Chapter 529: Everything Before the Phoenix (Patreon)

-Previously-

"I release it," Madara said.

The words carried through the roar.

"The Infinite Tsukuyomi ends here."

Alaric nodded once.

The Ten-Tails ripped the seal open completely.

White light filled the fire dimension.

Its enormous body exploded outward from Madara's back, dragging roots, chakra, and fragments of the Gedo Mazō through the rupture while Alaric's nine rings closed around the separate tailed-beast resonances.

Madara's body went limp beneath Alaric's hands.

The beast's eye opened above them... its roar swallowed the endless fire.

-Now-

Unknown Fire Dimension

The Ten-Tails did not flee.

Its immense body finished tearing itself free from Madara, scattering broken roots and strips of pale chakra across the hollow Alaric had carved into the surrounding fire. For several moments, the creature appeared almost directionless, its malformed limbs spreading outward while the nine sealing rings continued pulling distinct currents away from the mass gathered around the Gedo Mazō.

Then its enormous eye moved, the Rinne-Sharingan fixed upon Madara as something within the beast shifted.

Madara hung unconscious within Alaric's grasp, his head lowered against his chest while the seals preserving his life moved faintly beneath his skin. Most of the physical alterations created by the incomplete Ten-Tails had disappeared during extraction. His horn had crumbled entirely, the pale chakra robes had vanished, and the immense vitality that had once rebuilt his body faster than Alaric could injure it no longer filled his veins.

What remained was a living Madara Uchiha whose existence was held together by an unconventional resurrection and several layers of fūinjutsu.

To the Gedo Mazō, that weakness resembled an invitation.

The creature's mouth opened.

Alaric felt the spiritual pull before anything visible occurred.

Madara's body jerked in his hand.

A translucent outline rose several inches from Madara's chest, carrying the shape of his shoulders and head before the seals surrounding his soul snapped it back into place.

Alaric's expression hardened.

"You've got to be kidding me."

The Gedo Mazō pulled again, and Madara's soul shifted farther this time.

The beast no longer attempted to reclaim the chakra it had lost. Its instinct had changed toward something more primitive. Madara possessed the Rinnegan, an intimate connection to the Gedo Mazō, remnants of the Ten-Tails' power inside his chakra network, and a soul strengthened through decades of unnatural survival.

Consuming him would stabilize the shell.

Madara had controlled it, used it, sealed it, and abandoned it... now the empty vessel wanted the man who had once treated it as a weapon.

Alaric tightened his grip around Madara's shoulder as black seals spread from his fingers and wrapped around Madara's chest.

"No."

The Gedo Mazō lunged.

Its movement ignored the proportions of its own body. One instant, the beast towered several hundred meters away; the next, its head consumed Alaric's entire field of vision as the mouth opened wide enough to swallow both men.

Alaric turned toward it, the Rinne-Sharingan shining as his palm opened.

"Shinra Tensei."

The fire dimension convulsed.

There was no narrow shockwave or invisible sphere expanding from his hand. Alaric released the Deva Path without restraint, pouring enough chakra through the Rinne-Sharingan that every current of fire within thousands of kilometers bent away from the repulsive force.

The Gedo Mazō stopped.

Its jaws remained open several yards from Madara.

Then its enormous body folded backward.

The creature was hurled away.

Its feet left any invisible footing it might have found within the dimension, while its tails and malformed limbs whipped behind it. The repulsive force carried the beast across the endless fire, smashing it through currents whose heat had previously forced Madara's Ten-Tails-enhanced body to evolve merely to survive.

The nine sealing rings surrounding its fragmented chakra strained beneath the movement.

Alaric raised his other hand as threads of fūinjutsu extended from his fingers, maintaining the rings while the Gedo Mazō disappeared into the distance.

For several seconds, nothing remained before him except fire... until the dimension suddenly shook.

The Ten-Tails stopped its flight, its claws digging into space itself.

Cracks spread through the surrounding realm as the creature forced its body against the remainder of Alaric's repulsion. One enormous foot settled, followed by another, while its eye narrowed toward the distant figure still holding Madara.

Alaric exhaled through his nose.

A dull pressure settled behind his Rinne-Sharingan.

The fact that full-power Shinra Tensei had moved the Ten-Tails alone said enough about the amount of chakra he had released.

It also produced the inevitable consequence: the surrounding space itself began to buckle under the residual pressure.

