Chapter 277: Scarlet Rot, Providence's Exit
Pfft!
Emerald green blood sprayed out like tree sap. The Edo Tensei body of Senju Tobirama wasn't a perfect match; he gripped his long sword with both hands, instantly slicing through space and piercing Providence's body.
Seeing the green sap, he turned his head—another clone.
This woman's clone ability was even more bizarre than his brother Hashirama's Wood Clones. Before shattering it, it was impossible to judge whether it was the real body.
This woman possessed special chakra. That aura was even purer than Senju Hashirama's senjutsu chakra after entering Sage Mode.
Senju Tobirama turned around indifferently, looking towards the back of the Golden Erdtree again.
There, a giant wooden golem stood tall amidst the ancient forest-like Deep Forest Creation. Opposite it was a huge monster shrouded in black mist, with golden light flowing inside.
This monster had a slender body, taller than the wooden golem. Its movements were strange, and every move exuded terrifying oppressive force.
Seeing that his brother still hadn't sealed this thing, Senju Tobirama knew that it was probably trickier than ordinary Tailed Beasts.
Perhaps, I should use that move in coordination with Brother to defeat this thing first before finding that woman's main body.
While he was pondering, suddenly, a cold hand abruptly pierced his chest from behind.
The Edo Tensei body instantly shattered.
Bad!
Senju Tobirama's pupils trembled as he looked back. The woman whose waist and abdomen he had pierced with a blade just now hadn't shattered and disappeared like other clones. Instead, she stood behind him, her hand forming a knife that impaled his body.
Her hand was wrapped in intense natural energy, a power that made it difficult for the Edo Tensei body to repair after shattering.
He instantly understood this woman's combat plan.
She actually disguised her true body as a clone and used his habit of seeing green blood when shattering clones to make him think this one was also a clone.
This choice was no different from dancing on a knife's edge. He was certain that this woman couldn't see the speed of his [Flying Thunder God Technique] either.
Which meant, if his sword strike just now had hit a vital point like the throat, the opponent would likely have really been instantly killed by him!
Providence lowered her eyelids and wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth.
She knew very well that her frontal combat power was insufficient. Although she could be considered decent in the [Parallel] tier, facing two powerful Hokages reincarnated by Edo Tensei simultaneously was beyond her limit.
But...
The moment she pulled out her right hand, intense natural energy instantly destroyed most of Senju Tobirama's body.
Providence exhaled a breath of turbid air. She rarely put herself in such a situation where she needed to engage in close combat herself. This was probably already the most failed scenario.
But thinking of Mercenary Tao's terrifying posture in the hundreds of timelines she had seen, she was certain that this direction was already the most perfect choice.
Although she didn't understand where Mercenary Tao's uniqueness lay, the fact that he could tear everything apart with violence in various timelines, under her various choices and manipulations, could no longer be explained by simple strength.
Bang!
Natural energy exploded. Providence dropped a seed. Under the irrigation of natural energy, a four-to-five-meter-tall man-eating flower quickly grew and swallowed Senju Tobirama's remaining body.
She looked at the [Clow Card: The Mirror] in her hand; its energy was almost exhausted. Relying solely on the incomplete Elden Beast she copied, she couldn't completely defeat Senju Hashirama.
She looked at the battle over there from a distance. Stalling for time was beneficial to her now.
Inside the Golden Erdtree, the two Children of the World were receiving the baptism of the Golden Order. As long as one of them could completely identify with the Golden Order, and then she forcibly took the other away with shackles...
Then the plot line of this world would completely collapse, her losses could be compensated, and by then, she could naturally withdraw from this world.
Whatever choice Mercenary Tao wanted to make subsequently would have nothing to do with her.
Boom!
The ground exploded violently. A giant snake nearly a hundred meters long broke out from the ground and wrapped around the Elden Beast. Senju Hashirama instantly clasped his hands together.
[Sage Art: Gate of the Great God]!
Huge red Torii gates fell from the sky, suppressing the Elden Beast underneath.
Senju Hashirama didn't stop moving. Intense senjutsu chakra gathered in an instant.
[Sage Art: Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands]!
A thousand-meter-high giant Buddha statue suddenly began to appear. That height was already close to the still-growing Golden Erdtree.
This was the power of the top-tier ninja who once suppressed an era.
Providence watched this scene and could only look up. This was the embodiment of absolute personal might, a power she absolutely couldn't contend with in her current normal state.
