GSiN: Ch. 209

The two raced and chased, and with what could be called their respective last-ditch modes bolstering them, their speeds had already skyrocketed to an unimaginable level. In less than just a few minutes, they came to a halt in the vast, boundless open sea.

Above the wave-tossed azure surface, Jigen and Ryouma's figures turned into two blurred streaks of light, crossing paths and colliding at speeds imperceptible to the naked eye.

Every dodge and strike carried whistling gusts of force. The surrounding air was violently churned, letting out piercing shrieks, as if countless blades were slashing against one another.

Though it was merely the most plain taijutsu clash, under the absurd stats of the two, even a casual collision would send the overflowing shockwaves of power ripping up the sea beneath their feet, raising massive walls of water.

Just as Jigen had expected, Ryouma's vast sea of sand only followed the two of them to a point more than a thousand meters beyond the seabed, and did not continue extending farther into the open ocean.

That at least removed one pressure. He no longer had to constantly guard against his opponent's space-time movement. But the realization that followed was far less encouraging. Even after swallowing chakra pills, he still could not bring the fight to a quick conclusion. With every passing second, the amount of power this vessel could exert continued to decline.

But looking at Ryouma instead, good grief, his chakra was increasing the longer he fought. It was downright unbelievable. And the reason for this phenomenon was quite simple.

One had to know that Ryouma's Super Saiyan Mode 2, much like the so-called Eight Gates Formation and Baryon Mode, was also a short-term burst obtained by destructively squeezing his own life force. But he didn't like that kind of three-minutes-of-manliness routine. In his view, any power that couldn't be sustained for a long time was fake. So he chose to use sealing techniques to condense five delayed magatama behind his back, deliberately slowing the rate of cellular self-destruction, thereby exchanging it for more than ten times the duration.

And now, as his mastery of sealing techniques had grown ever deeper, he could even condense nine magatama behind his back without reducing his original output, making his combat time even longer.

Moreover, as the cells in his body continued to erupt in self-destructive bursts, within the limits approaching their half-life, the intensity of his chakra would keep rising nonstop.

Thus, the best way to defeat him was to kill him instantly at the very beginning of Super Saiyan Mode 2, and Jigen clearly couldn't do that.

Knowing he couldn't allow himself to get dragged into a war of attrition, Jigen chose to stake everything on one last gamble. He shrank himself once more, shot at extreme speed to a position above Ryouma's head, and, ignoring the massive tearing of muscles in his right arm, stubbornly wielded the staff and smashed it down with all his might.

Boom!

The force was so great that even the sea below was split apart by the pressure of the strike, opening a gap hundreds of meters wide.

Facing Jigen's all-out blow, Ryouma showed no fear at all. Hardened chakra formed a gigantic claw around his right hand, and five streams of golden-red light shot skyward as he viciously counter-slashed.

A colossal power capable of instantly pulverizing an entire mountain range collided head-on.

BOOOOM!

A deafening explosion rolled outward, and a terrifying circular shockwave erupted from the point of impact like a super nuclear bomb being detonated, expanding madly in all directions. Wherever it passed, seawater churned as if stirred by an invisible giant hand, raising rings of towering waves, while even the surrounding air twisted and distorted from the impact.

Ryouma spun with the momentum, and the chakra cloak around his elbow suddenly reshaped, ejecting a golden-red blade that stabbed straight toward Jigen's chest. Jigen reacted swiftly, sidestepping as he threw a punch. Ryouma twisted his body, avoiding the overly telegraphed straight punch, then lifted his leg high. His heel, wrapped in golden-red chakra, came crashing down like a massive battle axe. Jigen crossed his arms to block, but the impact sent him crashing downward instantly. The sea surface was smashed into a gigantic depression, which then violently surged back in.

His body spun wildly beneath the water, the force it generated churning the surrounding sea into countless massive water columns. Taking advantage of the violently surging water, he rapidly mixed innumerable tiny black rods into the raging currents with both hands.

The seawater rose and spiraled sharply. In the blink of an eye, a gigantic waterspout shot up from the sea, completely enveloping Ryouma within it. Inside the waterspout, the currents raged at terrifying speed, and an immense suction force tried to drag him into its core.

Ryouma's chakra cloak withstood the impact of the water, and his Rikugan instantly detected the hidden danger within. He raised a Flying Thunder God kunai in front of himself, intending to use Flying Thunder God: Guiding Thunder to transfer the entire waterspout away. But in the next instant, the Flying Thunder God kunai in his hand suddenly shrank and slipped from his palm.

At the same time, countless tiny black spikes drifted along with the water vapor, trying to enter his body through his mouth and nose.

As long as even one made it inside, Jigen would immediately restore it to its original size and break through Ryouma's chakra cloak from within.

Almost instantly, the chakra of the Five-Tails within him ignited like gunpowder, rapidly transforming into surging, boundless steam. The temperature of the entire space rose sharply as a result.

Boil Release: Unrivaled Strength!

With a low sound, the steam around Ryouma erupted like a volcano that had been suppressed for far too long, blasting outward under layers of compressed pressure. The once menacing gigantic waterspout, faced with this terrifying power of steam, torn apart from the inside out, turning into countless scattered droplets.

Empowered by the overwhelming force of Boil Release, Ryouma's already terrifying speed rose to an even higher level. His figure instantly became a blurred afterimage, disappearing completely from Jigen's field of vision in the blink of an eye. Before Jigen could even react, Ryouma had already appeared behind him.

Violent chakra surged wildly as Ryouma formed his right hand into a blade and brought it down in a chilling slash.

Sensing the killing intent from behind, Jigen released a cube behind himself without the slightest hesitation. The giant cube once again separated Ryouma from Jigen's position. But this time, Ryouma did not choose to transfer it away. Instead, he kicked the cube.

