Chapter Text
Everything came to a sudden stop before Beerus knew it. His mind recovering from the way in which Khaos had flung it with her power.
He felt like he was in his body, but simultaneously not. Yet another contradiction, but one that the reincarnate didn't bother to fret over much.
"Ughh… That was rough." He was able to get out with a groan. Every syllable echoing in whatever space – presumably mental – that Khaos had thrust him into.
Her curvy mist-form was no longer in his sight now. Nor was the colourless Void that was also her.
A sea of black met him this time. Almost as black as the darkness he'd first had around him when he snapped into consciousness within this new World he was to inhabit.
For a moment everything was still, but as soon as Beerus fully regained his bearings, the blackness around him started to shift in-front of him. And it was as if he were looking at a clay canvas now with the reddish-orange shade before his vision.
Figures then began to suddenly pop up on this 'canvas' for lack of a better term, appearing almost like dark smoke that formed into the shape of oddly-stylized humanoids. The resemblance they held to black-figure pottery he'd seen in his past life almost uncanny.
The first figure, long-haired and wide-breasted, he knew to be Gaea almost instinctively. And the second one that came after was just as obvious to him as the one meant to resemble who Khaos spoke of.
He saw that figure's creation through Gaea, how they seemed to get along at first. Their interactions silent to him at the moment, but it was clear they were clicking well together in these initial moments.
The two then got particularly close and looked to kiss each other. A spike of envy lanced through Beerus without his consent at that alone, but it got worse when he was made to watch what happened after, however fast it came and went.
Gaea laying back and happily spreading her legs for the figure as he came forward and entered her with his phallus. The next few seconds being them engaged in increasingly heated coitus that was full of passion.
"Nngh! I could've done without seeing that!" He barked in outrage. The imagery of Gaea doing this, sharing this level of intimacy with some other guy – even in a timeline that would no longer be – revolting to his mind.
The scene he was watching underwent a transition then, just as both figures seemed to undergo orgasm. Their figures swirling together before dispersing across this 'canvas'.
From there, the other figures - None of which he knew – started to crop up, some with noticeably differing shapes from others. The implication made obvious to his senses though that each of them were the children of the first two, of Gaea and whomever had his place.
None were ever shown as children or babies, so Beerus was forced to assume either that section of their life was skipped due to a lack of importance…
Or they'd never been children to begin with.
In any case, for a brief – and Beerus meant brief – moment, all seemed fine and Gaea appeared joyful.
During this moment, the figure in place of Beerus also proclaimed himself and Gaea as King and Queen of the Universe. The ones that shall rule over it as needed. A proclamation that his and Gaea's children – as well as those unrelated, for more figures popped up and made themselves known during that instant – didn't appear to have an issue with. All accepting or just not caring enough to argue the claim.
Gaea herself didn't seem to care about the whole Queen thing. She simply looked content with watching her children mill about peacefully, doing whatever.
It didn't last though. For he then saw – and somehow felt – the male figure who'd been with Gaea instead of him displaying overwhelming disgust for his own children.
Not because of anything bad they did, as he was sure the imagery would've presented that if so, but simply because it seemed he was repulsed by their very visages for whatever reason. Seemingly from the moment each of them was born, unbeknownst to Gaea.
Beerus got a spark of intuition then, possibly from Khaos. An understanding that it was less to do with their physical forms, and more to do with their souls and what he saw in them. A future only he could see, real or imaginary.
A future that also made him fear his spawn.
The 'canvas' transitioned into numerous scenes then of the figure merely tolerating his own children's existence. What he'd seen in them clearly colouring his view more and more, as while he hid his true feelings for them quite well initially, given none saw issue with him ruling over them and the Universe, that soon changed.
It was gradual, and what many mortals from his old World would've considered a very lengthy period of time, but for him? It was a short period. Hardly a blip, really.
Something – most likely the will of Khaos – allowed him to know it took place over the course of merely a millennium, how things just continued to sour between the figure and the progeny he'd had with Gaea.
What was somewhat courteous in the beginning inevitably became toxic.
It eventually became so that whenever any of the twelve spawn of Heaven interacted with him for one reason or another, he was always ranging from two states depending on his mood, with almost zero in-between.
He was openly either dismissive and reproachful at the best of times, to downright scornful and baleful at the worst. The latter often resulting in harsh punishments for the children that got on his nerves at any particular moment.
Said punishments against them seemed to always be physical, and like his attitude towards them they only got worse over time.
His personal favourite and go-to after enough time seemed to be making whatever 'unruly' spawn of his it was at the time to stand still in isolation from the other children. It was then that they'd be forced to hold up his Heavenly Dome's 'weight' with their shoulders for as long as he deemed fit.
A 'weight' it seemed that the figure could freely shift and make as unbearable as possible for those being punished.
Beerus ended up watching as every single one of the twelve children at one point or another was forced to endure this, and the 'weight' became too much to bear. The ultimate result being each of them getting steadily crushed by the immeasurable pressure.
After enough time, it seemed to the reincarnate that this figure appeared to start getting a kick out of it. An enjoyment out of being able to 'put them in their place' as he could surmise, and continue to remind them that they were always beneath him. That he'd always be on top.
He'd seen the like many a time before, and he'd seen the overreach more than a few times. A ruler getting high off the feeling of invincibility they got from treating those under them like this in their paranoia of being taken out.
9 times out of 10, the irony was that those very actions bred the negativity needed to unleash the very scenario said ruler didn't want to happen.
Uprising.
Betrayal.
Full-on war.
You name it. He'd seen them all.
Right now, he was getting the sneaking suspicion that was likely where this was heading with the guy who would've been in his place right now were it not for his soul being sent here.
In any case, the figure's preferred punishment seemed to end up directed the most at one of the twelve in particular. A son going by the body-shape, who due to this treatment seemed to develop a viciously strong hatred beyond all others for his lusty sire.
And Beerus called him 'lusty' because if the guy wasn't doing an increasingly poor job at fatherhood and rulership, to his chagrin, he was having sex with Gaea.
He was thankful not to be subjected to the nitty gritty details of each encounter, but the swift montage he was practically given made it clear just how frequent such activity became.
Gaea wasn't blind or stupid. She'd noticed the friction and how it was only getting worse between this guy and their kids, mainly due to the former's actions.
"Mine sister didst want with growing desperation to keep things together. To stop the situation from getting worse."
Khaos's voice suddenly resounded again as the montage flicked by. Her voice warping through his being just as it had before.
"With how much she didst come to know her Husband's passion for such union, she took to it more and more as a way to keep him satiated and calm. For despite how increasingly horrid his behaviour had become to their children, she loved him still, and didst cometh to believe she couldst remedy it by showering him with such affection."
"Keep him distracted, in other words." Beerus could feel himself scowling. The reborn deity missing the fact that he was no longer stuttering at the moment with how focused he was on what was being shown to him.
And his own growing mix of negative emotions toward the figure that would've been in his place, despite how calm he was keeping himself up to this point.
"Indeed. Distract him with love. Quell his heart. Use her words whenst she couldst to try and push him away from the path he wouldst travel. To begin treating their children better and convince him that whatever he didst see in his progeny, that future wouldst not cometh to pass. She wanted for everyone to get along, for she naturally cared deeply for both sides."
Beerus could almost feel the sigh that left Khaos as his whole being reverberated.
