Konoha's Mission Master

A gentle breeze blew by, and Yakumo heard a familiar voice in his ear, carrying three words.

"sorry."

Clearly, these were Reiko Aoyama's last words.

Yakumo finally broke down, tears streaming silently down her face, her heart filled with helplessness and despair.

He could no longer feel her; even his soul had completely vanished...

This is the first time he has failed since he traveled through time.

Yakumo ultimately lost; he was no longer the legendary figure who cleared the game in one life, and he lost his aura.

But what truly saddened him was... the death of Reiko Aoyama.

"Why say sorry?" Yakumo murmured to himself. He desperately wanted to know why Aoyama Reiko's last words were "I'm sorry"...

"Because it disrupted my plans, or because it cost me my life?"

Reiko Aoyama's death shattered Yakumo's plan to clear the game in three days.

Yakumo didn't know the meaning of the apology, but he knew he could take a break, rest for a few months to adjust his condition, and then challenge the final boss again.

This time was bought with lives.

P.S.: Looks like there's one more chapter...

Chapter 478 The Grand Finale (Part Two)

Inside the blood cocoon at this moment.

A crimson torrent is crashing against the crimson crystal in the center, and two nearly identical energies are engaged in the most brutal battle, risking their lives for each other.

At the same time, a continuous ringing sound was emitted.

At this moment, the souls of Reiko Aoyama and Kushina Uzumaki also collided.

Reiko Aoyama unleashed a frenzied attack, manipulating energy, while Kushina Uzumaki relied on the hardness of the crimson crystal for passive defense, believing that the enemy's current state wouldn't last long, like a fleeting, beautiful flower...

The clash between the two was also an exchange of souls. In the soul-shaking impact that carried memories, the two saw each other's memories, as if they had been reborn as other people.

Kushina Uzumaki witnessed Reiko Aoyama's tumultuous love life, from missing each other to life-and-death separations, and finally falling in love, only to ultimately find herself unable to obtain what she desired, leaving it buried deep in her heart.

Reiko Aoyama then saw a man named Aoki Trump.

He saved Kushina Uzumaki from danger, and from then on, the light in Kushina Uzumaki's world had a name. For that person, Kushina Uzumaki gave up everything, even friendship and family.

But in the end, he remained stagnant for a hundred years, and overnight his silver hair turned red.

Ultimately, it was something he could not obtain.

Gradually, a sense of resonance arose between the two, but they showed no mercy in their attacks, each with their own reasons for needing to win.

The compressed airflow, tens of thousands of times stronger, was like a school of piranhas, constantly devouring the blood-red crystal.

Of course, Kushina Uzumaki will also launch a counterattack, burning the airflow to ashes with her blood flames.

As time went on, Kushina Uzumaki fell into a disadvantageous position and clearly anticipated her defeat.

The nearly transparent soul detached from the blood-red crystal, and its beautiful eyes became incredibly clear.

"Is it worth it?" Kushina Uzumaki asked.

“Worth it!” Aoyama Reiko answered immediately. During the battle... she was not completely oblivious to the outside world, so she could sense the extreme sorrow hidden in Yakumo's calm eyes.

At the very least, she truly gained Yakumo's attention.

"If you think it's worth it, then that's good," Kushina Uzumaki said. Because of their shared experience of wanting but not getting, the two of them felt a special resonance in their hearts.

“I envy you,” Kushina Uzumaki said, referring to the person who had never reciprocated any of her enthusiasm.

"It's time," said Reiko Aoyama.

"Yes, it's time."

As the two conversed, the battle of souls continued, now nearing its end. Cracks had begun to appear in the crimson crystal, and Kushina Uzumaki's soul had become tattered and broken.

Finally, two more minutes passed, and the crimson crystal completely disappeared, leaving behind a crimson key.

“My time is up too.” Reiko Aoyama breathed a sigh of relief as Kushina Uzumaki disappeared.

The gemstones inlaid on the surface of the Emperor's Ring above the blood cocoon gradually dimmed and shrank in size, eventually transforming back into the shape of a ring. Aoyama Reiko's soul took one last look at Yakumo, her eyes filled with longing, resentment, and blessings.

In fact, she had already prepared her last words. When Yakumo challenged Hatake Sakumo, Aoyama Reiko had already planned her death.

"...sorry."

Please forgive me for breaking the plan.

Please forgive me for giving up my life.

—No matter what, this is the last time.

"Take a good rest, after all, there's still the final boss to come." Aoyama Reiko thought to herself as she looked at Yakumo.

"There is no need to be sad, fate has its own arrangements."

Time and space froze, and the environment became silent.

In the final moments, she did not express her love again.

Reiko Aoyama's soul quickly dissipated, leaving no trace in this world.

On the other hand, there's the virtual battlefield.

The battle between the Lord of Prayer and the Ancient Void Tree has lasted for three whole years.

