Above the ruins, the turbulent currents of energy gradually subsided, and the dust slowly settled.
The Good Corpse barely managed to regulate his breathing and recover enough strength to move.
With somewhat heavy steps, he walked toward the nearby ruins, where the Evil Corpse sat slumped among shattered rocks, his aura weak, as though his very spine had been taken from him.
The Good Corpse looked down at him calmly. The sharpness from their battle was gone, as was any pride in victory. All that remained was a quiet certainty tinged with faint sorrow, as though the dust had finally settled.
"You lost."
Supporting himself against the cold ground, the Evil Corpse slowly raised his head.
His face was covered in dust and blood, yet he forcibly twisted his lips into a distorted, unwilling sneer.
"Lost? Heh... So I lost."
He panted heavily, but his eyes remained defiant as he stared at the Good Corpse.
"But I didn't lose to a soft-hearted, self-righteous embodiment of 'good' like you!"
His gaze seemed to pass through the Good Corpse, looking toward the distant void where the original had been taken—or perhaps back to his decisive confrontation with Hamura moments earlier.
The madness and violence in his eyes gradually faded, replaced by a deeper, colder... realization.
"Only now... do I see it clearly."
The Evil Corpse's voice lowered, carrying an unprecedented hoarseness that was almost introspective.
"Even after fusing with the Ten-Tails and gaining enough power to overturn the world... my way of fighting, my understanding of power, that 'core' which governs everything... was never the same as the original's."
He gave a bitter smile, filled with mockery toward himself but also a clarity that seemed to touch upon the truth of his existence.
"In the end, I still couldn't compare to him in the slightest. We... are both nothing more than incomplete shadows."
The Good Corpse stood silently upon hearing this.
He neither refuted nor comforted him. He simply listened.
Their shared origin allowed him to sense the loss buried beneath the Evil Corpse's unwillingness—a loss that reached the very foundation of their existence.
A complicated glimmer passed through his eyes. There was a faint response to the Evil Corpse's realization, but also a deeper confusion and contemplation regarding the original and the nature of his own existence.
Amid that complicated silence, the Evil Corpse suddenly let out an even more desolate—and emptier—laugh!
The laughter echoed through the ruined valley, filled with self-mockery, yet carrying the resolve of someone who had reached a sudden realization.
"We are both inferior to the original..."
He repeated the words softly. The last trace of obsession belonging to his "evil" nature suddenly became strangely bright as his gaze locked onto the Good Corpse.
"But... what if..."
He abruptly paused before whispering, one word at a time, as though forcing a forbidden temptation from the depths of his soul:
"What if... good and evil became one?"
"What?!"
The Good Corpse felt as though a heavy hammer had struck his heart!
His body shook violently, and his pupils contracted. He could scarcely believe what he had heard!
The idea was too shocking, too contrary to everything he believed. It completely surpassed the boundaries of his understanding as an embodiment of "good"!
But before he could recover from this earth-shattering thought, a sudden change occurred!
"AAAAAH—!!!"
The Evil Corpse, still slumped upon the ground, suddenly let out a scream more agonizing and resolute than any before!
It was not a cry of pain.
It sounded more like a voluntary sacrifice—a cry accompanying the tearing apart of his very existence!
As the scream rang out, the Evil Corpse's entire body began to rapidly dissolve and collapse from solid form into mist!
This was no ordinary dispersal of Chakra. The very source of his existence condensed into a strand of pitch-black light, so dense it seemed impossible to dissolve and so pure it had reached an absolute extreme!
That black radiance contained none of the Ten-Tails' chaos.
It held only the most primordial will and power representing the essence of evil itself!
The moment it took shape, the black light was drawn toward its counterpart by the pull of their shared origin and the inevitability of fate. Ignoring the distance between them, it shot like an arrow toward the Good Corpse's forehead!
The Good Corpse's expression changed drastically. His reaction was entirely instinctive!
The clear Chakra around him erupted at once, forming a solid barrier of light before him as he rapidly retreated!
But it was useless!
That strand of black light seemed to share the same root as his Chakra—and even the very foundation of his soul. To it, the barrier might as well not have existed!
Without the slightest resistance, the black light silently passed through the barrier without slowing down in the least!
The next instant—
Sshh!
A touch so faint it was almost imperceptible, occurring at the level of the soul.
The black light, containing the entire essence of the Evil Corpse's existence, entered the Good Corpse's forehead and vanished.
There was no earth-shattering explosion.
No thunderous collision of energies.
Everything happened in complete silence—and yet, it was utterly shocking.
The Good Corpse's entire body suddenly stiffened, as though pierced through by an invisible spike of ice, frozen where he stood.
All color drained from his face, leaving only utter astonishment and disbelief.
The Evil Corpse's essential power, will, memories, and even that purest embodiment of "evil"...
All of it had entered him without resistance, willingly merging into his existence. It came into the deepest and most direct contact—and began to merge—with his own fundamental power, which represented "good" and guidance.
The process was unbelievably fast and terrifyingly peaceful.
The Good Corpse immediately focused inward. The perception of his Rinnegan was pushed to its limit as he repeatedly examined his body—his Chakra Pathway System, his Chakra, the core of his soul... every minute corner of his being.
There was no rejection.
No conflict.
No violent discomfort or rampaging power, as he had expected.
Everything was... terrifyingly normal.
The newly integrated power seemed as though it had always belonged there, merging seamlessly with the essence of good within him until the two could no longer be distinguished.
He could even vaguely sense that some boundaries of understanding that had once seemed clear and absolute were becoming... blurred.
Ideas he had once rejected completely could now, somehow, be understood. He could comprehend the logic behind their existence.
Yet these changes were subtle and internal. If he had not examined himself with complete concentration, he might never have noticed anything unusual on the surface.
"Are you all right?!"
Gamamaru, who had been watching anxiously and had been left dumbfounded by the sudden transformation, finally snapped out of his shock and hurried forward, urgently asking after him.
His wise amphibian eyes were filled with vigilance, concern, and deep confusion.
The Evil Corpse's actions had completely exceeded anything he had expected or understood.
The Good Corpse slowly exhaled and emerged from his introspective state.
He shook his head, a slight frown appearing on his face. Even he could not fully understand the confusion in his voice.
"I don't feel anything... My body, my Chakra... everything is normal."
Normal.
At this moment, that word sounded particularly strange.
Particularly ominous.
The suspicion in Gamamaru's eyes remained as deep as ever. He scrutinized the Good Corpse from head to toe, searching for even the slightest sign of contamination or corruption.
Yet he found nothing.
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