In a dimly lit laboratory, atop a strange and eerie evil god symbol, stood a silver-haired boy with slicked-back hair, clad entirely in black and white.
The scene couldn't be more bizarre.
Yet, aside from the captured bandit, neither the cult leader nor Shiki showed any emotion on their faces.
"Where should I start first?"
Hidan licked the blood at the corner of his mouth and slowly pointed his spear toward his own heart.
"The heart? That might be a bit too quick of a death."
The tip of the spear slowly moved.
"The lungs? That still seems too fast."
Hidan seemed conflicted, and after a few seconds, he made his decision.
"Then let's start with the chest!"
The bandit didn't understand why this cultist of the evil god was mutilating himself, but just Hidan's appearance and manic behavior were enough to terrify him.
Moreover, a voice deep inside kept warning him that when this boy stabbed himself with the spear, something very bad would definitely happen.
"Please, I beg you, spare me... please..."
In response to the plea, the madness on Hidan's face intensified, his voice trembling with excitement.
"Yes, yes, tremble in fear—this is the finest offering for the Evil God!"
With that, the sharp black spear suddenly plunged down, and a look of pure ecstasy spread across Hidan's face.
"Ah!"
Blood simultaneously gushed from both Hidan's and the bandit's chest.
Hidan spread his arms wide, wearing a look of bliss.
The bandit, however, curled up in pain on the ground.
He was going to die.
If this continued, he would definitely die!
Intense pain spread from his chest, but his will to live forced him to his feet.
Clutching his chest, he mustered all his strength and bolted for the laboratory door.
Hidan tilted his head: "As a sacrifice, you can't just leave the altar on your own! The Evil God would blame me!"
With that, he swung the black spear again.
This time, Hidan stabbed it into his own thigh.
Just as the bandit was about to reach the door, blood blossomed from his thigh, and he collapsed to the ground in utter despair.
His strength ebbed with the blood loss, and his consciousness began to fade.
There was no helping it—the bleeding was just too severe.
"How boring, already done in so quickly?"
"In that case..."
Hidan raised his spear, pointing it at his own heart, a reverent smile spreading across his face—he looked like a devout seeker.
"Evil God, this is my offering to You!"
In the next second, the spear pierced Hidan's heart, stabbing clean through his chest.
The bandit, as expected, died instantly.
The cult leader watched with burning eyes—was this the power granted by the Evil God?
If only he could obtain such power himself...
"How dull."
That was Shiki's verdict after watching the whole ritual.
"You dare call my ritual boring? I'll sacrifice you to the Evil God!"
Hidan yanked the black spear from his chest and lunged at Shiki.
No matter how many times he was decapitated, Hidan never stopped seeking death.
That was Hidan's ninja way!
So, Shiki dodged the attack and once again cleanly sliced off Hidan's head.
Shiki pressed Hidan's severed head against the evil god symbol and muttered thoughtfully, "Say, what do you think would happen if I sacrificed you to the Evil God?"
Hidan's eyes widened in panic for the first time.
"You bastard, Shiki, what are you thinking?! I'm the Evil God's envoy! I haven't killed enough people yet! I can't just return to the Evil God like this!"
Shiki adjusted his glasses and said calmly, "Just speaking hypothetically."
The cult leader glanced at Shiki—Hidan's ability was certainly strange, but Shiki seemed to be the stronger one in actual combat.
At the very least, Hidan right now was completely powerless before Shiki.
"Shiki, since Hidan has already demonstrated his ability, it's your turn next," the cult leader said calmly.
"That's right, that's right! I want to see what kind of power you've gained, you bastard!"
Hidan was also quite eager.
After all, as fellow envoys of the Evil God, Shiki might be the only person he cared about.
As for everyone else, he just wanted to kill them all!
But Shiki had already prepared his answer.
"If Hidan inherited the Evil God's curse and immortality, then what I inherited is the Evil God's body."
"The body?"
Hidan was the first to ask.
As for the cult leader, he only frowned slightly, as though lost in thought.
Shiki glanced at the Hidan on the floor and continued explaining, "Hidan's immortality and the Curse Technique: Death Controlling Possessed Blood are among the Evil God's powers. Meanwhile, my Kagune is a part of the Evil God's body."
As he finished speaking, his body twisted slightly.
First, a massive purple centipede grew out from the base of his spine.
"This is the Tail Kagune: Centipede."
As he spoke, his ribcage suddenly protruded. Hidan flinched, because that thing had been used to behead him multiple times!
Two dark red scythe-like limbs shot out, resembling the reaper's sickles.
"This is the Scale Kagune: Mantis."
Next, eight small lumps swelled up on Shiki's back, bursting open as eight dark red limbs emerged, each tipped with white spider silk.
"This one's for stitching up trash—Armor Kagune: Spider," Shiki said, clapping his hands. "That concludes the introduction. So far, I've inherited three parts of the Evil God's body."
"Of course, the Evil God is the embodiment of all things and wields dominion over everything. The secrets of His body are far beyond my understanding. With my talents, I can only contain a small portion."
At first, Hidan was about to retort after hearing Shiki say that the Spider kagune was used to patch up trash, but hearing the reverent words that followed, he instead showed a look of approval.
"Exactly! The Evil God is the strongest, the greatest!"
Shiki lightly pushed his glasses with his slender middle finger, seemingly suppressing a deep madness within as he declared:
"My goal is to offer the entire shinobi world to the almighty Evil God!"
"Hahaha! That's right! We'll kill everyone and sacrifice them to the Evil God!"
Hidan burst into laughter.
The cult leader glanced at the fanatical Hidan and couldn't help but frown slightly.
They were all favored by the Evil God—why was the gap in level so vast?
Shiki was already looking to reshape the world, and here Hidan was, still stuck on murder, murder, murder.
Still, regardless of how grand Shiki and Hidan's ambitions were, to the cult leader, it was all just part of the Evil God's trial for him.
As long as he could obtain both Shiki and Hidan's powers, the shinobi world—he would personally offer it up to the Evil God.
But the one to offer the shinobi world to the Evil God…
could only be him!
Only he was the Evil God's most loyal follower!