"Damn it! The gap is too big!" Tsubasa couldn't help but curse, his face turning even paler. That attack had almost exhausted most of the Chakra he had left, yet it couldn't even break through the opponent's defense.
Orochimaru also groaned. He had been affected by the white snake's corruption, and the corpse energy within him surged, weakening him considerably. "Truly... a despairing gap. God and saint, indeed, are worlds apart."
Not only could they not help, they also had to do everything in their power to withstand the aftermath of the battle.
A pale golden energy from the God Tree emanated and shot towards the two of them. It seemed weak, but the divine power contained within it was terrifying. Tsubasa dared not be careless and immediately waved his wings, condensing a golden light shield.
"Bang!"
The light shield shattered instantly, Tsubasa was forced back by the enormous impact, spitting out a mouthful of blood. A crack appeared on his light wings.
" Tsubasa! Watch out behind you!" Orochimaru's voice rang out.
Tsubasa whirled around and saw a dark green energy thread shooting towards him at an astonishing speed. He tried to dodge, but before his body could react, the energy thread grazed past his shoulder.
"Hiss--!"
It was just a glancing blow, but Tsubasa felt as if his shoulder had been branded with a hot iron. A sharp pain shot through him, and the flesh on his shoulder was instantly corroded, exposing the bone underneath. Moreover, the dark green energy continued to erode his body, spreading inward along the wound, trying to devour his life force.
" Will of Fire, Ignite!" Tsubasa gritted his teeth and activated the Will of Fire within his body. Golden flames ignited at the wound, barely managing to block the erosion of energy.
Orochimaru's situation wasn't much better. He manipulated countless white snakes to form a thick defensive barrier, blocking a flying fragment of space. But then, a streak of green energy grazed the barrier, instantly vaporizing half of the white snakes and creating a huge gap in the barrier.
"Pfft--!" Orochimaru groaned, his face turning even more ashen, and his aura weakening. Those white snakes were all formed from his corpse energy; their evaporation caused him considerable backlash.
"We're like two leaves in a storm! There's so little we can do!" Tsubasa said, panting heavily as he shattered an incoming spatial fragment. He was covered in wounds, and his Chakra was almost depleted, leaving him barely able to maintain his defense.
Orochimaru nodded, a hint of helplessness flashing in his eyes. "Heh... I never thought that after dominating the Shinobi World for so many years, we'd end up as cannon fodder here."
However, they weren't entirely useless. The Insect God hated Tsubasa to the core. In its eyes, Tsubasa was a descendant of the God of Ōtsutsuki and the culprit who stole the Holy Mother Insect. Therefore, while it was fighting fiercely with the God of Ōtsutsuki, it would always spare some attention to try to eliminate Tsubasa and Orochimaru first.
This disrupted the Insect God's battle rhythm considerably. Several times, the God of Ōtsutsuki seized the opportunity when the Insect God was distracted and launched fierce attacks, causing considerable damage to the Insect God.
"Insects! Annoying insects!" The Insect God was furious after being beaten. It felt like it was being bothered by two flies. Although the flies were weak, they always managed to disturb it at crucial moments. It suddenly separated a portion of its divine power and blasted it towards Tsubasa and Orochimaru.
Dark green energy instantly condensed into a gigantic claw, tearing everything apart as it lunged at the two of them.
"Not good! Dodge quickly!" Tsubasa's expression changed drastically, and he grabbed Orochimaru, trying to retreat.
But the claws were too fast; there was no way to dodge them. A ruthless glint flashed in Orochimaru's eyes, and he shoved Tsubasa aside abruptly. "You go first! I'll hold them off!"
His body surged with deathly energy, instantly growing several times larger. His armor became even harder, and countless tentacles emerged from his body, wrapping around him to form a thick defense.
"Bang!"
The enormous green claw slammed into Orochimaru, producing a deafening roar. Orochimaru's body was slammed violently into the void, his carapace shattering instantly, many of his tentacles breaking off, and dark purple corpse blood spurting out.
" Orochimaru!" Tsubasa exclaimed, wanting to rush over to help.
"Don't come any closer!" Orochimaru struggled to his feet, wiping the blood from his mouth, and chuckled sinisterly, "I am the Corpse Saint, I'm not so easy to kill."
His zombie body was indeed formidable; even after suffering such severe injuries, he could recover quickly. His wounds healed at a visible speed, and his severed tentacles grew back, though his aura was even weaker than before.
But the Insect God clearly didn't want to give them a chance to breathe. It seized an opening, and while clashing head-on with the God of Ōtsutsuki, one of its compound eyes suddenly lit up, and a dark green ray, condensed to the extreme, ignored spatial distance and shot towards Orochimaru in an instant.
This ray was more terrifying than any previous attack, containing all the divine power of the Insect God, and also carrying a rule of "decomposition and devouring" and "sealing nothingness," clearly one of the Insect God's ultimate moves.
Orochimaru's expression changed drastically. He tried to dodge, but the ray was too fast and had locked onto his aura, making it impossible to avoid. He could only activate all the corpse energy in his body again, condensing a thick corpse energy shield. At the same time, his body instantly split into countless white snakes, trying to disperse the damage.
"Laugh--!"
The dark green ray pierced through the corpse energy shield instantly, ignoring the split white snakes, and accurately struck Orochimaru's main body.
Orochimaru froze, looking down at the huge, dark, empty void in his chest. The edges of the void were still expanding, and dark green energy was raging wildly inside, destroying his body structure.
