"When I was at the brink of life and death, I used all of my will to survive. I drew upon a different power than that of self-sacrifice and mastered an ultimate technique. The will to live is stronger than anything else. That was the ray of light that my master risked his life to show me. As Hitokiri Battousai, I have committed so many crimes that I cannot possibly repent for them. That is why I had secretly believed that it didn't matter when I died or was killed. However, now... even if I am formally punished or restrained. I will never lose the will to live."
Kenshin Himura
The heat of elation pumped through Madara as fierce as his chakra. He could feel power surging through him. It was like his pulse. Constant, consistent, and with vigor. Aglow and ready to devour anything, his chakra turned to flames and spread out from his palm like a veil. Bubbling and surging, it moved with deft speed, and spread outwards like one rolling cloud.
Madara could barely breathe, overcome with exhilaration. The heat of his fire was reaching his face and forcing sweat to condense on his cheeks. The monster stemmed off his rolling waves of fire, but instead of canceling the jutsu—like he would have to if he were exhaling the flames from his mouth, he let his power flow.
The rolling waves of fire finally made impact with solid ground, having hung thick over the forest entity like a blanket of magma. Madara had managed to skew his aim by the slightest of inches, to keep his attack rolling atop his foe.
It pushed back with the same persistence as Hashirama. From the earthen monster came roots and boles, trunks and crust, even dirt and stone. It moved with a methodical stride, certain, absolute, without any doubt, spreading across the landscape like one continuous wave of undergrowth. Leaves became anew, flapping like wings of birds, and the smallest branches lashed out like vipers.
Madara scoffed. He had a few seconds before the wave would be within reach of him. He had even less time before the wave crashed into him, no doubt shredding him to pieces. His bones would snap, his ligaments would tear, his sinew would shred. This was unlike Hashirama's attack—Hashirama changed the landscape.
This monster didn't only change the landscape, but it also took the landscape within its grasp like he would a stick, and like he would throw the stick, this monster was throwing the very landscape. It was like fighting Hashirama, but also more complicated.
This monster had instinct. A primeval surge to thrive it is environment and be near the top of the food chain. Unlike Hashirama—it didn't have creativity or ingenuity. It was sheer, overwhelming, all consuming force.
With the thought in mind, Madara settled his chakra a fraction. His wave of fire continued its surge despite him pulling back and forcing himself to the sky. It was just in time. The wave that would have ripped him apart crashed with enough force to leave a crater in the ground.
The wave of forest continued on its course, crashing in the far distance, Several of the boles writhed, parts of them snapping. The flames tried to rage against the force of collision, spreading themselves far and thin, feeding on oxygen.
He was able to maintain his glide with a prick of chakra—keeping it beneath the soles of his feet and swirling. His foe lumbered forward like a blob of earth and leaves. Its arm reached forward, crude fingers grappling through the fire, and it swept to the side. Part of its shoulder rotated partly, leaving its hand to pry into the earth.
The waves of fire writhed from the force, hissing and surging. It was futile defiance in the face of gusting winds. As fierce as the flames were, as fiercely as they fed off the wind generated, the sheer force was just too much for them. The waves turned into faint flickers, until only a few flares were visible around them.
Madara braced for the next attack, but the monstrous reptile from before crashed into the tree golem, back legs kicking sporadically, roar spine chilling, its claws ripped into the earth with the greatest of ease.
The tree golem's mouth opened, but not a sound came out. It was the mere action of roaring. It pushed back the giant hybrid reptile with arcing swings. It worked, for a second. The first two swings clubbed the monster down, but on the third swing, it flipped itself over two times over, and spun, lashing out with its tail.
A long shard of bone speared from its tail. Madara hissed low, eyes widening as he just barely caught the instant the shard protruded from the tail, the muscles of the tail contract, and the tail itself hyper extend. It was with frightening ease and precision that the creature struck.
As Madara has seen before it happened. The shard of bone whipped through the air. There was a shout and scream as it traveled through its trajectory. Then a piercing sound struck the air as bone shard collided with bark.
The tree golem staggered back, visibly shaken from the blow. Its granite chest was marred with scrapes and a huge puncture mark. The golem knew this well. It remained in its place, as if it to adjust to what had just happened.
Its foe struck again, and this time, the bone shard grazed the golem's face. This time instead of simply staggering back, the golem lashed out violently—like it was in a rage.
The golem grasped a giant section of rolling earth, hauling itself upright, and yanked the wave with both hands ripping it out of the ground. It used its momentum to swing the uprooted landscape all the way around, and smashed it across the lizard's head. Leaves, branches, twigs, trunks, and mud flew, parts of the landscape began to fracture bit by bit.
