The twin dragons exploded into ink, blasting the rubble off Natsuki's body in a wave of liquid black.
On the other side, Gamakichi groaned, slowly lifting slabs of shattered stone. Blood oozed from his wounds, his limbs trembling—he was barely holding on.
"You're still alive, huh…" Natsuki muttered, disappointment heavy in his voice.
Panting, Gamakichi staggered upright. "You… won't kill me that easily, you bastard!"
"Ash Magic: Twin Ash Dragon Fist!" he roared.
Ash particles twisted around his fists, shaping into snarling dragon heads.
Natsuki, calm and unamused, pulled out his scroll. "Copy Artist."
Ink surged as he duplicated the very same move—his own fists igniting with identical ash dragons.
Then, in a flash, he vanished.
By the time Gamakichi blinked, Natsuki was already in front of him.
Natsuki's Fist hit Gamakichi's, Face, Chest, Gut. Again and again.
Each blow landed like an ox crashing into a wall. Blood spattered, teeth cracked, and bones gave out.
"Die! DIE! DIE!! DIIIEEEE!!!"
"You took everything from me—my clan, my brother, my sister the last remaining family i have left wont even look at me because of you, you took Ino… and now you want to take Rumi?!" His voice cracked, raw and wild.
"You want to erase what little I have left?!"
The final blow crushed Gamakichi's jaw, and his lifeless body collapsed to the floor in a bloodied heap.
Natsuki stood over him, chest heaving, his fists trembling and soaked in crimson.
> [PRAY SLAUGHTERED.]
> [Gamakichi defeated. Initiating mana claim.]
A glowing blue orb floated up from the corpse.
Before Natsuki could move, his body jerked—hijacked by the system.
His arm extended into the orb.
Mana surged into him like lightning through his veins.
> [NEW ABILITY UNLOCKED: INK METAMORPHOSIS.]
> [You may now take on hybrid forms of your tattooed summons.]
> [Control Returned to Host.]
Natsuki dropped to one knee, clutching his chest as the power settled in.
But then—
> [WARNING: POWERFUL ENEMY APPROACHING.]
> [ADVICE: HIDE. NOW.]
Without hesitation, Natsuki dove beneath the rubble and buried himself in ink and stone.
The portal from earlier reactivated with a hum.
Out stepped an 8-foot-tall female oni. Regal, terrifying, and entirely unfazed by the destruction around her. Her crimson eyes glowed like molten rubies.
Behind her, limping and chained, followed the smaller oni from earlier —Elder Zen, now battered beyond recognition.
The towering oni woman snarled, her voice sharp as a blade.
"Elder Zen… what happened to the temple?!"
Zen stammered, "P-Princess Jin-ya… I… I don't know—"
Before he could finish, she yanked his chain, dragging him to the ground. With a single motion, she stomped her spiked heel onto the back of his skull.
From beneath the rubble, Natsuki narrowed his eyes. "Damn, she's brutal… if that guy weren't an oni, he'd be paste by now."
Jin-ya seethed. "The Queen will have your head for this."
She paused. Then grinned cruelly. "On second thought… I'll save her the trouble."
She lifted Zen into the air with one hand, pointed her palm toward him into the air , and spoke two words:
"Mad Dog Cry."
A colossal blast of red and black energy erupted from her hand.
Zen didn't even scream.
He was vaporized.
But the blast kept going—tearing through the skies, continuing upward until it hit the moon.
A quarter of the lunar surface vanished in an instant—shattered, turned to ash.
Jin-ya giggled, raising her fingers to her lips.
"Oops… I might've overdone it."
Natsuki, wide-eyed beneath the rubble, felt a chill run down his spine.
Then came the system's voice again:
> [WARNING.]
> [Princess Jin-ya has absorbed Elder Zen's portion of the Ink Master's mana.]
> [Threat Level: Cataclysm.]
Sweat poured down Natsuki's face as he watched the terrifying display unfold before him. His heart pounded like drums. This wasn't just power—this was calamity given form.
Princess Jin-ya turned toward Gamakichi's mangled body, grabbing it by the hair like a blood-soaked trophy.
"The pathetic general who let the life seed escape... how pitiful."
She lifted him with ease and swung his corpse around like it weighed nothing more than a rag doll.
"You were gifted the Ink Master's mana... one of the Seven Kings of old... and still, you couldn't defeat a lowly ninja?"
She stopped swinging, holding him still, staring coldly into his lifeless eyes.
"Well then… I'll claim your sliver of the Ink Master's mana for myself."
Dark energy surged in her hand as she tried to absorb it—
But nothing happened.
Her expression shifted.
Confusion. Then rage.
"...Wait. What?"
The air crackled around her.
Her face twisted, becoming more monstrous by the second, her voice now echoing with guttural distortion.