The Deva Path went silent.

Alaric could feel the ability remaining within the eye, but the mechanism required time to recover from an output that enormous. The stronger the repulsive force, the more severe the interval before another equivalent use became available.

He glanced toward Madara, still unconscious, and let out a sigh. "Convenient."

The Ten-Tails roared, and a Tailed Beast Ball formed immediately.

Its size increased with such speed that the sphere became larger than the creature's own head within moments. Black and crimson chakra compressed inside it, dragging nearby flames into spiraling currents while the surrounding space bent toward its density.

Alaric shifted Madara beneath one arm as his free hand rose.

"Gakidō."

As the Blocking Technique Absorption Seal opened, the Tailed Beast Ball fired, swallowing his vision in darkness; Alaric met it with his palm, only for the impact to snap his entire arm backward.

The absorption seal widened until its edges extended several meters around him. Chakra poured into the Rinne-Sharingan's Preta Path faster than his network had ever been forced to process it outside Phoenix Sage Mode.

Pain erupted from his palm to his shoulder.

The skin along his forearm split.

Veins darkened beneath his flesh as foreign chakra flooded pathways already irritated by the Truth-Seeking Orbs and the previous Tailed Beast Ball. The nature of the incomplete Ten-Tails made the absorption worse. Nine separate chakra identities pushed within a central mass that resisted being treated as a single technique.

Alaric's teeth pressed together.

"Ghh…"

The sphere shrank.

His fingers burned.

The damage reached his elbow, where the chakra pathway ruptured and sent a spray of blood through his sleeve... only for Eros to repair it instantly.

The foreign chakra tore the same pathway open again, but Eros restored it before the injury could spread.

Alaric continued absorbing.

Gakidō damaged him, but Eros healed him faster than the damage could take effect.

The Tailed Beast Ball collapsed inward until the last dense core crossed the seal and disappeared into his palm.

Alaric lowered his hand, smoke curling from his fingers as several wounds remained open for less than a second before closing; he flexed them.

"Annoying."

The Ten-Tails charged.

Alaric's Rinne-Sharingan followed the beast, though the Deva Path remained inside its cooldown. He could not simply throw it away again.

''Fine.''

He had other options.

Madara floated behind him as wooden branches emerged from Alaric's back.

The first roots were narrow enough to resemble ordinary Wood Release, but they did not remain narrow.

Alaric pressed both hands together, and the fire dimension erupted with life.

"Wood Release."

A forest appeared inside a world where forests should have been impossible.

Roots thicker than mountain ranges twisted through the fire, crossing one another until they formed enormous lattices around the approaching Ten-Tails. Their surfaces blackened beneath the lingering heat, though Alaric reinforced every layer with chakra faster than the dimension could consume them.

Branches wrapped around the beast's arms.

Others seized its legs.

A hundred enormous trunks struck the torso and continued growing after impact, curling around the rib-like shell of the Gedo Mazō while thousands of smaller roots searched for chakra points along its body.

The Ten-Tails slowed.

Alaric's fingers shifted, and the wood tightened.

Several roots penetrated the creature's pale exterior and began suppressing chakra directly.

The beast roared as its body expanded, snapping the surrounding wood across the dimension.

One mountain-sized root broke in half. Another tore from the Ten-Tails' shoulder before it could anchor deeply enough. The beast twisted its torso and ripped through the lattice with the mindless violence of something strong enough to disregard restraints that would have subdued a tailed beast several times over.

Alaric created more, every destroyed branch becoming ten replacements.

Wood flooded around the Ten-Tails from above and below, weaving into hands large enough to close around its torso.

For a brief moment, the creature disappeared beneath them.

Then chakra exploded outward, shattering the forest as fragments of burning wood filled the dimension.

Alaric moved his head slightly as a trunk several meters wide passed beside him.

The Ten-Tails emerged.

Several grooves remained across its body where the wood had drained chakra.

It had been affected, but not meaningfully stopped.

"Damn..." Alaric's gaze sharpened. "What a persistent bastard."

The beast lunged again.

His Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan appeared within the ocular pattern.

Chakra erupted around Alaric, forming ribs first, followed by muscle.

Armor climbed over an enormous skeletal structure while a massive head emerged above him. Wings spread across the fire dimension, displacing currents that bent around the construct rather than passing freely through it.

The completed Susanoo towered around Alaric.

