Chapter 503: Resurrection of the Demon
"This... what kind of ninjutsu is this?"
Yomi gasped, his eyes wide with terror as he frantically tried to mobilize his chakra. He clawed at the empty air, desperate to anchor himself against the invisible, crushing gravitational pull.
His struggles were utterly pathetic.
Uchiha Akira stood motionless, his right arm extended. His fingers clamped like a vice around Yomi's throat, hoisting the dark cultist effortlessly off the ground. Yomi's boots kicked at nothing but air. His hands scrabbled uselessly against Akira's iron grip, his fingernails tearing at the Uchiha's wrist to no avail. Slowly, Yomi's complexion shifted from a pale white to a suffocated, liverish purple.
"Cough... ack..."
"You... you..."
Yomi stared down into the eyes of the man holding him. A cold, suffocating dread finally clawed its way into his chest, entirely eclipsing his earlier arrogance.
'Who on earth is this monster?''Why am I completely powerless?'
"Is this the so-called..." Akira tilted his head. A dark, mocking amusement danced in his crimson eyes. "...capital required to establish a thousand-year dark empire?"
He squeezed slightly. Yomi let out a strangled wheeze.
"You cannot even withstand a single move from me," Akira said, his voice a low, smooth drawl that cut through the cavern's ambient heat. "Are you truly worthy of speaking about conquering the world?"
"Let... let go of me..." Yomi forced the words through his crushed windpipe, his bloodshot eyes burning with venomous hatred. "Mōryō... Lord Mōryō will not let you get away with this..."
"Mōryō?"
Akira shifted his gaze toward the altar, where a mass of thick, churning black mist pulsed like a diseased heart. He let out a soft scoff.
"That kind of trash. Only a fool like you would treasure it."
A flash of absolute disgust crossed Akira's features.
"Get lost."
With a casual flick of his wrist, Akira hurled the cultist away.
Yomi flew backward through the air like a discarded ragdoll, crashing heavily against the stone steps of the altar. Bones cracked upon impact. He spat a mouthful of blood and scrambled to his knees, staring at Akira with absolute terror.
"You... what exactly do you want?"
Yomi's mind spun in chaotic circles. If this man possessed such overwhelming, godlike strength, why had he not just crushed his neck? Why let him live?
Akira dusted off his hands, his expression thoroughly bored.
"Do not waste any more of my time."
He gestured lazily toward the pulsing black mist.
"Hurry up. Resurrect that so-called Mōryō."
The cavern fell dead silent.
Yomi froze, his jaw slack. Behind Akira, Shion stood completely paralyzed, her breath catching in her throat.
"Hokage-sama!"
Breaking from her stupor, the young priestess rushed forward. She grabbed handfuls of Akira's sleeve, her knuckles turning white, her face a mask of sheer panic.
"What are you saying?!" she cried out. "That is Mōryō! We absolutely cannot let it be resurrected! If it takes form..."
Shion's voice broke into a violent tremble. She stared at Akira, entirely unable to comprehend his logic. They had already won. The battle was over. All they had to do was execute Yomi and seal the unformed mass of dark chakra upon the altar.
Why would he actively demand the monster's return? Was he insane?
Akira looked down. He took in her wide, terrified eyes, the way her small frame shook with the weight of her ancestral duty.
Slowly, he reached out and rested a hand on top of her head, his touch surprisingly gentle.
"Shion."
His voice was calm, carrying an unshakable weight.
"You need to remember one thing. To you, this entity is a world-destroying demonic creature."
A sharp, arrogant smirk curved Akira's lips.
"But in my eyes... it is just a slightly larger ant."
He patted her hair twice.
"Do not worry. The sky will not fall."
Shion blinked, utterly stunned. She stared up into his face, searching for any sign of madness or bluff. She found none. Only a terrifying, absolute certainty. The memory of his overwhelming power in the passageway earlier flashed through her mind.
'If it is Hokage-sama... perhaps... he really can?'
Taking a deep, shuddering breath, Shion slowly uncurled her fingers from his sleeve. The panic in her eyes receded, replaced by a fragile but growing resolve.
"I... I believe in you."
Akira gave a curt nod of satisfaction. He turned his attention back to the altar, his eyes narrowing at the battered cultist still kneeling on the stone.
"Why are you still sitting there?" Akira's tone dropped, turning sharp and commanding. "Did you not hear me? Resurrect it."
Yomi trembled violently. An unmatched, burning humiliation flooded his veins.
This arrogant bastard was treating the resurrection of the almighty Lord Mōryō as a trivial game. He was actively forcing the ritual to proceed. It was the ultimate display of contempt.
"Fine... fine!!"
Yomi ground his teeth together, a crazed, fanatical light igniting in his eyes.