"And the one whomst thou replaced wert all too pleased with this outcome. For he doth yearned to hold more and more of her attention to himself over the children he despised. And because of this, the more attention she didst give, the more he gave off the illusory impression to her that he wert calming down in regards to their children. As for a brief period, he didst appear to be quelled in his evil-doing."
True to what the Void had said, a few bits of imagery flew by demonstrating the situation seemingly improving as the figure monopolized more of her time. His terrible treatment toward their children eventually going away for a few decades.
Most of the twelve children celebrated this, hopeful that their mother had gotten through to their father and ruler, and that things would be better from there on.
The son who'd been punished the most though was the most sceptical, refusing to buy into that comforting narrative.
And he was right not to.
What happened next after how Gaea had already made him feel with her assets and charm genuinely had Beerus's blood boiling in a way it had rarely ever done.
Whatever magic this guy had been using to stop Gaea from getting pregnant after their first twelve children must've failed or something, because on the fifth decade of so-called 'peace', it happened.
Gaea was impregnated again and promptly gave birth to two sets of three new sons one after the other.
The first three were of stockier build than the previous twelve, with larger heads and a singular, massively round eye around their foreheads, but approximately of equal height.
The latter three however took even Beerus by surprise.
They were far larger than any of their siblings, looking to be the size of literal mountains given the perspective shift. Each with fifty heads bulging near and between their shoulders, and one-hundred arms that stretched wide with thick and powerful muscles.
Despite the appearances, particularly for the latter three sons, Gaea showed nothing but happiness toward them, overjoyed to have more children. And she did not hesitate to cuddle them with glee and squeal in a way that Beerus found utterly adorable.
The figure on the other hand?
The instant he laid eyes on them proper, especially the second set of sons, Beerus could actually feel his revulsion multiply from what it had been for the first twelve children. His hatred of their existence palpable as he saw in them what he saw in the progeny that came before. Only worse.
And it was there where he finally snapped. The male figure's tyranny reaching a whole other level in his desire to avoid whatever he saw in them.
Uncaring for the consequences, his massive figure acted on impulse and snatched up the recently born trios of one-eyed beings and many-limbed giants from Gaea's arms, stunning her in the process.
Not understanding what was happening to them yet, they didn't try to fight back until it was far too late.
In an act that was nothing short of disgusting, the figure swiftly used some sort of magic to conjure bindings that he promptly wrapped around each of the six new sons in his hold. The second trio getting bound in far more than the first as they all began to squirm to no avail, unable to break free.
And then, to the horror of his first children watching on, let alone Gaea, he proceeded to force them all down deep within the ground!
"AAAAAAAAGGGHHHHHHHHH! STUH-STOP! PNGH-PLEASE, STOP! HAAAAAAAGH! H-HUSBAND, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?"
With the exception of the most punished son who merely stood back in shock, the first children's protests and pleas resounded loudly. But they were nothing compared to the howls of agony and distress that leapt forth from Gaea immediately, which deafened him to anything else. Howls so loud, so powerful, so primal, that they pierced through him and shook his very soul.
"HGGGGGHHHHHH! W-WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS!? I-I DON'T UNDERSTAND! O-OUR CHIH-CHILDREN HAVE DONE NOTHING! I-I BEG OF YOU TO STOP! AGHHHH! I DUH-DON'T WANT THIS! TH-THEY DON'T WANT THIS! PL-PLEASE LET THEM GO!"
He heard her pleas and begging for the figure to stop, to cease his terrible action, but the figure did not listen. He only continued to make her writhe in torment as he forced their children further and further inside her Elemental Form, almost as if trying to reverse their births altogether.
"Let them go? I think not!" The masculine voice of the figure came through for the first time. By no means as loud as Gaea, and yet his voice cut through to the reincarnate just as clearly and sharply as Gaea's did. His offence and revulsion evident.
The voice itself sounded eerily close to Beerus's own, and the reincarnate was almost subconsciously repulsed by that fact.
"Are you incapable of seeing what I see, Wife? Of seeing the ugliness of the children with which you've produced for me!? It brings me nothing but disgust to see them brought into my World!" The figure proclaimed egotistically and without remorse, having the audacity to sound angry at her for all this. "They are nothing but a strain on my sight! Worse than even the first children you birthed. A foulness that deserves only to be banished from my view, and that they shall be!"
"What the heck is this guy's problem!?" Beerus blurted out as he watched this atrocious scene play out, watched the figure hurl abuse at Gaea while putting her through something he could easily imagine as being extremely traumatic.
"His problem doth be one that in no way couldst ever justify such action." Khaos's voice returned, resounding from all around him again. The sounds of what he was watching becoming temporarily muted as the Primordial spoke.
And did so with an emotion all too clear to him now, which was disgust.
"I hath re-watched this very scene many a time since first viewing it. And yet, even now I doth find mine self incapable of understanding his reasoning. Why this perceived 'ugliness' as he didst remark, what he saw in their spirits, drove him to such hateful action against his kin. Against mine sister too for spawning them."
"Well, you're not alone." Beerus almost growled, his anger and revulsion over the scene he was watching overriding the effect that Khaos still had on him even more. "What even is this!? His treatment of the first twelve brats was one thing, but now this? I don't care if he envisioned those new brats somehow killing him, that 'ugliness' he moaned about is no excuse at all for what he's doing to them and putting Gaea through in the process!"
His outrage over this was almost entirely because of the torment it put Gaea through, but there was a small degree of it also reserved for the kids too. Mainly because they were Gaea's, yes, but even without that fact he'd have still been revolted on some level by this vision of what could've been.
Khaos did not verbally respond to this, instead simply letting the vision play out further.
Eventually, the figure forced the children through Gaea so much that they and his fist eventually ploughed through to what looked like the bottom of Gaea's Elemental Form. And the instant this happened, Gaea's scream of pain and misery was at its strongest.
Her true Form convulsed and spasmed from this act, shaking as intensely as a powerful earthquake would on a planet back in Beerus's old World.
This did not even slow the figure down as he promptly dropped their latest three children down into what looked to be a pitch-black pit beneath Gaea. One that she held no power over if the way she was getting so hysterical was any indication.
From there, the scene shifted and showed Gaea by herself initially.
Beerus wasn't sure how – probably Khaos again – but he got the sense it'd been several days in terms of time in this timeline since that event occurred.
Dismayed with what'd happened, the Goddess wept her heart out. The pain of the event immobilizing her as she lay where she was, unable to believe what'd been done to her and her children. And by the one who was supposed to be their father and her other half, no less.
Someone she'd firmly – and naively – believed she'd been successfully softening up until that moment prior had proved her emphatically wrong.
Beerus felt a pang of something within him at the sight, but knew there was absolutely nothing he could do for her even if he wanted to.
"The first twelve children of Heaven and Earth wert too fearful of retaliation from their father if they got involved, and they wert right to be. For if any hath dared to console their mother, he wouldst not hath hesitated to punish them in his wrath."
"Punish them for wanting to be there for their mother… Can't even say I'm surprised at this point…"
"I canst not see the thoughts of a mind that didn't get to exist, but if thou wert to ask of me mine opinion, I wouldst sayeth unto thee that he is of twisted view."
That was one way to put it, Beerus thought.
"He wouldst hath held great passion for mine sister, but such passion didst not result in anything good. Not whenst his hatred for their children brought forth the worst in him. Exposed a foulness in his soul that he didst not resist, but instead embraced wholly. And so it was, that whatever good he may've had in him became corrupted by it, and also turned foul."
The reincarnated deity felt his scowl deepen, but all he could do was watch on as the Gaea of this timeline eventually managed to pick herself up. Gingerly from the looks of it.
