The puddle of flesh paste crushed by the Super Big Ball Rasengan now bubbled with purplish-black blisters like a pot of boiling asphalt. There were no screams, no smell of blood—only a pungent stench like metal being corroded by strong acid.
Sasuke's Susanoo dropped to one knee, its massive purple hand pinning the still-struggling Izuna Uchiha to the ground.
"Sizzle—"
Purplish-black tendrils frantically crawled up Susanoo's arm. The previously indestructible chakra crystal armor flaked away and dissolved the instant it touched the tendrils, like foam plastic doused in concentrated sulfuric acid, exposing the pale energy skeleton beneath.
"Sever it."
Sasuke made the decision at once. Susanoo's left arm suddenly exerted force and snapped off its own corroded right wrist. The severed arm fell and was quickly swallowed by the purplish-black substance below.
Naruto landed beside Sasuke. The dark gray blotch on the left arm of his golden Nine-Tails Chakra Cloak remained stubbornly in place. He tried to repair it with Yang Release chakra, but the energy structure there resembled a burned-out circuit board. It simply could not be restored in the short term.
"Something's wrong."
Sasuke dismissed Susanoo's head armor, revealing his Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan. He raised his Power Sword. The Chakra Metal blade, once smooth as a mirror, was now covered in rust-like stains resembling mold.
"Physical-level rapid corrosion, energy-level devouring and assimilation." Sasuke's gaze remained cold. "This thing doesn't just consume chakra. It won't even spare high-density physical matter."
"It's not over yet."
Naruto stared into the crater. That crushed pool of liquid had not died. Instead, like conscious mercury, it swiftly flowed through cracks in the rocks, avoiding the center of the gravitational suppression.
More than ten meters away, the purplish-black liquid gathered again.
This time, it did not return to its previous humanoid form. It compressed