Alright, time for the next chapter. Sorry this took so damn long my computer took a crap on me when I was about to finish the last chapter and I lost pretty much everything I was working on so I spent the better part of the last few weeks rewriting all of this. Again I apologize for the inconvenience. This ride has been so long and so worth it, I hope you all enjoy this and I hope you all are as excited as I am to start the sequel. Let's get going now.
Broken Angel
Chapter 96
All throughout the Earth, the sky held black as thick clouds hung in the air.
Everywhere, men, women, and children turned their eyes to the sky in wonderment. From the Elemental Nations, to the United States of America. From China to South Africa. All people stood in silence as the Earth itself took in a deep breath and nature held silent. No one understood what was happening and yet every ounce of human instinct on the planet screamed out in terror and awestruck amazement.
The magicals of the world could only gape as magical instruments tied to the ebb and flow of the natural magic of world were thrown into chaotic disarray. Every person, naturally gifted in sensing magic, stood shaking as they felt the unearthly power that tore through the laylines and bled out into the world.
For the first time since the era of the great Shinju tree, the magic of the Earth roared without hindrance. The great magical creatures of the world, from Griffons, to Phoenix, to Dragons all let out cries of righteous fury as they all felt magic explode to life in ways it hadn't since the rise of human civilization.
What few understood was that this event was more then simply a cataclysmic occurrence, it was the ending of an age. Despite not knowing it's cause, every magical and non-magical being on planet, knew instinctively, that something had changed. Something in the world that wasn't true yesterday, had now been made fact. The laws of existence had changed. With the out-pouring of magic that flooded the world, the possibilities of altering creation became limitless.
Magic had returned to every inch of the Earth, and it roared to life with a ferocity that couldn't be matched. The Age of Humanity had come to an end in this moment. The Age of Magic had begun anew.
What this meant was anyone's guess. All the people of the world could do was stare at the sky and wonder… what had changed?
So few had an answer for that. So few knew of the terrible battle being fought for the fate of every last man, woman, and child in the world, at that very second. None of them could possibly imagine the chaos that would soon be unleashed as two gods fought for the right to decide the destiny of the Earth.
In the Elemental Nations, in the great dry deserts of Suna, that battle raged. Pure blackness covered the land, and not an ounce of sunlight reached the Earth. The only constant source of light that lit the sky a fiery orange and red was the massive portals that dotted the landscape allowing thousands of monsters to pour out every hour.
Aside from this steady glow, only explosions provided brief glimpses of light to illuminate the darkened landscape.
Explosions of every color tore through the land as the most powerful fighters the Earth had known in recent years did battle with an army of demons.
Jiraiya and Tsunade fought side by side as they flew into crowds of devils and various other beasts. Both struck out with their best moves, unafraid of pain, and with access to near infinite energy due to their status as undead.
Not far off, the Second Mizukage caught hundreds of devils and demons in his powerful Genjutsu, and he used their confusion to force armies of them to attack each other.
In the distance the Third Kazekage slowly marched through the invading host, making his way towards the nearest portal. With a wave of his arm he unleashed massive torrents of Iron Dust that hardened into various shapes to assault the enemies before him. Without any limit to his chakra, the man unleashed an incredible wave of death and destruction upon his foes.
Elsewhere a portal lost it's support pillars as a lightning bolt tore through it. The Third Raikage shot across the landscape encased in Lightning Armor. The man used his immortality and near infinite chakra to his advantage as he shot through crowds of demons cutting down dozens with each attack. He wasted no time targeting the portals, slowly but surely cutting his way towards them, intent on ending this as quickly as he could.
Both Hashiramas and Madaras fought alongside each other along with Tobirama, Izuna, and Kaguya. The seven moved together fighting with unimaginable ferocity as they tore through thousands of foes with both Hashiramas and Madaras utilizing massive amounts of Wood Style to upend the landscape and lay siege to the monstrous army of beasts.
Streaking through the sky Deimos and Midir firebombed the landscape, igniting hordes of foes as they avoided attacks from the ground. On the ground Amygdala and Fenrir fought together downing as many devils as they could, both unleashing powerful magic on their foes.
Supporting the various groups from the air was Loki who fought with the various groups to assist them in overwhelming their foes before the Devils could return their onslaught with interest.
In the center of all of the chaos, the true battle was taking place. Riley, Kurama, and the Angel of Carnage, squaring off against Obito and the Ten-Tails.
"The time has come for you to disappear. I will initiate the Infinite Tsukuyomi, and there is nothing you can do to stop me." Obito stated as Riley and Kurama raced at him and the Ten-Tails.
"You talk too fucking much!" Riley snapped as Kurama began charging a Bijuu Dama.
In retaliation the Ten-Tails began to charge one of it's own. The attack formed with incredible speed, outpacing the creation of even Kurama's. Right as the attack was about to be released Riley's clone in the Angel of Carnage, slammed into the Ten-Tails' head, sending the attack veering off course and flying off into the distance.
The resulting explosion lip up the night sky as the sphere detonated dozens of miles away.
"Annoying." Obito growled as he urged the Ten-Tails to try and swat the angel out of the sky with it's tails.
Riley's clone was far too swift for the massive beast, easily able to stay out of it's reach.
"Michael, Now!" Riley snarled as she saw all of the beast's tails rise up into the air.
High in the sky above the battle hovered Riley's familiar Michael. The titan was separated out into Ten clones, each one armed with it's own Lance of Longinus.
All ten of them raised their lances at once and then hurled them down towards the Earth in unison.
Obito was unable to see the attack coming as the Ten-Tails' tails blocked his view. In unison, all ten lances struck an individual tail, spearing it to the ground.
The Ten-Tails let out a roar of rage, and Obito's eyes went wide in surprise.
With an opening now present Riley locked her gaze onto her angelic clone. Using Amenotejikara she switched places with the angel. Once done, she and her clone shot forward, her clone shot forward and delivered a mountain crushing punch right into the Ten-Tails' chest, sending it tumbling backwards onto it's back. As soon as it hit the ground, Riley dove down towards Obito under the cloak of the angel.
"Kakashi!" Riley warned him as she closed in on Obito, ready to deliver her strike.
"Sensei Now!" Kakashi shouted as soon as he heard Riley's call. In response, Minato held out his hand allowing a large Odama Rasengan to appear in his palm.
"Kamui!" Kakashi focused his gaze right onto the rotating sphere of chakra sending it into Obito's Kamui dimension, right as Riley appeared before Obito, ready to drive her fist straight into his masked face.
Despite being thrown off his balance by the falling Ten-Tails, Obito maintained his perception thanks to the Sharingan and the Rinnegan. Spotting Riley's incoming attack, he activated Kamui, right as she slammed into him.
Her fist passed right through his head, and for only a single moment, it looked like their attack had failed.
Riley was about to let out a curse, when suddenly Obito's mask exploded and a blast of energy sent Riley flying back from him.
Riley halted herself in the air as she heard Obito let out a cry of pain as he clutched at his face. The mask he had been wearing was gone, signifying that the attack had struck true though it seems the mask had also been for more then just show as it offered the man enough protection to avoid getting his skull blown off by whatever attack had been waiting for him on the other side.
Seeing his distress Riley shot forward at hyper-sonic speeds, passing through his body with her own Kamui, Riley severed the cord of wood that tied him to the Ten-Tails, separating him from the beast. She then used Wingardium Leviosa to lift him off of the Ten-Tails and send the man flying through the air in Kakashi's general direction.
All of this occurred in less then three seconds ensuring that by the time Obito regained any sort of bearings he was already flying through the air away from the Ten-Tails.
"Alright Kakashi, I've separated Obito from the beast. Finish that fucker off." Riley sent to him over the Gravemind link as the Ten-Tails let out a ground-shaking roar of rage that again sent Riley flying away from it's head.
"I'll handle him Riley. You finish off the Ten-Tails and end this." Kakashi replied as he scanned the skies for Obito's flying body. As soon as he spotted it, he gave chase.
"Let's end this Kakashi." Minato stated as he followed by Kakashi's side.
