With no obstruction from Imu, the black-and-red energy in the air grew denser and denser.
It began to rotate slowly in a vortex and rapidly expand its area.
Soon, a thick, long white tentacle was the first to probe out of the spatial portal.
Then came the second, third, and fourth.
After that, a massive monster, its whole body deathly pale and a red Six Tomoe Rinnegan growing on its head, opened its bloody maw and smoothly arrived in this desert of the shinobi world.
Forcing down the agony in his chest, Isshiki hurriedly flew to the Ten Tails' side.
Ignoring the other's displeased gaze, he stretched out his right hand and began absorbing chakra.
A scarlet energy surged into Ōtsutsuki Isshiki's body like a rushing stream.
This caused the injuries on his body to rapidly heal, and gradually a smile appeared on his face.
"Immediately prepare a Tailed Beast Ball, aim at that guy!"
Ōtsutsuki Isshiki stood atop the Ten Tails' head and suddenly raised his hand, pointing to the sky.
He intended to join with the Ten Tails, this super cannon with practically limitless chakra, to fight Imu.
The Ten Tails actually hated Ōtsutsuki Isshiki, but as a product of Ōtsutsuki civilization, it could not possibly defy its master's command.
So instinctively it obeyed, beginning to condense a terrifying black-and-red energy sphere in its mouth.
But Imu did not dodge or evade, coldly watching as the Tailed Beast Ball rapidly took shape.
Until with a booming detonation it erupted.
A sphere several times larger than the Nine Tails' Tailed Beast Ball blasted through layers of air, accompanied by peals of thunderous sonic booms as it shot straight toward him.
Only then did he somewhat casually raise his empty left hand.
Before him he created a circular spatial passage nearly 100 m in diameter.
Causing that aggressive Tailed Beast Ball to fly straight in.
The next second it reappeared behind the Ten Tails and Ōtsutsuki Isshiki, about 300 m away.
This made Ōtsutsuki Isshiki hastily turn around.
At once he used Sukunahikona, rapidly shrinking the incoming Ten Tails' Tailed Beast Ball until it was only the size of a basketball.
Then with one palm he swatted it far off, setting off a missile-like blaze and shockwave.
This made him fully realize that Imu's spatial ability was a perfect counter to the Ten Tails; no matter how strong the destructive power of a Tailed Beast Ball was, it was meaningless.
Since that was the case, there was only one option left!
In the thousand years he had survived in the shinobi world, Ōtsutsuki Isshiki had not been without gains.
At the very least, in the matter of using the Ten Tails, he had learned a trick from Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo.
That was—
Ōtsutsuki Isshiki suddenly shouted down at the Ten Tails beneath him: "Merge with me, Ten Tails! Give me all your power!"
In the next instant, his golden Rinnegan, mutated through evolution, shone with dazzling light.
Off in the distance, Imu raised his brows in surprise, watching as Ōtsutsuki Isshiki continuously sucked the roaring juvenile Ten Tails into his eye.
Before long.
Ōtsutsuki Isshiki's new form made a dazzling appearance before Imu as the cocoon-like sphere of white light shattered.
Looking closely, it did not seem much different.
First of all, his clothing had not changed—
But his head, which had previously borne only one long curved horn, now had two long white curved horns.
Aside from that, six iconic pitch-black Truth-Seeking Orbs appeared behind him.
Ōtsutsuki Isshiki controlled one of the Truth-Seeking Orbs to fly to his front, quickly stretching into a black staff which he gripped in his hand.
"So this is what it feels like to absorb the Ten Tails. Truly marvelous…"
Ōtsutsuki Isshiki felt the surging power within his body, and in his heart gradually arose a sense of being supreme above heaven and earth.
To be honest, in the past none of them had ever thought of absorbing the Ten Tails.
They had purely regarded it as a Divine Tree for siphoning planetary energy, or as a chakra battery, or as a weapon of war to annihilate civilizations.
Not until he witnessed Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo absorb the Ten Tails into his body and transform into a Ten Tails Jinchūriki.
At that time he truly felt as if he had suddenly awakened.
Compared to sealing the Ten Tails in a different space and temporarily drawing chakra when needed—
Directly sealing the Ten Tails into the body was indeed more practical, granting not only a second near-infinite energy source but also further strengthening combat power in every aspect.
It was not that the Ōtsutsuki clan were all fools, but in their understanding, the Ten Tails was nothing more than a tool.
Its status was even lower than that of Ōtsutsuki Kaguya, who was both a maid and a sacrificial branch family member.
The proud and arrogant Ōtsutsuki would never absorb such a base thing into their own bodies.
But the current Ōtsutsuki Isshiki had undergone countless tribulations.
Though on the surface he still bore a cold and arrogant demeanor, in truth much of his spirit had been worn down.
At the very least, he felt no resistance toward becoming a Ten Tails Jinchūriki, even thinking it was a stroke of genius.
"Ruler of the World Government, your arrogance and stupidity will bring you regret. As I am now, you are no match for me."
Ōtsutsuki Isshiki, his expression indifferent, flew up to the same height, speaking in a deep voice to Imu.
"But I can give you a chance—deliver that Aramaki to me, then kneel down, and with your World Government submit to me!"
At these words, Imu arched his brows, the smile on his face growing ever brighter.