It moved back quickly, not quite dazed, but not completely sharp either. It clawed its huge feet into the earth, using its claws to drag itself away, along the shoreline.
Madara searched for Mikito. She reached the top of a rolling wave of earth, and there was no hesitation on her part. She slammed her arms forward, palms open, roaring, chakra roaring, and unleashed it.
Madara cursed as the blast of power ripped through everything he had seen just before, barely able to rn across the marsh, staying parallel to the cape of land where Mikito now stood, Madara glanced over his shoulders every few steps he took.
There was no balance.
It was chaos.
This was a frenzy. There was no clear winner. One monster was gripping uprooted trees, beating another across the skull and side, slamming the trunk into bodies, driving its foe further across the land. The other was taking steps between each impact it wrought, clawing at the writhing bodies of boles, and pushing them closer and closer to the ancient golem.
Power surged through the air. Thick and heavy. Trunks splintered, transforming to massive clubs and to deadly spears in the golem's domain.
The monsters righted themselves and charged at each other once more, rushing, slamming their heads into the other's chest, head against head, body against body—they struggled, driving the other back and down with as much ferocity as the other could muster.
The bodies crushed the rolling wave of earth, forcing it to spill out in every direction like one destructive ripple. The golem reared up over the fallen ape, lifting its tail, curling it above the golem's skull like a deformed stinger. It watched its foe, unflinching as it measured its killing blow.
The golem tried to roll away. It tried to send another torrent of trees forward, but it was smashed again and again. Its morphing body bucked and kicked. The lizard shook itself every few seconds, letting out a hiss as its cranium met the chest of the golem once more.
The monster's tail was thick wide, long, strong, and protruding with the familiar bony barb from before. It howled, smashing it down into the golem's face, and any part of it for that matter prodding its foe's near impenetrable body for the killing blow with ruthless efficiency.
With a hefting hand, the tree golem moved, trees so large they were like boulders, and they smashed across the monster's lizard's midsection. Blood didn't bloom, nor did its skin wither from the force of the strike. Instead it shrieked and spun itself across the ground, tripping up the golem with its tail again.
The golem was on its feet again, in a frightening display of speed. One second it had been on the ground and the next it was upright.
Madara realized he had underestimated the creature.
It grabbed its foe by the tail and hauled it back. It heaved, sending it flying for hundreds of feet before it crashed into the landscape, sending nothing short of a terrible rift through everything. At the same time, the lizard had sensed its eventual throw, and lashed out with its tail-this time, it struck the golem in its eye, sending the massive structure tumbling back. They circled, sizing each other up, readying for the fight.
The lizard sprung forward, tail lashing in an unpredictable arc. The golem ducked under the shard, just as it was about to clip itself into the side of its head and launched itself forward-massive palm open, erupting with boles and branches.
Madara broke into a full blown sprint, watching the golem, he realized that more and more, it was starting to gain a little ground and would eventually kill its foe. Something about that didn't sit well with Madara-perhaps it's because this golem personified Hashirama.
To him, at least.
He gathered chakra once more, thrusting out with his left arm. His palm snapped wide open, fingers clenching like they had been wrenched. A second later plumes of flames came forth from the palm. More thirsty, more massive, and more turbulent than before-this time Madara gave himself over entirely. To hold back now would be folly and he would be regretting it later.
The flames struck the golem before it could try to impale its foe. Like before, it raised its massive arms up, forcing the landscape to shift to its will. This time, however, its technique didn't work. Madara had been anticipating its move, pouring far more chakra into his attack than the first time.
Just as the golem pulled back with its fist, ready to extinguish the flames...Madara clenched his open palm into a fist and whipped his spine, forcing himself to pivot a whole one hundred and eighty degrees. His attack changed course, just as he did, and like a whip, the wall of fire smashed into the side of the golem. It managed to stagger the massive brute, but just that.
With growing excitement Madara watched the golem shred the landscape with its clumsy, oxen body. There wasn't a single centimeter of land that hadn't been effected by the sudden shift of weight. It slid three hundred meters back, crashing into a mountain at last. For a second, Madara thought that by some means it would actually be able to regain its balance despite its weight and body.
Thankfully, he was wrong.
"Madara!"
"Mikito!" Madara yelled, whirling to his side to find Mikito staring at him and then at their foes. "You devise a strategy?"
Mikito remained still, eyes narrowing. "I think so. That golem has a couple of weaknesses. The first is its face. The second would be its limbs."
