Arthev stood motionless in the chamber's core. The whisper of his settling cloak faded into an unnatural silence. His own crimson spirals Shinragan threw wavering patterns against the quartz walls, their light catching in the curved facets. His enhanced vision narrowed, dissecting the monstrous form before him.
Engineered. A single, brutal purpose in every line.
Its frame was lupine, but wrong, the proportions stretched and reinforced. Scales of dark jade sheathed its body, each one etched with faintly glowing runes. Its chest rose and fell. The rhythm was wrong. Not a breath, but a mechanism. Beneath skin like smoked glass, pale veins pulsed with a light that mirrored the very barrier sealing them in.
Another guardian. It had manifested to protect what was buried here. A more refined design than the last. His eyes traced the energy flow, a intricate and severe connection between the beast and the chamber's seal. Of course it was tied to the architecture.
Of course it is, Shukaku growled in his mind. The voice was a gravelly pressure against his temples. Big. Ugly. Poison dripping from its claws. And now we learn it's part of the walls. You see all that? I see weapons. I see a mouth that can bite through armor. Let's see if it lives up to its appearance.
Arthev didn't move. A faint, dry smile touched his lips, but his eyes remained sharp, clear.
"I welcome the attempt."
The beast twitched.
A ripple of motion. The runes along its spine flared from dim to blinding. Its haunches coiled. Then it moved. No growl, no breath just the sharp crack of stone as it launched forward. Claws tore fresh gouges in the jade floor.
His Shinragan spun, the future fracturing into shards of possibility. The bladed tail would whip out first, carving a trench. The left claw would follow, aiming for his chest. He saw it a heartbeat before it happened.
He was already moving. A simple twist, a step to the side. The air whistled where the claw passed. As he moved, his purple soul ring ignited.
"Sand Dominion. Shield."
The ground before him erupted. A dome of solid, compressed sand burst upward, meeting the beast's claws with a grinding crunch. Sparks flew. Venom splattered against the shield, hissing, releasing a bitter, acrid steam that stung his nostrils.
Fast. Too fast.
He pushed more power, a flick of his wrist.
"Wood Release. Root Bind."
Thick, woody roots shot from the chamber floor, seeking to snare the creature's limbs. But the beast was already reacting. Its tail spun like a scythe, shearing through the emerging roots as if they were rotted thread. It let out a deafening roar, the sound vibrating in Arthev's bones, and lunged again.
Too slow, scholar!Shukaku's voice barked in his mind, sharp and impatient. This isn't a debate! Move, or be crushed!
The beast struck again.
Its jaw unhinged, mandibles spreading wide as it lunged for his head. Arthev dropped into a low roll. The air whistled as venom-drenched fangs snapped shut where his skull had been.
But the tail was already in motion.
A blur of bone and malice.
It caught him high on the shoulder not a direct hit, but enough. The cloak tore with a sickening rip. Venom seared through fabric and into skin. White-hot pain lanced down his arm. He gritted his teeth, his vision swimming for a single, nauseating moment before his focus slammed back into place.
He took a sharp step back, breathing through the fire in his nerve endings. His voice was steady, analytical, cutting through the pain.
Its soul power is at Level 95.
A moment of silence hung in the charged air.
"The same as yours, Shukaku."
Shukaku's laugh was a low, grating sound in his skull. It has teeth. But we have better tricks.
Arthev stood tall. The flesh on his shoulder knitted itself back together, a familiar, itching warmth, but his clothes remained wet and heavy with blood. He met the creature's eyeless gaze, his own burning with cold intent.
In the quiet of his mind, he did not plead. He declared.
Shukaku. It is time. Time to put all of our training to the test. I cannot defeat this creature alone.
The response was immediate, a pressure building behind his eyes.
Then let's stop holding back.
Shukaku's presence swelled, a torrent of raw power flooding his veins.
Let's do it, kid.
Arthev's voice rose, clear and firm, perfectly matched to the beast's rhythm.
"Let's do it."
And then, their voices fused into a single, explosive command.
"Tailed Beast Possession!"
Power surged through Arthev, a dam breaking inside his chest. Shukaku's energy was a raw, gritty storm flooding his veins, so potent the very air in the chamber grew heavy. The ground trembled under his feet.
A foreign hardness crawled over his skin, the texture shifting to rough, grainy stone. Dark, spiraling markings spread across his arms and torso like living ink, burning with a cool, familiar power. From the base of his spine, a single tail of dense, compacted sand erupted, lashing the air with a low, grinding whisper.
His vision sharpened. The world resolved into colder, sharper details through the Three Tomoe Shinragan, his pupils narrowing to predatory slits.
When he spoke, the voice was a layered thing, his own and another's. "Stable. The synchronization is holding."
Across the chamber, the beast faltered. Its head tilted, the eyeless crest on its face pulsing with rapid, confused light. It took a single step back, claws scraping a nervous track into the jade.
Nice look, kid! Shukaku's voice was a fierce pride in their shared mind. Now let's crush this overgrown pest.
Arthev did not smile. He simply took a step.
"Swish"
Then he was gone.
The beast reacted on instinct, its maw splitting wide to unleash a stream of corrosive venom. But Arthev was already beside it, his movement a blur of sand and shadow. The massive, bladed tail swept out to meet him.
Arthev's own tail of sand swung up to meet the blow. They connected with a sound like a mountain grinding its teeth. A shockwave of force rattled bones, and a shower of gritty particles filled the air between them.
To be continued…