In truth, calling them the "Six Paths" was already a courtesy.
They were dead.
What remained were only bodies, animated by black receivers that forced chakra through them like crude conduits. Rowan Mercer hadn't destroyed their chakra outright. He'd done something simpler and far more effective. He'd broken the bodies themselves, severing the control that kept them moving.
They were corpses again. Nothing more.
The Deva Path stared at Rowan, its voice calm but edged with calculation.
"You can't maintain that speed indefinitely, can you?"
Rowan narrowed his eyes slightly.
"You think so?" he asked.
"That level of movement places extreme strain on the body," the Deva Path continued, almost as if reasoning out loud. "If you could sustain it, I would already be lying there with the others."
It paused.
"But I'm still standing."
Rowan gave a faint smile. "Maybe I just wanted to talk."
"That doesn't align with your actions," the Deva Path replied. "You told Jiraiya you'd defeat us first, then seek out my true body. That means you can sense the chakra flowing through these receivers. You already know where I am."
Rowan didn't deny it.
"…Sharp," he admitted. "Very sharp."
The Deva Path fell silent.
Even knowing the truth changed nothing. It was alone now. And for the first time since gaining these eyes, it felt something unfamiliar.
Helplessness.
Pulling Rowan in with attraction wouldn't work. Pushing him away wouldn't land. The speed gap was still absurd. Locking onto him was nearly impossible.
This was the flaw that had always existed.
The Six Paths weren't truly one being. Their abilities couldn't overlap freely. Each technique had to be channeled individually. Against ordinary opponents, the Rinnegan's superiority crushed them before that limitation ever mattered.
Against Rowan Mercer, the limitation was exposed in full.
The Deva Path raised both hands.
If this was the end, then it would end with everything it had.
High above, a massive black sphere formed.
The ground trembled. Forests cracked. Entire sections of land tore free and rose toward the sky, pulled by an overwhelming gravitational force.
Rowan felt his footing give way as the earth beneath him ripped upward.
"So this is Planetary Devastation," he murmured. "Impressive."
He vanished in a flash and reappeared beside Jiraiya.
"Sensei," Rowan said calmly. "Go back. I'll finish this and come find you."
Jiraiya didn't argue. He couldn't.
This fight had already surpassed him.
Rowan sent him away in an instant.
He stayed.
Because if Rowan left this battlefield, the Deva Path would have no hesitation dropping that growing mass straight onto the village.
A roar echoed from above as the Deva Path poured more chakra into the technique. The pull intensified violently.
This time, Rowan didn't resist.
He let himself be dragged upward.
Lightning crackled around him. Magnetic force surged to life. A polished metal sphere hovered before his hand, spinning as if locked in place by invisible rails.
If there was already a gravitational pull, then aiming was unnecessary.
Rowan flicked his finger.
"Ninjutsu: Railgun."
A streak of lightning tore through the sky, accelerated not only by electromagnetic force but by the gravity of Planetary Devastation itself. The projectile struck the growing mass and detonated violently.
The sphere didn't break.
As expected.
Rowan didn't pause.
One metal core became several. Lightning flared so brightly it rivaled the sun.
Another shot.
Then another.
Each impact struck the exact same point. Explosions stacked on explosions, compressing force into a single line.
On the fourth hit, the rocky shell ruptured.
On the fifth, the black core itself was pierced straight through.
The Deva Path convulsed.
Blood poured from its mouth as the technique collapsed.
The crushing gravity vanished. Rowan felt his body lighten as he descended, landing smoothly amid falling debris.
Above, the massive sphere disintegrated, breaking apart into harmless fragments that rained down across the forest. Anything that drifted toward Rowan was pulverized into dust before it could touch him.
He walked forward, unhurried.
"That was your last move," Rowan said evenly.
The Deva Path could barely breathe.
"Then… you've lost."
Rowan stopped in front of it.
And the battlefield fell silent.