerus' fragile form is buried under vanished, leaving him to float in this void of shadow.
The being's flame morphs in color, each moment staying either orange, gold or white but his body itself remains thoroughly indescribable.
"Do it..." Beerus raspily and weakly commands, urging this creature for something he can't even remember happening. "Take your... bloody... vengeance..."
"Everyone gets what's coming to them," The being responds in a shifting voice matching the colors of his fire. The first is snide, elegant and condescending. The second, rough, angry and prideful. The last is cold, reserved with just a hint of... sadness? "Even you... Lord Beerus."
The shadow's body and energy compress into a tiny ball. Resembling a black sun with constantly shifting flames emerging out of it. When it does expand, these fires once again consume everything this time, not even sparring Beerus himself.
He doesn't know for how long he screams and burns, it could be weeks, months, years, centuries, eons, all he knows is that when a faint flicker of energy pulls him back to the waking world, Beerus finally gets a reprieve.
Beerus' Temple
With a loud gasp for air, Beerus practically leaps out of his bed, frantically running over his entire body for burn marks as the events of this most bizarre nightmare continue to haunt him. For a God of Destruction dreams like most mortals do, sometimes greatly, sometimes not at all, but very rarely has he ever managed to vividly recall absolutely everything of one quite like this.
Once the initial panic wears off and Beerus realize he isn't in the most miserable state of his very long, most assuredly endless existence, he finally calms down. With a few deep breaths, this rapidly thumping heart simmers down, leaving only the faint gasps of his own breath inside this silence.
In his calmed state, Beerus can faintly feel a trio of powerful signatures, the strongest one's in all of the universes' save his own and Whis'. One he can immediately identify as Goku's and he momentarily feels quite pleased with his progress. The next one vaguely resembles Goku's, Vegeta perhaps? The third one is where that dreadful, nightmare-induced feeling of panic rears its ugly head. Not only because of the malevolent nature of the one wielding its power: its the fact it almost equals his own... Then, the three ki signatures vanish out of existence itself!
"What is going on out there?"
Feeling dirty from all the sweat and sleeping, Beerus decides to take a bath to cleanse himself of the filth and hopefully of all this nightmare business. Ordinarily, he would ask Whis to prepare it for him, but judging by the lack of exploding clocks to signify his premature awakening, his attendant must not yet realize he's awake.
A few moment's later, Beerus submerges himself in the hot water and can't help but smile as it works its magic, wiping away his stench and allowing his mind to clear itself. For a while, he lays there, half-asleep again and letting the sweet scent and mist to bombard his nostrils.
That's when the third ki from before suddenly comes back to life, sending a chill running down Beerus' spine. Almost like a programmed command, the feeling floods his mind with images of the nightmare, of the shadow being wanting some vengeance or another on him.
Grinding the stone floor beneath his hands, Beerus suddenly doesn't feel like bathing anymore, what he wants are answers. Following a swift toweling of himself, he traverses the vast corridors of the empty temple, keeping the nagging feeling of uneasiness at bay with some success.
As expected, he finds Whis sitting on the main chair of the feasting table, his cane rammed into the ground as the usually darkly lit room is illuminated by dozens of green glowing triangles hovering in the air. All forming a sort of film projection up in the air above the table as Whis silently observes it, no doubt with his usual analytical eye.
"Thought I might find... You... Here..."
Whis promptly exits the chair meant for his former pupil and bows his head in respect. "Greetings Lord Beerus, given your premature awakening, am I correct in assuming you did not sleep well?"
Beerus says nothing, his eyes are glued to the projection up above.
"My lord?"
"Freeza..." Beerus mutters faintly, approaching the projection as if it just hypnotized him. He stares at it, observing the self-proclaimed strongest in the universe doesn't battle Goku and Vegeta so much as tearing them to pieces through ruthless combat. His form is what particularly attracts Beerus' attention and what genuinely scares him. The flame around his body... And the vague recollection he has of Freeza's snide, overly eloquent voice...
Suddenly, he recalls the voice of the shadow being of his nightmare, the first one at any rate.
"Lord Beerus?"
