Chapter 373: God's Downfall
Isshiki's fingers moved slightly, plucking like harp strings.
Another black cube materialized from midair, accelerating downward from even higher—like a blacksmith's heavy hammer slamming onto an anvil's workpiece. With overwhelming force, it crashed toward the first black cube locked in stalemate with the repulsive field.
BOOM!
Two massive, solid black cubes collided. The violent impact made the repulsive field flicker and twist violently.
The lower cube—about to be repelled—suddenly sank downward and held firm once more.
Then came the third block. The fourth. The fifth... More black cubes fell in vertical trajectories, precisely stacking atop their predecessors.
Each one added another layer of devastating impact.
With tremendous weight and high-speed collision force, these black cubes forcibly withstood Shinra Tensei's repulsive rebound.
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM...
The impacts rang endlessly—like hell's death knell.
Nagato felt like he stood inside a bronze bell being hammered continuously. His organs trembled and shifted with each strike.
The repulsive field he'd raised resembled a lone boat in a storm—its light growing dimmer, its range constantly compressed.
The Rinnegan's burden and chakra's rapid depletion finally drove Shinra Tensei's duration to its end.
The invisible repulsive field shattered like foam, vanishing abruptly.
Having lost its only support, the black "coffin" above—formed from seven or eight massive stacked cubes resembling a small mountain—crashed toward Nagato at the crater's bottom with incomparable weight and falling momentum.
Just as Nagato was about to be crushed, Isshiki suddenly clenched his fist. The golden rice-grain light in his black eye flashed. Those enormous black cubes instantly shrank, transforming into dice-sized objects that scattered across Nagato's head and face with clattering sounds.
Though not lethal, the pain and humiliation hurt Nagato even worse.
But before Nagato could launch a counterattack, the real killing move arrived.
Several black receivers suddenly appeared behind the cubes—like venomous snakes lurking in rain, shooting from space ripples not yet fully dispersed, falling at high speed.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
Four muffled sounds of blades piercing flesh rang out almost simultaneously.
Two black receivers precisely punctured Nagato's left and right shoulder blades, nailing both arms firmly to the ground.
The other two penetrated his femurs, severing any possibility of leg strength.
The powerful Yin-Yang force attached to the receivers not only caused physical trauma but instantly disrupted and suppressed Nagato's chakra flow throughout his body. Like a butterfly pinned to a specimen board, he'd completely lost the ability to resist.
"Nagato!"
Witnessing Nagato pierced and pinned by black receivers, Konan—observing from the side—felt her heart and soul shatter.
She could no longer maintain composure. Disregarding the jinchūriki in her hands, she casually tossed them to the ground. Her wings spread behind her as she charged forward frantically.
Facing Konan's desperate assault, Isshiki didn't even look directly at her.
He merely waved his hand casually. Several black receivers materialized from nothing—like precise javelins instantly penetrating vital positions along Konan's flight trajectory.
The "Konan" pierced by black receivers instantly disintegrated, unfolding page by page like a book—completely unharmed. Instead, she transformed into countless white papers that rolled forward like raging dragons, covering Isshiki below before violently exploding. They wove an orange-red storm of death.
BOOM BOOM BOOM...
A continuous chain of suicide explosions rang out, growing increasingly powerful, sweeping everything nearby into the destruction.
The central area's air ignited completely, transforming into a sea of annihilating flames. Like a tornado, it shot toward the heavens, dyeing the sky orange-red.
Blazing fireballs continuously expanded. The ground melted into glass-like substances. Shockwaves hurled distant debris and dust dozens of meters high, forming a moving wall of destruction.
Seizing this opportunity, Konan flew to Nagato's side, preparing to take him away.
But before she could extract the black receivers, an icy voice sounded behind her ear.
"Do mere explosions give you such confidence?"
Konan turned in alarm. The sea of flames began contracting toward the fire's center like rivers flowing to oceans—vanishing completely within breaths, revealing Isshiki's figure once more.
Before Konan could attack again, Isshiki's form suddenly closed in, grabbing toward her body.
Konan's body instantly scattered into countless paper fragments, attempting to repeat her technique—using paper transformation to evade physical capture.
But Isshiki's eyes flickered. Space ripples appeared before him. A circular time-space portal edged with black-red twisted light opened silently before him—its interior containing endless profound darkness.
Irresistible suction transmitted from within the portal. All paper fragments—including Konan's consciousness and chakra core hidden among them—were forcibly drawn inside like light captured by a black hole, completely powerless to resist.
The paper fragments fluttered and struggled futilely. All ultimately submerged into darkness.
The time-space portal immediately closed and vanished without trace, as though never existing.
Only a few lonely, lusterless white papers drifted slowly downward across the ground.
"Konan!!!"
Nagato's eyes nearly split with fury, watching this scene helplessly while powerless due to the black receivers' suppression.
Endless regret surged from his heart—like poisonous vines strangling his heart so tightly he couldn't breathe.
The intense pain from black receivers piercing his body continued spreading, yet it couldn't match one ten-thousandth of his heartache.
He'd been too arrogant!
He'd thought possessing the Rinnegan meant he could suppress all defiance like the legendary Sage of Six Paths, bringing peace and tranquility to the shinobi world.
But powerful individuals appeared one after another. Forget bringing peace to the shinobi world—he couldn't even protect his most precious person.
What kind of god was he? Clearly just an arrogant madman drunk on power!
If he'd recognized his limitations earlier, if he could've been stronger...
Nagato screamed silently in his heart, his eye sockets already filled with scalding tears.
Before cruel reality, Nagato's sealed heart finally shattered completely.
Despair—like icy tidewater—drowned him utterly.
"Tap." Isshiki landed lightly, stepping toward Nagato with brisk strides, his gaze full of joy at obtaining a beloved toy.
"Finally, you still belong to me!"
Towering rage burned in Nagato's Rinnegan as he glared at the approaching enemy, struggling forcefully. He tore the wounds at his four limbs wider as black receivers ripped through them, blood pooling across the ground.
But before he could break free, Isshiki stepped forward, pinning him underfoot. His large hand extended, reaching toward Nagato's forehead.