"Since you are so eager to court death... then I will grant your wish! You will regret this! Tremble before the true, terrifying power of Lord Mōryō!"
Whipping around, Yomi lunged toward the churning mass of black mist. Without a second of hesitation, he drew a kunai and slashed it brutally across his own wrist.
A thick spray of crimson blood splattered across the dark chakra.
"Descend!! Mōryō!!!"
The moment the blood sacrifice made contact, the entire underground cavern violently convulsed.
The surrounding magma lake erupted. Boiling rock surged upward, crashing against the stone pillars in waves dozens of meters high. The mass of black mist expanded at a terrifying rate, swelling into a localized hurricane of dark energy that instantly swallowed Yomi's screaming body whole.
A wave of ancient, suffocating malice crashed down upon the cavern.
An unearthly roar—a sound completely devoid of anything human—shattered the air, vibrating through the very bedrock of the earth.
The black mist violently dispersed, blown away by the sheer force of the creature's awakening.
From the bubbling depths of the magma, a colossal monstrosity slowly rose. It possessed a body as massive as a mountain, covered in thick, purple scales, with several serpentine dragon heads thrashing wildly in the heated air.
Mōryō.
Fully resurrected.
"Hahaha!!"
The demon's central head threw itself back, unleashing a wild, booming laughter that rolled through the cavern like thunder.
"Finally... finally, I see the light of day once more!"
The massive heads swayed, taking in the fiery surroundings.
"This world..."
The creature lowered its colossal necks. Several pairs of glowing, beastly pupils snapped downward, instantly locking onto the tiny, solitary figure of Uchiha Akira standing upon the stone bridge.
"A human?" Mōryō's voice echoed directly into their minds, dripping with ancient malice. "So it is you who waited for my arrival?"
Akira stood perfectly still amidst the howling gale of dark chakra. He looked up at the towering, arrogant demonic creature.
"Is this it?"
Akira shook his head, letting out a long, disappointed sigh.
"Only to this degree? It seems I overestimated you."
"ROAR——!!!"
Mōryō unleashed an ear-splitting bellow of pure rage.
The resulting soundwave hit like a physical wall of force, sweeping through the underground cavern. The stone walls fractured under the pressure, sending massive chunks of rubble raining down into the boiling magma below.
"Even a thousand years ago, no human dared speak to me in such a tone!" Mōryō snarled, its voice dripping with lofty, godlike arrogance. "Ignorant. Utterly foolish to the extreme!"
The demon's massive bodies shifted, casting long, terrifying shadows across the cavern.
"I am immortal and indestructible! My power stems from the endless darkness and negative emotions of this world! As long as greed, hatred, and fear exist in human hearts, I am invincible!"
As it boasted, one of Mōryō's massive dragon heads suddenly lunged forward, stopping just short of the stone bridge, its glowing eyes glaring down at Akira.
"Kneel," Mōryō growled, the sheer volume rattling the ground. "Submit to me. Offer your soul and your flesh. I may be merciful and grant you the honor of becoming my puppet, allowing you to witness the destruction of this world with your own eyes!"
Standing further back, Shion watched the colossal beast in absolute despair, her heart hammering wildly against her ribs. The sheer scale of the monster was suffocating.
However.
Facing the direct, crushing gaze of the ancient demon, Akira's expression did not shift a single millimeter.
"Are you finished talking?"
Akira curled his lip in open disdain.
"Is this all you have? Aside from possessing a loud voice, I truly cannot see where your confidence comes from."
Shion's eyes widened to the size of saucers.
'Hokage-sama... what is he doing?''He is mocking Mōryō?! That is a world-destroying demonic creature!'
Even Mōryō froze, momentarily stunned by the sheer audacity.
It had lived for over a millennium. It had seen countless humans. It had seen warriors beg in weeping terror, it had seen desperate fools resist until their dying breath, and it had seen arrogant priests attempt to seal it away.
But never, in all its long, dark existence, had it encountered a human like this.
A human who dared to look up at its mountain-sized body with eyes that viewed it as nothing more than roadside trash.
"ROAR——!!!"
The brief moment of astonishment instantly shattered, replaced by an overwhelming, apocalyptic fury. Mōryō went completely berserk.
"Arrogant insect!!!" the demon shrieked, its voices overlapping in a chaotic cacophony. "How dare you insult me!!"
As Mōryō raged, the entire magma lake boiled over, flooding the lower platforms. From the demon's massive body, countless thick, purple-black tentacles shot out, tearing through the air like organic spears aimed directly at Akira.
These appendages were condensed from pure, highly concentrated dark chakra. The moment they touched living flesh, it would instantly rot away, and the victim's soul would be violently devoured.
"Hokage-sama!!"
Shion let out a shrill, desperate scream.
In the face of such a massive, overwhelming attack, a single human body seemed so insignificant, so hopelessly fragile.
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