The night sky over the Land of Demons is as thick as ink, so dark that even the stars are nowhere to be seen.
Only the bonfires around the shrine burned, their pale blue flames licking the firewood and illuminating the stone golems standing outside the shrine. The noble families and remnants of the Land of Earth walked forward with their necks hunched, their boots crunching on the icy cobblestones, the sound particularly jarring in the deathly silence.
"Father, I'm cold..." The youngest noble boy tugged at his father's clothes. He was still wearing a brocade cotton-padded jacket, but it couldn't keep out the biting cold. His father covered his mouth with his hand, his eyes filled with terror—the stone golems were too tall, at least three zhang (about 10 meters) high. Black blood-like substances seeped from the cracks in the statues, and eerie green soul fire flickered in their eye sockets, staring at them without blinking.
Leading the way was a retainer of Duke Shiei, the very same man who had crawled out of the secret passage carrying the blood-written letter. His face was deathly pale, and he pointed tremblingly at the shrine's gate, saying, "My lords... Moryo's puppet said it's safe here..."
The words had barely left his lips when the stone golem at the front row suddenly moved. Its heavy stone legs slammed into the ground, sending shivers down everyone's spines. It looked down at the group of nobles huddled together, its soul fire flickering in its eye sockets, before suddenly emitting a sound like rusty metal scraping together, "Welcome... the blood sacrifices of the Land of Earth."
"Blood offerings?" Someone didn't react immediately, looking up blankly. "Didn't you say... you were going to help us?"
His response was the giant hand that swung down from the stone golem.
"Smack--"
With a muffled thud, the fat nobleman at the back was crushed into the ground, armor and all, his red and white flesh spilling out from between his fingers like a crushed piece of fruit. The surrounding nobles screamed in fright and tried to back away, but the second stone golem had already stepped forward. Its knuckles clicked, and a half-foot-long stone blade flicked out, deftly lifting the terrified young nobleman who was paralyzed on the ground, as if he were picking up a bunch of ripe grapes.
"Mother--!" The boy's cry was stuck in his throat as the stone blade sliced through his neck.
The third puppet approached, opening its stone mouth full of fangs. A few drops of magma rolled out, scalding the air with a hissing sound. An old nobleman leaning on a cane couldn't escape; the magma poured over his head, instantly burning off his hair, his face sizzling and shrinking into charcoal, his bones crackling and exploding in the high temperature, leaving only a pool of steaming ash.
"Run!" someone shouted, and the nobles scattered like ants from a disturbed nest. But the stone golems seemed to have eyes, always managing to intercept them precisely—some were grabbed around the waist by the statues and crushed into a pulp; some tried to hide in the shrine, only to have stone spikes suddenly emerge from the threshold and pierce their chests; others drew their swords and slashed at the golems, but the Mars only sparked when they struck the stone shoulders, and the golems crushed their wrists instead.
"Why..." A Earl, pinned to the ground by a stone golem and watching his son being torn apart by another, suddenly laughed, tears and snot streaming down his face. "Why should we believe in the devil! What kind of integrity do these beasts have!"
No sooner had he finished speaking than the stone golem's giant foot stomped down, crushing his head into a bloody pulp.
Suddenly, the altar of the shrine began to shake, and the bluish-white bonfire leaped three zhang high, illuminating the entire shrine as if it were daytime.
As if receiving a command, the stone golems dragged the still-alive nobles toward the altar. The blood on the ground formed streams that flowed up the steps of the altar, drawing a strange array pattern on the surface.
"Waaah--"
The ground at the center of the array cracked open, and a thick black mist surged out, containing countless human faces—men and women, old and young—all roaring silently. The black mist slowly condensed, eventually forming a gigantic infant shape, ten zhang tall. Its skin was stitched together from countless human faces, its eyes were two black holes, and most terrifying of all was its navel—connected to a thick, blood vessel-covered umbilical cord that plunged into the cracked ground, as if sucking something out.
This is how the Moryo uses the earth to nurture its true form.
"Blood... bones... soul..." the giant infant spoke, its voice booming as if countless people were speaking simultaneously, "They're all mine..."
