Abyss: Red Spider Lily was a technique Meruem designed based on the Miniature Rose warhead from the Hunter world.
Or rather, it was even more powerful than that rose nuke. Not just in raw destruction—if the Miniature Rose embodied humanity's malice,
then Meruem's Abyss: Red Spider Lily embodied the malice of the entire world. You could call it this world's evil, as in the Fate series, and you wouldn't be wrong—but unlike the black mud of All the World's Evil, which only pollutes and devours, the Red Spider Lily annihilates.
A man who single-handedly created a biological-class nuclear weapon—Meruem. Truly the strongest genius.
Manjusaka, the legendary red spider lily, also called a flower of heaven. But it is a peerless bloom seen only at the moment of death.
With a thunderous explosion, a vivid blood-red flower unfurled in the sky—only for a single second, then scattered on the wind, smoke vanishing into air.
"Cough, cough… To think a technique like that exists." Blood gushed from the Sage of Six Paths' mouth. As expected of the Sage—the founder of ninjutsu, the man said to have created the very profession of shinobi.
He stood directly above the Red Spider Lily's detonation and survived that level of annihilating blast.
Even the Meruem of the original Hunter world would have been charred to a cinder by that strike.
Of course, that doesn't mean the Sage's flesh was tougher than the original Meruem's. In truth, the Sage's Sage Body wasn't necessarily much stronger than Meruem's original body.
But the Sage had no shortage of secret arts; when it came to defense, he didn't just stand there and tank it with his body.
Even so, he was gravely wounded. A brilliant, beautiful crimson floral pattern—red spider lilies—now covered most of his body. Once the pattern spread completely, that would be his death.
The Truth-Seeking Balls around him had been destroyed in the blast, and his Six Paths shakujo was lost who knows where. That didn't matter; given time to recover, he could regain them.
After all, both the Truth-Seeking Balls and the shakujo could be regenerated.
But only if he lived long enough. The Red Spider Lily's power wasn't only the explosion; the world's malice was already eroding his body.
No matter how strong he was, as time passed he would inevitably die—poisoned, just like Meruem in the Hunter world.
And there was no antidote to this poison.
"Old man, how do you like my gift?" Meruem appeared unharmed at the side of the Sage, who was nearly on the verge of drowning in his own blood.
It was his technique—of course Meruem had a way to defend against it. Besides, the epicenter of the world's malice had been right where the Sage was standing.
Though he had won this battle, Meruem wouldn't be able to get much more out of it. In this state, he didn't dare absorb the Sage—this was the malice of the entire world. He wasn't confident he could withstand it—not yet.
As for the old toad, he was likely ash from the blast. And the greatest pity was that Mount Myoboku had been almost completely destroyed.
The air was thick with residual malevolent particles; even if anyone came here, they wouldn't survive long.
In short, one of the Three Great Summoning Sanctuaries, Mount Myoboku, would likely be delisted today.
"Cough, cough… It seems I can no longer protect this shinobi world. What worries me most is that if Mother revives, no one may be able to restrain her. But compared to you, monster, that's nothing. Mother may be brutal, but she only seeks dominion. Your existence will absolutely destroy the shinobi world."
"Sage, you're taking far too much for granted. Destroy the shinobi world? I've never had such a thought. What makes you say that?"
"Because I am the Sage of Six Paths! You will do it, demon!"
"Utterly unreasonable."
"Cough… Even if it costs my life, I will seal you today!" The Sage fixed Meruem with a hard stare, and his aura rose once more.
A final flare before the end? It looked like he meant to go down with his foe.
"Sage Art: Edo Spirit Summoning!" With the Sage's ninjutsu, a man wreathed in pale blue light appeared at his side.
Hamura Otsutsuki, younger brother of Hagoromo Otsutsuki, the Sage of Six Paths.
"Brother, I didn't expect our reunion would be like this. Are you ready?"
