Chapter 4 – When a God Knocked, and a Prince Broke
The night after the transformation, Earth slept uneasily.
Not because of storms.
Not because of disaster.
But because something had changed its status in the cosmos.
Zhou Fan stood on a cliff overlooking the sea, arms behind his back, demonic ki circulating in absolute silence. His aura did not leak. It did not roar. It existed like gravity—unseen, unquestioned.
Inside, Goku watched.
"…Beerus is coming," Goku said softly.
"I've seen him before. In dreams."
Zhou Fan's eyes narrowed slightly.
"A god who dreams of mortals is already flawed."
The Prince Who Refused to Kneel
Vegeta did not sleep.
He trained.
Furiously.
Obsessively.
The memory burned in his skull—his knees bending, his body betraying him, that unbearable pressure. Not defeat. Not even domination.
Dismissal.
Vegeta stood alone in the gravity chamber, fists clenched, veins bulging.
"If Kakarot can do it," he snarled,
"then so can I."
He felt it—barely—a strange circulation in Goku's body earlier. Not raw ki flow, but compression. Tight, disciplined, terrifyingly efficient.
Vegeta mimicked it.
He forced his ki inward.
Hard.
Too hard.
His aura spasmed violently, slamming into itself like colliding tectonic plates. His meridians—never meant for such circulation—tore open instantly.
Vegeta screamed.
Bones cracked.
Blood vessels ruptured.
His heart skipped—once, twice.
The gravity chamber alarms screamed as his power surged wildly, uncontrolled.
"No—CONTROL IT—!"
But Vegeta had skipped a step.
Zhou Fan had refined the vessel first.
Vegeta was trying to force an emperor's crown onto an untempered skull.
His ki detonated inward.
For a split second—
Vegeta died.
His heart stopped.
His aura collapsed.
He hit the floor like a discarded weapon.
Then—
A gasp.
His body convulsed, dragging itself back from the edge by sheer will alone. Vegeta lay there, trembling, coughing blood, vision swimming.
Not broken.
But humbled.
"…So that's it," he whispered hoarsely.
"He didn't just get stronger."
Vegeta stared at the ceiling, eyes burning.
"He became something else."
Demonic Super Saiyan – The Sovereign Path
Zhou Fan felt it.
Vegeta's failed refinement echoed faintly through the Saiyan bloodline.
"He attempted imitation," Zhou Fan said calmly.
Goku flinched.
"…Is he okay?"
"Alive," Zhou Fan replied.
"Which means he learned something."
Zhou Fan extended his awareness inward, reviewing the transformation he had created.
Super Saiyan—no.
That name no longer applied.
What he had forged was a path.
Demonic Super Saiyan – First Foundation
Ki fully compressed
No emotional trigger required
Power output reduced externally, multiplied internally
Body durability elevated to divine-weapon tier
Second Stage – Sovereign Circulation (not yet unlocked)
Ki obeys will instantly
Damage converted directly into refinement
God Ki can be enslaved, not borrowed
Third Stage – Emperor Manifestation
Aura becomes law
Presence alone suppresses weaker beings
Reality begins adjusting around the user
Zhou Fan exhaled slowly.
This body can reach it, he concluded.
If it survives.
The God of Destruction Arrives
Beerus arrived without fanfare.
No lightning.
No cosmic announcement.
Just a sudden, suffocating stillness.
The ocean froze mid-wave.
Clouds halted.
Time did not stop—
It hesitated.
Beerus hovered above the sea, eyes locked on Zhou Fan.
"You're not the Saiyan," Beerus said flatly.
Zhou Fan met his gaze.
"You're not a god," he replied.
Whis stiffened.
Beerus smiled.
A dangerous smile.
"Interesting."
They clashed.
Not with fists.
With existence.
Beerus released a fraction of Destruction energy.
Zhou Fan did not dodge.
He absorbed the concept—analyzed it—then rejected it.
The purple aura fractured, dispersing harmlessly.
Whis's eyes widened.
"He didn't counter Hakai," Whis whispered.
"He denied its authority."
Beerus laughed loudly.
"I like you!"
He struck.
The shockwave cracked the planet's mantle.
Zhou Fan slid back a single step.
Just one.
He smiled faintly.
"So this is the ceiling of a destroyer."
Beerus's grin faded.
Chi-Chi Confronts the Emperor
Later.
After the sky healed.
After Beerus left laughing and furious.
Chi-Chi found him.
Zhou Fan stood in the yard, hands clasped behind his back, moonlight washing over him.
She did not shout.
She did not cry.
She simply asked—
"Who are you?"
Zhou Fan turned.
For the first time—
He did not dismiss the question.
"I am Zhou Fan," he said calmly.
"I reside where your husband once stood."
Chi-Chi's hands trembled.
"…Is Goku alive?"
Zhou Fan nodded.
"Yes."
"…Can he hear me?"
Zhou Fan paused.
Then—
"Yes."
Her shoulders sagged.
Then she straightened.
"Then listen," she said quietly, staring straight into an emperor's eyes.
"You can be a god. A demon. A king. I don't care."
Her voice broke—but she did not look away.
"But if you use his body to hurt the people he loves…"
Zhou Fan studied her.
No fear.
No submission.
Just resolve.
"…I will never forgive you."
Silence stretched.
Then Zhou Fan inclined his head.
A fraction.
"Noted," he said.
Chi-Chi left.
Inside the mindscape, Goku stared in shock.
"…You listened."
Zhou Fan looked at the moon.
"Rulers who ignore anchors drift into ruin," he said quietly.
"You are… inconvenient."
But he did not remove her.
And that mattered.