Chapter 6 – The God Returns
The sky broke before the storm arrived.
Not with clouds. Not with wind. Not with thunder.
With presence.
Beerus appeared, hovering above the mountains like a predator beyond mortality.
His eyes were sharper. His aura tighter. Every hair on Earth's surface screamed of potential death.
"Hmph," he said.
"I see… Kakarot isn't alone anymore."
Zhou Fan remained on the cliff, aura folded inward. Calm. Silent.
"You still underestimate me," Zhou Fan said softly.
Beerus' smirk sharpened into something primal.
"I underestimated nothing," he said.
"I merely observed… now, I will test."
The ground cracked beneath him as his aura flared. Power was not raw; it was precise, predatory, refined, and crushing.
Zhou Fan stepped forward.
"I am ready," he said.
"Strike."
Beerus struck.
Not a casual blow. Not a test.
A god-level strike, condensing destruction into a singular point of inevitability. The mountains crumbled. Earth itself groaned. The air split with energy dense enough to tear planets apart.
Zhou Fan absorbed the impact as if it were nothing, not with brute resistance, but with authority. Ki folded. Damage reversed. Energy was dissected, sorted, and returned.
Beerus' eyes widened.
"Not deflected… nullified."
"Not nullified," Zhou Fan said quietly.
"Corrected."