Madara remained protected within its forehead beside him, enclosed within an additional sealing barrier while Alaric stepped the giant forward.

The Ten-Tails struck, and Susanoo met its arm, the collision sending both giants backward.

Alaric's Susanoo planted one foot into the dimensional space beneath it and twisted, catching the creature's wrist before its claws could reach Madara. The second hand seized the Ten-Tails by the throat.

The beast opened its mouth.

Alaric's Susanoo drove its forehead into the creature's face.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

The impact distorted the fire surrounding them for hundreds of kilometers.

The Ten-Tails' head snapped backward as Susanoo followed through with a punch.

Its armored fist slammed into the beast's cheek and drove the head sideways before the second fist struck the ribs.

The Gedo Mazō staggered as Alaric drew an enormous chakra blade, only for the Ten-Tails to catch it between both hands.

The blade descended another meter.

Then halted midair.

The creature's limbs trembled as Susanoo forced downward.

Alaric narrowed his eyes as the Ten-Tails roared and twisted, shattering the chakra sword before its tail struck Susanoo across the chest, sending armor exploding outward.

Alaric felt the impact through the construct, his body sliding several feet within its forehead as cracks crossed the crystal surrounding him.

Another tail struck, breaking Susanoo's left wing.

The creature followed with both hands and seized the giant around its torso.

Alaric realized what it intended a moment before the Ten-Tails squeezed.

The Susanoo's armor collapsed inward as cracks spread through its ribs, and Alaric reinforced them.

The Ten-Tails tightened its grip, and the entire construct groaned.

A third arm formed from Susanoo's shoulder and punched the beast beneath its eye. A fourth appeared immediately after, driving upward beneath the jaw.

The grip weakened.

Alaric forced Susanoo's arms outward, causing its damaged wings to open.

Then the giant drove both feet into the Ten-Tails' torso, kicking the beast backward several hundred meters.

Alaric released Susanoo, and the armor dissolved around him before the damaged construct consumed more chakra than it returned in usefulness.

His boots touched nothing as he hovered within the fire.

Madara remained suspended behind him.

The Ten-Tails had been moved perhaps half a kilometer.

Alaric looked toward the unconscious Uchiha.

"This is getting embarrassing."

Madara offered no response.

The beast charged again.

Alaric's eyes shifted.

If brute force through chakra constructs could not keep it away for long, then he would try a material the creature could not simply dispel as ninjutsu.

His Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan rotated.

"Vulcan!"

There was almost no metal in the fire dimension.

That would have been inconvenient if creation were not part of the ability.

Alaric spread one hand, and matter coalesced into existence.

A dark point formed above the Ten-Tails, then rapidly expanded as if reality itself were being drawn inward and compressed into a single unfolding void.

Metal poured from nothing, obeying Alaric's ocular authority as atoms assembled into a mass whose composition he adjusted continuously. Ordinary iron would accomplish nothing. Steel would fail scarcely slower.

He layered the structure with alloys built for compression, heat resistance, density, and chakra conduction. Every internal section reinforced the next, creating a weapon whose strength came from architecture as much as material.

The head of a hammer took shape.

It continued growing, expanding upward until even the Ten-Tails was forced to look up to follow it.

Alaric smiled faintly as the hammer expanded until it became larger than a mountain.

Its rectangular head stretched far enough to place the Gedo Mazō beneath its shadow despite the fire surrounding everything. A handle followed, impossibly long and proportioned for no human hand.

Alaric did not need one.

Vulcan controlled the weapon directly.

As the Ten-Tails raised its arms, Alaric lowered two fingers... and the hammer fell.

KRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM!

Metal met the top of the Ten-Tails' skull.

The beast disappeared beneath the impact.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The force drove it downward through layers of dimensional fire while the enormous hammer followed, accelerating beneath Vulcan's control instead of relying upon gravity.

The Gedo Mazō's body folded as its legs spread, one knee bending under the strain.

Alaric increased the force.

The hammer's head deformed slightly around the beast's skull, distributing pressure across its shoulders and upper torso while internal reinforcement prevented the metal from splitting.

The Ten-Tails roared beneath it.

Alaric's fingers lowered another inch.

"Stay."

The creature's arms rose as its hands pressed against the underside of the hammer, and the metal groaned.

Alaric widened his eyes.

The Ten-Tails began lifting it.

Its arms trembled violently, but the mountain-sized weapon moved upward.

