"It's surprising to see you change your mind about supporting Vegeta's goals," Whis said this to Beerus several hours later after they left Vegeta in his room. It was already late in the evening and it was a tiring day for the Saiyan so they told Vegeta to take his rest. After Whis healed the injuries he got from his fierce battle with Toppo, Vegeta went to bed and was fast asleep as soon as he lied down. It was a good thing because starting the next morning, Beerus was looking forward to training him on how to use the powers of destruction.

They took a walk together outside the Castle to have a conversation about Vegeta, overlooking the lonely, pale grey scenery before them.

"Don't get the wrong idea, Whis. I was just annoyed at the audacity of the others to insult me like that. I cannot stand them mocking me or anyone from my universe!" Beerus huffed.

"I believe that Vegeta felt the same way too. He suddenly got overprotective of you, somehow." Whis said.

"Yeah." Beerus agreed, remembering how Vegeta stood up against the others to defend both of their honors.

"I think he's finally beginning to like you after you defended his honor when the other gods insulted him. I'm sure that after what happened in the King of All's Palace, Vegeta is going to be more determined than ever to make his goal a reality. I can somehow see Yogengyo's prophecy unfold."

"Did the Oracle Fish really dream about that?" Beerus asked, remembering the thoughts Whis shared with the King of All, in which all the other gods reacted with such disbelief.

"Yes," Whis answered.

Beerus grunted, "I know I've seen the potential in him when he first became a Super Saiyan."

"I'm sure you've noticed it back then and during our sparring sessions. After the years I spent training Vegeta, I have concluded that the path I was trying to teach him doesn't suit him and his personality at all. He just couldn't let go of his egoistic views and his principles. His fierce battle with Toppo proved to us that he truly didn't want to do so. While I initially thought this to be a problem, after he had evolved his powers to new and greater heights, I thought that perhaps, Vegeta is more suitable to that other technique."

"Yeah, the capability to master that forbidden technique and unbounded power," Beerus agreed.

"The Secret of Self-Indulgence, huh?" Whis said. "It's just as I thought. I know I've seen glimpses of that power within him when he first became a Super Saiyan God."

"Yeah, and it shouldn't come as a surprise since Vegeta is a Saiyan after all."

"Right. I can see why the other gods were threatened by the idea of a Saiyan becoming a God of Destruction. However, Vegeta-san isn't just any ordinary Saiyan. Considering his astounding self-control and indomitable willpower that he had demonstrated after his Spirit Control training on Planet Yardrat, there is a possibility that he can indeed master such a powerful and forbidden technique. But I think he is having doubts after what Toppo and King Zen told him. It had somehow shaken his resolve and only solidified his disinterest in becoming a God of Destruction. It doesn't mean he wants to stop becoming one and breach the contract he had made with you though."

Beerus let out a wide, malevolent grin. His eyes gleamed with determination. "Oh, I'll make sure that he will become a God of Destruction no matter what. And when he does and is able to master the Secret of Self-Indulgence technique, I know that Vegeta will become completely unstoppable!"

The Legend of the God of Destruction (Part VIII)

Vegeta and the Power of Destruction

Vegeta was up early morning as usual, though this time, he was a bit more excited to begin his training with Beerus. At long last, his wish to learn the powers of Destruction will begin today and he was sure that Beerus will be impressed by his abilities.

After doing a few morning routine exercises outside, he proceeded to make his breakfast while Whis did Beerus'. In the kitchen, Whis greeted Vegeta with a good morning and asked him if he's looking forward to training with Beerus later.

"I'm curious about what Beerus-sama said yesterday," Vegeta told Whis as he sliced off a slab of meat he just roasted in the oven using a kitchen knife. "Is there really another way to learn the Destruction technique other than what Toppo said?"

Whis was right about his thoughts last night. Vegeta was indeed having doubts about the power of destruction. He couldn't shake off the words told to him by his adversary during the fight yesterday.

"Of course," Whis assured him. "Do not worry about it. I believe this is going to be easier for you to do rather than using the more common way. After all, it was Beerus-sama who discovered this other way should be befitting for you."

Vegeta turned his head to Whis, his eyes wide in astonishment. "Really? Is he able to master such technique without compromising his ideals?" he asked breathlessly.

"Yes."

"How?"

Whis gave him a warm and soothing smile. "I'm sure he will tell you later," he whispered. He put a plateful of ham, thick bacon, eggs, and a tall stack of pancakes with honey and butter into Vegeta's tray. "I made extras for you. Eat well. You will need it," he winked.

