The Mist Core and the Choice

The Border Ninjas eroded and controlled by the gray mist moved stiffly yet swiftly, slowly closing in from every direction like marionettes. Their hollow eye sockets were fixed on Ling and his two companions, and the weapons condensed from mist in their hands gave off an ominous aura. Worse still, with their appearance, the surrounding mist suddenly grew far more corrosive. The pale red protective barrier Xi maintained let out an overburdened sizzling sound, its range shrinking further, its color already so faint it was almost transparent.

Xi breathed like a bellows. Sweat soaked the hair over her forehead, and the hands maintaining the barrier trembled slightly. She was almost at her limit.

The gaze behind Fox's mask was sharp as a blade, swiftly sweeping over the encirclement and the dark purple core pulsing ever harder in the distance. "Crow, assess our chances of breaking through. Xi, how much longer can you hold?"

Ling's Sharingan worked furiously, his brain analyzing the situation at full speed under pressure. Eight controlled ninjas, with chakra signatures ranging from Chunin to Special Jōnin, but after being strengthened by the mist, the actual threat might be greater. Most importantly, their energy was closely connected to the mist core. Unless they severed that connection or destroyed the core, they would probably keep regenerating or receiving further enhancements. And Xi's barrier could last three more minutes at most.

"Our chances of breaking straight through the encirclement and forcing our way to the core are below twenty percent." Ling's voice came through his mask, so calm it was almost cold. "They're connected to the core. Their speed and strength may be abnormal. Xi's barrier won't last until we reach it. And the core itself may be capable of attacking."

"Then what do you suggest?" Fox asked, her tone carrying no doubt, only a straightforward request for tactical advice.

"Split up," Ling said rapidly. "Xi needs to get out of the mist. Her protection and sensory abilities are vital to our subsequent operations. We can't exhaust her here. Captain Fox, please escort Xi at least a hundred meters back and establish a temporary defense point. I'll draw these 'puppets' away and try to break through alone to attack the core directly."

"Alone?" Xi blurted out, her voice trembling with weakness. "No! It's too dangerous! The mist's erosion..."

"It's the only tactic with a chance." Ling cut her off, looking straight at Fox. "My Sharingan can see through the flow of energy in the mist. There's a chance I can find a weak point in the core's defenses. Besides, I have 'that thing' on me. It reacts to this energy. It might have an unexpected effect." He did not explicitly mention the Fragment, but Fox should understand.

"Draw every enemy's attention, then assault the core alone..." Fox repeated, seemingly assessing the feasibility of this insane plan. Time waited for no one, and Xi's barrier dimmed another shade.

"Thirty seconds." Fox made her decision. "I'll buy you thirty seconds to advance. After that, whether you succeed or fail, I'll immediately take Xi to a safe distance, then launch another assault to support your withdrawal. Azure Phoenix, record the coordinates and prepare Long-Range Fire Support. I'll decide the timing."

"Understood." Azure Phoenix's brief reply came through the communicator.

"Mr. Ling..." Xi wanted to say more, but Ling's firm gaze stopped her.

"Trust me, and trust your captain." With that, Ling took a deep breath. The chakra in his body began moving in a way it never had before. He did not fully activate the Eye of Purification and Erosion, but pushed his Sharingan's perception to the limit of what was currently safe. At the same time, he carefully guided a trace of the Fragment's icy yin release energy over his body, forming an extremely thin layer of temporary protection against the mist's erosion-one of the most basic applications of the Fragment's energy he had worked out during training. It could not last, but it might offer some resistance for a short time.

"Move!"

At Fox's command, she sprang into action first! She did not charge at the controlled ninjas. Instead, her hands flew through hand seals so quickly they left afterimages!

"Wind Release: Vacuum Great Sphere!"

"Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique!"

Wind fueled the flames! A blazing fire dragon mixed with high-pressure wind blades roared forth. Rather than attacking any specific target, it slammed into the mist-covered ground and both sides of Ling's planned breakthrough route!

Boom-!

The violent explosion and flames temporarily disrupted the flow of mist energy in that area, creating a relatively thin passage. They also successfully drew the attention of most of the controlled ninjas. Five immediately turned and lunged toward Fox and Xi!

Now!

Ling pushed his speed to the utmost, his figure becoming a blurred streak as he shot along the temporary passage Fox had opened, straight into the depths of the mist! His target was clear-that pulsing dark purple core!

The remaining three controlled ninjas tried to intercept him, but Ling's Sharingan had already predicted their movements. He darted through the mist like a fish, narrowly avoiding swinging mist blades and grasping claws. A thin layer of chakra mixed with the Fragment's energy coated the kunai in his hand, and he slashed precisely through the dark purple energy threads that connected them to the core and controlled their movements!

