Chapter 72: Gluttony of the Dragon
"No! At a time like this, how can a jonin retreat and leave a chunin behind to face certain death!"
Chōza supported his exhausted body, his hands trembling as he pulled a vibrant red pill from his ninja pouch. He moved to swallow it.
But…
"Hey, hey, hey."
Liumu reached out and stopped the pill in Chōza's hand. "You have a dangerous way of thinking. Why are you so stubborn? Do you have to take this thing?"
Liumu recognized the method—forcing open one's potential. This "Red Pepper Pill" was akin to the final gate of the Eight Inner Gates, the Gate of Death—a last resort that traded life for power. Chōza was not Chōji. Not everyone had a protagonist's halo. No one could guarantee Chōza would be as fortunate as his future son if he consumed that pill.
"I was being polite when I told you to leave. If it were truly dangerous, you wouldn't need to remind me; I'd be the first one running."
Liumu shot Chōza an exasperated look, then shifted his gaze to Senior Brother Minato. The resolve in his eyes conveyed his meaning clearly.
Without further discussion with Chōza, Minato hoisted the larger man's arm over his shoulder. Together with Shibi Aburame, they flashed away, retreating from the crumbling factory with Queen Sarah.
Watching their figures vanish, Liumu turned his attention back to Anrokuzan.
The rogue ninja's form, now a colossal titan of seething, viridian Dragon Vein energy, pulsed like a geothermal volcano. Steam and heat haze rose from its lava-like body, filling the vast, ruined space.
"Big is big, but that doesn't necessarily mean useful."
As he spoke, Liumu sank into a low stance, coiling his power inward. His right fist clenched, the sheer force of it distorting the air around his knuckles with a series of faint, popping detonations.
According to Sarah, the central energy column was an extraction device built directly atop the Dragon Vein nexus. To sever Anrokuzan's fusion, he needed to expose the Vein's true core beneath the factory floor.
So be it.
"Consecutive Normal Punches!"
His arms became a blur, countless afterimages pistoning into the ground in a relentless barrage. The floor fractured, then shattered, a bottomless crater erupting at the factory's heart. Green energy from the column cascaded into the pit, and Liumu accelerated his assault.
Finally, with a sound like shattering crystal, brilliant geysers of emerald light erupted from the depths. The unadulterated power of the Dragon Vein surged into the open.
Liumu didn't hesitate. Crimson flames, the manifestation of the Taotie's Gluttony, wreathed his body. They swelled and coalesced into the form of a colossal, fiery dragon's head behind him. With a silent roar, it dove into the erupting energy, its maw opening wide to voraciously devour the rampant chakra.
Hiss… ah… comfortable.
A profound, revitalizing warmth flooded his system.
"???"
Anrokuzan, immersed in the Dragon Vein's boundless flow, suddenly sensed a discrepancy. He opened his eyes—or the energy constructs that served as eyes—to see the insignificant figure below also drawing from the Vein, siphoning the power away from him.
Enraged, a gargantuan, molten palm swept down, aiming to crush Liumu into paste. The air screamed under its passage, scalding steam billowing in its wake like a volcanic avalanche.
But…
Anrokuzan: "???"
His crushing palm halted abruptly. He tried to pull back, but found it immovable, as if welded in place. The Dragon Vein energy from the pit was still being drained, and now the chakra comprising his own form began streaming from his fingertips toward the point of contact.
"Well, a double harvest really does double the happiness," Liumu mused, his hand firmly clamped around the titan's giant fingernail. The Taotie's ability worked in tandem, drawing energy both from the exposed Vein below and directly from Anrokuzan's constructed body.
Panicking, Anrokuzan strained against the pull, but an incomprehensible, absolute force held him fast. Watching the verdant light bleed rapidly from his limb, he made a vicious decision. With a mental severing, he detached the entire arm, which dissolved into motes of fading energy. His distorted visage glared down at the ant-like figure.
"What… what is this power?!"
"Why are you so unprofessional, asking that?" Liumu retorted, scratching his ear. "If you can do it, why can't I? And besides…" He smirked, feeling his own reserves swell, faint threads of the Dragon Vein's unique green chakra now shimmering within his pathways. "The current contest is simply about who can absorb it faster."
"Fire Release: Great Dragon Flame Technique!"
A torrent of fire, vast enough to engulf a building, roared from Anrokuzan's maw.
"You can still perform hand seals in that form?" Liumu remarked with mock surprise. The moment the flames touched him, they were siphoned away into nothingness by the gluttonous flames around him. He spread his hands. "Save your effort. Unless you cut your connection to the Dragon Vein right now, any ninjutsu you use is just free lunch for me."
"So what?!" Anrokuzan's voice was a seismic roar. "You want me to surrender? Hah! Even if ninjutsu is useless, you still can't truly harm me! I am infinite!"
"Oh?"
Liumu's hands flew through a series of seals.
"Shadow Clone Technique!"
In an instant, thousands of Liumu clones populated every corner and level of the shattered factory.
"You're right. With the Dragon Vein repairing you, breaking you apart is meaningless. But…"
He gestured casually. The army of clones surged forward, a sea of bald pates and determined faces, and launched themselves at the energy titan.
"Consecutive Normal Punches!" x1000
BOOM!
Anrokuzan's form exploded into a cloud of dissipating green mist. The moment it began to recoalesce, another wave of clones was upon it, scattering the energy again. And again. And again.
Liumu's main body sat cross-legged on the ground, chin in hand, watching with palpable boredom as the cycle repeated: form, shatter, reform, shatter.
"This is tedious. If only I could cut off his supply directly."
The Taotie's Gluttony could compete for the Vein's energy, but Liumu had no desire to drain the legendary nexus dry—it was the lifeblood of Loulan.
"Forcibly sever the connection…"
An idea sparked. The Time Room. His personal subspace. While not designed for combat, its function as a completely isolated dimension was perfect for cutting Anrokuzan off from his power source.
Decision made, Liumu ceased the active absorption. With a thought, the familiar, sterile white space of the Time Room unfolded around him. He lunged, grabbing hold of the energy composing one of the titan's massive toes, and wrenched.
Space twisted. The chaotic factory vanished.
In the absolute silence of the Time Room, Anrokuzan's distorted expression shifted from rage to utter shock. The comforting, infinite torrent of the Dragon Vein was gone. He was cut off. Truly alone.
"Serious Series: Serious Consecutive Punches."
Here, with no risk to the outside world, Liumu could finally unleash the full, catastrophic power of the Saitama template without restraint.
One punch, unleashed with 100% force. The air in the timeless room didn't scream—it simply ceased to be for a moment along the fist's path. The sheer, overwhelming physical force met Anrokuzan's reconstituting form.
There was no dramatic explosion, no lingering echo. The energy comprising Anrokuzan—devoid of its regenerative source—was utterly, definitively vaporized into nonexistence before his shock could even fully form.