Alaric increased Vulcan's downward force.

The beast resisted, its massive frame straining against the crushing pressure as it refused to be forced into submission.

For several seconds, a creature born from the Divine Tree and a metal construct large enough to flatten cities remained locked against one another inside a universe of fire.

Then, beneath the hammer, the Ten-Tails opened its mouth and a Tailed Beast Ball began to form, prompting Alaric's expression to flatten.

"Oh, come on."

The sphere detonated, and the hammer exploded.

Fragments of hyper-dense metal scattered across the dimension, glowing as the fire heated them while Vulcan kept every piece from traveling toward Madara.

The Ten-Tails emerged through the debris.

A deep indentation marked the top of its head, and its left shoulder hung lower than before.

Alaric had damaged it, but the creature remained horrifyingly functional as it lunged again.

Alaric stretched both hands outward, and the metal fragments reversed direction.

Thousands of pieces sharpened while flying, transforming into spears, blades, cables, and spikes. Vulcan drove them toward every joint on the Ten-Tails' body.

Wood Release followed, its roots growing around the metal.

The first cables wrapped around the creature's wrists, and wooden coils immediately reinforced them. Spikes penetrated flesh before expanding into branching structures beneath the surface.

The Ten-Tails tore one arm free, only for Alaric to send a chakra chain around it, which the creature immediately ripped through as well.

Lightning Release traveled along the metal restraints.

Fire Release detonated against its face.

Wind blades carved across damaged tissue.

Water condensed inside open wounds before expanding under pressure.

Earth erupted from metal-coated constructs Alaric created directly beneath the creature.

The techniques came without rhythm.

There was no measured exchange and no respect for conserving individual jutsu.

Alaric spammed everything useful enough to buy seconds.

A Wood Dragon coiled tightly around the Ten-Tails' neck while a second seized its right arm.

Metal spikes grew through both dragons, but the beast broke the first; Alaric replaced it with three.

A gravitational pull dragged the Ten-Tails sideways.

The Deva Path had not recovered enough for another full-strength Shinra Tensei, but weaker gravitational manipulation remained possible. Alaric used it only long enough to upset the beast's balance before an enormous Susanoo arm emerged from empty air and punched it across the jaw.

The arm vanished as metal chains closed around its throat.

Wooden gates descended through the fire and slammed onto its back.

The Ten-Tails flattened beneath them, rose almost immediately, and shattered two.

Alaric absorbed another Tailed Beast Ball, his palm splitting open before Eros healed it.

A chakra cannon formed through Susanoo and struck the creature's chest.

ROAARRRR!!

The Ten-Tails answered with a roar whose pressure destroyed half of the construct.

Alaric replaced Susanoo with Wood Release.

When the wood broke, he used Vulcan.

When metal failed, he used the Rinnegan.

When the Rinnegan needed an interval, he used elemental ninjutsu.

When the beast gathered chakra too densely, Gakidō consumed it at the cost of tearing his own network.

His body healed every time.

The Ten-Tails kept advancing... slowly, painfully... but it advanced.

Alaric moved Madara farther behind him each time the distance narrowed.

The battle became less about defeating the creature than controlling direction. Every jutsu struck from an angle chosen to force the Gedo Mazō away from the unconscious Uchiha. Every chain that failed had succeeded if it delayed one step. Every massive weapon that shattered mattered if the impact moved the beast another hundred meters.

The nine sealing rings continued their work throughout the chaos.

Distinct chakra began pulling from the Ten-Tails.

A sandy current separated first, followed by blue flame, then dense water chakra.

The beast sensed the loss, its desperation spiking as it realized what Alaric was doing and where its only remaining anchor waited.

Madara.

The Gedo Mazō ignored another Wood Dragon, thrusting one arm through its body as branches exploded from its back while it continued reaching.

Alaric appeared in front of the hand.

The creature's palm was larger than a building.

He met it with his own.

"Gakidō."

The absorption seal expanded across the Ten-Tails' skin.

The beast screamed.

This time, Alaric did not absorb a detached jutsu.

He pulled directly from the creature, and chakra flooded into him like an ocean forced through a needle.

His entire arm ruptured.

Flesh tore from shoulder to fingertips.

The Rinne-Sharingan trembled.

Eros rebuilt the limb while Gakidō continued drawing.

Alaric grunted through clenched teeth.

"Ghhh…!"