Upon hearing his caretakers voice, Beerus snaps out of his trance noticing the return a cold sweat and the thunderous beating of his own heart. Regaining his composure, Beerus looks at the projection with a steely determination.
"Get me clothes Whis, we're going to Earth."
Now, Mountains of West City
"Hello Freeza," Beerus unkindly greets him. "It's been quite awhile, hasn't it?"
Freeza bites back a jolt of worry at this unexpected and thoroughly undesired turn of events. Beerus and Whis both, two of the strongest beings in the universe here, and most certainly with him. Or are they? Applying the same train of thought with which he's consistently played Goku and Vegeta with, Freeza decides to act the fool.
"Indeed, it has Lord Beerus, to what do I owe the honor of your presence here?"
"Your little ruckus here has caused quite a stir, one large enough to wake me up from my slumber," Beerus smirks in a distinctly unnerving way. The kind Freeza reserves for other people, but not one he presently wants to get on the receiving end of. "And for someone who needs his sleep, that's quite troublesome as I'm sure you're capable of understanding."
"My sincerest apologies Lord Beerus," He releases the captive Saiyan's, bowing with all the eloquence and curtsey he can muster. "I truly had no intention of troubling you in the slightest. My business lies purely with the inhabitants of this planet."
"Apology accepted, Freeza, however, I can't let you kill those two. Despite how much I know you want them to die, I cannot allow it for I have a use for them still."
When he snaps his fingers, Freeza's whole body stiffens and from the corner of his eye's, he sees the one known as Whis appear and disappear from each side of him. For a few stomach churning moments, Freeza thinks this is the end, a swift death similar to the one delivered by the time-displaced Trunks of the future.
To his relief, and chagrin, Whis hasn't killed him, instead, he's gathered Goku, Vegeta and the corpse of that loathsome Roshi into his arms, appearing behind his master and student.
"Take them back to the Lookout so that Namekian can heal them, but only just enough so their lives are out of danger. I do not want anyone interfering or directly observing what comes next, am I understood?"
"Perfectly Lord Beerus," Whis responds pleasantly then vanishes, leaving the two of them alone. Freeza momentarily considers going after him but chooses not too. If what Beerus told Goku is true, he cannot hope to defeat him in battle. But Beerus? Freeza cannot say, for the Destroyer guards his power well enough, if he is to decide what to make of his chances at victory here, Freeza will have to let make him slip up in his suppression of ki.
"Since when does Beerus, the legendary God of Destruction save anyone?" Freeza asks with the same politeness as before, but with just a hint of superior condescension and mockery to it.
"Don't mistake my timely rescue an altruistic act Freeza." Beerus seemingly shrugs the undertone of the proclamation away. "I've merely spent too much time waiting for a worthy opponent to endlessly entertain me only to let not one, but two of them die before they can fulfill that purpose."
"If you want a worthy opponent, then you've made a grave mistake in choosing those two," Freeza spreads his arms to the side in grandiose fashion. "As you've no doubt seen from my display of strength in this battle, I've more than proven myself far stronger than either of the so-called legendary Super Saiyan Gods."
"True, and if didn't know you so well I'd gladly accept such a proposition," Beerus begins casually closes the distance between them, finally letting a bit of his energy to seep through. "Unfortunately, I do know you Freeza. From our first encounter, I immediately knew the kind of person I was dealing with."
"Oh?" Freeza feigns ignorance. "And what would this be?"
"You loathe being beneath anyone," Beerus states matter of factly. "From the moment you laid eyes on me, I knew you despised me with all your being but not for the same reasons as most do. Many hate me for my responsibilities as the God of Destruction. The rest cover in fear of my very idea regardless of my presence, while my equals scold me for my so-called pettiness. But you? You hate me because your ego simply cannot allow anyone to be more powerful than you. It's probably the reason you never even considered bringing back your father from the dead despite the clear advantage you'd both have as Gods. Despite this, even you had the good sense to know you had no hoping of surpassing me, so you bent the knee like any obedient mortal."