Madara nodded. "We can't get near its face though, and we have to contend with that giant lizard thing as well. It can change and rip the landscape with its will as well, though it uses its limbs to perform the feat."
Mikito scowled briefly. "Any suggestions?"
"I don't think we can approach this golem like we did with that giant monster we encountered before." Madara reasoned.
They had been able to take it on by themselves. They did use jutsu, of course, but Mikito had managed to cut off that monster's tongue and part of its mouth with her blade. They would have no such luck against the golem. It was like granite.
Madara allowed a smirk to cross his face. "Feed me your chakra, like before."
Mikito's eyes lit up. "Susano'o?"
Madara noted how excited she got, and his smirk grew. "Ready?"
Mikito nodded, forming a one handed seal. "Whenever you're ready."
Madara let his chakra explode, releasing all restraints and limitations. The Mangekyo swirled into form, glowing an eerie crimson as blue began to enshroud him. Just as the blue skeleton took form, and began to ascend to its lofty height, Mikito fed her chakra to the Susano'o itself and Madara. Just like before, Madara screamed at the top of his lungs as he became engorged.
He clenched his teeth, struggling to focus and center his chakra. Struggling to keep it under control, but with each attempt it lashed out against him. It refused to yield or waver. Like Iron. Like steel. His biceps pulsed, forcing his arms to bend. His thighs crushed outwards as his muscles strained. He hunched his back, eyes wide, mouth wide open as he struggled.
His chakra alone was potent and powerful, but Mikito's mixing with his own was something akin to molten lava. It burned every single vein, every cell, every part of his body screamed. She didn't restrain herself, it was like she pried his mouth open until his jaws were about to reach their breaking point and shoved her chakra down his throat.
She had so much chakra...He could only compare it to a mountain being forced down his throat. Of course, this is impossible to achieve, even for the beasts and monsters here. They couldn't swallow an entire mountain. Just the same, he couldn't swallow a mountain either. Mikito's chakra slammed into him, and while he had been able to hone it at first, now...
It was crushing him!
It was like gravity had increased a million fold. His body nearly hit the earth, and if it had, he would have snapped his neck. He would have plummeted at an angle where his chin would strike at the perfect angle, to break his neck. He fought to stay upright, but Mikito's chakra slammed into his again, and this time his back hunched and he felt his spine compress.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Madara's agonized scream ripped through the landscape, echoing as far as the ocean. There was pain and even anguish in his voice. But, beneath it all, underlying through all of the pain was power. He could feel power ripping through his body. This wasn't like a lucid stream by any means-this was savage, overwhelming, and ferocious.
His hair bristled, his eyes flashed every few seconds. His Mangekyo was whirling. Control. Control. The Sharingan beckons. It grants power. It gives power. It feeds off of the person using it. Madara repeated the mantra, even as his body became wracked with convulsions of power and force. His Susano'o flared wildly, continuing its lofty ascent into the heavens.
Madara managed to clench his right fist. Tighter and tighter. He felt the skin pull against the bone. Threatening to split and tear. Chakra was prodding every single pore to rip him to shreds from the inside out. He contended with the power. He pulled the power towards him with psychotic tenacity. With murderous fury. He wrestled with the indomitable force.
And, he finally took a hold of it.
Slowly, Madara inhaled. His entire body slowly became upright, bones popping, joints cracking, every kink working itself out. As he exhaled, every muscle fiber, tendon, ligament, sinew, and bone strengthened-holding him up. He peered through his Susano'o, Mangekyo burning through the clouds of smoke and debris that had been kicked up by him.
He took another deep breath, the pressure that had been crushing him before was gone, completely.
He moved his neck to the side, sighing when it cracked.
"You're getting better at this." Mikito noted from his side, looking left to right.
"If I didn't know any better, I would say you were trying to kill me before."
Mikito laughed, eyes beaming. "Next time I won't hold back!"
The giant lizard was gone, having retreated upon feeling the burst of pure power exerted from them. More importantly, it knew it couldn't defeat the golem, and since it couldn't eat it nor kill it, it just cut its chances.
The golem stood its ground, not looking the least bit impressed or daunted. It eyed the Susano'o with its eyes, massive hands clenching and relaxing. Every few seconds, the landscape would writhe in a feeble protest of the golem trying to twist it to its will.
Madara took another deep breath. He wasn't sure if he wanted the full force of Mikito's chakra to smash into him. "I guess my hunch was right. If we collaborate, my Susano'o will grow in size and strength."
Mikito hummed, clenching her right hand into a fist. "You think we can take it further in its stages?"
Madara considered it, never once looking away from the golem. "It could be possible...Maybe..."
