Faced with the indiscriminate carnage of Otsutsuki Toneri, the Allied Shinobi Forces could only swallow their anger. They feared Toneri's overwhelming power too much to protest.
Toneri, for his part, didn't care about ordinary shinobi dying. In his eyes they were ants. All he thought about now was the Hyuga clan's Lady Hinata.
"Are all members of the Otsutsuki clan here? Better not have any random strays pop up next. Going by the plot, it should just be these. Looks like I was born to toil. I'll take Toneri," Uchiha Musashi said, eyeing the rampaging Toneri in the crowd.
"Mangekyō Sharingan: Final Form!"
"Kaguya, whatever else you can do, show it all," Meruem said, floating high above as he looked down at the fallen Kaguya. The Truth-Seeking Orbs behind him whirled in ceaseless orbit.
Meruem couldn't fly on his own; his flight came from Naruto-world's special tools—the Truth-Seeking Orbs.
"Hundred-Armed Kannon!" "Night Parade of a Hundred Demons!" Left and right of Meruem loomed two colossal phantoms—manifestations of Reinforcement-type ability. This time he conjured both at once.
Kaguya was overwhelmingly powerful and commanded countless secret arts, proficient in all manner of ninjutsu combat. But it was her first time facing someone who could reach near-teleportation with taijutsu alone.
The funniest part was that super-gravity earlier—she'd trapped herself too. And she hadn't expected Meruem to simply stand under that gravity by force of body alone.
Kaguya wanted to cancel the jutsu, but it would take time. In those few seconds she took a huge loss, and Meruem seized the once-in-a-lifetime chance to grievously wound her, laying the foundation for victory.
"Damn you! Think you've won? I'll just change dimensions and fight there! Amenominaka!"
"Sorry—just now I sealed this space," Meruem said, looking down at Kaguya.
"You have nowhere to run." Already possessed of spatial abilities, Meruem had, after gaining Hamura Otsutsuki's power, elevated his understanding and use of space to an incredible level.
He hadn't completely locked out Kaguya's spatial ability, but he could suppress it for a while. The key was—Kaguya didn't know that. All she could tell was that her spatial jutsu had failed.
"Impossible! Impossible! In this world, only I can use that technique! Try this—Yomotsu Hirasaka!" Kaguya attempted to open a spatial wormhole again to flee, find a better battleground, recover, and fight Meruem anew.
But the rift didn't open as she wished.
"I told you," Meruem said as his fist hammered Kaguya's abdomen, followed by a knee strike, then an uppercut.
Even someone as strong as Kaguya couldn't withstand the flurry.
"Mother—damn it—I'll help you!" Seeing the tide turn, Black Zetsu slipped from Kaguya's sleeve to strike, oozing over Meruem's body in an attempt to seize control.
"A mere shadow—by you?" Meruem's body trembled at ultra-high frequency, flinging Black Zetsu's black film off in an instant.
"I'll deal with you in a minute. Truth-Seeking Orb!" As Black Zetsu drifted in midair after being flung, Meruem extended his right hand, and a black rod appeared.
It was a Truth-Seeking Orb transformed—a material that could halt the flow of all chakra. Against a formless being like Black Zetsu, it worked shockingly well.
"Stay put over there." Meruem hurled it at Black Zetsu. Like a javelin, it pierced the formless mass and pinned it to the ground.
"Damn… I can't move." Curled into a lump, Black Zetsu tried to wriggle toward Kaguya, but failed. The black rod formed from the orb sealed his movements like a binding.
"Recovered enough? Then let's continue." Having finished, Meruem spoke to Kaguya, who had used his brief scuffle with Black Zetsu to restore her strength.
"Don't get cocky, boy! Eighty Gods Vacuum Fists!"
"Damn! Tenketsu strikes! Hundred-Armed Kannon, Night Parade of a Hundred Demons!" Even in human form, Meruem's taijutsu was terrifying—but what he feared most were techniques that bypass external defense to strike the interior.
Because of "Hardening" in Nen, Meruem could, to some extent, ignore the Hyuga clan's Gentle Fist—their levels were too far apart. Gentle Fist couldn't even break his exterior defenses, much less hurt him.
But Kaguya was different. Though her body was slightly inferior to Meruem's, her point-striking technique could pierce even a Complete Body Susanoo—god-tier taijutsu.
"Didn't expect you had more hidden. I thought you no longer had the stamina for it. Heh—still underestimated you a bit." Meruem reacted fast, but he was still hit at many points and took some damage.
It wouldn't change the outcome now.
"At my peak, that would have killed you," Kaguya said.
"But there are no 'ifs' in this world," Meruem replied.
"All-Killing Ash Bones! You won't take my life so easily." Gray bones thrust from Kaguya's arm—a god-tier move that made the target's body disintegrate into ash upon impact.
"Seal the power of all creation—call forth the pitch-black Orb of Chaos!" Using the gray bones to stall Meruem, Kaguya gathered all her chakra. She summoned a colossal Truth-Seeking Orb—one that could swallow all five natures, yin and yang alike—hiding the power to return the world to nothingness, a massive chunk of chaos!
Looks like Kaguya was cornered—she'd used her last resort.
"What a troublesome opponent. Do I have to use Red Spider Lily? No—that would prevent me from taking Kaguya's power. If she's corroded by the world's malice, I don't want to devour that form. And I can't be sure Red Spider Lily could erase that chaotic thing anyway," Meruem thought, referring to the giant orb Kaguya had raised—the thing that returned all to nothingness—her all-in gambit.
"No choice… I'll use that move. It'll cost a ton of stamina, but I can handle it now! As long as I can take Kaguya's power!"
"Heaven and earth—only I am supreme!" Meruem unleashed the technique again—the ultimate distillation of his martial path!
This time, it was even stronger than before. Meruem kept advancing, and so did his martial way.
It was his strongest finishing blow.
"What is that…" Kaguya's white eyes widened in disbelief at the sight—a figure even greater than his earlier moves—even larger than the colossal orb gathered from her entire chakra—the gigantic Meruem.
Left hand pointing skyward, right hand toward the earth.
"I am the god of this world! Return to nothingness, chaotic power!" Kaguya, as if mad, drove the gigantic orb at Meruem. "You're the one who'll return to nothingness!" Meruem and the giant behind him thrust a finger toward Kaguya.
A doomsday scene erupted—world-ending, hell on earth.
Every space—even other dimensions of the Naruto world—shuddered in varying degrees.
Even the Chimera Ant and Allied shinobi battleground felt the violent quake—especially where Kaguya and Meruem had vanished.
"That chakra… Kaguya. Just what kind of monster is she fighting?" Asura spoke for once.
"Looks like my Tenseigan needs more strengthening. At this level, it's not enough—not nearly enough," Toneri muttered darkly, feeling the tremors. What level of battle shook every space? He was still far from it.
"Cough, cough—didn't expect it to cause such a massive explosion." As the smoke cleared at ground zero, a figure staggered out.
It was less a human silhouette than a humanoid creature—because of the giant tail trailing behind.
Meruem—in his Chimera Ant form.
He was wounded in many places, but mostly superficial. He'd taken little internal damage. When the clash triggered the explosion, Meruem realized his human form alone couldn't hold.
So he transformed in an instant.
"Heh. Just as I thought—you're not dead yet, Kaguya." In Chimera Ant form, Meruem's five senses were honed to a terrifying edge.
As he spoke, he strode unhurriedly toward Kaguya's position.
Kaguya—blasted down to half a body.
(End of Chapter)
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