novelraw Chapter 376 - 376 Otsutsuki Isshiki, Descends!
Chapter 376 - 376 Otsutsuki Isshiki, Descends!
After another intense black rod collision, Jigen leveraged the force to leap back, actively creating distance.
A trace of calculating light flashed in his eyes. His left hand, which had been empty all along, quietly formed a hand seal.
"Haah!"
He shouted. Countless micro black Chakra Rods, scattered into the air during his earlier close-quarters tangled combat with Menma, so tiny they were almost undetectable, were now instantly activated!
Accompanied by the enlarging effect of Sukunahikona, these black rods, within a thousandth of a second, transformed into countless lethal black lightning bolts, from all directions, up, down, left, right, shot densely towards Menma like a torrential rain!
Blocking all his possible evasion spaces!
Facing this sudden kill move, Menma remained calm in the face of danger, even not moving his feet.
A vast, invisible force erupted violently with him as the center!
"Shinra Tensei!"
Bang bang bang bang—!!!!!
All the incoming, enlarged black Chakra Rods, the moment they contacted that invisible repulsive force field, as if hitting an unshakable Wall of Sighs. Their forward momentum came to an abrupt halt, then were fiercely blasted away by an even more violent force!
Like dry branches swept by a violent wind, they scattered all over the ground.
However, Jigen's killing move had not ended!
Almost the moment the force of Shinra Tensei had not completely dissipated, a square-shaped shadow with dark red glowing edges, like a deathly curtain, suddenly enveloped the sky above Menma's head!
Menma looked up. Several immensely huge, surface smooth as a mirror, emitting a heavy, oppressive aura black cubes were crashing down towards him with the momentum of a mountain bearing down!
It was Jigen's Daikokuten!
These cubes not only possessed overwhelming physical weight but could also interfere with or even block the trapped person's Chakra Perception. An extremely terrifying sealing and suppressing technique!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The giant black cubes fell one after another like meteorites falling from sky, violently striking the location where Menma was!
The earth issued groans of being overburdened. Several bottomless giant craters were smashed out. Violent shockwaves carrying a sky full of sand, stones, and dust swept outwards like a tsunami!
The entire alternate space seemed to tremble once under this terrifying impact.
Jigen hovered in mid-air, looking down coldly at the area below shrouded in smoke, dust, and destructive energy.
However, his face did not show the relaxation of victory. Instead, his brows tightly furrowed.
Because he clearly perceived that, at the center of that destruction, a chakra far more vast and also more dangerous than before was awakening, violently erupting!
The smoke and dust slowly settled.
A figure enveloped in brilliant golden Chakra light, stepping on empty air, step by step slowly walked out from the pervading dust.
Menma had now entered the Tenseigan Chakra Mode!
Golden Chakra enveloped his entire body like burning sacred flames, forming a magnificent and majestic Chakra Cloak.
At both sides of his forehead, a pair of horns stood proudly erect like dragon horns.
Behind him, six pitch-black Truth-Seeking Balls, instantly enveloped by golden Chakra halos, slowly orbited.
And at the very center of his forehead, a vertical seam had already opened, revealing that golden Tenseigan that contained the power of all creation, as if able to see through the essence of everything in the world!
A vast oppressive force spread out like a solid substance. Even the rules of this alternate space seemed to resonate and tremble.
Looking at Menma's brand new posture, divine and powerful like a god, the grave expression on Jigen's face also reached its peak. He almost squeezed the name out from between his teeth:
"Tenseigan..."
"So that's how it is. This is the true confidence you have to face me directly..."
The Tenseigan, as the ultimate evolution form of the Byakugan, was considered legendary even in the Otsutsuki Clan's main family.
Among the appearing Otsutsuki Clan's members, the ordinary Byakugan was almost standard for Otsutsuki warriors. The Rinnegan also appeared from time to time. But the Tenseigan...
Even in Isshiki's long life and experience, he had not personally seen more than a few.
Jigen instantly understood in his heart. Facing an opponent who had awakened the Tenseigan, relying on his current not-yet-fully-reincarnated Vessel, the chances of victory were already extremely slim.
His main body only had half left, controlled by shrinking with 'Sukunahikona' and hiding in Jigen's brain. But the strength of this body was fundamentally insufficient to support the vast energy and soul burden required for Isshiki's complete reincarnation.
