At the edge of the deep pit that Moryo had punched out.
Kakashi, Konan, Shrine Maiden Shion, as well as Naruto and the others were guarding the entrance.
Shion clenched her two little fists, her palms full of cold sweat.
She bore the title of a shrine maiden and had trained as one since childhood, but the Land of Demons was ultimately just a small country.
Shion had never seen a battle this terrifying.
To her, the clash between Ryosuke and Moryo was just like the divine battles recorded in ancient books. The entire city seemed like it was about to be destroyed by the aftermath of their fight.
And that was indeed the truth. If Ryosuke hadn't deliberately kept things under control, the shockwaves from Moryo smashing his way to the underground and the eruption of the subterranean magma alone would have been enough to destroy this centuries-old city.
"Hey!"
Naruto jabbed Neji with his elbow, "Hurry up and flip your white eyes open and see how Big Brother Ryosuke is doing. Do we really not need to go down and lend a hand?"
Neji rolled his white eyes and said, "I have the Byakugan, not clairvoyance."
"The depth Lord Ryosuke is at right now is far beyond my observational range. As for whether we need to help…"
Neji didn't really know Ryosuke. All his information came from casual conversations among elders.
He looked toward Kakashi.
Kakashi had already dismissed his battle stance. His Sharingan had returned to three tomoe and he had put his forehead protector back on. Feeling Neji's questioning gaze, he replied, "Relax."
"One-on-one, I don't believe there's anyone in this world who can defeat Ryosuke."
Just then, the ground trembled slightly. They lay down at the edge of the hole and looked down.
With a series of dull "boom, boom, boom" sounds, the layers of earth surrounding the tunnel that had been blasted open began to close back up.
Ryosuke rose from the depths as if riding an elevator.
By the time he returned to the surface and appeared before everyone again, the several-tens-of-kilometers-long pit that reached the magma layer had already vanished.
Shion looked at Ryosuke walking up, her wide eyes full of worry and expectation.
She was worried that Moryo had taken over Ryosuke's body. She was also hoping,
For that ending prayed for by generations of shrine maidens.
Ryosuke walked over, half-knelt, and placed the Sealed Demon Jade before her.
Shion stared blankly at the curled-up Moryo inside the jade, who had already given up thinking. Her eyes reddened. She thought of her deceased mother, and of all those who had died to Moryo and Yomi.
"It's all over."
Ryosuke gently patted Shion's small head.
"The things you feared are all over."
"The fate passed down by shrine maidens through generations is also over."
"You're still young, from now on..."
Ryosuke put away the Sealed Demon Jade, gently wiped away her falling tears, and smiled, "Go do the things you want to do."
Shion stood there, dazed.
("The things you want to do.")
From the moment she was born, she had carried the duty of a shrine maiden. For twelve years, everyone around her and every effort she made was for the sake of ensuring Moryo's seal would not be broken.
Now someone suddenly told her, the job is done, she can go rest.
Alongside her joy came a deep, deep confusion.
Fortunately… just as Ryosuke said, she was still young. She had a long life ahead to think about her future.
Ryosuke ruffled Shion's hair and looked at Konan walking over, "You're not hurt, right?"
Throughout the fight with Moryo, Ryosuke had been dividing his attention, keeping track of the situation in the city.
Part of Moryo's immortal army had attacked Kakashi, Naruto, and the others. But a much larger part had scattered throughout the city, attacking civilians hiding in their homes purely by instinct.
Konan, who had been searching the city for intel, was fighting that part of the undead legion.
She used her Paper Angel technique, splitting into countless forms and soaring through the sky, protecting more than half the city with her own strength.
Konan shook her head slightly.
The undead army was terrifying, but only to ordinary people. As long as she flew in the sky, those brainless undead creatures could never harm her.
"Rather than checking on others first."
Konan looked at Ryosuke's dried-up hand. "Are you alright?"
When she said that, everyone finally noticed the change in Ryosuke's hand.
It wasn't a normal injury. It was an inward-to-outward withering, shriveling, showing an eerie brownish-yellow, like an autumn leaf or a corpse that had died years ago. Just one glance made one feel the draining of life force.
Ryosuke smiled and said, "To take down an immortal monster, you gotta pay a bit of a price. It's fine. I have a way to deal with it."
"Really?" Konan asked.
"Really. When have I ever lied to you? I just…"
Ryosuke looked around at the wreckage, "…need to rest for a moment. Just a few minutes."
The group hurried to find him a chair. Ryosuke sat down, and only then did he start to breathe slightly heavier, relieving the dual exhaustion of body and mind.
Moryo was an extremely troublesome enemy.
Immune to most attack methods, with no fixed physical form, allowing him to attack in any unimaginable way.
His vast demon-god power also gave him terrifying strength.
And with his innate mental corruption and possession ability, although Moryo didn't dare to recklessly enter Ryosuke's mind after taking a beating, he could still occasionally send mental shockwaves into Ryosuke's consciousness.
However, despite all of this, troublesome as it was, none of it was enough to make Ryosuke this exhausted.
The real problem was the Tear Train Ticket.
This was Ryosuke's first time using the Tear Blade.
Controlling fate, ignoring restrictions, forcibly declaring the enemy's failure through misfortune.
Such an ability already surpassed its star level, and so the cost was naturally immense. The stand ability description stated it clearly, "Each swing consumes life force."
Ryosuke originally thought this "consuming life force" meant losing HP. But now it seemed, '…it's my HP maximum that's getting cut.'
He looked at his withered left hand.
The hand could still move, still grip, but Ryosuke could feel that the life force that hand represented no longer existed.
'With just a single slash, it cost me an entire hand. A few more times and I'll probably turn into a dried corpse.'
Ripple flames burned along his arm, stopping at the wrist.
Looking closely, the edges of the flames merged with natural energy, slowly "eroding" the withered skin.
'With my recovery rate, it'll take about half a month to push my max HP bar back up.'
'But that was just one slash.'
'If I were to swing it dozens of times…'
Ryosuke imagined his entire body turning corpse-like, his HP bar empty.
'…would I end up like Valkyrie Lucy and become part of a saint's remains?'
Ryosuke then thought of another issue.
At the moment he swung the Tear Blade and struck Moryo, he felt like he had "cut" something.
It definitely wasn't flesh or skin.
It was something on another level, something more vague, ethereal.
Ryosuke recalled that feeling. 'What exactly was that?'
Fate?
Luck?
Or something else?
It wasn't that Ryosuke wanted to explore metaphysical nonsense, but what he cut directly affected how many slashes he would need against truly strong enemies.
If the Tear Blade really did sever fate itself to bestow misfortune on the target, then someday, if Ryosuke ended up fighting Kaguya…
'According to the Great Toad Sage, that old woman has a pretty tough destiny.'
How many slashes would it take to sever her fate?
Two? Three?
Ryosuke shook his head and set the thought aside for now.
'In any case, I have to be more careful using the Tear Blade from now on.'
Ryosuke took out the Dragon-Snake Bead and checked the demon-god power he had harvested this time.