Time was still accelerating.
The sea transformed and the land shifted, deserts became oceans, seawater surged forward, stirring up countless waves, as if seeing the three Otsutsuki off on their final journey.
The discs popped out. When Momoshiki saw this, he completely lost it and charged forward.
No matter how stupid he might be, he understood this much, as long as the three of them were alive and could support each other, they still had a chance to wrestle with Ryosuke, at least before Heaven Made accelerated to its absolute limit. But once they lost even one person…
That would be the start of an avalanche.
Momoshiki rushed in, only to be kicked away again.
He bought Isshiki a split second. Isshiki raised his hand, about to press the discs and shove them back in.
Splash!
Blood sprayed everywhere, then instantly evaporated.
The Blade of Ruin swept past. Isshiki's severed arm spun several times in midair, and before it could even hit the ground, it rotted and dried up, turning into a decayed white bone that crumbled into ash and vanished.
"Ryosuke!! "
Isshiki's eyes were wide with fury as he roared and threw his final punch at Ryosuke.
Click!
The discs were removed.
The punch hit nothing.
Isshiki's eyes rapidly dimmed. His body lost control and collapsed, finally…
Falling into the ocean below.
At present, Isshiki still existed in the form of a "Karma," residing within Uchiha Madara's body.
But with the removal of both discs, all Karma were stripped away, which meant...
[Otsutsuki Isshiki: Completely dead]
Defeated.
Completely defeated.
Impossible to win.
Witnessing Isshiki's defeat with his own eyes, the last trace of hope in Momoshiki's heart vanished. Suddenly, he grabbed Kaguya and hurled her toward Ryosuke, then tore open a space-time portal and tried to escape.
"Star Platinum: The World!"
Momoshiki froze in midair. He could hear footsteps approaching from behind, could feel Ryosuke's gaze fall on him, an icy chill that made his skin crawl.
Under extreme fear and mortal danger, Momoshiki actually broke past his limits and took a step toward the portal, then a second step, a third step…
The footsteps behind him drew closer and closer.
At that moment, it was as if he were trapped in a nightmare, with a demon closing in behind him. His legs refused to move, refusing to run; his knees felt weak, and all he could do was inch forward, trembling.
'Faster! Faster!'
Momoshiki screamed wildly in his heart.
Suddenly, the footsteps behind him stopped.
'Why did he stop?'
'Is he already standing behind me?'
'Or has Ryosuke's time stop run out?'
Every time Ryosuke used time stop, Momoshiki would observe closely. He roughly inferred that Ryosuke's limit was somewhere between five and ten seconds. But overwhelmed by tension and fear, Momoshiki forgot to keep track of time.
'How long has time been stopped? Has it been ten seconds?'
'It must have, right? Otherwise, there's no way to explain why Ryosuke would be behind me and not attack.'
'Then…'
Momoshiki swallowed.
'Should I turn around and take a look?'
Once the thought appeared, it grew uncontrollably in his mind.
He slowly turned his head... and met the cold stares of Ryosuke and Star Platinum.
Behind them, the world twisted, layered, and distorted under the spatial slingshot.
"ORA ORA ORA ORA!"
"ORA ORA ORA ORA!"
"ORA ORA ORA ORA!"
After Star Platinum threw its final punch, it didn't send Momoshiki flying. Instead, it stepped forward again, grabbed him by the neck, and tossed him toward Ryosuke.
In the final second of time stop, Ryosuke threw his punch.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Layer upon layer of folded space slammed down like massive war hammers, bombarding Momoshiki. He was pinned to the ground as the impacts crashed down again and again, beating blood out of his mouth.
But this attack alone couldn't kill Momoshiki.
If a single time stop were enough to kill him, Ryosuke wouldn't have dragged the fight out this long.
So within every layer of folded spatial slingshot, Ryosuke had tucked in a tiny bit of "seasoning."
The instant time stop ended, Kaguya's face lit up as she shouted joyfully, "It hit! I can feel it, the All-Killing Ash Bones hit..."
Her triumphant cry came to an abrupt halt.
Right in front of Kaguya, Momoshiki turned to ash, dispersing little by little.
[Otsutsuki Momoshiki: Completely dead]
Kaguya had never been brave to begin with. After watching two members of her clan die in succession, she had long since been scared out of her wits.
She screamed hysterically, spreading her arms as vast chakra surged out, transforming into a gigantic, spherical, rabbit-shaped tailed beast.
The tailed beast immediately turned pitch-black and began to expand at a terrifying speed.
"End, Truth-Seeking Ball!"
She never expected this attack to kill Ryosuke. Kaguya was using the End Truth-Seeking Ball as cover to escape.
If Momoshiki and Isshiki had still entertained thoughts of counterattacking, then Kaguya, from the very beginning, had only wanted to run, consistent from start to finish.
BOOM!
Thunder roared across the sky.
Weather Report controlled the rain as it fell. Each raindrop carried ripples, and under infinite acceleration, they became the sharpest and fastest spears imaginable.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The sound of raindrops crashing exploded through the sky, forcibly shattering the End Truth-Seeking Ball.
The rain pierced Kaguya's body, snapping her spine.
