At the instant Jigen opened his eyes, the two All-Killing Ash Bones Kaguya had fired at him vanished without a trace.
Kaguya froze slightly at the sight, then her expression turned grave as she said,
"He's going all out."
Carl slowly lowered the arm he had been holding and said,
"Lily, you and Kaguya fall back first. Let me test the true power of an Ōtsutsuki."
Lily didn't say much after hearing this. She grabbed Kaguya by the sleeve and flew backward. Kaguya, for once, was unusually compliant, allowing Lily to pull her along.
Her strength was incomplete to begin with. Without Carl's support, even dealing with a second-stage Kama Jigen would have been extremely difficult for her—let alone Jigen after fully releasing his power.
More accurately speaking, from this moment on, Jigen had completely vanished from this world. What appeared next was Ōtsutsuki Isshiki.
...
The black patterns covering Jigen's body fused together, transforming into dense black mist that wrapped around him. A terrifying pressure erupted outward, instantly leveling everything nearby.
The people of the Hidden Mist Village, still some distance from the forest, hadn't even had time to react before they were blasted away by this overwhelming force. The weaker Mist ninja were killed outright in midair.
Carl stood at the very front, unmoving like a mountain, calmly staring at the black sphere that now enveloped Jigen.
Gradually, countless cracks appeared across the surface of the sphere. Dazzling white light burst from within them. In the next instant, the sphere exploded completely, and what entered Carl's sight was the reincarnated Isshiki.
Ōtsutsuki Isshiki slowly opened his eyes—one white, one gold—with Carl's figure reflected within them.
He spoke in a flat tone, his voice icy cold.
"Carl, you've truly angered me."
Carl smiled faintly and replied,
"So? And then?"
"An irreverent junior… you will pay the price for this."
"Junior… hehe. With less than three days of lifespan left, you still dare to say that?"
Isshiki's gaze tightened as his sore spot was struck. He clenched one fist and suddenly swung it through the air.
"This is all your fault!!!"
A surging shockwave of a punch roared toward Carl. Carl activated Armament Haki and blocked it with one hand. Compared to before, the force behind this attack had clearly increased by more than one level.
The raw physical power of a pure Ōtsutsuki was indeed no joke—especially an elite like Isshiki.
This, in turn, stirred Carl's interest. Since his battle with Joy Boy, Ōtsutsuki Isshiki was the second opponent who truly made him take things seriously.
Boom!
Monstrous black mist erupted from Carl's body, instantly flooding the ground like a black ocean. As a pair of enormous black wings spread open behind him, twelve Truth-Seeking Orbs slowly emerged at his back.
The light of the Tenseigan shone brilliantly within the darkened surroundings. Deep crimson lightning—belonging solely to Conqueror's Haki—wrapped around Carl's body, even dyeing the sky red with the pressure he emitted.
Isshiki was secretly horrified. He knew Carl hadn't gone all out before, but he never imagined Carl's true power would reach such a terrifying level.
Ordinary Ōtsutsuki absolutely did not possess this kind of strength. Isshiki stared intently at Carl and asked in a deep voice,
"Just how many chakra fruits have you eaten?"
The demon sword Muramasa slowly manifested in Carl's hand. He lifted his gaze to Isshiki and said calmly,
"I've never eaten a chakra fruit. Devil Fruits, on the other hand—I've eaten quite a few. Want to taste one?"
"Devil Fruits? What are those? Have chakra fruits been cultivated into some kind of variant now?"
Carl had no interest in answering. Gripping Muramasa, he slashed out. Wherever the blade passed, even space itself was torn open, leaving behind a pitch-black rift.
Sword energy wrapped in crimson lightning shot forward. Isshiki's left eye flashed gold, and his figure vanished instantly. The slash tore through the earth, stretching all the way to the distant horizon before dissipating.
Carl narrowed his eyes slightly, then suddenly raised his hand and released a powerful dark gravitational pull toward a certain direction.
In the next second, Isshiki's figure appeared out of thin air, a black rod in his hand as he smashed it down viciously at Carl.
Clang!!
Muramasa collided with the black rod. The rod trembled violently as Isshiki said coldly,
"So you've already seen through my ability? Kaguya—that wretch—told you, didn't she?"
Carl snorted, slicing the black rod into fragments, then following up with a kick to Isshiki's abdomen that sent him flying.
"Shrinking and enlarging objects—such a cheap trick. Why would I need Kaguya to tell me?"
Isshiki stabilized himself, stomped a foot against the ground, and shot up into the sky.
Looking down at Carl below, Isshiki's face was dark. Light flashed in his left eye as countless black rods appeared in midair, raining down like a storm.
Daikokuten!
Carl didn't dodge. He merely hooked a finger lightly. The dark ocean flowing across the ground immediately surged upward, firing countless shadowy spikes into the sky to collide with the black rods.
For a moment, dense black points of light scattered across the air.
This clash of abilities ended in Carl's victory. The black rods clearly ran out of momentum and were quickly swallowed by the endless shadow spikes. When the last rod shattered, the remaining spikes merged together, forming a massive pitch-black spear that slammed heavily into Isshiki.
Struck by this blow, Isshiki lost his balance and fell from the sky. Before he could steady his chaotic breathing, Carl had already charged in with Muramasa in hand.
Isshiki intended to temporarily avoid the edge of the attack, but a powerful suction force rose from the darkness beneath his feet, making it difficult for him to move. Left with no choice, he condensed another black rod in his hand and turned to engage Carl directly.
The two clashed in close combat within the darkness-shrouded battlefield. However, the black rods in Isshiki's hands were simply on a completely different level compared to the demon sword Muramasa. After only a few exchanges, countless rods had already been shattered.
Unwilling to continue this entanglement while his movements were restricted, Isshiki activated his left eye once more, summoning a sky full of massive black cubes that crashed down toward Carl.
Carl immediately released a gravity barrier that covered the entire battlefield, blocking all the black cubes outside. Seizing this opportunity, Isshiki forcibly broke free from the pull of the dark power and flew into the sky.
As he ascended, Isshiki's expression could only be described as utterly grim. Forcing reincarnation had already pushed him to reveal all his trump cards, yet he still couldn't do much against Carl. Coupled with the fact that he had less than three days left to live, he truly felt as if he had been driven into a dead end.
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+85 chapters on p@treon/tambeerg