"Yes, Let's." Kakashi replied.
"Great job Riley. Now that Obito's no longer in the picture we can focus on dealing with the Ten-Tails. What's the plan?" Kurama inquired through their link.
"Time to set my plan in motion." Riley stated aloud as she watched the Ten-Tails rise to it's feet. As it did, it began to fill out more, it's arm fully growing in, and it's body becoming less emaciated.
With a powerful roar, the beast tore it's tails free from the lances that were pinning them and it turned it's head skyward, charging a Bijuu Dama as it did.
It then focused right onto Riley's angelic form and fired the sphere straight at her. Riley let out a curse, realizing that she couldn't dodge the attack lest it possibly land somewhere important, like where her allies were.
Right before it struck her though, the sphere was impacted by another, courtesy of Kurama. The two sphere held against one another for several long seconds. It looked like the Ten-Tails' attack would eventually overpower Kurama's so Riley did the first thing that came to mind. Creating her own Bijuu Dama she sent it forward slamming right into the other two forcing all three to fly right into the Ten-Tails.
The resulting explosion could be seen for dozens of miles. Even Riley was forced to take cover from the Earth shattering shockwave that tore throughout the land. Riley was almost positive that these reverberations would be felt everywhere in the world.
Seeing this as a good opportunity to carry out her plan Riley rushed down to the earth to find her clone.
In her mind Riley raced through the consequences of what she was about to do. It opened so many doors to so many possibilities going forward but she knew that this had to be done. She could never come out as a demon, she could never reveal that to the world and because of that, she would always have to hide to keep those she loved safe. Humans were fickle and were so willing to hurt one another. The way they treated outcasts was awful, her own childhood a testament to that simple fact. The way humans treated those tied to evil, was even worse. Jinchuriki always suffered, ever since the sage's time, they suffered wherever they were found.
Because of the these two facts Riley knew that she could never reveal herself as a demon to the world, and because of that, she would always have to suppress her power. That left an opening for her foes to hurt those that she loved. If she followed through with her plan, she wouldn't have to hide anymore. Her current status as a Jinchuriki would ensure that not much would change in how people viewed her. In fact, they may even be more willing to accept her moving forward. Regardless, it was better for them to keep thinking her a Jinchuriki then a full blown demon. And so she would do so.
To reveal that she held the full power of the Nine-Tails would surprise very few considering it had to go somewhere and she had held it's soul before. The Angel would be dealt with in a similar manner. For only a force designed to combat evil, would be willing to sacrifice itself or it's freedom to destroy it.
When the world asked about what had happened to the Angel, Riley would stand as the sage had. Serving as it's jailer, forever more. And much like with other Jinchuriki, she would gain it's traits to use in battle. Meaning if Riley sealed the metaphorical angel within her own body, then she wouldn't have to hide her demonic traits any longer.
And more importantly, with the Nine-Tails and the Angel of Carnage sealed inside of her, Riley would never have to hide her strength. As it was with ghosts and Amygdala, Riley would present the world with an answer to her incredible strength. Just as the Sage had with the Ten-Tails.
Riley would be the Jinchuriki of a demon and an angel, and the world would judge her for that. It would be worth it though. The benefits of that freedom, far outweighed what people thought. Her loved ones would know the truth, they would know of her deception and would welcome it with open arms as it allowed her to be free.
That had been Riley's plan. That was what she intended to do. To use the threat of the Ten-Tails to allow the Angel of Carnage to be sealed away into Riley, and allowing her to use both of their powers plus that of the Nine Tailed Fox to go all out on the ancient demon, destroying it and saving the world.
Riley appeared before her clone and traded places with it once again. The two stood before one another almost as if having a mental conversation. If anyone asked she would explain that the angel had entered into her mindscape to propose a solution to defeating the Ten-Tails. Using that proposition as a method of killing two birds with one stone, Riley agreed.
So with a flash of hand-signs and the utilization of the seal drawing ability she had gained from her ascension to the first tail, Riley inscribed a fake seal pattern on her flesh to go alongside the empty seal that had been once used to house Kurama's soul.
In a burst of light, the Angel exploded into magic and began to flow into Riley's body, after several seconds blackened wings and nine tails erupted from Riley's back.
"So that's what you were planning?" Kurama noted as he sent a glance her way.
"I plan to deceive them all. Figure, most Jinchuriki carry physical alterations when they channel the power of their Tailed Beast, I'm guessing no one is going to argue if I gained the wings and tails that the Angel of Carnage possessed by sealing it into myself." Riley responded, earning a chuckle from the mighty fox.
"True. Regardless, now you can unleash your full power and full fighting potential. You don't need to hold back anymore." Kurama sent back to her over their link.
"That's the point. Now… let's teach this giant fucker a lesson." Riley thought as she took to the skies.
With great speed Riley tore through the air, diving past and around the Ten-Tails as she bombed it with powerful spells and curse. While she hammered away at it's body, Kurama was busy circling the giant and pelting it with smaller tailed beast bombs. Kurama aimed for the face, directing his shots right towards the Ten-Tails' Rinne Sharingan.
Eventually one of the shots struck true, hammering the giant right in the eye, sending it stumbling back and clutching at it's face roaring out in pain.
Riley took this opportunity to fly out in front of the beast, each of her tails extending outward and a massive Rasenshuriken forming on the end of each one.
Powerful torrents of wind tore through the air as Riley pumped the attack full of magic, she then glanced at half, infusing the rotating shuriken with Amaterasu, while at the same time infusing the remaining half with Hellfire.
"Time to see if this works." Riley thought to herself as she unleashed her assault on the massive Tailed Beast.
Each of the shuriken struck true, hammering into the beast's center mass and exploding into black and purple spheres of fire and chaos.
The spheres expanded until each one was roughly three hundred meters across.
The sound that was unleashed by the Ten-Tails was unlike any noise Riley had ever heard before. It's demonic cry of pain and agony was such a foreign thing that it physically hurt the ears to hear it.
Riley kept her gaze locked fully on the beast as it's flesh, magic, and soul were burned away with her magical flames.
Despite knowing that this was far too easy, Riley couldn't help but hope for a single moment that the beast might succumb to the hellfire and the damage done to it's soul would be enough to mortally wound the titanic beast.
After nearly thirty seconds of the unearthly cries of the beast, the Ten-Tails unleashed an unfathomable outburst of magic. A tidal wave of colors exploded off the beast and shot out in every direction. As this occurred the Ten-Tails' skin began to fall off, taking the flames with it.
"Dammit, it's removing the fire by shedding the burning skin!" Kurama hissed, earning a curse from Riley as she spotted it's actions.
With a snarl she unleashed a torrent of fresh Amaterasu flames on it's freshly revealed flesh, continuing her assault and earning even more cries of pain from the beast.
Riley kept up her onslaught of fire as the beast continued to try and shed it's skin to remove the flames from it's body. As it was attempting that its tails were also thrashing about, attempting to locate Riley and hammer her out of the sky.
Finally after several long moments the Ten-Tails stopped screaming and became eerily quiet. It then twisted it's head so that it's Rinne Sharingan was able to focus directly onto Riley, even through the flames.
Seeing it's eye focused perfectly on her, Riley let out a curse and began to move.
In under a second the beast rotated it's head again, this time it's mouth focusing on Riley and tracking her with incredible precision. Massive torrents of chakra gathered in the beasts mouth before it unleashed a powerful precision beam of magic that shot forward at impossible speeds.
The beam shot forward at hyper-sonic speeds, punching through the air and aimed right at Riley.
Seeing it coming right at her, Riley made a snap decision and encased herself in Hachiman.
Kurama must have seen her do it, and knew that there was a very real chance that the retaliation from the redirect would be on a whole other level.
"Hashirama! Madara! Cover Now!" Kurama called out as he un-summoned himself.
All of Riley's allies in the vicinity had heard the Tailed Beast call out and saw as the beam of energy from the Ten-Tails struck the red barrier around Riley.
Instantly, Hashirama was moving.
