The sound of the canyon collapsing was like the dying wail of a colossal beast.
Rubble rained down as purple-black chakra tentacles erupted wildly from the cracks in the earth, each one entwined with nauseating resentment. Hyuga Xiao knelt on one knee atop a crumbling rock platform, his right hand clamped tightly over his chest—the Covenant Stone Fragments were spinning madly within him, greedily devouring the energy Mōryō had forced into him.
"Xiao!"
Kurenai Yuhi's voice pierced through the chaos.
Her hands flashed through seals, and an illusionary barrier unfolded around them, creating a warped space that temporarily blocked the falling boulders. But her face was pale as paper, fine beads of sweat seeping from her temples—she had yet to fully master her newly awakened power, and sustaining a defense of this scale had already pushed her to the limit.
"Forget about me," Xiao forced out through clenched teeth. "The seal... the crack is expanding."
His Tenseigan could clearly see deep underground.
That massive purple-black core of energy was throbbing violently, like an enraged heart. The third Covenant Stone Fragment was embedded at its center, radiating waves from the same source as the two fragments within Xiao's body. And farther below, a remnant soul imprisoned for a thousand years was awakening—
The soul of the Ōtsutsuki Branch Family.
"Lord Xiao!"
A clear female voice rang out from above the canyon.
Miroku, the miko, arrived with twelve white-robed shrine maidens. They raced down the crumbling cliffside, their toes lightly tapping over debris, their movements as weightless as falling snow. Miroku's long hair whipped in the frantic currents of air as her hands formed ancient seals before her chest, pale golden sealing runes flowing from her fingertips.
"Sealing Team, form up!"
The twelve shrine maidens swiftly scattered, each taking a designated position