For Uchiha Fugaku and the three Uchiha jōnin standing beside him, this was the moment when the star of death began to shine overhead.
Fugaku's eyes were blind, his face contorted in pain. The others supported their clan leader while watching the gaze of the Demon fall upon them—bitter resignation in their hearts.
Looks like this is the end of the road for us.
What a pity.
They had hoped to see more of the world, to witness its vastness—but now, all of it was about to vanish.
At that moment, the Demon stirred.
It looked like it was raising its right foot—preparing to crush the four Uchiha to death in one fell stomp.
"Damn it! Let's go down fighting!"
"If we're going to die, I don't want to just stand here and wait for it. At the very least... let's hit it with a Great Fireball!"
Uchiha Yōsuke glared fiercely with his fully awakened three-tomoe Sharingan as he shouted.
"You're damn right! We're Uchiha—shinobi of the strongest clan in the ninja world!"
His words ignited another's fighting spirit.
"But… the clan leader…"
The last of the trio glanced at Uchiha Fugaku, his face filled with concern.
"Don't mind me. I'm already a cripple. If we're going to die anyway, then show everyone—especially those damned devils—what the Uchiha clan is made of! Show them our pride and unbreakable spirit!"
Clutching at his eyes, Fugaku gritted his teeth and growled.
After all, he was still a young man. His blood hadn't gone cold yet. He, too, had the courage to charge death one last time.
"Yes, Clan Leader!"
The three Uchiha jōnin answered in unison. They gently released Fugaku, exchanged glances, and then stepped forward side by side to face the titanic foot blotting out the sky.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!!!"
Their hands moved in a blur, forming seals. Then, three scorching streams of flame erupted from their mouths.
However, in the face of the Demon's descending foot, even three simultaneous Great Fireballs from Uchiha jōnin—
—were utterly insignificant.
They didn't even make it close to the foot.
The howling wind pressure alone scattered their fireballs before they could land.
It's over!
Outside the barrier, Ōnoki, Jiraiya, and the others couldn't bear to watch any longer. They turned their heads away.
[BOOM!!!]
As expected, the Demon's foot slammed down.
The spot where Uchiha Fugaku and the three others had stood was completely engulfed.
A massive cloud of dust burst upward under the sheer force of impact, and the ground fractured violently from the tremors.
With such devastation, there was no doubt—they were dead.
And yet, in the very next moment, everyone saw the Demon suddenly lift its head and look toward the sky.
Something above had caught its attention.
At the same time, Jiraiya gasped in shock—Uchiha Fugaku, Uchiha Yōsuke, and the other two had appeared beside him, seemingly out of nowhere.
"You... you all!"
Jiraiya struggled to speak as he maintained the Four Red Yang Formation, his mouth agape in disbelief.
Fugaku and the others were just as stunned.
They had been bracing for death—yet in the blink of an eye, the world around them had shifted.
"What... what just happened?"
Fugaku muttered in disbelief.
Meanwhile—
Just as the Demon raised its head, a pillar of ghostly green light pierced through the thick clouds, cutting across the dim sky at an angle.
True to its design as a war machine of the Underworld, the Demon immediately reacted—its four arms raised in unison to create three layers of dark red magical energy shields before its body.
The green beam streaked across the heavens—what had seemed like a distant strike reached its target in the blink of an eye and smashed into the magical barriers.
[BOOM!!!]
A violent shockwave erupted from the point of contact. Thunderous noise and searing energy burst outward in all directions, rolling across the land like a tidal wave.
But the result was immediate.
The outermost red barrier shattered on impact. Then the second. Then the third.
In less than two seconds, the green light tore through the Demon God's chest, pierced clean through, and slammed into the molten ground behind it.
A deathly silence gripped everyone—whether it was the shinobi present on the battlefield, the ranks of the army, or the high-ranking military and government officials of the World Government watching via Den-Den Mushi broadcast.
No one spoke. No one moved.
Not until the green pillar of light bursting from the Demon's chest exploded outward, transforming into a massive orb of emerald lightning that completely swallowed its form—only then did the collective spell break, and gasps filled the air.
What was that?
A new weapon developed by the World Government?
Or had some unknown powerhouse intervened?
