"At last, I've got it. It really is a perfect body." Standing face to face with Nue, Meruem felt Nue's power.
As long as I defeat him and absorb his power, my body will evolve again. Then I can formally absorb the Chakra Fruit. Immortality? As expected, even I long for that word.
"I didn't expect there to be someone else in this world with the same power as mine. This body seems even more perfect than I imagined." Nue felt the strength of his body. Because of Meruem's help, Nue no longer needed to wait another year as in the original to gain a perfect body; he already had the perfected form he would have had a year later.
Nor would his body collapse after just a few moves like before.
"Being able to obtain such a body is inseparable from what you did earlier. So? Interested in ruling this world with me?" Nue acknowledged Meruem's strength, so he extended the invitation. He was destined to be disappointed, because Meruem had no interest in something as trivial as ruling the world.
"A boring ideal." As expected, Meruem refused Nue's proposal.
"You sure took your time." For no apparent reason, Meruem suddenly spoke to the air beside him.
"This guy was indeed strong. I spent a little extra time," Musashi said as he arrived, tossing to Meruem the body of a man with several tails growing from his back.
"Abe Kippei." Nue recognized the body's owner at a glance, but his tone was indifferent, as if the dead man had nothing to do with him at all, not like he was speaking of his own son.
"Looks like I'll have to kill you." Nue extended his right hand toward Meruem, and a sinister seven-pointed star suddenly appeared before everyone's eyes.
"Disappear—Extermination!"
"Heh-heh. Shinra Tensei." The huge, unknown energy attack broke apart in the air before it could touch Meruem's body, scattered by an overwhelming repulsive force.
"Gravity space—one hundredfold." Meruem pointed lightly toward Nue's position.
"Ugh… my body…" Nue suddenly felt his body become abnormally heavy. The strong gravity from the ground forced him down from the sky to one knee.
Unlike Kaguya, where even the caster's own body would be caught when manipulating gravity space, Meruem now possessed the ability to freely control these great spaces.
He had also completely mastered all the Rinnegan's abilities. He could do it without his eyes taking on the ringed look.
"Banshō Ten'in!" Meruem reached toward Nue again, but this time it was an immensely powerful pull.
"Exterminate!" Onmyōjutsu—Heaven-and-Earth Reversal, the forbidden art said to defy fate itself—was used by Nue to escape Meruem's attack.
"Damn you—why are you stopping me from ruling this world? Celestial Manipulation! Behold my strongest power!" Nue was now furious. He unleashed his strongest onmyōjutsu, a supreme art that stood above the Soul Reversal Technique.
Countless pentagrams, hexagrams, and heptagrams surfaced on Nue's hands.
"Whatever you are, disappear from this world! Shatter beneath my strongest technique—Eternal Samsara!" Nine hand-like constructs merged into a single sphere of energy, and Nue shoved it toward Meruem in a frenzy.
"Interesting… but sadly, you're only what I used to be. If I hadn't obtained this power, perhaps we would have had a true clash of titans. Truth is, you're still too weak. Martial Way: Hundred-Type Guanyin. Martial Way: Night Parade of a Hundred Demons!"
"Witness the martial path's power—reducing complexity to simplicity!" This time, no two giant manifested statues rose behind Meruem; instead, his entire body seemed to blaze with a layer of fiery red energy.
"Nue, man hailed as the Lord of Specters—become the nourishment for my growth!" Meruem appeared before Nue in absolute dominance.
Although Nue was indeed strong, his opponent was Meruem, whose physical power had reached an extreme and was seeking a breakthrough, and who had become a super Meruem after passing through the Naruto world and gaining the power of Ōtsutsuki Hamura and Kaguya.
Though Nue's power was not weak, he ultimately lost. His body was devoured by Meruem, just as Meruem had said—becoming the nourishment for his growth.
Had Rikuo slain him, Nue could have descended into this world again through Hagoromo Gitsune. But once devoured by Meruem, not even a scrap remained.