He felt he was on the cusp of something with his Susano'o, but whenever he got close to it-the power overtook him. The power was so great he couldn't quite control it. Stabilize it, as it were.
Observant as always... Madara thought.
"Give you any ideas for your chakra avatar idea?" He ventured, readying for attack.
"A little." Mikito replied vaguely.
The golem was starting to shift every so often, an indication it was ready to go on the attack. She couldn't begin to predict where its attacks would come from. At one point a chunk of the landscape itself had been pulled out by it with ease. At the start of the battle, it forced tidal waves to surge across the landscape-turning the landscape itself into a tidal wave.
It plunged its massive hand into the ground with a mighty crash, slashing it through crust tree trunks, splintering the landscape, and let out a low, thunderous roar. It completed its attack, raising its hand back up. Then it swung it hard to its side. Tidal waves of debris crashed forward, mowing through and against everything with horrible force. The air itself seemed to split in two as the entire landscape began to cap off, splitting across its middle in two half hemispheres.
All at once it veered for the clouds.
Madara took the opening the monster granted with its attack. There was more than a giant opening for attack, and he sped towards it. His Susano'o made a lunge, blade arcing forward. He managed to clip the golem's arm. But, that was by his foe's choice. It had lumbered the limb forward to deflect his blade. The golem pressed forward, with a roar, hands blooming with boles and branches. It didn't stop its march, even as the extensions from its limbs jammed, snapped, and kicked up tons of earth.
It stood to its full height, pushing with all of its strength. It roared in defiance. Madara held fast. Mikito waited until the last possible second, and shifted away from the massive attack. It seemed this creature used overwhelming force to subdue and kill its foe. It had always worked for this creature before, but she was starting to find the cracks in its granite exterior. Clumsy. Her slight pivot, that had turned into a shifting movement, was also a parry, and with the blade already angled down, she jammed it through a part of its forearm.
If not for the Susano'o, they would have been assaulted by all of the debris that smothered the landscape. Giant harpoons made from the boles had ripped through the perimeter around them. The attack the golem was executing cancelled. The rolling force of it, however, didn't. Boles that had been controlled by its will no longer coiled, but became stiff, and instead of rolling seamlessly across the landscape, the plunged into it like tridents.
The golem tugged and wrestled to get its arm free from its anchor, but Mikito kept the blade jammed, refusing to budge the slightest. Wind raged furiously as if she were in a tornado, turning into razor sharp projections as the monster continued to swing thrash. Parts of its bodies, massive branches holding leaves, solid material that was like branches and granite melded into one showered around. The canopy swayed in every other direction.
It finally grew impatient and lashed out with its other hand cutting across the rocks and terrain in a bid to throw her off. Chunks of mountains, tons of wood, and roots of ancient boles all sprayed down. It swung left and right, and each movement struck with trembling force. The impact nearly carried everything away, but it was bole that nearly crushed him-the monster positioned its arm so it would smash it into its foes. Madara arced his blade forward, up to its shoulder, piercing through what would have been its joint.
Madara moved with purpose, all of his focus on the foe before him. All of his focus was pinpointed on dismantling this golem. Even the noise and chaos around him was blotted out, just hovering outside the bubble that kept him away from reality. He maintained his footing, and with a start, his blade came towards the same joint. The monster was learning. It was learning as it fought them. It had a simple mind, but also had the ability of power of observation.
With another massive twist, the landscape tore itself free, shifting into waves and columns-all rising and falling at different points, uncontrollable. It was beyond Madara, he realized. The human mind wasn't capable of performing such a feat. Logic and instinct. Ration and emotion. All of those things would hinder a human, even himself, even Mikito, from doing what this golem was.
His blade was cleaving into a part of its chest. He pushed and pushed but there was no give. Not even the slightest. It felt like he had hit a wall. His blade had managed to pierce, if only slightly, and he knew it was only temporary. He brought down his second blade, howling in excitement as it smashed across the golem's head. His foe staggered back, sinking.
It smashed through its attack. Columns and waves of the very landscape ripped in two as the golem careened into them, its massive weight unable to be halted, even as it futilely clawed at the earth. It only served to force it to pick up more speed.
Madara clenched his teeth, eyes snapping wide open-his Mangekyo flared, rotating violently. Just as the glow reached its peak, a burst of pure power erupted from deep within. It started from behind the optic nerve as a single point, from there in swirled, condensing as it got into the eye itself and spread to what stored everything capable of vision.