Under the dual amplification of Unrivaled Strength and the chakra cloak, the cube was sent flying like a soccer ball, producing a sonic boom. Jigen was dragged along by this immense force and sent flying backward. A long trench was immediately plowed into the sea's surface, seawater pouring back in to form a massive whirlpool. He twisted his arm, resetting the dislocated joint, and at the same time used Daikokuten to retrieve the cube.

Before he even had time to think about why Ryouma's speed had suddenly increased so drastically, nine water dragons suddenly surged up from beneath the sea, opening their bloody maws and lunging at him.

The Kāma in his hand shone with light, and the water dragons gradually dissolved into bubbles and dispersed.

At this very moment, the battlefield, suddenly fell into silence. Only the howling sea wind swept across it unrestrained, adding a touch of desolation.

His eyes seemed nailed in place, staring fixedly at Ryouma, who was rising and falling atop the waves not far away. A few drops of liquid slowly slid down his forehead.

To be honest, he was starting to think about retreating. If the fight continued, it was hard to say who would emerge victorious, but there was a very real chance that he would be the one to fall first. After all, he had merely come out in high spirits to capture a researcher. Who could have imagined he would run into a monster like this?

Once that inexplicable golden-red chakra cloak was donned, the man became even stronger than an Ōtsutsuki like himself, someone who had eaten chakra fruits formed from who knew how many planets. Did that make any sense?

Jigen's expression shifted repeatedly. After a fierce internal struggle, he finally decided to accept his bad luck. He quietly began circulating his chakra, preparing to open a space-time portal behind him and make a clean escape. But just as the portal was about to open, the water dragons encircling him suddenly surged, and countless glassy grains, like transparent crystals, billowed forth from within.

Under the sunlight, these grains refracted dreamy, colored light, dazzlingly beautiful.

"This is... the crystals formed when Fire Release burned the sand sea back then?"

His heart sank as a powerful sense of unease welled up within him. Instinctively, he glanced again at Ryouma in the distance. Thankfully, or so it seemed, the other man was still standing quietly in place.

But what did this mean? Could it be that these crystals couldn't be used as markers for Flying Thunder God?

Or had Ryouma seen through his intention to flee, planning to launch a fatal strike at the very instant he used the portal?

Countless questions churned wildly in his mind, throwing him into confusion. Yet before he could sort through even a single thought or test his suspicions, a voice, so familiar it couldn't be mistaken, suddenly exploded behind him.

"Don't tell me you're planning to run away."

Jigen's entire body jolted. Without a moment's thought, he spun around and viciously thrust out the rod in his hand.

Then something happened that even he hadn't anticipated. This attack hit its mark. What's more, he was shocked to discover that the Ryouma before him wasn't wearing that golden-red chakra cloak at all.

The sharp black rod pierced cleanly through his abdomen without the slightest resistance, warm blood slowly flowing down along the shaft.

Jigen's eyes widened slightly. Before the surprise could fade, realization struck. He immediately went on guard, his gaze sweeping over his surroundings.

Sure enough, at the original spot, another Ryouma still stood quietly.

But before he could act, he was startled to realize that the Ryouma he had identified as a clone did not disperse into a puff of smoke as expected.

"What are you so nervous about?"

As Ryouma spoke, he reached out, gripped the rod embedded in his abdomen, and yanked it out with force. Then, with a flick of his arm, he hurled the rod toward Jigen.

Seeing this, Jigen swiftly activated Sukunahikona. The rod rapidly shrank midair until it vanished. His brows twisted tightly as he stared at Ryouma, whose abdomen was still dripping blood. Doubt surged in his heart.

This looked like the real body. Had the golden-red form worn off?

At that thought, a glimmer of realization flashed in Jigen's eyes, quickly followed by firm conviction.

"I really was almost fooled by you. But what a pity. If you'd held on just a little longer, I might really have withdrawn for the time being."

"Oh? So you're admitting you were planning to run away just now?"

Ryouma shot back lightly, as though the wound in his body that was bleeding nonstop had nothing to do with him.

At those words, Jigen's increasingly manic laughter came to an abrupt halt, the smile on his face instantly disappearing. Chakra surged wildly around him.

At this point, he no longer harbored even the slightest worry. He erupted with full force, throwing a straight punch directly at Ryouma's face.

Ryouma reacted instantly. As he twisted aside to evade the blow, he lifted his knee and drove a fierce knee strike toward Jigen's waist.

A dull sound rang out. Several black rods appeared instantly in the path of Ryouma's knee strike. The impact slammed into the rods, kicking up a visible ring of compressed air that dispersed most of the force.

Seizing the opening, Jigen kicked off with both feet, his body leaping into the air. After the brief exchange of taijutsu, he had already confirmed that Ryouma wasn't putting on an act. He was injured.

Thus, without further hesitation, he decisively swung both hands, activating Sukunahikona once more.

Along with the sound of flesh being pierced, several black rods appeared without warning, tearing straight through Ryouma's body. Ryouma let out a muffled groan. A large amount of blood gushed forth, dripping into the sea and slowly spreading across the water.

Seeing this, Jigen walked forward, approaching Ryouma's unsteady figure.

"Now tell me everything you know about Kaguya and that one called Teuchi. Depending on how useful your information is, I might even spare your life."

"Hahaha..."

Ryouma suddenly let out a low chuckle.

"Actually, I've always had a question about the Ōtsutsuki clan. I wonder if you could answer it for me."

Jigen hadn't expected Ryouma to question him at a time like this. Still, out of a sense of respect, he saw no harm in listening to the dying words of a powerful opponent.

"Go on. What do you want to ask?"

"I want to know... When your clan evolves by chewing on chakra fruits, is thinking considered optional?"