"Damn it."
Konan narrowed her eyes, manipulating a massive swarm of paper to launch a frenzied assault on Hidan.
However, bolstered by his Immortal Body, these paper blades were unable to inflict any real damage upon him. Combined with Hidan's increasingly powerful Taijutsu, Konan found herself completely unable to bypass him to interfere with Simu.
Whenever Hidan attempted to close the distance and strike her, his attacks were neutralized by Konan's paper transformation technique. Physical strikes of this caliber were useless against her, as she had mastered the secret arts of the Paper Style.
Furthermore, she possessed the rare ability to fly, causing the battle between the two to reach a grinding stalemate.
"You hag! Have the guts to come down here and fight!"
Hidan shouted provocatively. He had originally planned to kill these two before Simu resurrected to prove his own greatness, hoping to finally turn the tables and become the master of the partnership.
To his fury, the woman refused to engage in direct contact, relying on her paper wings to wage a war of hit-and-run tactics.
This left Hidan absolutely livid.
"How childish."
Though Konan voiced her disdain, her heart was heavy with anxiety. As time passed, the aura emanating from the heap of remains behind Hidan was becoming increasingly ominous.
Despite her best efforts to destroy the gathering believers, she was helpless. No matter how she attacked them—even if she hacked them into a slurry of flesh—they continued to converge toward the man at the center.
Thus, they could only watch as Simu's physical form gradually expanded, eventually forming a grotesque mountain of flesh!
Pain watched the scene with equal calm. Both Simu and Pain were preparing to deal the other a fatal blow.
After a terrifying period of buildup, the massive horror finally erupted.
The mountain of flesh moved.
A horrific, ominous energy burst forth as a twisted human face grew from the mass; it was Simu's face.
He slowly opened his mouth.
"Join the Lord and embrace the glorious evolution!"
"Ten Thousand Chants of the Sacred Voice!"
In the next second, thousands—tens of thousands—of human faces surfaced simultaneously. They opened their mouths in unison, letting out a hymn to the Lord.
A noisy, dense, and chaotic wave of sound erupted instantly, the name of the Lord echoing between heaven and earth.
In Konan's vision, the entire world began to warp violently once more.
As if the apocalypse had arrived, the sky turned a deep crimson, and the ground transformed into a giant maw seeking to swallow her whole!
Konan was plunged into an unprecedented crisis!
Fortunately, Pain placed a hand gently on her, surging his chakra through her body to disrupt the flow and dispel the Genjutsu.
The world in Konan's eyes finally stopped spinning. She came to her senses, her face still pale with lingering fear. "That thing... just what is it?"
"This man has sewn together the flesh and souls of all his believers, creating an incredibly powerful Yin-Yang Style creation."
As the wielder of the Rinnegan, Pain was no stranger to Yin-Yang Style.
Because of this, he understood clearly just how terrifying the power of the monster before them was.
"With this massive amount of life energy, even a maximum-power Almighty Push might not be able to kill it."
Hearing Pain's words, Konan's pupils contracted.
As his companion, no one understood the strength of the Rinnegan better than she did.
And yet, even with the Rinnegan, he wasn't certain he could take this guy down?
"Are you going to use that move?"
Konan looked at Pain's calm profile and realized his intention.
"Yes."
Pain nodded slightly.
"The body has mostly recovered."
After determining that the large-scale Genjutsu had failed, the mountain of flesh slowly contracted into a massive orb of meat.
The terrifying apocalyptic aura was suppressed to its absolute limit.
Countless grotesque and twisted tentacles sprouted from the surface of the orb. They fanned out like a meteor shower, enveloping Pain and Konan.
"Fall back!"
Konan grabbed Pain and retreated rapidly.
The sky-filling tentacles, carrying a foul stench, pierced the ground and easily tore it into countless fragments.
In a matter of seconds, the shattered earth showed no signs of life; only the distant orb continued to radiate a horrific pressure.
This was the result of Simu reaching LV3 and using his enhanced spiritual power to analyze the Uzumaki Clan's genes.
First, he established a Contract with his believers. Their souls gradually entered a state of corruption, reducing the body's natural resistance to modification.
Then, he used Uzumaki genes, RC Cells, and Jugo's genes to modify their bodies, granting them chaotic and powerful life energy before further transforming them into twisted monsters.
Finally, by using the powerful spiritual energy transmitted from his clone, he completely warped the fallen souls, aggregating them into the ultimate result—
The Apostle of Desire.
Driven by desire, the Apostle frantically absorbs the Natural Energy from the environment and enters a berserk state, launching indiscriminate attacks on everything in its vicinity.
Even Simu could only use his powerful spiritual energy to provide a degree of guidance.
Of course, to Simu, this wasn't a significant drawback.
Since both he and Hidan possessed essentially immortal bodies, indiscriminate attacks didn't matter.
Under the destruction wrought by the Apostle of Desire, the earth was now riddled with holes.
Even Hidan could only stare curiously at the massive orb of flesh, his small mind filled with questions:
When on earth did Simu manage to pull this off?
Hundreds of tentacles lashed out wildly, destroying everything in sight.
Pain finally made his decision. "Konan, leave first."
"I understand."
Without hesitation, Konan spread her wings and instantly left the battlefield.
Ten million twisted faces looked toward Pain together, roaring in unison, "God-defier, die!"
The powerful sound wave caused the ground beneath Pain to crack, but his face remained calm. He raised both hands and slammed them against the ground.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
As a massive amount of chakra erupted, the battlefield shook. A humanoid statue covered in wood-like patterns rose violently from the earth!
"Gedo Mazo!"
A terrifying wave of air surged forth as the two monsters faced off against each other.
"They really are terrifying, these two."
White Zetsu, hiding in a crevice between the rocks, sighed as he watched.
Black Zetsu narrowed his eyes, focusing his attention on the orb of flesh.
He hadn't expected that besides Nagato, such a figure existed in the Shinobi World.
Pain clearly had no intention of dragging this out. Since maintaining the Gedo Mazo required a massive amount of chakra, he had to end this quickly.
Under his control, the Gedo Mazo suddenly opened its mouth and spat out countless silver-white chains. Like swimming snakes, they lunged toward the Apostle of Desire.
The latter was not to be outdone, swinging its countless tentacles violently to clash with the incoming chains!