Shattered! The Hope I Strangled Myself!

"No--!!!"

Another piercing scream echoed, and the Mangekyo Sharingan in Uchiha Genki's eyes suddenly changed.

The three black patterns resembling Reaper's Scythes, under the impact of this terrifying pupil power, shattered with a roar!

Countless tiny fragments of patterns danced and spun in his pupils, gradually condensing into six jet-black Magatama.

These six Magatama continuously shifted their arrangement within his pupils, forming bizarre and complex patterns that emitted a heart-stopping glow.

This was a more powerful Dojutsu form, the essence of countless Uchiha clansmen's pupil power condensed!

But Uchiha Genki couldn't feel the slightest thrill of power, only a pain and despair that sank into his bones.

His soul was torn apart, then forcefully reassembled by Ōkuninushi's power, only to be torn apart again, and then reassembled again... repeating endlessly.

This pain was a thousand times more despairing than Lingchi!

Lingchi still had an end, but he was forcibly kept alive by this power, only able to endure this hellish torment without end.

After an unknown amount of time, after experiencing countless extreme tortures of soul tearing and reassembly, the torrent of memories that had been flooding in finally gradually subsided.

Uchiha Genki lay on the ground, covered in blood, his breathing as weak as a candle in the wind, his limbs still twitching uncontrollably.

Just as he was about to completely sink into darkness, two familiar figures suddenly flashed in his mind--his mother Hazuki's gentle smile, his sister Izumi's tender gaze when she handed him candy.

They were the only warmth he had in this cruel world, his last support for survival.

His reluctance to leave his mother, his guilt towards his sister, like a faint glimmer of light in the darkness, forcefully pulled at his dissipating consciousness.

He used the last bit of his strength, painfully, to slowly crawl up from the ground. Every movement of his body felt like it was falling apart, a bone-chilling pain seeping from his joints, yet he stubbornly raised his head, his gaze unfocused, looking in the direction where his mother and sister had fallen, wanting to see those two figures who had protected him until the very end one last time.

"Mother... Izumi... Mother..."

A hoarse, broken voice squeezed out of Uchiha Genki's throat, like a rusty bellows struggling to pull, each word carrying a bone-piercing pain.

The lingering pain of soul tearing and reassembly still churned in his marrow, his muscles twitched uncontrollably, his limbs felt like they had been crushed and then forcefully pieced back together, a slight movement causing his vision to blacken with pain.

Yet, driven by his obsession with his mother and sister, he propped up his wavering body with all his might.

His blood-stained fingers dug fiercely into the bluestone slabs of the ground, his fingernails cracking, blood seeping through his fingers into the cracks of the stone, leaving behind hideous bloodstains.

His vision remained blurred, only able to open a sliver of an eye, towards the direction where his mother and sister had fallen in his memory, he struggled to lift his head.

However, the scene that met his eyes held not even a shred of the warmth he had hoped for, only a terrifying sight that would completely crush his last remaining sanity--this scene directly pushed him into an abyss of eternal despair!

"Ugh... I... no..."

A faint, hollow groan sounded behind him, dense and numerous, like countless ants gnawing at the air. Uchiha Genki stiffened, a chill shooting up his spine to the crown of his head, making him forget the pain in his body.

He stiffly turned his neck, slowly looking behind him.

He saw countless pale blue soul bodies, standing blankly in the Yomi Domain, nearly ten thousand of them!

They were the Uchiha clansmen he had devoured with his Magatsunokami, their eyes now vacant, their faces expressionless, like puppets whose strings had been cut.

The residual bloody resentment on their soul bodies had not yet dissipated, yet they had lost all self-awareness, only able to sway mechanically in place, emitting meaningless whimpers.

Having had their memories completely devoured by Ōkuninushi, they had lost everything--their past joys and sorrows, their bonds with loved ones, everything that made them "human," even their own names and the meaning of their existence had been completely erased.

Only empty soul shells remained, becoming nourishment for him to control within his Dojutsu domain.

Countless familiar faces flashed before his eyes--the kind neighbor uncle who had given him candy when he was little, the elder who taught him how to hold a Kunai, the companions he had played with at the alley entrance... every face had once been alive, had left a trace in his memory.

But now, these faces were only filled with numbness and emptiness.

Looking at these familiar yet strange soul bodies, a guess that tore his heart to shreds, like a venomous snake, lunged into his mind, causing his blood to freeze instantly!

No... impossible!

Absolutely impossible!

He shook his head frantically, trying to dispel the terrifying thought, but his gaze uncontrollably searched among the countless soul bodies.

Soon, two slender soul bodies, like two of the sharpest knives, precisely pierced his heart!

They were two figures he would never forget--one slightly taller, wearing familiar plain clothes, it was his adoptive mother Uchiha Hazuki;

The other was petite, her clothes still stained with undried blood, unmistakably Uchiha Izumi, whom he regarded as his older sister!

Their soul bodies, like those of the other clansmen, had vacant eyes and expressionless faces, showing no sign of recognizing him.

Their once gentle eyes were now filled with deathly stillness, their once warm soul bodies now just cold nothingness.

They stood quietly in the crowd of souls, like the other devoured clansmen, becoming a part of his Dojutsu.

"No--!!!"

A heart-wrenching cry erupted from his throat, his voice so hoarse it was barely human, filled with extreme despair and breakdown.

He staggered back a few steps, falling heavily to the ground, his limbs flailing on the ground like a dying beast.

It was him!

He had personally killed the people he most wanted to protect!

He thought his Dojutsu was hope in a desperate situation, but he never expected it to be the most cruel executioner!

Not only had he failed to protect his mother and sister, but he had also used his own power to devour their souls, completely severing any possibility of their resurrection!

Even with Impure World Reincarnation, even with other forbidden techniques, without complete souls and memories, they could never reappear in this world again!

The people he had tried his best to protect had ultimately died by his own hands!