Jigen staggered out of the ruins and slowly forced himself upright.
His expression was dark, and his entire demeanor had changed.
At this point, calling him Jigen was no longer appropriate.
The one standing there was Ōtsutsuki Isshiki.
Once the second stage of the Kāma activated, Isshiki's consciousness completely took control of Jigen's body. From that moment onward, it was Isshiki himself fighting Hikaru.
However, Isshiki's expression was far from pleasant.
Kaguya's vessel was far stronger than he had expected.
Hikaru had barely used any of his true strength. Even the intensity of his chakra was only around Jigen's current level, yet his methods were far more dangerous.
That attack which pierced through space itself had been especially terrifying.
Had Isshiki not activated the second stage of the Kāma and forced more of his power into Jigen's body, the vessel would already have collapsed.
That would have triggered Isshiki's automatic resurrection.
Hikaru had guessed correctly that Isshiki possessed a final safeguard. What he had misunderstood was that it was not something Isshiki activated willingly.
It was automatic.
The moment Jigen died, the Kāma would fully decompress, allowing Ōtsutsuki Isshiki to reincarnate through his body.
That was the outcome Isshiki wished to avoid above all else.
Jigen's body was simply too weak. If Isshiki resurrected through such an inadequate vessel, he would have very little time left to live.
For a being who should have possessed an almost endless lifespan, the thought of approaching death was unbearable.
And dying because of his greatest enemy was even less acceptable.
A low hum echoed through the ruins.
A dark spatial rift opened in front of Isshiki, resembling a bottomless black hole.
Hikaru stepped through it a moment later.
Isshiki showed no surprise. An Ōtsutsuki possessing spatial abilities was hardly unusual.
"Your control over space has improved considerably over the years," Isshiki said.
Although spatial powers themselves were nothing remarkable to him, the way Hikaru used them had left a lasting impression.
Compressing an attack into a single point, sending it through space, and concealing its entire trajectory within another dimension before unleashing its full destructive force—
Isshiki could accomplish something similar.
But doing it with such speed and precision was another matter entirely.
His gaze settled on Hikaru's glowing blue eyes.
Then understanding dawned.
"Your eyes," Isshiki said slowly. "Their mutation granted you greater authority over space. This power belongs to them, doesn't it?"
"You're perceptive."
Hikaru looked at him indifferently as chakra surged violently through his body.
"But that won't save you. I've already seen through your condition. You know as well as I do how this ends."
"How arrogant."
Isshiki snorted. A black rod formed in his hand as his chakra erupted outward, reducing the surrounding fragments of stone to dust.
"Your abilities may be unusual, but this is nowhere near enough to defeat me.
"Neither of us has fought seriously yet. I'd like to see whether you've actually improved during your years of imprisonment—or whether you're still nothing more than a worthless coward who relies on surprise attacks."
The moment he finished speaking, Isshiki vanished.
He passed directly through space and appeared behind Hikaru like a ghost.
His left hand reached for the back of Hikaru's neck while the black rod in his right shot toward Hikaru's abdomen, wrapped in terrifying chakra.
Everything happened too quickly.
It was as though the instant Isshiki decided to attack, the attack had already become reality.
Hikaru, however, was no longer the man he had been five years ago.
Ever since he first began making a name for himself, he had been a shinobi who excelled at manipulating space.
After his Jōgan evolved to its second stage, his understanding and control of spatial forces had risen to an entirely different level.
Isshiki's assault was troublesome, but it was not enough to frighten him.
Hikaru's chakra shifted slightly.
Isshiki's hand closed around the back of his neck.
A terrifying suction force erupted from his palm, rapidly draining the chakra from Hikaru's body.
"Your skill with space may have improved," Isshiki said coldly, "but there is still a vast gulf between us."
The changes covering Jigen's body grew more pronounced.
The horn protruding from his head became larger, while the black Kāma markings spread farther across his face.
Even his chakra grew denser.
That density was proof that Isshiki had forced Jigen's body to accept and control even more of his true power.
Regardless of how long the vessel could endure it, Isshiki had reached a point where he could properly wield that strength.
It was his power to begin with.
Naturally, there would be no unfamiliarity in its use.
Space-time techniques were among Isshiki's greatest strengths. In his hands, they were smooth, precise, and suffocatingly dangerous.
"Your fate has already been decided."
"Has it?"
An indifferent voice suddenly came from behind him.
Isshiki frowned.
Only then did he notice that the Hikaru in his grasp was rapidly withering.
With a soft pop, the body transformed into a wooden figure.
The wooden duplicate had been indistinguishable from Hikaru in both appearance and chakra. Isshiki had not noticed that the opponent he captured was merely a clone.
"A Wood Clone?"
Memories surfaced in Isshiki's mind.
Indra and Asura had fought across the shinobi world for generations. Even after their deaths, their power had continued to reincarnate through their descendants, carrying their conflict forward.
Isshiki had spent most of the past thousand years hiding, but that did not mean he was ignorant of the world.
He knew many secrets that humanity had long since forgotten.