Whis took the plates of food he had beautifully prepared and gracefully left the kitchen towards the dining room. Vegeta watched him leave like a wind through the door before he followed him with the tray of his massive breakfast. They found Beerus waiting there, wrapped in his prestige white bathrobe and shower cap. It seems the God of Destruction had just taken his morning bath.

"Good morning, Beerus-sama," Vegeta awkwardly greeted him with a forced grin.

Beerus gazed at him with bored eyes and simply mumbled under his breath. "M'rnin."

Whis put the food he prepared right in front of Beerus while Vegeta sat across the God of Destruction and started eating in silence, trying to ignore the pair of yellow eyes watching intently at him for quite some time.

"What?" Vegeta asked awkwardly at Beerus when he finally found the God of Destruction's stare becoming quite unnerving.

Beerus' glare didn't melt at all as he said, "I was trying to think about what you did during your fight with Toppo."

Vegeta put his utensils down, feeling like he was just punched on the gut. So much for thinking that Beerus had forgotten about it. He lowered his eyes, his muscles tensed.

"What about it?" he asked, his voice forced to sound indifferent though he was afraid of his punishment.

"At first I thought it was just a mere coincidence or that you were just lucky to be able to resist the powers of Destruction and prevent yourself from being erased from existence. But then, you did it twice. That's when you became quite suspicious to me."

"Suspicious about what?"

"Your abilities. You are no ordinary mortal, Saiyan."

"Well... Not any mortal gets to have godly powers as I do, so what about it?"

"That's not what I meant, Vegeta."

"Then what are you trying to say then?"

Beerus frowned. He gave the Saiyan a grunt and waved his hand. "Let's have breakfast first then we will talk about this outside."

Beerus ended the topic by focusing on his breakfast. Confused, Vegeta ate his food his silence.

After breakfast, Beerus told Vegeta to follow him outside. The pair strolled away from the castle until they reached a cliff.

"Before creation, comes destruction," Beerus said as he stood at the edge of the cliff overlooking the vast lifeless sea below him.

Vegeta was behind him, still feeling tensed and confused about Beerus' earlier words in the dining room. He swept his eyes to look at his surroundings. Behind the cliff was just a barren wasteland. So this is where his training to harness the powers of Destruction will begin. It was an eerie thought because somehow, he could feel that this could also become his grave.

"This is how the balance of the existence of the universe works." Beerus continued, causing Vegeta to look back at him. "There are a lot of deities in this universe but two are considered above them all. You already met Shin, he is the Kaioushin, a God of Creation responsible for the creation of everything within this universe, from stars, to planets, and all that surrounds them. He also gives life to the creatures that exist in the universe and is responsible for the cycle of reincarnation, given that he works alongside me and Enma Daiou, the God of the Underworld. Shin is also the guardian deity who watches over the mortal realm, along with four other but lower guardian deities, the King Kais, who are assigned in each quadrant of the Universe.

"Shin is considered my counterpart. I am the Hakaishin, the God of Destruction responsible for the divine punishments of death and devastation of everything that the Kaioushin had created. Due to this, you could say that I am well above Shin in terms of power. Even so, we work together to maintain the balance of this Universe. If we see a mortal causing too much trouble, I would give them the divine punishment of destruction, in which anything is erased from its existence."

Vegeta recalled how Beerus said that he was supposed to destroy the Saiyans himself and he wondered if this could be the reason why he just ordered Freeza to destroy the Saiyans for him instead, just so they could continue to exist through him. He scowled. Even after so many years, Vegeta still hadn't forgiven both Freeza and Beerus for this. Beerus explained to him once that he was only doing his job as a God of Destruction, it is not a matter of good or evil or a personal preference, and he believed that the Saiyans deserved to be destroyed due to their nasty deeds. Vegeta knew that Beerus was right because even himself had once thought his people, especially his father, the king, would face destruction for their foolishness. That's why even if Vegeta had not forgiven Beerus, he understood his reasons for doing this. And this understanding had somehow settled their differences and made Vegeta accept Beerus as his ally and master. Vegeta could see why Whis sees some similar traits between him and Beerus, their personalities, attitude, and train of thoughts are the same after all.

Beerus raised a finger, pointing at the dark skies. He looked like he's trying to aim at something very far with how he squinted his left eye and focused his sights forward. Vegeta wondered how far Beerus could see. Can he destroy a planet several lightyears away from where he stood?

"How many planets do you think you Saiyans have destroyed?" Beerus asked this suddenly, causing Vegeta to raise his eyebrows in his puzzlement at the question. What does it have to do with his learnings?