Abe Kippei's body was likewise devoured by Meruem. Destroying the Gokadoin was not merely a whim; as Abe no Seimei's son, Abe Kippei's body held immense power. Only by devouring Nue and Abe Kippei together could Meruem ensure this evolution.
Kippei was no weakling—compared to other yokai, he was already very strong. Even Musashi, one of Meruem's strongest avatars, found him troublesome.
Musashi's strength had grown far beyond what it was in the Naruto world. Even against opponents like Madara and Hashirama, he could prevail.
After absorbing the power of Nue and Kippei, Meruem's body changed once again—not in outward form, but inwardly.
Meruem could feel it—his body had become more perfect, and his use of the power within him was even more effortless. Kaguya's power had now been fully digested and become Meruem's own.
Infinite Tsukuyomi, Amenominaka, and countless other powerful techniques—Meruem could now use them freely.
More importantly, he could now consume the Chakra Fruit.
On the other side of the battlefield, the fight between Rikuo and Hagoromo Gitsune was nearing its end. Though the Soul Reversal Technique resurrected Hagoromo Gitsune from Yamabuki Otome's body, its drawbacks were significant.
In this form, Hagoromo Gitsune possessed part of Yamabuki Otome's memories, and her feelings for Rikuo were exceedingly complicated.
Though she had engineered the death of the Nura Clan's Second, once the two merged, Hagoromo Gitsune would no longer be purely Hagoromo Gitsune, but a new being—Hagoromo Gitsune and Yamabuki Otome combined.
"My child… Where is Seimei? Damn you! Who are you? Give me back my son!" Hagoromo Gitsune, nearly mad, charged at Meruem, determined not to rest until he died.
"That body isn't yours. Leave it. Let me summon the true owner of this body." Having gained Nue's power, Meruem could now use the forbidden art that resurrects the dead—the Soul Reversal Technique.
"Ahhh—" Hagoromo Gitsune's true soul—a white-faced fox in court dress—was effortlessly extracted from her body by Meruem, who then flung 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 chose to spare her soul for now.
"Heh-heh. Rikuo, I'll be leaving this world before long. As thanks for this time, let me give you a surprise. Yin–Yang Forbidden Art: Soul Reversal—Impure World Reincarnation. Return to life, Rihan Nura and Yamabuki Otome." A white soul flew out from the Gate of Hell and shot into the body Hagoromo Gitsune had used earlier. Countless energies gathered around Rikuo, just as when Meruem perfected Nue's body.
He used the remaining energy from Nue's resurrection to construct a new body—Rihan Nura's body.
"Yo, little Rikuo. Long time no see—you've grown so much." Black hair, one eye open while the other was half-closed in rakish fashion, a light, teasing tone, and a face seven or eight tenths like Nurarihyon and Rikuo—that was the Nura Clan's Second, Rihan Nura.
"You're… Father." Even as a yokai, Night Rikuo was overcome with emotion at the sight.
That was his father who had died many years ago.
"Looks like you're quite pleased with my gift. That's enough. I'm leaving this world now. I wish you all good luck." Meruem didn't disturb the Nura family's warm reunion. The bodies of the Dark Division's Twelve Stars, Pitou, Reiko, Musashi, and the others drifted into the air with Meruem. He planned to find a quiet place, swallow the Chakra Fruit, and then leave this world.
"Wait. Where are you going?" Just as Meruem was about to depart, Keikain Yura ran up and stared at him in the sky.
"Leaving this world—because I was never of it."
"Will you come back?"
"Probably not."
"Oh."
"Take care. Work hard to become an excellent onmyoji. Who knows—perhaps we'll meet again." He came down to stand before Yura, gave her a gentle hug, and spoke softly into her ear.
"Mm."
"King, since you like that little girl, why not take her with us, meow?" After leaving Nijō Castle, Pitou asked. She never cared how many women were at Meruem's side. As long as she could stay by him, that was enough.
"I wouldn't call it liking—just a bit of fondness. There's no need to take her along. She has her own life. If we're fated, we'll meet again."
(End of Chapter)
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