A crimson glow streaked across the sky, leaving a brilliant, shining line.
An immense repulsive force, so vast that a human body could never escape it, suddenly surged like an overwhelming tide into Shibai's small frame, causing him to stiffen and solidify as if by an invisible power. He was carried along by this force, his body bearing the brunt, and was blasted hundreds of meters away.
"Ho ho ho ho——"
However, his divine arrogance made it impossible for him to tolerate being controlled. Even under the grip of this immense repulsive force, terrifying Chakra, unimaginable to ordinary people, continuously erupted from his body.
The surging, burning Chakra enveloped his entire body like flames, and his pale eyes ignited with a hollow light under its influence.
His forcibly twisted hands resisted the repulsive force, painstakingly coming together as if to grasp that speck of crimson light, forming an enclosure. He roared:
"Takamagahara!"
As his voice fell, the Chakra sustaining the forward movement of 'Cursed Technique Reversal' was instantly absorbed by a pair of eyes that suddenly opened in his palms, twisting and absorbing the Chakra wrapped around that point as if tearing paper.
The power restricting his body noticeably weakened.
Seizing this brief opening, Shibai's heart immediately filled with joy, and he continued:
"Sukunahikona!"
The next moment, his figure abruptly shrunk to the size of a hair's breadth.
To onlookers, it was as if he had suddenly vanished.
This sudden shrinking allowed him to immediately break free from the terrifying repulsive force. His body twisted and spun in mid-air, shooting directly towards Sawara Kiri. His figure then instantly returned to its original size, his eyes revealing unrestrained savagery, and his arm muscles swelled dramatically.
The Chakra spear constructed with 'Divine Power' suddenly twisted, its original pointed tip morphing into a wide axe blade.
"Clang——!"
The black blade and crimson axe collided, emitting a dull clang of metal. Caught off guard, Sawara Kiri was sent flying backward by the immense force, sliding along the gradually crumbling stone dragon beneath his feet. While barely maintaining his balance, his clear blue eyes remained locked on the figure floating in mid-air.
However, in the 360-degree vision formed by his Six Eyes, a void suddenly appeared, as if space itself had been torn open.
Yomotsu Hirasaka!?
The spatial displacement technique, originally belonging to Ōtsutsuki Urashiki, immediately flashed through his mind. He instinctively swung his blade backward.
However, the void rift quietly appeared above his head.
Directly bypassing the obstruction of space.
The axe blade whistled!
Sawara Kiri's eyes suddenly widened.
"Buzz!"
With just that sound, Sawara Kiri, who had been dominating the previous moment, was instantly sent hurtling like a meteor, smashing deep into the abyssal pit below the ground.
Ōtsutsuki Shibai, in his youthful form, stood in mid-air, looking down at the dust where Sawara Kiri had deeply embedded himself, breathing heavily.
Correspondingly, faint, crisscrossing cracks, like those on ice-cracked porcelain, gradually appeared on the surface of his youthful body.
Evidently, this was a sign that his body had been pushed to its absolute limit in that instant.
However, for him, this was not a major issue.
"Whew, whew…"
Shibai panted heavily, but a cruel smile involuntarily appeared on his face.
At the severed end of the arm that had just been cut off, smoke now billowed as if lime had been soaked in water, and the limb rapidly regenerated. A twisted mass of pale clay was squeezed out from within, regrowing into a wrist perfectly matched to his body.
Not only his arm, but even the wounds and cracks on his body were healing at an astonishing speed, his entire body seemingly enveloped in a cloud of steam and dust.
The young man raised his hand and tried clenching it; the grip felt just right.
Then, he spoke in a low voice:
"Indeed, Sawara Kiri."
"Even you, in this timeline, are by no means an easy opponent to deal with."
"This weak body is simply insufficient for me to cleanse you, an anomaly, in the true form of a god—this was impossible from the start."
"But."
"The reason a god is a god is because I am the miracle named 'impossible'!"
