Explosions thudded inside the dust cloud, wet thwacks of bodies coming apart layered beneath. A fine rain of blood sifted down with the grit and made the skin crawl.
The haze thinned. The Pains' shared vision snapped back into focus.
"Where is he?"
Jiraiya searched wildly, then spotted Vincent by a shattered wall. The Human Path was buried in the masonry up to the chest, blood running down the brick in dark sheets.
The Human Path was dead.
"Incredible…" Jiraiya wiped a cold sweat away. The Six Paths who had hounded him to the brink, who had nearly killed him more than once, were dropping like flies in Vincent's hands.
"Go."
The Deva Path barked and dove with the Animal Path for Vincent. They were on him in a blink, pressing hard.
"Summoning."
The Animal Path crossed his seals. A rhinoceros crashed down from above and thundered forward. Every step rattled the street.
"Party trick."
Vincent stepped in, spread his hands, and clamped both horns. He sank his stance, twisted from the waist, and heaved. The rhino whirled like a slung boulder.
He released.
The beast became a living cannonball, hurtling straight for the Deva and Animal Paths.
Yahiko vaulted clear, snatching the Animal Path by the collar and dragging him along.
Boom.
The rhino hammered a wall, vomited blood, and vanished in smoke.
In the same breath Yahiko flung the Animal Path high.
"Summoning."
Hand signs flashed, palms slapped.
Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop.
Four more figures landed around him and then drifted to the Deva Path's side.
All Six Paths stood together again.
"What is this…" Vincent frowned at the Human and Asura Paths, both apparently whole. Then his gaze slid past them to the figure in the back.
The Naraka Path.
And looming beside him, the grotesque, ring-eyed head.
The King of Hell.
"Forgot to deal with you."
Vincent rolled his shoulders and called back over his own. "Granny Shima, can you do that again?"
"Of course."
Shima sprang up and vomited a storm of grit.
"Sage Art, Wind Release: Dust Cloud."
The world went brown. Sight lines cut. Shared vision fractured.
At the same time Jiraiya summoned three titans of Mount Myoboku. Gamabunta, Gamaken, and Gamahiro hit the street with a quake.
"Bunta, you go." Fukasaku hopped from Jiraiya's shoulder to Gamabunta's head and guided him into the dust.
"Where am I…" The Animal Path blinked into utter darkness.
Crack.
Vincent found him first. A blindside fist detonated against his shoulder.
Boom.
The Animal Path pinwheeled away, left side collapsing, blood spraying from his mouth.
Vincent did not let him fly. He blurred, appeared behind the reeling body, and punched again.
Thunk.
A crater blew out of the Animal Path's abdomen. What little integrity he had left went with it.
Vincent finished it with a third shot.
Wet pop.
The Animal Path disintegrated into a red smear.
Outside, the dust began to fall. The Pains all clocked Gamabunta at once. Too big to miss.
"The Animal Path?" Yahiko's eyes narrowed as his link went dark. He swept the street.
"Urk."
Not far away, Gamabunta gagged on the copper reek and spat. Vincent and a mass of ruined flesh tumbled out of his mouth together. Vincent landed light on the toad's tongue and sprang clear before the gore could touch him.
"Oh?" The Deva Path lifted a brow at the puddled remains. His gaze shifted to Vincent. "Impressive. Perhaps you could join Pain. After you die."
"Flattered." Vincent crooked a finger. "Come collect me."
The Deva Path raised his left hand.
"Universal Pull."
Vincent's feet left the ground as invisible force hooked him and dragged him in.
"Die."
A black receiver flicked from Yahiko's sleeve and drove for Vincent's chest.
It punched through a body that coughed smoke instead of blood. The victim shrank with a croak into a palm-sized frog that clung to the rod, piped once, and sprang away.
"Serious Punch."
Vincent's real body was already behind them. He brought his fist down on the Naraka Path's spine.
Boom.
The Naraka Path came apart like a rigged charge. Red slop hit the stones. Beside him, the King of Hell's face warped, howled soundlessly, and unspooled into nothing.
"When…" The Deva Path's rings spun hard. None of the five other bodies had seen the switch.
He replayed the last beats. When Gamabunta spat Vincent out, Jiraiya had created a shadow clone and transformed it into Vincent as bait. The real one melted into the lofting dust, slipped behind the Naraka Path, and struck. The tiny frog had been an unplanned bonus.
With the lynchpin gone, Vincent kicked off again and plunged into their line. Even the Human Path, strongest of them at close quarters, could not match him. Two exchanges and he was on the back foot, arms and legs screaming, hairline fractures webbing across the limbs.
"This kid is a menace." Jiraiya watched the swirl and hissed through his teeth.
The Deva Path coordinated a flurry of thrusts. Black rods stabbed for Vincent from three angles. He met each with bare palms, Armament clicking, and shattered them like cheap glass.
Yahiko's eyes tightened. The remaining bodies broke off at his signal and scattered to the four winds.
"Universal Pull."
He snared Vincent again, then spread his hands wide.
"Almighty Push."
----------------------------------------------------
The deeper he goes, the more the truth unravels. Don't wait read ahead and witness Vincent's rise before the world catches up!
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