Of all the things she could've done then, she chose to call out to the figure who'd just committed one of the gravest personal slights he'd ever seen on someone.
And this was where Gaea showed her kind – and also still naïve – heart, as rather than immediately despise him and want for his destruction like he certainly did already, she chose not to lash out at him. Even though she should've with how deeply hurt she'd been both physically and emotionally.
Instead, when his figure reappeared, she at first attempted to reason with him despite such a violent and cruel act by the bastard. Worse than the crap he'd already pulled before then, which was dreadful in itself.
Predictably, he would not budge.
Instead, he delighted in his own evil from the looks of it. Telling her that their children 'deserved' what they'd gotten and that she should forget about them. Leave them where he'd trapped them beneath her, for they'd be nothing but an eyesore and trouble if let out.
"Their ugliness was even greater than our children whom came before. I told you this already, Wife. I will not permit them return from where I sent them." He told her coldly and without regret. "You only argue for them because you are blind to what I can see of them, same as you are for our other twelve children."
"I-I'm not blind!" Gaea rebuked with a profound stutter and tremble of her figure. "Husband, please see reason-"
"You're the only one between the two of us who needs to see reason, Gaea. Those three are not worth your tears. None of our children are, truthfully speaking."
He advanced on her then, cupping her chin and raising her head to look up at him.
"You may not be able to see it yet, but I'm certain you will eventually. That such passion is wasted on them. That they are not deserving of it."
Gaea tried to argue against that. To argue that they absolutely were and that the six children he'd cruelly cast down beneath her deserved much better than what their father had just given them, but there really was no point.
The figure had clearly made up his mind and didn't care to listen one bit about what she thought of this.
Because he was convinced that he was in the right and that Gaea was in the wrong.
"Those six shall remain beneath you, furthest from the light. No matter what protest you give I will not be swayed, for it is the only fate they deserve for their ugliness." He told her with a damnable smile, clearly proud of what he'd done.
Gaea could only stare at that point, truly speechless at the kind of person her partner had turned out to be.
It was fully dawning on her then, that she'd never managed to make him change even a little from the terrible ways he'd sunk into, despite her best and kindest attempts.
All her distracting had really accomplished was just that, distract him from his despicable ways toward their offspring. And said distraction had crumbled in effectiveness the moment their six new boys had been born and deemed even uglier than the children that came prior, pushing the figure even deeper into immoral wickedness than before.
"Be grateful that I choose to spare the twelve that came before. So long as they do not test my patience further than what they have, and so long as you keep to your affections towards me, I will allow them to continue seeing the light of my World. Even when they don't deserve it."
He spoke as if he were doing her a huge favour with that, and the reincarnated deity wouldn't have been surprised if in his twisted mind he genuinely believed it to be so.
What such words with the kind of callous tone they'd been delivered in sounded like to Beerus though, and what it definitely had to sound like to Gaea at that stage was anything but a favour.
They sounded more like a threat. One that the figure would have no issue making a reality if the remaining twelve children didn't keep their heads down in fear and caused what he perceived as trouble from them, or if Gaea didn't play to his whims like she had been.
"And speaking of your affections Gaea…" The figure smiled as he leaned his head down and pressed his lips to her temple. "I believe I've gone without them long enough. And the way I see it you've gone without mine long enough as well."
"Ouranos…" Gaea shook, finally revealing the name of this guy to Beerus as she stared out into space. The Goddess looking utterly lost on what to do. "Don't… This is… It's…"
The Primordial of the Earth couldn't so much as string a sentence together at this point. Such was the shock and despair that clawed into her at this very moment.
"It's what we both need." The now-named Ouranos remarked almost smugly. His hands already preoccupied with roaming over Gaea's flesh.
She didn't resist. Not when that 'favour' hung over her like that.
Ouranos then kissed her rather aggressively on the lips and led her to laying down again with him atop her.
It wasn't long then before he'd entered his member inside of her folds. A triumphant smirk across his features as he gazed down at her full of lust.
"I'm nothing if not patient, dearest Gaea. It may not be so now, but eventually you will come to realize yourself that only I am worthy of your passion."
And when you do, I can then renege on what I just told you and get rid of our remaining children for good too. Without having to concern myself with you getting so upset again.
That last part wasn't uttered, but with the way he spoke, Beerus was almost certain that was what he was thinking in his messed-up head.
Gaea didn't give any response to that. Her gaze seemingly becoming vacant from Beerus's standpoint as she let him fuck her. His thrusts getting harder and faster with every second's passing as he enjoyed himself and her body.
"Nnngh! This is how it is meant to be, Wife. You'll be mine and mine alone forever more!" Ouranos grunted huskily and possessively, before he began shamelessly groping and toying with her breasts, as well as snogging her mouth, cheek and neck greedily. His lips planting themselves wherever he wanted on her flesh as he took her.
There was no struggle from Gaea. No squirming.
Just someone who appeared dead to the world as she laid back and let herself be taken. Let him force himself upon her as if she were no more than a sex slave who couldn't resist.
And in a sense, that was basically what she'd become. Nothing more than Ouranos's tool for pleasure.
Gaea. Someone capable of effortlessly putting him into a state of bliss before she even opened her wonderful mouth!
Someone whose every aspect screamed 'she's a keeper' in his mind. A person who'd rapidly proved herself worthy of his affection faster than anyone he'd known before, and someone he was already willing to put effort in for, which spoke volumes in itself.
And here she was, reduced to this state with her remaining children being held hostage against her.
At this point, Beerus's glare was so fierce that if looks could kill, the figure he'd replaced would've been dead a thousand times over.
Beerus had to remind himself this was of a timeline that would no longer come to be in order to keep his temper from rising too high to contain.
Even still though, that did not stop him wishing this guy had still managed to come about, just so he could have the petty privilege of Hakai-ing him. Presuming he was still capable of such.
All he could do here though was close his gaze to it and turn away from the 'canvas' with odium at this disgraceful display.
He'd seen more than enough of this garbage. His mood so foul that if he were still in his old reality and upon a planet, he'd have blown it up without so much as giving the locals – if there were any – a chance to earn his favour.
Then dusted the galaxy they were in for good measure.
"A twisted heart canst only bear twisted intent. Not even love for another canst overcome such wickedness. It canst only succumb like all else and become just as vile."
Those words resounded from Khaos. And if one were to ask Beerus, they were basically just a re-wording of what she'd said moments before.
A point was definitely being hammered home here.
"Is that how this would've ended? Gaea gets forever trapped in this situation of appeasement with this Ouranos guy?" The reborn Destroyer had to ask, distaste filling his mouth at the suggestion.
Yes, again, this was never going to happen now. And that was good. But even still, it was gross having to witness just how much shit Gaea was being put through in this other future without snapping and letting out some very much justified rage.
Some justified hatred too while she was at it. Ouranos had done more than enough to earn it at this stage.
"Open thine eyes and see for thyself." The Primordial Void instructed him calmly.
She didn't force him to, and yet the compulsion to do as she said was overwhelming despite his disgust being clear. His gaze opening back up and returning to the 'canvas' to watch this dumpster fire continue.
He almost wished he hadn't at first, because what he was treated to was a fast – but not fast enough for his tastes – montage of the events that would've come after that pivotal moment between Protogenoi.
Mostly just Ouranos having exactly what he wanted. The broken-looking Gaea basically becoming more of a plaything than anything else to satisfy his sexual urges as much as he wanted. All while in return, their remaining children were allowed to stay where they were.
