"Finally in hand. As expected, a perfect body." Facing Nue, Meruem felt it—the power of Nue.
Once I defeat him and absorb his power, my body will evolve again. Then I can finally absorb the chakra fruit. Immortality? As expected, even I yearn for that word.
"I didn't expect there to be someone in this world who possesses the same power as I do. This body… is even more perfect than I imagined." Nue savored the power in his form. With Meruem's help, he no longer needed to wait a year as in the original to attain a perfect body. He already had the perfect form from a year later.
Nor would his body collapse after a few moves like in the original.
"Being able to attain this body is inseparable from what you did. Well? Any interest in ruling this world with me?" Nue acknowledged Meruem's strength, hence the invitation. He was destined to be disappointed. Merely ruling the world didn't interest Meruem.
"A boring ideal." Sure enough, Meruem refused.
"You're late," Meruem suddenly said to the empty air beside him for no apparent reason.
"This guy was indeed quite strong. Cost me a tiny bit of time." Musashi hurled the body of a man with several tails growing from his back over to Meruem.
"Abe Kippei." Nue recognized the owner of that body at a glance, but his tone was indifferent—like the dead man was unrelated to him at all, not his son.
"Seems I'll just have to kill you." Nue raised his right hand toward Meruem, and a wicked seven-pointed star flashed before everyone's eyes.
"Disappear—Extinguish!"
"Heh-heh. Shinra Tensei." The massive, unknown energy hadn't reached Meruem before it was scattered in the air by an overwhelming repulsive force.
"Gravity space—one hundredfold." Meruem pointed lightly toward Nue's position.
"Urgh… my body…" Nue suddenly felt himself become impossibly heavy. The powerful pull from the ground forced him down from the sky, one knee driven into the earth.
Unlike Kaguya, Meruem could manipulate gravity space without affecting his true body. He could freely control these great spaces now.
And he had complete command of every Rinnegan ability. He didn't even need to turn his eyes into "ringed eyes" to use them.
"Banshō Ten'in." Meruem extended his right hand toward Nue again—this time it was an irresistible pull.
"Extinguish!" Onmyoji art: Reverse Heaven and Earth. A forbidden technique said to overturn fate itself, used by Nue to slip Meruem's pull.
"Damn you. Why do you insist on stopping me from ruling this world? Astral manipulation! Witness my greatest power!" Now truly enraged, Nue unleashed his strongest onmyoji technique—an ultimate art even above the Return-to-Soul technique.
Countless pentagrams, hexagrams, and heptagrams bloomed across Nue's hands.
"Whatever you are—vanish from this world! Shatter beneath my ultimate art! Eternal Samsara!" Nine human-like hands merged into a single energy sphere, and Nue, frenzied, rammed it toward Meruem.
"Interesting. But unfortunately you're only at what used to be my level. If I hadn't obtained this power, perhaps the two of us might have had a drag-out, knock-down fight. Truth is, you're still too weak. Martial Way: Hundred-Style Guanyin. Martial Way: Night Parade of One Hundred Demons!"
"Behold the martial path's power—reducing complexity to simplicity!" This time no two giant statues manifested behind Meruem. Instead, his entire body ignited with a layer of fiery red energy.
"Nue—the man called Lord of Specters—become fuel for my growth." Meruem appeared before Nue in overwhelming form.
Though Nue's strength was indeed considerable, his opponent was Meruem—whose physical power had reached an extreme and was seeking a breakthrough—and the super Meruem who had experienced the Naruto world and gained the powers of Ōtsutsuki Hamura and Kaguya.
Nue was strong, but he still fell in the end. His body was devoured by Meruem, just as Meruem had said—becoming nourishment for his growth.
If Rikuo had felled him, Nue could have descended again through Hagoromo Gitsune. But devoured by Meruem, there wasn't even scum left.
