That unstoppable force, tearing open space and time as it flew straight toward Artoria, looked like the end itself.
The ground beneath her was already crumbling into dust.
The air screamed.
The world itself seemed to warp beneath the weight of that attack.
To the people on the walls of Amegakure, it looked like the end of the world.
After Nagato's death, Konan had already made peace with the idea of her own end.
But when she saw the woman standing before the gates of the village, a small seed of hope had begun to take root in Konan's heart.
Now even that seed was nearly crushed by the attack flying toward Artoria.
The earth itself began to split.
Buildings in the village broke apart as though they were nothing more than tall grass in a storm.
And the attack had not even reached Amegakure yet.
A light flashed in Artoria's crystal-blue eyes.
I thought there were no real opponents for me in this world.
But as it turns out, this is an attack that makes use of the very laws of this world itself.
The fact that a being like him can already manipulate the laws of this world like this is proof that he could have become truly dangerous.
But unfortunately, he has no chance.
Slowly, she raised her lance.
"Restraints released."
Hagoromo recognized the movement at once.
It was the same movement.
The same posture.
The same merciless coldness.
The same gesture with which Artoria had previously destroyed his Shinigami puppet.
His heart beat faster.
His many eyes narrowed.
"Argh…" he growled. "That will not save you this time!"
Then Artoria spoke the name that had once already split heaven and earth.
Her voice did not grow louder.
It grew deeper, until it no longer sounded like the voice of a king, but like the judgment of heaven itself.
"Noble Phantasm — Rhongomyniad."
As those words rang across the land, the world was bathed in golden light.
The darkness that had only moments ago sought to devour everything was forced back by the golden aura erupting from Rhongomyniad.
A colossal pillar of white-gold radiance crashed toward the Big Bang Rasenshuriken.
As the two attacks collided, Hagoromo immediately felt his own attack beginning to be pushed back.
How can this be?
How can this woman be stronger?
I devoured so many souls to reach this power. I even sold away my own humanity. And for what?
She is still stronger than I am.
"How can you possess such power?!" he roared. "Argh! I will kill you, even if it is the last thing I do!"
His voice echoed through the storm of power the two of them had unleashed.
On the walls of Amegakure, the people saw an entirely different sight.
Hagoromo saw only darkness being driven back toward him.
But the people on the walls saw something else.
They saw Artoria continuing to walk forward, step by step.
Each of her steps left an imprint in the ground, as though even the earth itself trembled before the power driving her onward.
In the midst of that collision of destruction, light, and torn reality, a voice rang out.
Artoria's voice.
And she laughed.
"Ha… ha… ha…"
It was not wild laughter.
It was calm.
Almost amused.
"It's very simple," she said.
Her blue eyes rested coldly on Hagoromo.
"You are not yet a god."
Then she raised Rhongomyniad a little higher.
Golden light burst forth from the lance with even greater force.
"I have been one for a long time."
Her voice grew deeper.
More absolute.
"And now witness the true power of Rhongomyniad."
With a single thrust of her lance, the white-gold torrent surged forward.
It grew larger.
Brighter.
Unstoppable.
Everything before her vanished in light.
For a moment, the world itself seemed to drown in pure white.
When the radiance finally faded, a colossal chasm carved through the land, deep, wide, and burned so perfectly into the earth as though a divine judgment had split the world itself in two.
Artoria's gaze remained calm.
"Now find peace," she said coldly.
Her voice carried no mercy.
"Your soul no longer exists."
As the light around Artoria slowly receded, a chasm stretching all the way to the horizon remained behind her.
None of the people who had witnessed that spectacle could truly comprehend what they were looking at.
In the end, the chasm was several kilometers deep and wide.
Had Artoria aimed her attack only slightly lower, she likely would have torn a piece out of the planet itself.
Then her eyes suddenly lit up.
At the very place where Hagoromo had just been annihilated, she had discovered something.
It was a small sphere.
No larger than her fist.
As Artoria slowly moved toward it and took the sphere into her hand, she immediately sensed a space within it that seemed infinite.
"Oh," she murmured. "That is interesting."
Her fingers closed lightly around the sphere.
"So this is the afterlife of this ninja world. The realm he created himself."
For a moment, her gaze grew still.
Then a faint smile crossed her face.
I can use this to my advantage.
If I merge it with Avalon, countless new souls will flow to me whenever beings in this world die.
And from them, in time, I can form my Valkyries.
Slowly, she lifted the sphere a little higher.
"Let us see what else is inside."
With her mind, she entered the small sphere.
Only a few moments later, a distinct grin appeared on her face.
"Oh… it seems I am fortunate."
There was open satisfaction in her gaze now.
"A large part of the Uzumaki are still there. And a few Senju as well… and one Uchiha."
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
"The Uzumaki women would make an ideal beginning for my Valkyries."