"That's right. A Wood Clone."
Hikaru's voice remained cold.
He stood behind Isshiki with his hands already forming seals as savage chakra surged around him.
"You don't possess the Byakugan in this body, so you couldn't even see through something so simple.
"Then again, even with the Byakugan, you might not have noticed it immediately. I infused the clone with Yin–Yang Release.
"Now then… are you ready for what comes next?"
Isshiki had not fully resurrected.
As long as he remained inside Jigen's body, he could not access his Byakugan.
For the Ōtsutsuki, the importance of those eyes could not be overstated.
Losing them was a severe disadvantage in a battle at this level.
The Ōtsutsuki had relied upon the Byakugan for so long that its use had become instinctive. Their mastery of it was on an entirely different level from anything the Hyūga Clan could achieve.
Even so, Hikaru was correct.
A technique infused with Yin–Yang Release could not necessarily be understood at a glance, even through the Byakugan.
What Hikaru did not know was that Isshiki, even after fully resurrecting in another possible future, had once been deceived by smoke bombs and Shadow Clones.
Such a thing sounded absurd for an Ōtsutsuki.
Fortunately for Isshiki, Hikaru did not possess that information. Otherwise, he might have prepared even more humiliating methods to deal with him.
"Hmph!"
Isshiki crushed the Wood Clone in his hand.
Anger flashed through his eyes.
He had already been deceived by this same enemy once before, and that mistake had cost him dearly.
Now, after a thousand years, he had been fooled again.
How could he possibly tolerate it?
Isshiki held both hands before him as immense chakra gathered within his palms.
Hikaru immediately sensed an overwhelming threat.
Through the Jōgan, he saw two minuscule black spikes infused with Yin–Yang Release shooting toward him at incredible speed.
Under his enhanced vision, the spikes appeared normal in size.
To the naked eye, however, they were almost impossibly small—far beyond what ordinary vision could perceive.
"He can manipulate the size of objects?"
Hikaru raised an eyebrow.
His eyes shifted slightly, and the space in front of him twisted.
Before the spikes could touch him, the warped space redirected them.
A moment later, the same spikes shot back toward Isshiki.
Hikaru did not relax.
Chakra surged through his eyes as the surrounding space became increasingly distorted, yet strangely orderly.
He was taking control of the entire area.
The man before him was extremely dangerous.
Hikaru was familiar with black chakra rods infused with Yin–Yang Release. Both Obito and Nagato could create similar weapons.
Isshiki's method, however, was far more troublesome.
He combined those rods with spatial manipulation and the ability to shrink physical objects.
It created attacks that were almost impossible to defend against.
The rods could approach in a form too small to perceive, then suddenly return to their original size at point-blank range.
Hikaru's Jōgan could see them.
He could even allow one eye to track their original dimensions while the other observed their shrunken forms.
But coordinating both perspectives while continuously adjusting his position would be unnecessarily difficult.
Rather than gambling on such a complicated defense, Hikaru chose to alter the flow of space around himself.
That was the most reliable solution.
He had no intention of allowing one of those rods to pierce him unexpectedly.
Even if he could survive most wounds, a direct strike through the heart would still kill him.
When confronting an unfamiliar enemy with unfamiliar powers, Hikaru would rather pay a greater chakra cost than gamble with his life.
The surrounding spatial pressure surged toward Isshiki.
Isshiki frowned.
Moving even a single step became difficult. Worse, the black spikes he released could no longer reach Hikaru.
The pressure was suffocating.
Even with the second stage of the Kāma active, Jigen's body struggled against it.
But Isshiki was still Isshiki.
With a muffled grunt, he forced more chakra through the vessel and moved despite the pressure.
Black rods appeared from every direction, all aimed at Hikaru.
Yet just before reaching him, they became strangely distorted and froze in midair.
The tips appeared to have been swallowed by invisible black holes. No matter how hard they pushed forward, they could not move another fraction of an inch.
This had become an invisible contest for dominion over space.
Within this confined region, both combatants were fighting for absolute control over the surrounding dimensions.
"Not bad."
A faint smile appeared on Hikaru's lips.
Blue chakra enveloped his entire body.
"Your control over space is impressive.
"But that is all it is.
"If this is the full extent of your ability, then I'm disappointed."
Hikaru spoke slowly.
With every word, the chakra pouring from his body grew more violent.
The moment his final word fell, the rules governing the surrounding space changed again.
Under the influence of an indescribable force, the suspended black spikes twisted violently.
Then they vanished from Hikaru's surroundings.
Isshiki's expression changed.
Tiny spatial openings had appeared around him.
The black spikes he had created emerged from those openings and shot straight back toward their master.
"What overwhelming chakra… and what extraordinary control over space."
Isshiki's thoughts raced.
Had Kaguya truly refined her spatial abilities to such a level during the past thousand years?
Even in his current state, he had no chance of defeating such effortless spatial manipulation head-on.
The pressure around him was growing stronger by the second.
Hikaru had not merely seized control of the surrounding space. He had altered a portion of its internal laws.
