At the exact moment your true body descended, the sealed Mōryō was still unleashing his eerie power, trying to tempt your Wood Release clone into setting him free.
However, as soon as your true self arrived, the power of the Fire Rule surrounding your body surged into the space.
Even with a powerful ancient seal separating the two of you, Mōryō trembled and immediately sobered up!
You ignored the seal in front of you. With just a slight activation of the fully mastered Rule power, your body and soul transformed into flames and easily passed through the seal, entering the inner chamber.
At first, Mōryō assumed you had come to destroy him—perhaps to kill and devour the Rule power within him.
He immediately gathered every bit of strength he could muster.
But you didn't make a move. You simply activated the Infinite Mangekyō Sharingan and calmly observed Mōryō's every movement, studying the way he manipulated his power.
Because you understood clearly—there's a vast chasm between possessing Rule power and mastering it completely.
Even among demigods, power levels vary greatly.
Unless the opponent possesses Rule power stemming from the authority of gods—such as the Six Paths—and wields Divine Power condensed from complex Rule imprints like Truth-Seeking Orbs...
Only then would they have the qualifications to battle you, even without full mastery of their Rule power.
But Mōryō clearly lacked such strength.
In your eyes, despite having shown three types of Rule power—"Undying," "Greed," and "Shadow"—Mōryō hadn't mastered any of them.
At best, his control surpassed your current grasp of "Void," but that wasn't nearly enough to pressure you.
As for Divine Power, Mōryō had two types. One was the faith power once wielded by Jashin, and the other resembled nature energy.
But both were pitifully weak!
Even though you haven't yet mastered any form of Divine Power, the chakra produced by your Ōtsutsuki body is vast as a sea and far superior in quality to an ordinary shinobi's. Even if Divine Power had a conversion ratio of 10,000 to 1, you could still crush him with ease!
That said, despite your desire to seize Mōryō's power, you held back.
Because Mōryō was the key to reviving the Shinigami!
...
Suddenly—
A beam of Divine Power infused with Rule energy shot toward you like a black pillar.
Mōryō had launched his strongest attack!
You waved your hand, instantly conjuring a wall of fire.
This flame looked unremarkable, yet it contained enough power to warp space—effortlessly dispersing Mōryō's ultimate strike!
At the same time, you unleashed a surge of powerful chakra and Ocular Power, overwhelming Mōryō with sheer pressure and forcing him to the ground.
Now, Mōryō was finally in a position to listen to what you had to say.
...
After a brief exchange, Mōryō came to understand your goal: to use his power to revive the Shinigami, who had lost all sentience.
Since you showed no hostility, Mōryō admitted that he was indeed a fragment of the Shinigami that had broken off when it was gravely injured.
Back when the Shinigami and Kaguya teamed up to slay Ōtsutsuki Isshiki and seize the God Tree's fruit...
The Shinigami, still suffering from wounds sustained during the Primordial War of the Gods, had not manifested its full body in the mortal realm.
Instead, it infused a portion of its consciousness into a demigod avatar imbued with Rule power, intending to ambush Isshiki from the shadows.
But it underestimated him.
Ōtsutsuki Isshiki was different from those clumsy Rule-wielders who had fallen in the War of the Gods. His control over power was extremely refined.
He, like you, was someone who had pushed mastery of Rule power to its limits.
Moreover, as an Ōtsutsuki with access to chakra fruit, the number of Rules he possessed far exceeded your own.
Though technically a demigod, Isshiki had the power to contend with true gods!
The Shinigami's avatar was no match. But as an ancient god, it managed to gravely wound Isshiki's soul in a final counterattack, allowing Kaguya to complete her sacrificial ritual...
But the avatar was utterly shattered and sealed—eventually becoming Mōryō.
...
The destruction of that avatar left the Shinigami badly wounded once more.
Before it could recover...
Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo, having been taught to use nature energy by the thieving toads of Mount Myōboku, abandoned his physical body and entered the Pure Land.
After another fierce battle, he struck down the Shinigami again—this time seizing its divine domain.
The Shinigami, repeatedly wounded, eventually lost consciousness completely.
It left the Uzumaki Clan as contract holders to sustain it through periodic sacrifices, barely clinging to life...
Now that you've confirmed this truth, you're certain: the Shinigami is destined to be your natural ally!
With Mōryō's will becoming dominant after fusion—and the Shinigami's main body being void of sentience—you're bound to gain a reliable comrade to entrust your back to!
...
As for summoning the Shinigami—it's not hard at all.
You pull out the Sealing Scroll and flip to the page detailing the Reaper Death Seal. One glance with your Sharingan is enough to grasp the method.
Without hesitation, you summon the Shinigami's physical body directly!
You look up at the grim reaper floating in midair, its mouth clamped around a blade, then look down at the mist-like Mōryō.
You begin to ponder: What sealing technique or Rule should you use to fuse these two?
But Mōryō speaks up: all you need to do is perform the final step of the Reaper Death Seal, target him as the sealing object, and embed him into the Shinigami's abdomen.
The only catch—doing so will cause the Shinigami to try sealing your soul along with his!
But that's not a problem.
You only recently mastered the Fire Rule. Though your mastery is perfect, you're still unfamiliar with divine-level combat.
This soulless Shinigami body is the perfect sparring partner.
...
As the Reaper Death Seal activates, the Shinigami's body uses its short blade to slice open its own abdomen. Then, with both arms, it reaches forward—ready to pull both you and Mōryō inside.
But before the hands can even reach, Mōryō eagerly throws himself into the Shinigami's belly.
As for you, you launch a counterattack—turning the reaper's grasping hand into your target!
A fist of condensed flame slams forward!
Boom!
The fiery fist bursts apart on impact, but the Shinigami's body also takes a hit—slamming back against the sealed chamber's barrier.
The resulting shockwave shakes the entire space violently.
You can't help but admire the Shinigami's resilience.
That flame punch of yours was enough to warp space—had you taken such a blow without using Susanoo, even your Ōtsutsuki body would've been seriously injured. Yet the Shinigami merely staggered back, and its hand didn't even have a scratch!
...
In response to the blow, the Shinigami's soulless body lashes out instinctively.
It forms clawed hands, swiping through empty space—and in doing so, tears open several shadow-like rifts in reality.
The rifts race toward you!
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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