The punishments returned though. Their justification flimsier than ever before as he just seemed to be finding whatever reasons he could to make their lives hell. All for his own amusement, as it wasn't like his contempt and hatred of them had so much as even flickered. It was as crystal clear as always.
Speak outside when not spoken to by him or given permission? Punished.
Look to Heaven in a way he found even remotely disrespectful? Punished.
Do any activity – literally any – within his view he didn't approve of beforehand? Punished.
Have the audacity to not bow to him in complete submission and sincerely thank him for giving them the privilege of remaining where they were on the daily? Punished.
Yes. He really added that one in there. Mostly to have his ego stroked.
Beerus didn't care to keep track of all the numerous nonsense reasons he came up with. Those were just the ones that stood out the most.
And then there was the verbal abuse that became increasingly frequent, wherein any time he spoke to his remaining children he put them down viciously. Never failing to let them know their place beneath him. That they only remained when their 'uglier' brothers hadn't because of his grace.
Power drunk barely began to describe how he'd gotten.
And the years just flew by with this new arrangement. The bastard running rampant and getting everything his way for far too long. Gaea as little more than his sex-toy, and his remaining children little more than prisoners in all but name.
He dominated.
He controlled.
He never let anyone forget their place in his tyrannical order.
And his laughter resounded, rejoicing in the environment he'd fostered with an iron fist.
Throughout this montage though, he repeatedly saw images of Gaea either alone or during coitus with Ouranos.
Those eyes that had seemingly become vacant and broken at first, something started stirring within them as the years passed.
Something that slowly built up inside her with everything that'd happened and was currently happening around her.
Something Gaea had never showed or felt up to that point, no matter how bad things had gotten before this new arrangement.
Something that as she watched and witnessed the true character of Ouranos without anymore excuses or delusions of him ever getting better made the atmosphere around her shift.
And then… it happened.
One day, around a decade or so following her six sons' imprisonment in that pit, and watching Ouranos deride, bully and abuse their own children for the umpteenth time… Gaea's limit wasn't just reached, it was shattered beyond repair.
The Earth rumbled and groaned in a way she never had before. Her Elemental Form vibrating with an emotion never felt by Mother Nature before, but had now been forever baked into her psyche.
One that Ouranos somehow didn't notice, but all of her children certainly felt right down to their souls.
One that Beerus himself had felt during this viewing of what could've been, but to nowhere near the extent that Gaea did at that point in this future.
Pure, unadulterated fury.
The scene before him then changed and immediately Beerus saw Gaea forming something – a sickle from the looks of it? – before gathering all her remaining children together in a cavern, away from Ouranos's prying eyes and ears.
"My children, gotten of a sinful father…" Beerus heard her begin to say, and even he almost flinched at the sheer amount of vitriol in her tone now, sounding nothing like the Gaea he'd met at all.
Her voice was deeper too, carrying the cadence of a cataclysmic earthquake as her true Form rattled around her with every syllable. The weapon she'd made – the sickle – raised in hand and producing an aura of malice to it that was incomparable as she showed it off to her gathered spawn.
"If you will obey me, we should punish the vile outrage of your father; for he first thought of doing shameful things." She said unto them. And as she did, the sickle seemed to respond and glow with a dark, oddly beautiful glow that made the space around it ripple dangerously.
Despite none of the children holding any love or care for Ouranos, their fear was plentiful over his wrath should whatever plan their mother had fail. And it kept them rooted in place, not saying a word as their mother looked out over all of them.
All but one.
The son who had been punished the most out of the twelve, and had the most reasons besides Gaea herself to despise his father.
He alone stepped forward and spoke with confidence before his mother's watchful gaze.
"Mother, I will undertake to do this deed, for I reverence not our father of evil name, for he first thought of doing shameful things." He replied while offering his hand for the sickle.
Gaea smiled for the first time in years. A cruel one that didn't fit her in Beerus's opinion, as she rejoiced in her son's courage.
The plan was then given to him, and as it was, he turned to his brothers and asked them for assistance. His charm clear as he was able to convince four of them to help despite their deep-seated fear for their father.
Only one refused to participate, but this proved to be of no real consequence to Gaea's plan.
From there, the scene shifted again and Beerus saw the figure of Ouranos descend to Gaea as she seduced him down, claiming she finally saw things as she should, and that he was right. That only Ouranos was worthy of her passion.
Her words fed his ego convincingly. The God descending hastily to begin having sex with her. And shortly after they began the act, it happened.
The son gifted the sickle emerged from the ground beneath his father's legs and used his new weapon to cut his father's balls off in a surprise attack.
"NGH!? AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
The resulting loss of his genitalia made Ouranos howl so loud in pain that the World itself in this future seemed to ripple.
He began thrashing almost immediately after the excruciating pain struck him. And as he did, Gaea looked on with disdain and helped four of their other sons to keep his limbs pinned to Earth. Her legs wrapping around his waist to keep him pinned to her as his divine blood began to gush, getting all over the sickle-wielding son as he came back in for another swing.
This time slicing off his father's cock from the base. The attack producing a scream of agony from Ouranos just as loud as the first, leaving his dismembered organ stuck inside of Gaea as the stump pissed out even more of his sanguine essence.
Ouranos's eyes were wide. His expression one of shock and torment as his gaze met Gaea's.
And while his body continued thrashing, his soul practically froze when he saw her vengeful and vindictive eyes boring into him as her hands almost delicately cupped his face.
No words of comfort left her lips though. What did was something that let the Primordial know just how badly he messed up.
"Your words were true in the end, Husband. I hold a passion that only you are deserving of. One too strong to bear without acting upon as I do to you now. Rejoice, as I give you precisely what you are due!"
Ouranos didn't get a chance to respond to Gaea's final words for him. Because from there the sickle-wielder butchered him into pieces, making more and more of his blood gush across the landscape and what looked like an ocean.
"A terrible fate for a terrible individual. Fitting, if nothing else." Beerus couldn't help but comment, admittedly feeling somewhat pleased with that karmic outcome for the crap Ouranos pulled before.
Which the God had nobody but himself to blame for.
And yet, despite him saying that and feeling good for Gaea exacting payback on him with her sons in the end, he couldn't help but feel there was something amiss.
And as if on cue, that was when Khaos piped up again. Her voice rattling through his existence and making his soul ring like a bell.
"As thou just witnessed, his actions didst eventually catch up with him. Gruesomely and justifiably so. Alas, despite the tyrant being overthrown, lasting damage wert done through him that rippled across the ages."
"What do you mean by that?" Beerus felt compelled to inquire. And as he did, the 'canvas' responded to him and began to shift once more.
This time, it showed a scene of the sickle-wielding son assisting Gaea in freeing his younger siblings from the pit Ouranos had thrown them into. The Goddess looking overjoyed to see them brought back up and removed from their bondage, hugging them with tears in her eyes and apologizing for taking so long to get them out.
A wholesome scene by all accounts.
One followed by Gaea excitedly proclaiming the son who'd cut his father to pieces as the new King of the Universe and symbolically handing over the reins of rulership to him. A sign of a new era beginning.
One which Gaea was clearly showed to have high hopes for.
"As thou shalt be made aware if not already, one's environment and upbringing hath a substantial effect on the person they become. And that was Starry Heaven of this future's final contribution even in his downfall. The indubitable mark his cruelty and vileness left on his wife and children, especially he who wert punished the most."