He stops just a few inches away from Freeza's face. "But you're not a mortal anymore. Now you've the means of truly turning yourself into the most powerful being in the universe, a title you've always sought but could never truly have, until today. It is for that reason I'd be a fool to let someone who'd readily snap my neck at the first chance he could get to even roam my universe freely, let alone someone with whom I'd spar with."
Freeza has to muster all the willpower he can from gleefully cackling in his face at the foolishness of such a certainty. "And you think the Saiyan's wouldn't do that if given the chance?"
"Goku and Vegeta's love for battle is quite clear, yes, but they feel no malice towards me. They simply wish to fight me for the thrill and challenge of it, they pose no real threat to my well being. You most certainly do. Besides," He smiles with grim satisfaction. "I already decided on killing you when I woke up a year ago, and I never go back on my decisions."
This time Freeza can't help but laugh, taking few steps back and enjoying the grin fade from Beerus' face. "May I ask what it is you find so humorous in that?"
Oh how easily an immortal forgets... Freeza vividly recalls their last meeting, one Beerus will very much come to regret. "Whats humorous is that you stand there, calling me arrogant beyond measure yet still you think I'll die as easily as all the others you've massacred throughout the many eons of your existence," Cracking the bones of his knuckles and back, Freeza silently thanks the Destroyer for so glaringly dropping his guard in anger, giving Freeza a scant few but precious moments to get a fairly decent idea of his power. "If you truly wish to be rid of me, then you'll have to bleed for it!"
With nothing held back, Freeza launches a fist to Beerus' face, a simple enough strike which the cat God blocks with a raised arm. A simple attack which reveals a great deal, and much of it to Freeza's delight. For not only could he see Beerus' movements with almost crisp clarity, he can feel Beerus' muscle twitch from the exertion of holding back the blow, and the God of Destruction's face betrays him, revealing a grimace of fury and annoyance.
Good, but not good enough!
Renewing his assault with a mid-air leap, Freeza spins kicks in the direction of Beerus' head missing it with his leg but managing to graze his cheek with the tip of his tail. Beerus reels back and snarls, firing a blast of ki directly into Freeza's chest.
The attack blasts Freeza away, and though it hurts, confirming the validity of Shenron's advice concerning the immortality, the ruler finds himself not deterred by the revelation. The simple fact he's not dead already bolsters his confidence greatly.
One one-hundredth of a second after Freeza's feet touch the ground, Beerus materializes behind him, his hand raised with a chop no doubt intended to break the spine or cut off a head. With an automatic movement, Freeza's own hand snatches Beerus chop. Tightening this grip on his enemies hand, Freeza sweeps him off the ground with an overhead swing of his arm, narrowly smashing Beerus into the dirt if not for his last minute recovery.
With a thrust, Beerus' fingers cut through the golden exterior of Freeza's cheek, an injury Beerus pays for mere moments later when knee drives into his gut. And so the dance goes with the two exchanging punches, kicks, thrusts, chops all more thunderous and powerful than the last. So fast are their movements, their limbs would appear like a blur of colors and motions to anyone weaker than them.
The fighters in question look at this dance of blows very differently. Whereas Beerus, glares, and growls in fury of being stood up to, Freeza is fueled by a hope of genuine victory. One of the few blind spots he couldn't properly account for, Beerus remained a great worry for him during the final planning stages of Earth's conquest, something he wanted and failed at rectifying with Shenron.
But now, as Freeza truly sees the limits of Beerus' power in comparison to his one through their trading of blows, he knows his fears were greatly exaggerated. I can do it... He realizes with a smile. I can kill him!
Freeza's brief loss of concentration doesn't go unnoticed by Beerus who uses it as an opportunity to end their stalemate. Delivering a kick to the rulers chest, Freeza feels a jolt of electricity permeate through every fiber of his being before the full force of the impact knocks him back through the sky.
Their surroundings, once seemingly untouched by the exchange of two Gods battling in it crumbles in on itself. The ground collapses for kilometers in depth while the surrounding mountains exploding into a series of titanic rock avalanches. Only one doesn't fall the same way and only because the force of Freeza's backward propelling body breaks it's upper section to rubble.