"Everyone, get to cover now!" Hashirama called out as he brought his hands together. Massive structures of wood began to rise out of the ground as all surrounding allies raced to the cover the first Hokage was providing. Sensing that something major was about to happen the reanimated Hashirama joined his other self as the two rapidly constructed a massive fortification to shield themselves from the devastating attack that was about to occur.
Further off, Minato sensed what was happening and saw what Riley was doing. Recognizing the red barrier from her attacks on the Leaf he knew what was soon to follow.
"Kakashi!" Minato shouted as he shot forward and grabbed Kakashi by the arm. Minato then tossed a kunai into the ground and the two flashed away to somewhere far away to avoid the blast. While at the same time, Obito activated his intangibility to avoid the explosion he knew was coming.
Riley let out a cry as she felt a huge surge of her magic rush forward for the redirect. This was quite possibly the most power she had ever put into a single focused blast while outside of Kamui. Knowing what would happen if this attack struck ground, Riley quickly shot to the ground and focused the blast up towards the Ten-Tails' head.
With a mighty scream, she allowed the energy to be released.
The redirect came in the form of it's own condensed beam of energy that shot forward even faster then the previous one, decapitating the Ten-Tails in the process. The beam of energy was so powerful and condensed that it cut through the mighty bijuu like it wasn't even the there.
Dozens of miles away, Minato and Kakashi stood, both staring in amazement at the beam of energy that stretched from the battlefield up across the horizon for as far as the eye could see. The beam had no curve to it, it just shot straight across the sky at an angle and disappeared into space. Both men knew without a shadow of a doubt that everyone on this side of the planet would be able to look out and see this beam. It was bright enough and wide enough to be seen from anywhere.
Neither knew how far into space it would go before it finally stopped, but both strongly suspected that it wasn't going to come to a halt any time soon.
It was as the two were staring out across the expanse that Kakashi picked up movement on the landscape and spotted tens of thousands of shinobi along with hundreds of people on broomsticks racing towards the battlefield.
"What in the hell are they doing here?" Kakashi questioned aloud as he spotted the Kazekage leading the pack from atop a small cloud of sand.
"What?" Minato asked in reply.
"There's no way they could be here. Even if they left the same time as we did, that run would have taken several hours, there's no way we've been fighting that long." Kakashi responded.
Minato stared down at the army for several long moments. He pondered Kakashi's statement and an answer did form in his mind. Minato was currently in Sage Mode, and thus could feel the turbulent, chaotic storm of magic that the Ten-Tails was releasing.
Never before had this much magic been released at once. Never before had the Earth felt such chaotic power. Minato could only guess that the answer to Kakashi's question, lay in that influx of power. If Minato had to guess, the Ten-Tails' magic was warping space and time, causing chaotic effects to occur within it's vicinity. Either the distance that the Magical Alliance had to cross was severely shortened by this chaotic effect, or a form of Time Dilation was occurring, causing events within the proximity to be happening a lot slower then on the outside. Either way, it didn't bode well if this continued for much longer.
"Let's get back." Minato stated as he grabbed Kakashi and flashed back to where he left his kunai so they could continue fighting Obito.
The two arrived to find Obito waiting where they had left him. By his side were four of his six paths, including Han, Fuu, Roshi, and Sakumo. Not far off, RAAM and Skorge were fast approaching to continue finishing off Obito's remaining paths.
"It's almost time." Obito hummed as he launched forward to continue his assault.
Once several seconds had gone by without an explosion, both Hashiramas allowed their wooden barriers to fall. What they saw was quite astounding. The mighty Ten-Tails stood headless, hovering over the landscape like a giant statue.
For several moments, everyone pondered whether or not it was dead.
Riley herself let out a huff as she felt her Darkness Sage Mode kick in and refill her reserves to full in an instant. She stared at the headless beast that she very much knew was still alive.
"Nice shot." Kurama noted.
"I couldn't let that redirect strike the ground. At best it would have punched clean through the Earth, at worst it would have blown a chunk of the planet straight to hell." Riley responded with a huff.
"It's still growing in power. This thing is unbelievable. It's soul is too big and too dense to be effectively taken out with Hellfire. We'd need to immobilize it for quite a while to keep it from putting itself out. What's our next course of action?" Kurama asked.
"I can't play around with this thing. It has no logic or reason. It'll blow the Earth to hell if given the chance." Riley responded as the Ten-Tails began to topple forward. Everyone watched in silence as the massive creature fell to the ground, only to catch itself on it's hands at the last minute.
For several seconds the massive beast stood motionless as it held itself aloft. Finally it lowered itself to the ground, laying flat on the earth with a low rumble.
"Kurama?" Riley asked as she observed the bizarre behavior.
"I think it's powering up." Kurama responded.
"Oh yeah." Riley responded as she saw it gather massive amounts of nature energy into it's body. That energy then flowed into the large structure on the beast's back which began to unfurl.
"Crap, it's beginning to reform." Black Zetsu stated.
"Reform?" Riley asked as she glanced at her sleeve.
"Watch." Zetsu responded as the bulb on the beast's back began to unfurl, almost like a blooming flower. It continued to open for several seconds until finally, it Ten tails shot out of it, high into the air. Then, almost like Orochimaru's Skin Shedding Technique, the beast's body deflated, and out stepped a fully healed version of it. It's head fully repaired.
"Fuck!" Riley snapped as the beast stared down at her.
"It fully regenerated from that much damage using the nature energy of our world. Dammit! It's just going to keep doing that every time you deal a mortal blow to it. Any damage that could destabilize it's vessel enough to 'kill' it, it'll simply undo with this regenerative ability." Kurama stated from within Riley's Mindscape.
"It shouldn't have access to that ability in a rampant state. It should be too mindless to shape energy in such a way. Somethings wrong." Zetsu noted.
Hearing that, Riley activated her Byakugan, with the rush of power and the increase of her sight she focused on the titan's massive body. Within a moment of looking at it's head, she found it.
Buried beneath the flesh of it's head, in the empty space above it's mouth was a burning red S symbol, matching those worn by the demonic invaders.
"Oh shit." Riley muttered. It almost seemed like the beast recognized that she could see the mark as it almost seemed to smile at her.
"Alright that is fucking terrifying! Make it stop!" Kurama bellowed at the sight.
The Ten-Tails stared down at her for several long moments before suddenly lurching forward. It's movements were no longer clumsy or uncoordinated. Instead it moved forward with precision and direction. It crossed the distance between itself and Riley in two or three steps and brought it's giant fist down at her.
Riley quickly flew out of the way, avoiding the mountain shattering strike that flattened the ground and triggered a powerful earthquake that shook the world for miles in every direction.
Riley was forced to evade as she flew through the air as the beast's many tails rushed at her from every direction attempting to swat her out of the sky.
She glided through the air, using every ounce of her flight experience and skill to dodge the onslaught of strikes. Eventually she activated Kamui and shot out of that chaotic storm of limps and flew high above the beast which ceased it's attack and turned up to face her.
"It's being controlled by our friend from the other side. So… that what the Archdevil had planned. He was making himself an attack dog." Riley thought to herself as she focused on the blazing Red S symbol.
Riley knew she was right. She knew there had to be a reason for this Devil to be so interested in helping Obito and this was probably it. It offered him it's aid and in return it usurped control over the Ten-Tails, and was now commanding it like one would a puppet.
The beast began to charge an attack and immediately unleashed a powerful constant beam of energy. Riley dodged through the air, avoiding the beam and doing what she could to avoid dropping low enough for the beam to strike the ground and cause massive damage.
"With the speed it can regenerate, our only option is to hit it so hard that it dies outright. We have to annihilate it in one go." Kurama noted.
"We're not gonna be able to pull that off separate." Riley responded as she continued to dodge the beam.
"I know." Kurama responded.
A few moments of silence passed as Riley appeared in her mindscape before the giant fox. The two stared at one another for several long minutes before finally Riley let out a chuckle and smiled.
"Ready to have some fun?" Kurama inquired.
"Hell yeah." Riley responded with a devilish grin.
"Alright then… are you ready my child?" Riley sent to The Darkness.