To defeat him, Isshiki first needed to destroy this domain.
A red glow appeared along the black rod in his hand.
Although Jigen was still technically human, his body was completely controlled by Isshiki.
At this point in the battle, it was difficult to say whether any part of Jigen's consciousness remained at all.
Isshiki had never regarded Hikaru lightly.
He believed Hikaru was Kaguya's vessel.
In his mind, the man before him was Kaguya herself.
There was no possibility of carelessness.
A thousand years ago, one moment of complacency had reduced him to this miserable state.
History might often repeat itself, and people might constantly fail to learn from the past, but hatred was an excellent teacher.
Isshiki would not make the same mistake twice.
He drew in a deep breath as the black rods he had created flew toward him and the surrounding space pressed down with crushing force.
Then he ignored the incoming weapons.
The black rod in his hand erupted with crimson chakra.
He swung it forward with all his strength.
He was not aiming at Hikaru.
His target was the space directly in front of him.
A low, unnatural hum exploded through the area.
The sound was muted, yet painfully sharp, as if a metal rod had struck directly against the skull.
The blow threw the surrounding space into disorder.
The black spikes aimed at Isshiki were swallowed by the spatial turbulence.
Isshiki raised the rod again.
His second strike shattered the region like a pane of glass.
Extreme chaos flooded the entire area.
Neither he nor Hikaru could control the space any longer.
"That lunatic…"
Hikaru had not expected Isshiki to destroy the surrounding dimensions so recklessly.
Such an act was dangerous to both of them.
Fighting inside unstable space carried the risk of being dragged into an unknown dimension at any moment.
Isshiki's response was crude, violent, and nearly suicidal.
It was the first time Hikaru had encountered someone willing to use such a method.
Worse, there had been no opportunity to stop him.
Hikaru had focused too much of his attention on controlling the surrounding space. He had not expected Isshiki to respond by simply smashing the entire region apart.
Even so, Hikaru remained calm.
His eyes possessed authority over space.
He refused to believe that he could not eventually regain control and return, just as Obito had always found his way back from Kamui's dimension.
"You can no longer control space, can you?"
Isshiki did not appear concerned about their situation.
Small wounds had appeared across his body, carved into him by fragments of broken space.
Hikaru had suffered similar cuts.
Against such a violent method, neither of them had escaped entirely unharmed.
"This spatial chaos will last at least ten minutes," Isshiki continued. "I don't know how much I'll be able to accomplish in here.
"But your situation seems far worse than mine."
Hikaru stared coldly at him.
His gaze shifted toward the strange metal plate embedded in Jigen's abdomen.
Their battle might not have appeared as spectacular as his clash with Urashiki, but its intensity was unimaginably high.
Through the violent collision of their chakra, Hikaru had noticed something wrong with Isshiki's vessel.
Cracks had appeared across the plate on Jigen's stomach.
Hikaru did not know its exact function, but he could clearly perceive the body's deteriorating condition.
The vessel might only have a few minutes left before it completely failed.
The worse Jigen's condition became, the deeper the cracks spread across the metal plate.
It seemed to serve as some kind of warning device.
"Even in this condition, I have more than enough strength to kill you."
Isshiki shook his head indifferently.
He seemed unconcerned about what happened to Jigen's body.
He raised his chin slightly as savage chakra surged from him once more.
Behind him, the shadow of the true Ōtsutsuki Isshiki became clearer within Hikaru's vision.
"I admit that if this continues, the vessel will die. I will have no choice but to resurrect through it.
"With such a brief lifespan after resurrection, finding another suitable vessel will not be easy. I may even be forced to sleep for another thousand years.
"But none of that matters as long as you die.
"Your death is simply too important to me."
Isshiki's words overflowed with ancient hatred.
As he spoke, the cracks across the plate on Jigen's abdomen continued to spread.
He had clearly made his decision.
He intended to fight Hikaru to the death.
Yet his declaration also provided Hikaru with valuable information.
Hikaru had already guessed that Isshiki's resurrection would not last long, but now that suspicion had been confirmed.
"A brief lifespan after resurrection…"
The information caught Hikaru's attention.
How brief was "brief"?
A few hours?
Several days?
Or perhaps a few months?
The exact duration would have an enormous effect on the battle.
Still, simply confirming that Isshiki would be operating under a strict time limit greatly increased Hikaru's confidence.
At worst, he could delay the fight until the surrounding space stabilized, leave a mark on Isshiki, and retreat.
He refused to believe that if he could not kill Isshiki directly, he would also be incapable of killing the next vessel immediately after the Kāma was implanted.
Hikaru could simply wait until Isshiki's remaining lifespan ran out, then eliminate the replacement before the reincarnation could progress.
Would that not still count as killing Ōtsutsuki Isshiki?
That, however, was only his final option.
If possible, Hikaru still intended to end the battle here.
Isshiki was far more troublesome than he had anticipated, but there was no turning back now.
Within the shattered space, Hikaru's blue eyes shone with a cold, dangerous light.
The true battle was only beginning.
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