His breathing was heavier than usual, and his chakra had fallen below the critical threshold. The faint glow of his Byakugan flickered rather than shining steadily, pulsing between light and dark-a sign that he only had enough chakra left to keep his chakra pathways functioning at the bare minimum.
"All six Culture Tanks have been destroyed.
We found no second vessel. Gland fragments remained in the empty cultivation tank, and their size matched that of an intact gland, which means the sixth gland was removed and transplanted into the vessel in front of us.
There is only one vessel in this cavern." Neji leaned against the rock wall at the fork. His voice was quiet but steady.
The vessel began trembling inside the resonance cage.
It was not trembling with fear. Its muscles were twitching because some violent biochemical reaction was taking place inside its body.
The network of black blood vessels across its body began changing color, turning from black to dark purple, then deep red. Every vessel dilated, and large patches of bruising appeared across its skin.
Its eyes turned from black to dark red, and its pupils changed from white to a cloudy gray.
Its mouth opened. The hum forced from its throat grew lower and increasingly irregular, finally breaking into a series of intermittent sounds like air escaping from a damaged bellows.
"The Rejection Reaction has fully kicked in." Chisen retracted the pointed spike on his cane and replaced it with the rubber tip. "Liver and kidney function have already begun to fail. The rejection toxins are attacking the blood vessel walls, causing them to leak.
It has two minutes at most before its chakra field collapses completely."
Light began shining from inside the vessel—not the white light of chakra, but the searing red glow produced