Sensing Beerus' fast approach, Freeza fires off a series of ki blasts in his direction. Each seemingly tiny blast results in an explosion twice the size of Earth's largest mountain, illuminating all before the overlord's eyes in a storm of black and red colors.
Beerus responds in kind, blowing away the gathered smoke cloud with the expulsion of his aura moments prior to unleashing a barrage of ki blasts of his own.
Freeza darts around these missiles of energy, allowing them to land into the ruins of West City underneath him. As he avoids the attacks, Freeza notices the disappearance of Goku's various allies there.
A pity, it would fuel their inevitable disdain of Beerus all the more should things turn badly for me.
He even manages to hear the screams of his last surviving soldiers, their last agonizing moments of seething pain under the purifying fire of energy until they're wiped from existence. Certainly better than melting under the geyser of lava which bursts forth from the depths of the planet.
Though the flow does nothing to Freeza himself, the explosions of the numerous failed blasts whizzing past worry him. If but a few of them could wipe out a city and vast stretches of underground beneath it to unleash the lava coursing through the crust of the Earth, what will a long, protracted battle do to the planet as a whole?
I can't believe I'm worrying about the welfare of Goku's home... The realization leaves a sour taste in Freeza's mouth. But it remains a pragmatically sound decision for it not to get left a barren wasteland. Especially as one or more of the inert Dragon Balls left on Earth could get destroyed in the ensuing chaos.
Steering himself upward so as to divert the blasts into the heavens and away from the Earth, Freeza vanishes in and out of sight, leaving clones of himself behind with each step. Beerus wildly flings his blasts over and over, clearly overwhelmed by this distraction, just as Freeza wants.
Upon the completion of his twentieth clone, Freeza commands all of them to charge forward, finally ending Beerus' firing and prompting him to martial combat once more. The real Freeza stays in the back, letting several of his clones fall until the precise moment to fire his eye beam. When Beerus tilts his head at the precise angle he requires to maximize the damage, Freeza takes the shot.
The beam of red energy cuts into Beerus' eyes, unleashing a mighty shout and release of aura out of him. His purple aura flail just as wildly as its owner, destroying all of the gathered clones but not enough to pose a true threat to Freeza. Appearing behind the feline God, Freeza force through the wild energies and grabs Beerus in a Full Nelson Hold.
Despite Beerus' squirming and elbow jabs, Freeza manages to hold on and with an overwhelming burst of his own energies, flies the two of them high into the sky and more importantly way from the Earth.
With this realization in mind, Freeza grits his teeth before unleashing a fiery explosion wave of such power it vaporizes the two slabs and sends Beerus reeling back. Knowing he cannot afford to continue battling here, Freeza charges towards the God of Destruction, managing to place him in a headlock before flying upwards as fast as he can. In a matter of seconds, they've left behind the planet and nearly fly past the moon when Beerus' struggling bears some fruit.
Positioning his head downward, Beerus fires a mouth blast which propels it sharply backward, slamming the back of his skull against Freeza's nose. The next thing Freeza knows is he's being tossed through the void of space, his back smashing against the entirety of the moon from Beerus' arm toss. Only when he finally powers up to break the momentum does he realize it's been cut clean in half.
The pieces of the moon rapidly position themselves at each side of Freeza at the behest of Beerus' telekinetic commands. Over and over, the two halves clap against one another with Freeza in the middle, trapped like an insect between clapping palms trying their best to squash him. All the while, he can here Beerus' telepathic giggling ringing in his ears.
Making me sympathize with Goku and Vegeta, will you?! Freeza shouts to the Destroyer before unleashing an instantaneous ball of energy several times the size of the moon, vaporizing it entirely to ensure none of it can re-enter the Earth's atmosphere and do further damage. Instead of letting this power go to waste, after the initial blast, Freeza urges it directly to Beerus, swallowing him up in an eruption of orange flames but more importantly, forcing him away into places of the Milky Way where they can fight with nothing held back.
