The entire district felt as if it had been plunged into an abyss. Light itself seemed to decay, and the raw vitality of the earth drained away as the sovereign of the world revealed his true form.
Normally, Imu would never deign to descend into the field personally. But these people were a threat he could not ignore. They were too powerful, too ancient, and dangerously close to uncovering the methods needed to permanently strip him of his immortal reach. Above all, Imu could not allow history to remember the truth—that the lord of the world, alongside twenty allied monarchs, had been forced to gang up on Joyboy just to bring him down. Unlike the Five Gorosei, whom he viewed as mere mouthpieces, Imu possessed absolute power. And he had decided the Lunarians had drawn breath for far too long.
"Shit," Tobirama gritted out, his teeth grinding together. He found us. Already.
"Sound the alarms!" Tobirama ordered. The hidden sanctuary was fully compromised. They had only two choices now: slay Imu where he stood, or face the entire might of the World Government coming down upon their location.
Instantly, mechanical sirens wailed across the rock face.
{INTRUDER ALERT. ALL CITIZENS EVACUATE TO LOWER LEVELS IMMEDIATELY.}
Hundreds of shinobi surged through the corridors toward the breach, moving with practiced precision while evacuation squads guided civilians toward the deep subterranean bunkers.
In the center of the ruined square, Imu's multi-ringed eyes slowly opened. He surveyed the advanced architecture—the glowing conduits and sleek metallic spires that painfully reminded him of the fallen civilization from the Void Century.
Thou hast lived long enough in the shadows, Imu thought, his gaze cold. All shall be rendered to ash.
Though fueled by a divine arrogance, Imu was no fool. He recognized the threat instantly. Within seconds, twelve elite Lunarian Jounin appeared in a tight defensive perimeter before him, their weapons drawn. Each possessed combat prowess comparable to an Admiral.
"DEFENSIVE FORMATION!"
"PROTECT THE CIVILIANS!"
"SEAL THE LOWER SECTORS!"
Tobirama landed at the front of the line, his blade already unsheathed. "Didn't think you'd show your face here so soon," he said, forcing a calm smile despite the knot tightening in his chest. Ranked among the absolute pinnacle of fighters, Tobirama knew he was facing a entity that transcended conventional Yonko level power. Yet, looking back toward the inner compound where his wife and son were, hesitation melted away. He could not lose.
Tobirama's Conqueror's Haki flared outward, heavy and suffocating, striking against Imu's oppressive aura.
"Mu hath found thee," Imu intoned, his voice echoing with layered resonance.
Imu extended a hand. Dark, volatile abyss energy coalesced into his palm, solidifying into a jagged, pitch-black longsword that seemed to actively warp the light around it and sap the ambient life from the air.
"Mu shall rid this world... of such vermin."
With a single fluid gesture, Imu swept his arm forward, unleashing a cascading wave of dark, corrupted energy. The response was instantaneous. Several shinobi rapidly wove hand seals to erect localized barrier jutsus, while others channeled their Conqueror's Haki directly into their weapons, firing dense, concentrated beams of pure conqueror's Haki to intercept the strike.
BOOM!
The forces collided with a deafening shockwave. The Haki beams neutralized the dark energy mid-air, scattering the black residue harmlessly against the stone. Imu observed the outcome indifferently. Attempting direct corruption on these warriors was useless; they possessed the ancient knowledge required to cleanse his abyss power, and attempting it would only grant them raw energy to turn back against him.
"Eight Trigrams Sealing Array!" multiple voices shouted in unison.
Golden chains laced with black sealing runes erupted from the stone around Imu, wrapping tightly around his limbs, chest, and neck. Dense surges of Conqueror's Haki were driven straight into his core through the links, locking his mobility and disrupting his internal energy flow.
Before Imu could adjust, two ancient giants clad in battle armor surged through the smoke, flanking him from opposite sides. Their weapons were already coated in thick, flowing black lightning.
"IKKOKU SOVEREIGNTY!"
Twin strikes of catastrophic Conqueror's Haki slammed into Imu simultaneously, pulverizing the ground beneath him and engulfing his form in a blinding column of kinetic force.
