Shinno crashed down hard, the steel deck shattering, and countless fragments pierced his back.
He let out a pained scream, catching a glimpse with his peripheral vision of Star Platinum clenching its fist again and striking towards his face.
Elsewhere, Killer Queen appeared, reaching out to touch Shinno's hand, about to place a bomb.
Meanwhile, Linto's fingertips, gripping Shinno's skull tightly, emitted intense heat.
Shinno suddenly understood—
"Linto, that vicious guy, he's going to directly roast my brains!"
Three fatal attacks were about to land, death rapidly approaching, Shinno's longed-for great achievement about to be dashed. A resolute glint flashed in his eyes, and he roared:
"Explode!"
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Every section of the sky fortress's decks, every compartment, exploded at Shinno's command all at once. Amidst the fiery explosions, a wave of overwhelming negative emotions reappeared.
Zero Tail Core!
Seeing that things were not good, Shinno chose to detonate the Zero Tail Core!
The entire sky fortress, from its weapon systems, defense systems, to the light bulbs and telephones in every cabin, was powered by the Zero Tail Core.
Dark Chakra permeated the whole sky fortress. With just a command from Shinno, the sky fortress could transform into the most brilliant, yet also the most terrifying, fireworks.
And now, this was his final trump card for survival.
The explosion's flames engulfed Linto, obscuring his vision. A mouthful of blood, mixed with the residual Chakra of Zero Tail, shot towards Linto's eyes like steel needles!
"ORA!"
Star Platinum's punch shattered the incoming bloody mist. Its other hand, with undiminished speed, swung down towards where it registered Shinno to be.
A dull thud indicated flesh turning into a bloody mess.
But Linto knew Shinno wasn't dead.
Because he now held something in his hand.
A skull with a jagged, uneven break!
To escape, Shinno had smashed open his own skull the moment the explosion occurred, freeing himself from Linto's grip.
At the cost of the sky fortress he prided himself on, he had bought himself a fleeting chance to escape.
Shinno might have his flaws, but when it came to achieving his goals, his ruthlessness towards himself and his subordinates far surpassed what ordinary people could manage.
On the ground lay blood and gore crushed by Star Platinum. Judging by its shape, it was likely his entire left arm to his shoulder blade that had been pulverized, along with some of his ribs and a kidney.
After detonating the Zero Tail Core, Shinno could no longer rely on Dark Chakra, nor could he repair his body at will as before. In this state, Shinno wouldn't be able to escape far.
Linto waved his hand, releasing a swift gust of wind that cleared the explosive smoke.
Indeed, at the edge of his vision, he saw a stumbling figure, Shinno.
He laboriously took a step and stood before a crater created by the explosion, turning back to look at Linto.
In his gaze were panic, fear, and more importantly, a question:
"I'm right here, do you want to come and kill me—or—"
"Go save the city below?"
The sky fortress, over 170 meters long and weighing 200,000 tons, was rapidly transforming into millions of steel fragments of various sizes, burning fiercely and carrying Zero Tail's negative emotional energy.
And the outward shockwave from the explosion would scatter the fragments.
It was like a loaded shotgun; pull the trigger, and the unlucky target named "Golin City" would be riddled with holes, hundreds of thousands would die in this disaster, and even more would perish from the subsequent chaos.
And…
This process wouldn't take long.
Since the sky fortress had already undergone a descent, it was now only two hundred meters away from Golin City. In just three to four seconds, the city below would become a fiery ruin.
Linto had just finished his previous time stop and needed a brief rest. Any other method to kill Shinno would take at least one to two seconds.
Therefore, the answer appeared in his mind.
Linto and Shinno exchanged a glance. Linto's indifferent gaze answered Shinno's question—
"You're not worthy."
Not worthy of what?
Shinno was stunned for half a second, then reacted.
"You think… the life of the leader of my Sky Country is not worth comparing to the tens of thousands of commoners below?!"
Shinno stared at Linto's retreating back, laughing in anger.
"Good, good, good!"
"I've noted this. Next time we meet, I'll make you regret this decision!"
Shinno cursed out loud, but in his heart…
He was secretly overjoyed.
"I survived… hehe… I survived!"
Shinno jumped back into the sky fortress and stripped a flight ninja tool from a slain Sky Ninja Corps soldier, putting it on.
"It's exactly as I guessed. Linto, this fool, appears indifferent, but he's greedier than anyone. What he craves is the most fragile, and most useless thing—"
"Kindness and righteousness."
"But only 'people' have these two 'dirty things.' To become a superior being, to fly in the sky and look down on commoners, you have to make yourself clean and light."