"Easy there, Goku, take it easy..." Groaning back to his feet, a dizzy, weary but physically healed Goku is helped back up to his feet by the joint efforts of Chiaotzu and Tien. Checking his surroundings through foggy and tired eyes, Goku notices he's someplace surprising but comforting: the Lookout. With its white shining floor, its lush palm trees and the sole building stationed at the far end, he couldn't fail to recognize it instantly if he tries.
Holding each arm, he notices the weary but smiling faces of Chiaotzu and Tien beaming at him. A gesture he tries to return as best he can but a heavyweight looms over him, creating a perpetuating feeling of exhaustion in every fiber of his being.
"H-how long have I been out...?" He asks with a hoarse voice.
"Only a few minutes," Chiaotzu answers. "When Lord Whis brought you back, you were in such bad shape you didn't even wake up when Whis healed you, we were worried something bad happened to you..." The boy's voice trails off, faltering with his smile as he realizes that a great many things bad things have happened today, not just for him, but to everyone.
Looking around, he notices only the two of them along with Whis and Vegeta outside, no one else. With a heavy lump in his throat, Goku can't keep the fake smile up either and asks. "... Dende...?"
"Piccolo and mister Popo took him inside," Chiaotzu replies in a voice just above a timid whisper. "When he heard about... you know, he fainted..."
"And..." That lump grows tenfold. "...Master Roshi?"
The momentary look of pain flashing across Tien's features immediately makes him regret asking the question. Though the two of them were never officially master and student, Roshi played a pivotal role in shaping Tien's future, turning him away from becoming a hired killer and into one of Goku's most valued friends and allies.
Now he's gone, and nothing they do can bring him back...
"He's inside too," Tien tries to mask his feelings with a demeanor of stoicism, not quite manage to keep grief out of his voice. "Krillin and Yamcha are taking care of him. 17 and 18 left to make sure their kids are okay just-in-case Freeza tried something. I have no idea where Gohan or the boys are..."
Kidnapped by Freeza... Is what Goku wants to say but the words just won't come out, as though keeping it to himself will make it less true. A sudden crashing noise gets their attention and the three of them find Vegeta skidding against the tiled floor of the Lookout, dripping blood from a smear across his forehead.
"Hey!" Tien yells as the three of them make way to the downed Prince of Saiyan's. "Whats the big idea?" He glares at the perpetually nonchalant Whis standing on the edge of the tower.
"Prince Vegeta here kept on pestering me about allowing him to leave the Lookout so he can continue his fight with Freeza," Whis states matter of factly. "When I said no multiple times, he tried to adopt a more forceful approach."
"Vegeta," Goku whispers as he and Tien help him up. "What were you thinking? You know neither of us stands a chance against Freeza-"
"Get off me!" Vegeta roars, swinging his hand with enough force to break Goku's grip on it and knock him to the ground. "A worthless coward like you is the last person I'll listen to when it comes to picking my battles."
"What are you talking about? Goku's the most fearless guy I've ever known! He'd never-"
"He did!" Vegeta declares with an accusing finger landing straight at the kneeling Goku. "This bastard here gave up! After everything Freeza's done to us today, after what he saw him do the old man and what he's done to the boys, this disgrace calling himself a Saiyan forfeited to Freeza! If it wasn't for Beerus arriving on time we'd both be long dead by now!"
Try as he might, Goku can't muster the courage to face any of them, keeping his head down like a shame child. Still, even without seeing it, he can practically feel the shock and confusion permeating from Tien and Chiaotzu. Especially concerning what Freeza has done to the boys..."
"Funny," Whis continues with the same easy demeanor as always, as though none of this phases him at all. If he lives with Beerus, it probably shouldn't come as a surprise if it doesn't. "I believe you lost the will to fight against Freeza on the original planet Namek if I'm not mistaken-"
"This is different!" Vegeta's fury returns to its original recipient. "This isn't about my wounded pride or whatever delusions of self-grandeur I had all those years ago! This is about my own flesh and blood, his too, being in the hands of that bastard Freeza! I cannot abide by him quitting, not with what's at stake and I refuse to stand here while Beerus kills Freeza! The only one who can tell us where the boys are!"