With only her upper body left, Kaguya forced herself forward on sheer will, entered the space-time portal, and vanished before Ryosuke's eyes.
Ryosuke looked at Kaguya's remains on the ground.
"She runs pretty fast."
Suddenly, an unfamiliar, aged voice sounded behind him, "Ryosuke, you cannot kill her."
"Kaguya, who fused with the Ten-Tails, is an immortal existence."
As the voice appeared, the surging sea beneath Ryosuke's feet calmed.
He turned around and saw an old man with horns on his head, wearing a white robe, carrying a monk's staff on his back, with nine Truth-Seeking Balls floating around him, sitting cross-legged in midair.
"The Sage of Six Paths?"
From Hamura's murals on the moon, historical records treasured by various nations, and conversations with the Great Toad Sage, Ryosuke had more or less seen and heard descriptions of the Sage of Six Paths' appearance.
"It is I."
The Sage of Six Paths, Otsutsuki Hagoromo, nodded slightly. Just as he was about to speak, he glanced at Star Platinum and Heaven Made drawing closer, then looked toward Ryosuke's distant soul barrier, beyond which countless stars were visible.
He opened his mouth, and for a moment, forgot what he wanted to say.
Since his death, the Sage of Six Paths had remained in the ninja world as a soul, rarely entering others' mental realms.
But someone as special as Ryosuke, this was the first time he had encountered such a case.
White Snake lifted its chin and tilted its head. "Old man, coming in without knocking is kind of rude, don't you think?"
As it spoke, the remaining Stand stepped a bit closer.
"I mean no harm," the Sage of Six Paths said.
"Ryosuke, you are an extraordinary young man. You've done many things I wanted to do, but never knew how to do."
"I only want to help you. Kaguya, within this universe, she cannot be killed. You can only seal her using yin-yang power."
Under normal circumstances, the Sage of Six Paths' yin-yang power couldn't be given to a single person. There were too many restrictions, differences between Indra and Asura's physiques, their specialties, and so on.
But for Ryosuke, who had become an ultimate lifeform, none of that was a problem.
The Sage of Six Paths spread his hands. In one hand was the bright moon, in the other the blazing sun, with an extremely turbulent power surging between them.
"Ryosuke, I will now pass on the power to seal Kaguya to..."
"No need." Ryosuke said softly.
Seeing the Sage of Six Paths freeze in surprise, Ryosuke smiled. In fact, ever since completing his Ripple training and resonating with the world, he had vaguely sensed the Sage's presence, knowing that he had guarded the ninja world for a thousand years, watching out for Kaguya's return.
"You've worked hard all these years. You should keep what little 'retirement fund' you have left."
A steel ball slowly began to spin in Ryosuke's palm as he smiled at the Sage of Six Paths.
"Humanity has its own yin-yang power."
Extreme Yin, the power of gods and demons.
Extreme Yang, the power of dragon veins.
Unrelated to the Divine Tree, unrelated to chakra, and even unrelated to the Otsutsuki.
They were the yin and yang forces of the world's very origin.
The two intertwined and rotated, merging into the spinning steel ball.
BOOM!
The planet collapsed, the ninja world shattered, and as it broke apart, the planets orbiting the sun formed perfect golden rectangles.
A force rose up from beneath Ryosuke's feet and finally flowed into his palm.
With the planet gone, all living beings drifted through space, gathering around Ryosuke. Under Ripple resonance, everyone's fate became tightly intertwined with his.
Ryosuke slowly raised his hand. Hermit Purple appeared, pointing out a direction for him.
Distance didn't matter.
Leaving the ninja world.
Leaving the solar system.
Leaving the Milky Way.
None of that mattered.
As long as there was a direction, it was enough.
A Cavalry Spin, fired using a planet's explosion as propulsion… launched.
According to general relativity, as an object with mass increases its speed, the energy required rises continuously. To reach the speed of light, the required energy approaches infinity.
Thus, nothing in the universe can exceed the speed of light.
And on a cosmic scale, even the speed of light is incredibly "slow."
There is only one way to surpass the limit of light, the object itself doesn't move, the space the object occupies moves. That is... Warp drive.
And if infinite time acceleration is added on top of that…
The universe becomes within arm's reach for Ryosuke.
Kaguya was fleeing at full speed.
Suddenly, she sensed overwhelming danger. Turning her head, she saw Ryosuke appear at the edge of her vision like a demon, a high-speed spinning steel ball already right in front of her.
Bang!
Hit.
Folding began.
Kaguya's physical body collapsed instantly, her soul sealed once more by yin-yang power.
Sealed inside that small steel ball.
[Otsutsuki Kaguya: Defeated: sealed]
The Sage of Six Paths stared blankly at the scene.
"Sage of Six Paths, didn't you say she's immortal under the rules of 'this universe'?" Ryosuke asked.
"Ah… yes," the Sage replied, then thought about it and added, "You should probably stop calling me 'Sage.' It's a bit…"
"Too much for me."
Ryosuke nodded. Looking at the countless beings floating in space, he caught the returning steel ball and glanced down at it.
"Then you can stay in the uninhabited 'old world.'"
"Enjoy immortality, slowly."
At this point... the three Otsutsuki were completely annihilated.