In Isshiki's personal dimension, under the eternally unchanging dark purple sky, the ancient altar inscribed with the marks of countless Otsutsuki Clan's members stood silently.
Below the bottomless hole at the center of the altar, the Ten-Tails, its ten tails bound by thick Chakra Chains and black rods, let out heavy, painful breaths.
A black-red vortex portal opened in the air above the altar.
Jigen's figure stumbled out. His white robe was even more tattered than before, fresh blood stained the corner of his mouth, and fine cracks had appeared on the horn on his forehead.
Clearly, he had expended a great deal in the previous battle and was seriously injured.
His appearance immediately provoked a violent reaction from the Ten-Tails below.
The Tailed Beast, imprisoned for who knows how long, jerked its head up, opened its single eye containing six tomoes, filled with savagery and madness, and let out a deafening roar full of rage and resentment!
"Roar!!!"
Its massive body twisted frantically, trying to break free from the rods and chains restraining it, causing the entire altar to tremble slightly, chains clattering.
Jigen floated in mid-air, looking down coldly at the struggling Ten-Tails below as if looking at a tool about to be used.
He slowly raised his hand covered in black patterns towards the Ten-Tails, his tone carrying an insincere, almost condescending apology:
"Apologies, little pet. I intended to let you accumulate more power... but the enemy outside is more troublesome than expected." He paused, a flash of greed and ruthlessness in his eyes.
"But don't worry, I will soon catch that insolent insect and send him to you as a snack... For now, obediently offer up your Chakra!"
As he spoke, the black wedge mark on his palm lit up once more with a profound glow! A powerful suction force instantly generated!
"Roar-!!!"
The Ten-Tails let out an even more painful and savage roar. The dense, nearly tangible dark red Tailed Beast's Chakra on its massive body was forcibly stripped away by an invisible force, turning into surging torrents of energy that madly rushed towards Jigen's palm!
The black patterns on Jigen's body greedily devoured this power, emitting a deeper eerie light. The injuries on his body began to heal rapidly, even his appearance began to subtly change towards features closer to Otsutsuki Isshiki's true form, and his aura steadily rose.
However, right at this critical moment of power transfer-
Hum!
An extremely abrupt sense of intrusion, sharp as a needle, pierced Jigen's perception!
Almost the instant he detected the anomaly, less than two meters to his side, space showed no distortion, yet Menma's figure appeared out of thin air, without any warning!
He didn't give Jigen any time to react. His right leg, covered in dark red Chakra, like a battle-axe held ready for a long time, carrying a shriek that seemed to tear space, landed a fierce flying kick, precisely imprinting on Jigen's side!
Bang-!!!
A heavy, dull sound accompanied by the faint noise of cracking bones!
Jigen had no time to make any defense or evasion. His entire person was sent flying like a kite with its string cut, savagely kicked away by this tremendous force.
He shot like a cannonball and smashed hard into the wall covered with Otsutsuki inscriptions at the edge of the altar!
"Urgh!" Jigen let out a pained grunt, blood spraying from his mouth again.
What infuriated him even more was that this sudden heavy blow forcibly interrupted his absorption of the Ten-Tails' Chakra!
The continuously flowing power abruptly cut off. The backlash made his internal organs feel as if they were churning.
Jigen hit the wall heavily and slid down slowly, kneeling on one knee in a wretched state. He jerked his head up, his eyes filled with incredible shock and fury!
He saw Menma's figure standing proudly directly above the hole sealing the Ten-Tails.
And beneath his feet was the Dark Nine-Tails, emanating an aura of nothingness and savagery!
The Dark Nine-Tails' nine flame-like tails danced wildly in the air, its crimson eyes fixedly locked onto the Ten-Tails below, letting out a low growl full of provocation and greed.
Menma looked down from his superior position at the wretched Jigen. On his left hand, the heart-palpitating Mini Spiralling Ring, swirling with Dark Chakra inside, had already instantly taken form.
He aimed this ominous energy ball at the altar plaza below, which is the key structure sealing the Ten-Tails!
"You bastard!" Jigen let out a roar of ultimate fury!
He had no time to think about how the other party had broken through the barriers of his other dimension and precisely located this place!
Right now, he had to stop the other party from destroying the seal!