The Blood Jade Ancient Tree, resembling a war fortress, took root on the surface of the Void Ancient Tree. The distant Planet of Prayer was now utterly ruined, with plants and the corpses of various Void Energy-infected creatures piling up in the void.

These are all recyclable virtual energies, but clearly the two of them no longer have the ability to absorb them.

The Lord of Prayer is now clearly at a disadvantage, and it is estimated that he will be completely defeated once the Void Ancient Tree destroys the Blood Jade Ancient Tree.

But no one noticed that the giant flower at the top of the Blood Jade Ancient Tree was slowly blooming. A blood-red mist, almost tangible, spread with the fragrance of the flower, and a woman was slowly getting up at the center of the flower.

Her appearance was instinctively pleasing to the eye, but her temperament was incredibly cold, like ice that had stood for millennia. Her whole body seemed devoid of warmth, even her eyes were blood red, and she looked extremely indifferent, as if devoid of any life. Her red lips were tightly closed, without a trace of expression.

She appeared incredibly calm, yet carried a chillingly sinister air.

She has a graceful figure, perfect lines, and a straight nose.

She was like God's most perfect creation, without a single flaw. She was captivating and dangerous, and her unique charisma made her unforgettable at first glance.

The planet of Prayer nourished the Blood Jade Ancient Tree with ethereal energy, and after the ethereal energy was purified, it gave birth to this woman's perfect physical body; she is Prayer.

The enormous planet and the Blood Jade Tree are only a tiny part of it.

The body nurtured within the giant tree crown flower is her true core; the other ethereal beings all follow their instincts to develop incredibly large bodies to bear massive amounts of ethereal energy.

Unlike Keqi, whose creator was human, the perfection she sought was also humanoid.

The connection to the Mark of Prayer also makes her face shape somewhat similar to Masako Mori's. In her perception, Masako Mori is the person most familiar with her master.

The entire Blood Jade Ancient Tree rapidly compressed, continuously converging towards Qi's right hand.

A few seconds later, a blood-red longsword about 1.3 meters long was formed.

The Void Tree immediately manipulated its roots to strangle Qi, unaware of the gravity of the situation.

When Qi gripped the knife, the entire space seemed to darken.

"Blood Extreme - Extinction of Life".

This move itself is driven by one's own killing intent, forming a terrifying will to annihilate everything.

Over tens of thousands of years... Qi grew up amidst slaughter, surpassing even Runyu, who was also a ruler, simply in the sheer number of lives he took.

This is its unique advantage, which no other living being can replicate.

When Qi mobilized his killing intent, the cosmos dimmed, and ethereal energy continuously converged towards the blade, rapidly compressing until it formed three gray blade beams that stretched across the starry sky.

The three sword beams possessed terrifying fluctuations that even made the ancient Void Tree tremble. Any matter that came into contact with the sword beams was quickly put into a state of death and rapidly annihilated... becoming dust in the void.

As Qi swung his longsword, the three blade beams began to move rapidly.

In the blink of an eye, the three sword lights had already traversed a distance of several thousand kilometers.

A thousand miles in a breath—that's an unimaginable speed.

The next second, the Void Tree was directly split into three sections, but it did not die. The crown transformed into endless void energy creatures that evolved into the world, which governed life. The huge trunk governed space, and only the roots rooted in the sea of ​​stars governed void energy.

The three attacked Qi separately, but the momentum they unleashed was far less than before.

Qi Ling stepped into the air, and countless gray air currents crashed into the vibrant tree canopy.

She planned to eliminate a portion of the enemy first. After Qi appeared, the distant planet of Qi also regained its vitality and began to actively devour the surrounding void energy.

In the distance, the stands.

Runyu, who had always been composed, now had a stiff smile on his face.

In the universe, all beings with illusory energy are skilled in the Dao, devouring, plundering, and absorbing, but there are very few beings with illusory energy.

Skill and willpower combined—only Aoki Trump back then could combine the two.

Dao represents rank, and Ji represents the strongest combat power that can be unleashed under the same rank.

Now, a new exception has emerged.

Elsewhere, Yakumo slowly regained consciousness from his slumber.

What came into view was a ceiling made of wooden planks. With Yakumo's keen eyesight, he could clearly see the fine age of the planks and the traces left by the passage of time, the peeling paint, the dark green and brown, and the black protruding nail heads at the edges.

Unfortunately, there were no spider webs in the corners of the ceiling, nor any parasitic insects behind the wooden planks.

In the house, which was filled with the warmth of life, there was no sound except for his breathing and heartbeat.

This is still a world constructed from virtual energy.

"Ugh."

Yakumo let out a soft sigh, casually stuffing the Void Emperor's Ring from beside his pillow into his outer pocket. He couldn't sense Aoyama Reiko's presence, which undoubtedly proved... the scenes in his memory were not illusions.

"Is fate predetermined?" He clenched his fist, then relaxed it.

"Crench."