"Who knows?" Vegeta replied with shrug. "It's hard to say, fighting was the only way of living for the Saiyans but after we entered the deal with the Cold Force did we start to invade worlds. Prior to this, my father destroyed several planets by his own accord in his ambitious pursuit for power. He had built the Saiyan Kingdom on top of countless deaths."

"How about you? How many planets have you destroyed before I took you in here?"

"Hmmm..." Vegeta murmured as he pondered for a moment, counting. "Plenty. Most of the planets I destroyed were due to me going against Freeza's orders or if there was something about it that annoyed me."

Beerus put his left hand down and turned to Vegeta with a surprised look. "What do you mean you destroyed planets to go against Freeza's orders?"

"You know, planets I was ordered to invade. I destroyed some planets in hopes of preventing the Freeza Force from getting any more power or resources. If I was planning to put the Freeza Force down, I have to prevent my greatest enemy from becoming more powerful than it already was. Can you imagine how furious Freeza should be? It was disappointing that he was congratulating me instead of being mad about what I did. It was odd."

Beerus cackled, "Hahahahaha! It sounds like you were really trying hard to provoke Freeza back then."

"He didn't want me to get stronger than I was at the time. I knew he was trying to prevent me from becoming a Super Saiyan so he would send me to invade planets where the inhabitants weren't too much for me to handle. The tasks were boring so I decided to just fire up some fireworks. I'm sure you know what I meant by that."

Beerus gave him a knowing grin, "Of course."

"So why did you ask about that?"

"Because..." Beerus suddenly turned around, pointed at the dark skies, and fired a small, bullet of destructive purple energy into the clouds. The lightning flashed at the exact time as it hit a nearby planet and Vegeta marveled with his jaw dropped at the sight of it exploding. He got the feeling of nostalgia from his early childhood days and thought about how he missed the wonderful sight of a planet's firework-like eruption.

"I was only curious about how you feel about it," Beerus ended.

Vegeta lowered his eyes to stare at Beerus, giving him a confused look. "Huh?"

Beerus turned his head over his shoulder to give him a sly grin, "It has been a long time since you last destroyed a planet like that, haven't you?"

"Yeah," Vegeta nodded.

"If you think about it now, how do you feel about destroying those planets when you were young?"

"..."

Vegeta quickly lowered his head in shame, and he didn't answer. There was a moment of silence in between them following Beerus' question.

Suddenly, he found himself being thrown back when Beerus unexpectedly attacked him by grabbing his face. Vegeta was unable to do anything to defend himself as Beerus mercilessly slammed his head back into the ground which cracked underneath his throbbing cranium due to the force of Beerus' surprising strike.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Vegeta demanded Beerus, giving him a sharp glare.

"So long as you are doubting something, you will never wield this power you desire," Beerus told him with an icy tone.

"Doubt?!" Vegeta repeated breathlessly, confused.

"Aside from those lives and worlds you have mercilessly destroyed, you are feeling guilty for the evil things all of the Saiyans did in their lifetime. You still think of yourself as the savior they needed, a representative of the entire Saiyan race, that's why you continue to be stubborn about that Saiyan Pride of yours. You felt responsible for upholding your race's honor as the Crown Prince you were and you burden yourself with the need to cleanse your people's reputation. Everything that you did in your life, isn't just about your personal pride, it's all about your sense of duty to your people! And that's so self-centered of you, Saiyan."

Beerus grabbed Vegeta by his black, flame-shaped spiky hair and hurled him back until he hit a nearby boulder that was immediately reduced to rubble. Suddenly, a blue godly aura erupted from the rocks and Vegeta appeared in his Super Saiyan Blue Evolved form. He braced himself for defense as Beerus charged at him once more. Despite being in his most powerful form, Vegeta was still defenseless against the might of the God of Destruction.

"This isn't about what Toppo and King Zen told you about. And I am not saying that you should forget about your personal views, principles, or your pride. This is about the unnecessary things that prevent you from growing! Your guilt, doubts, these things make you indecisive about your present. Whatever your people did has nothing to do with you, and whatever evil things you did yourself are all in the past! These are things that cannot be changed because what's done has already been done! The real chains and weights that you have is yourself because you are allowing these things from your past to trap you and prevent you from growing!" Beerus roared at him as he ceaselessly pummeled the defenseless Saiyan.

"Whenever I do my duties as the God of Destruction, I let go of all unnecessary things in my present mind and focus entirely on only one thing: Destruction itself! This allows me to tap into my inner instincts and thus, the secret to this unlimited power that I have!"

Beerus grabbed Vegeta's wrist after the prince failed to land a punch on him. Then he put his palm up facing Vegeta's training armor. Vegeta suddenly felt a powerful pressure locking him in place, something inside of him pulsed as Beerus uttered in a commanding voice.