The imagery on the 'canvas' flew by at a faster pace than ever before, and yet Beerus had zero issue keeping up with what was being shown to him.
The child that'd tore Ouranos apart began his rule. And at first, it looked to be going exactly as Gaea would've wanted it to with the son treating everyone with fairness and making an active attempt to be as far removed from his father's tyrannical rule as possible.
But it didn't last.
Friction soon developed between him and the youngest six sons of Gaea and Ouranos.
More so the larger, hundred-handed sons than the one-eyed ones.
Their overwhelming strength scared him. Terrified him even, as it appeared that even at their greatest might, he and his fellow brothers fell woefully short of them.
Paranoia festered that they in particular might get it in their heads to overthrow him one day with their strength advantage.
Allowing himself to be controlled by that paranoia, he pre-emptively struck out against them and ultimately went back on the good deed he'd helped his mother with.
Using his natural charisma and trickery, he had the youngest six sons imprisoned all over again. And in the exact same place that the father had done with all of them too, to add insult to injury.
All while ignoring his mother's immediate protests and cries over what he'd done.
It was all downhill from there.
His rule quickly became divisive after he started creating divine laws that benefitted him in one way or another, and introduced punishments for those that didn't follow them.
To his credit, they weren't flimsy like his father's had purposefully been to have more excuse to abuse them. For he did not despise and hold his father's level of contempt for the siblings born around the same time as himself.
Nevertheless, the laws were clearly put in place to give him a superior sense of power and control, which he excused as being natural to have as King of the Universe. Claiming he was merely adding structure to things.
Plenty accepted this reasoning, plenty didn't.
Gaea was among the latter with the wounds Ouranos scarred her with still fresh. And seeing the red flags in her son's behaviour that deeply worried and reminded her of the son's father she now detested, Gaea divined a prophecy for the sake of trying to course correct her son.
Whether it was genuine or made up on the spot, he didn't know. What mattered was the claim itself, that if he didn't get his act together, his fate would result similarly to his father's. A son of his overthrowing him.
The prophecy frightened her son, but not in the way Gaea had wanted. And the result of said prophecy being sprung on him brought nothing but tragedy down.
As if seeking to follow in his father's footsteps, what happened next repulsed the reborn GOD.
The warning was not heeded, and instead he doubled down. The son becoming more controlling than ever before, especially toward his own wife and sister.
The worst of it arose when he started having his own kids with his sister-wife, who seemed to love him at first like Gaea had their father.
That love died a cruel death when the son committed an equally atrocious act upon their children that his father had on him and his siblings.
He ate them. Each and every one of them shortly after their birth. Much to the dismay and helpless horror of his partner who was forced to witness the devouring of her own babies, and the growing disgust and anger of Gaea. All to ensure his rule was never challenged by the prophesied son.
Three of his children – literally the first three bore to him – were clearly not even male, but that didn't stop him.
He swallowed them regardless out of fear that one of the daughters may alter themselves in the future if he let them be and become male in order for the prophesied son to arise.
Why he didn't just go celibate or use whatever technique his father had to stop children from coming about in order to avoid this hassle was beyond Beerus. Would've saved him a lot of bother and not involved his relationship with his own wife souring faster than spilt milk in the baking sun.
Because naturally, his wife being smart enough to catch on didn't want to have any more kids with him after the first if this was to be their fate. But the son that was turning out to be every bit his father's progeny didn't care for her opinion when she started wishing to deny him sex.
He simply abused his position as King of the Universe and commanded her to do a wife's duty through divine law he enacted and forced her to continue coupling with him regardless.
That was basically rape on top of foetal cannibalism.
Beerus could only stare in equal amounts disbelief and disgust on how that'd escalated, but he was given no moment to comment on such abhorrent behaviour as the 'canvas' moved on.
The sister-wife ended up conspiring with Gaea upon her sixth pregnancy, and through some trickery of her own, her final child was born. The youngest son that was promptly swapped out for a rock swaddled in cloth for the crooked son to devour instead.
The spared child then grew up under the care of those close to Gaea from the looks of it and with aid from another figure, he got his father to disgorge all of his siblings.
Reunited then, they did go to war with their father and his allies, however many figures existed now picking sides between them.
A brutal and bloody conflict that lasted ten years and reshaped the World itself with one cataclysmic battle after the next.
Gods and Goddesses fought, maimed, captured and tortured to get any advantage they could for their side.
Nothing was off-limits to gain the upper-hand. All manner of nasty action was permitted upon the enemy to secure even the most minor of victories.
Countless ended up bled and severely traumatized as a result.
Beerus saw certain things that even in all his time living and experiencing was new to him, and he wished he never had to witness ever again.
At some point, Gaea appeared again and seemed to advise the youngest grandson on how to proceed whilst in stalemate with his father's side. The Goddess fully taking his side in this, disappointed and infuriated with how her once trusted son had turned out.
Like his father before him, he was more than willing to listen to her in a dire situation such as this.
Naturally, she advised for her imprisoned children to be released, for it would bring her great delight to see them returned from the pit. And she also explained they would be of great benefit to his cause with their might being feared by his father.
He took the advice and had them released from bondage, much to Gaea's relief and pleasure.
With those six added to their side and their fighting power bolstered greatly, the six siblings and their allies soon rallied forth.
And not long after, they won the war.
Gaea was pleased with this outcome, convinced that this time the World finally had a half-way decent ruler. His charm and charisma winning her over as she gladly saw him crowned as King of the Universe the day after the war ended.
And to Beerus's chagrin, even became a lover of his after he began flirting with her. This despite the fact he had a consort of his own already, but Gaea didn't seem to care about that.
After Ouranos left his mark on her, she didn't seem to believe or care about finding anyone to become an item with, frankly. Because if the one she literally made for herself turned out to be that much of a failure of a relationship, then in her mind there was no point in seeking any kind of true companionship as it didn't exist for her.
She just had sex with whoever struck her fancy and could make her feel good, and the new King of the Universe was hardly the only one granted that honour.
To Beerus's even greater perturbance, many – including one of the new King's own brothers – came before him in that regard.
He was just the latest that Gaea wildly spread her legs for at that point and ended up having children with, both as a way of losing herself in lustful pleasure and also spiting Ouranos. The latter an even greater show of how she'd degraded in a sense as she spat at the idea of ever belonging to him – as he'd possessively claimed – by screwing around and giving herself away to so many.
Extra vengeance, yes. But also an unhealthy coping mechanism that didn't do her any real good in the long run. And he didn't just think that because he was revolted at the imagery of her getting railed by so many different figures, which he'd shamelessly admit that he was.
Through Khaos, he could sense how empty she actually felt beneath the surface. How alone she felt despite all the partners she took and the added children she had, all of whom she did love dearly.
All because of the shadow of her only actual love in this timeline that hung over her like a curse.
And that curse wasn't done beating her down.
Ouranos' shadow ultimately pervaded through the grandson too, and his wickedness reflected in him.
It began with her eldest sons – bar the one who'd stayed neutral – being sent to the very pit she so despised having her other six sons thrust into with his father as punishment for going against the grandson.
Gaea cared nothing for the son she'd previously gave kingship to being given that fate after everything he'd done, but she lost her mind witnessing it being done to the others.
The grandson didn't stop at that though. Far from it.
He had a whole slew of treachery and debauchery he ended up committing to on his fellows as time went on. The list just seemingly going on and on without end.
