GSiN: Ch. 211

After helping deal with the rods, the shadow clone still couldn't hold it in and shot a look of disdain at its own trashy original.

"Alright, hurry up and give yourself a shot to heal. Isshiki's reincarnation program should be finished by now. I'm afraid there's going to be another fierce battle next."

Faced with the clone's earnest advice, Ryouma said, "I don't think the fierce battle is going to happen. The effect of that Revenge Counter was far stronger than I expected."

"Is that so? Since you've already got things planned, I'm off."

With that, the clone formed a seal with one hand.

Poof.

It burst into a cloud of smoke and dissipated.

Ryouma took over control of the sand cloud beneath his feet. He pulled a vial of undiluted Revita-Inject, twisted it open, and gulped it down in one go. As the special medicinal power coursed through his body, the several gruesome blood holes on him healed rapidly, as if time itself had sped up. In less than ten seconds, he was completely restored.

This healing speed was already faster than using the Mystical Palm Technique himself.

"No matter how many times I see it, this thing still feels absurdly broken."

Muttering to himself, Ryouma tossed the empty syringe into the sea below.

"Okay, time to get down to business."

After fully recovering, he rode the sand back to the center of where the storm had detonated.

Although only dozens of seconds had passed since the battle's aftershocks faded, thanks to the ocean's powerful self-repair ability, the sea that had been evaporated into a vacuum by the energy blast was quickly refilled by the surrounding waters. Under the lingering residual heat, the sea surface bubbled incessantly with gurgling sounds.

He re-condensed a golden-red chakra cloak around himself, completely ignoring the high-temperature steam that refused to dissipate below. He leapt straight off the sand cloud.

Landing lightly on the sea surface, a glow flickered in his eyes. A full-map view spanning dozens of kilometers was sketched into his mind. At the same time, the domain of sensing malicious intent inherited from Kurama quietly activated, missing not even the faintest trace of hidden danger in the air.

As for what he was going to such lengths to search for, the answer was obvious. Isshiki, who had resurrected through the power of the Kāma using Jigen's body.

In his memories from his previous life, the so-called Kāma was essentially a compressed file containing all of an Ōtsutsuki's bodily data. By engraving it onto another lifeform, once the data was fully decompressed, the owner of the Kāma could resurrect at full strength at any time within that vessel. It was one of the most basic yet most crucial divine techniques of the Ōtsutsuki clan.

Naturally, such a powerful ability came with limitations. The most obvious flaw was that the lifespan after resurrection depended on the chosen vessel.

An ordinary vessel might be on the brink of death again just a couple of days after reviving, while an excellent vessel could allow an Ōtsutsuki to recover their true, complete form. As for the other drawback, this was precisely what he was exploiting right now.

Once an Ōtsutsuki's main body dies, the Kāma's reincarnation program automatically activates, transferring their consciousness to the vessel with the highest degree of decompression. If the Kāma on that vessel has already fully decompressed, reincarnation begins immediately.

Once this process starts, it is irreversible. Even killing the vessel or destroying the body into dust cannot stop the Kāma's resurrection. Not even the Ōtsutsuki who engraved the Kāma in the first place can control it. This point had already been confirmed by Ryouma when he observed the brewing of the Revenge Storm at close range.

Very soon.

Within just a few seconds he locked onto his target inside the corpse of a sea snake on the ocean floor, one that had been boiled to death by extreme heat.

Looking at the other party's cautious, pitiful attempt to suppress his presence as much as possible, the corner of Ryouma's mouth tilted slightly.

"Found you."

---

Trapped in an inescapable energy storm, Jigen's body lasted only a few seconds before perishing completely. Isshiki hidden in his brain, controlling his actions, fared no better. He managed to hold on only two seconds longer before it was game over.

After his main body died, the Kāma's preset reincarnation program automatically activated. Because among all the vessels he had engraved with Kāma, Jigen's was already in a fully decompressed state, Ōtsutsuki Isshiki had no choice but to resurrect within Jigen's body.

Yet just as Isshiki completed his revival, ready to stage a dramatic comeback and reclaim everything he had lost, he helplessly discovered that this powerful energy storm was still ongoing.

Endless unknown energy particles bombarded him one after another, bringing waves of pain. Realizing that if this continued he'd probably rack up a triple death, he spared no cost and fully activated Sukunahikona.

Fortunately, although this energy storm did not belong to chakra, it was still classified as matter and could be shrunk, though the efficiency left much to be desired.

"AAAAAH!"

Isshiki screamed in agony, his face twisted. At last, before the chakra that came with resurrection was completely exhausted, it managed to hold on until the energy storm finally subsided.

Cough... cough, cough...

On the sea surface, where light and shadow warped under the intense heat, he lay sprawled helplessly, coughing uncontrollably.

Even though his entire body was covered in ulcerated skin, and most of his internal organs had failed from radiation.

Even though, to ensure survival, he had weakened the protection over his limbs, leaving only his left arm still attached.

Even though, without treatment, he would likely die again in just a few hours.

Even though he was in such a miserable state...

The fact remained. He had survived.

"Haha... hahahaha..."

He tried to keep his voice low, letting out a few quiet chuckles to vent the pressure he had built up. But just as the laughter began, a sharp pain suddenly surged up from his throat, as if some living creature were violently writhing inside his already ravaged body.

His face contorted instantly. His features twisted together in agony, and his body shook violently, curling into a bow as he lost all control.

"Ugh!"

Along with that retching sound, a pile of visceral fragments, impossible to tell which organs they once belonged to, was vomited out of his mouth. They fell onto the sea surface, sending up bursts of spray.

