Croak, Shinra...

The Six Paths of Pain required the Chakra within him to operate. The instant they entered that Dead Silence Domain, the energy within those puppet bodies began to drain rapidly. Nagato had originally believed that, with his Rinnegan—the legendary Sage Eyes—he could stop that pair of Mangekyō Sharingan from absorbing his Chakra.

Yet reality proved that no matter how he controlled the power within his body, he could not stop his Chakra from being absorbed by those Sharingan.

"This really is a monster. This kind of energy absorption ability... Hm?"

"Not good!"

Nagato abruptly raised his head. Chakra surged and churned wildly within his body, and his aura suddenly erupted as it poured frantically into those puppet bodies.

At the same time.

"Hehe, just a few puppets... hehe..."

Uchiha Yue watched the puppet bodies impassively. The chains around him spun continuously, surrounding the puppets in the blink of an eye. They easily pierced into the puppets' bodies and began frantically drawing out and devouring the Chakra within them.

Clatter!

The rattling of chains echoed without end. Some chains were snapped apart in an instant, only to grow back again. No matter how the puppets struggled, they could not break free of those chains.

From the moment they were bound by those Evil God Chains, those puppets were finished. Unless Nagato's control over Chakra reached the utmost limit, and the amount of Chakra in his body could completely overwhelm Uchiha Yue, only then could he tear out the chains before they drained all the Chakra from the puppets.

Clearly, Nagato did not possess that ability.

"Hahaha, what enormous Chakra. Hehe, come on, come on! Hahaha, Nagato, keep going! Keep urging the power inside you onward. Now, give all your power to me! Hahaha! Your fate has already been decided!"

Boom!

A gigantic hand rose and tightly seized those puppet bodies. A pair of scarlet eyes stared impassively at Deva Path Pain. As the puppets fell into Uchiha Yue's grasp, that terrifying suction force immediately rose to another level.

"Not good! Damn it!"

On a distant mountaintop, the aura burning around Nagato visibly weakened. His already shriveled, frail body became even feebler. Feeling the uncontrolled, frenzied flow of Chakra within him being devoured, Nagato hastily severed his connection with the Six Paths of Pain, his face filled with lingering fear.

A scarlet afterimage kept replaying in his mind.

"Nagato? No, why does this guy know my identity? Wait, not good..."

Before Nagato could think any further, it was as though he had remembered something. He abruptly looked up.

Crack!

"Oh, you cut it off? Hehe, what a pity."

Uchiha Yue looked impassively at the puppet bodies in his hand, then applied a little force and directly crushed them into fragments.

"No, Yahiko!"

Nagato and Konan watched the fragments raining down from the sky. Among them were the fragments of their companion Yahiko's corpse.

"You monster, I'll kill you!"

Nagato stared fixedly at the enormous figure in the sky. His weakened body began to squeeze out every last bit of strength, and a powerful aura appeared around him once more. His body slowly began to straighten.

This shouldn't be happening. It shouldn't be like this. Why was this monster so powerful?

According to Nagato's plan, he should have controlled the puppets to rush forward, shatter the layer of Chakra armor covering this monster's body, then seize the bastard by the throat, gouge out his eyes, and crush them beneath his foot.

Not like this!

At this moment, Nagato was truly filled with killing intent. If he had only wanted to clean up the mess caused by that idiot Uchiha Obito before, and kill this monster that might destroy the world, then now, he wanted to kill this monster that had destroyed Yahiko!!!

"Hehe... are you angry?"

High in the sky, Uchiha Yue lowered his head and looked impassively toward the distant mountaintop.

"Hahaha, come, have a taste of this!"

That towering figure, like a demon god, slowly spread his arms. Arcs of electricity and sparks flowed across his body, while the sound of electric currents tearing through the air echoed continuously.

Boom!

An incomparably terrifying aura erupted from his body. Violent electric currents, like enormous serpentine dragons, raced wildly over him. A sphere of light appeared before him, shining with blinding radiance, writhing and trembling madly, its surface wrapped in endless lightning and flames. It grew crazily at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Rumble!

Immediately afterward, the earth began to shake. The region where Nagato and the others stood trembled as though an earthquake had struck. The ground rose, while soil and stone compressed together, forming a peculiar cage in the blink of an eye and enclosing them all.

Overload High-Energy Ion Beam, charge complete...

The corners of Uchiha Yue's mouth curled upward slightly, revealing an incomparably brutal smile, one that conveyed overwhelming power with a single glance.

At this moment, the energy gathered within the sphere of light before him had reached its limit. An endless stream of rays was pouring out from it.

Boom!

The next moment, a blue-violet beam wrapped in lightning and flames descended upon Nagato and the others with boundless force.

And at the instant that beam erupted.

"Not good! Madara, get us out of here!"

Black Zetsu looked at the dazzling sphere of light, and a bone-chilling sense of dread immediately surged into his heart. He roared at Uchiha Obito, then transformed into a black shadow and leaped onto Obito's body.

Obito immediately activated Kamui and grabbed Konan by the shoulder. Just as he leaped up and touched Nagato—

Boom!

"Croak, Shinra Tensei!"

Nagato gathered all his power before him. A terrifying repulsive force erupted, intending to deflect that overwhelmingly powerful attack.

Boom!

In an instant, that terrifying attack carrying incomparable might struck before Nagato. Layer upon layer of energy ripples spread wildly like waves. In the blink of an eye, veins bulged across Nagato's body, while the flesh and blood within him seemed to burn as they frantically refined Chakra. In a moment, the already gaunt Nagato became a dried corpse wrapped in skin.

Crack!

A sound like shattering glass rang out. Nagato's expression changed at once, revealing disbelief as the repulsive force field before him was directly shattered like a bubble.

"Impossible..."

The sky full of light immediately engulfed Nagato's body and blasted into the mountain without any obstruction. When the beam vanished, the mountain had disappeared, leaving behind a horrifying, bottomless crater whose surface was dotted with glassy crystals.

High in the sky...

"Oh..."