"What!?"
As the brittle crackling rang in his ears, Shinji, inside his Susanoo, stared in astonishment!
He hadn't expected the mysterious man to use his "lantern" to block the final strike of his Susanoo. Even more surprising, the enemy's lantern had been shattered by the blade of his Susanoo, turning into golden ash.
Whoosh.
Shinji was still stunned when—
The golden ash left behind by the shattered lantern was sucked into the lantern at his waist and stored inside its vessel.
"So that's where the 'embers' come from!"
Shinji suddenly understood and looked at his lantern vessel.
The embers had originally filled only a fifth of its interior. Now they occupied well over half.
Suppressing his excitement, Shinji searched for the mysterious man.
But there was no sign of him anywhere. Only a faint, yellowish lantern shadow remained where his lantern had shattered.
[Coordinates of an alternate plane detected]
[Alternate-plane coordinates marked]
[Consume one gram of "embers" to travel to the alternate plane.]
In an instant, a familiar sound rang in Shinji's ears.
He looked sharply toward the faint, yellowish lantern shadow and realized that before the mysterious man's lantern shattered, it had still opened an escape route for him!
The mysterious man had fled back to the Demon Slayer World.
For a moment, Shinji hesitated.
The coordinates of the Demon Slayer World had been marked by his lantern. As long as he was willing to spend embers, he could cross over right now and hunt the mysterious man down.
But the situation on the battlefield was delicate.
Nagato, Konan, Itachi, Juzo Biwa, Obito, who was lurking in the shadows, and the members of the Akatsuki Organization rushing toward them formed one faction.
The allied forces of Konoha, Kirigakure, and Sunagakure, along with the Kumogakure and Iwagakure forces also heading