Chapter 505: Returning to Konoha, the Tormented Moryo
The oppressive gloom of the underground cavern in the Land of Swamps remained thick, but the violent tremors had finally ceased. The air rippled, space twisting inward like a whirlpool of shattered glass. From the distortion, Uchiha Akira stepped out, his posture entirely relaxed and his dark robes pristine.
"Ho... Hokage-sama!"
Shion, who had been slumped on the damp ground, hurriedly scrambled to her feet, dirt clinging to her ceremonial robes.
"Wh... what about Moryo?" she stammered, her voice thin and trembling.
Akira casually brushed a stray speck of ash from his sleeve. He turned his dark, fathomless eyes toward the terrified priestess. A faint, almost imperceptible curve touched the corners of his mouth, offering a cold but absolute reassurance.
"That thing?" he echoed, his tone entirely indifferent. "It has already been dealt with. Completely sealed."
Shion froze. Her breath caught in her throat.
Dealt with?
The apocalyptic terror that had haunted her bloodline for centuries, the very demon that generations of Priestesses from the Land of Demons had sacrificed their lives simply to delay... was just gone? She calculated the time in her head. Had it even been five minutes?
"How... how is that possible..." she murmured, feeling her entire worldview fracture into dust.
"To you and your ancestors, it was a world-ending calamity," Akira stated, his voice smooth and devoid of arrogance, merely stating a universal fact. He held her gaze, his presence suffocatingly vast. "But for me, an entity of that caliber does not even qualify as a warm-up."
Shion stared at him, her chest heaving. He stood before her—powerful, entirely mysterious, and utterly unattainable. In that fleeting second, the man clothed in the mantle of Hokage transcended mortal bounds in her eyes.
"Let us go." Akira ignored the raw, overflowing adoration pooling in the young girl's eyes. "It is time to head back."
He stepped forward, placing a firm, gloved hand upon her slender shoulder. With his free hand, he made a casual, sweeping motion through the empty air. The fabric of reality tore open, twisting around them in a spiral of spatial chakra.
In the blink of an eye, the damp, ruined cavern was empty.
Konohagakure, Hokage Office.
Light and shadow blurred in a dizzying rush. When Shion dared to open her eyes, the suffocating stench of sulfur and the oppressive, searing heat of the magma caverns were entirely gone. Instead, her senses were greeted by the delicate, soothing fragrance of freshly brewed tea and the crisp, climate-controlled air of a spacious room.
Beyond the massive floor-to-ceiling windows, the vibrant, bustling streets of Konoha stretched out, teeming with life and commerce. Golden sunlight spilled across the polished wooden floorboards. The contrast was so sharp it made her dizzy; everything here was peaceful, secure, and beautiful.
"We are... back already?" Shion whispered, her mind struggling to process the instantaneous transition across nations.
Akira did not answer. He bypassed her, walking straight to his imposing mahogany desk. He took his seat, casually picking up a mission report as if he had merely stepped out for a breath of fresh air.
The heavy oak door to the office clicked open. Sara stepped inside, carrying an elegant porcelain tray bearing a pot of steaming hot tea.
"You have returned." Sara offered a warm, gentle smile. She glided over to the desk with practiced grace, pouring a cup of the fragrant green tea for Akira, and then preparing a second cup for the bewildered priestess. "Is the matter resolved?"
Akira accepted the teacup, his dark eyes scanning the document in his hand. He blew lightly on the surface of the tea to cool it. "It was just a slightly larger ant. I crushed it easily."
Sara covered her mouth, a soft, knowing chuckle escaping her lips at his dismissive tone. She then turned her attention to their guest.
Shion stood awkwardly, gripping the delicate teacup with both hands as if it were a lifeline. Her head was bowed, her pale cheeks flushed a deep, rosy pink. Every few seconds, her eyes would dart up through her blonde bangs, stealing reverent glances at the man calmly reading his paperwork.
Sara recognized that expression instantly. She had seen it in the mirror often enough. It was the look of a young woman utterly infatuated. No, it was deeper than that. It was the look of a mortal gazing upon their absolute faith.
"Lady Shion," Sara murmured, closing the distance between them. She reached out and gently patted the younger girl's tense shoulder. "You must have been terribly frightened facing such an ordeal, right?"
"Ah? I..." Shion jolted, her shoulders hiking up to her ears like a startled rabbit. The hot tea sloshed dangerously close to the rim of her cup. "N-no..." she stammered, the crimson blush spreading all the way down to her neck.
"Since the crisis is resolved, you can stay here in Konoha with complete peace of mind," Sara assured her, her voice a soothing balm. "As for the Land of Demons, Hokage-sama will dispatch Anbu to notify your retainers of your safety. There is no need to worry about a thing. You must be exhausted after all that traveling and terror. Come, let me take you to a guest room to rest."
Hearing the dismissal, Shion subconsciously cast one last, hopeful glance toward the desk. Seeing that Akira did not look up from his scrolls, nor offer a word of objection, a sharp pang of disappointment pierced her chest.