As he spoke, the massive Chakra within Shibai, like a Tailed Beast's, or even many times greater, suddenly ignited like flames, continuously surging and burning around his body. His entire body seemed to be in a constant state of tension, relentlessly squeezing the deepest inherent power of this fragile body. Veins bulged grotesquely on his forehead, making his already pale and delicate skin swell.
Those bulging veins all converged towards the fine crack on his brow.
"Whoosh——!"
At the very bottom of the massive pit, the fallen slabs and earth were pushed aside, revealing Sawara Kiri's figure.
On his chest, which was usually spotless, there was now a deep bloodstain, gradually staining his upper garment red, slowly oozing blood.
However, Sawara Kiri, as if nothing had happened, shook the black blade in his hand, looked up at the short figure at the very top of the sky, and scoffed:
"What god, what not god."
"A stray dog, beaten and fleeing to this world line, yet still so arrogant with your words."
"Only in terms of shamelessness are you truly commendable, Ōtsutsuki Shibai."
As he spoke, he stepped forward, walking out of the massive pit step by step.
At the same time, the surface of his body, like Shibai's, gradually began to burn with tangible Chakra fluctuations.
However, unlike Shibai's method of draining his body's essence, this was different.
The immense energy now powering him came from the girl he kept within his body, like a Tailed Beast.
One of the Seven Human Evils, the Beast holding the principle of 'Regression'.
—Tiamat.
Although his development of this girl had only reached the fourth stage, comparing her to the true mythological historical line's goddess of creation, mother of all gods, ruler of the earth, and a projection that returned at the cost of human reason's collapse, against this Chakra creature who called himself a 'god', was an absolute dimensionality reduction strike.
"Kiri."
"You must be moderate, okay?"
Little Tia's voice was directly linked to Sawara Kiri's mind. Her girlish, tender tone naturally carried a hint of maternal affection.
But in contrast, the turbulent, immense power that surged into his body was quite rough and forceful.
It made every cell and every nerve in Sawara Kiri's body subtly tremble, forcibly merging with his limited Chakra to form an energy that surpassed Sage Mode Chakra, and was even richer and stronger in quality than ordinary Tailed Beast Chakra.
Cloud-like markings connected his eye corners, extending towards the sides of his cheeks.
Synchronously lighting up was the brilliant Chakra glow that enveloped his entire body.
Ring-shaped Chakra reflected behind his head.
Making Sawara Kiri, standing on the earth at this moment, suddenly exude a solemn aura akin to a deity.
—Tiamat Jinchuriki Mode.
But equivalent to this formidable power was the constant, maddening whisper from beyond the heavens that echoed in his mind, as if to twist his will into an Outer Beast devoid of all reason.
This was why Sawara Kiri was not particularly willing to use this power even after mastering it.
He could feel it.
If this mode lasted too long, his self-will would surely be pierced through by the most subtle influence of this power.
As for what he would become in the end, he himself wasn't entirely clear.
'I can probably last about thirty seconds.'
Sawara Kiri thought to himself, even his self-will at this moment seemed to have been elevated countless layers by this terrifying power not of this world, existing in a state of relative transcendent rationality.
Thinking this, his clear blue eyes locked onto the figure in the sky.
"Hmm??"
Among all the people present, Orochimaru was likely the first to notice Sawara Kiri's abnormal state.
However, at this moment, not only did he feel no worry, his golden snake-like eyes suddenly widened for an instant, fixed intently on the unique Chakra form appearing on Sawara Kiri's body, his brain seeming to tremble.
This fellow, Kiri.
How could he have such excellent research material and never inform me?!
Clearly, in the mind of a fervent researcher, even if the world were to end the next second, he would first complete the data recording at hand.
Without a doubt.
He had now set his sights on Sawara Kiri.
Uchiha Megumi, standing not far from him, frowned, looking quizzically at Sawara Kiri, who was clearly not in a normal state.
'This power, how is it somewhat similar to Susanoo… No, it's even on a higher level?'
'How did Kiri do it?'