"Reinforce the chains! Don't let up!" Tobirama barked, keeping his stance low. He watched the sealing squad advance quickly to lay down permanent bindings. Is it working? Did we overestimate him? If they kept this level of pressure, they might actually seal his physical avatar right here.
"How dare thee..."
Inside the crater, Imu's pulverized form began to stitch itself back together at impossible speed. Because this sector of the Red Line was physically close to Mary Geoise, his connection to his primary power source remained near peak strength.
"Ayame, NOW!" Tobirama shouted toward the sky.
High above the battlefield, Ayame hovered on dark wings, unrolling a massive, ancient sealing scroll glowing with luminous sealing runes.
Below, a terrifying separation was occurring. The sealing array was actively tearing Imu's core essence out of the physical vessel of Nerona Imu. The body bound by the golden chains began to rapidly wither and age, while a massive, swirling mass of black liquid ink—Imu's true astral projection—was being forcefully drawn upward toward Ayame's scroll.
The sensation for Imu was excruciating. It felt as if his very consciousness was being peeled apart layer by layer, his immortal mind dragged into an absolute, lightless void.
"Adamantine Chains!" Ayame cried out, as silver ethereal chains shot from the scroll, piercing the swirling mass of black ink to lock it into the parchment.
Imu's ringed eyes widened in rare shock. He realized instantly what they were attempting: a permanent, soul-level severance.
Meanwhile, in the medical facility...
Gunko lay unconscious on a steel gurney, her condition seemingly stabilized by the doctors' efforts.
Suddenly, her spine arched off the table with a sickening snap.
Thick, featherless black wings violently burst from her shoulder blades, spraying dark blood across the medical equipment. Her eyes snapped open, the pupils morphing into the distinct, multi-ringed design of Imu's gaze.
The attending doctors froze in sheer horror. "What is—her vitals are completely off the charts! Get the suppressants!"
Before anyone could move, Gunko activated her Arrow-Arrow Fruit in tandem with the abyssal corruption now hijacking her body. A floating, dark grimoire materialized beside her. With a flick of her hand, dozens of obsidian arrows shot out in every direction, impaling the doctors and guards through their chests.
The victims didn't just fall—they convulsed violently as black veins spiderwebbed across their skin. Their shrieks of agony turned into guttural roars as their bodies mutated into twisted, demonic creatures under the seal's influence.
Gunko hovered above the carnage, her face emotionless. She drew a specialized firearm from her hip, her ringed eyes zooming through the facility walls to lock onto the high-energy signatures fighting in the main courtyard.
Targeting the sky above the battlefield, she released a barrage of specialized, high-velocity dark arrows.
Back on the battlefield, victory felt absolute.
Over 95% of Imu's dark core had been successfully dragged out of the aging host body, leaving the vessel looking like a withered husk. Ayame held the scroll wide, her fingers glowing with white-hot Haki as she prepared the final closing seal to trap the entity forever.
We did it, Tobirama thought, relief surging through him as he watched the black ink get pulled into the parchment.
THWACK. THWACK. THWACK.
A chorus of wet, tearing sounds shattered the moment.
Ayame's eyes opened wide in shock. Blood erupted from her mouth as nearly twenty black arrows burst through her chest from behind, shattering her spine and instantly severing her control over the sealing jutsu.
The scroll slipped from her limp fingers, dropping toward the earth.
"AYAME!" Tobirama screamed, his heart stopping as he watched his wife's body plummet from the sky, riddled with projectiles.
With the seal broken, the massive mass of black ink roared with malevolent triumph. The severed essence snapped back instantly, re-entering the physical vessel of Nerona Imu. The withered body smoothed out, youth and overwhelming power flooding back into his limbs in a violent shockwave that shattered the surrounding Haki chains to dust.
Imu hovered back into the air, his ringed eyes burning with cold fury as he looked down at the horrified Lunarians.
"Fools," Imu's voice echoed through the burning city. "Thou art nothing before a god."
A/N Can't have the clan go out like bums, so got to find a way to make their last stand memorable.
vote with powerstones