"Let us end this." The ancient demon responded.
"Alright!" Riley snapped as she unleashed Amaterasu right onto the Ten-Tails eye earning a scream of pain from it as it ended it's assault.
Riley quickly flew down to the ground, near to where he grandfathers were. The ground attack between the Kage and devils had stalled as both side seemed to be mesmerized by the battle between two literal gods.
"Riley, are you alright?" Hashirama asked as she landed before them.
Riley sent a glance back at the group and offered them a smirk.
Most of them were quick to notice the wings and tails she now sported, and they shared glances between one another.
"Riley…?" Hashirama muttered with a bit of confusion as he took note of her features. Not that it would be a complaint but he was slightly surprised to see her sporting her wings now, thus probably revealing to anyone her connection to the Angel.
"A Fidelus to hide my connection to it, and I plan on revealing that I sealed the Angel inside of me." Riley responded, earning a nod from both her grandfathers.
"I'm ending this. You all fall back. I don't know if your immortal bodies can take what I'm about to dish out. Pull back to a safe distance." Riley commanded as she brought her hands together and began to channel her power.
"You intend to finish this alone?" The reanimated Madara inquired.
"I'm not alone grandfather. Despite not understanding for a long time. I was never alone. Even as a child. I always had you and Kurama." She sent one more glance back at him and offered him a grateful smile.
"You're going to use the fusion technique?" Hashirama inquired, earning everyone's attention.
"It's regenerating far too quickly for me to be able to put in down conventionally. I need to annihilate it. One go. I can't give it any room to recover." Riley responded.
Hashirama looked like he was about to say something but Riley was already ready with a response before the words even left his mouth.
"It's the only way. Fall back. I'll deal with the Ten-Tails and end this. Once and for all." Riley stated.
"What about them?" Came the question from Jiraiya as he gestured towards the army of devils that waited in the distance.
"They wont survive what's about to happen." Riley responded with a chuckle. Then suddenly and without warning an explosion of light, blinded everyone around Riley and they were forced to shield their eyes.
The sensors amongst the group could only gape as their sensory abilities were completely overwhelmed by the power on display.
"What- is this?" Tobirama gritted out as he shielded his eyes.
"This power… is absolutely monstrous." Hashirama's reanimation bellowed out as began to slide back from the outpouring of energy that began to flow from where Riley stood.
Nearby, Kaguya watched in amazement as a golden figure appeared before them all. Where Riley had once stood, now stood a monstrous thing. Something more powerful then she had ever been, by a significant margin. Something even more powerful then her kinsmen.
"My heir… how? How did you get this strong?" Kaguya thought as Riley came into focus for many of them.
The activation of Riley's Chakra Mode, brought about special changes to her appearance.
The technique was still incomplete and far from perfect by any respect, but even still, it's effects were mind-blowing.
Riley's body was now fully golden and around her person was an amalgamation of contrasting colors as magic tore off of her in visible waves.
Riley's skin now radiated bright light, like a star would, and across her body and clothes were black markings. These black markings took the form of various seals and symbols across her body, the most note worthy were the two markings on either of her cheeks and the pointed marking that extended down from her hairline to the corners of her eyes.
The black cloak of the Dementor King was gone and in it's place was a golden jacket bearing similar markings. The jacket was open, revealing a bit of Riley's neck and chest, just enough to see that she sported several black markings that took the form of a necklace of magatama symbols.
The contrast pouring off of Riley was quite startling and physically enrapturing for the eye. While her skin glowed with unparalleled power, the blackened marks on her body did not appear to just be markings. Each one radiated with a darkness so solid and all-encompassing that it literally looked like light was falling into the darkness to the naked eye. Each black marking on Riley's body shared in this quality, and the light and darkness flowing into each other formed a perfect contrast between the union of the three beings. Riley's form, Kurama's power, and the utter blackness that The Darkness represented.
Riley still sported her nine tails and they each glowed golden, and were encased by chakra coverings that were very similar in appearance to Kurama's tails. Off of Riley's back, her wings still hung, though they were now pure black just like the markings on her body, and they looked to be formed completely out of blackness and not physical matter. Light reacted strangely around her wings, falling into it and creating a warping spacial effect that was similar to how light bent around a black hole.
Her appearance drew awe from all those around her, and if possible the Ten-Tails itself even seemed to react with surprise at the display of power she was showing.
"Riley..." Madara muttered as he felt the sheer power that flowed off of his granddaughter. Not even the Ten-Tails could match this level of all consuming power, the strength she radiated in that moment was unlike anything ever felt on earth before then.
"Go. I'm ending this." Riley stated, as she spoke her voice came out as if multiple were speaking in unison through her. The surrounding Kage could only nod as they pulled back, despite their immortality, this battle was about to reach heights that not even Hashirama Senju could stand at.
"Good luck." Hashirama called out to her as they all pulled back, the last one to leave being Kaguya, who stared at her granddaughters back for several long moments before rushing away to find a good spot to watch the battle about to unfold.
"Three minutes Riley. That's all we have." Kurama reminded her.
"That's two more then we'll need. Let's go." Riley responded as she blasted away from her position. The simple act of moving at that level of power was enough to tear up large swaths of earth beneath her feet. In that state, Riley was able to push herself to reality warping speeds, moving so fast that space and time, bent around her.
From a nearby hill, the kage all settled to watch the engagement. Most were completely unable to even comprehend her movements they were so fast.
In a burst of speed and power Riley took hold of her staff channeled massive torrents of power within it, with a powerful stabbing motion she fired a world shattering Killing Curse at the Ten-Tails. The torrent of green energy struck at the beasts chest sending it stumbling backwards. It's body shook and it looked to be in pain. After several moment Riley let up and the beast instantly retaliated by firing a beam of condensed energy right at her.
Riley instantly vanished from her previous position and reappeared on the opposite side of the battlefield, surrounded by devils.
Thousands of them were instantly crushed as she simply flared her power, allowing the weight of her magic alone to flatten the landscape.
The explosion from the Ten-Tails attack illuminated the sky as it turned to face her. Sending it's tails launching into the air, they each arced down towards her position, intent on hammering her into the dust.
Using her wings Riley covered herself from the strike and instead of tails being blocked by her wings, they instead fell into them, almost as if they were being sucked into a black hole of sorts. Riley used this power to absorb the ends of the Ten-Tails' tails before moving position out from under it's attack.
The beast let out a roar of rage and pain as it reared back, the ends of it's tails having been severed. It stared down at where Riley now was with rage in it's eye. In a surprising move the Ten-Tails lept into the air, floating up into the sky. It then raised it's arms up as the ends of it's tails regenerated and followed its arms to lift up into the sky.
A strange cosmic effect began to occur over the Ten-Tails, almost as if a hole was being torn in space time.
Riley watched as the effect manifested and after a few seconds of watching the purplish mass, starlight could be seen gathering within it. In a burst of speed Riley was on the move. Out of the portal, hundreds of meteorites began to rain out of it.
The undead could only gape as they watched the sea of meteorites hammer Riley's position, shaking the earth as massive explosions blinded the area.
In retaliation for the attack, Riley unleashed one of her own, letting loose a massive burst of power that shattered the incoming meteorites, she quickly shot forward, channeling all of her knowledge of Wind Elemental Magic into her next attack. Stabbing forward with her staff like it was a spear, she let loose and torrent of wind.
This continuous stream of wind traveled at several thousand kilometers a minute, hammering the incoming meteorites and shattering them into millions of microscopic shards of stone that were accelerated at the Ten-Tails at mind-blowing speeds.
The attack peppered the Ten-Tails, forcing it to cease it's assault and earning a cry of rage from the beast.
Riley quickly shot through the hurricane of wind and debris, appearing right in from of the beast's head. She pulled her fist back and with a defiant cry of rage she slammed her fist into the Ten-Tails' face.
The demon's head rocked back violently from the strike as it's whole body rushed to keep pace with it's head as it flew back.
The blast wave from the punch was so powerful that it punched clean through the sea of clouds covering the area and allowed a blinding stream of sunlight to pour down onto the earth, illuminating it for the first time in what felt like hours.
