Nyutaro, the large orange cat, was still in shock. If Mizuki Ryosuke hadn't intervened, that white spike would have skewered him like a cat-shaped gourd. His fur was still bristling, and his tail was stiff from the near-death experience.
Meanwhile, Mizuki Ryosuke's killing intent surged. There was no doubt now—Terumi Mei's injuries had been caused by the sudden appearance of those white spikes in the mist. A cold fury burned in his eyes as he recalled her wounded state. His decision was made, and it was irreversible.
Since the freezing air had an effect on the mist, he would escalate his attack. He would wipe out whatever lurked in the haze—no matter how much chakra it cost.
Mizuki Ryosuke's hands flew into a rapid sequence of hand seals before slamming his palms onto the icy ground.
Suddenly, the massive frozen lake beneath him trembled. The thick ice, which covered the entire misty space, seemed to come alive. The chilling aura permeated the fog, causing the eerie haze to ripple as if it sensed danger.
"Ice Release: Frozen Earth!"
The entire ice field erupted. The frozen surface split apart, warping into a forest of jagged ice spikes and twisting spears that shot into the mist in all directions. A tide of ice surged outward, indiscriminately shredding everything in its path.
The entire space was consumed by an overwhelming frost.
Since the mist disrupted normal chakra sensing, Mizuki Ryosuke abandoned precision altogether. He unleashed an area-wide attack, flooding the entire battlefield with destruction.
From the previous attack, he had already determined that the entity hiding in the mist had a physical form. And if something had a body, it could be killed.
Just as no one could survive a direct blast from a tailed beast's Bijuudama, this was the equivalent of using a cannon to swat a mosquito—but Ryosuke didn't care.
Safety came first.
Nyutaro's fur stood on end as he watched the chaotic destruction unfold.
"No! Brother, calm down!!!"
The big orange cat flailed in protest, but Ryosuke, already lost in his fury, ignored him.
The frozen battlefield stretched in all directions. Thousands of razor-sharp ice spikes expanded, piercing the thick fog like a monstrous cage of frost.
Somewhere in the dense haze, an indistinct figure was struck, its form ripped apart by the twisting ice lances. A distorted shriek echoed briefly before vanishing.
Even the ghostly mist itself began thinning. The sinister fog, which had swallowed light and sound, was now dissipating, torn apart by the sheer force of the cold.
The misty prison was crumbling.
Terumi Mei, still held securely in Ryosuke's arms, and Nyutaro, still clutched in his grip, would have been obliterated ten times over had Ryosuke not precisely controlled his technique around them.
But something else was happening.
Cracks spread along the walls of the cavern.
Though Ryosuke couldn't see it, his relentless attack had weakened the very foundations of this underground labyrinth. Thin fractures ran along the rock surfaces, growing wider with each passing second.
And then—
"Crack…"
A sharp sound rang out.
Ryosuke's head snapped toward the source. Through the now-thinned mist, he caught his first clear glimpse of the cavern's edge.
Without hesitation, he moved. Seizing Terumi Mei and Nyutaro, he dashed toward the wall.
The so-called haze space was actually an underground cavern—a vast chamber with a 30-meter-high ceiling and spanning nearly 10 square kilometers.
The force of his Frozen Earth technique had not only shredded the enemy but also weakened the cavern walls, causing cracks to spread like spiderwebs.
Something ancient was about to be revealed.
A mural was carved into the rock wall.
Ryosuke's sharp eyes immediately locked onto its details. The artwork depicted a man with horns entering a massive cave. At the center of the cavern, there was a spring, its water shimmering with an eerie glow.
What stood out most was the shape of the spring—a perfect circle, yet divided in half by a curved arc.
Two different waters coexisted within the same spring.
One side was dark, the other bright.
The sight made Ryosuke's pupils shrink slightly.
Even in this foreign world, the pattern was unmistakable.
This was the symbol of Yin and Yang.
The mural continued, depicting how the horned man studied the mysterious spring. Eventually, he created a circular stone plate, replicating the same division seen in the spring.
On the stone plate, one side was black, the other white—a perfect Taijitu.
According to the mural, the horned man left behind the black half of the stone plate within this cave while taking the white half with him when he departed.
And then—the mural ended.
The rock groaned.
The final, fragile layer of the cavern wall collapsed.
"Rumble—!"
As the last slab of stone fell, the ground beneath them glowed with an eerie white light.
Then—
Nine white chains suddenly burst from the ground.
The chains trembled violently—then shattered.
And with their destruction, the mist erupted anew.
Only this time, the fog was even denser than before.
A suffocating wave of white haze, thick as liquid, exploded into the cavern, swallowing the entire space in an instant.
Ryosuke reacted instantly.
A thick ice dome formed around him, Mei, and Nyutaro, sealing them inside an airtight fortress before the new fog could touch them.
The mist crashed against the ice barrier like a raging ocean.
For now, they were safe.
But there was another problem.
Inside this sealed ice sphere, oxygen was limited. If they stayed too long, they would suffocate.
Time was against them.
Ryosuke turned sharply toward Nyutaro.
His eyes were cold—the kind of gaze that made even hardened ninja hesitate.
"The mist. What is inside it?" Ryosuke's voice was dangerously low.
He glanced at the deadly white fog just beyond the ice, then looked back at Nyutaro.
"Start talking. Now. Or I throw you out."
The big orange cat visibly trembled, his fur standing on end as he glanced fearfully at the mist outside.
"Ahh… it's over… it's over…" Nyutaro muttered, his voice breaking into despair.
But Ryosuke didn't have time for hesitation.
He grabbed Nyutaro by the scruff and hoisted him up.
"Talk!"
Faced with imminent death, Nyutaro's survival instincts kicked in.
He gulped—then, at last, began to explain everything.
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