Gemini's ability was powerful, but it was supposed to be limited to the magical prowess of its owner. However, Naruto's modified tetragram seal had betrayed him in the worst way possible. Because his seal siphoned Ethernano along with his chakra, he had been rendered and considered lower than Angel of Oración Seis in terms of magical hierarchy.
That was the vital information the celestial spirit had discovered on their own.
They had learned that Naruto, despite his overwhelming strength, could still be classified within the constraints of their magic system.
And now, bound within the darkness—
Naruto's mind was a storm, a maelstrom of tangled emotions, but his body was still—trapped, drowning within the suffocating abyss of the Stygian Lacrima.
The darkness wasn't just around him; it was inside him, coiling through his veins like a living thing, suffusing every inch of his existence. His chakra pulsed in resistance, his Sage Mode flaring instinctively, but the suffocating magic of the lacrima suppressed him, weighing him down like a leaden chain.
Memories and desires clashed violently in his subconscious.
The face of Jiraiya, the warmth of his presence—his father figure, his teacher, the man who had believed in him before anyone else.
The unbearable pain of his loss.
The yearning to see him again.
The rage at being tricked.
The fear that, deep down, a part of him wanted to believe in the illusion.
All of it churned within him, twisting, tearing, threatening to consume him entirely.
The fake Jiraiya—no, Gemini's copy, controlled by Angel of Oración Seis—watched as the sealed lacrima pulsed ominously, a faint flicker of life flashing within its blackened depths.
His smirk lingered as he turned away, carrying the Stygian Lacrima back to the heart of Oración Seis' operations.
Naruto, the orange leech was theirs now.
Bound. Suppressed. Drowning in the abyss.
And for the first time in years—
He had no way to fight back.
And now, with Naruto sealed within the Stygian Lacrima, Oración Seis finally had their leeway.
The greatest obstacle to their plans—the unpredictable Orange Leech of Cait Shelter that was Naruto Uzumaki—had been caged, his overwhelming presence removed from the battlefield. No longer would he be there to disrupt their forces, to tip the scales in the Allied Guilds' favor.
The dark guilds under their command surged forward, pressing the advantage, spreading further across Worth Woodsea.
And in the heart of the forest, untouched and waiting—
Nirvana lay hidden.
Now, nothing stood in their way.
Carla's heart pounded in her chest as she darted through the battlefield, her sharp feline eyes locked onto the faint distortions in the air—the only sign of something moving unseen amidst the chaos. Wendy had been taken.
And Carla refused to lose her.
She weaved through the debris of shattered spells, dodging the remnants of fierce magical clashes. The battlefield of Worth Woodsea was ablaze with conflict, but none of it mattered. Not the stray bolts of magic that scorched the air around her, not the falling trees set aflame by battle, not the screams of wizards locked in combat. Only Wendy mattered.
The invisible force had snatched her away in an instant. Carla had seen it—barely—a ripple in the air, a twisted mirage. But what was it? No enemy she had ever encountered moved like this, unseen and untouchable.
Who are they? What kind of magic is this?
Carla's wings burned as she pushed her speed to the limit, her small frame slicing through the air like an arrow. She followed the disturbance, her sharp senses straining to hold onto the fleeting trail. But it was erratic, twisting and vanishing like mist in the wind.
Then—
A massive shockwave erupted ahead. The battlefield cracked under the weight of colliding magic. The air roared with the force of an explosion as wizards clashed violently in the distance. Fire, ice, lightning—every element imaginable turned the forest into a maelstrom of destruction.
Carla flinched as a sudden burst of raw energy detonated nearby, sending chunks of earth flying. She narrowly dodged a blast of black lightning, spiraling through the air to avoid another magical collision. The sheer chaos made tracking the invisible entity even harder.
No, no, no—
Her eyes darted desperately across the battlefield. The trail was vanishing. Fading.
She pushed harder, her wings aching, her breath ragged. But no matter how much she struggled, the invisible force—the one that took Wendy—was gone.
Gone.
Her flight slowed, her body trembling.
Carla landed on the torn battlefield, her paws pressing against the ruined earth. Her head whipped left and right, her senses reaching out—straining—begging for even the faintest trace.
Nothing.
A sharp breath escaped her.
Then—her claws dug into the dirt. Her small body shook, her chest tightening painfully.
Her ears flattened.
Her vision blurred with helpless rage.
And then, for the first time in years—Carla screamed.
A raw, piercing cry of defeat. Of grief.
It echoed through the battlefield, lost amidst the war.
Wendy was gone.
The air burned with the scent of scorched earth and raw magic, Worth Woodsea shuddering beneath the relentless storm of clashing forces. Blinding bursts of light clashed against jagged shadows, spells detonating in furious bursts that rattled the land itself. The screams of battle, the war cries of wizards, the desperate clashes of steel and spell—weaved into a chaotic symphony of destruction.
Carla barely registered any of it.
She was on her knees, hands trembling against the dirt, her delicate white fur stained with dust and soot. The despair pressing against her chest was suffocating, heavier than the war raging around her. Wendy was gone. Taken. And she had done nothing to stop it.
Her ears rang—not from the battlefield's violence, but from the echoing void of helplessness inside her. The sight of Wendy being torn away replayed in her mind like a cruel curse, each memory sharper than the last. What was the point of all her foresight if she couldn't stop this? What was the point of being by Wendy's side if, in the moment that mattered most, she was powerless?