It was a simple fact, but to Black Zetsu, it sounded like pure humiliation.
Worse, when the Truth-Seeking Orb sword pierced Kaguya Otsutsuki's body, it also restricted the flow of her chakra. In that moment, a flicker of fear surfaced in her heart.
Her current predicament was even more dire than the one she had faced in ancient times. Back then, her chakra had been enough to overwhelm her two sons. Now, she was being suppressed by absolute power and skill.
"Switch dimensions..."
Black Zetsu, acting as her battle advisor, gave his mother the only correct advice. "Immediately use the Rinne Sharingan! Go to the ice dimension to dodge the attack and recover from your injuries!"
In the next moment, Kaguya vanished without a trace, taking the Truth-Seeking Orb sword from Emiya Shirou's hand with her.
Once in the ice dimension, the Rabbit Goddess pulled the black sword from her body, her expression twisted in pain. She had never been seriously injured before, had never truly felt such agony.
The truth was, the Rabbit Goddess was surprisingly inexperienced. She had never been a skilled fighter. After all, judging from her life, the most difficult battle she had ever fought was against her two sons, and that had ended with them finding a way to seal her.
The other encounters couldn't even be called battles. In the past, she only needed to cast the Infinite Tsukuyomi to end everything.
"Hide here first... Merge with nature..." Black Zetsu quickly formulated a plan based on her abilities. "If we can trap Emiya Shirou here for a little while, we might have a chance to win. We can take the first step and devour Naruto Uzumaki's and Sasuke Uchiha's chakra. After all, the Ten-Tails in your body isn't complete; it's missing half of the Nine-Tails' chakra..."
"Fleeing from battle is not something a god should do."
A space-time portal tore open, and Shirou's voice echoed through the dimension.
"You—!" Black Zetsu started to retort.
However, Kaguya silenced him. Her body began to silently retreat, slowly merging with the ice wall behind her. She was using the power of nature itself. Here, controlling the ice to attack required very little of her chakra. This ability was a Kekkei Mōra.
Massive icicles shot from the frozen landscape, stabbing toward Shirou like the ultimate execution. The attack had no blind spots. Furthermore, this wasn't an attack made of Ice Style chakra; it was a pure physical assault, making it impossible for Shirou to use Kamui to phase through it.
Surrounded by her element, Kaguya finally felt her heart relax a little. She focused on merging with the ice, intending to control the massive icicles to instantly tear Shirou's body apart. He would not be leaving unscathed.
Bang!
A ball of fire ignited in Shirou's palm. A fierce gust of wind erupted from his other hand, enveloping the flames. He then scattered the fire seeds into the ice dimension, his voice echoing in the space.
"I am not one of those enemies who lack chakra..."
Shirou's voice, carried by the wind and fire, roared through the ice dimension. "My chakra is enough to burn this dimension into a sea of fire!"
Boom!
The flames exploded, spreading as if from thin air. Fanned by the wind, they instantly began to engulf the entire dimension. The ancient ice began to melt rapidly. Trickling streams turned into a vast lake. No... not just a lake. The water began to boil, filling the air with scalding steam.
Kaguya's attack dissolved into nothing. Shocked by Shirou's power, she was forced to emerge from the melting ice.
The battle kept going wrong. Kaguya was so used to dealing with weaker opponents that she couldn't adapt, and even her will, Black Zetsu, lacked the experience to guide her against a true equal.
The moment Kaguya revealed herself, a Yomotsu Hirasaka portal opened right in front of her. The figure of her enemy emerged from the darkness.
"Mom!" Black Zetsu cried out hastily.
Kaguya's Byakugan saw the surprise attack a split second before Black Zetsu spoke, but her body was a step too slow to react. Shirou had already raised his hand, grabbing her by the neck. Though he wasn't even as tall as her flowing hair, he possessed a speed and power she couldn't evade.
"Mom!" A look of shock flashed across Black Zetsu's face. It could see the veins bulging on Shirou's hand. He was squeezing with enough force to snap the Rabbit Goddess's neck. In this clash of gods, Shirou had no intention of showing mercy.
If one were to rank the people of this world, Naruto, Sasuke, and even the Ten-Tails jinchuriki Madara were all on a lower level. Even if Kaguya's chakra was less than Shirou's, she was at least on the same tier as him.
Kaguya's long hair whipped forward, transforming into a dense wave of sharp spikes aimed at Shirou's body. At this moment, she could only switch from defense to offense, hoping he would let go at this critical moment.
Conserve chakra... I must conserve chakra...
Even as she subconsciously wanted to use a space-time transfer again, Kaguya understood she could only use Amenominaka at the most dangerous moments. Using a large amount of chakra in a close-quarters fight was too extravagant.
She was like a queen with all the riches in the world suddenly learning how to be frugal. It was a truly absurd reality.