He forcibly endured the intense pain, pressed both hands onto the inscribed wall behind him, and madly poured his remaining Chakra into it!
Hum-!!!
The ancient and mysterious inscriptions on the wall suddenly lit up!
Especially the marks of Isshiki, Kaguya, Momoshiki, Kinshiki, Urashiki, and a few other core Otsutsuki at the highest point, their light was the most intense!
The next moment, several semi-transparent phantoms of Otsutsuki Clan's members, constructed from pure energy, rapidly materialized on the altar plaza!
The Momoshiki phantom opened a Rinnegan in its palm, the Kinshiki phantom wielded a giant axe-like weapon, the Urashiki phantom swung a fishing rod, and even the Kaguya phantom expressionlessly raised her hand...
Although these phantoms possessed less than a ten-thousandth of their true bodies' strength, combined, they emitted a not-to-be-underestimated pressure. They all aimed at Menma above, poised to attack!
However, Menma's actions were faster than the formation of these phantoms!
"Too slow."
His cold voice rang out. His left hand savagely swung downwards!
The dark purple Mini Spiralling Ring fell like a dying star, carrying an annihilating aura.
Ignoring the newly formed phantoms, it precisely struck the center of the altar plaza.
The lid-like structure sealing the top of the Ten-Tails' hole!
Boom!!
A deafening explosion swept through the entire other dimension!
The dark purple Dark Chakra spread out like a small nuclear bomb!
The incredibly sturdy altar plaza, under the impact of this power not of this world, instantly became covered in spider-web-like cracks as if it were fragile glass, then collapsed and shattered with a roar!
Large amounts of rubble fell towards the hole below.
And those newly formed Otsutsuki phantoms, before they could even launch a decent attack, flickered violently a few times under this savage energy impact and structural damage, like candles in the wind, and then completely dissipated without a trace.
The seal was forcibly broken!
"Roar-!!!"
Feeling the power restraining it suddenly weaken, the Ten-Tails below let out a heaven-shaking roar interwoven with ecstasy and fury!
It struggled madly. Although its tails were still pinned by the black rods, its upper body had gained more freedom of movement.
"Kyu-chan! Your turn!" Menma shouted to the Dark Nine-Tails beneath him.
"Roar-!!!" The Dark Nine-Tails, already impatient, let out an excited roar. Its massive body leaped down from the edge of the shattered plaza, like a hungry tiger pouncing on its prey, charging straight towards the struggling Ten-Tails in the hole below!
The two behemoth-level savage beasts instantly grappled together in the limited space!
The Dark Nine-Tails, relying on its more agile movements and power from another world, constantly jumped, bit, and tore at the Ten-Tails' massive body. Dark red Chakra Tentacles wrapped around it like leeches, madly extracting the Ten-Tails' vast, ocean-like Chakra!
For the Dark Nine-Tails, which had absorbed the other eight Tailed Beasts in the [Limited Tsukuyomi World], absorbing another Tailed Beast's Chakra was as simple as eating.
The Ten-Tails being 'absorbed' roared in pain and anger.
It opened its giant maw, trying to form a Tailed Beast Bomb or bite with its sharp teeth, but its tails were firmly pinned, its movements restricted.
Coupled with the Dark Nine-Tails' extremely tricky and slippery positioning, its counterattacks repeatedly missed. It could only passively endure the Dark Nine-Tails' devouring and attacks in its fury!
As one waned and the other waxed, the Dark Nine-Tails' aura terrifyingly increased at a visible rate, while the Ten-Tails' struggles gradually showed a hint of weakness.
"Bastard! Your target... is the Ten-Tails?!" Jigen finally completely understood Menma's intention. He trembled with rage, his eyes nearly bursting from their sockets!
He grabbed a Chakra Rod, his figure erupting forward, carrying overwhelming killing intent, charging straight at Menma standing on the edge of the broken plaza!
"How could you know?! How could you possibly know of its existence?! Even that bitch Kaguya didn't know!!!" Jigen's roar was filled with incomprehensible confusion and ultimate fury.
Menma fearlessly met him, also condensing a black Chakra Rod in his hand.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The two engaged in another intensely fierce close-quarters battle in the air!
Sparks flew from the clashing rods. Their speed was so fast only two blurry figures remained.
Jigen fought like a madman, his offensive like a storm, each strike containing the hatred to tear the other apart.
