Swoosh!
Mamoru appeared before Ido in an instant, his hand gripping it's head like a steel pincer. Before Ido could react, violent flames erupted from his palm, instantly enveloping the monster.
"Aaaaaahhh!!!"
Ido let out a shrill, agonizing scream, the sound so sharp it felt like it could pierce eardrums. Yakumo and Kurenai couldn't help but cover their ears in pain.
"It really wasn't easy to get a meeting with you." Mamoru's voice sounded exceptionally cold amidst the crackling of the flames, even carrying a hint of mockery. "You even managed to whip up a fake version of me."
As the flames suddenly subsided, Ido's figure had been scorched into a pile of ash.
But in the next moment, a sudden change occurred.
A thick, ink-like dark energy surged violently from the ashes. In an instant, a massive Ido reconstructed from pure dark energy reappeared, its aura seemingly even colder and more sinister than before.
Mamoru's eyes narrowed. With a lift of his hand, a distorted ball of blue energy shot forth.
Bang!
The energy ball accurately pierced the newborn Ido. The terrifying gravitational force instantly shattered its massive energy body, turning it into scattered black fluid.
"Hahaha..."
But Ido's loathsome laughter rang out again. The dispersed dark energy converged rapidly as if possessed of its own life, and its body began to recover at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"I will not die! I am born from Yakumo's heart! As long as she exists, I am immortal!"
As if to prove its words, the surrounding walls made of oil paint suddenly 'came alive,' quickly condensing into two massive palms. With a viscous texture, they lunged fiercely toward Mamoru.
Mamoru didn't dodge. He met them head-on with a punch, followed by a sharp sidekick.
Boom! Boom!
Two dull thuds exploded almost simultaneously.
The two giant hands burst in mid-air like sludge hit by a boulder, and viscous oil paint splattered everywhere like raindrops.
The offensive didn't stop, a new round of attacks followed immediately.
From all directions, countless grotesque hands of varying sizes and forms, like frenzied vines, clawed toward Mamoru at the center of the field.
"Yakumo, don't just stand there!"
Mamoru threaded through the dense attacks, his fists and feet wreathed in flames as he shattered the monstrous hands.
At the same time, he raised his voice and shouted, "That thing is a monster bred in the depths of your heart, an inner demon! The only one who can truly destroy it is yourself!"
"I..."
Yakumo looked at the constantly regenerating monster, then down at her slightly trembling hands, her eyes filled with fear and bewilderment.
"The Hokage and Kurenai have been trying to protect you all along! Everything you overheard was a misunderstanding!" Mamoru said, dealing with the endless attacks while trying to pierce the fog clouding her heart with his words.
"The one they wanted to eliminate was never you, but this monster that feeds on your negative emotions and will eventually consume you entirely!"
"Shut up! You meddlesome brat!!" Ido let out a furious roar, seemingly struck in a sore spot.
It suddenly opened its massive maw filled with sharp teeth, and ash-gray flames spewed out like a flood, sweeping toward Mamoru. Everywhere they passed, even the colors of space seemed to be dyed into black and white.
Mamoru didn't hold back, raising his hand to fire another Blue. The distorted point of gravity instantly generated a powerful suction, swallowing all the surging exotic flames. Its momentum undiminished, it swept through Ido's energy form, tearing it to pieces once again.
"Yakumo!" Kurenai's clear voice reached Yakumo's ears.
"Only you can defeat that guy now! Listen, Yakumo, the power hidden within you is a double-edged sword! Now, it's time to control it, not be consumed by it! This is your own battle!"
As Kurenai spoke, Ido's body recovered once more. It let out a wrathful howl, manipulating even denser giant oil-paint hands to besiege Mamoru like a surging tide.
Yakumo's eyes struggled violently, reason and fear clashing intensely in her pupils.
Just then—
In the upper reaches of the illusion, the chaotic oil-paint space, which looked like a palette, rippled violently. A figure, the 'Mamoru' born from Yakumo's oil painting, suddenly descended from the sky, landing steadily in front of Yakumo with his back to her.
The phantom calmly extended his right hand. A piercing red glow suddenly lit up from his palm, and a red sphere containing destructive energy rapidly condensed.