The massive demon pulled itself to a stop with a mighty roar and blast of power. It focused on Riley as it hovered in the air.
Riley rapidly unleashed a swarm of attacks, various spells jutsu and ocular abilities, each attack dialed up to Eleven.
The Ten-Tails returned each attack with one of it's own, though it was obvious that the beast was being pushed back as Riley used the massive amounts of power she held, along with her near instantaneous ability to regenerate that power to fire unending volleys of monstrously powerful techniques at the beast, hammering away at it and forcing it back, as the two clashed.
Seeing an opening Riley charged a Bijuu Dama in her free hand while continuing the assault with her other. As soon as one of her attack momentarily blinded the Ten-Tails, she launched the condescend sphere of chakra forward, hiding it among the onslaught of spells and jutsu.
Her ruse worked, albeit only barely as the Ten-Tails caught sight of the incoming danger, mere moments before it struck and shielded it's main body with two of it's tails.
The resulting explosion tore through the sky, lighting up everything for miles and pushing back the clouds once again, filling the area with sunlight. The light itself was nearly blinding and forced many of the survivors to shield their eyes from it.
On the ground the Kage watched the battle, each one half in amazement as they each pondered their own way of helping. For even the undead kage, this battle was truly an eye opening experience for them, as even to them, this was the equivalent of an ant watching two kage do battle.
Shouts began to fill the air along with a low rumble. The first to notice the new arrivals was Tobirama whom turned his gaze over to the army of shinobi and Legionaires that were racing towards them.
"Who are they?" Tobirama asked, earning the attention of many of the others.
"What in the hell?" Hashirama nearly shouted in surprise as he spotted their allies racing to assist them.
"How did they get here so fast?" Madara demanded with astonishment of his own.
"Couldn't have been a portkey, there's too many of them and they didn't even know exactly where the fight was." Hashirama responded.
Spotting the group Gaia and several of the others raced up towards them.
"What are you doing here?" Madara demanded.
"You didn't honestly think we were just going to run away and leave the fate of the world hanging in the balance did you?" Gaia responded.
"How did you even get here so fast?" Hashirama asked as he approached the Kazekage, Tom, and Itachi.
"Fast? We've been trying to get here for days! This fight has been going on for nearly a week!" Tom responded.
"A week? No… that's impossible. We've only been here for a few hours." Hashirama stated with a shake of his head.
"Something strange is happening out in the world. Especially in the Elemental Nations. The revival of the Ten-Tails along with Riley doing battle with it, has saturated the area with intense amounts of magic. For the first two days as we headed here, all was normal, but then one morning we began to keep moving, only to find that the battle looked to be on the horizon. No more then ten, fifteen kilometers away. But then it took us forever to get here. It's like no matter how fast we moved, we were only able to actually clear a kilometer or so a day." Itachi responded, causing all of the reanimations to share looks with one another.
"Their battle is warping space and time. That's the only explanation for these events." Kaguya stated aloud earning a nod from both Madaras and a thoughtful look from both Hashiramas and Tobirama.
"How can we help?" Gaia asked as she turned her gaze towards the battle in the sky.
"There's nothing we can do. The army of devils has been demolished by the release of their combined power. Nothing can survive in close proximity to the battle. The amount of magic being released by those two would crush any living thing into dust, instantly. Just look at the ground beneath them and how it's warping wherever they move. We are no longer participants in this battle. Only a god could hope to enter that arena now." Tobirama responded as he also turned his gaze back to the battle.
"Is that Riley?" Gaia asked as she spotted the golden being in the sky. Hovering before the Ten-Tails.
"Yes. She's fused with the Angel of Carnage and the Nine-Tails, using both of their powers to give her enough of a boost to end this." Madara responded, earning a brief look from Gaia, before she returned her gaze to the battle.
Riley quickly brought her hands together and channeled her ocular powers. She then extended her palm, sending forth a tidal wave of gravity that send the Ten-Tails flying backwards as it's body warped painfully from the extreme potency of the attack.
With a roar of insurmountable rage the Ten-Tails halted it's motion and glared with unearthly rage at Riley.
Riley stared back, defiantly her eyes blazing golden, and her pupils slitted to reflect her purely demonic nature.
The two stared each other down for several long moments, only two trains of thought filled Riley's mind at that moment. Her plan to destroy the beast, and a steady countdown, constantly ticking off the seconds she had left before she lost control over this form and would be forced to end it.
"One hundred and sixteen. One hundred and fifteen. One hundred and fourteen..." Riley kept tally as the Ten-Tails once more lifted it's tails into the air. The beast let out a mountain shattering roar that shook the earth.
As if hovered in the sky, the beast turned it's head upwards and above it, magic began to gather.
"It's done playing. This attack will be it's last. It's going to destroy everything." Black Zetsu stated, knowing full well that this time, the beast wasn't going to hold back.
"I wont let you destroy my home." Riley growled as she began to channel magic into her hand, shaping it and forming it.
As she did, she allowed herself a brief moment to glance into her mindscape. Finding Kurama in deep meditation and focus, along with The Darkness. She gave them both a smile and offered a silent thanks to the two for standing by her. Her friend and child. She knew that the three of them would do great things together one day. For now though… she needed to end this.
Allowing her focus to drift back towards her final clash with the beast, Riley channeled massive torrents of power into this attack. She could tell that the Ten-Tails was drawing upon all of it's strength. No matter where it's attack struck, be it earth or somewhere nearby, the resulting explosion from this attack would without a doubt, annihilate the entire solar system.
Riley couldn't meet the attack head on. She knew it wouldn't do them any good. Her only option was a gamble. But Riley had always been confident, and prideful. Her whole life she had been raised by Madara to believe in herself, and have confidence in her abilities and strength. Now was not the time for doubt. There was so much in life, Riley still wanted to do. She still had her dream to accomplish, and she wouldn't let the Ten-Tails or the devil controlling it, destroy this world and all of her precious people.
Riley slowly lifted her hand above her head as that magic she was gathering took shape. A blindingly white Rasenshuriken had taken form there and it began to swell in size, growing larger and larger.
Before her, the Ten-Tails' attack began to take form. A monstrous Bijuu Dama, filled the sky, swelling in size until it was nearly the size of a continent.
Everyone on this side of the planet need only look in this direction to view the massive planetoid of raw magic that now hovered less then a kilometer above the ground. Were anyone to be paying attention, they would see small flashes of light around the spheres diameter where satellites barreled into it and exploded upon impact.
"How on earth does she intend to stop that?" Tsunade demanded, her eyes wide in disbelief.
"So this is the might of the Ten-Tails..." The reanimated Madara muttered with amazement.
"Such power… nothing in the world will survive that!" The Third Raikage shouted.
"Brother! We have to do something!" Tobirama shouted to both incarnations of his elder brother.
"Have faith Tobirama… Riley wont let us down." Riley's Hashirama stated.
"Brother?" Tobirama stated in almost a whisper, amazement evident in his voice.
Riley's Hashirama glanced over at his younger brother and undead counterpart and offered the two a smile. "She doesn't know how to fail."
"This'll be our last strike…" Kurama noted.
"I know." Riley replied as she focused more and more power into the burning white sphere of wind, pumping massive amounts of power into it as she shaped it further and further to fit her needs.
"Good. Then let's put an end to this." Kurama added after a moment, earning a smirk from Riley.
"Yes. Lets." And with that Riley looked up at her attack and focused the might of her ocular powers on the sphere. Supercharging more energy into the attack and condensing it to an impossibly small area, Riley activated the full of her control over the Deva path.
In an instant, the glowing white Rasenshuriken, exploded into blackness and collapsed in on itself, creating a black hole nearly five feet across, held aloft in Riley's hand.
The Archdemon let out a hiss of pain as she felt all of her muscles scream out in agony as she used all of her godly strength to hold the sphere aloft.
Riley felt a burning pain course through her eyes as she used the might of the Deva Path to keep the gravity of the Black Hole she held in her hand from disrupting the entirety of the Earth.
