181: Trace of the World, Coordinates to the Starry Sea

That faceless countenance turned towards the Ninja Allied Forces.

There was no killing intent, no oppressive aura.

Yet, every Ninja, from the Allied Forces' supreme commander to the lowliest cannon fodder, felt their heart explode, clutched by an invisible hand.

The monster, who had just completely formatted a creator god, cast his gaze upon them.

Fear couldn't even form in their throats.

Just as the deathly silence was about to drive them mad, the entire world violently trembled!

This was not a physical earthquake, but a fundamental convulsion stemming from the rules themselves.

A building block had been forcibly pulled from the world's foundation, leading to an overall imbalance and misalignment.

Everyone's gaze was drawn by an irresistible force towards the distant horizon.

The spot where the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path had stood was now empty.

No, not empty.

A stable, endlessly deep, pitch-black void had appeared in that space.

It didn't absorb light, nor did it devour matter; it floated silently, like an unhealing scar seared onto the canvas of reality.

A Hyuga Clan Ninja instinctively activated his Byakugan, and the moment his sight fell upon the void, he let out a shrill scream, blood and tears streaming from his eyes, and he collapsed to the ground.

"I... I can't see! That place is 'nothingness'! Absolute 'nothingness'!"

The world's rules were unable to fill the 'concept' that had been forcibly dug out.

Kaguya's existence was uprooted, along with the world's cornerstone she anchored, both erased, leaving behind an eternal coordinate leading beyond the world.

A stable window to the cold starry sea.

Just as the Ninja Allied Forces were terrified to their core by this incomprehensible 'Scar of the World,' a figure descended from the Naihe Bridge fortress in the sky.

Tang Yan's toes lightly touched the cold alloy ground, making no sound.

Behind him, ten puppet generals, god-like and demonic, stood silently like the most loyal divine guards, their massive forms casting shadows that swallowed all hope.

Tens of thousands of Ninja Allied Forces were utterly horrified.

They looked at this man, and at the ten world-destroying weapons behind him that had just performed a 'godly uninstallation,' and even breathing became a form of torture.

Tang Yan's gaze calmly swept over faces filled with fear, confusion, and despair.

He was like a monarch inspecting his territory, and finally, he spoke in the flat tone of someone announcing a system bulletin.

"The old gods are dead, the conflict is over."

His voice was not loud, but it clearly pierced everyone's eardrums.

Many Ninja even felt a ridiculous sense of relief, as if they had survived a catastrophe.

It's over?

However, Tang Yan's next words completely crushed their last shred of illusion.

"From today onwards, I, Tang Yan, am the sole calamity of this world, and also its sole order."

As his words fell, the entire battlefield became so silent that the sound of the wind could be heard.

This was not a threat, nor a declaration of war.

This was a higher-dimensional, factual notification.

It was informing them that the world's ownership had changed hands.

Tang Yan ignored the deeper despair spreading through the crowd below.

He raised his hand towards the sky.

Above the firmament, the steel fortress, Naihe Bridge, spanning the sky, let out a deep rumble under everyone's gaze!

Boom—rumble rumble!

That was not the roar of an engine, but the resonance of all metal in the entire world!

Its war-like alloy outer shell peeled away, flipped, and reassembled in layers! Countless intricate structures, glowing with a faint blue light, surged out from within, proliferating and spreading madly like living things!

A fortress was transforming!

No, it was devouring the sky!

"What... what is that?" A Kumogakure Ninja pointed at the sky, his voice trembling uncontrollably.

"It's getting bigger! My God, it's still getting bigger!"

The steel framework extended infinitely in all directions, quickly exceeding the limits of the naked eye. The grinding sound of gears meshing was like the roar of a creator god grinding his teeth, making eardrums ache and souls tremble.

It was no longer a fortress.

It had become a... gigantic factory... large enough to cover the entire continent!

A mechanical divine realm suspended above the sky!

"This is impossible... No Ninjutsu can do such a thing!" Tsunade murmured in a daze, her pride and understanding as Hokage utterly shattered at this moment.

"This isn't Ninjutsu."

Kakashi, beside her, had blood oozing from his Sharingan due to overuse. He stared intently at the sky being replaced by steel, his voice incredibly hoarse.

"This is... 'Industry.' A god-tier industry that we cannot comprehend."

Before his words finished, nine gigantic alloy pillars, each over a thousand meters in diameter, suddenly extended from the bottom of the sky factory!

Like the tentacles of a god, they tore through the atmosphere, plummeting towards the earth with an unstoppable momentum!

Boom!!!

Boom!!!

Boom!!!

Nine earth-shattering roars echoed simultaneously from different corners of the continent.

The entire planet shook violently from these nine impacts!

The ground beneath the Ninja Allied Forces cracked wildly; countless people lost their footing and fell, watching in terror as the nine gigantic pillars pierced through heaven and earth in the distance.

They rooted themselves deep within the Earth's crust, like nine nails, completely riveting this sky factory to this world.

Immediately after, a cold, emotionless mechanical voice emanated from the sky factory, resounding in every corner of the entire planet.

"Gaia Engine · Unit 01, deployment complete."

"Energy extraction module, initiating."

"Phase one objective: Earth's core energy. Commencing extraction."

The instant the mechanical voice ceased, the surface of the nine giant pillars lit up with blinding blue light paths!

Everyone in the entire world clearly felt an indescribable "something" being frantically drained from deep within the earth beneath their feet!

That was the planet's life force! The very foundation of this world!

"No... No!"

Fourth Raikage A's eyes were bloodshot; he wanted to rush forward but was held back tightly by his subordinates.

"Lord Raikage! Calm down! That's not something we can fight against!"

"He's going to destroy this world! He's going to drain our planet dry!"

Despair, like a plague, spread wildly among the tens of thousands of Ninja Allied Forces.

They had won the war, but lost the entire world.

Amidst this endless despair, the pitch-black void left by Kaguya's death on the distant horizon—the 'Scar of the World'—suddenly flickered violently.

A highly discordant, crimson data stream flashed momentarily from that absolute 'nothingness.'

It was as if something on the other side of the starry sea had been startled by the activation of the Gaia Engine, this super energy pump.

A cold, greedy gaze spanned an infinite distance, peering through.