Subduing the two of them without a sound was almost impossible.
"Then..." Ōtsutsuki Isshiki's gaze sharpened. "I can only overwhelm them as quickly as possible, before they trigger the alarm."
He stood up.
The movement was not abrupt. It could even be called natural, as though he were merely shifting position after sitting for too long. Yet this simple movement made Orochimaru and Mayuri Kurotsuchi stop operating their instruments at the same time.
"Oh?" Orochimaru turned, his golden serpentine eyes narrowing slightly. "Has our honored Otsutsuki guest finally grown restless?"
"Kukuku..." Mayuri Kurotsuchi gave his signature laugh. "It seems our guest has made his decision. Let me guess... you intend to take Momoshiki Otsutsuki and Urashiki Otsutsuki away by force?"
Ōtsutsuki Isshiki said nothing. He simply watched them quietly, the purple light in his Black Eye growing ever brighter. The Byakugan in his left eye was also working silently, capturing their every minute movement in his field of vision.
"I must remind you, Lord Ōtsutsuki Isshiki," Orochimaru bowed slightly, his bearing still elegant, though his words carried a playful warning.
"This is the Rōran laboratory. Within a two-hundred-meter radius of where you stand, this space is filled with little toys we designed especially for you. If you act rashly..."
"Blasphemy." Ōtsutsuki Isshiki finally spoke, his voice low and icy, carrying anger pent up over a thousand years. "You... have desecrated the dignity of the Ōtsutsuki Clan."
"Blasphemy?" Mayuri Kurotsuchi tilted his head, his eyes gleaming with madness behind his goggles,
"Kukuku... we merely seek knowledge. Your Ōtsutsuki Clan's biological structure, energy system, information encoding... all of these are precious forms of knowledge this world has never possessed. Blasphemy? No, we are seeking understanding."
"Understanding?" Ōtsutsuki Isshiki's lips curled into an icy arc. "Are you even worthy?"
Before his words had