The air crackled with an intensity that made the ground tremble beneath their feet. Vistago, his body pulsating with fury, could no longer keep his composure. His veins bulged against his skin, his chakra threatening to rip him apart with each violent surge. His face contorted in an animalistic snarl as the realization of his helplessness set in. He had been outplayed. Outclassed. Yami was no longer just his opponent—he was the executioner, standing at the edge of victory.
Vistago's frustration reached its breaking point. He could no longer tolerate the humiliation. His chest heaved, and with a primal roar, he leapt back, his feet smashing into the earth as his anger tore through him like a wildfire.
"Enough!" he shouted, his voice a booming command that seemed to shake the heavens themselves. His hands blurred as he formed a series of seals, his chakra spinning around him in violent, whirling torrents. "I will not be made a fool of any longer!"
A dark cloud formed above him, gathering at a rapid pace, and then, in an instant, hundreds of blades—glowing with an ominous, deadly light—appeared above him. They hovered in the air like a swarm of vengeful spirits, each one crackling with deadly intent. The swords gleamed in the dim light, their edges sharpened to the finest point. It was an army of death, ready to rain down on Yami.
"Take this, you cursed being!" Vistago roared, thrusting his arms forward with a fierce, wrathful motion. The blades descended like a torrential rain, tearing through the air with a shrill whistling sound that filled the battlefield with dread.
Yami, however, remained eerily calm as the blades closed in, their deadly intent unmistakable. For a brief moment, there was nothing but the sound of whistling metal, the pressure building to an unimaginable level. Then, just as the first wave of swords was about to pierce him, Yami moved—not with the swiftness of a human, but with the elegance of a phantom.
In a blink, Yami activated one of the Death Deity Form's most terrifying abilities—Wraithwalk.
His form flickered like an illusion, and then, like a wisp of smoke, Yami became intangible. He phased through the incoming barrage of swords, his body rippling as if he were a mere shadow passing through the material world. The blades passed harmlessly through him, unable to land a single blow as he floated through the air with a ghostly elegance.
Those who watched in awe could feel the cold, oppressive presence surrounding him. Yami's aura became ghostly and spectral, his entire being radiating an unsettling, otherworldly energy. The air itself seemed to distort around him, and the very ground beneath his feet seemed to tremble as he effortlessly dodged the oncoming assault.
To those watching—Naruto, Rei, B, Neji, and the others—it was as if Yami had completely transcended the need for physical form. He moved as if time itself was bending around him, and with each step, he vanished and reappeared in a new position, his presence becoming ever more ethereal, ever more detached from the mortal world.
Vistago's eyes widened in disbelief. His swords—each one imbued with immense power—had simply passed through Yami without causing him the slightest harm. His entire assault had been rendered utterly useless in an instant.
"You think this will stop me?" Vistago growled, his voice dripping with malice as he clapped his hands together, his chakra surging with violent intensity. The ground around him cracked, fissures forming as his body became an ever-growing tempest of rage.
Without hesitation, Vistago wove another series of hand seals. His energy spiked to unprecedented levels, his body trembling under the immense strain he was placing on himself. His eyes burned with an unnatural light as he completed the seals.
"Seimei no jueki"
A forbidden jutsu, one that siphoned every ounce of vitality from its user and transferred that life force into raw, uncontrollable power. The price was steep—his life force was drawn out and consumed in an instant, leaving Vistago dangerously close to the brink of death. But in return, he was granted a surge of speed and power so overwhelming that even light itself would struggle to match it.
Vistago's body surged with pure energy. His veins bulged, crackling with the force of the jutsu as a dark aura surrounded him, a manifestation of his borrowed strength. His speed shot through the roof, his body now moving faster than the eye could follow. He wasn't just faster than Yami; he was faster than light, an unstoppable force propelled by the last remnants of his life force.
His chakra exploded outward, sending shockwaves through the earth. The atmosphere around him bent and distorted as his power reached a new, terrifying peak.
Vistago was no longer just a man. He had become something far more dangerous—a force of nature.
Yami's eyes, still cold and calculating, narrowed as he felt the shift in the battlefield. The air around him seemed to warp, as if reacting to the sheer intensity of Vistago's newfound power. But despite the overwhelming speed and power that Vistago now wielded, Yami remained still, unfazed by the chaos that was unfolding around him.
It was clear: Vistago was desperate, but this desperate push would only hasten his downfall.
The tension between them thickened, and as Vistago's body flickered with blinding speed, the entire battlefield seemed to hang in the balance. Would this final burst of power be enough to bring down the indomitable Yami?
The chapter ended as Vistago stood at the apex of his power, his eyes burning with the desperation of a man who had pushed everything to the limit.
And Yami… he was waiting.