A dull, heavy heartbeat echoed through the cave, which was lit red by the glow of lava, deafening and overwhelming.
Yomi walked along the stone paths that seemed naturally formed above the lava, winding and crisscrossing, until he reached the platform at the very center of the molten pool.
"Lord Moryo, next please reclaim your body, and then go devour the power of the Miko!"
Facing the raised stone altar on the platform, he tore open his clothes.
He ripped open the place on his chest that had once been stitched together, exposing a dark hollow like a bottomless abyss.
"Hahaha! Yomi, I will remember your sacrifice!"
The soul of Moryo let out a loud laugh, then burst out from Yomi's chest and shot straight toward the raised stone altar at the center, like the core of a formation.
Thick smoke billowed up from the stone altar in the middle of the lava.
Black and purple light shot into the sky, spreading outward until it covered the entire cave.
Roar!
From within the boiling lava, as the light continued to spread, a sharp, ear-piercing howl like that of a monster rang out.
Immediately after, countless pitch-black tentacles burst out of the lava, twisting and writhing wildly, like demons dancing in chaos.
As for Yomi, after Moryo left his body, his entire figure shriveled up completely, his skin turning dry and wrinkled.
In the next moment, the ground beneath his feet collapsed, and his body fell into it, finally merging completely with Moryo.
The entire mountain range began to tremble.
"MIKO! I'VE RETURNED!"
The black mass inside the lava seemed to open a pair of crimson eyes.
Moryo roared, and his twisted, sinister body shot into the sky.
The mountains split apart, rocks scattering everywhere.
Only then did his enormous form fully reveal itself.
Black mist wrapped around his whole body, making his face impossible to see.
But the constantly stretching tentacles made him look like an evil ghost crawling out of hell.
The distorted tentacles smashed through the cave walls, dragging his massive body outside.
His scarlet eyes looked toward one direction, where the miko's chakra was.
———
"What an evil chakra!"
In Aoba's arms, Ino suddenly sensed a strange chakra.
It felt like a fusion of countless negative emotions, like a black hole. Even from a distance, she could sense traces of it.
"It's Moryo. I can feel it. Moryo has already regained his body."
Shion took a deep breath, her expression serious, "And he's heading toward us now."
"Huh? You can sense it so clearly from that far away?"
Ino was a little surprised. She could only sense a mass of chakra ahead, nothing more.
"I'm not really sure either, but it feels like I can see the scene of him running toward us right now," Shion didn't quite understand why.
But Aoba knew. Moryo and the Miko had originally been one.
Long ago, the miko feared she wouldn't be able to use her power correctly, so she split her heart and mind into two halves.
So Moryo wasn't truly unsealed yet. Only by devouring the miko would he be completely freed.
However, even Shion herself didn't know this.
In the original storyline, after learning the truth, she had almost given up entirely under Moryo's manipulation.
Aoba had no intention of telling her the truth. Since she didn't know, then it might as well not exist. After tonight, Moryo would disappear anyway.
The three of them flew on for a while longer, then in a forest they saw a monster whose size rivaled a Tailed Beast, its entire body shrouded in black mist, tentacles whipping wildly.
When they saw it, it saw them too.
The tentacles on Moryo's body twisted violently, and several ferocious snake heads appeared.
They all locked onto Aoba and the other two floating in the air.
In those blood-red snake pupils was nothing but greedy desire.
"Miko, you've finally come before me…"
"Merge with me!"
As the roar fell, several streaks of black light shot toward Aoba like lightning.
One by one, the pitch-black snake heads opened their huge, bloody mouths, intending to swallow Aoba and Ino together in one gulp.
Facing the sudden attack, Shion subconsciously shut her eyes in tension and hid behind Aoba's back.
What she didn't notice was that the bell at her chest gave off a faint glow.
If Aoba couldn't block it, that bell, which sealed her power, would stop the attack.
Ino, on the other hand, curiously looked at the snake mouths biting toward them, wanting to see what was inside.
"The local monster sure has no manners."
Aoba didn't even form hand seals. A wooden dragon far larger than Moryo's snake heads appeared directly around him.
With just a single coil, the snake heads that had been tearing toward him all turned into black mist.
Black mist scattered everywhere.
Yet in the blink of an eye, the spots where the tentacles had been severed quickly recovered, several new ones growing out again.
Aoba landed with Shion and Ino on the dragon's head. After setting them down, he looked toward Moryo.
Feeling the other party's power—
"Human, your strength is quite good. But I am immortal. Tiny as you are, you cannot kill me!"
Perhaps thinking victory was already in his grasp, Moryo, surrounded by purple-black mist, did not attack immediately. Instead, he arrogantly shouted and then tried to tempt him.
"But human, I can sense the extremely strong desire in your heart. If you are willing to bring that miko and merge with me willingly, I can grant you even greater power."
"Even greater power?"
Aoba's expression became somewhat strange. It seemed this guy could see the desires in people's hearts, but not what kind of desire it was.
Soon, however, a teasing smile appeared on his face, "You're nothing but dust. You're not even worth a fraction of me."
In just this short time, he had already roughly seen through Moryo's nature.
Very similar to a Tailed Beast, like a mass of chakra gathered together with a special power.
But not exactly the same. A Tailed Beast had a concrete form, while Moryo was completely a mass of twisted chakra.
That was why he looked like this now. Even after being smashed apart, he could immediately regroup and return to his original state.
Within the purple-black mist, Moryo's eyes clearly froze for a moment. Then his tone turned low, carrying more coldness.
"Hehehe! What a loud-mouthed fool. Then go die!"
Countless tentacles once again surged toward Aoba.
"Ino, take care of the miko. Don't let her fall."
Aoba gave Ino a reminder. Then he clapped his hands together, and several even larger wooden dragons appeared, once again crushing Moryo's tentacles completely.
Yet they still recovered in an instant.
After several clashes, it was always the same.
"Hahaha! Tiny human, can you feel my power?"
Aoba didn't respond. In his hand, several small black spheres had already appeared.
Moryo thought he was afraid, and his attitude grew even more arrogant.
"Human, you cannot kill me. If you know what's good for you, run now. I am immortal… hm?"
"What's going on?"
The once-arrogant voice suddenly turned uncertain.
Because the tentacles that had just been shattered did not recover.
Aoba stood atop the massive dragon's head, several chakra orbs circling in his palm.
"Moryo, did you hear the sound of the wind?"
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