Fortunately, her tactic worked. Shirou released his grip just as the countless thorn-like strands of hair swarmed him. A gale of Sickle Weasel winds erupted from his palm, shredding her waterfall of white hair to pieces.
At the same time, the attack left countless wounds all over the Rabbit Goddess's body.
Her elegant robe was now stained with blood, making her look miserable, but she had escaped a critical situation. Compared to being captured at close range, these injuries were a small price to pay.
But the battle was far from over. The crisis had not ended. Like a phantom, Shirou lunged at her again.
"Byakugan!" The veins on Kaguya's cheeks bulged.
With her 360-degree vision, she tracked his every move. Her slender palms met his fists and kicks in a rapid exchange, filling the air with muffled impacts.
However, Shirou's taijutsu was simply superior. He didn't need to search for openings; he just saw them. A whip kick bypassed her guard and slammed into her arm. The sharp crack of bone and the searing pain made Kaguya's expression tighten.
The pain instantly threw her fighting rhythm into chaos.
Shirou immediately seized the opportunity. He twisted in the air, bringing his other leg down on her shoulder like a battle-ax. The heavy blow sent Kaguya plummeting downward like a meteor.
"Flee!" Black Zetsu had time to say only one word.
As Kaguya fell from the sky, a space-time portal opened below her. Shirou's figure was already there, faster than her descent.
"This way, my chakra consumption will be higher than his..." Kaguya's body desperately tried to change course and dodge Shirou's attack, but she didn't switch dimensions.
Instead, she voiced her concern. "Burning the entire ice dimension already made his chakra drop a lot. Our chakra..."
"But!" Black Zetsu interrupted Kaguya. It had seen what happened to Shirou's enemies in the ancient era and could only give a quick warning. "Once you enter his fighting rhythm, you can't escape at all! You might even be severely injured!"
"At that time... no amount of chakra will be useful!"
"Okay..." Kaguya acknowledged Black Zetsu's judgment. Her body immediately began an instantaneous spatial transfer, wanting to go to the next dimension to rest and fight again.
However, Shirou's eyes instantly changed to his Mangekyo Sharingan. The Eternal Kamui Mangekyo Sharingan, enhanced by Six Paths Chakra, stared deadly at her position. He activated Yomotsu Hirasaka at the same time to disrupt the space.
The next moment, the space itself was torn apart.
Kaguya felt an unbelievable sensation as her body was ripped in two. Only one half of her was transferred to the other dimension.
This was a devastating blow. With the resilience of the Otsutsuki clan, she could regenerate, but recreating half her body would consume a terrifying amount of chakra.
The worst part was, the spatial transfer had failed.
Kaguya's body was instantly enveloped in a mass of white flesh. She had no time to think, quickly consuming chakra to heal herself.
"Ha... ha..." The legendary god breathed heavily, trying to relieve her fatigue. She looked nervously in Shirou's direction, afraid he would take this opportunity to launch a fatal attack.
But... where was he? Where was the enemy?
The moment her body finished regenerating, she lost track of him. A new wave of fear washed over her. Her Byakugan immediately scanned the area, and her own vision betrayed her—it showed a figure standing directly behind her.
Spatial transfer... she didn't dare use it again. However, it was too late to do anything at this point.
Kaguya could only watch through her Byakugan as Shirou's hand, glowing with a hint of electricity, pierced her chest. A pitch-black liquid quickly began to invade her body, madly seizing the chakra within her.
This was simply adding insult to injury.
White flesh squirmed across Kaguya's body as it began to expand. Her cold, frosty face twisted into something sinister and terrifying. A strange, beastly roar was suppressed in her throat.
"Roar!"
"Mom..." Black Zetsu immediately recognized the change in Kaguya's body. She was rapidly entering her Ten-Tails Tailed Beast state.
A huge, bizarre, humanoid rabbit-like monster appeared, roaring. It had a fleshy orb on its back like a backpack, upon which the forms of the nine Tailed Beasts appeared like white sculptures.
Only in this form could she mobilize all her chakra to resist being absorbed, and perhaps even take this opportunity to absorb Shirou's chakra in return.
However, Shirou's actions were equally fast. Just as Kaguya learned from the battle, Shirou also understood the characteristics of the Ten-Tails' transformation. His body entered a Tailed Beast Mode at the same instant, and a thousand-meter-tall, humanoid white tiger proudly appeared.
A mass of blue chakra flowed over this humanoid white tiger, slowly forming into armor plates, as if putting on a layer of solid armor. The giant tiger also wore a demon-god-like blue chakra battle helmet and faceplate. In its fully armed state, only two ferocious white fangs were exposed.
Black Zetsu's body was still tightly attached to Kaguya's Tailed Beast form. But it widened its eye, watching Shirou's transformation. At this moment, it couldn't help but mutter the name of the technique he was using.
"Is that... a Susanoo-armored Ten-Tails?"