"Ōtsutsuki Isshiki, what makes you harbor the delusion that you are stronger than me? Could it be that tiny Ten Tails?"
As his words fell, the golden radiance on his body gradually grew even brighter.
In the next instant, a colossal golden pillar of light pierced through the dense clouds.
Both the sky and the earth trembled under the impact of that overwhelming power.
Isshiki stared at the golden pillar of light piercing the sky.
The pride and triumph born of his surging power were swept away by the overwhelming aura crashing down upon him.
"You! You actually possess strength comparable to the high echelons?!"
"No! Impossible! You're just a lowly human!"
Suddenly, Isshiki's eyes twisted with ferocity as he let out a hysterical roar.
"This world—no, this entire universe—cannot possibly harbor lifeforms that rival the Ōtsutsuki high echelons!"
"Die!!!"
Isshiki no longer hesitated, swinging the "Truth-Seeking Ball black staff" with full force.
At the same time, four Truth-Seeking Balls behind him shot forward, merging with the staff.
It rapidly lengthened, thickened, expanded.
In the blink of an eye, a colossal black rod that seemed to devour all light blasted open the clouds above, carrying surging stormwinds as it came crashing down upon Imu.
At some point, Imu had already returned Seika to its sheath.
His upper body bent slightly forward, left hand gripping the scarlet-gold sheath, right hand hovering over the hilt.
In that moment, colorless Haki like a torrent of water flowed into the blade, sparking golden arcs of lightning.
At the same time—
The spatial power of the Op-Op Fruit wrapped the blade in a pale blue aura, clinging tight along its length.
[Swoosh!]
As the colossal black rod pressed down with its stormfront, less than a hundred meters above—
Imu finally drew Seika once more.
In that instant—
A golden slash carrying the realm of "Sword Saint Intent," shimmering with blue light, erupted as a thunderbolt visible to the naked eye.
Under the dumbfounded gaze of Aramaki, Little Kaguya, Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo—
In the blink of an eye it tore open the gloomy void, slicing through the colossal black rod—and through Ōtsutsuki Isshiki's body.
In that moment, heaven and earth fell silent, storms froze in place, and even the planet itself seemed to halt its spin for a breath.
The next second—
On the surface of the black rod that stood like a pillar supporting the heavens, cracks like spiderwebs of blue veined with gold began to spread.
And before Ōtsutsuki Isshiki, at some point a black barrier had unfolded.
It was the defense he had set at the last possible instant with his final Truth-Seeking Ball.
Yet on the surface of that black barrier as well, cracks of blue veined with gold appeared.
[Boom!!!]
Almost at the same time, the black rod and the barrier both shattered on the spot.
They burst into countless fragments that sprayed in all directions.
But all eyes were fixed upon Ōtsutsuki Isshiki.
And behind him—
Imu was slowly returning Seika to its sheath, golden lightning still flickering across his body.
Imu drew back the killing intent in his eyes.
Turning, he looked at Ōtsutsuki Isshiki, who was left paralyzed.
Looking closely, one could see beneath Isshiki's feet a faint golden radiance holding up his body.
Because he was already dead, unable to float in the air on his own.
Yet Isshiki's body bore no wounds, not even his garments were torn.
But Little Kaguya, with her Byakugan, could clearly see that Isshiki's brain and vital internal organs had all been fatally destroyed.
"You! You! What are you trying to do?!"
When Imu used the divine power of the "Lord of the Underworld of Starfish" to seize the soul just leaving the corpse, Ōtsutsuki Isshiki sank completely into terror.
He truly had not expected Imu to possess the ability to extract souls!
"You've already won! What more do you want?!"
"Don't be so despicable—you are the ruler of the World Government!"
Ōtsutsuki Isshiki's soul roared nearly to madness, yet could only weakly allow Imu to do as he pleased.
"Don't you understand the rule that the winner takes all?"
Imu calmly shot back as he began a series of operations.
First, he drove colorless Haki into the soul, swiftly reading its memories.
Very soon, torrents of images and information surged into his mind like flowing water.
In the process he saw many strange and vast cosmic scenes.
He also saw Ōtsutsuki Isshiki destroying the civilization of a certain planet, as well as collecting those massive cubes.
Most important of all, he saw the Ōtsutsuki homeworld.
In the visions, many white-robed clan members with various pairs of horns upon their heads went in and out of the planet.
And within the planet itself, Ten-Tails after Ten-Tails could be seen roaming about.
Through Isshiki's perspective he even recognized a few familiar figures.
They were none other than the trio destined to descend upon the shinobi world in the future: Ōtsutsuki Momoshiki, Ōtsutsuki Urashiki, and Ōtsutsuki Kinshiki!
But compared to them—
What Imu valued more was when Isshiki and Kaguya took on their mission, they had prostrated before six white-robed figures seated upon black chairs.
There was no need to guess—those must be the so-called high echelons.
It was they who held the authority to dispatch clan members like Isshiki and Momoshiki into the boundless cosmos to seek planets fit for planting the God Tree.
And it was they who enjoyed the privilege of reaping the chakra fruit that ripened once every thousand years, without lifting a hand.
"There are actually six…"
Imu instantly felt a crushing weight.
If full-scale war were to break out, the World Government as it stood now clearly had no chance of victory.
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