Six Paths Battle 5

"Trade your life for a seal? Naive!" Genki's voice instantly turned savage, killing intent boiling within his scarlet Nine Tomoe Mangekyo.

He controlled the Black Susanoo Armor and forced it to exert its strength. The black energy around it battered the golden chains madly, but each flicker of the yin-yang patterns on the chains neutralized part of the impact. No matter how he struggled, he could not break free from this vast sealing net woven from life and laws.

Amid the distant ruins, the remaining half of Black Zetsu's body trembled violently, its eyes filled with utter terror.

It could sense the horror of this sealing power. If Genki were truly sealed away, this terrifying being who had only just been born—one who surpassed Kaguya—would vanish completely, and its thousands of years of waiting would once again come to nothing.

But it did not even have the strength to move. It could only watch helplessly as the golden chains tightened without end.

Hagoromo Otsutsuki's figure had already become nearly transparent, leaving only a vague golden silhouette floating in midair.

His consciousness was rapidly fading, yet when he saw Genki firmly bound, a trace of relief finally flashed through his eyes.

Even if it cost him his life, as long as he could buy this world even the slightest chance to catch its breath, it would be enough.

Using the last trace of his strength, he urged the yin-yang chains to tighten once more, trying to completely seal Genki's Susanoo Armor within the spatial rift.

"Is this the end? No—!" Genki's crazed laughter rang out again, filled with unwillingness and an even more violent desire for destruction. "I still haven't reduced this rotten world to zero! I still haven't made every traitor pay the price! You want to seal me? Then sink into ruin with me!"

The instant his words fell, Genki made a desperate decision.

He no longer tried to break free of the chains. Instead, he gathered all the energy around him—including the origins of a million souls that had yet to be fully refined, the core power of the Magatsu God Domain, and even part of his own soul—onto the Eight-Handled Sword raised by the Black Susanoo Armor.

The blade, already wreathed in terrifying power, now erupted with a brilliant black radiance that surpassed the Six Paths Level.

This light was no longer the oppressive darkness from before. It carried an ultimate sharpness capable of severing laws and tearing apart space-time.

The space around the blade twisted and collapsed completely. Countless spatial cracks revolved around the sword, forming a terrifying vortex of energy.

"This is... you've gone mad!" Hagoromo Otsutsuki's golden silhouette fluctuated violently, and disbelief and horror flashed through his eyes.

He could feel that the power contained within this strike was enough to utterly destroy the very foundation of the Shinobi World. Even the yin-yang seal he had laid down could not stop it.

"Mad? From the moment my mother and sister died before my eyes, I had already gone mad!"

Genki's voice carried a desolation and fury that pierced the soul. "Hagoromo Otsutsuki, you and your world can all—be buried with me!"

"Slash—!"

With a furious roar that shook the ages, Genki controlled the chain-bound Black Susanoo Armor and, with every ounce of strength in his body, swung this final sword strike toward the golden silhouette ahead and the land of the Land of Fire beneath his feet.

A black sword aura far beyond all his previous attacks erupted in an instant, stretching tens of thousands of kilometers and wide enough to cover the entire Land of Fire.

Wherever the sword aura passed, the golden yin-yang chains snapped like paper. Countless fragments of chain were annihilated within the sword aura.

Hagoromo Otsutsuki's golden silhouette did not even have time to react before it was completely swallowed by the sword aura, leaving not even the slightest trace behind.

The sword aura did not lose any of its force as it crashed brutally into the land of the Land of Fire.

"BOOM—!!!"

A thunderous explosion powerful enough to make the entire Shinobi World tremble erupted.

The land of the Land of Fire shattered instantly like fragile glass, and the entire tectonic plate began sinking rapidly.

Mountains, rivers, ruins, and scorched earth were all reduced to dust beneath the impact of the sword aura.

Countless streams of magma erupted from the planet's core. Amid the roar of seawater rushing inward, the once-prosperous Land of Fire, along with the entire stretch of land it stood upon, was completely sunk by this single strike, plunging into the endless seabed and the depths of the planet's core.

The central region of the Shinobi World instantly became an enormous, bottomless crater of ruins.

The land around the crater continued to collapse and sink. Smoke, dust, and magma filled the sky, forming a scarlet haze that blotted out the heavens and sun, plunging the entire Shinobi World into darkness.

Yet just as this devastating strike fell, a faint black barrier quietly appeared in a corner of Konoha.

The barrier was condensed from the energy of the Magatsu God Domain, precisely blocking the impact of the sword aura and the collapse of the earth.

Inside the barrier was a small area—several ruined wooden houses and a tiny shrine. It was the place where Genki had lived as a child, and the home his mother and sister had once protected.

Even as he destroyed everything, this was the only place he had deliberately spared.

The sword aura faded. The fragments of the yin-yang chains were completely annihilated, and every trace of Hagoromo Otsutsuki's life vanished.

The Black Susanoo Armor slowly lowered its sword. The black wings on its back fluttered slightly, blowing away the surrounding dust and smoke.

Genki's scarlet Nine Tomoe Mangekyo looked down upon the land that had utterly sunk beneath him. There was not the slightest hint of pleasure in his eyes, only a deathly hollow emptiness.

He had won. He had defeated Hagoromo Otsutsuki and defeated this world that had once betrayed and harmed him.

But he had also lost. He had lost all of his past, lost the last trace of warmth in his heart that belonged to a "human."

"Only a few final steps remain..." Genki's low, hoarse voice echoed above the empty ruins. "This world will ultimately be reduced completely to zero by my hand."

Yet at the instant that hoarse voice declaring the world's return to zero fell silent, within the thick, inescapable frenzy and deathly stillness of Genki's scarlet Nine Tomoe Mangekyo, a faint flicker of clarity suddenly flashed.

Like a candle flame swept by violent winds, it flickered weakly, yet stubbornly refused to go out.

That trace of clarity did not linger. It instantly transformed into an invisible pull, overpowering his obsession with destroying everything.

The nearly ten-thousand-meter-tall Black Susanoo Armor began to shake violently. Its wings, which covered the sky and blotted out the sun, slowly dissipated. Its brilliant golden patterns dimmed, and its enormous body, like weathered rock, crumbled bit by bit into black Chakra particles before finally vanishing completely into the air.

Without the support of the Susanoo Armor, Genki's body staggered as it fell from midair, crashing heavily onto the scorched ground and kicking up a cloud of blood-scented dust.

He dropped to one knee, bracing both hands against the ground as he gasped violently. Every breath tugged at the agonizing pain throughout his body.

The body that had once been swollen with power now looked especially thin and frail. His black robes were tattered beyond repair, stained with blood and dust, while his disheveled hair clung to his pale cheeks. There was no trace left of the terrifying figure who had just destroyed heaven and earth.

He raised his head. His hollow gaze pierced through the drifting smoke and dust, locking onto the small area not far away that had likewise become ruins, yet had been instinctively protected by his barrier—the territory of the Uchiha Clan.