There were so many unsavoury acts by the grandson that it just got ridiculous in the reborn Destroyer's mind. His sexual perversions and deviancies in particular got notably ludicrous, and his second wife ended up humiliated by most of them as they made a mockery of the marriage she wanted to have.
What happened to the first wife? Swallowed by him while pregnant to avoid his own prophecy of a son overthrowing him.
All put together – for there was way more than just that – you could write a whole book on the shenanigans he pulled, but Beerus chose to zone in mainly on the parts that affected Gaea the most.
Snubbed by the grandson who began refusing to listen to her just as his father had, she grew enraged beyond belief and sent a group of savage giants after him to overthrow and take over the World. All of them her sons by the blood of Ouranos that'd fallen ages ago unto her Elemental Form and inherited the rage and hate she felt back then.
A new war ensued that was even more catastrophic than the last one had been. The World reshaped a second time as the army of giants fought the grandson and his allies – plenty of which were his children – and ultimately lost. Each giant dying terribly in the end, but leaving plenty of scars behind on the Gods that fought against them.
Gaea witnessed it all and was driven deeper than ever into rage and anguish. So much so, she took to mating with the very pit her children kept ending up imprisoned in – because apparently it was a sentient God too – and the result was a grotesque abomination of a monster. One with unparalleled power that shook the very Universe itself with its roar.
It had a temperament just as foul to match, inheriting Gaea's negative emotions just as much as his dead siblings before him had.
The Gods fled at the sight of him alone, with the exception of the grandson who tried to fight it head on.
This time, the grandson was defeated and had his tendons viciously torn out of him for his trouble, before being left to rot in paralysis on the wreckage of the battlefield they'd fought in.
Gaea cruelly celebrated this at first, rejoicing in her latest son's conquest.
Her tune changed fast when she realized just how uncontrollable he actually was, refusing to listen to her after defeating her grandson and going on a rampage throughout the Universe.
Too many figures to count were crushed, eaten, ripped apart or incinerated by the monstrous giant without empathy or sympathy as they ended up in his way.
His actions left Gaea utterly horrified at what she'd birthed in her fury and pain, a living manifestation of the ugliness in her own heart. Ugliness produced and fostered first by the one whose shadow lingered over all the chaos ensuing, whose actions so long ago by this point had caused a domino effect that led to now in this future that would no longer be.
When her pleas and cries for him to show mercy and stop fell on deaf ears, Gaea soon gave into despair as she watched him wreak havoc on everyone and everything, seemingly unable to stop him. Something in her breaking again witnessing yet another descendant of hers turn out so awful.
This one arguably the worst of the lot, given that all he sought was causing pain and destruction.
While Gaea was being overcome by this, two of the grandson's children returned to him and gave him back his tendons, helping him heal and restore himself to full strength. And at that point, the grandson threw himself back into the fray and had his rematch with the violent beast before it could cause the end of the World.
This time, he kept at range and spammed the monster with countless thunderbolts. Each packing enough power to shake the foundations of the Universe itself.
The beast screamed, flailed and tried to counter, but was eventually overwhelmed by the storm unleashed upon it.
Upon the beast's defeat, he was promptly buried beneath a mountain-turned-volcano and forever trapped there by the grandson's magic.
After all was set and done then, the 'canvas' came to a stop on one last image.
The image of a defeated-looking, highly depressed and inconsolable Gaea simply giving up and entering into a slumber from the looks of it. No traces of anger or spite left in her anymore.
She just looked tired and worn beyond belief now as she closed her eyes and slowly melded into her Elemental Form.
Intuition granted Beerus the understanding that Gaea wouldn't be waking from it. For all that would meet her in her eyes if she did was more pain she could no longer bear.
There was a pang of something in the reborn Destroyer at the sight that he couldn't describe, but knew he hated feeling as the 'canvas' finally faded away.
He also held his head for a moment as he was suddenly back in the usual Void, his mind buzzed somewhat by the end with a degree of disorientation from consuming so much of that imagery.
Even through that buzz though, severe distaste was what almost exclusively rushed through his veins by the imagery's conclusion.
That whole timeline… it was nothing short of a disaster from what he'd seen.
And Gaea…
He hadn't known her for very long. Probably not even for a day, if Time were a thing right now.
And yet… seeing her reduced to that kind of state triggered something foul in him.
And it all started with the guy he'd replaced, whose actions were so far-reaching in consequence that even well after he'd been taken care of, his presence lingered in all the worst of ways.
"Mine apologies if that wert a bit much." Khaos said to him in earnest, her mist-formed body now back in-front of him.
"It's… It's fine…" Beerus gave a mix between a sigh and a groan. "I basically asked for all that extra stuff…"
In saying that, he could've done without having to see all that sex Gaea ended up having with so many, but there was little to be done about that now. He didn't bother mentioning it to her, seeing as it wasn't like he was ever going to be needing a repeat viewing of that timeline.
Besides, it'd done its own job of showing some of the damage done to Gaea herself. How that prick he'd replaced had messed her up in more ways than one.
"I canst feel the torrent of emotions that hath gone through thee. How upset thou wert and still art after witnessing all of that, particularly the direct actions of he whom wert replaced." His superior continued, still refusing to use the God's name despite the alternate future Gaea dropping it earlier for him.
She sounded… approving?
Was she expecting him to feel a different way, or was she simply satisfied to see him reacting as she'd probably expected already?
"He was certainly quite the character to put it mildly." Beerus replied as level-headedly as he could.
The guy reminded him of Frieza in multiple ways, and all of them the most unflattering they could be.
"Indeed. And I wilt admit, after witnessing the visions of what was to cometh for the one thou replaced, I hadst so begun to think to mine self if it wouldst be better to get involved instead of remaining a passive observer as I originally intended."
For a brief instant, the negative tint in Khaos' all-encompassing voice was back. And even though it wasn't aimed at him, Beerus still found himself flinching as her words rippled through his Essence like a surging storm.
"For though mine sister's creation of and coupling with her partner wouldst be the catalyst that leads to much of the Universe formed as I dost wanted to see for mine self, knowing mine sister wouldst be guaranteed to suffer so much to witness it didst so leave me with unpleasantness."
Beerus could sense the 'but' coming now from a mile away.
"But," She went on, and suddenly the negative tint was gone. Replaced by one of what he could only surmise as intrigue. "Just as I didst begin to be convinced to get involved and mayhaps see if I couldst change what was to cometh by halting mine sister's creating process and making a partner for her… all of a sudden, the shift didst occur as I mentioned to thee before. Mine visions changing, and in a way I couldst never hath expected."
Khaos tilted her head then, and an odd smile came over it as she bore her gaze through every facet of his existence.
"Before I sayeth unto thee anything about that though, seeing and feeling how thou didst react to the Starry Heaven who shalt be no more, if thou wilt indulge mine curiosity, I wouldst ask one question of thyself."
Khaos didn't even need to hear him say anything. She could sense his willingness to do as she wanted as soon as the words left her, but hummed appreciatively when he nodded in assent nonetheless.
"How wouldst thee hath responded and handled that situation in his place, if thou doth foresaw what he believed he didst in the children bore of union between Heaven and Earth?"
Beerus felt his own brow twitch at that.
There was zero chance that kind of question for him wasn't a test.
One that Khaos herself could easily nab the answer to without him needing to tell her anything if she wanted. Could probably even do it with just her ability to read him, never mind peering into his mind.
Nevertheless, carried by what lingered from the imagery he'd been shown, he answered without stutter or hesitation. The God being as honest as he could to the entity that could most likely wipe him out with a gesture.