Invisible as it was, it was still very much real. The columns of landscape were baffled by this unseen force that had not only smashed into them, but managed to hold them back for the briefest of seconds, before the force overwhelmed them entirely. Normally, when an impact it occurred it wasn't so concentrated. The force usually hit at the surface. The force would disperse from there on, unevenly.
But, this was different. The force was spinning on an axis, and rather than stopping as hit the surface-letting the force disperse...This was the exact opposite. It would strike and continue to push with even greater force. As overwhelming as the attack was-even the waves and columns of earth couldn't quite stand up to his attack, and they continued their mad charges, but they had lost their vigor.
He smirked briefly, feeling the heat in his eyes slowly ebb, just a little.
"I think I can pierce it." Madara remarked.
"That new technique of yours is nothing to scoff at..." Mikito spoke with a measured tone. "However, piercing it as its most heavily armored spots is impossible."
The golem reared back. In its glowing yellow eyes, Madara could see the vague reflection of..Smartness. There wasn't intelligence in this creature, but it wasn't a brute like the one he had encountered before. It raised its arm, and with surprising speed, hurled it towards the earth. Madara shifted his footing, feeling something give deep beneath.
"Hang on!"
Mikito's voice pitched with urgency as she flung the Susano'o skyward with the might of her chakra. It took less than a second for Madara to take control and steer his chakra avatar, but she could still feel the effects of the sporadic, violent burst of chakra. Launching her own body was easy, as would it be with a human body in general, but the Susano'o weighed tons.
But, just as her thoughts bordered on the cynical the landscape fell beneath. There was no possible way to describe the sounds that erupted through the air. Its effects were much better described. Piercing, overwhelming, and downright painful. Mikito and Madara both howled, coating their ears with chakra. But, the damage had been done.
Madara grasped his current situation, and with a flourish of his hand, his blade moved into an arc. He could only watch with a strange sense of fascination and wonder as it split everything in two before his eyes. By all means it should have made him howl in excitement, but instead, he felt a sliver of agitation. Despite his blade ripping through its attack, the monster wasn't effected.
Perhaps... Madara thought.
Madara gathered his chakra. He focused it through his arms, into his palms, and he focused on the space ahead of him. This was the most important part. Without aim this technique was null. The chakra that had gathered within him began to burn with the fierce tenacity that was flowing through him. He let it loose. Like unlocking a door. Turning a key. His chakra was about to erupt!
With a start a sheer wall of fire bloomed from Madara's palm, spreading itself wide over everything before him. The effect of the attack was immediate. While his surroundings were engulfed, he was focused on the feeling deep within himself. The power had nearly consumed him before. The burning of his blood nearly drove him mad.
The golem reacted in the only way it could. The landscape began to twist to its will. Without any sign of it even beginning, the golem's attack forced the landscape into a swirling mass. Part of its arm jutted out in a wooden column, forming a weird angle as it plunged into the earth. It dug deeper, deeper, deeper, and deeper, until more than three hundred meters of it was submerged below.
Madara hefted his blade and brought it down. The arc was swift, and with a pop, the golem's attack was cancelled. Whatever it had been doing..Continued. There was less than a second to react, and Madara knew that he could not deflect it. Mikito swatted the attack aside, allowing him to focus, and with the ferocity starting to burn inside of him, Madara's flames became an inferno.
It was a vicious assault, and the golem could barely keep it at bay. But, it was tough, durable, and tenacious. Madara took a step forward as Mikito brought her blade down, striking through the oncoming attack. The boles swung away to the side, crashing across the landscape in a heap.
"Damn it..." Madara growled.
While his attack was pushing the golem back, it still wasn't enough to completely overwhelm it. His right arm was extended forward, hand wide open, palm facing his foe. He wanted to unleash his chakra, put more into his current attack, but he wasn't able to. He set a limitation on the technique and now he had to cancel it, or let it run its course at the expense of more chakra.
"Cancel the attack." Mikito said.
Madara had gathered chakra into his lungs a second prior. His entire body contracted, lips parting. Normally he would exercise restraint, and even now, he was exercising restraint, but this time...He let himself loose, and instead of roaring flames, he expelled an inferno wall. Though he knew it wouldn't do much good in the long run, he continued his onslaught, his chakra roared, his heart thundered, his muscles burned...There was pain, but...
Slowly, it became nonexistent.
The only thing he could feel was his thundering heart.
His burning muscles.
The power surging through him.
The golem began its advance towards him without any reprieve, its heaping arms cut a swath into his flames. And, the golem reeled back and away the instant it did, visibly in pain as the dense flames still chewed at it. It had been effected, severely. Blackened and burned tree veins, scorched tendons of vines, and there were even flames still chewing away at the creature itself.