"Destruction!"

There was a burst of energy that had blown Vegeta away for miles, and he fell into a massive crater his impact made to the ground, forcing him out of his Evolved Super Saiyan Blue form.

"Gaaaaah!" Vegeta groaned on the crater where he just plummeted. His armor was completely destroyed on the front, thus showing his stony abdominal muscles and the lower part of his chiseled pectorals on the hole of his clothes.

Beerus followed Vegeta and having seen the Saiyan Prince's resistance to the Destruction technique that close, Beerus concluded that Vegeta could be something else.

Beerus descended on the top of the crater and he said, "It's in your Saiyan blood to have the natural instinct for destruction, Vegeta. If you truly wish to wield the powers of Destruction, you have to destroy any of your stray thoughts and recreate yourself from scratch. Before creation, comes destruction. Do you understand what I mean?"

Vegeta finally realized why Beerus chose him, a Saiyan, instead of Freeza. Saiyans have a natural instinct and urge within them to destroy things. Their love for battle gives them the desire to destroy their enemies just for the satisfaction of that Saiyan drive within them. Their love of fighting stronger opponents and the thrill of the fight allows them to destroy their previous level and break through their present limits, thus awakening them to new heights of seemingly bottomless power. A Saiyan who had transformed into the wild Oozaru beast under the light of the full moon loved destroying the world, without anything to think of but to satisfy that primal desire. Vegeta remembered he had the same feeling when he first transformed into a Super Saiyan or whenever he loses his mind due to the overwhelming power the transformation gave him that he could not control.

Vegeta finally understood what Beerus meant. The God of Destruction doesn't necessarily want him to let go of what makes him a Saiyan, he wanted Vegeta to embrace the true nature of the Saiyans, to give in to his instincts, and to gratify his needs and desires as a Saiyan.

The need and desire to destroy his own limits.

And to become self-indulgent with it.

Vegeta smiled at Beerus and nodded once in understanding.

"Let me demonstrate it to you a little closer," Beerus said as he walked past Vegeta to grab a rock as big as a handball that was lying on the ground. Then he playfully threw it in the air until it dropped on the top of the sharp, black nail of his left index finger. Vegeta watched as Beerus played with the rock for a while, balancing it on his fingernail.

"When a God of Destruction uses the power of Destruction, anything that our power touches gets destroyed, or rather, erased from existence completely. If a creator god creates something from nothing, a destroyer turns that something into nothing. Everything the Kaioushin creates has a core, and by concentrating the powers of Destruction into it, we are able to destroy any kind of matter. Once it does, it releases heaps of energy that the Kaioushin will use to create a new something."

"Before creation, comes destruction," Vegeta muttered.

Beerus gave him a crooked smile, "Correct."

The rock abruptly exploded and the shockwave created by the burst of energy caused Vegeta to step back with his forearms in front of his face to protect himself.

"Such force..." Vegeta thought in astonishment.

"The explosion of energy is the real highlight of this technique," Beerus said. He walked a few steps to pick a small stone the size of a marble and hurled it towards Vegeta, who caught it with his right hand in the air. "Now, you try it," he ordered the prince.

Vegeta nodded. He looked down at his right hand, grabbing the stone in between his index finger and thumb before he held up the stone on the tip of his index finger. Concentrating his thoughts solely on destruction alone, the insatiable instinct of his Saiyan nature, he focused this desire and his powers into the center of the stone.

Boom!

The stone blew up into a mass of scattered energy that sent a pressure wave blowing at his face. Vegeta squinted his eyes and spat on the ground, shaking off the dirt that came with the shockwave. Beerus cackled out loud at his reaction.

"You'll get used to it," Beerus chuckled. "Good job. You are able to get the principle behind the technique of Destruction. Now, it will be up to you to improve and control this power."

Vegeta stared at Beerus in disappointment, inwardly wondering if the training is already finished. The look on his face told Beerus something so he said with a bored look in his yellow eyes, "I have already taught you the powers of destruction that you wish to learn. How you will be able to enhance this technique is entirely up to you. I suspected that you have the power of destruction sleeping within you and it only awakens whenever you are overwhelmed by your survival instinct as a Saiyan. When you are on the brink of being destroyed, you are able to resist it. Only destruction could go against destruction itself. This is how you were able to completely nullify the power of destruction and avoid being erased from existence during your fight with Toppo. This is also how you were able to perform the destruction technique that easily with just simple guidance from me. Now it is up to you to master this power. If you manage to do this, I will permit you to take your long-awaited revenge against Freeza."

"Really?!" Vegeta asked this, quite excited.