"Who took it?" she growled, eyes scanning the ruins. "WHICH BASTARD STOLE THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE MY MANA MINE, MINE!, MINE!!, MINE !!!!!"
She screamed—a piercing, primal shriek.
A massive orb of black and red energy formed in her mouth, growing rapidly to the size of a horse. Without a moment's pause, she unleashed it.
The blast rocketed across the landscape, colliding with a distant mountain range.
BOOOOM!!!
Three of the eight towering mountains erupted—leveled entirely in an instant. The earth quaked from the impact, clouds split, and smoke covered the horizon like a curtain of doom.
Natsuki's stomach churned. He had to press his hands over his mouth to keep from screaming or vomiting. His entire body trembled.
"If this is her throwing a tantrum..." he whispered to himself, "then how powerful is she when she's actually trying?"
Jin-ya's body surged with leftover energy. Her breathing was wild and erratic, then... she suddenly turned away.
She stormed back toward the portal—her heels clicking with fury, the chains dragging behind her like snakes.
With a final glare at the destruction she caused, she vanished through the portal.
Gone.
Only silence remained.
The moment she disappeared, Natsuki burst from the rubble, falling to his knees as he threw up violently into the dirt.
He wiped his mouth, hands still shaking.
"How... was an oni that strong?" he muttered. "Not even a thousand men could destroy a single mountain but she just erased three."
The ground still smoked in the distance.
He couldn't waste time.
Natsuki clapped his hand on one of his tattoos. An ink tiger erupted from his arm, its eyes glowing with summoned life.
Without hesitation, he leapt onto its back.
"Take me to Shin-Kage Village," he said, voice low but firm. "I need to warn everyone…"
The tiger roared and took off, speeding through the trees like a streak of living ink—Natsuki atop its back, racing against time.
Natsuki appeared in the village within minutes, riding atop the tiger. He dashed through the barrier and headed straight for the town hall.
He burst through the doors, beaten and bloodied.
Tanaka looked up from his seat with a groan. "We really need to put guards on that door..." he muttered.
Natsuki leapt off the tiger and stumbled toward him. "They're too powerful. The oni... they're way stronger than we thought."
Tanaka raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about? Speak clearly."
Natsuki took a breath, steadying himself. "There was an oni princess. I saw her destroy an entire mountain range—and she blasted a chunk off the moon."
The room fell silent… and then erupted in laughter.
"Hah! You expect us to believe that?" one samurai barked.
"What do you take us for, children?"
Natsuki gritted his teeth in frustration. "I have proof."
He grabbed Tanaka by the collar and dragged him outside. The other samurai followed, more out of curiosity than belief.
Once outside, Natsuki pointed up.
There it was.
A massive bite torn out of the moon. Clear as day. Silent as death.
The samurai stared, their smirks fading into slack-jawed disbelief. Some rubbed their eyes. Others dropped their weapons without realizing it.
Tanaka stood frozen.
One of the samurai finally asked, "You said... an oni did that?"
Natsuki nodded. "And that's not all."
He opened his scroll and drew a sweeping line—then tapped it.
Ink pulsed from the page, and an enormous eagle burst into form, flapping its wings with a shriek. Gasps filled the air.
Some stared in awe. Others backed away in fear.
"Tanaka, get on," Natsuki said.
Without protest, the old warrior climbed onto the eagle's back. His face was pale, his heart pounding.
Whatever Natsuki was about to show him... he had to see it for himself.
The eagle soared into the sky, gliding over the forest until they reached the shattered remains of the oni temple.
Tanaka stared at the ruins in silence.
"Did... did she do this too?" he asked.
"No," Natsuki replied calmly. "I did that."
Then he turned and pointed toward the horizon.
Three mountains—still burning, half-collapsed—scarred the land like open wounds.
"She did that."
Tanaka's legs buckled. He dropped to his knees, staring at the devastation.
"…We're all dead, aren't we?" he whispered.
Natsuki sat beside him, his voice quiet.
"And you haven't even heard the full story yet."
Natsuki told him everything—every word he'd overheard in the oni temple.
The twisted ritual.
The Oni Queen,
The spies already hidden among the villages.
The return of the Oni King.
And worst of all... that Rumi was meant to be the sacrifice.
Tanaka's face twisted in disbelief.
"…So now they have another reason to kill that girl," he muttered.
Natsuki blinked. "Another reason? What do you mean?"
Tanaka's gaze dropped to the scorched ground below them. His voice was heavy with something between guilt and sorrow.
"Ino mentioned it in the letter she left with you… Rumi wasn't just any child. She carries a special ability.
He looked up slowly.
"She has the ability to destroy the oni portals. The same portals connecting their world to ours. If that's true... she might be the key to ending the war once and for all."