Slowly, it began to separate the flames from its body, shoving away more than half of its original body in the process. It roared as its attack now began to advance to cover its moment of weakness. This attack was a little different. A section of trees shifted down at their very root, and like they had never been meant to be there in the first place, they were instantly uprooted.
There was no resistance at all.
It was overwhelming.
Madara and Mikito both knew one hit from that and they'd be done for.
Madara glanced back at Mikito. She was always good at creating openings, and he was banking on her talent. More than once since their time in here together had she provided the opening he needed. In that single instant, he was able to capitalize. Mikito was swift enough to play the decoy, and he had the keen eye that would never miss his chance.
She was also a master of observation. She had already said before that piercing its most armored points was impossible. He had been confident he would be able to. But, he was starting to see it wasn't possible. This golem was as ancient as this place. Its armor has endured for thousands of centuries. No matter of anything would be getting through it.
Madara focused, clearing his mind. His thoughts were about to run rampant. Possibilities and scenarios, each one to be analyzed down to the finest detail. Inhale. Exhale. He let it all go.
Confronting it head on was the only option.
However, defeating it wouldn't be that simple.
Madara came back to as his inferno wall began to spread wider than it had before. He let the attack run its course, clenching his fist once the last of the flames were expelled from his palm. Glancing across his surroundings he took note of the ruptured and busted landscape as well as the craters. Boles that once towered were reduced to splinters.
With a flourish of his arm, Madara clenched his teeth, chakra hefting through his palms...It surged forward, flaring like a sheering inferno. With a roar of his chakra the flames raced ahead towards their target, ravaging everything in their way. Getting the attack in the monster's face would be lucky. In the eyes would be even better. The impact may not kill it, but it would deter the monster for a second. At the very least it would stun it. Its eyes were one of its few weaknesses.
The attack made impact against the golem's chest. It reacted quickly, boles and branches erupting from its center. The flames roared as they began to push against it. It raised its arm, shook its head, and swung it as hard as it could. It clawed, the flames bellowed in retaliation.
Madara's breath caught as spheres of earth, the size of mountains, came rocketing towards the golem. Giant globs of fire mixed in with the sturdy earth, forcing the projectiles to turn into missiles. The golem staggered back once, twice, and three times. It shook its head, focusing just in time as the next barrage struck it with thrice the force.
But, the golem was stubborn. Instead of being overcome by the attacks, it battered against them, and slowly began to make its way forward. It deflected an arc of fire that came too close to its head, and swept aside a sheet of molten flames. It trudged through another wave of flames, separating that part of its body from its centre as it continued its slow and steady advance.
Madara pushed more chakra-teeth bracing as his body began to contract.
"Mikito. Have any ideas?" Madara asked.
"Your foolishness has distracted me."
Madara blinked before clenching his teeth. "Just answer my question!"
"If we can get on its back, or pierce it, and use that to take control of it...We might be able to defeat it."
"Lead it where?"
Mikito glanced around. "Not sure..."
The golem staggered forward, hunched over, one arm pressed ahead. It smashed that very arm into the earth. Part of the landscape finally gave, cracking, and finally disintegrated. The part of the landscape didn't just split open. It was more accurate to say that it tore a rift through the landscape itself, but also sprouted thousands of more trees.
Mikito roared in fury, advancing on the golem, screeching as she brought her blade down. The golem's limb was sturdy, but the Susano'o at this stage was nothing short of a brutish tank. She took full advantage of that. She didn't put all of her force into the attack. Instead she stepped forward, using the arc of her blade to deflect the next attack, and used another step to follow through.
Madara went on the prowl, blade arcing wide from the side.
The golem used its strength to swing the now uprooted trees all the way around...Leaves and mud flew, crust splattered, branches splintered, the boles themselves ripped down all the way to their roots, being filed down. Branches clawed into the earth, some lashing out, others using their length to drag crust out from deep beneath.
Until Madara's blade crashed into it. With a start the entire section of forest shook, severing with ease for the first several hundred layers. Madara narrowed his eyes, focusing on the arc of his blade, and moved forward a step. The small shift of motion offered him what he had wanted. Just before he would have felt the strain of his current attack, it was the rush of power from his blade cutting through the entirety of the section.
The monster was content to keep its distance now. It used its limbs to bend and twist the landscape to attack for its defense, or purely defend it from any oncoming attacks. Its slow charge had suddenly been halted, by its own will no less. The golem began to twist, limbs slamming into the ground, driving the entire landscape into a mass of destruction. Even rain, thunder, and lightning seemed to be drawn and magnetized to the display.
