He knew he had lost.
Lost completely and utterly.
The speed, strength, and defense he had always taken pride in had been crushed in every respect before this Konoha commander clad in Mystic Crystal and wielding inhuman power.
"Cough... cough cough..." A spat out another mouthful of foul blood mixed with fragments of his organs. He forced his tottering body upright and wiped the blood from his lips. The wild fury in his eyes gradually subsided, replaced by an almost tragic sense of acceptance and release.
"Neji... brat... you... are strong! So strong... you're not even human!" he rasped, his voice like a broken gong. "Dying... at the hands of an opponent like you... isn't unjust!"
His gaze swept across the battlefield, now reduced to scorched earth; across his subordinates in the distance, barely holding on under the slaughter of the Chasing Fang trio; across this land of the Land of Lightning he had once sworn to protect... A resolute will to die, mixed with his final unwillingness and a warrior's pride, erupted at once!
"But I... am the Raikage!!" A let out the final roar of his life!
The rolling soundwave even drowned out the clamor of the battlefield!
"Even if I die! I'll make you... pay the price! Come with me... to hell!!!"
Rumble—!!!
Every last shred of chakra within A, along with his remaining life force, unyielding will, and warrior's soul... was utterly and unreservedly ignited at that moment!
The dim dark-blue lightning around his body instantly became incomparably dazzling!
Its color rapidly deepened and condensed! From dark blue, it turned into noble purple! Then from purple... into an absolute black that seemed capable of devouring all light!
Crackle! Sizzle—!
Black lightning, like madly dancing demonic dragons, burst forth from every pore of his body! His body