Menma remained steady, calm, defending flawlessly. His occasional sharp counterattacks forced Jigen to be cautious.
The more they fought, the greater Jigen's shock became.
'This guy seemed to know everything about me. Not only was his strength so powerful it didn't seem like a native of this planet, but he completely countered his spatial combination techniques, and even possessed an unheard-of Tailed Beast from another world!
'Who was he?'
'Where did he come from?'
'Why did he know so much about me and the Otsutsuki Clan?!'
Countless questions almost made Jigen's brain explode.
Amidst this deadlocked battle, Jigen keenly noticed that the faint green light emitting from Menma's right Byakugan seemed to have dimmed considerably, and the other party's movements were slightly slower compared to his peak earlier!
'That's it! This other dimension is isolated from the outside world. The supply of unknown power linked to his Byakugan can't keep up!' This thought instantly flashed through Jigen's mind, like seeing a glimmer of light in the darkness!
Jigen, who had been completely suppressed by Menma just moments ago, now gradually regained the disadvantage. The two fought back and forth in the air, falling into a stalemate of equal strength!
The sound of clashing rods was continuous. Energy shockwaves constantly shook the already unstable space.
But Jigen felt no joy.
He knew clearly that if this dragged on, once the Ten-Tails was completely drained by that bizarre Dark Nine-Tails, losing his most important Chakra Source, his already damaged vessel would reach its end, without even a chance for forced reincarnation!
His face was grim to the extreme. A flash of desperation and madness passed through his eyes.
'No choice... I must initiate the complete thawing of the Kama for reincarnation ahead of schedule! Even though this vessel is far from perfect, and the reincarnated form might only last a few days... Only by fully restoring my true body's power can I completely crush this damned guy and reclaim the Ten-Tails!'
Just as Jigen made this all-or-nothing decision in his heart, his offensive slightly slowed as he prepared to retreat and gather strength to initiate the reincarnation, Menma, who had been calmly observing the battle, seemed to have keenly detected his fleeting resolve.
'Thinking of reincarnating early? Hmph, a complete Isshiki is something I can't handle right now...'
Even with an early reincarnation, Isshiki's strength was top-tier among the Otsutsuki Clan. Among the known Otsutsuki, only the 'ascended' Otsutsuki Shibai and Kaguya after consuming the God Tree's fruit were stronger than him.
In a split second, Menma quickly made a decision.
He couldn't clash head-on with Isshiki!
He deliberately left an opening. When Jigen launched a powerful sweeping leg attack, he didn't block it directly.
Instead, he used the force to go with the momentum, his body floating backward like a willow catkin, directly towards the hole where the two Tailed Beasts were fiercely battling below!
His figure landed lightly on the head of the Ten-Tails, which was in disarray and being madly drained of Chakra by the Dark Nine-Tails.
The Ten-Tails let out an angry and powerless roar but couldn't shake him off.
Menma's hands quickly formed a seal. Then his right palm savagely struck the wrinkled head of the Ten-Tails!
"Flying Thunder God Technique!"
Hum-!!!
A powerful Space-Time Fluctuation instantly enveloped the vast area centered on him!
Not only himself, but also the Ten-Tails beneath his feet, and the Dark Nine-Tails feasting on the Ten-Tails… the three were firmly locked by an intangible spatial force!
"You!!!" Jigen, who had just stabilized his stance and was about to initiate the reincarnation ritual, seeing this, let out a heart-rending, despairing, and furious roar!
He charged forward madly, trying to stop it, but it was too late!
The next moment, under Jigen's gaze that seemed capable of shooting fire, the Ten-Tails, the Dark Nine-Tails, and Menma standing on the Ten-Tails' head… their figures were instantly completely vanished without a trace from this other dimension!
Only the devastated altar, the empty, black sealing hole, the scattered rubble, and the still slightly shaking Chakra Chains remained...
And Jigen, floating in mid-air, trembling violently due to ultimate fury, resentment, and the complete destruction of his plans, ultimately unable to maintain that divine posture any longer.
At this moment, Jigen let out a roar filled with endless hatred and frustration, like a wounded beast, echoing throughout the other dimension.
"Ah-!!"
This roar seemed to transcend time and space, creating a despairing resonance with the night a thousand years ago when he was betrayed by Kaguya.