Madara took hold of a massive amount of his chakra, focused it into his eyes, and turned his entirety onto the golem. He could feel the heat behind his eyes. The power. It was all burning, threatening to unleash itself like a waterfall. But, Madara refined it. He honed it. He focused it so that the power wasn't just a malevolent mass of destruction, but a channeled technique that would cause that malevolent destruction.
The golem struggled to keep up against the onslaught that suddenly overtook it. While it could just barely see the attacks coming its way, and battering its body, it could very much feel them. Chakra shockwaves rippled through the air. This foe was using concentrated bursts of chakra to produce shockwaves. It was uncanny, Not only could its foe perform this, but its foe could also concentrate the shockwaves.
Madara didn't smirk, instead he narrowed his eyes.
His attacks had managed to stun and disorient the golem. But, it was still very much alive and able to fight. It didn't have blood or skin like other creatures. It didn't have teeth or organs. It didn't have anything that would rupture or burst upon being pierced.
The monster was on its feet again, preparing to rush. Mikito grabbed it by the foot. It took one look, and swung its other limb forward. Madara hastily brought his second blade in the same direction, smashing it across the limb sending it flying through trees and mountains. Mikito still maintained her grip, eyes wild, teeth grit to their absolute limit. She screamed, body heaving, Susano'o heaving as its bore all of its strength, and hefted the golem up, using its immense weight against it.
Fire swept across their horizon of vision, blasting away any nearby debris. Madara quickly brought down both of his blades, easing Mikito's strain. He let another flare of power come from his vision.
The golem lashed out with its arm, spotting it just a second before it hit.
Madara firmed his stance, eyes glowing crimson. He caught it by the limb. Immediately he could feel its immense strength. It couldn't compare to that giant creature they had faced before, but even a full power tug wasn't enough to budge it.
Mikito shot across the clearing in one lunge. The golem which had been immovable was jerked to the side, following its limb as it began to run its arc. Mikito kept one sword held upward, ready to slash. Her other blade was primed for a stab into the golem's shoulder. The only problem was, from her current angle, she wouldn't be able to pierce its joint area.
Madara snarled, slamming one foot back to maintain his grip.
The golem was starting to twist, lashing out with its limbs and the landscape. One attack struck a nearby tree, smashing the whole bole to bits, forcing some pieces to gouge into the earth. There was a chance it was intelligent enough that it had lured its foes into this. By giving up its limb, it forced them to focus on that limb only, leaving themselves exposed to hidden attacks.
One came in the form of a long branch with a sharp tip at the very end. Very much like the tail of a scorpion, this branch was utilized for only one thing. Brutally precise stabbing.
Madara chucked his blade, angling it so that its arc was short and narrow. It bypassed the golem's defenses, setting itself perfectly into its neck. He wasn't able to tug his sword free. It carved its way deeper, using the momentum from its throw and peculiar arc to increase its strength ten fold. To his surprise the golem began jerking with its free limb.
Mikito arced her blade jamming it through the limb and digging it deep into the earth.
"I got you now..."
Madara could hear the quiet and savage confidence in Mikito's tone and knew this was the only opening they would get. This was the only chance to get behind this monster by some means. Even if they had to wrestle it and jam swords into its backs, he would be certain that this golem was defeated. Even if he had to shove it through three mountains, he was going to take it down. It reminded of Hashirama, even now, and he didn't like that.
The golem thrashed in pain. When its arm wouldn't budge, when the blades jammed in began to split part of it in two, and when its attack skewed off by tens of meters. It flew into a rage. Its free limb bashed and crashed against the landscape. Much like someone would ball their fist and try to crush a bug, the golem was trying to crush the landscape itself, taking Madara and Mikito away in the avalanche.
Clouds of misting trees and landscape slowly began to spot the surrounding area, spreading wide until everything was almost saturated with it. The earthen haze slowly spread through the forest floor, covering leaves, and shoving its way through so hard it looked like fumes were expelling. The brutish attacks struck again and again, dragging the landscape into a heap.
Madara planned his dodge accordingly, using the backlash of the wind generated from the attacks to increase his velocity. The golem seemed to be in a panic, and he could understand why. Its arms were its connection to the landscape, without both of them at its disposal it would only be able to do half of what it did before. It also seemed to like having both arms free.
He focused not even a second later, angling his blade into another arc. Mikito used the opening he made to sprint towards the golem, and from her keen focus, he was guessing she was aiming for the center of its back. Her blade moved in a wide arc, clipping a branch, and veered from its course. Madara tried to retract the force and counterweight the blade, but there was too much force. A blast of air caught his attention. It was always the telltale sign of an attack being launched or moving. His blade collided with the first series of long vines, severing them, then cleaved through the next three.