"If all I see is one or more of my own kids being strong enough to overthrow me in the future, and that they do, I won't waste that by trying to hide them away or break their spirits. I'll train them myself if needed to reach that potential."
"Train them thyself? You wouldst aid in thine own eventual defeat and loss of status?" Khaos asked, her voice full of what he was confident in saying was fascination.
"Presuming I would even bother declaring myself King of the Universe like he did, I don't really care much for being a ruler. Not to say I'd be bad at it or anything, at least when compared to who I replaced, it just wouldn't be much of a loss in my mind to have it taken away. Especially if the trade-off for it would be me getting one or more proper rivals to test myself against."
"Rivals, hmm?"
"Yeah. As you know already, I spent the better part of my old life longing for one and never really getting it. If I had children with Gaea and saw in one or more of them a future where they were strong enough to defeat me, there's no way I'd try to stop that from happening. If anything, I'd help nurture them in whatever way I could to reach their full potential and challenge me."
"Interesting." Khaos's mist-formed eyes seemed to gleam. "And what wouldst thou commit to doing if what thyself saw wert not one or more strong enough to challenge thee, but merely a mutiny where they doth use other methods to overthrow thee?"
"If that's the case, seeing as it'd be over a position of authority I don't care for, judging from how you worded that, I'd probably just put that position up for grabs at some point. Have a tournament perhaps, one where the winner is guaranteed to be the new ruler of the Universe after me." Beerus rejoined without hesitation.
Let them have the kingship, he thought. Even without a rival, which would be a shame to not get, it was of no loss to him. Especially not when he'd be spending most of – perhaps even all of – his time in Gaea's presence.
A Gaea that wouldn't have to end up traumatized and would fully remain as sweet and kind as she was now.
She alone could keep him thoroughly satisfied even if the concept of sleep never came about, as horrible as that would be for him.
"In either case, or neither assuming that's what you ask next, seeing as they're still my kids I'd let them live how they want to. And if I'm actually needed, I'll be there for them." He told her straight up.
The only situation where that would change is if anyone sincerely interfered with what he did care about in some manner. Then he would get involved, but it would take something truly huge on that front to make him even consider acting how Ouranos had toward any of his own kids.
A Destroyer he may have been, but he'd definitely have a different set of rules for his own children as opposed to anyone else when it came to getting on his bad side. His kids would have the privilege of him being much more lenient than he would toward a stranger if they disrespected him, for example.
A valuable lesson would be taught for one, destruction would immediately come for the other.
"I see..." The Goddess of the Void nodded at this, her tone once more sounding what he perceived as approving. "Hmm-mmhm! That wilt do. A fine answer thou hath given me, Beerus."
The entire Void itself seemed to hum then, making the fabric of Beerus's existence vibrate with it.
"An answer that dost leave me satisfied leaving mine sister in thine hands, and yet simultaneously dost not fully explain what I hath foreseen to cometh involving thee. How thine presence didst twist the original path into branching roads."
"Twist into… branching roads…?" Beerus blinked at that, surprised.
"Indeed." She said as she cupped his face with both of her hands, smiling at him kindly. "A most intriguing development that before thou cameth along, I hadst not known couldst be possible. A future not entirely set for one path to be seen through thine actions to cometh, but multiple in which it couldst move through with thee. The long-lived spirit from another World."
Multiple in which it could go, not just one?
What?
"Mine visions show me events that doth conflict with one another, but all centred around thee. I canst foresee every decision thou canst make in every scenario that shalt cometh. I canst also foresee thou committing to each one, hence the confliction, but for the first instant in mine existence I am unable to see the exact path that wilt cometh. Which one precisely thou shalt tread, which decisions thou wilt ultimately make over all others."
Khaos's all-reverberating voice was now full of profound beguilement as her airy fingers gently rubbed his cheeks.
"I dost not believe I will ever find out why thine presence hath caused this, but I wilt sayeth unto thee that such a shift, though unexpected, is quite welcome."
"It… is?" Beerus blinked again, uncertain as to why she sounded excited by that.
Or at least he guessed that's what it was. He wished that reading her was a much easier task right now than it actually was.
"Yes!" She nodded while her mist-formed features displayed enthusiasm for him. "For though it may sound selfish of me to spake so, it dost giveth me an element of surprise in not truly knowing what is to cometh, even with all options laid bare. That is something I never thought wouldst be something I'd be dealing with. And for one such as I whom previously thought she knew of all that couldst cometh, that is quite special indeed. A novelty I find mine self appreciating."
"Huh?"
The reborn God didn't know how to respond to that.
With what she'd seen of the timeline with Ouranos and how it displeased her, Beerus would've thought not being able to know for certain about how he'd do would produce the opposite kind of effect in her. Or something close enough to it.
It certainly would've for him were he in her shoes.
Although, on some level, he could sort of get where she was coming from.
Already knowing how everything would play out to the exact detail with zero deviation unless you got involved sounded rather boring in a way. Even if such an ability was exceedingly useful for avoiding anything unwanted.
Well, presuming it even could be avoided at all, but that was a tangent that didn't need to be steered into.
"Still, novelty or not, mine excitement over this development shalt be tempered by mine desire to see one of the better paths be walked. For indeed Beerus, there art a number that doth end poorly."
"P-Poorly?" Beerus didn't like the sound of that, nor the shift in her tone to something more neutral. "In what way, Lady Khaos?"
"I wilt not share with thee such information of any, nor wilt I do so for any of the other paths thou couldst take, as I sense that wouldst only influence even more branching roads to arise. And such wouldst only complicate matters more than they already art." Khaos swiftly shut him down.
A part of Beerus wanted to argue with her there, but feeling the potent gaze of her on him from every angle, he slapped that part of himself down.
She likely understood how things worked and would end up working better than he did, at least in this World. Showing him the future that was no longer going to happen for the sake of perspective – particularly in such a stylized manner where every figure's true features were at least somewhat hidden – must have been fine as opposed to showing him his own.
Well, that and getting stared at in such a manner by the gaze of a being as powerful as her, someone whose presence reminded him of Lord Zeno of all people gave him enough reason to just accept her authority on the matter and keep his mouth shut.
"However, I shalt tell thee this." She included. "I yearn to see the best outcome cometh about, and to ensure that hath a chance of occurring, something must be done first. And that dost bring me comfortably to mine second purpose with thee."
"I uhh… take it that means the first is over with?" Beerus politely asked just to be sure.
"It is. Thou needn't worry about that, O Bringer of Destruction."
"Hnngh…!" Another sudden gasp left Beerus just as it had the first time she'd referred to him that way. The very same feeling something familiar, yet more trying to burst its way out of him rearing back for an encore.
"Thou doth feel it, don't thee?" The mist figure asked rhetorically, that knowing smile back on her.
"W-What is this…?" He questioned her wheezingly. The God feeling like he already knew, yet what it was eluded his conscious mind.
"What thou art feeling now, is the other aspect of thy being calling for proper recognition! One which thou also personifies and embodies like thou do the great Dome that hangs above and covers fair Mother Earth on all sides. That which is the greatest difference that doth exist betwixt thee and the one thou didst replace."
The figure representing Khaos then removed a hand from his face and began tracing her misty, slim fingers over his chest with her incomparably light and airy touch. An act that some could suggest as intimate, and they'd certainly be correct, just not in the sense they'd be thinking of in this instance.
