"I refuse."
An icy, hoarse voice, as though coming from the depths of hell, rang out in everyone's hearts.
It was not a sound carried through the air, but a will branded directly onto their souls.
It was Sasuke!
Giyu Tomioka looked down and saw, in shock, that the young man in his arms, who should have been utterly spent, had somehow struggled into a sitting position.
Half his hair had turned grayish white from the excessive depletion of his life force. Blood flowing from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth stained half his face, making him look like an asura returned from hell.
The only thing unchanged was his left eye.
At that moment, that purple Rinnegan, with its six gleaming tomoe, once again kindled a faint light-one powerful enough to shake the world.
"You want to escape?"
Sasuke looked at the Blood Cloud that was about to disperse completely and merge into the entire city, and a savage, crazed smile spread across his face.
"It took me so much effort to drag you out of your shell. Do you think I'd let you just run away?"
He did not look at his surviving companions again. He knew they had already done everything they could.
What remained was a god's work.
Slowly, Sasuke raised his hands.
He did not form hand seals. He merely brought his fingers together in an exceedingly slow, heavy motion.
That movement seemed to drain the last trace of his life force.
His body trembled violently. Fresh blood seeped from the corners of his eyes, slid down, and dripped onto his grayish-white hair.
"Chibaku Tensei."
This time, no black gravitational core was created.
Because there was no need.
Sasuke forcibly imposed Chibaku Tensei's absolute law of gravity, which reversed cause and effect, directly upon Muzan