The Evil God's "revelations," brimming with malicious delight, and his final attack that forced out the defensive "Shinra Tensei" program struck like one last sledgehammer, shattering every belief Nagato had built around the "Child of Prophecy," his "heaven-bestowed Rinnegan," and "Teacher Jiraiya's teachings," along with his understanding of the value of his own existence.
He slumped in the cold mud, water, and blood, his vacant Rinnegan reflecting the gloomy, rain-filled sky. He looked as though his spine had been ripped out, leaving only an empty shell.
Yahiko held him tightly, his own tears falling with the rain, yet he could offer no words of comfort, for his own heart was filled with immense confusion and dread.
Konan stood beside them, her paper hanging limply. For the first time, a weight bordering on despair appeared on her cool face.
The Evil God's words were too horrifying, too earth-shattering, and the "Shinra Tensei" that had activated on its own seemed to be the coldest, most irrefutable "evidence."
In the center of the ruins, the towering Perfect Susanoo radiated a terrifying pressure. Inside its crystal, Toyotomi Yinglang remained calm, his Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan turning slowly, as though he were watching a tragedy that had nothing to do with him.
The Evil God "floated" in the air, his body of shadows and purplish-red light undulating slightly. Those swirling eyes "watched" the broken boy below, filled with a predator's pleasure in toying with its prey, and... a barely perceptible, deeper greed for those Rinnegan.
The deal seemed to have been struck. The "method for awakening the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan" in exchange for the three people before them. The Evil God had obtained the "knowledge" he wanted, while Toyotomi Yinglang had acquired three seeds of "trouble."
But that was only how it appeared.
At the edge