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Chapter 314: The Demon Within
Chapter 314: The Demon Within
Chapter 314: The Demon Within
Swish swish
Kanami slashes another pair of vines and frees one of her teammates.
"Things aren't looking good; at this rate, we will run out of chakra and stamina before we could defeat the enemy." She has a grim expression on her face."
Ayaka and Hanabi are fighting against the endless waves of enemies as signs of exhaustion appear on their bodies.
"I am almost out of chakra!"
Hanabi breathes heavily.
"I am down to half!"
Ayaka's back rests against Hanabi's as she actively scans the enemies with her Sharingan.
'It's strange! Very strange! There is no distinction between the movements of the enemies. All of them follow a similar attack pattern. It's almost like they are puppets or something.'
Confusion appears in her eyes as she engages in the battle.
On the deck of the Cargo ship,
A frown appears on Yakumo's face as she stares at the battle. She places down her brush and attentively stares at the enemy ship.
"Somehow, I feel like something is off here!"
"Oh!"
Izuna notices Yakumo's restlessness.
"Looks like she is the first one to figure out the genjutsu."
He turns towards the thick mist surrounding the group.
"This mist is the source of this genjutsu. There is a strange chakra flowing through this mist, which disrupts the chakra of the victim.
Normally, a genjutsu disrupts the flow of chakra in the target's cerebral nervous system. Or to be precise, it affects the prosencephalon structure of the brain. This particular part of the brain is responsible for the sensory organs of the body.
The sensory organs will function normally and send proper feedback to the brain. But the genjutsu will alter the information perceived by the brain, thus altering the perception of the brain. However, the genjutsu cast by this crab is different."
Izuna activates his Mangekyo Sharingan and stares at the thick fog. Various tiny purple particles are present in the fog.
"These particles invade the body through the olfactory system and disrupt the chakra of the sensory organ rather than the brain. As a result, the sensory organs will send false feedback to the brain.
Since it affects the sensory organs directly, such a genjutsu is quite hard to dispel, since the conventional method of disrupting the brain's chakra won't work in this case. On the contrary, it might lead to a further imbalance between mind and body."
Izuna shakes his head as he remembers a certain past incident.
"It's similar to those glaze snow lilies from the Valley of Lies!"
BOOM BOOM
The battle continues to rage on as the crew resists the frantic attacks of the giant corpse crabs and his barnacle army.
Grrr Scree
The corpse crab screeches in anger. Despite its continuous attacks, it has failed to capture even a single prey.
Grrr
It releases a dark purple chakra from its body which covers the entire crew. The movements of the entire crew turn sluggish as the toxins in the chakra turn them lethargic.
"What's going on?!"
"Why do I feel so dizzy all of a sudden?"
The crew members grab their forehead as the toxins of the crab slowly poison them. Dark purple chakra rises from their body and enters in a bead on the crab's head.
Hm?!
Izuna frowns as he notices the dark chakra leaking from the crew members with his Sharingan.
"So, this is how dark chakra is extracted from a person. This bead seems to be sort of container."
The corpse crab wildly flails its tentacles around and attacks the crew.
"Watch out, Ayaka!" Hanabi warns Ayaka as one of the tentacles swiftly attacks her.
Ah!
Ayaka shields her eyes with her hands to block the attack.
Swoosh
"That's enough!"
Izuna appears in front of Ayaka and slices the tentacle.
"Onii-chan!"
Ayaka stares at Izuna's back with relief.
"It's about time to end this farce."
Bzzt
Black lightning flickers through Izuna's hand.
"Black Lightning: Lightning Spear"
Izuna creates a giant lightning spear in his palm.
BAM
The black lightning spear skewers through the crab's body, instantly killing it in the process.
The lightning continues to flicker through water and clears the dense fog around them.
The dense fog comprises Yin chakra and the small genjutsu particles. Izuna's black lightning is composed of Yang chakra and lightning, which makes it a powerful counter to the genjutsu.
Fwoosh
The genjutsu dispels slowly as the thick film of fog vanishes.
AH!
The sailor crew members slowly gain their bearing. They gawk at the giant screen of thick fog slowly fading before their eyes.
"Perhaps you should look beneath your feet!"
Izuna warns them as he picks up Ayaka and Hanabi and flickers towards the cargo ship.
EH!
The group returns to their senses and notices the corpse of a giant corpse crab under their feet.