Even those as far away as Kong, Sengoku, Zephyr, and the others stationed on the World Government's homeworld, were left completely baffled.
Only the Five Elders seated within the Room of Authority in Mary Geoise exchanged glances—seemingly grasping what had just occurred.
"So the threat from the Underworld… has grown to this level. To the point where even…"
Saint Ethanbaron V. Nusjuro adjusted the glasses perched on his nose and murmured.
As the flood of green light faded from the virtual projection, the five men within the chamber narrowed their eyes.
On screen, the Demon's massive form had vanished—disintegrated by the force of the green energy.
In its place stood a giant warrior clad in golden armor, its surface etched with red vein-like patterns, and a white cloak draped over his back.
A Giant God Warrior.
The thought rang clear in the minds of the Five Elders.
Which meant—that green pillar of light must have been Lord Imu's doing.
Next, they saw the Giant God Warrior step forward, his feet producing shockwave clouds with every Geppō burst. With both arms raised in front of him, he conjured a transparent barrier that shimmered with reflected light—sealing off all directions around the Gate of the Underworld.
But just as the barrier finished forming, a surge of jet-black energy suddenly erupted from within the Gate and slammed violently into its surface.
The explosion startled Jiraiya, Rasa, and the others present.
To be honest, none of them had any idea what they were witnessing anymore.
And as for the Four Red Yang Formation still held in their hands—they no longer knew whether they should continue tightening it...
...
Roughly 2,000 meters above the Land of Swamps, amidst the clouds of the troposphere—
Imu stood cloaked in flowing white robes trimmed with gold, his sharp eyes fixated below on the Gate of the Underworld.
"Hmph. This foresight of the future is really something—always one step ahead."
That was exactly why he had sent the Giant Guardian Kashii over there directly.
Because he had already seen what would appear inside, and had also seen that the Barrier Fruit would manage to block it.
However, it was clear that Kashii's mastery of the Barrier Fruit was still lacking; it wasn't enough to completely seal the threat.
In Imu's foresight, when the third wave of black energy surged out from within, the barrier Kashii created would be completely shattered.
Yes. That's right.
The barrier embodying the very concept of Absolute Defense—shattered!
Because the one inside was the ruler of the second layer of the Underworld, a true highest-ranking devil—
Adramelech!
As a transmigrant, Imu knew that this Adramelech wasn't just any highest-ranking devil.
It was also the aide of the Demon King Lucifero.
In fact, it was this very being who, in the original work, had torn out Lucifero's heart after his defeat.
In short, Adramelech had an innocent and naïve appearance—but underneath that facade lay a depth of cunning worthy of the term "insidious."
As for whether Imu himself could beat it—he didn't know either.
Because in the brief "future" he had foreseen, there was no direct confrontation between the two.
And he was perfectly content to follow that version of the "future."
There was simply no need right now to start an all-out war with the Underworld. The risks were enormous.
And that risk wasn't Adramelech—
It was Lucifero.
Thus, when the second wave of black energy surged violently out of the Gate of the Underworld, slamming into the barrier—
Imu turned his right palm over, conjuring a swirling mass of high-speed white vapor.
As the mist burst outward from his palm—
In an instant, a spherical, pale blue spatial field materialized around the Gate of the Underworld, suspended in midair.
And within that pale blue space, the black spatial fissure known as the Gate of the Underworld slowly began to contract.
At the same time—
Just as Imu had foreseen in the future, a third wave of black energy erupted from within.
Clearly, Adramelech inside was unwilling to let the "gate" be sealed off so easily.
And this time, it was going all out. Even the barrier enhanced with the concept of Absolute Defense began to crack under the relentless bombardment.
Finally, after around ten seconds of deadlock—
With a thunderous boom, the barrier shattered completely.
It was like watching a pane of glass explode under a fierce blow. Countless transparent fragments flew in all directions, some even scraping across Kashii's golden armor, leaving deep, visible gouges.
At that moment, within his golden helmet, Kashii's eyes were filled with a storm of emotions.
Although Lord Imu had warned him beforehand that the "Absolute Defense" of the Barrier Fruit would be rendered obsolete today…
Although earlier he had been somewhat skeptical.
But what had just happened before his eyes forced Kashii to admit: his barrier truly wasn't "absolute defense."
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