Deity did not resist.
When Madara struck at Deity-Deity simply "stood" there in silence.
No evasion, no defense, no response of any kind.
As though welcoming an ending long foreseen.
The gray-white light, like the finest thread, gently pierced Deity's outline of pure white light.
Then-
Deity died.
His outline, like a pencil drawing gently rubbed away by an eraser, rapidly blurred from the point pierced by the gray-white light, then... vanished completely.
Without a sound.
As though he had never existed.
The White Between returned to absolute silence and emptiness.
(Was it over?)
Madara's thoughts drifted, somewhat dazed.
(He just... died?)
He felt the strange sensation that had come when he touched Deity just now.
Was this... what slaying a god felt like?
There was nothing.
None of the release he had expected, none of the pleasure of revenge, no sense of victory.
Only a deep... emptiness.
As though what he had just erased was not a god who toyed with all living beings, but merely an... insignificant, pitiful phantom.
But Madara knew something had changed.
At the very last instant when his attack touched Deity-
Deity's arm, on the verge of disappearing completely, had lifted slightly.
Then his fingertip had lightly touched Madara's chest.
A... ripple, like a drop of water falling onto a still lake.
"Ten thousand years..."
"When that time comes... let us meet again..."
"I hope... you will still be able to say... what you said now..."
The voice was very soft, carrying Deity's calm.
Before Madara could think it through, the ripple from that touch had already spread.
It became Madara's mark.
Or perhaps a curse?
An eternal curse.
Before Madara's mind could fully grasp this sudden change and the meaning of those words-
Hum!
The scene in The White Between began to rapidly