Kushina, upon seeing this familiar sight, immediately jumped up, excitedly exclaiming:
"This Kiri!"
"When did he become a Jinchuriki?!"
The complex and chaotic gazes and thoughts from all around lasted only an instant.
The next moment, they were all drawn to the commotion at the top of the sky.
"Pfft——!"
A sound like flesh being torn from within abruptly echoed in everyone's ears, as if a fetus had torn open its mother's belly, squeezing its head out from the flesh, sweeping with searching eyes.
At the center of the young Shibai's forehead, the previously closed fissure had now completely torn open to both sides, revealing a golden eye.
In the center of that pupil were nine tomoe swirling around lines.
However, Shibai seemed completely oblivious to the pain, floating quietly in the sky.
Only a vaster power, pumped by that golden pupil like a heart pumping blood, was step by step compressed into the young man's fragile body, an indescribably terrifying force.
Until finally, it bloomed into a dazzling fruit.
If the previous Yamishibai looked merely twelve or thirteen, with a small frame still carrying a hint of childishness, then the current him seemed to have suddenly grown several years older. His previously short stature now appeared tall and slender like a sixteen or seventeen-year-old in their growth spurt. Both the golden pupil embedded in the center of his forehead and the black patterns gradually spreading across various parts of his body appeared perfectly natural.
His entire being exuded a static, inorganic quality.
He had officially entered the Boss's second phase.
Not only that.
At this moment, he had even completely suppressed his previous emotional expressions, which had seemed calm and arrogant but were in fact childishly naive.
In his indifferent gaze, there was truly a sense of detachment belonging to a true god, utterly unaffected by emotion.
Only Sawara Kiri could clearly see.
Ōtsutsuki Shibai entering this state evidently came with a cost.
The ice-cracked patterns continuously appearing on the surface of his body were even more pronounced than before.
This body would likely not last much longer.
However, the current scene, reflected in the eyes of the other Konoha Ninja, was as if two gods were facing each other, one in the sky and one on the ground.
Neither the chaotic sounds nor the rising dust could sway their will.
Yamishibai looked down at Sawara Kiri and beckoned to him.
"Come."
"Second Battle."
Sawara Kiri looked at him in this state, and for the first time in a long while, he felt a stir of excitement. The Tiamat Chakra on his body extended onto his black blade.
With just a slight flick, it carved a massive trench spanning dozens of meters on the ground.
He smiled, as if casually speaking to a rare and dear friend:
"Another location?"
"As you wish."
Just as ordinary people disdain to look down upon ants, Shibai at this moment likewise held no human other than Sawara Kiri in his eyes.
Indifference was the most extreme form of contempt.
As his words fell, he suddenly raised a finger.
Amenominaka
The next moment, accompanied by violent spatial fluctuations.
The two figures, along with the area they were in, were all transported to an unknown space.
What remained in the eyes of the surrounding Konoha Ninja was only a vast abyss, as if the ground had been hollowed out.
Only at this moment did the Konoha Ninja, whose nerves had been constantly taut, finally seem to let out a sigh of relief.
Starting from who knows whom, the sound of hard swallowing came one after another, endlessly.
In the deathly silence, someone couldn't help but murmur:
"Those two guys…"
"Can they really still be considered Ninja?"
Even gods would be nothing more than this, perhaps?
The moment the surrounding spatial scene reappeared, what entered Sawara Kiri's vision was a land covered in ice and snow. Both the sky and the ground presented a clear blue and white, and the extremely low temperature even prevented the wind from blowing across this world; everything seemed to be in a state of relative stillness.
However, neither of the two present cared about this abnormality, merely gazing at each other in silence.
At this point, there was nothing more they needed to say.
The next moment.
Their footsteps advanced almost simultaneously.
Burning Chakra and displaced space vibrated in sync.
The static surface of the earth suddenly churned with colliding hurricanes, and the knife-like currents of air that tore at the skin instantly merged upon contact, revealing two figures, one black and one white, at the eye of the storm.
Blade and axe, playing a symphony of world destruction.