With a cry of rage and pain, Riley shot off the ground, launching herself straight at the Ten-Tails.
In response the Ten-Tails hurled the massive Bijuu Dama down at her, intent on annihilating the whole planet. Right as it's attack was about to strike, Riley drove her her own up into the oncoming sphere.
Due to the nature of the Bijuu Dama, when parts of it began to fall into the Black hole, instead of separating from the mass as a whole, the entire thing started falling into it.
Had the pain of physically carrying a small black hole not been clouding her senses, Riley would have heard her mates cheering her on within her mind.
Despite the pain, Riley kept her focus and kept pushing forward. Every ounce of her physical body screamed in pain as the weight of her attack swelled further and further and her eyes began to bleed as she used as much power as she could to keep her own attack from destroying the world.
It took all of five seconds to completely absorb the Ten-Tails attack and push up towards it. With a defiant roar of rage Riley drove her attack into the Ten-Tails center mass, releasing it and allowing the technique to shoot forward away from her.
With impossible ease it shot forward away from Riley, through the Ten-Tails body. In an instant as it passed through the body of the massive titan, most of it's body was sucked into the Black Hole.
All that remained of the Ten-Tails after that was the upper half of it's head and the ends of it's tails.
Knowing full well she couldn't lose control of her technique, even for a second, Riley extended her gaze beyond the sphere and utilizing Yomotsu Hirasaka she opened a portal in space time, allowing her attack to pass through it and vanish into another dimension. Sparing the Earth from the devastation of the attack.
In that instant, Riley's connection with Kurama and the Darkness snapped, and she was forced out of her Bijuu Mode.
Cheer instantly broke out amongst the Magical alliance as the severed head of the Ten-Tails, along with it's remaining body parts plummeted to the ground.
"She did it!" Katie cheered as she threw her arms around Fleur whom was also smiling from ear to ear.
Many of them cheered as Riley lowered quickly to the ground. It was only after a moment that some of them realized that she wasn't floating down, she was falling.
"Riley!" Hashirama shouted as he began to move, but others were already shooting forward.
The first to make it to Riley and catch her before she hit the ground was Kushina.
"Riley!" Kushina cried out as she recovered from the catch and pulled Riley up into her arms.
Riley's whole body was limp and her eyes were wide and trembling. Blood poured from her eyes and a quick examination of them revealed several of the tomoe within each eye were now missing. In her left she now sported only six, while in her right, she had four.
Many other people quickly surrounded the two, including Hashirama who was immediately by their side, doing what he could to examine Riley's body.
"Her muscles are severely torn. All of them." Hashirama noted as he tried to discern what the damage was.
"She pushed herself too far. That final attack… she was literally carrying a black hole in her hand as well as using her ocular powers to keep in under control. That level of concentration and power must have severely injured her physical body. She loses one tomoe in one eye whenever she uses the power of Izanagi. To imagine the strain on she put on herself, in order to lose that many. It'll take a few days, but she'll be fine." Madara stated as she knelt next to the three.
"You scared the hell out of me, you know that." Kushina whispered gently, as Riley blinked a few times and focused her gaze on her mothers face.
"Mother? When did you get here?" Riley asked, her voice tired and filled with a great deal of pain.
"Shh… you rest. You did it. You beat it." Kushina whispered as she gently brushed some hair out of Riley's face.
"Did she?" Tobirama inquired from nearby as he glanced at the remains of the mighty beast's body.
"She dealt it severe damage. It'll take time for it to regenerate." Black Zetsu stated as he emerged from Riley's sleeve and knelt next to her.
"Zetsu?" Both Madara's and Kaguya stated at once. Zetsu glanced at the two men but his gaze came to a halt when it fell upon Kaguya Uzumaki.
"Mother?" He stated in barely a whisper.
"You were with her all this time? You've been looking our for my heir I see." Kaguya stated after a moment, earning a curious look from the reanimated Madara, and a much more focused one from Riley's.
"Brother, we need to do something about the Ten-Tails. I believe it's beginning to reform." Tobirama stated to the reanimated Hashirama. Both men turned their gaze towards it's corpse, only to see large bubbles of red chakra beginning to emerge from it's remains.
Riley's eyes continued to dance between her mother and Hashirama, when her mates finally made it to her. Her eyes first fell on Katie who was the first to make it to her side.
"Katie?" Riley whispered, tiredly as Katie knelt next to her, teary eyed and smiling.
"You're alright. You scared the hell out of me you know that?" Katie whispered as she reached, taking Riley's hand and holding it in her own. The rest of Riley's mates quickly filled her view and Riley let out a laugh and smiled.
"I know we all want to rest, but the beast isn't down yet." The reanimated Hashirama shouted earning everyone's attention.
Hearing that, all eyes turned to the beast as it began to retake it's shape.
Riley was quick to shoot to her feet, despite the protests of Hashirama and Kushina. She was immediately between the beast and her mates, glaring hatefully at it as she rose up.
Within moments the Ten-Tails took it's form again, towering over the battlefield and staring down at them.
"Motherfucker… I'll kill you as many times as it takes!" Riley hissed, as she called upon her magic to rapidly repair her ruined body. She knew she was at a severe disadvantage now. Her Rinne Sharingan was exhausted from controlling a Black hole, and her core was severely strained due to Bijuu Mode. This was exactly not where she wanted to be right now. She knew it had to be the Archdevil controlling the Ten-Tails that allowed it to regenerate so quickly. There was simply no other explanation.
Riley was about to take a step forward when Arturia stepped in front of her.
"Arturia?" Riley began.
"Rest. Gather your strength. We'll need it to defeat this beast. This will keep it down for long enough." Arturia stated as she hoisted Excalibur into the air above her head, the sword pointed at the sky.
Riley watched in amazement as the sword lit up with golden energy.
The Ten-Tails began to advance on them, taking lumbering steps towards them as Arturia channeled her greatest ability.
The thousands at her back could only stare in amazement as the golden sword of the Lake lit up the sky with it's radiance. Golden lights rose from the sands and filled the air with beauty.
There was something mesmerizing about it and yet in the same moment, many felt their hearts pang with sadness for some great and mysterious reason.
In a burst of brilliant like a torrent of energy exploded out of the sword, and with a defiant yell, Arturia called out the name of her great weapon and swung the sword.
From the blade, a tornado of energy shot forward, racing towards the Ten-Tails. The beast held it's ground as the golden light slammed into it. It let out a roar of pain as the holy energy of Excalibur, exploded into a tornado of golden light that almost completely encompassed the mighty demon.
Silence filled the air as most of those who actually knew Arturia openly gaped at her.
Meanwhile Riley was letting out a mad laugh as she pointed at the giant beast, "Take that you fucker! Hurts doesn't it!" She shouted.
Arturia glanced over her shoulder towards Riley and blanched at what she saw.
Riley's skin was all red, making her appear heavily sunburned. On the normally pale skinned Riley, the change in skin tone was quite obvious.
A bit of smoke, or perhaps steam could be seen rising off of Riley's skin, an obvious sign that being so close to the golden light of Excalibur's ultimate attack, was enough to begin to cause the demon pain.
Nearby Kaede was also nursing her head, and back in the army, all of Riley's children whom had embraced their demonic heritage were dealing with momentary blindness.
Gaia and Yugito were both standing in amazement while on the inside both of their Bijuu were shrieking in pain as they were also blinded by the golden light of the holy sword.
"By the Fucking Sage, Gaia! What was that!" Shukaku hissed.
"I'm blind! I'm actually blind! Kitten! Kitten, are you still there?" Matatabi called out as she thrashed about Yugito's mindscape, pawing at her face.
"Riley… are you alright?" Arturia asked as she quickly stepped up to Riley.
"Better then him!" Riley responded, giving the Ten-Tails the finger, while Arturia grimaced.
"That'll buy us a few moments, but it's going to fix itself again. We need to seal it." Madara stated.
"Shit… Fine. If that's how it has to be, then so be it. Arturia… Grandfather… if this goes bad… don't hesitate to stop me." Riley stated as she brought her hands together, and seal characters began to appear on her flesh.
