Isshiki's act was akin to murdering an infant destined to rule the world. To see the coming greatness—and then crush it in its cradle without hesitation. Cruel, calculated, and vile.
Uchiha Yue's death did not bring the expected result: the Realm of Deadly Silence did not dissipate. Ōtsutsuki Isshiki raised his hand, examining the two Mangekyō Sharingan in his palm. Awe swirled in his gaze—as if they were not mere eyeballs, but priceless treasures, keys to absolute power.
"What astonishing power..." he whispered. "You are mine now."
Glancing at the pair of eyes in his hand, he allowed the Ōtsutsuki features to fade, returning to the appearance of Jigen. From the very beginning, he'd felt this place draining his chakra, and now, looking at the eyes in his hand, he pieced it all together. Yue's power wasn't contained in his body, but in these Sharingan. And as long as they existed, the Realm of Deadly Silence would stand.
He wouldn't last long in Jigen's body, devoid of true power. But that didn't matter. The important thing was that he had the eyes.
Isshiki had already raised his hand to tear out Jigen's eyes and replace them with a trophy. He was convinced of their incredible potential: they had transformed the body of an ordinary man into a vessel capable of challenging him, the Ōtsutsuki! Give Yue a little more time, and perhaps even Isshiki's full power wouldn't break him. Fortunately, he had made it in time... He had destroyed this divine sprout and would now take its power for himself.
Karma had long since completed its renewal, but Jigen's weakness prevented his resurrection. Now, with these eyes, the vessel's body will grow stronger, and Isshiki will be able to reveal himself to the world in all his glory.
But the moment Isshiki's fingers touched Jigen's eyelids, the Sharingan on his palm vanished without a trace.
"Die!"
Before he could even process what had happened, Yue's figure materialized out of thin air before him, directing a glowing sphere of Dust Release at his chest.
"How is this possible?!"
Stunned, Isshiki reacted with lightning speed. The power in Jigen's body exploded—he grabbed Yue's wrist and shattered it with monstrous force. At the same instant, his fist slammed into his opponent's head.
There was a dull crunch.
The skull cracked, and gray matter sprayed out, mixing with blood. Half of Yue's head simply ceased to exist. His limp body flew to the side and fell heavily to the ground, leaving a deep dent.
"Genjutsu? Impossible!"
Isshiki, his expression grim, stepped toward the crater, disgustedly shaking the remains of flesh from his hand. He was certain he had crushed Yue's head. This was no illusion. But there he was, Uchiha Yue, standing unharmed, as if the monstrous blow had been nothing but a bad dream.
Crash!
Taking advantage of Yue's momentary hesitation, Isshiki attacked again. He stomped on his enemy's chest, crushing his ribs, and with a second blow, he decapitated him again.
And then again.
And again.
And again.
Over the next few seconds, Isshiki killed him dozens of times, but Yue always reappeared, unharmed, and his power, unlike Isshiki's, not only didn't weaken, but actually grew.
Only twenty-one seconds had passed since the first blow.
"Why... why aren't you dying?!" Isshiki growled, his grip on Uchiha Yue's throat tightening. His mind was drowning in confusion. Any resurrection ninjutsu would have long since exhausted itself. Why was this monster still alive?
"You can't kill me," Yue replied with icy calm.
Realizing that he could neither die nor suffer a real wound, Yue looked at pain differently. The most brutal torment is merely a signal from the body desperately clinging to life. But if death is an illusion, then suffering loses all meaning. It has become nothing more than a fleeting echo for him.
Right now, he was truly inferior to Isshiki. But it was temporary. With every second spent in his Realm, the enemy weakened, while he himself grew stronger. Unfortunately, too little time had passed. Only forty seconds.
"It can't be! I don't believe in your immortality!"
Squeezing Yue's throat, Isshiki attempted to absorb his chakra. But as soon as the alien energy touched his own, the Ōtsutsuki's face contorted with horror and disgust. He immediately tossed Yue aside and, with a shudder, vomited out what he had absorbed.
A clot of foreign, poisonous chakra slowly melted into the air. Isshiki, a representative of a race of energy-devourers, for the first time in his life encountered a power his body rejected as a deadly poison.
It was the power of Uchiha Yue.