"Be that as it may Prince Vegeta, resistance or not you both have no chance of defeating Freeza," Whis responds casually. "If you intervene in this battle, it is just as likely you will die by my master's hand as you would Freeza's, making you useless to everyone when you perish."
An eerie silence befalls those on the outside of the Lookout, given the looks exchanged by Tien and Chiaotzu, Goku guesses they're expecting Vegeta to back down, but they can't sense his ki. How it churns inside of him with his anger, ready to explode and lash out. And it unexpectedly does.
Surrounding himself in a shroud of white ki, Vegeta roars through his mid-air leap, intent on bringing his fist down on Whis' face. But just as during their practice earlier, Whis proves himself to be on a completely different level than anyone there, even Beerus and Freeza. Goku doesn't even comprehend that Vegeta's smacked face down onto the floor until the thudding noise of his body crashing against tile dies down.
"That should keep him quiet for the time being," Whis looks back to the sky. "Now we can all await the conclusion of this battle in peace. Although, with Lord Beerus releasing this much power I fear much more than your planets little moon will get destroyed before long."
Goku can attest to the validity of this statement. If he wasn't so overwhelmed by everything that's happened today, the clash of Beerus and Freeza's powers would no doubt frighten and most certainly excite him. Neither of which he can muster the energy to feel right now, he mostly wishes he could simply go back to sleep and try to forget his troubles. A desire made almost palpable when he hears a familiar, female voice call out to him.
"Goku!"
Turning towards the east, Goku sees the original Mister Buu approach the Lookout with Mister Satan, Pan, and Videl in toe. That's when he remembers what he told her earlier, how Gohan and the boys are fine, that she doesn't need to worry about them at all. If he knew at the time how wrong things would turn out, he would've kept his mouth shut.
I don't know what I'll say to her... He tries to gulp down the lump in his throat with little success. Or to Chi-Chi if everything gets even worse...
Meanwhile, Jupiter
Damn... Freeza... Beerus curses the arrogant little tyrant as he tries and fails to break away from his constant stream of assaulting energy, pushing him deeper and deeper into the farthest reaches of the Milky Way. Every inch given to Freeza further fuels the fires of his anger, and fear boiling under the surface. Staring down a mountain of fire devouring all in its path through the black void of space sends the chills of the nightmare rushing through Beerus' body. The sight is too eerily familiar for his mind not to draw the comparison.
With a great deal of hesitance and disdain, Beerus forgoes attempting to simply power on through, instead, he curls his body into a ball and surrounds it with a tiny but highly focused barrier of energy. The fire washes passes over it and erupts farther into space, vanishing only when Beerus morphs his barrier into a vast explosion of ki. As an added bonus, it leaves Freeza open and ripe for attack.
An opportunity Beerus wholeheartedly takes advantage of by burying his fist into Freeza's midsection. Suddenly, most of his anger and doubt vanish at the sight of Freeza's blood rushing then bursting out of his throat into the cold void. But Beerus has no intention of stopping there. With his clawed hands primed and ready, Beerus unleashes a series of swift swipes lacking in raw power but lending themselves to greater speeds, letting the damage build up over time.
When Freeza manages to force himself into a meager offense consisting of a simple punch, Beerus breaks off his own attack and drives his knee into Freeza's gut. For a bit of added retribution, he presses the palm of his hand against the back of Freeza's steel skull and blasts him away at point blank range, blasting him away into the nearby asteroid belt of the gas giant.
Feeling much better now than he has since waking up, Beerus can't help but smirk at the floating rocks and telepathically call his enemy out for more punishment. Is that all you can muster Freeza?
He receives no response verbal response but one made of energy. Dozens upon dozens of the blasts suddenly spring to life from the inside of the belt, carving asteroids to pieces as they rush to Beerus. Before he can cast them aside, Beerus feels the splitting pain from an elbow smashing against the back of his skull. As before, Freeza grabs him from behind, only this time his tail slithers around the feline God's mouth, making an escape attempt even more difficult.