Blood tainted by dark energy slowly seeped out. Like thick crude oil, it lingered in the seawater, refusing to disperse.

He weakly propped himself up on the sea's surface with his only remaining left arm. The Byakugan in his left eye could clearly see countless tiny, densely packed tentacles sprouting from those organ fragments as they slowly sank downward.

"Ugh!"

Even someone as experienced as Isshiki couldn't help dry-heaving again when faced with the abstract horror of vomiting something like this out of his own body.

"What is this thing? A ninjutsu? Or the ability of that unknown creature hidden beneath his appearance?"

Just imagining that his body might now be filled with those disgusting tentacles was enough to make Isshiki want to kill himself. Of course, that was just an expression of anger. Even if he were to commit suicide, he would first have to find someone to carve a new Kāma before doing so.

Feeling the chakra inside his body had been almost completely drained dry, he estimated that in his current state, he probably couldn't even defeat one of Ryouma's shadow clones.

Run. Run as far as possible.

At this moment, that was the only thought in Isshiki's mind. But escaping also required execution. Space-time techniques were notorious chakra hogs, and he definitely couldn't activate them now. Fortunately, he had had the foresight to choose the battlefield over the ocean.

Beneath his feet, the vast, boundless sea was naturally the best place to feign death and hide.

Enduring the stabbing pain coming from his right eye, he forcibly used Sukunahikona once more to shrink himself, then swam underwater until he found the corpse of a sea snake and hid inside it. This sea snake, killed by extreme heat, still retained a trace of residual warmth inside its body, but it did nothing to warm Isshiki's ice-cold heart.

Because his Byakugan had sensed Ryouma turning back.

Even now, he couldn't understand it. If Ryouma had such a trump card, why not bring it out earlier? Why put on that whole act of being severely injured? Who was that supposed to fool?

At this point, all he could do was pray that the other party was merely coming back to take a look. Coincidentally, the near-extinction of chakra within his body made it easier for him to conceal his chakra presence.

This method of hiding chakra fluctuations was a basic skill many Ōtsutsuki clan members possessed. Some could even conceal themselves well enough to avoid detection by Rinnegan.

---

On the sea surface, Ryouma easily locked onto Isshiki's hiding spot in the deep ocean through malicious intent sensing.

"Come to think of it, does the Kokugan have the ability to absorb chakra?"

He lowered his head slightly in thought. As far as he remembered, it didn't seem so. But to be safe, he decided to use that move to fish Isshiki out. Having made up his mind, he crouched down, bit his right index finger, and extended it into the seawater.

The next second, a jet of black blood shot out, instantly striking the sea snake corpse where Isshiki was hiding.

Under the transformation induced by the dark energy concentrated within the blood, the sea snake corpse suddenly swelled dramatically. Countless twisted tentacles burst out from its flesh.

Isshiki, hiding inside its body, reacted the moment the sudden change occurred and immediately tried to force his way out. But inside the sea snake, the dense tentacles interwove into an airtight net.

At the same time, large amounts of black mist carrying special ionized particles were released from holes at the tips of the tentacles.

Isshiki gathered the last remnants of his chakra in an attempt to force his way out. But his body was brutally honest. At the very instant he touched the black mist, he was paralyzed by electricity.

The bioelectric signals throughout his body were severed. The shrunken state of Sukunahikona was also forcibly canceled due to overload from the use of the Kokugan. With no hope of turning the situation around, he could only let the monster's tentacles bind him tightly. He was then carried all the way up to the surface, where he lay prostrate at Ryouma's feet.

"ꀀꀖꀸꁖꂑ, ꂮꃍꃢꄀꄚꄶ!"

"What the hell are you babbling about? Hurry up and spit him out."

Ryouma couldn't be bothered to use the Dark Factor within his body to understand the monster's words and simply issued the order.

"ꂹꄥꇃ..."

Although it failed to receive a response, the monster still dutifully opened up its body, delivering Isshiki, bound by several tentacles, from within.

There was nothing more to say. Ryouma raised his right hand, and a piercing chirping of birds rang out. Brilliant golden-red chakra condensed into a blade that fit snugly in his palm.

Looking at Ryouma's pupils, Isshiki felt the threat of death press closer than ever before, so close his heart nearly stopped.

"Wait a second! Let's make a deal! Since you're also an extraterrestrial race, you must have heard of Ōtsutsuki Shibai, right? I have his cells. I can give all of them to you!"

In his desperation to live, he spoke rapidly, offering up everything he considered valuable. But the only response he received was the increasingly screech of Chidori in Ryouma's hand.

"If you want this planet, I can just hand it over to you! I even have a Ten-Tails! That's right. I can use half of my own body as nourishment to plant it. The chakra fruit it bears will definitely satisfy you! Hey! Are you listening?!"

He shouted in frustration. He truly believed he had laid out everything he could possibly offer. Was that still not enough?

"Is that your last will, Isshiki? It seems that after a thousand years of lurking in the shinobi world, you've only grown more foolish."

Ryouma completely ignored Isshiki's final struggle. With an indifferent expression, he raised his right hand and slashed down sharply.

At the very end of his life, the only things left in Isshiki's mind were the words:

"Once you're dead, all of that will be mine anyway. You really acted it well. But you probably never imagined that this death would be your true, final death."

Ryouma shook his head, then with a thought summoned his system interface. A red dot blinked on the status panel, indicating an update.

[Current Abnormal States:
Super Saiyan Mode 2
Yomi no Tsurugi
Inactivated Kāma (Ōtsutsuki Isshiki)]

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