"That which shalt also maketh thee the constant force of nature to compliment thy consort's other domain as the great giver of life to come. The perfect partner to Creation! Its opposite and equal, as I know thou doth know all too well!"
He did…
Oh, by Lord Zeno's grace he did…!
With her laying it out like that, it could only be one thing.
And with her ministrations Beerus could feel it within him, an inexorable facet of not just his soul but something that went much deeper respond even more strongly. And said response had him gasping for the third and loudest time yet. His vision – no, all of his senses – blurring as his entire being was wracked with a sensation he couldn't place.
The closest it could be compared to was an orgasm, so that was the term his mind went with as it felt like it turned to goop.
A very, very intense orgasm tens of thousands of times beyond any he'd had before in his distant past. One that left him shuddering uncontrollably in Khaos' ethereal grasp nonetheless. Right on the brink of losing any shred of sanity he had.
It felt like it lasted for an eternity and simultaneously no time at all.
His melted mind couldn't comprehend the absurd contradiction in that. How nonsensical that was.
And yet it also felt perfectly reasonable given that it was being induced in him by a being unbound by logic's constraints.
But then the blur of all senses suddenly ceased, and in its place came a shocking clarity to all of them as Beerus felt an incomprehensibly powerful ripple surge out of him. Out and through what felt like endlessness itself and unto Infinity as the purple light of Destruction briefly flared around his humanoid extension and roared through his true form, the Heavenly Dome.
The glow it cast illuminated the Void far greater than his stars did for the moment it was there, giving absolute clear sight of the mists that arose from everywhere in the Void. The mists of Khaos herself, bathed in royal shade and then shimmering like stardust under the light of a mighty star.
With his newfound clarity on top of his already obscenely far-reaching senses, it was like witnessing the magnificence of innumerable nebulae brightly lighting up before him. Enough to make up a Universe endlessly vaster than the one he'd been born in originally.
The real heart-stopper was the mist-figure of Khaos though, which became a kind of breath-stealing beauty to behold as her translucent figure was dominated by so many vibrant colours. None that overwhelmed any other, all in perfect synergy and feeding off the other to make her look like a living cosmos unto herself in feminine form. One filled with all the teeming elements and swirling energies of a lively, stunning Universe.
"Thou art the opposite to Creation, but which with its existence – as thou canst see for thyself – allows for said domain and aspect of Gaea to be made whole and truly defined. Just as she doth do the same for thee. For when she shalt Create, she shalt also Destroy, and likewise when thou Destroys, thou also Creates, as canst be seen~!"
There was no denying the words the Primeval Void resounded out with a moan-like reverberation, as though she too had just undergone the same experience that she'd put him through.
The familiarity he felt to Destruction that oozed through his metaphysical pores was unquestionable. The power – though such a term felt insufficient right now – always there since the start of his genesis in this World, but somehow slipped beneath his notice until now.
But the connection was so profoundly deep in comparison to when he'd been Universe 7's God of Destruction. For back then, he had simply learned to harness the Energy of Destruction through his soul to become a Destroyer. And though he'd learned well enough for Whis to call him a true natural and a master at it, such was insignificant in the face of what he knew himself to be now.
For he was no mere user of Destruction Energy here. No mere master of a power that made him one of numerous Gods of Destruction.
He was something far greater. Something he once arrogantly referred to himself as when he'd first attained mastery over Destruction Energy and ascended to the position that he became known for throughout eons. And yet only now recognised just how foolish he'd been to say so back then, now knowing what it really felt like to be as he'd claimed so many moons ago.
He was Destruction itself. The living embodiment and personification of the concept given Divine Form, just as he was this World's variant of the Heavens.
And in this very moment, he could truly feel the fullest depths of his new Primordial power. Of what he was capable of intuitively.
In terms of power level, he'd considerably risen from his prior peak. And with all the time he'd spent around him he was confident in saying he was at least on par with Whis now, potentially somewhat above him. Though of course that was simply as he'd last known him, as Whis was undoubtedly bettering himself wherever he was now and had surpassed his old limits.
Something he could still do as well, for he did not feel like he was at a plateau.
He was thankful for that, just feeling intuitively that he hadn't lost the ability to grow from what he was in terms of might, nor in martial arts if he chose to keep his training up in that as well. Something he imagined he could actually improve in a good deal faster than before with his current existence.
Moving away from the most obvious though, he came straight to the capability of his Destruction itself. And this is where things took the biggest turn for him.
It had been stated about him before that there was nothing he couldn't destroy. A few times by Whis in fact.
It had been hyperbolic to say and both had known it. For while there was a lot he could destroy, including the soul and one's very existence across timelines if he used the fullest extent of Hakai on them, there were still plenty of things he couldn't destroy.
Mostly on the abstract side of things, such as concepts and ideas, of which there was quite the extensive list.
The remainder of what he couldn't destroy, barring those like Zamasu when he was still fully immortal thanks to a wish on Super Shenron, was simply those who were comparable to or stronger than himself.
Because they could simply resist his power with varying degrees of effort.
The former between those two had been reduced to virtually nothing now. And that 'virtually' was only there because of two exceptions that had to be made.
The first being related to himself entirely, for he understood quickly – not that he would've done it anyway, as it would've felt cheap and unearned – that he couldn't just magically do away with his current limits. The scant few that there were, anyway, and make his new peak greater just by willing it and nothing else.
As for the second exception, that was tied to the latter of what he couldn't destroy which still held true here. About the only overlap between his past existence as a God of Destruction and his current one now as Primordial Destruction itself.
A prime example of this being the entity he was currently interacting with. Who despite him still proving no better at being able to sense, he already had enough of an inkling as to the ballpark her power lay within.
She was still very much untouchable, someone his primeval senses understood would be unaffected if he were stupid enough to try and eradicate any facet of her.
Which basically meant he couldn't destroy non-existence itself. Not unless either Khaos allowed it in some way, for that was what she was, or he somehow managed to reach and exceed her level.
Fat chance of the latter ever happening, but however improbable it was, he'd grant it was possible.
If he trained non-stop for as long as he'd lived in his old life, maybe.
"Incidentally, mine existence is also tied to thee and thy wife." The Protogenos of Nothingness went on, her powerful words rippling through his every thought as her cosmic-looking figure laid her hand flat against his chest.
Yet again over where his heart would be.
"For it is that when either of ye Create and Destroy, thine power calls to mine self and makes that which doth not yet exist become realized. And the same canst be said of the opposite, returning that which exists back to me. A cycle that doth perpetuate unto itself forever."
"A-A cycle that… perpetuates unto itself…" Beerus stuttered out an exhale, eyes widened in knowing. "That's… definitely a good way to put it."
"Indeed, mine fellow Protogenos." The now cosmic-looking figure nodded, smiling at him with lips that now appeared to be made of several galaxies shining in multi-coloured radiance. "And with that established, and thyself now fully understanding thine own nature instead of but one part, I dost feel as though I hath gotten the full measure of thee. Mine purposes art fulfilled, and I am pleased with thine person."
Beerus was not ashamed to admit that he felt relief hearing her say that, especially knowing what would come next.
Her hand planted itself flat against his chest then, right where his heart would be.
"I'm sure thou wilt be already, but I shalt sayeth this unto thee anyway. Be good to mine sister, Beerus. For thou doth know thyself she shalt be good to thee."
The new Protogenos of Destruction didn't get the time to verbalize his response to that, not that Khaos wouldn't have known what he'd reply with anyway, before he felt his senses blur again.
This time however, everything went white.