A floating island drifted slowly over the remains of the Land of Fire.
Tsunade and Shizune stood at the edge of Avalon, silently gazing down at what had once been a proud land. It was a land for which they themselves, and generations before them, had bled.
Now there was only death.
There was no other way to describe it.
Withered forests.
Gray earth.
Broken rivers.
An entire realm from which life had been torn away.
Artoria stepped over to the two women.
Silently, she remained standing behind them.
Only when she finally moved between them did a quiet snort break the stillness.
"This was once a beautiful landscape," she said calmly. "But with Avalon, we will not catch that being in time."
Then a gentle smile settled over her darkened face.
It was not a kind smile.
It was the quiet promise of an end that would be anything but pleasant for its target.
Tsunade turned her gaze toward her.
"Can't you do anything to make this miracle of an island catch up to that thing faster?"
Artoria slowly shook her head.
"Avalon cannot."
Then she lifted her chin slightly.
"But I am faster."
She stepped forward, moved in front of the two women, and briefly let her gaze drift into the distance.
In the next moment, a golden aura burst from her body.
The light wrapped around her like a living mantle.
The clothes still clinging to her body changed and became her armor — radiant, flawless, dignified.
Shizune blinked.
"How exactly do you do that every single time? I'd really like to know."
Artoria answered without turning around.
"With my divine power."
Then she leapt.
Not like a human.
Not even like a hero.
But like something that belonged to the heavens themselves.
In the next instant, her body became a golden streak that vanished in the direction of Amegakure.
Golden particles rained down behind her to the earth.
And wherever they touched the dead ground, small plants bloomed again.
Tiny, delicate signs of life in a land that had almost forgotten what hope felt like.
A single tear slipped from Tsunade's eye and slowly ran down her cheek as she watched even this dying soil regain a faint trace of life.
"Oh," Artoria said softly when her gaze fell on the dying Pain. "He is going to die."
For a brief moment, her gaze remained calm as it rested on him.
"At least he dies with dignity. He tried to protect his people. That is more than many others would do in the presence of such a monster."
An aura of death flowed out from Hagoromo.
It twisted all life near him and now spread across Amegakure , just as it had already corrupted and erased countless other places.
Just as that deathly wave was about to engulf the village, Artoria shot forward and placed herself before Amegakure.
There was nothing human left in Hagoromo any longer.
He looked like a Twelve-Tails wearing the shape of a corrupted god.
Ten arms jutted from his monstrous body, their hands tipped with long, cruel claws. His five eyes were the eyes of a being that had lost its humanity long ago.
But the moment Artoria's figure emerged from the golden light before him, all five eyes widened.
"You destroyed all my plans," he said.
His voice trembled with hatred and hunger.
"You forced me to bring my harvest forward by several centuries. But once I devour you, I will have enough power."
Artoria's eyes narrowed.
I had believed the Sage of Six Paths to be a good man. Someone who helped Naruto and Sasuke reach a new level of power.
But as it turns out, his kindness was never more than a mask. In truth, he was only a monster that waited until his food had ripened enough to pave his path to godhood.
Her voice rang out across the wounded land.
"I thought the Sage of Six Paths had once been a wise man."
Her eyes turned cold.
"But it seems you were always nothing more than a power-hungry creature."
Hagoromo laughed.
Loudly.
Distorted.
Madly.
"Ha ha ha… they were all nothing but food."
His many eyes glowed.
"Unfortunately, I recognized the path of the Ōtsutsuki far too late. My mother feared our family. But I would have surpassed her."
His gaze darkened even further.
"My children, their descendants, their students… they were all good stock. For millennia I let them flourish, only to harvest them in the end."
The black markings on his body pulsed.
"That is why I created the afterlife. So that I could let every soul ripen slowly."
His smile widened.
"Every single soul that entered my afterlife, I allowed to ripen for over five hundred years, only to devour it in the end."
Artoria's aura surged more strongly from her.
Golden light filled the air, pushed back death, and forced even the distorted reality near her back into order.
"You are an evil monster," she said with cold composure. "And I will erase you from this world."
Rhongomyniad appeared in her hand.
Hagoromo's voice dropped lower.
Hungrier.
"And I will devour you."
His many hands curled into claws.
"Your essence is unlike anything I have ever known."
Between his arms, a dark sphere began to form out of Yin and Yang Chakra.
It swelled rapidly, heavy, dense, and oppressive like a black star.
"And through it, I will reach a new level."
The sphere in Hagoromo's hands continued to grow.
With every second, its blackness deepened, so deep that it could have rivaled the void of space itself.
It was not merely dark.
It seemed as though it were swallowing light, warmth, and even hope itself.
Hagoromo laughed.
"Ha… ha… ha…"
His many eyes rested on Artoria.
"I always liked my son Asura's technique," he said with twisted delight. "That is why I will kill you with my own version of it."
The black sphere pulsed heavily in his hand.
"And then you will nourish me… just as the rest of this planet will nourish me."
A slow rotation now became visible upon its surface.
At first, it was barely more than a shimmer.
Then, little by little, a disc of razor-sharp, rotating energy formed around it.
Hagoromo lifted the technique with a single hand.
Now even Artoria could clearly see what stood before her.
At first, she had thought it was only a corrupted Tailed Beast Ball.
But it was not.
It looked more like a monstrous, desecrated form of Wind Release: Rasenshuriken, only on a level far beyond any ordinary jutsu.
Hagoromo's grin widened.
Then he roared the name of his technique into the world:
"Big Bang Rasenshuriken!"
With a single motion, he hurled the massive technique at Artoria.
The attack tore space and time itself apart as it devoured everything in its path.
The world itself screamed as it approached.