"Riley, what are you doing?" Daphne asked.
"Ending this!" Riley responded.
"Riley! Obito!" Riley heard Kakashi call out to her over The Gravemind.
Riley broke her concentration and turned her gaze in Kakashi's direction, activating her Byakugan as she did.
Her eyes fell on Obito, only two of his paths remaining. One being Han the Steam Giant, and the other being the Roshi. Kakashi, Minato, RAAM, Skorge, and two of Obito's other paths were standing against them. It seems that the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki Fuu and Sakumo Hatake had both been freed from Obito's control with the destruction of the Black Chakra Rod controlling them and their implanted Rinnegan.
Han and Roshi were going full blast using all of their powers to hold off the attackers while a heavily injured Obito had his hands together.
Riley quickly took off shooting into the air and dashing in their direction. She could just barely hear her family calling out for her, but their shouts were drowned out by the roar of the Ten-Tails.
Without needing to look back, Riley extended her vision to the beast and she could clearly see that it's lower half was now missing. The beast's whole body was heavily burned but everything above the hip, seemed to still be intact. The Ten-Tails was hauling it's body forward, pulling itself along with it's arms.
Riley spun around and unleashed Amaterasu onto it's charred flesh, further burning it and hindering it long enough for her allies to retreat from the beast, while one of the two Hashiramas utilized Sage Art: Gate of the Great God, and pinned the demon in place long enough for everyone to pull back.
"It's over Kakashi. Time to see this nightmare come to an end!" Obito snarled as he finished channeling his chakra and activated the Six Paths Ten-Tails Coffin Seal.
With a cry of pain, the Ten-Tails erupted into pure energy and rushed forward.
Obito began to laugh as the energy raced for him.
Kakashi activated his Chidori and dashed forward, attempting to blitz Han and Roshi and kill Obito before the seal fully activated.
"Kakashi, pivot right, sixty degree and strike!" Riley called out to him. Kakashi heard her words and didn't hesitate to follow her command. He turned and struck forward, to his surprise, Riley had landed right next to him, a smirk on her face, and her gaze locked on Obito.
Her eyes screamed in pain as she forced them to unleash Amenotejikara.
In and instant she was where Obito stood, having copied his seal she replicated it in an instant.
Obito never ceased with his victorious laughter as Kakashi drove his Chidori right into his old friend's neck, severing his head from his body.
The last thing Obito Uchiha saw was his own body as his severed head fell to the ground.
"Narumi!" Kakashi heard Minato call out. He turned his gaze towards where Obito had been mere moments before to find Riley standing within a cyclone of power.
Red chakra poured into her as she grit her teeth to hold in a screams of pain. Almost immediate following the rush of chakra the physical form of the Ten-Tails began to warp and expand, racing across the landscape to flow into Riley's body.
Thousands could only watch as the Ten-Tails body swirled around Riley and disappeared into her, blocking Riley from view, momentarily and when it finally vanished, all that was left was a perfectly white sphere.
Several tense seconds passed as the sphere began to crack.
"Ladies… I need you to be ready to call out to her. We have to be certain that Riley knows you're here." Madara stated to Riley's mates as they watched in tense anticipation.
"She'll recognize us right?" Daphne asked, sending a glance towards him.
"Her ability to control the Ten-Tails will be base solely on her will to overpower. She's as stubborn as I am, with a will that is unmatched. I know she can do this. But a little help never hurt." Madara responded with a smirk, sending a glance at them and earning several nods from the six of them.
"Riley! Riley can you hear me!" Was the immediate reply from Luna. Hearing Luna immediately call out for Riley, keyed everyone who knew of the Ravenclaw's seeing abilities that something terrible was about to happen.
"Oh crap." Madara muttered as he had the same realization.
"Madara..." Hashirama began as he sped through handsigns, in preparation to try and hold Riley down if she slipped into a violent rage.
"I know!" Madara responded as he did the same.
Finally the white sphere fully shattered, revealing the Ten-Tail's Jinchuriki waiting within it.
Riley hovered in the air for several long moments. As mostly silence permeated the battlefield.
Riley's appearance had been altered by the sealing of the demonic god. Her skin was now gray and her two front most horns had grown in length, both now around five inches long.
Riley now sported two sets of wings. A larger upper set that extended from her shoulder blades, and a smaller lower set which emerged from the middle of her back. The lower set of wings was around three feet long, while the upper wings were around nine feet. Riley's wings were no longer disheveled and the blackness they held was no longer oily. Instead the pure blackness of the cosmos seemed to take up residence in the Archdemon's wings. Pure blackness filled with sparkling twilight, gave the impression upon looking into her wings that one was staring into the sky. Fire and lightning no longer danced through or around them, leaving only the twinkling sparkles of light to color the pure black appendages.
Swaying by Riley's feet were ten tails, each one looking similar to how she had them before except now the translucent scales on them were gray, almost matching her skin color. All nine tomoe had been restored in both of her Rinne Sharingan, and her third eye was revealed and it no longer seemed as feral or insane looking, matching her other two eyes in intensity. Her normal eyes held to their purple hue, which did a lot in calming those that knew of the change in eye color when Riley was enraged. Her third eye though, still retained it's red coloring.
Hovering behind Riley were ten pitch black spheres that held in a ring formation close to her back.
The fake seal Riley had constructed for the angel was no longer present, nor was their any sign of the remains of Minato's original seal that once housed the nine tails. Instead a pattern of magatama and a diagram the resembled the Rinnegan held on her back. A sign of the Ten-Tails Coffin Seal.
Much of Riley's clothes had been destroyed by the sealing leaving her with just her pants. Her body seemed to have been fully healed from both the damage she had inflicted through her use of Bijuu Mode, and Arturia's use of Excalibur.
Riley slowly drifted to the ground after several seconds and brought up a hand to gaze at her flesh.
While this was happening, those around her tentatively approached, her family being the boldest, along with many of her closest friends such as Draco, Kakashi, Itachi, and Shisui.
On Riley's chest, the rest S marking that dictated the command of the Archdevil looked to be attempting to manifest. Almost as if it was trying to possess her and it was failing.
"Riley…?" Gaia asked tentatively as she and Riley's grandfathers were the closest in approaching her.
Everyone could see the mark on her chest, and knew what it meant, though it's flickering filled some with hope that Riley was able to fight it off.
"That's what his plan was..." Riley finally spoke as she turned her gaze towards Gaia.
"What?" Gaia inquired as she moved closer.
"That's why he helped them. Obito and Mito. He wanted to control the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki. He wanted to use them as an attack dog. A pet for him to play around with. He would have succeeded with anyone else. Neither could have guessed though that this power would respond so well to me. I truly am my grandmother's heir." Riley noted with a chuckle as the red mark on her chest popped into energy and faded from existence.
"His control over that power was far from perfect, but only someone truly meant for it, could have hoped to overpower his control so easily. I am my grandmothers heir, and thus… her power is mine to command. It probably doesn't hurt that with what little sanity this thing did have, it's terrified of Hagoromo, and I have his chakra." Riley stated with another chuckle.
"Riley!" Luna was the first to fly into Riley's arms.
"Hey… when did you get here?" Riley inquired softly as she returned the hug.
"I was worried about you." Luna whispered, as she was joined by Katie, and Fleur, and then Daphne and Kaede.
Gaia held back and let out a sigh of relief as it seemed Riley was fine and in full control of herself.
"I'm alright ladies, you can settle down." Riley stated with a smile.
"How is it you were able to control the Ten-Tails so easily?" Madara inquired as he stepped up to the group.
Riley was able to peel her mates off of her and glance at him.
"No matter what the Ten-Tails represented, at it's core… it was made of grandmother's energy and will. It's as Hagoromo said… I am her heir. She chose me. So even corrupted this energy recognizes that right of passing. That's the only explanation I have. It submitted to me almost immediately." Riley responded with a shrug. Madara stared at her for several moments before nodding.
"You're most likely correct." Came the statement from Kaguya as she approached Riley.
