The massive half-human, half-centipede monster, covered in dark purple exoskeleton, had its head severed by a man it had just impaled! The pale and grotesque head fell from a height of forty or fifty meters, crashing to the ground. Deprived of its head, the monster's colossal body finally collapsed.
"Boom!"
The enormous corpse slammed into the floor, kicking up billowing clouds of thick smoke. Because he had been impaled by the Rinkaku, Mori Shiraishi was dragged down and buried within the shattered ground.
"Well, that's certainly..."
Witnessing this, Hidan looked somewhat surprised. He turned his head sharply toward Simu.
"You bastard Simu, did you predict this step when you kicked that ant away?"
Hidan didn't believe for a second that Simu—with his strength and natural suppression of Kagune—would have left that ant any real chance of survival. The only possibility was that he had intentionally spared the creature to allow it to perform its final... show.
Simu raised an eyebrow, his tone filled with mock surprise. "With your IQ, you actually realized I was holding back on purpose?"
Faced with Simu's teasing, Hidan instantly flew into a rage.
"You bastard Simu, are you looking down on my intelligence?"
Simu gave him a startled look. "You realized that too!"
"I'll kill you!"
While the two bickered, the hill-like corpse of the centipede monster suddenly twitched several times. Simu slowly pushed up his glasses and said calmly, "It seems this kid's luck is quite good."
Hidan narrowed his eyes as the centipede's corpse continued to shake. Suddenly, a hole burst through the flesh, and Mori Shiraishi's pale arm reached out. Though the arm looked slender, the faintly bulging muscles spoke of explosive power. Bracing himself against the surface of the corpse, Mori Shiraishi finally crawled out of the monster's remains.
Compared to before, his body had become extremely thin and pale. His originally dark hair had turned completely snow-white. His eyes were entirely shrouded in darkness, with dense, crooked blood vessels spreading out from the centers of his pupils. His entire aura had changed, as if... he had been reborn.
"Yo, the kid actually survived," Hidan said, quite surprised. He had thought that after suffering such horrific injuries, the boy would have perished along with the ant.
Simu looked down at Mori Shiraishi, whose eyes were crimson and hair was white like winter frost. He smiled and said, "He did more than just luckily survive."
"Oh?" Hidan curiously sized up Mori Shiraishi, trying to find some difference other than his appearance.
Facing Hidan's rude gaze, Mori Shiraishi showed no major reaction. He merely lifted his head slowly, his white hair fluttering in the draft.
"Who exactly are you people?"
"Hey, how did this kid get so calm? I feel like he's unexpectedly similar to you now, bastard Simu," Hidan complained. He climbed onto the railing of the spectator stand, swaying as he opened his arms and laughed wildly.
"Since you've asked so sincerely, I shall show mercy and tell you!"
"We are from the Jashin Religion—the great Lord Jashin's spokesmen walking the Shinobi World!"
Mori Shiraishi's brow furrowed slightly. Originally, he had thought the Jashin Religion was merely a front for criminals. But seeing what had happened to himself and the others, it seemed that Lord Jashin... might actually be real.
"You have the power to liberate everyone, don't you?" Mori Shiraishi stared directly at Simu. His calm tone did not sound like an interrogation.
Simu nodded, not denying it. "I indeed had the ability to easily deal with Sakamoto and save all of you."
Mori Shiraishi clenched his fists. Just as he was about to speak, Simu interrupted him.
"You want to ask me why, since I have this power, I didn't save you directly? Why I went through the trouble of creating an opportunity for you to counterattack Sakamoto?"
"You think that if I had acted sooner, perhaps your parents wouldn't have had to die, right?"
Simu crossed his arms and tilted his head, scrutinizing the white-haired youth below. He then chuckled and asked playfully, "But why should I have done that?"
Simu leaped down from the stand and came to Mori Shiraishi, staring into his eyes.
"Look closely. I am not a good person. I'm not even a human. I am merely... a monster."
Having said that, Simu put his hands in his pockets and slowly turned around. Mori Shiraishi lowered his head, his face hidden in the shadow of his hair.
"But if it weren't for you..."
Before Mori Shiraishi could finish, Simu was already in front of him. A knee strike sent Mori Shiraishi's body doubling over like a shrimp.
"If it weren't for me, not only your parents, but you as well, would have been killed by Sakamoto long ago," Simu said indifferently. He let go of the trembling Mori Shiraishi, allowing him to kneel on the ground.
Suddenly, a synchronized report from the crow flock made Simu's eyebrow twitch.
"Heh. Kid, it seems something quite serious is happening in Mizuo Village."
Hearing this, Mori Shiraishi's eyes widened instantly. His parents were dead. In this world, he only had his grandfather and his sister left as his last relatives. He could not, absolutely could not, let anything happen to them!
His pupils instantly turned pitch black with terrifying blood vessels spreading out. An暗红色 dark red centipede Bikaku burst from his waist. After smashing through the ship's wall, he raced through the gap toward the small fishing village where he had grown up.
The moment he touched the outside air, a horrific smell of burning reached his nose. What greeted his eyes next was a terrifying sea of fire!
Mori Shiraishi's mouth hung open slightly. Four Kagune erupted from his back and slammed into the ground. Using the reaction force, he launched himself into the air and sprinted toward the village.
Explosions rang out from within the village. Enhanced by various Kagune, Mori Shiraishi took only two minutes to reach his home. But he was still a step too late.
A ninja wearing a forehead protector with three diagonal slashes was using his blade to pierce through an old man's body. This old man was Mori Shiraishi's grandfather.
The grandfather saw Mori Shiraishi and used his last bit of strength to gasp, "Run... Xiao... Mori..."
Hearing him, the ninja turned around and saw Mori Shiraishi.
"Heh, looks like I missed a little brat." The ninja wore a cruel smile as he slowly pulled the blade from the old man's body.
Witnessing this scene, Mori Shiraishi's pupils shrunk into tiny red dots. A terrifying aura of destruction completely exploded from his body! Like a towering tsunami, it roared! Every Kagune on his body was liberated at this moment, going berserk!
"ROAR!"
The aura of destruction swept through the entire village. A black dragon-like centipede monster appeared. With just a twist of its body, it caused the earth to shake and the mountains to tremble.
"What is this monster?" The ninjas of the Hidden Steam Village, who had been wantonly destroying the village, showed expressions of horror.
One young ninja trembled. "I told you! We shouldn't have accepted Sakamoto's mission just for some money!"
Hearing this hindsight, another ninja glared at him. "If we didn't cooperate with the Sakamoto Company, do you want to rot away with those old fogies in the village?"
Regardless of their regret or resentment, the terrifying giant shadow had already enveloped them. The boundless, abyss-like maw was about to devour everything. The cruel avenger was set to destroy it all!