Finally, after an unknown amount of time, the darkness that had covered the world faded away.
Only then did the true appearance of this small world reveal itself.
Calling it riddled with holes would not have been an exaggeration.
Massive cracks and broken openings stretched across the entire space. Beyond those shattered gaps, chaotic spatial turbulence churned violently, twisting like an endless storm.
From time to time, pieces of matter from this world were pulled into the rifts.
The moment they entered, they were swallowed by the turbulence and torn apart until nothing remained.
Kaguya Ōtsutsuki had also returned from her Rabbit Goddess form to her original appearance.
As for Black Zetsu, he had been completely erased during the collision of power just now.
After all, he was merely a will created from Kaguya's chakra. When that world-destroying force erupted, even the slightest aftershock was enough to wipe him out.
At this moment, Kaguya lay on the ground.
Her white robe was already torn and ruined.
The two horns on her forehead had completely disappeared, and deep scars marked both her face and body.
Her breathing was faint and uneven.
Yet her pale eyes were still open, staring at the figure not far away with complicated emotions.
That was where Namikaze Kirito stood.
He slowly walked toward her.
The clothes covering his upper body had completely vanished, revealing a body marked with faint burns across his perfectly defined muscles.
His long hair, which had originally been tied back, now fell loose behind him, giving him a strangely wild and unrestrained look.
Although he looked somewhat battered, he had barely suffered any serious injury at all.
Compared to Kaguya, the difference between them was like heaven and earth.
Kirito came to Kaguya's side.
After glancing down at her, he quietly sat beside her.
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
Then Kaguya opened her mouth.
"…I lost."
Her voice was weak, but calm.
"If you have a way… then take my life."
Kirito only gave a faint hum.
But he did not move.
Seeing that he had no intention of killing her immediately, Kaguya slowly continued.
"Namikaze Kirito… I believe what you said now."
Her gaze shifted toward her own body.
"Even a power of creation like the Divine Tree should not be able to withstand that collision of destruction just now. And yet…"
Kaguya raised her exposed arm.
Her skin was marked with injuries left behind by that world-destroying force.
But strangely enough, those wounds were slowly healing.
As if something unseen was restoring her body.
A power capable of destroying the world… could not destroy a single person?
Kaguya understood better than anyone.
The force just now had been more than enough to kill her.
And yet, she was still alive.
Her body was still recovering.
This was not her own power.
Someone was repairing her.
If she had never met Namikaze Kirito, perhaps she would have believed it was destiny.
Perhaps she would have believed that she was special.
That she had been chosen.
But after hearing Kirito's words, Kaguya finally understood.
He had been telling the truth.
She really was part of this world.
And that truth was almost laughable.
Once, she had been a member of the Ōtsutsuki clan, someone who had come from a distant world.
This planet had merely been a place assigned to her.
She gained overwhelming power after stealing and eating the fruit of the Divine Tree.
But within the Ōtsutsuki clan, there had also been rebels.
In order to suppress them, she cast the Infinite Tsukuyomi, intending to create living weapons known as White Zetsu.
After the war ended, she used her own power to give birth to twins.
Hagoromo and Hamura.
Both children were born with chakra.
Gradually, Kaguya came to believe that chakra was something only she should possess.
Using the Rinne Sharingan, she cast Infinite Tsukuyomi upon humanity, making people fear her, revere her, and eventually call her a demon.
Her obsession with chakra even turned toward her own children.
To reclaim all chakra, Kaguya merged with the Divine Tree, transformed into the Ten-Tails, and fought against the sons she had given birth to.
In the end, Hagoromo and Hamura used Six Paths: Chibaku Tensei to create the moon and seal the Ten-Tails within it.
Before she was completely sealed, Kaguya separated her will and created Black Zetsu, leaving behind a chance for resurrection.
But thinking about it now…
Was that really her own will?
Would she truly have become so greedy?
Would she truly have turned against the children she had personally brought into this world?
That should have been impossible.
And yet, for some reason, there had always been a voice inside her heart.
A voice that kept telling her to do it.
Even her powerful maternal love had been suppressed.
When she fought her own children, all of that power had originally belonged to her.
Logically speaking, there should have been no way for her to lose.
And yet, she lost.
She was sealed.
Now that she looked back on it…
Was that also the will of Someone?
She had thought she had lived freely.
But in the end, she had never escaped the prison at all.
Thinking of this, Kaguya slowly reached one hand toward the broken sky.
Before she realized it, two lines of tears slid from her pale eyes.
She did not understand.
Why had everything become like this?
If the man beside her could truly end her, then perhaps that would not be a bad thing.
"…Do it."
Kaguya did not notice that her voice was trembling.
Even after believing she had seen through everything, the fear of death still remained.
That unknown darkness still made her hesitate.
Kirito looked at her quietly.
Then he let out a soft sigh.
"…Goodbye."
He raised his hand and gently placed it on top of Kaguya's head, stroking her soft white hair.
"Don't look at me with that expression next time."
His voice was calm.
"You'll stop being cute."
"…Cute?"
Before Kaguya closed her eyes, she felt something she had never felt before.
She did not know what that feeling was.
Warmth?
Relief?
Regret?
Or something even more unfamiliar?
Then her consciousness sank into endless darkness.
Kirito withdrew his hand from Kaguya's head.
Looking at Kaguya, who had now "lost her life," there was no change in his expression.
He was waiting.
Because just now, that familiar feeling of being watched had returned.
And unlike the flat, emotionless gaze from before…
This time, that gaze clearly carried emotion.
Sure enough, not long after, a phantom quietly appeared beside them.
It was an old man.
His eyes were purple Rinnegan, and on his forehead was a red Rinne Sharingan similar to Kaguya's.
Like her, he also had two horns.
The Sage of Six Paths.
Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki.
He looked down at Kaguya's body, and his expression became unreadable.
"…So Mother was defeated by you."
His voice was calm, but there was a faint complexity hidden inside it.
"You are an extraordinary young man. You even killed her… something I could not bring myself to do back then."
There seemed to be a sigh in his tone.
And perhaps, buried even deeper, a trace of nostalgia for his mother.
Kirito did not respond.
He simply looked at Hagoromo with a mocking gaze, as if waiting to see what kind of act the old man planned to perform next.
Hagoromo was silent for a moment.
Then he spoke again.
"Young man… may I take my mother's body?"
His gaze lowered slightly toward Kaguya.
"Now that she has died, she should at least be allowed to rest in the earth."
His voice softened.
"That is the last thing I can do for her."
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