It raised a hand formed of black mist and grabbed a nobleman handed to it by a stone golem. The man struggled, wildly slashing with his short sword, but the blade pierced through the black mist and couldn't hurt anything. The giant infant shoved him into its mouth, and the stitched-up faces suddenly came to life, vying to bite him. In no time, the nobleman was reduced to a skeleton, which was casually tossed to the ground.
"Gulp..."
The giant infant's umbilical cord suddenly throbbed violently, like a heartbeat. With this throb, the surrounding stone golems suddenly erupted with even stronger Chakra fluctuations, their previously sluggish movements became more agile, and Earth Release Cursed Seal even appeared on the stone arms of some golems.
"Not enough... not enough..." The giant infant shook its head, its black, hole-like eyes sweeping over the trembling nobles. "More... more flesh and blood..."
Duke Shiei hid in a corner of the altar, watching his men being devoured one by one. He had brought not only nobles, but also the last private soldiers and families of various families, totaling three million people, of whom now fewer than half a million remained. He clutched the blood-stained scroll in his arms, the writing on it already blurred and illegible from being soaked in cold sweat.
"It was my fault... it was all my fault..." He collapsed to the ground, pounding the floor with his only remaining right hand. "I shouldn't have trusted you... I shouldn't have let the wolf into the house..."
His cries startled the giant infant. A hand formed of black mist reached out and gripped his shoulder. The old duke could feel his life force being drained away; his skin rapidly withered, and his hair turned white. He watched his body slowly melt into the black mist, then suddenly used his last ounce of strength to roar, " Tian Uguisu! Madara Uchiha! Listen—this demon will come for you sooner or later! You will all suffer a terrible death—!"
The giant baby swallowed him whole.
The umbilical cord throbbed violently again, this time with even greater force than before. The soul fire in the eyes of the surrounding stone golems grew even brighter, and the stone armor on several golems even cracked open, revealing a red liquid resembling magma flowing within. Their power had clearly increased once more.
As the first rays of dawn appeared on the horizon, the shrines of the Land of Demons finally fell silent.
The bluish-white campfire had died down, leaving only a pile of smoldering ashes. The stone golems around the altar stood back in their places, as if nothing had happened, except that the black blood on their bodies was thicker and their soul fires were brighter.
The fissure in the ground had closed, and the true form of the Moryo had vanished. Only a pool of black slime remained in the center of the altar, slowly seeping into the ground in the morning light.
On the rocky cliffs where the Land of Demons and the Land of Earth meet, various things are hanging.
They were the corpses of nobles and their families. Their skin had been peeled off by something, revealing the crimson muscle and white fascia underneath. When the wind blew, the flesh and membranes swelled up, like crimson flags hanging on the cliff, swaying gently in the morning breeze. The stench of blood carried far on the wind, attracting countless scavenging Crow.
At the summit of the mountain of corpses, the figure of the Moryo materialized once more. This time, it was no longer in the shape of a giant infant, but had transformed into a blurry humanoid form, shrouded in black mist, its face obscured. It extended its slender fingers, the tips still stained with dark red blood, and slowly brought them to its lips, licking them.
"The taste of the Land of Earth..." it sighed contentedly, its voice carrying a childlike joy mixed with the sinister ruthlessness of an old man, "Much better than I imagined..."
It raised its head and looked towards the Land of Earth. The horizon there was already dyed gold by the rising sun, but in the sense of the Moryo, it could clearly detect two powerful Chakra —one like a burning sun, fiery and domineering; the other like a lurking venomous snake, cold and deadly.
Madara Uchiha, Tian Uguisu.
The Moryo laughed, a huge gash appearing on its face formed of black mist, revealing no teeth, only churning darkness.
"I'm full... time to stretch." It stretched, and the black mist around it suddenly surged violently. "Next... it's your turn."
As its words fell, the corpses hanging on the rock wall suddenly twitched violently, and then their eyes snapped open—filled with the same eerie green soul fire that danced within them, just like those of the stone golems.
The banners of corpses fluttered in the morning breeze, as if playing a prelude to the impending slaughter.