The atmosphere was tense and heavy with the scent of corruption. The cursed spirit moved first, wasting no time on threats. From the huge mouth at its chest, a long, spiky tongue shot out straight towards Madara.
Madara's Sharingan's dynamic vision immediately registered the attack. The corrosive tongue seemed to move in slow motion for him, allowing his body to react instantly. He shifted just enough to dodge the attack. The tongue missed him, hitting the spot Madara was standing previously and piercing it deeply. The ground sizzled as blue drops of what should be saliva touched the ground—that stuff was clearly corrosive.
Madara didn't retreat. He wrapped his hand in Cursed Energy, forming a reinforced hand knife, and dashed forward at a very fast speed. He closed the distance quickly, getting to about a meter from the creature's chest. He brought his reinforced hand down and severed the corrosive tongue at its base.
The cursed spirit shrieked—a high-pitched, inhuman sound of pain. The red eye at its forehead glowed, and the spirit instantly disappeared. Madara knew it hadn't truly vanished; it had moved at impossible speed.
It reappeared horizontally mid-air in front of Madara. Its leg snapped out like a whip, aimed directly at Madara's chest. Madara reacted instantly, reinforcing his core to block the kick, but the green eye suddenly glowed. Madara's muscles went rigid, his body suddenly unable to move.
The kick connected right to his chest, sending Madara crashing about four meters away into the dirt. The curse, however, didn't have time to indulge in childish glee.
A heavy punch crashed straight on its forehead eye—BAM!
The blow was from Ren. The creature shrieked in pain and immediately pointed its red eye at the biggest physical threat. A massive shock wave shot from the eye, instantly destroying a nearby house in the process, but it missed its target. Ren, moving with the immense physical speed of his Heavenly Restriction, had already shifted.
Another punch slammed into the creature's stomach, causing it to bend sharply in pain. Ren followed instantly with a third punch to its chin. The curse responded with desperation: the mouth at its chest suddenly opened, and a sonic shout came from it, a blast of deafening Cursed Energy that blasted Ren away from the creature. Ren flew backward, sliding across the ground, stunned but alive.
Suddenly, the distinct sound of something bursting was heard. The green eye—the one that caused the body freezing effect—had been pierced. It turned out that while the cursed spirit was busy defending against Ren, Kaito had aimed a long-range Sting attack at its secondary vision.
The creature shrieked again, more in confusion and pain than malice. It turned its head toward Kaito, its red eye glowing fiercely. It moved with blinding speed toward Kaito, but was intercepted by a powerful kick from Madara, who had just recovered from the green eye's effect. Madara's attack sent the cursed spirit crashing into a nearby house, which collapsed under the impact.
Madara didn't pursue. He poured Cursed Energy into his legs and sped back to his teammates.
"Ren, get to Aoi for your injuries! Kaito, I will give you an opening, but keep your range!" he commanded. Madara's Sharingan locked onto the cloud of dust where the cursed spirit had landed, the chaotic debris obscuring his sight and preventing him from seeing the exact state of the spirit.
A long, thick tongue shot out from the dust straight at Madara. With a quick back flip, Madara dodged the corrosive attack. His hands, still covered in Cursed Energy, shot out. He grabbed the tongue, his grip like steel.
Madara's mind was running with thoughts: 'I cut this tongue off earlier yet it has regenerated so fast. If we want to exorcise this cursed spirit, we have to do it fast. This thing's vitality is far too high for a prolonged fight.'
He yanked the cursed spirit over using its tongue as an anchor. His left leg set for a devastating kick but was caught by the cursed spirit with the pink eye ability. The repulsion force slammed against Madara's leg.
At that moment, Kaito fired a crucial shot—a needle of Cursed Energy that hit the pink eye, bursting it. The cursed spirit shrieked in pain and fury. The red eye at the forehead of the cursed spirit glowed, and in the blink of an eye, it appeared under Madara, pointing its chest-mouth in his direction.
Madara managed to enhance his body with Cursed Energy just before the sonic shout hit. The raw force blasted him backward. Madara landed just a few steps away from the others, his legs skidding across the ground and leaving two long lines of scraped earth. In his hands, he still clutched the writhing tongue he had yanked moments before.
He realized the full scope of their enemy's unique powers.
"So that's it," he muttered to himself in recognition. He tossed the severed tongue to the ground as he reached his teammates. He immediately turned to Aoi, urging her to heal the battered Ren.
"The red eyes lets it move at a fast speed," Madara reported clearly, his Sharingan still spinning, fixed on the Curse whose tongue was already regenerating. "The green eye causes some kind of body freezing effect. The pink eye absorbs kinetic energy but not Cursed Energy. The mouth has a sonic shout effect, and that long, corrosive tongue of its regenerates at an alarming speed."
He looked at the small hole where Kaito had burst the pink eye, which was already back to normal.
"Also," Madara continued, his voice heavy with the realization of the danger, "the eye pierced by Kaito already back to normal. That's all the information we have on its abilities currently."
The others looked at him in surprise, including Aoi, who had already placed her hands on Madara to use the Reverse Cursed Technique. Madara had dissected their enemy completely, but the information only confirmed how desperate their situation truly was. They were outmatched and running on borrowed time.