The tremors from above shattered the circuits.
The main control room plunged into darkness, then lit up with dim red emergency lights.
In this light, even the most ordinary expressions looked incredibly bizarre.
Just then, the ceiling above them cracked, and Linto's face emerged from the darkness.
"Found you."
An overwhelming sense of terror flashed in Shinno's eyes.
"Ene—"
Before he could even shout the "ack" in "enemy attack."
Time stopped flowing.
Linto tore through the metal deck, landing in the control room, and strode right up to Shinno.
He clenched his fist with Star Platinum.
One punched through the heart.
One shattered the skull.
As if that weren't enough, Linto grabbed Shinno's throat. Scarlet gold Hamon surged into his internal organs, cooking Shinno from a cellular level.
"He probably won't survive this, right?"
Linto thought, then released his time stop.
Time resumed flowing.
*Schlick*
Blood and brain matter splattered as Shinno, thrown back from his throne, impaled himself in the wall. The impact separated several cooked muscles and bones, releasing wafts of steaming meat aroma.
Shinno slammed heavily against the wall, becoming embedded in it.
Like a mosquito swatted and killed.
The scalding blood splashed onto faces, and only then did the Sky Ninja Corps soldiers in the control room snap back to reality.
What just happened?
Linto had only just appeared above them, how did he suddenly get to the throne?
Did Lord Shinno... really die?
Linto was also pondering this, awaiting system notification.
One second later, the system alert arrived as expected:
"Killed Sky Ninja Corps Soldier *1, gained 20 Soul Fragments."
The face of the deceased Shinno warped, transforming into a stranger resembling the original Shinno by about six or seven parts.
It was a clone!
The metal floor beneath them ripped open, and dark "arms" as black as ink stretched out from the ground.
Linto's explosive power and killing ability were no secret, so how could Shinno, with his personality, not have made preparations?
The price to pay was merely a ninja who could shapeshift.
"What a cunning and cautious enemy."
It was precisely because he always fought such enemies that Linto now started with time stop, killing people by piercing their hearts, blowing up their heads, and cooking their entire bodies, for fear that the opponent might still have other tricks to survive.
As Linto pondered, he swung his blade, and Star Platinum continuously threw punches, intercepting the inky black arms attacking from beneath.
But there were too many of them, an endless swarm, like the Hydra from myth – cut off one head, and nine more would grow.
Pushed by countless arms, Linto was forced from the control center back onto the deck of the sky fortress.
His feet landed on the deck, and suddenly, the ground beneath him gave way, accompanied by a strong sense of weightlessness.
The sky fortress was falling!
The sky fortress, originally thousands of meters in the air, now had its flight engines flickering erratically.
It was in freefall towards the city below.
Linto frowned slightly. "Is this also the Sky Ninja Corps' plan?!"
However, the Sky Ninja Corps soldiers inside the sky fortress were also stunned.
This was not part of their battle plan. Even if it came to that point, for the glory of the Sky Country, to turn the sky fortress into fireworks and perish with the enemy…
They would have to activate the self-destruct mechanism! What was the point of just falling straight down?
The deputy, who had been scolded by Shinno earlier for delivering a phone call, shouted, "Pilots! What are you doing! Why aren't you taking off?!"
The pilots responsible for flying the sky fortress were sweating nervously.
It wasn't that they didn't want to take off, it was because of insufficient energy. The deputy saw the red energy levels on the screen and realized.
"The Zero-Tail core has been activated..."
The deputy suddenly turned around and shouted through the torn floor, "Lord Shinno!"
In the deepest darkness of the sky fortress, a pair of scarlet eyes opened.
Shinno grabbed a mask with the character "Zero" written on it and placed it on his chest—
"I will attack in Zero-Tail form."
He leaped forward, his entire body covered in semi-transparent black energy, ascending into the air, smashing through walls, and arriving on the deck of the sky fortress, looking down at Linto from a higher vantage point.
"Now, I've found you!"
Shinno's voice was low, his gaze sharp. There was no trace of his former aged frailty; he had clearly returned to his youthful peak.
He was bare-chested, powerful and muscular, with an inexhaustible life force radiating from him.
Shinno had stolen four techniques from Konoha Village.
Body Activation, Body Regeneration, Eight Gates, and the Zero-Tail art.
Among these, Body Activation and Regeneration ensured that as long as Shinno didn't die, he could quickly recover from any injury and remain eternally young.
Eight Gates perfectly complemented these two forbidden techniques, allowing Shinno to open the "gates" without reservation, gaining destructive power comparable to that of gods.
As for the Zero-Tail art, it was the core of the three abilities mentioned above. By absorbing negative emotions, the Zero-Tail possessed an immense amount of chakra.
This chakra could propel a sky fortress weighing two hundred thousand tons, and it could also fire destructive beams. When this immense power was concentrated into one body—
It was Shinno, now clad in the Zero-Tail armor!
Compared to the main cannon that Linto had shattered with a single strike, he was the more terrifying weapon on the sky fortress.
After a brief moment of panic, the backup fuel source kicked in.
The giant sky fortress finally stopped its descent and hovered less than two hundred meters above Kolin City.
Citizens in the city below, if they looked up slightly and had good eyesight, could clearly see the two figures confronting each other on the deck.
Shinno relished the feeling of being looked up to. He spread his arms, narrowed his eyes slightly, and a smile played on his lips.
"Linto, I must thank you.
If it weren't for your appearance, I might still be hiding in some mountain valley, building a crude sky fortress.
Thanks to you, I have everything I have now."
Shinno's tone was sincere.
He was a smart man. If he weren't, he wouldn't have collaborated with Orochimaru, stolen forbidden techniques from Konoha, nor would he have led a small village to develop such a behemoth as the sky fortress.
Precisely because he was smart, Shinno understood the reason for the conglomerate's crazy investment—
Linto.
It was all because of the man before him.
Shinno had even considered cooperating with Linto.
Linto would intimidate the conglomerate, Shinno would feign opposition to Linto, the two sides would occasionally engage in conflict, and a wave of people below would die, just for show, thus slowly draining the conglomerate's wealth.
It was a pity…
Shinno looked at Linto with pity.
"You are too 'corrupt.' Clinging to the idea of awakening, you seem more like a stubborn sixty-year-old than I do."
Linto looked at Shinno, whose body was covered in the semi-transparent black Zero-Tail form. "It seems being wrapped in 'jelly' makes you feel safe."
He planted the Ruin Blade into the ground.
After the previous battle, fine cracks had reappeared on the blade. It looked like he'd have to find Blade Grandpa to fix it again after this was over.
Linto took a deep breath. Star Platinum appeared behind him. He beckoned to Shinno.
"Come on, let's have a go."
Shinno's smile slowly faded. He raised his hand, and hundreds of black palms extended from the Zero-Tail body to grab at Linto.
"Heh—"
Shinno sneered, his muscles erupting.
"Eight Gates! Open!"
A surging bloody aura was released from Shinno's body. His already imposing physique became even more magnificent. He clenched his fists, roared, and lunged at Linto!