"What am I, then?"
A thunderous voice reverberated between heaven and earth.
A gigantic face appeared within the white vortex.
Wuye waved his staff.
A black vortex silently enveloped Mikoto, hiding her in the depths of the world.
Mikoto made no sound. Tears simply streamed down her face without stopping, until the black vortex swallowed her whole and Wuye's figure completely vanished.
"Don't cry. Wait for me to come back..."
Wuye's gentle voice drifted from the natural energy around her.
Mikoto's tears stopped at once.
She desperately wiped them away with the back of her hand and nodded fiercely at her surroundings. "Mm!"
Outside.
Wuye looked up at the enormous Otsutsuki face. "Where are they?"
"They? Who?"
The Otsutsuki Progenitor looked confused.
Wuye's grip on his staff tightened. "The people who offered up their souls three days ago."
The Otsutsuki Progenitor's giant face suddenly burst into laughter. "Hahaha... They're dead! And you're about to die too!"
"Is that... so..."
Blazing flames burned within Wuye's chest.
He looked skyward. His golden nine-tomoe eyes flashed, and he abruptly appeared before the giant face.
Boom!
The white vortex abruptly expanded, pinning him in place.
"Only three days have passed, and you dare challenge me? Just obediently assimilate with me... Urgh!"
The voice suddenly caught halfway through.
Because Wuye's staff had abruptly enlarged and viciously stabbed into his throat.
"Three days? Challenge? Assimilation?"
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...
Natural energy from countless worlds surged in, transforming into a tide that propelled Wuye forward.
"What is this?! Why... why has your power increased by nearly ten thousand times?!"
An incredulous voice shrieked.
As the black tide flooded in madly, the enormous snow-white face was violently torn apart.
"If they truly can't return, then prepare to be buried with them," Wuye said coldly.
In this place, natural energy