"Of course. But you should know that like you, Freeza also has the potential of destruction within him, that is why you must become stronger and master this technique so you can overwhelm him. Else, Freeza would do what you were able to do during your battle against Toppo. You get what I mean?"

Vegeta nodded, "Yes, I understand."

"Now then, you know what to do, Vegeta."

Beerus walked away after that. Vegeta sighed and shook his head, he tried to search for any rock to practice this new technique, bigger than the one he destroyed earlier.

While he was doing so, Vegeta felt the planet shake due to a massive explosion and when he looked up, he found plenty of rocks of random sizes falling around him from the sky. Beerus was levitating from where it came from, smiling mischievously at him before he returned to the castle.

For the next three months, Vegeta was training to master the Destruction move more determined than ever due to the prospect of him finally getting his revenge against Freeza. He started from very small objects to bigger things. At times, Beerus would playfully throw him random things, like logs or rocks to use the technique with. Whis and Yogengyo were getting tired of all those explosions going around the planet.

One day, Vegeta accidentally destroyed an entire waterfall which made Beerus extremely outraged and caused Vegeta to earn a painful smack on the head, plus angry rants from both Beerus and Whis.

With Vegeta getting stronger every single day, unable to control his growing strength and the destructive power he now possessed, Beerus told Whis to send Vegeta into 'that' place. Whis waved his scepter in the air and a wormhole appeared in the sky, pulling the Saiyan into a new dimension to train in. In that place, the so-called 'Sacred Space of Spirit and Time', a vast, pure white space surrounded by intense atmospheric pressure and gravity, Vegeta trained for an entire year, though it's only a single day in his real world, without holding his powers back. Thanks to his Spirit Control Proliferation technique, Vegeta could create training partners as powerful as he is. Plus, this place seems to have the ability to magically change its atmospheric pressure, gravity levels, temperature, and its surroundings. Through this training, Vegeta was able to get stronger than he ever was before, mastering the powers of destruction completely.

While Beerus was busy playing some video games on a handheld console as he lay in relaxation against the ground, Vegeta broke through the said dimension to return to his world in a massive burst of destructive power, much to Whis and Beerus' surprise. Both didn't expect Vegeta to gain this much power within a year, power strong enough to break through an entire dimension on his own.

"Welcome back. It looks like you have trained for quite some time." Beerus grinned as he put down his console on the ground next to him. "And look at that. It seems you have finally mastered the power of Destruction, huh."

"So how did it go, Vegeta-san?" Whis asked him.

Vegeta tilted his chin up, a confident smile on his lips. "Hmph. Well, who knows?"

"Look at that overconfidence. He's raring to go as soon as he got out of the Sacred Space." Beerus scoffed at Whis, who was chuckling to himself. "I'm sure that you are so eager to test out this new power of yours, why don't you go and do what you must? Go and destroy Freeza just as you wanted."

"Alright then, I will take you straight to where Freeza is," Whis said. "But before that, I have to clean you up first." he waved his staff towards Vegeta, magically cleaned him up, and dressed him into his Saiyan Royal Battle Armor, the same one he wore during his battle with Toppo.

"Now you look fresh and more confident," Whis told him with a wink. "I'm sure you wanted to wear your royal battle armor for your big fight with your greatest enemy. You have waited so many years for this, and I bid you good luck on your battle. Just a piece of advice, do not underestimate Freeza just because you now have the godly power of destruction. There are mortal beings who can have greater power than that of a god, just like yourself. He's been training too, in preparation for your return."

"Understood."

Whis reached out his hand towards Vegeta, who took it willingly. Whis pulled the prince closer to him.

"Not so fast. I'm going with you." Beerus said. "I wanted to see how you improved. This is a good chance to see what you are truly capable of, Vegeta. Prove to me that I'm not wrong choosing you over Freeza."

"Yeah, of course. I'm sure I'll surprise you." Vegeta told him with a smirk.

Beerus crooked a smile. "I like that confidence." He fumbled on his pocket with his left hand and took out a square-shaped golden earring. "Take this and stick it to your left ear," he said, throwing the earring to Vegeta, who caught it in between his fingers. Vegeta turned his hand around and curiously gazed at the thing in confusion. "That is a symbol of those who are permitted to use the divine powers of destruction."

"I see. Very well then," Vegeta said. He turned around to put the earring Beerus just gave him on his left ear. Once he was done, Beerus gave him a smirk of satisfaction as if silently telling him that it looks good on him.

"Let's go, Whis," Beerus said.

Both Beerus and Vegeta grabbed Whis' shoulders and the three of them blasted their way towards wherever Freeza was.