Swampert's body froze in place, completely motionless.
The orange glow in its eyes flickered wildly, its pupils contracting and dilating as if being torn between two completely different wills.
On one side was the icy control from the depths of the World Tree.
On the other was the residual warmth when Jiraiya called its name.
Jiraiya's throat tightened. Though he knew his calls could hardly reach its consciousness now, he still instinctively murmured: "...Marshtomp... Swampert..."
Hearing the familiar names, Swampert shuddered violently.
Excruciating pain flooded its nerves as it let out a sound completely unlike a battle roar!
It was the scream of an animal having its memories and soul torn apart.
"Ooooh, ooooh—!!!"
Its thick arms clawed desperately at the ground, digging deep grooves into the soil.
Yet its movements seemed bound by invisible chains. Though its muscles screamed in rebellion, it couldn't take a single step toward Jiraiya.
Shiroishi stood beside it, his expression cold and almost devoid of emotion.
He raised his palm and slowly pressed it against Swampert's back.
The patterns on his palm glowed with an eerie light at that moment, like marks carved into flesh and bone.
It was the authority belonging to the combination of Ōtsutsuki and the World Tree.
"It's over."
Shiroishi's voice was so soft it was almost gentle. "I'll clean up this erroneous memory for you."
In an instant, Swampert's consciousness was pulled into an endless darkness.
There were no tree roots, no Poison Mist, no World Tree—only a faint, nearly extinguished ribbon of light.
It was the remnant of memories.
Starting from when it was just a little Mudkip.
Clumsily falling in the rain, only to be scooped up by a laughing Jiraiya;
The first time it successfully hit a target with Water Gun, earning that "Well done, Marshtomp!";
Practicing Sage Art at Mount Myōboku, while Jiraiya argued with toads yet secretly slipped snacks into its mouth;
Late nights when Jiraiya dozed by the campfire, while it curled up beside him, gently resting its tail against his feet for warmth.
These scenes, like old-fashioned film reels, were being forcibly cut frame by frame.
At the edge of the darkness, an invisible giant hand pulled out segments, crushed them, and erased every bit of what was called bonds between it and Jiraiya.
Shiroishi's voice echoed faintly and distortedly in the distance, but to Swampert, now sunk deep into its memories, his words were already indistinct.
It could only feel itself growing lighter and lighter. So light it might scatter at any moment.
So light only an empty shell remained, no longer holding any "special" emotions toward anyone.
"Don't...!"
A faint voice sounded in the darkness.
It couldn't tell if it was Jiraiya's or its own.
"This... isn't something you can just take away..."
The edges of its vision began to collapse as Jiraiya's smiling face gradually blurred.
Black screen.
The world had completely collapsed, leaving only a tiny speck of light, like a candle flame trapped in a box.
Outside, Jiraiya gritted his teeth, his eyes bloodshot.
"Swampert!!"
He could already see that Shiroishi was erasing all of Swampert's memories and perceptions.
Losing these memories, Swampert would no longer be his partner—just a combat weapon.
Swampert's screams grew increasingly shrill, foam spilling uncontrollably from its mouth, and dense bloodshot veins crawling across the whites of its eyes.
Shiroishi pressed down expressionlessly on its back, the power of the Ōtsutsuki overwriting like data,
Layer by layer, erasing the name "Jiraiya" from its life history.
"You're still struggling,"
Shiroishi murmured as if stating a fact, "If this continues, your mind will shatter, and your body will explode."
"Compared to simply dying, this outcome is even more meaningless."
This was Shiroishi's mercy.
Yet, Swampert's body thrashed wildly in resistance.
It knelt on the ground, its fists repeatedly pounding its own chest.
Not to resist Shiroishi, but as if desperately trying to awaken its own heart from the brink of slumber.
The soil cracked, tree roots snapped, and bones emitted a grating, explosive sound.
"Urgh... Aaaaaaah—!!!"
Its pained howls echoed repeatedly through the heart of the World Tree.
It didn't want to forget.
It didn't want to.
Don't forget!
"Swampert!!"
Jiraiya roared, stomping his foot as Sage Art Chakra erupted, transforming into countless crystalline patterns that climbed along the roots of the World Tree.
Jiraiya's Sage Body power and the Natural Energy within Swampert connected on some unseen level.
As if a buried line in the depths of darkness had finally been illuminated.
Inside Swampert, the wildly growing Leech Seeds still tore at its organs, and Shiroishi's Ōtsutsuki authority continued to overwrite its memory data.
But at the same time, from its heart, from the shared path where it had once fought alongside Jiraiya, another power slowly yet stubbornly rose.
The patterns of Jiraiya's Sage Body began to change; between the originally monotonous red toad markings, faint water-wave and fin-like textures emerged.
Beneath the skin of his right arm, something seemed to be carved—circles of light spreading outward, finally solidifying on the back of his hand like an incomplete seal rune.
On the other side, at the center of Swampert's white chest plate, a corresponding light pattern appeared, resonating with the one on Jiraiya's hand.
An invisible thread of light connected the two marks.
Shiroishi narrowed his eyes: "So that's it. To awaken new power in such a way."
Swampert's previously unfocused gaze, in that moment, seemed reignited as if by auroras.
Cracks spread from beneath its skin.
Not the dead silence of broken bones, but fissures from which light seeped out bit by bit.
Like a chrysalis about to split, a butterfly ready to emerge.
"This fluctuation..."
The connection between the marks suddenly blazed blindingly bright. Jiraiya and Swampert's auras began to synchronize—breath, pulse, the rhythm of Chakra flow—forcibly overlapping into a second frequency.
The power of the mark, condensed from bonds and resonance, grew increasingly radiant.
Light erupted simultaneously from Jiraiya's hand and Swampert's chest, intertwining mid-air into a not-yet-fully-formed halo.
It wasn't like Tailed Beast transformation, nor was it the same as Sage Art rampage.
It was a state shift that transcended the limits of a single life form.
Jiraiya raised his hand, sensing that his bones, muscles, and Chakra had all been elevated to a new level. Even his thoughts became exceptionally clear.
"Is this feeling... me and Swampert together... becoming stronger?"
Swampert's gaze finally fully recovered from its emptiness, and deep within its pupils, Jiraiya's figure was reflected.
It no longer struggled but slowly stood up, its body outlined by a light that gave it a new form.
At this moment, Shiroishi also grew serious: "Mega Evolution? Interesting. To achieve a second evolution in such a short time—is this a miracle?"