Just as Hoshino was about to take notes, the dark figure suddenly turned around.
Although it had no clearly defined facial features, Hoshino felt a chill run down his spine.
It saw him.
Hoshino's fingers suddenly froze, as if nailed to the spot by an invisible force. A sharp buzzing sound rang in his ears, like some inhuman whisper piercing his brain.
The dark figure slowly 'stood up' in the image, and the kneeling figures around the altar simultaneously let out silent screams, their bodies melting like candles and merging into the dark figure.
" Hoshino?"
Scorpion's voice came from behind, but it sounded as if it were coming through a thick pane of glass.
Hoshino's throat tightened, and he couldn't respond.
Gradually, his vision began to distort, and the laboratory lights turned a ghastly white under the gaze of the shadows, as if the entire world was being 'flattened' by some higher-dimensional being.
Even more terrifying, he felt the Kikaichū in his chest cavity collectively rioting.
These normally docile insects were now frantically gnawing at his internal organs, as if they sensed some kind of threat beyond their comprehension.
His entire body began to show the same gray-black patterns as Hidan's.
"Do you want to sign a contract with me?"
Damn it!
Scorpion's Hiruko trembled violently, its eyes reflecting the strange patterns spreading across Hoshino's body.
He had never seen anything like this before.
Previous experiments all went smoothly, so why did this one go out of control? And it Hoshino again.
"Hey! You..."
Before he could finish speaking, dozens of grayish-white bone spurs suddenly exploded from Hoshino's body.
These bone spurs are completely different from ordinary Shikotsumyaku; their surfaces are covered with honeycomb-like holes, and they are frantically absorbing the remaining Chakra in the laboratory.
Most horrifyingly, the growth trajectory of the bone spurs left scorched black marks in the air, as if scorching space itself.
Scorpion manipulated the puppet to retreat three steps, Hiruko's joints creaked under the strain.
Is this the Shikotsumyaku? Something can't be right!
The bone spurs seemed to be mutating, their tips splitting into tiny, tentacle-like branches, as if they were living creatures searching for something.
Click click click--
Ryuko's back armor suddenly popped open, and a scroll that was flung out revealed Sasori's treasured Third Kazekage Human Puppet.
" Magnet Release: Iron Sand Drizzle!"
Countless poisoned Iron Sand needles rained down like a storm, but suddenly stopped three inches from Hoshino's body.
The moment the needle tip touched the grayish-white bone spur, it decayed rapidly as if it had been weathered for a thousand years, turning into fine dust that fluttered down.
Upon witnessing this, the scorpion's true form broke out in a cold sweat inside the puppet.
The puppet he had painstakingly crafted was so utterly vulnerable to this power that defied common sense, and the bone spikes even possessed a disintegrating property similar to Dust Release.
How exactly did Hoshino come about?
"We must evacuate immediately!"
The thought had barely crossed Scorpion's mind when the laboratory floor suddenly began to twist and deform.
Those grayish-white bone spurs spread wildly like plant roots, causing even the space around them to crack.
The experimental apparatus, the metal walls, and the corpse of the wandering ninja—without exception, all were decomposed into their most primitive state the instant they came into contact with the bone spikes.
"We can't stay here any longer!"
Without hesitation, Scorpion grabbed the Hidan and rushed towards the exit.
In the instant he fled, he looked back and saw that Hoshino was completely enveloped in a gray-white cocoon, as if he were constructing some kind of realm beyond comprehension.
"Let me go! I need to go back and complete the ritual! The Lord Jashin needs that sacrifice!" Hidan struggled frantically, his eyes bloodshot.
"Shut up!" Scorpion's voice was unusually agitated.
boom--
A deafening crashing sound came from the passage behind them, and grayish-white bone spurs surged forth like a tide.
Without hesitation, Sasori flung Hidan backward, preparing to use this 'immortal body' as a meat shield.
"Ah!!!"
The piercing screams sent chills down one's spine.
Sasori suddenly pulled him back to his side, only to find that Hidan's right arm had completely disappeared.
The broken edge was an eerie grayish-white, as if it had been completely erased from existence by some force beyond reason.
Hidan, who was known as immortal, was currently writhing in pain. Not a drop of blood flowed from his severed arm; only fine, grayish-white powder drifted down.
"This is impossible... The power of the Lord Jashin is being devoured?"
For the first time, Hidan's voice betrayed genuine fear.
The power of the gray-white bone spurs seemed to transcend the so-called rule of 'immortality'.
Scorpion's true form inside the puppet broke out in a cold sweat, never expecting that his carefully prepared 'meat shield' would be so vulnerable.
The sound of collapse from behind the passage grew closer, and the gray-white bone spurs relentlessly pursued them like living creatures.
Metal walls, floor tiles... all vanished silently, without a trace, as if their existence had been directly denied by some supreme will.
Bang bang bang--
Hiruko's back armor completely popped open.
Dozens of capable puppets surged forth like a tide, only to instantly turn to dust upon contact with the spreading gray-white domain.
"What the hell is this thing? It's terrifying!"
Scorpion hadn't experienced this near-fear emotion in a long time—not the fear of death, but an instinctive tremor at the unknown.
Dust Release? Kekkei Tōta? No, those are all too superficial.
Those grayish-white bone spurs revealed a more fundamental power, as if they directly altered the underlying rules of the world.
It can even erase immortality...
For the first time, Scorpion began to waver in his research on immortality.
If even the concept of 'immortality' can be denied, then what is the point of his pursuit of eternal art?
Hoshino, what exactly did you touch?
The figure encased in a bone cocoon now defies science and seems more like a forbidden existence from some ancient myth.
As an artist who strives for perfection, Scorpion has always despised uncontrollable forces, but he has to admit that he cannot understand the nature of such forces at all.
Shinra Tensei!
A massive repulsive field pressed down like a canopy, forming a temporary barrier in front of the gray-white domain.
But Sasori saw those bone spurs slowly and steadily erasing the Rinnegan's technique, like erasing chalk writing from a blackboard.
Even the power of the Sage of Six Paths couldn't resist this kind of erasure!
"What the hell are you guys doing?" Pain's voice was unusually urgent.
"Retreat!"
As everyone rushed out of the underground facility, the entire tower underwent a tremendous transformation.
The concrete walls weathered at an alarming rate, and the reinforcing steel bars rusted rapidly into reddish-brown powder before the grayish-white splinters.
The once towering tower vanished from their sight in mere moments.
Hoshino's figure was completely enveloped by bone spikes, transforming into a huge gray-white cocoon, standing silently in the center of the ruins.
What exactly happened?
Pain's voice echoed above the ruins, looking down at the disheveled Sasori and Hidan.
Sasori said uncertainly, "We were just researching Hidan's Jashin ritual, until Hoshino suddenly..."