His ability to regenerate corpse energy completely failed for the first time.
The wounds that were originally healing rapidly not only failed to heal, but instead continued to expand under the corrosive influence of the dark green energy. The white snakes that had split off also turned to ashes, unable to reassemble.
"Hah..." Orochimaru gasped for breath, dark purple blood spilling from the corner of his mouth. His eyes gradually became unfocused, but his face showed no fear, only a hint of regret and a strong desire to study. "It's a pity... I couldn't... unravel the... mysteries of Power of God..."
Starting from the wound, his body rapidly disintegrated into the most basic particles, gradually dissipating into the universe. The dark green energy was not only devouring his physical body but also sealing his soul, sparing not even a trace of his remnant spirit.
Soon, Orochimaru's body vanished, leaving only a wisp of dark purple corpse energy that floated in the void for a moment before being completely swallowed up by the energy turbulence. His soul aura, like a candle flickering in the wind, quickly extinguished and completely dissipated into the universe.
The once-mighty Corpse Saint ultimately perished here.
" Orochimaru!!" Tsubasa's eyes widened in fury, turning red instantly as an overwhelming surge of grief and indignation welled up within him.
Although he and Orochimaru initially had a relationship of mutual exploitation, they had fought side by side for countless years and gone through countless life-and-death trials. They had long since transformed from allies into comrades who could rely on each other. Watching Orochimaru being completely annihilated without even a chance of reincarnation, Tsubasa felt as if his heart had been violently clenched, the pain making it hard to breathe.
" Insect God! You must die!" Tsubasa roared in the direction of the Insect God, his voice hoarse and filled with endless hatred.
"Next, it's you!" The Insect God's voice was icy cold, filled with vengeful pleasure. Its compound eyes lit up again, and that terrifying dark green ray condensed once more, this time aimed directly at Tsubasa.
Tsubasa sensed a deadly crisis; the oppressive force of that ray was even stronger than what Orochimaru had just endured. He knew he couldn't withstand this attack at all.
Escape! We must escape!
Tsubasa had only one thought left in his mind. He suddenly activated the last bit of Chakra in his body, burning his life and soul at the same time, wanting to exchange it for powerful strength, break through space, and escape into the void.
" Will of Fire, burn my life and soul! Break!" Tsubasa roared, his body engulfed in golden flames, more dazzling than ever before. His wings also grew larger, burning with the fire of his soul and radiating terrifying energy fluctuations.
He strained with all his might, slashing towards a relatively thin space, trying to tear open a spatial rift and escape inside.
However, he still underestimated the impact of the battle between the two True God on space.
The space in this region had long been disrupted by the two Divine Domain, becoming incredibly chaotic and solid. Countless spatial fragments flew through the void, and temporal turbulence constantly crisscrossed, forming one insurmountable barrier after another.
Tsubasa's attack struck the space as if it had struck a piece of ancient black iron, producing only a crisp "clang" sound without leaving even a white mark. Instead, the force of the rebound from the space forced him to retreat repeatedly, spitting out a mouthful of blood.
"No! How could this happen!" Tsubasa roared in despair.
He wanted to attack again, but the side effects of burning his life and soul were already showing. His body began to turn transparent, his soul fire grew weaker and weaker, his Chakra was almost exhausted, and even maintaining his physical form became extremely difficult.
The dark green death ray had already locked onto him, shooting towards him with an aura of annihilation.
The God of Ōtsutsuki also attempted to rescue Tenyi. Seeing Tsubasa's predicament, it sent countless golden roots to entwine and try to block the Insect God's rays. However, it was already tightly bound by the Insect God, and most of its divine power was being used to resist the Insect God's attacks, leaving it with limited power.
The golden roots were instantly corroded and annihilated as soon as they approached the rays, offering absolutely no protection.
It's too late.
It was all too late.
The dark green death ray pierced through the golden flames, penetrated layers of spatial barriers, and struck Tsubasa's heart with pinpoint accuracy.
"Ugh--!"
Tsubasa let out a shrill scream, his body convulsing violently. He felt his life, soul, and consciousness rapidly disintegrating under this attack. It was an obliteration at the level of rules, surpassing all his regenerative abilities and even exceeding the limits of the Will of Fire.
He could clearly feel his body gradually turning into particles, his soul being sealed and devoured little by little, and his consciousness becoming increasingly blurred.
In the last second before his consciousness completely plunged into darkness, he saw the God of Ōtsutsuki seize the opportunity to launch his strongest attack. Countless golden God Tree phantoms wrapped around the Insect God's body, and various Power of God slammed heavily onto the Insect God Insect God, shattering its carapace and causing dark green blood to spurt out.
He also saw the Insect God's cold compound eyes, filled with vengeful pleasure, seemingly mocking his overestimation of his abilities.
"Is this... the end?" Tsubasa's consciousness grew increasingly blurred. " The Shinobi World... my parents, wife, children... everyone... I'm sorry..."
His true spirit, like shattered glass, turned into specks of light and ultimately returned to nothingness.
Two Saint Venerable Level powerhouses from the Shinobi World used themselves as bait to successfully provoke a life-or-death battle between two gods. In the end, as prophesied, they perished in the aftermath of this battle of True God, playing the final role of "cannon fodder."
Their sacrifice was not in vain.
In the void, the battle between the two True God continued, and the energy storm still raged. But the two heroes of the Shinobi World had vanished forever into this cold universe.