Propelling them both forward, Freeza uses Beerus as a meat shield against his own attacks, flying at them at his highest of speeds and letting the brunt of the damage lands on Beerus. Once those are all spent, he diverts them into the asteroid belt, letting the rocks continue where the blasts left off.
Furious at the tables turning, Beerus cannot allow this to stand and with no other option available to him, bites down on Freeza's tail. If there was any air in the cold void of space, Freeza would surely yell out in pain. Good, that will teach you your place, Strengthening the bite, Beerus relishes the feeling of his teeth burrowing into flesh, dripping Freeza's blood in his parched mouth like a fine wine. His enemy tightens his hold and increases his speed in an attempt to force complacency, but Beerus has no intention to follow whatever whims the little tyrant has in mind for him.
With a last, powerful push of strength to his jaw, Beerus can practically feel the snapping of muscle and bone and succeeds in snapping the bottom chunk of Freeza's tail right off. He can all but feel the pain reverberate through Freeza's body thanks to their close proximity, he can also feel the insolent mortals grasp falter quite considerably. With a blood-soaked smile, Beerus delivers a grip shattering blow to the tyrant's gut with his elbow.
They descend into the heart of Jupiter, or more accurately, the Eye, the center of all storms on the gas giant, their king, and most powerful one amongst them all. They hover several feet away from one another, Freeza clutching his wounded tail and Beerus smirking blood-tinted grin of red fangs.
A heartbeat later, they vanish.
When they reappear, their colliding fist generate a shockwave of raw strength of such power, the storms creating the Eye of Jupiter for coumillenniaillenia now are blown thousands of kilometers into the distance at each side. All that is left of the eye is a gargantuan, empty section of sheer blackness, even more lifeless than the greater sum of space itself. The only things illuminating it are the twin auras of Freeza and Beerus.
Once more, they assault one another in a furious volley of punches and kicks before resorting to trickery and ki blasts, trying their best to kill one another in the void of what was once the Eye of Jupiter. A struggle that continues back across the cosmos when an upward kick to his jaw sends Beerus flying up into the air, with Freeza right behind him.
15 minutes later
Like a pair of meteors, the two Gods smash upon the surface of Mercury, the force of their impact equaling that of two nuclear warheads, forming craters rivaling those of the largest already present in the tiny world. Immediately, with the powering up of their auras they blast away the accumulated smoke, both covered in bleeding gashes and cuts all over and promptly renew their fight. Freeza takes the initiative, flying towards Beerus and managing to knock him off his feet with a well placed right hook to his face.
The God of Destruction lands with his right hand, using it to push himself in the air and out of the way of Freeza's second attack before spinning in the air and kicking the tyrant in the face, causing him plummet to the ground. With a swing of his arm, Beerus releases a series of vertical explosions aimed at Freeza who rolls backward, avoiding his attack as it forms a massive cut across a quarter of the planet.
Landing back to the ground, Beerus takes hold of the spot where he cut the ground and with a swift thrust of his arm, rips a chunk of the planet and throws it into the air with Freeza still standing on it. He fires an energy blast at the chunk as it still spins wildly above him. Freeza waits for it to spin when facing in the direction of the blast and with a thrust of his legs, sends it flying towards the attack, ridding himself of both distractions. His small victory is cut short upon Beerus' downwards kick sends him hurtling into the gaping hole leading into the depths of the planet.
Yet even with a chunk of his tail cut off, Freeza manages to ensnare it around Beerus' leg and pull him downwards.
Tumbling down into the hole, the two remain on top of each other, punching, kicking and digging their way deeper and deeper into the planet, eventually reaching Mercury's molten core. Smashing through the ceiling where it is located, they both fall into the magma, suffering no damage from it at all. Beerus, the quicker of the two is the first to burst forth from the stream and manages to quickly tackle Freeza back to the ground, taking hold of his head and keeping it submerged in the molten liquid.
With a smirk, he keeps Freeza pinned down as the tyrant tries and fails to kick, punch or claw his eye to freedom. That is until a red beam of energy burns right into, then through his palm, right above Freeza's eyes. With a pained grunt, Beerus pulls his hand away and glares at the bleeding hole in the middle of it, leaving himself open to Freeza's punch which knocks him away.