Mikito ran faster, forcing chakra into the Susano'o in the same way her lungs sucked in air. She was feeling a limitation. She needed to break through it. Diving, she hit the ground, lunging again a bit clumsily. Her blade angled perfectly and with terrifying force, it busted through the golem's back, stopping short of running through its chest. Now the landscape was everywhere, spreading, splashing, erupting in a series of waves like a storm in the ocean.
With his chakra, Madara solidified his base. He found purchase with the earth. He gripped its free arm with two of the Susano'o arms, and tugged with all of his might. It was like trying to pull a tree out of the ground. It is what he had anticipated. Unfettered, he began to tug again and again. Each time, more of his chakra went into firming his base. Before the golem had been overwhelming. Its strength was near indomitable. But, now, it was down one limb.
If things like endurance mattered to it, then certainly, its endurance had taken a hampering.
Madara let out a string of curses. It happened all too fast for him to react, but Mikito's chakra struck the ground with horrifying force, shaking him to his core, and slamming his Susano'o back into the earth on stable ground. His stomach slammed inside of him, nearly making him vomit. Fury swept over him and when he tugged the free arm of the golem, he felt something give.
"Stubborn...Little...Shit..." Mikito gritted out, forcing the Susano'o to stay in place.
The monster didn't appear to be daunted. It was definitely in pain, there was no doubt about that. But, it didn't slow it down. It was furious because one of its arms were pinned and the other was tightly gripped in a vise like hold. Its attacks were skewing off by meters in their trajectory. The landscape tore itself apart, finally giving into the golem's anger and went raging across the ocean, ravaging the sea.
It was only with the arc of his blade that Mikito managed to sever through part of the attack. If she didn't know any better the golem was trying to submerge the entire area into the ocean which was a good some miles away. Naturally, its attack sailed that far, but for it to consider doing such a foolish thing meant only one thing. It was capable of doing it.
Her haste rose in her chakra. It began to bristle with agitation. They were deadlocked. The golem could attack from its distance. They had to maintain their posture and everything else, in addition to fending off its attacks. It was nothing short of irritating, and she remembered the times she battled Hashirama, the times where he'd do something just like this.
Use his clones, he'd spread them across the battlefield while using his Mokuton. The real Hashirama was able to gather distance, and then launch an overwhelming attack. It usually worked. She always managed to obliterate his attacks before they ever came her way, and even if they got close enough, she would still obliterate them.
But, this wasn't Hashirama...Madara's Susano'o at this point would push Hashirama to dig into his arsenal of wood puppets. But, this golem was different. Even at the current stage, with their chakra boasting it, they weren't able to overpower the golem. It had always done well to maintain its distance. It seemed that caution was starting to pay off.
The Susano'o had to advance-it had to...
Or, they needed to come up with something, fast.
"Force your Susano'o into the next stage..." Mikito seethed.
Madara was baffled, but due to the current situation, he managed to growl. "What do you mean? That isn't how it works."
Mikito shook her head-they needed to come up with something in that case. The plan had already been set in motion, but now it was time to go in for the kill. She wasn't going to start getting into a battle of stamina and endurance. If she flooded more of her chakra into the Susano'o she wasn't sure if it would do any good. It wouldn't force it into its next stage. Her chakra would strengthen it, maybe force it into half an evolution, but it wouldn't push it to the next stage.
With that in mind she changed her strategy. The golem's arm was released, but the backlash of force didn't have any effect on her. Chakra kept her rooted in place and with Madara's doing the same thing, they weren't budging. The golem had been yanking. The very second she had let go of its arm, it yanked, and instead of it retracting, it snapped in two with a pop.
Its other arm that was still lodged in the earth severed at the middle. Through it all, the golem managed to stagger back. There was shock and surprise surging through it. Naturally, it couldn't be seen by through its facial connotations. It was through its body language, that those feelings could be seen. Losing its one whole arm drove it into a corner.
Madara seen his chance, and lunged towards the staggering golem. He arced his blade, screaming in fury as he felt a weight smash into him. He pushed against it, teeth gritting, seething, he finally forced his way through. The blade slammed into the earth, gouging into it, and sent a wave of destruction completely to the right of them.
The golem's head hit the earth and its body crumbled into nothing.
Madara panted. "Wood puppet was pretty tough. Take off the head of anything, though, and its life ends."
Mikito nodded in agreement, catching her breath. "We should move with hast to the desert."
Madara chuckled.
"In a hurry?"