Hiss, hiss, hiss!

The energy threads snapped! The three controlled ninjas instantly froze, and Ling left them behind.

But the severed energy threads did not disappear. Instead, they writhed like living venomous snakes and withdrew into the mist. Dark purple light flashed in the three ninjas' hollow eye sockets, and they staggered to their feet again. Fresh mist poured into the severed ends of the threads, attempting to reconnect them!

Just as I thought. Unless I destroy the core, these "puppets" will be hard to finish off completely!

Ling paid no more attention to the pursuers behind him, focusing entirely on what lay ahead. He was less than fifty meters from the core! He could clearly "see" that it was not simply a crystal or a mass of energy, but something like a giant "egg" made of countless intertwined dark purple runes, embedded deep in the ruins of the outpost's main building. Gray mist continually seeped from its surface, and the energy threads connecting to the controlled ninjas extended from inside it.

As he approached, the "egg" pulsed more violently, as though sensing a threat. The surrounding mist churned wildly. More mist tentacles and spikes condensed from every direction and stabbed frantically at Ling! At the same time, a mental assault filled with maddened whispers struck directly at his soul, surging into his mind like a tide!

"Get out... intruder... become nourishment... merge with eternity..."

Ling grunted. Needlelike pain pierced his brain, involuntarily slowing his charge. The thin protective layer of Fragment energy over his body fluctuated violently under the dense mist attacks and mental assault, threatening to shatter at any moment.

I can't stop! If I stop, I die!

He bit down hard on the tip of his tongue. The sharp pain and taste of blood jolted his mind awake! Under this extreme pressure, the Jōgan's power seemed to be stimulated further. Though he still had not deliberately activated Purifying Erosion Mode, his basic perception became clearer. He "saw" the pattern of energy flowing across the "egg's" surface and found several relatively weak points where the connections between runes seemed to contain tiny flaws!

There!

Ling poured all his remaining chakra and Fragment energy into his right hand without holding anything back. A deep black gleam lit the tip of his kunai, as though it could devour light! Pushing his speed to the limit, his body nearly parallel to the ground, he shot forward like a black arrow loosed from its bow. Ignoring two mist spikes attacking from the side-at the cost of a wound along his left ribs deep enough to expose bone-he drove the blade viciously toward the weak point he had locked onto on the "egg's" surface!

"Break!"

Squelch-!

The kunai's tip pierced the outer layer of the "egg"! The hard resistance he had expected never came. Instead, it felt as though he had stabbed into thick, icy liquid! A vast, chaotic surge of dark purple energy, filled with endless negative emotions, rushed madly into his body along the kunai and his arm like a flood bursting through a dam!

"Aaaah-!"

Ling could not hold back a howl of agony! This energy was too vast, too evil! It battered his chakra pathways, eroded his chakra, and tore at his mind! Countless fragmented, horrifying images instantly filled his head-twisted experiments, agonized wails, the despair of souls being ripped apart, a sick greed for life and power...

The jet-black Fragment against his chest became scorching hot and trembled violently, as though intensely stimulated by something of the same origin! No longer absorbing passively, it began actively, greedily devouring the dark purple energy flooding into Ling!

Two streams of yin release energy, sharing an origin but differing slightly in nature, collided and devoured each other wildly within Ling! His body became their battlefield. His chakra pathways felt as though fire and ice were simultaneously burning and freezing them, the intense agony almost knocking him unconscious at once.

But his remaining awareness held on desperately, his Sharingan fixed on the punctured "egg"! He saw that as the Fragment devoured the invading energy and the power he had poured into his kunai wreaked destruction, the dark purple light on the "egg's" surface began flickering violently. Its pulsing grew erratic, and the energy threads extending from it trembled violently and snapped one after another!

It's working! Attacking the core is working!

Yet just as the "egg's" light dimmed and it seemed about to collapse, another change occurred!

From within the "egg," a low, hoarse voice filled with endless malice and madness rang directly in the depths of Ling's mind, drowning out every whisper and stray noise:

"I've found... you... bearer of the 'key'... fall... become... one with me..."

With that voice, dark purple energy far purer and more terrifying than before erupted from the deepest part of the "egg." Rather than flooding in chaotically, it formed a concentrated mental assault filled with malice and slammed into the core of Ling's mind! At the same time, several things like octopus tentacles, formed from pure dark purple energy, suddenly thrust out of the puncture on the "egg's" surface. They wound tightly around Ling's right arm and body, trying to drag him inside!

Possession?! Or some kind of evil fusion ritual?