As the Ten-Tails tried to withdraw, Alaric caught one of its fingers with Wood Release, anchoring himself in place with metal chains forged through Vulcan.

More chakra surged through him, his shoulder bursting once again before Eros immediately restored it, while blood trickled from his eyes.

The beast finally tore its hand away, sending Alaric drifting backward.

His breathing had become heavier.

The damage healed, though the repeated restoration could not erase the sensation of his chakra pathways being scoured from within.

He wiped blood from beneath his nose.

"How much chakra do you have?"

The Ten-Tails roared.

"Right."

Alaric looked past it.

The full-power Deva Path remained unavailable.

Almost there...

He could feel the mechanism recovering, though the cooldown had not yet completed.

The Gedo Mazō lowered its body, its single eye refocusing on Madara once more.

Alaric saw its intent.

The beast abandoned caution.

Every remaining limb drove against the restraints simultaneously.

Wood and metal shattered as the Ten-Tails charged through the debris.

Alaric's hands came together as thousands of wooden pillars rose, only for the beast to smash through them.

Vulcan formed another hammer, smaller than the previous one but vastly denser.

It struck the creature sideways, sending its massive frame staggering through the white fire. Susanoo materialized behind it in the same instant and drove a brutal kick into its back, forcing the Ten-Tails to lurch forward under the compounded impact.

Alaric cursed under his breath when he realized the kick had inadvertently moved it toward Madara.

He changed tactics instantly, manifesting black chakra receivers around the creature as Wood grew between them, reinforced by metal, while fūinjutsu spread across its surface.

The layered prison closed around the Ten-Tails, its body slamming against the interior as every layer cracked, and Alaric poured more chakra into it.

The prison held for three seconds before the Ten-Tails exploded through the front.

Its hand reached Madara when Alaric appeared between them, Kamui distorting the enormous claws so the fingers passed harmlessly through his body.

Madara remained behind him.

The Ten-Tails adjusted and attacked with its other hand.

Alaric used Hiraishin, and both he and Madara disappeared.

They reappeared several kilometers away beside a metal marker Alaric had created earlier and discreetly marked with the formula during the battle.

The Ten-Tails turned as Alaric exhaled.

"Useful."

The beast charged once more.

He could keep doing this.

Teleport, absorb, bind, strike, redirect, regenerate.

None of those answers solved the problem... they only bought time, and that was all Alaric needed.

The Ten-Tails approached through a storm of burning metal and shattered Wood Release. Several of the nine tailed-beast fragments had separated far enough that the Gedo Mazō's shape had begun destabilizing around the edges. Its shoulders twitched unevenly. One arm shrank before expanding again, while its enormous eye struggled to retain focus.

Still, it came for Madara.

Alaric hovered before the unconscious Uchiha.

His coat was torn across both sleeves. Blood stained the collar despite Eros having closed every wound beneath it. His chakra network stung from repeated Gakidō absorption, while the Rinne-Sharingan carried the dull ache produced by constant dimensional control, sealing, gravitational manipulation, and ocular techniques.

He had used Wood Release until a forest's worth of burning timber floated through the dimension.

He had manifested Susanoo repeatedly.

He had created enough metal through Vulcan to build a mountain range.

He had absorbed enough Ten-Tails chakra to kill ordinary jinchūriki many times over.

But despite that, the creature remained standing.

Alaric watched it approach.

Then... he felt warmth beneath his left eye.

The sensation was small enough that he almost mistook it for the dimension.

A familiar current entered his chakra network.

Nature energy answered from everywhere, and the fire itself shifted.

The Ten-Tails slowed as Alaric's breathing eased.

Beneath his left eye, a faint crimson line appeared.

It curved along his skin.

A second branch followed.

The glowing mark spread into the familiar phoenix-shaped tattoo as red light returned beneath his flesh.

The Gedo Mazō stopped.

Its enormous eye widened.

The separated tailed-beast fragments trembled within the nine sealing rings.

Alaric lifted his head as his eyes began turning red.

The pressure surrounding him changed so completely that the burning metal drifting nearby reversed direction without being commanded. Fire bent toward him. Wood fragments ignited with crimson-gold flame. Even the dimensional space beneath his boots appeared to tighten around his presence.

The cooldown was over.

Alaric looked at the Ten-Tails, a slow smirk spreading across his face.

The glowing crimson phoenix marking around his left eye flared to life as Phoenix Sage Mode reactivated.