Shinno flew out from a broken wall.
"Just like me."
Besides Shinno, dozens of Sky Ninja Corps soldiers, who were not immediately caught in the explosion, also escaped from the sky fortress.
Shinno mingled with them, masquerading as an ordinary soldier, intending to escape in the chaos.
He considered Linto's previous opponents; how many had pushed this monster to retreat, how many had escaped with ease? Today, the results of the Zero Tail techniques and the sky fortress were perfectly demonstrated.
As long as he could escape, Shinno would win.
"Goodbye, Linto."
Shinno whispered, taking one last look at Golin City. He saw Linto, who had landed on the ground, his smug expression turning to confusion.
"What… is he doing?"
…
Linto fell straight down from the sky fortress, returning to the ground.
As soon as he landed, he heard another massive roar from the sky.
The sky fortress completely disintegrated in this explosion, and a sky full of fiery rain fell in all directions, without any pattern.
"Brother Shou!"
Sasuke, Little Momo, and Kakashi came running from a distance.
Their faces were no longer relaxed.
Yes, as they had imagined, Linto dealing with Shinno was not a problem. However… this sky fortress was outside that scope; it was even unrelated to Shinno.
Even if Shinno wasn't on the sky fortress, as long as this thing appeared over Golin City, the explosion that would engulf the entire city would occur.
Everyone knew that the Sky Ninja Corps had long since abandoned humanity, that they were cruel and ruthless, not valuing their own lives, let alone the lives of others.
The series of large-scale bombings in the Land of Fire was evidence of this.
But Golin City was different.
The financial groups of the Land of Wind were Shinno's benefactors. Golin City was a very important oasis city in the Land of Wind, providing a large amount of tax revenue and minerals annually.
The previous destructive ray was aimed at the civilian areas, intended to lure Linto into dealing with it proactively, which could be considered a tactic, barely…
And the current self-destruction.
From a rational standpoint, it would cause massive losses to their benefactors.
From an emotional standpoint… this was pure, inhumane, indiscriminate slaughter!
And all of this, just to cover the escape of an old beast.
Linto's gaze was ice-cold.
He looked up at the sky.
A sky full of fiery rain, meteors, and explosions.
Linto then scanned his surroundings.
Despair gradually filled people's faces. They knew there was no escape, nowhere to hide.
The only thing they could do was await death.
Linto took a deep breath, retrieved the Dragon Snake Bead from the Ghost Room, and raised it high.
The natural energy of dozens of kilometers surged into his body within moments.
Rumble—
Rolling thunder sounded, and strands of golden lightning coiled around him. Soon, the lightning transformed into flames, and the flames, under the gaze of countless onlookers, turned into…
Roaring golden flames!
Linto closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and with every inhale and exhale, his ripples and natural energy surged. When his power reached its peak, he suddenly opened his eyes.
His eyes shone brightly, like the sun that had fallen to earth.
He clenched his five fingers into a fist, imbued with boundless solar flames, and slammed it heavily onto the ground.
At this moment, the entire Golin City felt a tremor, not just from beneath their feet but a soul-shattering one.
Golden flames roared, spun, and sank into the deepest parts of the earth.
The power of the earth granted by the Dragon Pill to Linto rippled outwards from the depths of the earth's veins, like ripples in a pond.
The earth had awakened.
Countless tiny particles of dust, defying gravity, slowly floated up.
Kakashi, who had arrived, exclaimed, "Is this… White Snake Sage's Senjutsu?!"
Senjutsu that controlled the earth perfectly matched the description of the White Snake Sage in the intelligence reports.
"Could Linto also control the earth?!"
Kakashi's thoughts were wishful.
If Linto could freely control the earth like the White Snake Sage, let alone one sky fortress, Linto wouldn't care about an entire sky fleet.
Linto had only absorbed the Dragon Pill and mastered a part of the earth's power. In other countries, Linto could at most draw strength from the earth to amplify his abilities.
But the Land of Wind was different.
Here, the earth…
…was sand.
Controlling solid earth to become waves and controlling tiny, light sand were two entirely different levels of difficulty.
This was the method Linto had devised.
His stand, his ripples, and Golden Spin couldn't deal with an attack of this scale.
At this point, Linto could only gamble.
Gamble that he could withstand it.
Gamble that time would be enough.
Gamble that…
These innocent, still-working, recently-paid-off-their-mortgages unfortunate laborers.
Their lives were not meant to end!
"Sand… sand…"
A sound came from afar. Sasuke looked to his side, and a tiny grain of sand passed before his eyes, flying towards the sky.