Alarm bells rang in Ling's mind! He struggled desperately, but the tentacles were immensely strong and carried intense mental corruption that began blurring his awareness. Though the Fragment was still frantically devouring energy, it seemed to be suffering from "indigestion." Its absorption could not keep pace with the enemy's outburst and erosion.

At this critical moment, under the immense pressure of threats from within and without, with life and death hanging by a thread, the dormant purifying erosion power deep within Ling's eyes was finally fully triggered. Beyond his control... it awakened on its own!

Hum-!

The complex, eerie patterns in Ling's eyes instantly lit up! They no longer held the murkiness of their earlier fusion, instead displaying a clear, glassy radiance that seemed capable of analyzing the essence of all things. Within it, faint black markings unique to purifying erosion, targeting yin release energy, flowed!

For the first time in actual combat, as its wielder teetered on the brink of collapse, the Eye of Purification and Erosion passively revealed its complete state in full!

Time seemed to slow at that moment.

Through the Eye of Purification and Erosion, everything changed. The gray mist became the disordered motion of countless tiny energy particles. The dark purple "egg" and tentacles became aggregates of more complex, more evil runic structures and energy channels. Even the composition, flow, and weaknesses of the evil energy and mental assault flooding into him became perfectly clear!

More shocking still, he "saw" an extremely tiny "inner core" hidden in the deepest part of the "egg," formed from pure soul fragments and obsessions-the source of that hoarse voice! Its structure... bore an astonishing resemblance to the fragments of failed subjects' consciousness he had sensed in the underground laboratory, and to the aura of the organization the gray-clad men belonged to, but it was far older and stronger!

This isn't a naturally formed source of contamination! It's artificially made, fusing fragments of some ancient, evil soul with vast amounts of life energy... a nascent "Artificial Evil God"?!

With insight into its nature, a way to break it also emerged.

Enduring the agony of both body and mind, Ling locked his Eye of Purification and Erosion onto that "inner core" and several crucial energy nodes in the tentacles binding him. Rather than trying to break free with brute force, he took some of the Fragment energy and his own chakra that the eye had just organized and temporarily subdued, and sent them back along the tentacles into the "egg" in an unusual frequency and pattern, precisely striking those nodes!

At the same time, he roared into the communicator with the last of his strength, "Captain! The core is an artificially created soul aggregate! Its weak points are at... (he rapidly recited several energy coordinates)... hit those spots with your strongest Lightning Release or Yang Release!"

From the Eye of Purification and Erosion's insight, he had instantly identified these as the most structurally vulnerable points in this nascent "Artificial Evil God." Their resistance was especially low against energies such as Lightning Release and Yang Release, which were filled with destructive power or life-purifying power.

"Understood!" Fox's reply came almost immediately, as calm as ever, though a faint tension could be heard beneath it.

The next second, Ling felt the space around him tremble slightly. A powerful, familiar chakra was rapidly gathering in the distance! Fox was preparing a powerful ninjutsu!

The "egg" seemed to sense the mortal threat too. It struggled even more frantically, its tentacles tightening as it tried to swallow Ling completely or crush him! The mental assault also reached its utmost intensity. Blood began seeping from Ling's eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. His vision darkened, and maintaining the Eye of Purification and Erosion became extremely difficult. The glassy radiance in his eyes began flickering.

Hold on... just a little longer...

Just as Ling's consciousness was about to sink completely into darkness-

"Lightning Release: False Darkness!"

Fox's cold, commanding shout pierced through the layers of mist!

Crackle-!!!

An enormous spear of lightning, blindingly white and seemingly capable of tearing apart heaven and earth, descended like divine punishment! It did not strike at random. Following the coordinates Ling had provided with unerring precision, it plunged viciously into the "egg," straight toward that evil "inner core"!

"No-!!!"

A soul scream so shrill it sounded inhuman erupted from deep within the "egg"!

Boom-!!!

The dark purple "egg" suddenly swelled like a punctured balloon, then collapsed inward! Terrifying dark purple energy erupted amid lightning, forming a visible ring-shaped shock wave that instantly scattered and purified the gray mist for hundreds of meters around! The controlled ninjas fell like puppets with their strings cut, the gray mist and purple light entwining them rapidly dissipating.

The tentacles binding Ling also broke apart inch by inch and dissolved in the lightning.

The blast hurled Ling away. His vision went black, and he lost consciousness completely. In the final instant before he passed out, he seemed to feel a satisfied warmth from the Fragment against his chest, as though it had eaten its fill. Then it too fell silent.

In the distance, Fox, who was gathering a second wave of attacks, and Xi, who stood protected behind her, staring anxiously toward the center of the explosion, both saw the lightning and purple radiance shooting into the sky. They also saw that figure hurled out, his fate unknown.