Bang, bang bang bang bang...
Countless giant fists fell from the sky, violently attacking the Elden Beast and the roots of the Golden Erdtree. Senju Hashirama seemed to intend to directly dismantle the Golden Erdtree.
Those attacks made the earth tremble continuously. Even Konoha, ten kilometers away, seemed to be at the epicenter.
The phantom copy of the Elden Beast only lasted for a moment before shattering with a crack. Providence's rare and exquisite [Clow Card: The Mirror] also dissipated from her hand.
At the same time, behind the Golden Erdtree, an incomparably huge white snake emerged from the underground at a slow speed. On both sides of the white snake's head were long whiskers. Although it was a snake, its movements didn't give a cold feeling at all; instead, it was very elegant.
This was completely different from the purple-black giant snake wrapped around the Elden Beast. This white snake was probably over a thousand meters long. Emerging from the ground, it began to wind upwards from the back of the Golden Erdtree.
While Senju Hashirama bombarded the Golden Erdtree with terrifying attacks, the golden glow was completely concentrated on the front. Barriers lit up one after another and then shattered one after another.
The white snake silently penetrated all the barriers. Its body was wrapped in an aura almost like nature itself.
By the time Providence noticed, this huge white snake had already reached the top of the Golden Erdtree.
The branches and leaves at the top of the Golden Erdtree spread very far, covering almost several thousand meters of the sky, and were still extending towards the surroundings. Those golden light spots kept drifting towards the distance—that was the blessing of the Golden Erdtree.
All creatures touched by the golden light spots would receive that special power blessing and eventually convert to the Golden Order.
The White Snake Sage felt its scales wriggle, shaking off the golden glow. It would not accept this power.
At the top of the Golden Erdtree, the white snake's mouth opened bit by bit until it seemed like it was going to swallow the world.
In Providence's eyes, this scene seemed to carry a unique metaphorical symbol.
"The Serpent devouring the World Tree, does this imply that my scheme in this world will eventually fail...?"
In Norse mythology, the World Tree was eventually devoured by countless snakes led by [Nidhogg the Black Dragon]. Nidhogg was also known as the Serpent that gnaws at the roots of the World Tree.
Providence slowly took off her mask and discarded it, then began to unbutton the clothes on her chest.
"Facing this kind of power, sure enough, I can only head towards this ending."
After Providence took off her upper body clothes, a bewitching flower was outlined on her white jade-like body.
The petals of that flower were the color of flesh and blood. The circles of petals weren't drawn on Providence's chest; rather, her flesh and blood had been corrupted by erosion, turning into the shape of those petals.
Wrapped around the petals was a circle of mysterious incantations—a seal from the Infinite Dimensional Space.
At this moment, Providence pressed her hand on the seal on her chest.
"Seal... release."
The power of Scarlet Rot began to bloom, instantly clearing out Providence's intense natural energy. The Deep Forest Creation beneath her feet and the field irrigated by her natural energy and plant magic also began to wither simultaneously.
All life was being eroded.
Whoosh~
The wind howled, and a figure drilled out of the wind. The other party looked at Providence's exposed upper body with a mocking smile full of interest.
Strictly speaking, he was looking at the Scarlet Rot on her chest.
"Nice tattoo, I quite like it~"
A finger, hot to the point of scorching, instantly tapped on the seal pattern of Scarlet Rot on her chest. The next moment, amidst Mercenary Tao's cruel smile...
A golden Dodon Ray burst out from her body.
Pfft!
Amidst the blood spray, this time, Providence finally bled crimson, scorching blood, but soon, that blood also became rotten and foul-smelling.
Kaito Shirogane's figure naturally fell backward, dissipating in the wind.
Boom!
The power of Scarlet Rot condensed into a huge flower, contracting on the ground.
Senju Hashirama sensed the emergence of an incomparably evil and terrifying aura. Looking down at the strange flower, he extended hundreds of Buddha hands from his thousand-meter Buddha body, each hand engraved with the character [Seat].
[Sage Art: Gate of the Great God: Ten-Seated Buddha]
He intended to try sealing this thing directly.
But before the Buddha hands could approach, the Flower of Scarlet Rot had already bloomed.
The devastating power of Scarlet Rot was suddenly released indiscriminately towards everything in the surroundings.
(End of Chapter)
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