Above the Land of Hot Water, the once-clear sky now resembled a shattered mirror. Countless fine cracks spread through the air, seeping unsettling black chakra.
An oppressive weight hung over everything, as though even the air had been sucked dry.
Shinichi stood beside Momoshiki's cold, twisted corpse. His languid expression had long since vanished, replaced by a gravity unlike anything he had ever shown.
He looked up at the sky tearing steadily apart overhead, sensing the cold, utterly pure chakra seeping through the cracks.
This chakra was unlike any power he had sensed before.
It carried the profound chill of the cosmos, holding a grandeur and loneliness beyond comprehension.
"Tenshiki..." he murmured. This was not the first time he had heard that name, but now he truly felt the terror it represented.
The spatial rifts widened faster and faster, like the maw of some colossal beast about to devour the entire world.
Just then, a figure slowly emerged from the largest rift.
He wore ancient, sumptuous white robes, with two horns on his head and pale skin. At the center of his forehead sat a Rinnegan radiating golden light, its pupil seeming to hold the stars of the cosmos.
He was not tall or imposing-in fact, he was somewhat slender-but the aura pouring from him was like billions of stars erupting at once, enough to make even the most arrogant powerhouse tremble.
Tenshiki Ōtsutsuki.
He descended slowly to the ground, his gaze passing over the corpses of Momoshiki and Kinshiki, whom Shinichi had destroyed. His eyes showed no trace of emotion, as though he were merely looking at dust by the roadside.
At last, his gaze settled on Shinichi a short distance away.
"You... are this planet's anomaly?" Tenshiki's voice was soft, yet carried a force that pierced the soul