On the battlefield of the Land of Hot Water.
"This damn thing is impossible to kill!"
Kisaburo's steel blade slashed into the vampire's neck, splattering his face with foul-smelling black blood. But the vampire merely tilted his head, the gaping wound wriggling and closing like an earthworm. As his sharp teeth grazed Kisaburo's throat, he could even see his own distorted face reflected in the vampire's pupils.
"Retreat! Retreat behind the wall of fire!"
Captain Asuka Kasei's roar was drowned out by screams. The human wall that the third squad had just built was collapsing. The blue-faced, fanged monsters surged forward, stepping over the corpses of their comrades. Their charred limbs twitched on the ground a couple of times before rising again to pounce on the living. Even worse, the recruit Tetsuro, who had just been bitten, was clutching his neck and trembling. His fingernails grew at a visible speed, and the whites of his eyes were gradually being swallowed by blood—his Adam's apple bobbed, and he suddenly lunged at the nearest comrade.
"Bang!"
Asuka Kasei smashed Tetsuro's head with the butt of her rifle. Black blood mixed with brains splattered onto the wall of fire, turning the leaping flames a dark purple. He gasped for breath, wiped his face, and looked at the increasingly shorter battle line behind him, his voice trembling. "Brothers of the Azure Dragon Corps, the Land of Hot Water cannot be lost—"
Before he could finish speaking, the wall of fire on the east side suddenly exploded. A giant vampire, three zhang tall, crashed through the defenses, with half a half-eaten corpse still hanging from its arm, and foul-smelling saliva dripping down its fangs. Asuka Kasei watched helplessly as his personal guard was torn apart by the monster like paper, blood raining down on the back of his hand, burning like a branding iron.
"Withdraw! Withdraw back to the Land of Fire!"
Someone shouted first, and the retreat spread like a plague. Kisaburo dragged his comrade with a broken leg toward the ferry, screams echoing behind him. He glanced back and saw those who should have been his comrades lying in pools of blood, then rising again to join the chase. The rice paddies of Land of Hot Water glowed with an eerie red light under the moonlight, as if the heavens had overturned a rouge box.
As the rift between the Pure Land and the mortal world tore open above the Land of Hot Water, countless Pure Land ninjas flew out to fight the vampires. Hagoromo Otsutsuki, battling the Blood Ancestor, had his white hair almost standing on end.
The Rinnegan spun, Six Paths Power condensed into a blackish-purple ball of light in his palm. But when the figure of the Jashin Blood Ancestor appeared from the blood mist, Hagoromo suddenly felt her throat tighten—the monster had no fixed form, sometimes transforming into thousands of bats, sometimes condensing into a giant shadow covered with bone spikes, and each movement was accompanied by a shrill shriek that Sky Splitter.
"You shouldn't have come, undead powerhouse." The Blood Ancestor's voice seemed to whisper from countless voices simultaneously. "This world was meant to be our hunting ground."
The Sage of Six Paths, Hagoromo Otsutsuki, remained silent, his Senjutsu Chakra surging around him. With a tap of his toes, the ground cracked open, sending magma, imbued with Senjutsu Chakra, soaring into the sky, only to vaporize the moment it touched the Blood Ancestor. The monster appeared behind Hagoromo in a flash, its claws Space Break as it reached for his back. The warning from his Rinnegan allowed him to barely turn to the side, but five deep, bone-revealing wounds were still torn open in his shoulder blade.
"Your power is indeed interesting." Blood Ancestor licked the pure soul at the tip of his claw; the skin at the wound of the Sage of Sage of Six Paths' soul body was festering at a visible rate. "Unfortunately, it can't kill me."
The Sage of Six Paths grunted, his hands Hand Seals so fast they left afterimages. The Chibaku Tensei Technique formed above the Blood Ancestor's head, a sphere of countless fragments crashing down with immense force, only to be abruptly stopped by the blood mist surrounding him. The Blood Ancestor's figure flickered in and out of the blood mist, his voice mocking. "I heard you sealed your own mother, but this technique can't seal the avatar of a god."
