At the same time, just as Shinichi and the others had shaken off the pursuit of the Kumogakure group—
In the Land of Hot Water, deep beneath the ground in some unknowable, hidden place—
A vast sea of blood churned slowly. A crimson glow illuminated this deathly silent space, and a pair of enormous blood-red eyes gradually opened.
It no longer knew how long it had lived.
After its origin had been severely damaged, it had forgotten its original name, forgotten where it came from, and even forgotten what it had once looked like. It only remembered that it had lived for a very, very long time.
But who was it?
It sank into contemplation.
"My Lord!"
At that moment, a trembling voice filled with boundless reverence and fanatic devotion echoed through the silent space, interrupting its fragmented, chaotic thoughts.
Lord!
Yes!
It remembered.
In a distant age, when it had not yet come here, but instead sat in the western lands of this continent, it had once been enthroned upon a seat of blood. Those insignificant humans had knelt at its feet, calling it a god, calling it sacred, calling it their lord.
It had generously bestowed divine favor upon its followers—granting them bodies that felt no pain, so that blades could not bring them down; granting them a nature that feared no death, so that terror vanished from their hearts; granting them pleasure and strength drawn from the sacrifice of their enemies, turning slaughter into their most devout form of prayer.
Some humans denounced it as an evil god, as a demon, organizing repeated campaigns to destroy it along with its followers.
But most never even made it past its fanatical believers, those empowered by divine favor. They would instead become nourishment for its domain, part of the offerings used to please it.
It was immortal.
Though it had forgotten its name and its origin, it still remembered one thing—
It should be immortal.
Until that day.
At the center of the earth, a towering tree had appeared at some unknown time. That tree was so immense it seemed capable of devouring the entire world.
From it, it sensed an unprecedented danger—something it had never felt in its long existence.
Though curious, it remained cautious and did not leave its domain.
But those two still came.
A man and a woman.
Descending from the heavens.
The woman merely glanced at it, and that gaze was like one cast upon prey awaiting slaughter.
Gray bone protruded from her palm and pierced into its body.
Its proud immortality was utterly meaningless before that gray bone, as though it were a substance condensed from death and finality itself—the nemesis of all life, all existence, all that was undying.
Never before had it perceived death so clearly.
It could only barely hold on, preventing itself from dying on the spot.
Amid its struggle, it faintly heard their conversation—words about "Kaguya," the "Divine Tree," "chakra fruit," "harvesting," "the next millennium," and—
Companions!
These two terrifying beings… had companions as well!?
Seeing that it had not died immediately, the man seemed somewhat surprised. He scolded the woman called "Kaguya" and prepared to personally finish it off.
It thought it was doomed.
But just as the man was about to strike, the woman named Kaguya suddenly used that gray bone to ambush him.
It could not understand why these two terrifying beings would suddenly turn on each other.
But its desperate will to live allowed it to seize that moment—amid the chaos of their sudden clash—
Run.
Run with everything it had.
It fled, fled without stopping, until it reached this unfamiliar land, until it burrowed deep into this lightless underground.
And then, it fell into a long slumber.
The gray bone lodged in its body clung to it like a parasitic curse, day and night devouring what remained of its origin and vitality.
It did not know how much time had passed. It only knew that during that endless sleep, it had teetered on the brink of total extinction countless times—yet, driven by sheer instinct, it had struggled back each time.
It was immortal.
Even in the face of that gray bone, which embodied absolute termination—
It had proven that.
It was only twenty years ago that it finally awakened.
When it woke, it discovered that the entire world had changed.
Everything it had once been familiar with had vanished. In its place stood something called "shinobi," beings who wielded a power known as chakra.
That power was intricately connected to the tree… and to the energy that had surged within that man and woman.
At the same time, it realized that although it had awakened, it was already too late.
This body of its had been eroded by that gray bone until it was riddled with holes—completely ruined.
It needed a new body.
It needed to restore its power.
And it understood even more clearly that the next millennium was approaching. The "companions" those two had spoken of would soon descend once again.
When that time came—
If it still had not recovered to a complete state,
There would be only one outcome.
Death.
Thus, it beguiled a human who had accidentally wandered into this underground region—someone whose heart was filled with ambition—guiding him to establish a church, sending followers far and wide in search of a "Holy Child," who would serve as the vessel for its reincarnation.
A perfect vessel.
It would use that body to live again.
Its thoughts returned to the present. The Evil God gazed at the middle-aged man before it, dressed in luxurious robes and kneeling in reverence, and slowly spoke:
"Abe."
"My Lord! Your loyal servant listens to your will."
The man named Abe bowed even deeper.
"The Holy Child has already descended. I have sensed his birth upon this land—within the Land of Hot Water."
"Yes! O Supreme Lord!"
Abe lowered his head even further and said in a hushed voice, "Rest assured! Your loyal servant and the Church will spare no cost to find the Holy Child, to welcome your descent! Your radiance shall once more illuminate the world!"
"There is one more matter..."
The Evil God's voice paused slightly.
At the center of the churning sea of blood, the thick, viscous liquid suddenly writhed violently.
Immediately after, a highly condensed beam of blood-red light shot forth, hovering in midair before Abe.
The bloodlight gradually receded, revealing what lay within—
A fragment, encased in a translucent, amber-like blood substance that flowed slowly as if alive.
Through the blood-colored amber, one could vaguely see its core—
A section of ancient, dull-gray bone, emanating a deeply unsettling, ominous aura.
"Go. Find someone to forge it into a weapon. When I descend, it shall serve as my sacred arm."
After nearly a thousand years, it had finally forced out the bone that the terrifying woman called "Kaguya" had driven into its body.
That bone now carried not only that woman's terrifying power, but had also absorbed its own most immense and purest origin.
Over nearly a millennium of entanglement, the two had fused into one, transforming into something entirely new—an existence imbued with immense power.
"Yes! Your loyal servant will seek out the finest craftsmen in the world and forge it into a supreme sacred weapon worthy of my Lord! Only..."
Abe respectfully received it with both hands, then asked in a low voice: "My Lord, by what name shall this sacred weapon be known? Please bestow upon it a sacred name, that your servant may remember and invoke it."
Hearing this, the Evil God fell into silence.
After a long while, it slowly spoke:
"Immortal Severance."
It called itself immortal.
Yet this bone had nearly killed even its undying self.
It needed this name—to remind itself why it could not die, and why it had once come so close to death.
At the same time, it hoped that once this bone—now fused with both their powers—was forged into a weapon, it would become a divine instrument in its hands, capable of cutting down all enemies—
Including those otherworldly beings who might descend again in the future.
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