The two quickly get back on their feet with Beerus throwing the first punch, Freeza ducks beneath it and promptly uppercuts him in the chest for before spinning around and smacking him back with his tail. With an angry growl, Beerus charges forward and with his claws stretched outward, digs right through Freeza's exoskeleton and leaves three horizontal and deep bleeding cuts at his side.
Freeza wines and backs away in pain, running his hand over the cuts to check the severity of the damage. With a viciousness to match Beerus' own, Freeza leaps into the air and with a chop, leaves a deep, vertical cut at the side of Beerus' face, all but blinding him in one eye with his own blood.
As if starting a sick game, Beerus' retaliates by dazing Freeza with a well-timed smack of his own tail. Thrusting his clawed hands into the air, Beerus exacts his revenge by driving the fingernail of his thumb into Freeza's eyeball, causing it to break off but remain lodged inside the socket. Unleashing a scream that would send shivers down the spines of lesser beings if there was any air to transfer it, Freeza takes a deep breath before ramming into Beerus, pinning him against the wall with his hand placed tightly around his neck and like a cobra launching itself at its prey. He drives his teeth into the side of the felines left ear and bites off a chunk of it.
And so they keep going, gnawing, clawing and carving into each other. Two of the most powerful beings in this universe who could make entire galaxy vanish with a mere flick of their wrists fighting each other in the lava streams of Mercury like cavemen in the dirt. Yet even in this frantic battle, the faint voices of reason let them both know that Beerus has the advantage. For despite their powers being close, he is ultimately just a bit faster, stronger and durable than Freeza, and in a battle to the death, a tiny advantage can make all the difference.
Knowing he cannot win like this, Freeza glances over the molten core for an instant and smirks as a plan forms in his mind. Kicking Beerus away, he gets back on his feet in time to begin trading blows with the God of Destruction once more. Allowing himself to get hit in the stomach with a strong punch courtesy of the feline, Freeza plummets to the ground and clutches his stomach in faux defeat.
Finished yet, Freeza? Beerus mentally taunts him once more, sounding incredibly satisfied with himself despite his injuries almost matching Freeza's own. A satisfaction immediately replaced by arrogant fury when Freeza initially responds with a chuckle. Still finding something amusing in all of this eh?
Just your imminent defeat.
Raising his head, Freeza fires off a pain of eye beams directly at the core with Beerus' eyes widening in shock as he realizes what Freeza intends to do. He turns around and tries to stop them only to find himself caught in another Full Nelson Hold from Freeza. Let's see how you take an exploding planet at this range, shall we?
The beams accomplish their goal, cutting right through the molten core with utter ease, quickly de-stabilizing it as all of Mercury shakes violently. Knowing he has mere moments before it explodes, Beerus manages to break out of Freeza's hold with a joint attack of elbow jabs and smacks with the back of his head, shattering Freeza's nose in the process.
Yet the tyrant is not about to let him escape, taking hold of his tail and swinging him into the air before smashing him back into the lava stream. Immediately, they begin trading blows once more, letting the heat of the battle overtake their reason as the planet shakes harder and harder. The lava at their feet grows as the cavern crumbles away, letting more of it seep in from the ceiling and the sides.
None of this deters the two from fighting one as each one attempts to gain the upper hand and make use of the planet's explosion to give themselves a decisive edge. Staring each other down as all of Mercury dies around them, the two run at each other with their auras flaring and their hands clenched tightly into fists. As they close the distance, both yell at the top of their lungs like savage barbarians and simultaneously punch one another in the face, unleashing a shockwave of such strength it knocks the two of them to the ground with gargantuan slabs of rock burying them immediately.
The two Gods manage to claw out just-in-time to exchange scowls moments ahead of the core finally destabilizes and an explosion of unimaginable proportions devours them both and cracks the planet. Mountain sized torrents of lava bursts forth into the surface with continent sized cracks breaking the tectonic plates. Finally, the explosion from the core bursts forth and with it, Mercury is erased from the face of the 7th Universe, seemingly taking the two deities responsible for its demise along with it