In midair, violet light crashed into a sky full of black-flame iron pillars.
In less than two seconds, the energy barrier collapsed completely.
A violent shockwave swept across the ground like a giant blade, stripping away a layer of earth and exposing the scorched frozen ground beneath.
All the snow within a five-kilometer radius evaporated in an instant.
The allied elites still holding the front line were hurled into the air before they could even scream.
Then they slammed into the mud like a downpour.
High above the battlefield, Isshiki's foot froze over the black stone.
The black-and-yellow eye on his left side spun faster.
He slowly raised his right hand. A one-millimeter cut from the shockwave marked his palm.
"Interesting."
Isshiki's voice was as flat and cold as ancient ice.
A swarm of ants on the ground had actually managed to scratch a god.
His gaze passed through the wind and snow and swept indifferently over the four "Kage" who had just pulled themselves together below him.
Ōnoki knelt in the shattered ice, gasping hard, while Rasa clutched his broken ribs in agony;
Yagura stood motionless, his eyes vacant;
Raikage A had suffered the worst. Two Hidden Cloud Jonin held him up, and it looked as though his skull was the only bone left intact.
Isshiki considered even another glance at them beneath him.
"Go."
He pointed down with one finger, as casually as if he were ordering servants around.
"Bring me the blond one's head. If you can't, die there."
The moment he finished speaking, the black marks on all four foreheads flared with eerie light.
The four Kage suddenly stiffened, their bodies twisting against their will.
As one, they turned their heads and fixed their eyes on the Konoha line, like marionettes jerked about by their strings.