A terrifying blue-violet flash erupted, instantly engulfing Katsuyu Sage's enormous body.
"Ah!"
Katsuyu Sage let out a painful scream. Her body began to split apart, hoping to evade the terrifying attack that way. But the moment her body showed signs of splitting, the little slugs breaking off from her were instantly dissolved by the attack's devastating area of effect. They couldn't withstand it for even a moment.
Katsuyu Sage was so terrified that she hurriedly stopped splitting and frantically stirred the Senjutsu Chakra within her body to resist the terrifying attack.
At last, when the light subsided, the upper half of Katsuyu Sage's once-enormous body had vanished completely. Only her battered lower half remained, still writhing.
Even so, Katsuyu Sage was still alive. Her remaining body writhed, and in the blink of an eye, she recovered her slug form, though she was much smaller than before.
"Damn heretic! You're still alive?"
At the sight, Dagon tilted his head. The next moment, he opened his mouth, and the chakra within his body surged again, ready to kill Katsuyu Sage once and for all.
Killing a creature like this—one that could split apart, was enormous, and was immune to many attacks—was actually quite simple. All it took was a large-scale attack with tremendous destructive power.
And as it happened, Dagon had just such a powerful attack!
Katsuyu Sage watched in horror as Dagon prepared another attack. At that moment, she understood what it meant to face death. It wasn't that she was weak. She had an enormous body and immense vitality. She could use Slug Division to resist most physical attacks, and she could spit out Tongue Tooth Acid, which could melt most things and was neither a physical nor a mental attack.
On top of that, she had several powerful Senjutsu techniques. As long as even one slug remained, she would not die.
Katsuyu Sage was incredibly powerful, as befitted one of the Three Great Sacred Places. But Dagon was stronger.
This top-tier biological weapon, built with a great deal of advanced technology and ruthless ingenuity, was formidable even without chakra. The various mechanical prosthetics installed in his body and his powerful physique alone gave him considerable fighting strength.
She couldn't win! She couldn't win at all!
Katsuyu Sage simply couldn't understand where Uchiha Brahman had come from, or how he had created a monster like this.
Judging by his name, he must belong to the Uchiha Clan, a descendant of Six Paths from who knew how many generations ago. He was simply a monster!
Katsuyu Sage had heard of Uchiha Brahman. Not long ago, Tsunade had summoned a part of her body to treat Sarutobi Hiruzen and a Uchiha who had lost both legs.
She had some idea of what was happening in the Shinobi World, though not much.
But until now, Katsuyu Sage had always thought it had nothing to do with her. No matter how much the human world changed, it had never affected the Sacred Places over all these years. Whatever happened, it couldn't touch them.
She wasn't Gamamaru. She had no interest in interfering in the human world.
Who could have guessed...
Uchiha Brahman had set his sights on her. Well, that wasn't unusual in itself. Over the long years, there had been others who thought like Uchiha Brahman.
But they had all died.
The Three Great Sacred Places were no soft targets.
But now...
Everything was over. Uchiha Brahman was unlike anyone who had come before. He had the power to destroy these so-called Sacred Places.
Katsuyu Sage simply couldn't understand what he stood to gain by attacking the Sacred Places.
Hashirama Senju had been so powerful, and he had founded the era of hidden villages, yet he had never thought to attack the Sacred Places.
In even more ancient times, neither the Sage of Six Paths nor either of his sons had ever considered attacking them.
In fact, the Sage of Six Paths had been on good terms with them.
What madness had possessed Uchiha Brahman? Was he out of his mind to think of attacking them?
But no matter how incomprehensible it seemed, if Katsuyu Sage didn't do something now, she really was going to die.
"My lord, I'm willing to submit! I pledge my loyalty to the great Lord Brahman!"
Katsuyu Sage lowered her head without a moment's hesitation. She had no pride to speak of and chose to do what was best for her. As a slug, she had none of that human self-respect. Surrendering when she couldn't win was perfectly natural to her.
At her words, the chakra swirling around Dagon gradually settled.
"Excellent!"
Dagon looked at Katsuyu Sage, then took out a syringe containing Genetic Modification Serum designed specifically for slugs.
"Come, let me inject you with this. This is the Sacred Blessing Serum. With it, you can become a follower of the great Brahman, the great Kind Father!"
Dagon flashed over to Katsuyu Sage and plunged the syringe into her.
"Yes, my lord! Thank you for sparing my life!"
Katsuyu Sage nodded and didn't dare move, letting Dagon inject the serum into her body.
The Sacred Blessing Serum came in different varieties. Uchiha Brahman had made specialized Genetic Modification Serums for nearly every kind of creature he could find on this planet.
The Sacred Blessing Serums made for different species couldn't be used interchangeably. For example, if someone used a Sacred Blessing Serum designed for spiders, several things could happen.
First, their genes could collapse, turning them into a puddle of mush. Second, they could survive, with their human and spider genes fusing to create a half-human, half-spider monster. After the transformation, they might gain greater strength, or they might become weaker and even develop genetic diseases.
The final possibility was that their genes would fuse perfectly with the spider genes, granting them even greater strength.
Of these three outcomes, the first was the most likely.
The Sacred Blessing Serums created by Uchiha Brahman weren't intended to fuse the genes of different species. He could have made that possible, but he found it too troublesome, so he hadn't gone on to enhance the serums further.
"Dagon, well done!"
Just then, the Shadow Clones of Uchiha Brahman, who had been observing the experiment, landed nearby.
"Praise Brahman!"
Dagon immediately dropped to his knees and praised the great, exalted, supreme, and benevolent Kind Father.
In Dagon's eyes, Uchiha Brahman wasn't a man. He was the sun in the sky—warm, radiant, and gracious!
This was grace indeed!
Meanwhile, the battle at Mount Myoboku was nearing its end.
"Croak! You lunatics!"
The Great Toad Sage's four limbs had been cut off, and his enormous belly had been ripped open. Countless little mice clung to his entrails, gnawing away at them.
The old toad could feel his life rapidly slipping away. He was going to die.
But...
Before you continue