"What?!"
Dark purple fumes rise from the giant crab's body. The bead on its forehead slowly absorbs the fumes.
Whoosh whoosh
The sailor crew hastily jumps on the water and avoids the body of the corpse crab.
"Sensei! So, the ghost ship we were fighting was this giant crab." Hanabi asks in fear.
"Yes!" Izuna nods his head.
"This corpse crab was secretly following our ship in the search of prey. When we were in the middle of the sea, he slowly released the thick fog from its body. This fog slowly encapsulated you all and without even your awareness all of you were trapped in its genjutsu."
Izuna chuckles and ruffles their hairs.
"Still, you did well for a fight of such scale. Yakumo even figured out the genjutsu."
He turns towards Yakumo and praises her.
Hmm
Yakumo is blankly staring at the giant corpse crab as Izuna's voice startles her.
"Ah! Sensei! I I"
"What's the matter? Why were you spacing out all of a sudden?"
"Well! I How do I say it?"
She points towards the bead on the crab's head.
"Sensei! I didn't know, but for some reason, I can feel a familiar chakra from this bead. But the chakra in this bead is scary."
"Oh!" Izuna raises an eyebrow as he remembers the strange chakra used in Yakumo's mindscape.
'Does that chakra have some connections with this dark chakra?'
Swoosh
Izuna waves his hand and the beads float towards him.
"Wow!"
Ayaka and Hanabi stare at the bead in amazement.
"Don't touch it! The chakra inside the bead is very evil, it will corrupt your mind."
Izuna warns them.
"Are you sure it feels familiar?"
He turns to Yakumo.
"Yes, Sensei!"
'Interesting!'
"Alright! Let me purify the evil will inside this chakra."
Izuna uses the purifying element of his light release to purify the sinister Will inside the bead.
Fwoosh
Suddenly, Izuna is dragged into his mindscape.
"Why am I in my mindscape all of a sudden? Did someone attack my mindscape?"
A gigantic serpentine creature with a very long and dark purple body and multiple dragon-based heads appears in his mindscape.
Shiing
The eyes of the creature glow with a red hue.
Swish
It swipes its gigantic claws at Izuna's mindscape in an attempt to destroy his mind.
Swoosh swoosh
The elemental orbs around rapidly shoot in front of him and form a barrier.
Clang
The claws land on the barrier, but the barrier absorbs the attack.
Fwish
The counterforce from the barrier disperses the claw and turns it into smoke.
ROAR
The giant serpentine creature roars in fury. Its eyes blazed in anger.
"You dare overstep your mortal authority and challenge a God?!"
Hmph
Izuna scoffs and waves his hand as the light orb shoots towards the giant serpentine figure.
"Just a small fading consciousness and you proclaim yourself a God!"
BOOM
The light orb slams into the giant serpentine creature.
Crack crack
The figure shatters into countless fragments and turns into a wisp of smoke.
Swoosh
The darkness orb floats in front of Izuna and absorbs the wisp of smoke.
Fwoosh
Izuna exits his mindscape.
"Here!"
He passes the bead to Yakumo and curiously stares at her.
'The presence of that consciousness points towards the involvement of demons. But Yakumo can sense a feeling of familiarity with this object. Does she have some connections with the demons or does her bloodline originate from a demon?'
Izuna speculates various possibilities as Yakumo carefully grabs the orb.
Swoosh
Dark purple chakra rises from the orb and slowly shrouds Yakumo.
Hmm
Swish swish
Izuna makes some hand signs and covers Yakumo's body in an illusion to hide the process from others.
'I am afraid, others might fear her for her sinister power. I don't want people to isolate her again.'
AHHHH
Yakumo screams in pain as the dark purple chakra enters her body through her mouth.
Hm?!
Izuna frowns at the process.
'She isn't absorbing the chakra as we do with Nature energy and normal chakra. She is directly eating the chakra.'
The dark chakra travels through her entire body. Izuna spectates the entire process with his Mangekyo Sharingan. It slowly circulates through her chakra system and then enters her brain.
The dark chakra slowly enters her mindscape. A demonic being with horns and sharp, long canines slowly walks out of the darkness within Yakumo's mind.
Shoosh
The demonic being opens its mouth and consumes the entire dark purple chakra.
It slowly turns around to return to the darkness.
"Hold on a minute!"