"Such violent power..."
Pain gazed solemnly at the rampaging monster with his light-purple Rinnegan. He spoke faintly, "However, my distortion stands far above yours!"
He slammed his hands together. Immediately, the countless silver-white chains spat out by the Gedo Mazo began to radiate a faint, grayish-white light.
A powerful sealing force surged forth, actually managing to temporarily suppress the frantic tentacles.
"Allow me to devour your twisted soul in its entirety."
Pain manipulated the Gedo Mazo to open its abyssal maw. A light-purple dragon flew out from its mouth, biting into the Apostle of Desire, who was pinned down by the silver-white chains, with incredible speed.
"AAAAHHH!!!"
The tens of thousands of faces on the Apostle of Desire's body instantly contorted. Countless shrieks of agony enveloped the battlefield, turning it into a living hell.
On the giant orb, the souls of the believers within the purple dragon's bite range were ripped away. They melted like snowmen before being completely absorbed by the Gedo Mazo.
"Simu Kamizuki, if this is the extent of your strength, then this is the end."
Pain calmly controlled the Gedo Mazo, using the purple dragon to tear away the souls from the Apostle of Desire bite by bite.
As the souls dissipated, the Apostle of Desire's body began to collapse. Conversely, the light on the silver-white chains grew even more intense.
Chuncks of flesh crashed to the ground, rapidly rotting and stinking. Finally, with a final wail, the creature dissolved into a pool of bloody water and vanished.
"As expected, despite possessing immense life energy, it is still too weak in terms of the soul."
Another body belonging to Simu appeared in the distance at some unknown time. He watched the collapsing Apostle of Desire with a face devoid of emotion.
In his eyes, it was merely an experimental subject. He had already collected almost all the data he needed.
Furthermore, he realized he needed to shift his research focus toward the soul. His current methods of utilizing soul energy were far too crude.
Simu pushed up his glasses. A Black Beetle suddenly landed on his hand, causing him to raise an eyebrow.
"In that case, the experiment ends here."
Simu raised his palm slightly and snapped his fingers.
In the next instant, the dissolving Apostle of Desire suddenly froze. Then, the millions of twisted faces on its surface simultaneously broke into ecstatic smiles.
"Praise my Lord!"
Thousands of voices were deafening as the hymn to the Lord rose once again.
Standing atop the head of the Gedo Mazo, Pain's pupils shrank violently. A terrifying sense of crisis locked onto his body.
Amidst the chanting, the massive meat orb seemed to boil. Its surface expanded chaotically, forming countless giant bubbles.
Then...
"BOOM!"
Under Pain's incredulous gaze, a blood-colored light blanketed the entire earth, destroying everything in its path!
When the light faded, the battlefield looked like a wasteland. A giant hole had been blasted through the clouds, and the surrounding mist was dyed red. A thick scent of blood drifted through the air, with foul blood and rotten meat flowing everywhere.
As for Pain, he could not possibly escape such a horrific explosion unscathed.
Despite activating Almighty Push to meet the blast, his body was heavily damaged. His surface was almost entirely destroyed, leaving him looking barely human.
The Gedo Mazo had vanished without a trace.
Only after the aftershocks subsided did some white spores begin to grow nearby. Zetsu, enveloped by his Venus flytrap-like extension, appeared silently.
Looking at Pain's corpse, White Zetsu said indifferently, "Even though it cost us one of our bodies, Pain still won this battle!"
The monster Simu had transformed into was quite powerful. In terms of size and destructive power, it was comparable to a Tailed Beast.
However, its weakness was equally obvious: it could not withstand Pain's attacks directed at its soul. After all, the chakra dragon released by the Gedo Mazo could absorb souls and chakra, making it the perfect counter to the Apostle of Desire.
Naturally, this weakness was specific to the Gedo Mazo.
If any other ninja dared to launch a soul-level attack against the Apostle of Desire, they would likely be swallowed in seconds by the countless twisted souls inside it.
"While we achieved victory, this outcome does not seem to be what we wanted."
The steady Black Zetsu was quite dissatisfied. He had hoped to bolster Akatsuki's combat strength to complete his plan faster.
Instead, they failed to recruit the member and lost a body.
Compared to Black Zetsu's steadiness and foresight, White Zetsu was much more relaxed. He spoke bluntly, "Anyway, Nagato can just fix Pain. It doesn't matter."
Faced with this, Black Zetsu could only respond faintly, "Fine. Let's go back. Bring Pain's body."
"Got it."
After Black Zetsu and White Zetsu left, Hidan finally crawled out from the endless pool of blood.
"That damn Simu, using that nonsensical move again without giving me a heads-up..."
Hidan was already well-acquainted with the process of emerging from a pool of blood.
This wasn't the first time he had experienced dying in an explosion.
After all, Simu had previously used various methods to "end" him just to test the limits of his Immortal Body.
The final conclusion was that until Lord Jashin died, Hidan could not be killed no matter what. The best way to deal with him was to chop him into ten thousand pieces and scatter them in the latrines of every corner of every nation in the world...
As for where Simu went?
Hidan wasn't worried at all!
Even if he were chopped into ten thousand pieces and stuffed into a latrine, that guy Simu would definitely not die.
"What a bastard!"
In a cave several kilometers away, Konan looked tensely at the man before her. Behind her sat a red-haired man in a wheelchair.
Notably, he also possessed a pair of deep Rinnegan, and several black rods were embedded in his body.
Konan was wary of Simu, who had successfully found this place using his insects after that horrific explosion.
Simu looked at the black rods in the red-haired man's body and immediately made a connection.
He pushed up his glasses and narrowed his eyes. "Another Rinnegan, the eyes said to be held only by the Sage of Six Paths. Moreover, that guy called Pain had those same black rods..."
He didn't believe for a second that a legendary eye like the Rinnegan had become so common. Combined with those special black rods that could interfere with chakra, Simu had reason to believe this man and Pain shared a special connection.
The red-haired man looked at the suddenly appearing Simu. Although he was curious why the man looked as if he had just gotten out of bed—leisurely and without a scratch from battle—he suppressed his confusion and introduced himself:
"Hello. My name is Nagato. Nagato Uzumaki."