It emitted a faint golden glow, like a grain of gold.
If one looked closely, they could see tiny golden flames burning on it.
The small grain of sand collided with a falling piece of fiery rain, creating a tiny hole and disappearing.
Sasuke stared blankly at the fiery rain about to fall from the sky.
Boom—
Linto poured all his flames into the earth.
The next second, tens of thousands of golden sand rivers flowed from afar, passing by the citizens, like fireflies rushing into a fire, heading towards the falling fiery rain.
This was a sandstorm against the current of rain.
Each fragment of the sky fortress's steel was melted and pierced by the golden sand.
Finally transforming into a sky full of iron shavings, like falling snow.
Linto breathed heavily. His body and mind were more exhausted than ever. To achieve this effect, he had expended all his ripples.
This was arguably his most vulnerable moment.
Linto was now just an ordinary person with multiple stands, mastery of Golden Spin, and rapid regeneration. He could not use ripples or natural energy for a short period.
Linto really wanted to rest.
But the work wasn't finished.
"Hermit Purple!"
Purple vines shot out, precisely grabbing a "Sky Ninja soldier" hovering crookedly in the sky. Linto yanked hard, pulling the enemy towards him.
It was Shinno!
Shinno unleashed the last of his strength, breaking free from Hermit Purple's vines.
He saw Linto's weakness.
Naturally, after performing such a terrifying "technique," anyone would have to pay a price!
Shinno advanced instead of retreating, a wild expression on his face, feeling a turn of fortune.
"Linto! You are incredibly weak now! This is the best chance for me to kill you!"
He swung a heavy punch again, determined to kill Linto on the spot. The response he received was—
"ORA!"
Star Platinum's simple jab interrupted Shinno's charge.
Shinno was stunned.
How could a man who performed the golden sand river technique… still possess such terrifying strength…
Star Platinum stared coldly at Shinno.
"ORA ORA ORA ORA!"
A barrage of punches, and Shinno immediately spat blood, crashing against a wall, then tumbling to the ground.
Shinno tried to use a forbidden technique to heal his body again, but found that his wounds were not only not healing but his body was becoming bluer under the forbidden technique.
Strands of hair fell out, his hands and face were covered in wrinkles, and his once-broad and tall body became shriveled and stooped.
A hand reached out and gently helped him up, saying with concern, "Old man, don't you dare die, I haven't punched you yet."
White Snake looked at Shinno's skull-less head and found it a bit indecent, so he reached out and smoothed Shinno's hair from the sides towards the middle.
White Snake's fingers were cold, like a true venomous snake.
Shinno's frail body trembled as he looked at Linto, who was walking step by step.
"What did you say."
Linto stood before Shinno. "Next time we meet, let me… do what?"
Shinno hadn't expected to meet again so soon after parting.
"I… I…"
Shinno was extremely flustered.
He had so many trump cards, he had prepared for so long, why were they all so easily torn apart by the man before him?!
A few surviving Sky Ninja Corps soldiers were hovering in the sky, including the deputy who admired Shinno the most.
Seeing his commander captured, his heart filled with sorrow. He abruptly tore off his uniform, revealing the bomb-lined interior.
He charged straight down, intending to become a bomb to save Shinno.
The deputy flew closer and closer. Just as he was about to pull the fuse and ignite the detonators, he saw—
Shinno kneeling on the ground.
"Please, don't kill me… I can become your subordinate. I can also give you the sky fortress technology… As long as you don't kill me, I'll agree to anything. I can even help you negotiate with the consortium…"
The deputy hung in the air, staring blankly at this scene, feeling that the fuse in his hand.
Had lost all meaning.
He closed his eyes and pulled the fuse.
He exploded in mid-air, utterly annihilated.
Linto glanced at the deputy who committed suicide in the sky and looked down at Shinno again. "It has nothing to do with technology or the consortium. There is only one reason why I am killing you."
White Snake pierced Shinno's chest from behind, and two optical discs popped out from Shinno's forehead.
"That is, you are too much of a beast," Linto said.
Shinno coughed up blood, his gaze towards Linto unfocused, and he whispered, "Linto… even if you succeed, do you think a stable world can accommodate a monster like you?"
Linto walked to Shinno's side, bent down, and whispered in his ear.
"None of your business."
With that, he pulled out the optical discs.
Shinno collapsed on the ground, lifeless.
"Killed Shinno, gained 700 soul fragments."
"Defeated Zero Tail Void · Limitless Energy, gained 1200 soul fragments."
"Defeated Sky Ninja Corps, gained 1500 soul fragments."