His consciousness sank into an icy abyss.
Hiashi Hyuga felt his soul being torn inch by inch from this decaying body. It was like countless invisible, icy little hands greedily ripping at the very core of his life.
Pain!
The weakness that seeped into his bones tormented him more than any torture ever could.
The chakra he had always been so proud of—the power of the Main House bloodline that had flowed through him for half a century—was now passing through the hands welded to the altar, becoming sweet nourishment for his enemy.
He could "see" his daughter Hinata's pale little face. Under the infusion of immense energy, it had taken on an unhealthy yet sacred flush. Her life force was undergoing a frenzied transformation in a way he had always dreamed of!
And he was the stepping stone beneath her feet, providing the nourishment!
"No... I can't... end like this..."
A wheezing rasp like a broken bellows escaped Hiashi Hyuga's throat. His clouded eyes bulged with congestion, webbed with blood vessels.
Dignity, glory, the Main House's prestige... before the shadow of death, everything he had believed in all his life had become laughable dust!
He only wanted to live!
To live, no matter the cost!
His withered right hand, like a chicken claw, fumbled inside his robes. At last, his fingertips touched a cold, familiar hard object.
This was it!
His final trump card!
The darkest, bloodiest foundation passed down by the Hyuga Clan for a thousand years, used to suppress the Branch House and ensure the Main House's absolute rule!
A frenzied, twisted strength surged anew from the depths of his exhausted body. It was the final hysteria of a beast driven into a corner!
"Ha... hahaha..."
He laughed. The sound was dry and piercing, filled with venom