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*BOOM*

The explosion blows apart a giant chunk of the hill.

Swoosh… swoosh…

Two figures flash out of the smoke and dust.

Haah…

Izuna clenches his fist and hammers it on Mōryō's chest.

Bleurgh… Whoosh…

Mōryō pukes out a mouthful of blood and is sent flying.

BANG…

He collides with a nearby hill, collapsing it as a result.

Huff… Huff…

Izuna breathes heavily and wipes the sweat from his forehead. My chakra is rapidly draining because of the corrosive properties of negative chakra.

"Izuna-kun, are you ok?"

Miroku asks him in concern.

"I… I am… I am alright!"

Izuna waves his hand.

'Kurama, give me chakra, will you?'

'Ok!'

Kurama transfers a small part of his chakra to Izuna.

ROAR…

Mōryō roars in rage and blows apart the hill. A giant flood dragon with eight heads leaps out of the hill.

Each head charges an energy cannon and releases it at Izuna.

"Susanoo: Yata no Kagami,"

Izuna places a dark black chakra tower shield and blocks the beams of attack.

Roar… roar… roar…

The eight heads screech and surround Izuna.

Rip…

Izuna summons his full-body Susanoo and slashes apart all eight heads with a single slash.

Swirl…

All eight heads regenerate almost immediately and roar at Izuna. All of them open their mouth and charge another beam of negative chakra.

"As if I would let you do that!"

Swoosh…

The Susanoo flaps its wings and charges at Mōryō.

Slash…

Izuna makes a crisscross slash, destroying the eight heads again.

Swirl…

The negative chakra coalesces again and reforms Mōryō's body.

"So tenacious!" Izuna frown at the instantaneous regeneration of the giant flood dragon.

"Izuna, these abyssal creatures are spiritual life forms. They are almost immune to physical attacks. Attack them with powerful energy or a spiritual attack to kill them. Use the Dragon Blade to attack him. It should be able to get the job done." Genryū suggests him.

"Alright! It's worth a shot." Izuna summons the dragon blade from his storage.

Shiing…

He infuses light chakra into the dragon blade. The dragon blade quickly adjusts to the size of Susanoo and glows with a blue light.

Mōryō's giant dragon eye beads constrict as he feels trepidation from the blade.

"Human! I won't let you destroy our plan so easily. I will take you down with me."

Chomp… Chomp…

The central head rapidly chomps on other heads. After sacrificing seven other heads, the central head grows to an enormous size. A gigantic red crystal horn appears on the head.

Crack…

Mōryō snaps the giant crystal from its head and proceeds to stab it in his chest.

"Quick, stop him! He is about to perform a sacrificial move." Genryū's urgent voice echoes in Izuna's ears.

"Damnit! You are even more unreliable than Kurama." Izuna curses him and swings the giant blade towards the crystal core.

*BOOM*

A gigantic explosion occurs at the point of impact. With the crystal and Izuna as an epicenter, a massive pillar of purple energy rises in the atmosphere. Multiple concentric rings of energy sweep through the air, clearing the clouds in the sky and illuminating the entire Land of Demons.

Rumble… Rumble…

Ground trembles incessantly as the shock waves travel through the entire continent.

Miroku closes her eyes as the remnant Susanoo blocks the shock wave.

After a few minutes, the dust and smoke slowly settle down to reveal a massive crater the size of an entire village. The black receiver turns into dust and the Susanoo evaporates into the air.

"Izuna-kun!"

Miroku hurriedly dashes towards the crater. From the top, she notices a gigantic humanoid gully. Silver and golden chakra flames flicker through the gully as nearly three-fourths of Izuna's Susanoo is blown to smithereens.

The remaining Susanoo dissipates as Izuna slowly rises from the gully.

Huff… huff…

He breathes heavily and stares at the aftermath of battle.

"I… I am fine. Just a little exhausted from the battle." Izuna waves his hand at Miroku.

"I… I didn't expect him to straight up blow himself once he started losing the battle. Unfortunately, I lost the truth-seeking orb given by the Sage of Six Paths. However, soon I will be able to make them on my own."

He dusts his clothes and slowly rises in the air.

"He isn't dead yet!" Genryū's words pour a bucket of cold water and drown his sense of victory.

"Damnit, Genyrū, if you don't speak; no one will consider you mute. Just speak everything in one go!" Izuna gets irritated at the bits and pieces of information given by the white dragon.

"Well… I…" Genryū hesitates for a bit before continuing.

"Every high-tier and above being of Abyss can self-destruct. Once they self-destruct, their spiritual body will dissipate and their soul will return to Abyss. You can't kill them unless you use the power of concept… the power of laws."

"You must have said that earlier. Still, I got a rough estimate of the strength of these Abyssal creatures from the previous fight. The low-tier soldiers should have the strength of chunnins and special jounins. Mid-tier soldiers should be around high-level Jounins to somewhere around the level of a Kage. As for high-tier soldiers like Mōryō can easily rival the likes of Hashirama Senju." Izuna speculates the threat level of Abyssal creatures.

"As for my current strength, I am stronger than Lord First by a huge margin; but I am still weaker than the Sage of Six Path. Then, I can assume the power of an Abyssal centurion to be around the level of an Otsutsuki member. Even if I am slightly weaker than them in terms of raw power; I can fully make up for it in terms of the arsenal of powerful jutsu and Rinne-Sharingan. I still have a chance against the possible centurion sealed in the HOLE," He tightly clutches his first.

"That old geezer is still as unreliable as ever. He didn't even tell me such important information." Izuna scolds the Sage of Six Paths in his mind.

"Are you alright?" Miroku hurriedly approaches him.

"Just some superficial wounds." Izuna shakes his head. He turns to Miroku as he recalls the purpose of his head.

"I have something important to ask of you."

"It's about the barrier in HOLE, right?" Miroku nods her head.

"Umm… yes… but how did you know?"

"I sensed it earlier. The Miko who sealed the demons in that place was from my clan, or to be exact, she is my predecessor. Our ancient clan existed long before the era of chakra. We once received help from a very powerful being as he taught us the various demon sealing rituals and granted us the power of spiritual reincarnation. Later, we awakened Reigan, and it became a part of Dojutsu's ability.

Land of Demons is our homeland. The people living in the HOLE are the members of the branch family responsible for maintaining the seal of Ama no Hoko." Miroku explains the origin of her clan.

"I… I see... that makes sense. So about the barrier…"

"Here!" Miroku passes the hexagonal sealing talisman to Izuna.

"This is the key to the barrier around the Ama no Hoko. It will allow you passage inside the barrier and will also help you search for Saezuri. Unfortunately, our branch doesn't have the sound pattern to activate it."

"It's okay! I have a way around it." Izuna grabs the seal and flies towards the HOLE.

"Itachi, Shisui, and the rest are still locked inside the barrier. I hope they are alright!" He increases his speed and disappears into the sky in the blink of an eye.

"The demon haunting the Land of Demons for centuries is finally dead. But somehow, I don't feel happy about it."

Sigh…

Miroku heaves a sigh of relief and stares at the ruins of the temple and shakes her head.

"Miko-sama! Miko-sama are you alright?"

Hanzo arrives near the crater with the remaining ten or so guards.

Hiss…

He gasps in horror at the sheer size of the crater.

"I am fine!"

Miroku stares at the beaten and battered expression of the Demon execution army guards.

"Let's return to the village and handle the situation there. This time, the village has suffered many casualties."

"Yes, Miko-sama!" Hanzo follows after Miroku as she returns to the village.

"Once we settle the situation at the village, I will make a trip to Konoha to fetch Shion."