As Issei and Nagato faced each other, the two Rinnegan that shared the same origin recognized one another the instant their gazes met.
“So you have Madara’s Rinnegan too...”
“So what if I do?!”
The Rinnegan of the same attribute meant they knew each other’s abilities and were on the same level of specs; the outcome would be decided by skill alone. But Issei, blinded by rage, failed to grasp that.
“Die!!”
He charged straight in with a Rasenshuriken wrapped around one hand, but—
“Just as Madara said. Strong, but he doesn’t know how to use his techniques.”
To Nagato, who had used the Rinnegan for decades, everything about Issei was laid bare. And in terms of mastery over the Rinnegan, it would not have been strange for him to stand on equal footing with Madara.
[Shinra Tensei]
“!! Ghk!”
Issei, who had rushed in relying on brute force alone, was blown away along with the Rasenshuriken.
He rolled across the ground and then—
“Kuh...”
Until now, he had only ever used [Shinra Tensei] and never been on the receiving end of it. The pain was far more violent than he had expected, and he crouched for a moment, lowering his gaze. In that instant, Nagato had already moved behind him.
“It’s over.”
He seized Issei by the nape of the neck and—
[Preta Path]
—began to wring the chakra out of him through the power of the Rinnegan. With his neck pinned and both arms restrained—
“Damn it!”
—Issei could offer no real resistance as his chakra was drained at terrifying speed. But he, too, was a wielder of the Rinnegan.
[Shinra Tensei]
“!!”
He blasted Nagato away on the spot.
“For a beginner, it should be hard to use techniques while your chakra is being absorbed. Not bad.”
Comparing his own experience with Issei’s current level, Nagato judged that, contrary to what Madara had said, this was not an opponent to look down on.
“Damn it... in just a moment... most of my chakra...”
But with most of his chakra drained, Issei’s body began to sway. If he fought with skill alone and without the Ten-Tails, this was only natural.
“Damn it, so I really can’t do this without a tailed beast...”
He had trained under Madara and thought he might be able to defeat Pain without the Ten-Tails, but the gap in mastery was too great. If he stubbornly kept this up, he might die before he even got the chance to use the Ten-Tails. So—
“I’m going all out!!”
Without looking back, he unleashed the power of the Ten-Tails and the power of the Six Paths.
Then—
“So you’ve finally brought it out.”
Nagato’s tone sounded as though he had been waiting for this all along.
“Summoning Technique!!!”
And in front of Issei, he summoned the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.
Then—
“Nagato!!”
Blinded by rage over what had been done to Gabriel, Issei no longer even registered the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path. He swung the spear of the Six Paths with a body brimming with the Ten-Tails’ power. Then—
“Come on!!!”
Nagato took the attack head-on without dodging.
“Ghk!!”
“This is for Gabriel...”
His body was pierced by the spear of the Six Paths, and he spat blood. Issei struck a victorious pose, as if the matter were settled, but—
“How foolish...”
“What?”
Only then did he realize something was wrong at Nagato’s words, which did not sound like something from the side that was being beaten. But by the time he understood, it was already too late to respond.
“It’s over.”
The moment Nagato spoke softly, black rods burst out from his body. They were the same rods he used to control Pain. In other words—
“N-No way!”
The Nagato before his eyes was a Six Paths clone whose face had been taken from a corpse and altered to resemble Nagato. And while Issei was still reeling, black spears were already flying in from all directions, piercing through his body here and there.
“Kuh!”
Just like that, his freedom of movement was taken away. But for Issei, who possessed the Ten-Tails’ power, breaking free would only take a moment. So Nagato—
“Demonic Statue of the Outer Path!”
—used that brief instant to begin drawing the tailed-beast chakra out of Issei’s entire body.
“Aaaaaaaah!!”
Unable to resist, Issei was stripped of the tailed beasts right there and then.
“Damn it! Damn it!! Damn it!!!!”
He had assumed they were on the same level as Kakuzu and Hidan, and the result of trusting his rage was this. If this kept up, the Ten-Tails he had been granted by the world itself would be stolen from him whole. Issei resisted with everything he had, but—
“Useless.”
All that came back was Nagato’s quiet voice, and despair.
“Damn it... someone...”
For the first time since arriving in this other world, Issei was cornered. Feeling instinctive fear, he tried to call for help from someone—anyone—but there was no one who could save him. If he had built trustworthy allies as Madara had told him to, this would not have happened. But regretting it now was pointless. Even so, Issei still cried out—
“Someone... someone... help me!!”
“Pathetic. Those are not words that should come from someone with the Rinnegan. This power really doesn’t suit you. Die.”
Nagato moved to finish him off, having already drained nearly all of the tailed-beast chakra. That was when it happened. Whether it was because his cry had reached someone, or because a miracle had occurred, black magical power surged in front of Nagato before he had time to react. Startled, Nagato halted the absorption seal and put distance between them. And then—
“I have arrived.”
“So an annoying one showed up...”
Behind Nagato’s irritated words stood a black-haired loli who, despite her appearance, radiated power on par with the Ten-Tails: the infinite dragon god, Ophis.
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- Demon World
“Kukukuk, so even a Demon King isn’t anything special.”
In the ruined territory of House Gremory, Itachi and Kisame stood at the center of the devastation, and at their feet lay Sirzechs, the Demon King, unconscious and covered in wounds from head to toe.
The sight of a Demon King being trampled underfoot was despair incarnate for the devils, and they fled in panic, having lost all will to fight. But even so, there was one who did not retreat.
“Get away from my brother!!”
Rias Gremory fired a burst of red magical power at Kisame, who was standing on Sirzechs, but it vanished like smoke before his weapon, Samehada.
“Kukuku, as expected of the Demon King’s bloodline. You’ve got some pretty tasty chakra. It’s a small amount, but I’ll take yours too.”
“Kuh... like I’d ever let people like you have it!!”
Rias shifted from revenge to resistance and poured out nearly all her magical power, but the result was the same. Samehada was a sword that absorbed chakra, and Rias, not knowing that, kept hurling magical power at it recklessly. In the end, she was drained dry.
“Oh my, is that all? I was expecting more from an upper-class devil.”
Kisame pressed Samehada toward Rias, who had collapsed after exhausting all her magical power, and at that moment—
“Get away from her!!”
“Oh my, you’re later than I expected.”
Issei’s clone attacked Kisame from behind, but Kisame blocked it easily without any trouble, then knocked Issei away and widened the distance. Then—
“Issei!”
Rias, rescued right before her eyes, looked at him with tear-filled eyes, but at that very moment...
“Senb...”
[Boom]
Issei turned into smoke and vanished. With the main body taken down, the clone dispersed as well. Kisame, who had been looking forward to a good fight, froze for a moment with a stunned expression, but—
“Looks like they succeeded over there.”
“So this side was a dud after all.”
At Itachi’s cool assessment, he slung Samehada back over his shoulder.
“Mission complete. Retrieve the target and withdraw.”
“Sure.”
And with hope vanishing before her eyes, Rias lost the light in her gaze. When Kisame’s kick struck her solar plexus—
“Kuh...”
—she lost consciousness and collapsed, and with her nape seized in his hand, she was dragged away by Akatsuki like cargo.
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