Riley stared back at her for several moments before peeling herself off of her mates, handling them much more gently then normal considering her newfound strength. She then approached her grandmother, stopping before the woman as the Dementor King reappeared and covered Riley's upper body.
"Hello grandmother." Riley greeted the woman, sensing more then just Kaguya Uzumaki standing before her.
"Lady Riley, it's her. Mother is here, she remembers." Zetsu stated, revealing his presence on Kaguya's person now.
"So… Kaguya Ootsutsuki? It's a pleasure." Riley offered in greetings once again. Kaguya was silent for several moments as she stepped up to Riley and placed her hands on her cheeks. She held Riley's face for several moments before tilting her head and offering a sad smile.
"Hagoromo… Hamura… Arashi… You are Arashi's child. My heir… I can feel it… my power within you. It's settled so comfortably." Kaguya stated, earning confusion from Riley.
"Who's Arashi?" Riley asked.
"Minato. That was his name when he was born. Arashi." Madara answered.
"I never knew that grandfather. You've never called him that." Riley stated as she turned her gaze over to Madara.
"He stopped being my son when Mito took him. As far as I'm concerned, my son died in Uzushio with his mother." Madara responded.
Riley was quiet for a second before turning her gaze out over the crowd. A moment passed before she realized that certain people were missing.
"He's gone. Him, Jiraiya, Tsunade… they're all gone." Riley noted after a moment, earning a surprised look from Madara and Hashirama as both scanned the crowd for Minato, only to find that the Fourth Hokage was now gone.
"We never found the other undead. The Uchiha, I don't know what happened to them. Some members of the Akatsuki are still alive too." Madara noted as he gaze around.
"We'll find them. When the time is right." Riley responded after a moment of silence as she returned her attention to Kaguya.
"I know you must be confused Grandmother… but know I will do what I must to protect this world, and my family. I will face the Ootsutsuki when they come for this world. I promise I'll protect you." Riley stated, earning tears from her grandmother. Riley pulled the woman into an embrace which she returned.
While Kaguya struggled to regain her composure, she was able to utter a reply. "Hagoromo believed in you. Zetsu believed in you. My own power shows that on some level even I believe you."
"I don't break my promises to those I love." Riley whispered, earning a nod from the woman. After a few seconds Riley reached into herself and found the remnants of Kaguya Ootsutsuki's soul within her. Using their physical connection, Riley passed the woman's full soul back into her, allowing her to regain all of her memories and causing Kaguya's hair to bleed white, and her Byakugan to reemerge. Kaguya's body also glowed green and with a burst of ash, her undead body was destroyed and a new physical body was created for her.
"We'll build a great world together, grandmother. You and I, and grandfather. We'll do it together." Riley stated, her eyes reflecting great power and emotion. Kaguya offered a nod and pulled away from Riley.
Riley allowed the release, knowing the woman probably had a lot she needed to work through. Riley turned her gaze out over the landscape and focused on the emptiness of it all. It was obvious that the devils had either been killed or retreated once the Ten-Tails was sealed. Their portals were no longer active, leaving only burned out rock and the scent of death and sulfur to permeate the air. The darkened clouds in the sky had begun to separate and were allowing sunlight to carry through to the ground.
"It's over." Hashirama noted, earning a nod from his undead counterpart.
"Not yet. I still have a promise to keep." Riley responded as she turned her gaze towards all of the reanimates.
"Thank you all for your help. Here and now, I offer you all the chance to return to the land of the living. I can restore you to life and give you the chance to experience a new world of peace. What do you say?" Riley offered the collection of undead Kage, as well as Fuu, and Sakumo.
A few murmurs spread through the group as they considered this. Kakashi himself stood next to his father and offered the man a look.
"The worlds come a long way dad. I know it was hard once… I'll understand if you need to go back." Kakashi stated after a moment, earning a soft smile from his old man.
"What I did was selfish, and I know it'll take a lot to earn your forgiveness. Perhaps I will find something in this new world worth living for. Maybe something in this new shinobi world will be enough to erase the horrors of the old. I don't know if it'll happen. But I do know that I'd like the chance to get to know the man my son has become." Sakumo replied with a smile, earning a few tears from Kakashi and a smile in reply.
Very soon many of the dead were voicing their willingness to see the world again and enjoy an age of peace.
Riley quickly set about reviving them all, saving Hashirama and Madara for last.
"I have no idea what'll happen when you use that on us." Riley's Madara stated.
"At the very least, our connection to you will be broken." Her Hashirama offered.
"Our connection could never be broken Grandfather. Regardless, I want you both to know that I've always loved you. And I can't thank you enough for everything you've done for me." Riley offered giving the two men a hug, earning smiles from both of them.
"We'll always be with you Riley, in whatever form we take." Hashirama offered patting her head with a tearful smile.
"It's time for us to be whole again little one." Madara stated, unshed tears built in his eyes as well.
"I know. I love you both." Riley responded as she pulled back and brought her hands together. Using Rinne Rebirth, the two reanimations of Hashirama and Madara began to glow green. Much like Kaguya, their bodies burst into ash and new bodies reformed around their souls. At the same time, Riley's Hashirama and Madara broke down and their soul fragments rejoined with the whole, allowing them to fully reform.
Riley approached her grandfathers offering the two a sad smile as she waited for their reactions.
Both men glanced at their bodies allowing themselves to feel the air and the breath in the smells of the earth. Finally they returned her gaze and offered her smiles.
"Well… that was… weird feeling. Two sets of memories and feelings all rushing together. But I understand more clearly now why he felt that way about you. You truly are a wonderful person when you want to be. So much like your grandfather." Hashirama noted after a moment.
Riley offered a nod, knowing that this was far better then she could have expected as a result. She then turned her attention to Madara whom stared back at her with his normal aloof demeanor.
"I think I'm going to miss my shouting matches with old furry ass." Madara noted after a moment, earning a laugh from Riley.
"Hey Riley… what the fuck did we miss?" Came Kurama's voice.
"Hey, are you both awake in there?" Riley inquired.
"Juniors still crawling out of bed, but I'm up. So you had to seal the Ten-Tails, any problems?" Kurama answered.
"None so far, but I'm sure something will come up later. Regardless… it's over now. We've won." Riley answered earning a smirk from the fox.
Riley allowed herself to chuckle as she turned her gaze out over the landscape. More sunlight began to pour through as he mates stepped up around her, followed closely by her family and friends.
"What do we do now?" Katie inquired.
"We live." Riley answered with a smile as she felt the wind pick up. She knew that this wasn't over yet. She still had some foes left to face, and an Archdevil to deal with. But the time had come to rest. This war was over, and it was finally time to go home.
-Elsewhere among darkness and flames-
In a world of burning skies and blackened earth, a four eyed Archdevil sat upon his throne and hummed with amusement.
"Ah… this might actually be interesting." The Archdevil stated before turning towards several kneeling servants.
"Where is she?" He asked them.
"Oriasis, my lord. We will have finished constructing a gate to her within a year." One of the demons replied.
"Good. Send out Malice, and have him chase her. Tell him I have a world in mind. Tell him I want my portal to be there before long." The Archdevil commanded with a wave of his hand. His servants quickly scattered to fulfill their master's will. Meanwhile the Archdevil let out another hum of amusement.
The little Archdemon on Earth would be a fun plaything. Perhaps it would even offer him a challenge if he timed his attack right. The Ten-Tails had just been an amusement. This demoness… oh he would take great pleasure in forcing her to submit. Most definitely.
With a dark chuckle, the beast shut it's eyes. Extending it's will outwards towards the fleeing form of it's adopted daughter, filling her mind with nightmares and pain.
-To be Continued-
Alright, one more chapter to go. As I'm sure you can all tell, the next chapter will be an epilogue of sorts, tying up this story and setting the stage for the sequel. I hope you enjoyed the battle and I hoped it was realistic enough to meet your expectations. I wanted the Ten-Tails to be a reasonable threat but I wasn't going to overpower it just to make it capable of fighting Riley. We all know how this was going to end, so I hope you at least had fun. Let me know what you thought and I hope you've enjoyed this ride as much as I have.