Naturally, Abe Kippei's body was devoured as well. Destroying the Gokadoin wasn't merely a whim. As Abe no Seimei's son, Kippei's body contained tremendous power. Only by devouring both Nue's power and Abe Kippei could Meruem ensure this evolution.
Kippei wasn't weak—compared to other yokai, he was very strong. Even Musashi, one of Meruem's strongest clones, found him troublesome.
Musashi had grown much stronger than in the Naruto world—enough to defeat opponents on the level of Madara or Hashirama.
After absorbing the powers of Nue and Kippei, Meruem changed again—not in outward form, but within.
He felt his body become more perfect, his command over his power even more effortless. Kaguya's power was now fully digested—his own.
Infinite Tsukuyomi, the ultimate illusion; Amenominaka; and countless other powerful techniques—Meruem could wield them freely.
More importantly, he could now consume the chakra fruit.
On the other side of the battlefield, Rikuo's fight with Hagoromo Gitsune was also nearing its end. Though the Return-to-Soul technique had revived Hagoromo Gitsune from Yamabuki Otome's body, the drawbacks were significant.
In this state, Hagoromo Gitsune had some of Yamabuki Otome's memories—her feelings toward Rikuo were very complicated.
Though she had caused the death of the Nura Clan's Second, once the two fused, Hagoromo Gitsune would no longer be just Hagoromo Gitsune, but a new being—the fusion of Hagoromo Gitsune and Yamabuki Otome.
"My son… Where is Seimei? Damn you! Who are you? Give me back my son!" Hagoromo Gitsune charged Meruem like a madwoman, determined to kill him.
"That body is not yours. Leave it. Let me summon the true owner of this body." With Nue's power, Meruem could now use the forbidden art that resurrects the dead—the Return-to-Soul technique.
"Ahhhhh—" Hagoromo Gitsune's true soul was easily drawn out by Meruem—a white-faced fox in court dress—and then he tossed it toward hell.
Though Meruem couldn't say he liked Hagoromo Gitsune, she was indeed a mother worthy of respect—and a pitiful one. He would spare her soul for now.
"Heh-heh. Rikuo, I'll be leaving this world before long. To thank you for this time, I'll give you a surprise. Onmyoji forbidden art: Return-to-Soul—Impure World Reincarnation. Be revived—Rihan Nura and Yamabuki Otome." A white soul flew out from the earlier gate to hell and shot into the body Hagoromo Gitsune had used. Countless energies gathered around Rikuo—the same principle Meruem had used to perfect Nue's body.
He used the remaining energies from reviving Nue to construct a new body—Rihan Nura's body.
"Yo, little Rikuo—long time no see. You've grown." Black long hair, one eye half-closed in a cool squint, and a playful tone. A face seven or eight parts like Nurarihyon's and Rikuo's. The Nura Clan's Second—Rihan Nura.
"You're… Father." Even as Night Rikuo, a yokai, he was moved by the sight.
His father, who had died many years ago.
"Looks like you're satisfied with my gift. That's enough. I'm leaving this world. Good luck to all of you." Meruem didn't intrude on the Nura family's warm reunion. The bodies of the Twelve Stars, Pitou, Reiko, Musashi, and the rest rose into the air with Meruem. He intended to find a quiet place, consume the chakra fruit, and leave this world.
"Wait—where are you going?" As Meruem was about to depart, Keikain Yura ran up and stared up at him in the sky.
"Leaving this world—because I was never of it."
"Will you come back?"
"Probably not."
"Oh."
"Take care. Strive to become an excellent onmyoji. Who knows—we might meet again." He came to Yura, held her lightly, and whispered in her ear.
"Mm."
"Since you like that little girl, why not take her with us, meow?" Pitou asked after they left Nijō Castle. She never cared how many women were around Meruem, so long as she could stay by his side.
"It's not liking—just a bit of fondness. No need to take her along. She has her own life. If fate wills it, we'll meet again."
(End of Chapter)
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