"Fukasaku, Shima! Run! Hurry! Get out of here! I'll hold them off—I'll stop these monsters!"
The Great Toad Sage roared. He stirred all the Senjutsu Chakra he had accumulated inside him into action. A terrifying, overwhelming aura erupted from him. In the blink of an eye, every wound on his body vanished. Under the powerful Senjutsu Chakra's cleansing, his aged body began to regain its youthful appearance.
His life began to burn!
The Great Toad Sage knew that changing the prophecy and changing fate always demanded a price. He had chosen to pay with his own life, carving a path for the toads of Mount Myoboku. He would turn around Mount Myoboku's fate of destruction.
Even if the price was his life!
After all, he didn't have many years left to live. He might as well burn away everything he had now and fight a way out for the next generation.
"Old man! What are you talking about? How could we possibly leave you behind and run away on our own?"
Shima stared at the Great Toad Sage in disbelief, her voice furious.
"Run! Don't worry about me. Go find Jiraiya. Find the Child of Prophecy!"
The Great Toad Sage only shook his head, then charged toward the Great Horned Rat.
"Come on, you monster!"
The Great Toad Sage glared at the Great Horned Rat and roared furiously. With a firm resolve to die, he attacked the Great Horned Rat and the swarm of rats.
Live on, toads of Mount Myoboku!
"Run!"
Under the Great Toad Sage's cover, the surviving toads began using every method they could to escape.
Meanwhile, at Ryūchi Cave.
Boom!
A tremendous boom rang out as a giant snake's head exploded. Its headless body crashed to the ground, spraying scarlet blood everywhere.
"Who are you?"
Manda roared at the Angel Cockroaches, unable to understand how these terrifying monsters had appeared in Ryūchi Cave. Unfortunately, no one answered him. The only response was an attack from an Angel Cockroach—a towering, powerfully built figure wearing a kasaya and wielding a golden khakkhara.
Jingle, jingle~~
Abbot gripped the khakkhara in his hand and stared expressionlessly at Manda.
"Namo Amitābha..."
Cold sutras came from Abbot's lips. As he chanted, the khakkhara in his hand began to glow gold, and a terrifying pressure emerged around him.
"Praise Brahman!"
When he finished chanting, Abbot vanished. In the next instant, a golden blade of light flashed.
Splurt!
A gash appeared at Manda's vital point, seven inches behind his head. A figure holding a khakkhara, surrounded by sutras formed from countless nanomachines, appeared behind him.
"Praise Brahman!"
Abbot praised Brahman again. The next moment, Manda's head severed cleanly at the vital point. Scarlet blood gushed out like a fountain, while his headless body thrashed wildly across the ground like a pipe—looking just like an earthworm that had crawled out of the dirt and been startled.
"..."
Abbot didn't even look at the commotion behind him. Clutching his khakkhara, he devoutly praised Brahman and continued his killing.
Before long, the other powerful fighters of Ryūchi Cave were held off by the formidable Angel Cockroaches, and Abbot came face-to-face with Ryūchi Cave's leader, the White Snake Sage.
"Hiss!"
The White Snake Sage flicked her tongue and stared at the never-before-seen monster before her. It looked human, yet had the features of a cockroach—and possessed terrifying strength.
"What are you?"
The White Snake Sage tilted her head at Abbot and instinctively activated her ability, trying to learn from the Shinobi World where this Angel Cockroach had come from.
"Praise Brahman!"
Abbot's gaze was cold as he stared indifferently at the White Snake Sage. His kasaya began to writhe, and cold sutras with a sacred quality came from his lips. The kasaya, made of nanomachines, began to disassemble, transforming into the corresponding sutras as he chanted. At the same time, the khakkhara in his hand lit up once more.
He paid no attention to what the White Snake Sage was thinking. As an Angel Cockroach, Abbot had no feelings. To the Angel Cockroaches, the great Brahman's orders were everything. They were cold, brutal monsters, utterly devoid of humanity.
Death was not frightening. What was frightening was failing to complete the mission entrusted to them by the great Brahman!
Jingle, jingle!~
Uchiha Brahman, Angel Cockroach, the great...
Fragments of information flooded the White Snake Sage's mind. She felt as if she had learned something, yet at the same time, as if she knew nothing at all. Whenever she tried to probe the most central secrets, she encountered a mass of interference.
It was the information-interference equipment Uchiha Brahman had unconsciously installed in the laboratory while conducting experiments.
Although many details remained unclear, she had learned one thing for certain: these monsters were connected to Uchiha Brahman!
"Hiss! Monster, die!"
The White Snake Sage's information probe hadn't taken any time. The instant it ended, she attacked Abbot.
But in the next moment, something astonishing happened. Her immensely powerful attack was blocked by the golden sutras drifting through the air.
Abbot completely ignored the White Snake Sage as she attacked. As if nothing were happening, he continued chanting.
"Damn it, what is this?!"
The White Snake Sage couldn't understand what was happening before her. She couldn't sense the slightest trace of Senjutsu Chakra from Abbot. All she could feel was a chakra as terrifying as an abyss.
And as the light on the khakkhara in Abbot's hand grew brighter, a bone-chilling dread welled up in the White Snake Sage's heart.
She was going to die!
She couldn't let this monster finish chanting.
However, after attacking several times, the White Snake Sage realized in despair that her attacks couldn't break through the golden sutras' defenses at all.
Run!
Without hesitation, she turned and tried to flee.
The next moment, the golden sutras circling Abbot stirred and formed a ring around the White Snake Sage, enclosing her.
At the same time, countless Cockroach-men who had finished their battles appeared all around. Like a dense swarm of ants, they surrounded the area.
"No! How could I die?! Damn it!"
The sight sent the White Snake Sage into a panic. Her previously carefree expression vanished. After spending so many years in a position of power, leading the snakes of Ryūchi Cave and killing countless humans, the White Snake Sage—who had lived for who knew how long—felt fear once again.
Since Kaguya's arrival, this was the second time she had felt despair.
"No! Let me go! I'll do anything, whatever you want! Let me go, Uchiha Brahman!"
The White Snake Sage cried out in terror, but it was too late.
The moment she begged for mercy, Abbot's chanting reached its final words.
"Praise Brahman!"
Before you continue