Forcibly reincarnating would only cause the 'Vessel' to enter a countdown to collapse...
At this moment, Jigen, or rather Isshiki, internally swiftly weighed the pros and cons, feeling unprecedentedly troublesome.
However, even though reason told him the situation was unfavorable, that deep-rooted arrogance belonging to Otsutsuki Isshiki in his bloodline would not let him germinate the thought of retreat!
A millennium of lurking and endurance had taught him waiting and scheming, but it could not erase his dignity and pride as a higher lifeform!
Especially after confirming the opponent possessed the Tenseigan, indicating an equal life level to his own clan, an instinctual will to fight towards a peer-level powerful individual, mixed with the sense of humiliation of being forced into a corner by a 'lower lifeform', burned like poisonous fire in his heart!
Retreat?
Impossible!
Jigen tightly gripped the black Chakra Rod in his hand. The black patterns all over his body seemed to come alive, slightly squirming, emitting an even more dangerous aura.
Jigen raised those icy eyes, firmly locked onto Menma, who was brilliant golden light.
Menma hovered in the air, the golden Chakra dazzling like the sun.
He slowly raised his right hand. The six Truth-Seeking Balls wrapped in golden halos behind him instantly flew before him, arranging into a perfect ring.
Hum—!
As Menma willed it, the six Truth-Seeking Balls began rotating clockwise at an astonishing speed!
At first their trajectories could be seen. In the blink of an eye, they turned into a blurred ring of interwoven gold and black!
A vast amount of Chakra was drawn and compressed by the rapidly rotating Truth-Seeking Balls, ultimately forming a terrifying silver-white tornado!
"Silver Wheel Reincarnation Explosion!"
Menma swung his arm forward. That terrifying silver tornado imbued with the power of six Truth-Seeking Balls, carrying the vast momentum to tear the void and crush all things, roared towards the distant Jigen!
Where the tornado passed, the brown earth below was easily plowed open bottomless trenches. Space itself issued groans of being overburdened!
The silver tornado was fast beyond imagination. In the blink of an eye, it had already swallowed the area of sky where Jigen was!
Jigen's pupils abruptly contracted. From that silver tornado, he sensed a composite energy far exceeding Shinra Tensei… a mix of Yin-Yang Release and the unique Ocular Power of the Tenseigan!
He dared not be negligent. The first moment, he raised both hands covered with black wedge-shaped patterns, palms aimed at the violently approaching tornado, attempting to activate the absorption ability of Kama!
"Absorb!" He growled, dark light flickering in his palms.
However, the next moment, his face changed drastically!
The Truth-Seeking Ball energy forming the core of the silver tornado was extremely stable. His Kama actually couldn't absorb it easily like it could ordinary Ninjutsu!
Not only ineffective, it instead transmitted wave after wave of burning, stinging pain!
'How is this possible?! Even Kama can't absorb it?!' Jigen was horrified in his heart.
Seeing the silver tornado about to engulf him, Jigen decisively made a decision. He gave up on absorbing, bringing both hands forcefully together in front of him!
"Daikokuten!"
Several immensely huge black cubes with dark red glowing edges appeared out of thin air, layered one upon another blocking directly in front of him like the strongest shield, attempting to endure head-on the destructive impact of the Silver Wheel Reincarnation Explosion!
Boom boom boom—!!!!!
The golden tornado violently struck the barrier formed by the black cubes!
Deafening roars resounded through the entire alternate dimension!
The extremely sturdy, enough to suppress Tailed Beasts Daikokuten cubes, in the face of this terrifying rotating and cutting force, issued teeth-grating twisting sounds!
Their surfaces instantly covered in spiderweb-like cracks. Their massive volumes were constantly pushed backwards by the impact, obviously barely holding on with great difficulty!
However, Menma's attack had not stopped.
Just at the moment the Silver Wheel Reincarnation Explosion and Daikokuten stalemated, golden light gathered again before him. Six more Truth-Seeking Balls covered in golden Chakra coating instantly condensed into form!
This time, they did not form a tornado. Under Menma's control, their forms suddenly changed!
