Konoha's Mission Master

"Soul Imprisonment!!"

Yakumo suddenly swung his sword, slamming Fuma violently towards Im. The blade, carrying immense force, fell and was about to strike Im's body.

At the critical moment, Im suppressed the backlash and suddenly raised his golden spear to defend himself. With two cracking sounds, his arms were broken by the terrifying violence, and pale bone spurs pierced through his black cloak.

"Release the spatial blockade!"

Im's body shifted five meters, causing Yakumo's full-force attack to miss, but his arms hung down at his sides in an extremely strange posture.

The surrounding space reconnected with Yakumo, and in the blink of an eye, it moved to appear behind Im, its long sword slamming down.

Swish, the repositioning attack missed.

"Shadow Clone Technique!"

Yakumo slammed his hands together in front of him, and countless shadow clones began to use spatial teleportation to pursue Im, whose arms were broken, and launch a new round of attacks against him.

Golden blade energy, mixed with various other energies, erupted in the sky, turning the entire sky into a kaleidoscope of colors. The energy storm swept through and destroyed everything around it.

Thirty seconds later, Im's arms were restored. During this time, he removed the residual energy from the eight clouds inside his arms, which allowed the broken bones to heal.

"Divine pronouncement: Spatial movement is prohibited here."

Im once again banned spatial teleportation, forcing Yakumo to cancel his numerous shadow clones, and his chakra became abundant again.

Yakumo decided to put away his magic and launch a full-scale attack. When his soul was attached to his body, his flight speed would overwhelm Im's.

The two collided in mid-air like comets. Yakumo was about to form a Soul Crystal to launch a sneak attack, but a strange black aura suddenly appeared on Im's body, causing his aura to plummet.

A slight smile appeared on Yakumo's face. This was the effect of the curse of the God of the Underworld, and he naturally couldn't let go of this excellent opportunity.

"Soul Imprisonment!!!"

"One move!"

Yakumo's slash, a fusion of numerous energies, landed on Im, but he still did not give up the fight, swinging his golden spear to block in front of him.

His constantly changing tone carried a hint of resentment.

"So the problems I have... are your doing!!"

"Just a tiny, minor special ability."

Yakumo continued to unleash his attack, a peak strike created by the fusion of four elemental energies, and his strongest attack at this moment.

The four energies of wind, fire, thunder, and life are perfectly integrated, transforming into a mysterious energy with a pale purple hue. Combined with the scorching heat of the sun's fire, it continuously strikes Im.

The black cloak was torn to shreds, revealing golden armor. Beneath the armor, the body was shapely and rather tall, probably around 1.7 meters.

Im continued speaking the moment the two separated.

"Divine words, I should be invincible."

“The word of God, I respond to His power.”

As soon as those two sentences were uttered, Yakumo sensed that Im's aura had become even more terrifying, with a faint crimson steam rising from his body, making him seem even more dangerous.

"Your Majesty!"

The kingly declaration struck Yakumo's soul, and the sudden burst of Conqueror's Haki caused the entire world to lose its color.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Im instantly arrived in front of Yakumo, and his golden spear pierced directly towards Yakumo's throat, leaving a golden afterimage in the air.

Yakumo Hiiragi retreated, simultaneously mobilizing the energy within his body.

The golden current merged with the life source energy and circulated rapidly within his body, stimulating every cell to unleash even more terrifying energy, causing his speed to surge dramatically.

The wind and thunder clashed, and Im's attack missed once again.

Yakumo guessed that Im's state could not be maintained for long, which was the reason for his numerous attacks. He would wait for Im to reveal a weakness due to the backlash of the curse as the opportunity to attack.

As he moved, Yakumo was also accumulating the fire of the sun. Among his many abilities, the fire of the sun was definitely not the strongest, but its inextinguishable nature made it very difficult to deal with.

"Divine word, I shall act swiftly!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Im's speed suddenly increased, and he instantly caught up with the moving Yakumo. Although his attack was powerful, it also revealed a hint of weakness.

boom!!

The two were evenly matched in strength, and a new round of fierce attacks began. Im's numerous declarations enhanced his physical qualities in all aspects.

The jet-black Armament Haki burst forth upon impact, transforming into a vast black net in mid-air before converging and entangling around the golden spear in the next instant.

The immense force caused the golden spear to bend abruptly, only to straighten again in the next instant. This weapon, neither gold nor stone, possessed unimaginable toughness and elasticity, as well as an undefendable sharpness.

In this battle, this weapon left a deep impression on Yakumo, having broken through the Blood Soul Armor's defenses several times, only to be blocked by the blue scales inside.

To defend against its sharpness, Yakumo deliberately increased the thickness of his blue scales to the limit, thus perfectly defending against the power of the golden spear.

"A thousand pounds!"

Im suddenly swung his spear with both hands, making it trace a near-perfect arc in mid-air, with the tip pointing directly at Yakumo's throat.

Perhaps sensing Yakumo's monstrous defense, his attacks began to focus on vulnerable areas like the throat.