But she quickly suppressed it, forcing herself to be rational. The Hokage was a man of supreme importance, carrying the weight of the strongest hidden village on his shoulders. She had no right to occupy his valuable time.
"Then... I will trouble you, sister," Shion replied obediently, setting her cup down.
She followed Sara toward the heavy oak doors, but just before crossing the threshold, her feet rooted to the floor. Shion stopped, turned around, and stared intently at the man commanding the room from behind his desk. She bit her lower lip hard enough to taste copper, summoning every ounce of courage she possessed.
"Ho... Hokage-sama!"
Akira paused. The scratching of his pen ceased. He lifted his chin, his dark, calculating eyes locking onto hers. "Is there something else?"
The moment his gaze met hers, Shion's heart hammered against her ribs, her pulse skyrocketing to a frantic rhythm. The grand, eloquent speech of eternal gratitude she had been formulating in her mind instantly evaporated. When she finally opened her mouth, the words emerged as a tiny, trembling whisper, barely louder than the rustle of paper.
"Thank you..."
Having forced those two words out, panic overtook her. Acting as if she had just committed a grave crime, Shion ducked her head, her face burning like fire, and practically sprinted out of the office, leaving Sara to close the door behind them.
Akira watched the empty doorway for a second, a single eyebrow rising in mild amusement. He shook his head, dismissing the display entirely.
'Just a naive little girl.'
He retracted his gaze, the brief distraction already purged from his mind. He set the mission document down on the polished wood. The office was completely silent now, leaving him entirely alone.
"Alright." Akira leaned back into the plush leather of his chair, interlacing his fingers resting on his lap. His dark eyes narrowed, taking on a deep, dangerous glint. "Next... it is time to enjoy the main course."
The entity known as Moryo was, in terms of raw combat power, absolute trash to him. However, the otherworldly realm from which Moryo originated was a veritable treasure trove of dark, pure energy. For a man who possessed the visual prowess of Six Paths: Imperial Heaven, such an entity was not a threat. It was the finest nourishment.
With a mere thought, Akira's consciousness shifted.
Within the absolute core of the Imperial Heaven Space, the air rippled, and his projection slowly materialized. The dimension was vast and silent, governed entirely by his will. At the outermost edge of this domain stood a towering crystal pillar, recently erected from the void.
Trapped within its translucent depths was the prize he had just captured. Moryo no longer possessed the grotesque, massive physical body it had wielded in the outside world. Stripped of its flesh, only its writhing, dark soul remained, securely sealed within the unbreakable crystal.
Akira used the Body Flicker Technique, his form blurring and instantly reappearing directly in front of the towering prison. He looked up at the trapped shadow, his expression cold and detached. Slowly, he raised his right hand, extending a single finger to lightly tap the smooth surface of the crystal.
"Release."
The complex black sealing runes flowing across the pillar's surface flared with a brilliant light, then gradually dimmed, loosening the absolute sensory deprivation placed upon the prisoner.
"...Kill!!!"
The silence of the dimension was instantly shattered.
"I am going to kill you!! You despicable, lowly human!!!"
The moment the sensory restriction lifted, Moryo's hysterical, demonic roar echoed violently through the empty space. The dark soul thrashed against the crystal walls, radiating pure malice.
"How dare you humiliate me! How dare you lock me in this hellhole like a common prisoner!!" Moryo cursed frantically, its voice a grating chorus of overlapping, monstrous tones.
As an ancient demon birthed from an entirely different realm, when had it ever suffered such deep humiliation? In its twisted perception, humans were nothing more than livestock—fragile vessels meant to be harvested for their fear, despair, and negative emotions. To be swatted down, stripped of its body, and caged by a mere mortal was a reality so jarring that the demon's sanity had completely snapped.
"It seems you still have not grasped the reality of your situation," Akira said, his voice cutting through the demon's shrieks like a blade of ice. He shook his head in mock pity. Deep within his eyes, the majestic, terrifying purple glow of his dojutsu began to flicker, radiating supreme authority.
"This is my world." He stepped closer to the glass, his presence expanding until it crushed the air itself. "In here, trash like you... has no right to be arrogant."
A cruel, razor-sharp smile carved its way across Akira's face.
As his cold words fell, Akira's raised right hand suddenly clenched into a tight fist.
"Divine Punishment."
Inside the confined space of the crystal pillar, the previously stagnant air erupted into violent turmoil. Crackling arcs of brilliant golden lightning materialized out of thin air, illuminating the dark soul trapped within. This was no ordinary chakra-based lightning; these bolts were condensed directly from the absolute source laws of the Imperial Heaven Space. They bypassed physical matter entirely, designed specifically to strike, burn, and tear apart ethereal soul bodies.
"Aaaaahhhh!!!!"
Moryo unleashed an agonizing, ear-piercing shriek. The dark mass of its soul thrashed violently as the golden lightning pierced its core, burning it from the inside out.
"Stop... ah!!!" The demon writhed, slamming against the crystal walls in a desperate bid to escape the merciless judgment. "It hurts... it burns so much!!!"
The ancient entity wailed, its former arrogance melting into pure, unadulterated agony.
"Damned human... you will die a horrible death... ah!!!"
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