"I know, Brother. Let the two of us pour out our last strength and protect the land we love once more. This monster is too dangerous." Hamura seemed to be of one mind with the Sage. He understood the situation the moment he appeared.
"Not good… Those two." A bad feeling surged in Meruem's gut. This looked exactly like the scene where the villain gets power-spiked and killed. If I'd known, I would've run.
"Yin–Yang Five Elements Lock!" A blinding white light burst from the two brothers. Meruem realized in horror that he suddenly couldn't use spatial techniques.
Not Flying Thunder God, not even the four-dimensional apartment.
"Damn it, these two." His face darkened. Not only were space techniques sealed, but his body was constrained—crushingly heavy.
"Brother, use that. Seal me together with this monster."
"Hamura…" The Sage looked at his brother, at a loss for words, then seemed to steel himself.
"Very well. Let us brothers make one last sacrifice for the peace of the shinobi world!"
"Sage Art: Samsara Seal!" x2 A tremendous force erupted from their bodies. Meruem felt himself completely locked down.
"Sage, don't think a mere sealing jutsu can bind me." Chains upon chains wrapped Meruem, squeezing tight, dragging him toward a realm of endless darkness.
The brothers were burning their lives to cast the jutsu. They meant to perish with him.
"I can't break it! Stop! You two damned fools!" The chains' material was unknown—Meruem couldn't rend it. He could only watch as his body was dragged into the black hole.
Hamura's figure, too, was hauled in alongside Meruem.
The surrounding light dimmed, then vanished. Meruem's body finally disappeared from Mount Myoboku's space.
"At last… at last, the monster is sealed. My mission… is done." At some point, the red spider lily pattern had bloomed across the Sage's face. With a thud, his body fell, and his heaving chest grew still.
A legendary figure—the founder of ninjutsu, the strongest shinobi—the Sage of Six Paths—had fallen.
He died in the ruins of a shattered, collapsing Mount Myoboku.
Cause of death: slain by the world's malice—poisoned to death.
"Brother, rest easy. I will guard this seal for all time. I will not allow this monster to reappear in the shinobi world." In the endless dark into which he and Meruem had fallen, Hamura gazed into the distance and murmured.
He didn't know he had just planted a towering flag.
He didn't know how much time had passed.
At the center of the endless darkness, a pair of bestial, slit pupils opened.
"Sorry, but everything you two brothers worked so hard to do… will be in vain." A voice that made Hamura's skin crawl whispered in his ear.
"Impossible! You can't break those chains! You can't escape that seal!"
"In my dictionary, nothing is impossible—because I am the King! I'm going to feast. Everything you are will become nourishment for my growth—Taotie! Heh-heh-heh, hahahahaha!" That deep crimson silhouette was all too conspicuous in the endless black.
"Pitou." In the castle at Kirigakure in the Land of Water, a figure only about twelve inches tall—like a miniature Meruem—spoke to Pitou at the Chimera Ants' castle.
"Mrrp! Nyah—my King—what is it, nya?" Rubbing her eyes, Pitou looked half-awake. Since hatching, she had slept much more, developing toward her former form and power in her dreams.
"My true body may be unable to appear for a time due to certain circumstances. For now, I will handle things in my stead," said the mini Meruem. This was a contingency he had prepared when implementing his plan.
The miniature Meruem was one of his clones. Though a clone, its power was less than one-twentieth of the original.
Only a bit stronger than the nearly powerless gold cicada gu—a very weak type of clone. Compared with Meruem's other combat clone, Musashi, it was nothing.
It existed to handle special situations in his absence.
Meanwhile, the true body in the endless dark was devouring the power of the Sage's younger brother, Hamura Otsutsuki.
Once Meruem completed this metamorphosis, then even if Kaguya revived, she would not be able to stop him.
If before he had only a fifty percent chance of defeating Kaguya, then after this metamorphosis, Meruem would have a one hundred percent chance. –_–––––––
(End of Chapter)
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