The energy ball initially tilted slightly, seemingly aimed at the fighting Mamoru, but in the next instant, it abruptly changed direction and locked onto the distant, newly recovered Ido.
Red!
A crimson torrent of energy roared forth, slicing through space and slamming into Ido's body.
A terrifying shockwave erupted instantly, not only engulfing Ido but also tearing all the giant oil-paint hands attacking Mamoru into their most basic pigments with its indiscriminate destructive force.
Ido's body continuously crumbled under the destructive energy impact. In its final moments, it let out a question filled with unwillingness and malice.
"Why... I clearly... did so much... all for you... Aaaaahhhh!!!"
Finally, only a roar full of resentment and hatred remained before it vanished without a trace.
With Ido's complete disappearance, Mamoru, who had been pushing himself to the limit, could no longer hold on. His knees buckled, and he collapsed onto the ground.
The layer of blazing Chakra cloak faded rapidly like a dying fire, exposing a body covered in bloodstains and wounds. His clothes were already in tatters, and his face was filled with the exhaustion of overexertion.
He lowered his head, his chest heaving violently as he panted continuously.
Just as his consciousness was becoming blurred—
"Yakumo! What are you doing? Quickly, make 'him' stop!" Kurenai's voice rang out, startled and frantic, breaking the brief silence.
The phantom that had just destroyed Ido was now expressionlessly pressing his fingers together. A dangerous red light condensed at the fingertips, aimed at the defenseless Mamoru on the ground.
"I still... cannot forgive... his deception of me."
Yakumo's voice was squeezed from between her teeth, carrying the anger that only comes from being betrayed by one's most trusted person. The way she looked at Mamoru was filled with struggle and pain.
"Hehehe..." Mamoru let out a series of low, muffled chuckles.
His hands propped weakly on the ground behind him as he tilted his head back, adopting a posture of total vulnerability. "Hate me that much? If you're going to do it, be quick about it."
"You idiot! At a time like this, you're still saying things to provoke her!" Kurenai was both anxious and angry, wishing she could rush over and cover his mouth.
"You think... I won't!?" Yakumo suddenly took a step forward, her voice trembling with emotion.
Along with her emotional fluctuations, the energy at the phantom's fingertips became even more dangerous.
Mamoru fell silent, simply looking at her quietly with that indifferent smile.
"Yakumo! No matter what Mamoru did before, his original intention was to help you!" Kurenai tried to salvage the situation, her voice earnest.
"He could have stayed out of this entirely, he didn't need to care about your affairs at all! Can't you see all these things he's done for you?"
"I..."
Yakumo's eyes flickered for a moment, but her anger hadn't completely subsided. "I want to hear him... explain it himself."
"There's nothing to explain." Mamoru's expression hadn't changed from start to finish, his tone as flat as an outsider's.
To complete his mission, he indeed deceived and exploited Yakumo's feelings. This was an undeniable fact, and he had no intention of making excuses for himself.
"You..."
Yakumo's eyes widened, her last shred of expectation seemingly shattered.
At the phantom's fingertips, the eerie Red began to rapidly condense again, its dangerous crimson glow reflecting on the distorted space around them.
"Yakumo! No!" Kurenai cried out in alarm.
However, the phantom's hand suddenly jerked upward, and it finally fired the Red containing terrifying power into the empty sky of the illusion.
Boom!!!
The powerful energy impact caused the already fragile illusion to begin shattering layer by layer, peeling off like a broken mirror.
Exhausted in both mind and body, under the dual impact of intense emotional swings and overexertion of power, Yakumo finally closed her eyes weakly, her body going limp as she fainted.
The phantom beside her reached out at just the right moment, gently catching her falling body and carefully laying her flat on the ground.
After completing this, the phantom's figure began to slowly blur. He turned his head, casting a final glance at Mamoru, who was still slumped on the ground, and let out an ambiguous cold snort.
Immediately after, his entire body transformed into a stream of blue energy, silently merging into Yakumo's body and disappearing completely.
Finally, Mamoru's heavy eyelids began to fight to stay open, his vision gradually blurring as darkness surged from all sides like a tide. He tried to stay conscious, but his limit had long since passed. His vision went completely black, and his consciousness sank into a boundless darkness.