With a deafening roar, Yakumo's defenses were breached once again. A terrifying distance spread from the blade to his body, and a tingling sensation rose in his arms.

"Ten thousand jun!"

Im suddenly took a step forward, his body radiating an even more terrifying pressure. His eyes beneath the mask were filled with coldness, and his hands still gripped the spear in a thrusting stance.

Ding! !

Yakumo's horizontal sword was about to be deflected by its terrifying power when the blood-red armor split open, and countless vines formed around the blade to strengthen its defense.

The other parts pierce out like spears!

Puff puff puff!

The crimson spear pierced Im's body, and Yakumo's defenses were completely destroyed by the attack, essentially exchanging blows for blows.

Im withdrew his golden spear and retreated, the tip still stained with blood. His golden armor was pierced by the blood-red spear, and his body was covered in wounds from which blood oozed, making him look extremely miserable.

Two consecutive attacks, a full-force burst, were ultimately insufficient to defeat the enemy.

Yakumo's wounds were instantly healed, and the holes in his blood-red armor could be repaired at an extremely fast speed.

The balance of power has shifted this time.

"Soul Imprisonment!"

This time, Yakumo disregarded the consumption and maximized the power of the Soul Restriction. With a flash of golden light, Yakumo appeared directly behind Im. The suppression of the Soul Restriction allowed him to connect to a portion of the space.

Although he cannot teleport directly through space, he can use the Flying Thunder God Technique.

"How could you possibly teleport?"

*Pfft*, the next second Im suffered a backlash and spat out blood. Although the Devil Fruit's power gave him the ability to create rules, he would suffer a backlash if the rules he created were broken.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Yakumo used his sword as a spear to pierce Im's heart and infused it with a large amount of solar fire.

The next second, Im's figure disappeared.

The restriction on spatial movement had disappeared, but Yakumo quickly caught up with him and continued his attack.

"You've slowed down because of spatial teleportation, is that also an ability borrowed from a Devil Fruit?"

Im didn't answer, but Yakumo believed he was pretty much right; the fruit, though powerful, also had its limitations.

If it's not your own ability, it will never be as comfortable as if you used it yourself.

Yakumo struck Im once more, slicing through his armor and leaving a new scar on his shoulder, especially since the sun's fire within him was still scorching his body.

Im's recovery speed was also declining, his ability to remain alive after a moment was broken and disappeared, and he suffered another backlash.

"Release the spatial blockade."

Yakumo regained his sense of space.

"Release, divine power, divine speed, immortality."

"Release, non-invasion, space, flight."

Im spoke repeatedly, his aura rapidly declining, and black gas appeared all over his body. After losing its inviolable suppression, the power of the Underworld God's curse instantly erupted.

Yakumo instinctively sensed something was wrong and immediately moved a thousand meters away, using all the life energy in his body to strengthen his armor.

The giant, who was originally about two meters tall, quickly grew to about ten meters tall.

As he constructed his defenses to counter the attack, Im opened his arms and spoke once more to the entire world, issuing a declaration.

"The divine word is: Time should stand still in this world!"

An invisible energy spread, but Yakumo was unable to detect it and was directly imprisoned in place.

In the final instant, Yakumo activated all his blood sacs, and incredibly hot, viscous blood was pumped to every part of his body.

Im wasted no time and immediately began to move. Time Stop was a powerful move derived from the awakening of the fruit, which could only be used after all enhancements were removed, but it could only be maintained for three seconds.

In the first second, he crossed a kilometer.

In the second, he destroyed the thick defense formed by the vines with his golden spear, and saw Yakumo's true form, which was fixed in place. He pierced through the blue scales with his weapon and plunged it into Yakumo's chest, and began to use Armament Haki to destroy Yakumo's body.

"You are but an ant before such power."

Im coldly delivered his verdict. Although he was in a sorry state, he had always known that once he stopped time, he could directly decide the outcome of this battle.

The price is the loss of immortality, which will further deplete his already limited lifespan, leaving him with only three days left.

The previously imprisoned Yakumo vanished instantly. By the time Im reacted, his heart had already been pierced, and the terrifying energy was rapidly destroying his internal organs.

"Why?"

Im couldn't understand why he had the upper hand one moment and was now facing a life-or-death situation the next.

Yakumo was able to break through the time-locking restrictions because of the viscous blood that he instinctively activated. Although his physique was over 100 and he could not manipulate the flow of time, he was immune to the effects of time freezing when he unleashed his full power.

In battles of this caliber, any mistake can be fatal.

"god....."

puff.

The short blade plunged into the back of Im's head, piercing his mouth and interrupting his remaining words. Yakumo created a shadow clone, which reached for the golden mask on his face.

Upon closer inspection, the mask subtly revealed an ancient charm and an inexplicable air of nobility. In the end, Yakumo dispelled the shadow clone and did not remove the mask from Im's face.

The eerie blue flames burned it to ashes, leaving only the tattered golden mask hanging on the blade of the Jade-Unraveling Blade.