Each Truth-Seeking Ball stretched and molded during high-speed rotation, ultimately transforming into six shuriken with incredibly sharp edges, hollow centers, entwined with golden lightning, Truth-Seeking Ball shuriken!
"Go!"
Menma swung his arm. The six Truth-Seeking Ball shuriken traced six tricky and bizarre arcs, from up, down, left, right, front, back… six completely different directions… bypassing the Daikokuten barrier in stalemate with the Silver Wheel Reincarnation Explosion, shooting with perfect accuracy towards Jigen behind it!
In front, the continuous crushing of the Silver Wheel Reincarnation Explosion. On the flanks and rear, the lethal sneak attack of six Truth-Seeking Ball shuriken!
Jigen instantly found himself in an inescapable, unblockable lethal predicament!
"Bastard!!!"
Feeling the threat of death coming from all sides, enough to completely destroy this Vessel, Jigen let out an extremely unwilling and humiliated roar!
His reliance, the Kama absorption ability, failed against the Truth-Seeking Balls. His strongest defensive Dojutsu, Daikokuten, was also on the verge of collapse...
This vessel named Jigen had already reached its limit of endurance!
Continuing to tough it out would only lead to being completely annihilated along with this precious Vessel by the opponent's terrifying attacks!
The plan of a millennium hibernation, the ambition to collect Tailed Beasts to revive the Ten-Tails, the obsession with revenge against Kaguya...
Could they all fail at the last step here and now?!
No!
Absolutely not!
Under the immense pressure of life and death hanging by a thread and endless humiliation stimulation, the Otsutsuki Isshiki hidden in Jigen's brain finally made the final decision!
"Urgh aaaaaah—!!!"
Accompanied by a howl of pain and liberation, Jigen's body abruptly stiffened!
The black wedge-shaped patterns all over his body violently squirmed as if boiling, emitting dazzling light!
Crack...
Boom!
Just as the Silver Wheel Reincarnation Explosion completely crushed the Daikokuten barrier, and the six Truth-Seeking Ball shuriken were about to touch his body, a vast amount of Chakra far exceeding any Jigen had shown before violently erupted from Jigen's body!
Dazzling white light instantly swallowed everything!
The silver tornado of Silver Wheel Reincarnation Explosion and the six Truth-Seeking Ball shuriken, under this sudden Chakra energy impact, were forcibly forced back and deflected, ultimately striking the distant barren earth, causing continuous terrifying explosions, turning large areas into nothingness!
A fierce energy storm swept in all directions, forcing even Menma hovering in the air to slightly retreat. Golden Chakra rippled around him, resolving the impact.
His eyes fixedly stared at the explosion center, filled with vigilance and a trace of anticipation.
'Finally... forced out, huh?'
The rampant energy storm and dazzling white light slowly subsided.
The scene at the explosion center gradually cleared.
Where Jigen originally was, stood a brand new figure.
He had pale, bloodless skin. From his forehead to the back of his head grew a peculiar-shaped, 'long curved horn' like a crown. His forehead had only one eyebrow, growing above his right eye.
His right eye was no longer a human pupil, but a wheel-shaped pattern emitting indifferent golden light, with a black shape in the center of the pupil… the Dojutsu [Kokugan].
His left eye was a pure Byakugan.
On his chest and back were clear vertical rows of black tomoe tattoos, emitting a mysterious aura.
Even though the white feather robe originally belonging to Jigen was now mostly damaged from the earlier explosion, appearing somewhat disheveled, the vast Chakra oppressive force he emitted around him was far more powerful than Jigen's, countless times over!
Otsutsuki Isshiki's main body descends!
Isshiki slowly raised his head, using that golden Kokugan and white left eye, indifferently looked at Menma opposite, shining with golden light.
His eyes no longer held the anger and humiliation from the Jigen period. Only an absolute calmness of looking down on ants, controlling life and death, and the scrutiny of seeing a precious prey remained.
"To have forced me to have to reveal this incomplete main body..." Isshiki spoke. His voice was low and hoarse, carrying an ancient, elegant rhythm. "You truly are completely different from those weak lower lifeforms on this planet."
He slightly moved his neck, issuing subtle bone sounds, as if adjusting to this long-lost main body.
"However—" Isshiki raised his hand, pointing at Menma, his arrogant tone carrying a verdict.
"Your struggle ends here!"