Black arrows of blood suddenly shot from all directions. The Sage of Six Paths unleashed Susanoo, and the orange-red giant wielding a longsword cleaved through the rain of arrows. However, the blood that landed on Susanoo's armor corroded holes like strong acid. When the Blood Ancestor broke through the defenses and punched him in the chest, the Sage of Six Paths heard the sound of his own soul shattering.
"Puff--"
Golden blood sprayed onto the Rinnegan, blurring his vision instantly. The Sage of Six Paths watched as the Blood Ancestor's claws pierced his abdomen, the black blood seeping into his soul wound like countless tiny snakes gnawing at his internal organs. He mustered his last bit of strength to gather Senjutsu Chakra in his palm, but only managed to leave a fleeting white mark on the other's chest.
"Next time we meet, you'll be part of my collection."
The voice of the Blood Ancestor grew fainter and fainter. Hagoromo felt himself falling into endless darkness, and the last thing he saw was the outline of the Land of Hot Water completely swallowed by blood. After his figure disappeared through the light gate of the Pure Land, the wound that pierced through his chest and abdomen continued to ooze golden blood, much like a candle flame about to go out.
On the battlefield of the Land of Hot Water...
"Big brother? What happened to you?"
Tenmei rubbed his eyes, looking at the seven-year-old child who was three feet tall in front of him. Tsubasa's clone was wearing ill-fitting armor, and the sealing rune scroll in his hand was bigger than his face, but the immortal Senjutsu he had just used was clearly a move unique to his elder brother.
"Stop talking nonsense!" The Tsubasa clone's voice, still carrying the clear tone of a young man, exuded an undeniable authority. "Hand me the cinnabar; the third seal is about to give way!"
Tenmei quickly handed over the cinnabar box. The sealing wall behind them was groaning under the strain, the pale gold runes were mottled by the black blood, and with each tremor, vampire claws reached out from the cracks. The three hundred sealing team members stood back to back, their talisman brushes flying between their fingers, and the blood essence they spat out by biting their tongues fell onto the talismans, barely enough to block the tidal wave of impact.
"The south! The south is about to fall!"
The team member's roar had barely faded when Tsubasa appeared, stepping on the spatial coordinates. With a flick of his hand, ten talismans seemed to come alive, forming chains that tightly bound the giant vampire that was about to emerge. " Tenmei! Fire Talisman!"
Tenmei had already bundled the Explosive Tag into a satchel charge, and upon hearing this, he grabbed the fuse and threw it over. The explosion was deafening, but when the smoke cleared, the monster merely shook its head; the chains had been corroded down to half their length. Tsubasa spat, and Chakra Blade materialized at his fingertips. "Looks like I'll have to use my real skills."
His body suddenly swelled, the child's torso instantly expanding into a giant several feet tall, his Heavenly Eye rotating in its socket. The sealing team members stared in disbelief, but Tenmei had no time to be surprised—he was being cornered by the three-headed vampire, his long staff twirling in his hand, and two wounds still visible on his arm.
"Drink!"
Tsubasa's voice shook the ground. He pressed one hand against the sealing wall, and the power of his Golden Core spread along the runes, causing the areas corroded by the black blood to suddenly glow with golden light. The vampires let out painful howls, and the limbs that came into contact with the golden light instantly turned to ashes. Tenmei took the opportunity to cut off the neck of the last vampire, and looking at the severed head that lay on the ground still baring its teeth, he felt a wave of nausea wash over him.
"We've held out for now." The Tsubasa clone, panting heavily, reverted to his child form, his forehead covered in cold sweat. "But we can't hold out much longer; there are just too many of them."
Tenmei watched the surging tide of vampires in the distance and suddenly gripped the Chaos Staff tightly. His arm wound was still bleeding, but when he used the flame-encased weapon to slash off the monster's head, he clearly saw a flicker of fear in its eyes.
"Brother," he licked his chapped lips, "I think I know how to kill them."
The crimson hue behind the sealing wall was still churning, but at this moment, the air in the Land of Hot Water seemed to carry a different flavor.