Deva Path Pain's flight trajectory resembled a parabolic arc.
After being struck by Gensou's powerful punch, Pain was flung high into the air, reaching a critical point before plunging downward, bouncing off the ground like a skipping stone. He crashed into the earth several times, creating deep craters before finally rolling to a stop.
Even so, Gensou could sense that Deva Path Pain was still able to move.
"Pretty tough, huh?"
Not giving his opponent a chance to breathe, Gensou swiftly closed in.
Deva Path Pain, with his Akatsuki uniform tattered and some of the chakra receivers damaged, hurriedly scrambled to his feet.
Had the other five paths not already been destroyed, with their shared strength now converged on Deva Path, that previous punch from Gensou would have ended him as well.
"He's... unbelievably strong!"
Shocked, Deva Path Pain knelt on the ground, clasping his hands together. With a surge of chakra, a black sphere began to form in his palms, far stronger than any before. It was a highly concentrated mass of chakra.
As the black sphere quickly rose into the sky, Deva Path Pain shouted at the rapidly approaching Gensou:
"Chibaku Tensei!" (Planetary Devastation)
In an instant, an overwhelming gravitational force exploded from the black sphere.
Crack! Crack!
The trees and stones on the ground were immediately uprooted, hurtling toward the black sphere, clinging to its surface.
Next, with the sound of the earth splitting, massive chunks of soil were torn from the ground, rapidly flying toward the sphere, covering it.
Before long, layer upon layer of rock encased the black sphere.
What had started as the size of a ping-pong ball quickly grew to the size of a small house in mere moments.
Even so, the gravitational pull from above didn't weaken—it only grew stronger.
Unlike in the original story, where Deva Path Pain was weakened after using Shinra Tensei during the battle with Naruto, this time, Pain had plenty of strength left. As a result, this Chibaku Tensei was far more powerful.
Even Gensou was forced to stop, straining against the pull to keep from being sucked into the air and crushed into the growing mass.
However, the ground beneath his feet cracked under the combined forces of the pull from above and the force he was exerting to stay grounded. In the midst of splintering sounds, the earth finally gave way, shattering into countless pieces, all of which were pulled up into the Chibaku Tensei.
Gensou found himself suspended in midair.
Unlike Superman, who could keep himself steady without a foothold, Gensou had no choice but to be drawn upward.
Seeing this, Deva Path Pain's face twisted in a vicious grin as he poured even more chakra into the Chibaku Tensei, further intensifying the gravitational force.
Gensou was pulled directly toward the mass.
Layer upon layer of rock quickly wrapped around him, sealing him inside with no gaps left.
"It's over."
Pain lowered his raised hands, feeling a sense of finality.
Meanwhile, in the distance, Nagato, controlling the battle, clenched his hands over his mouth, coughing violently.
Seeing blood trickling from between Nagato's fingers, Konan, full of worry, hurried over to support him. This was the first time she had seen Nagato so drained after fighting a single opponent.
Cough, cough! "I'm fine..." Nagato reassured her after catching his breath. "Gensou's strength far exceeded my expectations, but in the end, he's still human. And as a human... cough, he can't defeat me, a god!"
But just as Nagato finished speaking, his expression suddenly changed.
Deva Path Pain looked up sharply to see a brilliant white light bursting from within the Chibaku Tensei, shining through to the outside and illuminating the surroundings.
It was as though a chalkboard covered in scribbles had been wiped clean in an instant.
In a matter of seconds, the massive Chibaku Tensei disintegrated, reduced to atoms, vanishing without a trace.
Deva Path Pain had no time to process what had happened.
In that moment, sensing a grave threat, he clapped his hands together:
"Shinra—"
But before the technique could be completed, Gensou was already in front of him, driving a black rod through his hands.
Splat!
The rod pierced through Deva Path's clasped hands, causing his chakra to destabilize. The Shinra Tensei that was about to be unleashed abruptly fizzled out.
Taking advantage of the opening, Gensou spread his hands, summoning more black rods, which shot toward Deva Path. The rods targeted the locations of the original chakra receivers, displacing them one by one.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
One by one, the black rods fell out of Deva Path's body.
The light in Deva Path's once-bright eyes quickly faded.
Soon after:
Thud.
Deva Path fell lifelessly to the ground, once again becoming nothing more than a corpse.
After experiencing a weakened version of what had once sealed his ancestor, Gensou picked up one of Deva Path's black rods and inserted it into his own arm.
With Sage Mode active, Gensou could clearly sense the chakra flow within the rod. It didn't take long for him to locate the source of the chakra.
"It's time to end this."
With that, Gensou moved again, heading toward Nagato's location.
Cough, cough, cough...
Back in the fake tree several kilometers away, Nagato couldn't stop coughing, his condition worsening as blood splattered onto the bedding like drops of red plum blossoms.
"Nagato! What happened?" Konan hurriedly administered medicine to him.
Nagato, as if unaware of what was happening to his own body, muttered in a lifeless voice:
"Pain... has lost."
Ever since fully mastering the power of the Rinnegan, even the man who had once taught him, "Uchiha Madara," had ceased to pose much of a threat in Nagato's eyes.
As for the shinobi world, he didn't believe there was anyone who could stand against him.
This confidence was the foundation of his plan to capture the tailed beasts, create the ultimate tailed beast weapon, and single-handedly conquer the shinobi world to bring about peace.
But today, everything he had relied on, everything he had prided himself on, was completely shattered.
Gensou!
The man once mentioned alongside Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara, now back from the dead, possessed a strength beyond comprehension!
Even the Rinnegan, known as the eyes of a sage, was no match for him.
Looking back, Gensou had barely used a handful of techniques, yet Nagato had been forced into a constant state of defense, ultimately being easily defeated.
With such power, how far removed was Gensou from the legendary Sage of Six Paths?
Nagato's face turned ashen.
With someone like Gensou around, his meticulously crafted plans seemed to have no hope of succeeding.
"Nagato, let's retreat for now."
Though Konan was shocked to hear of Nagato's defeat, she knew that escaping was now their top priority.
"It's too late."
Seeing Konan ready to flee with him, Nagato sighed deeply and said:
"Konan, you should leave. Find a quiet place for yourself and live out the rest of your life peacefully, carrying both mine and Yahiko's hopes with you."
(End of Chapter)
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