As Auren breathes heavily, confidently pointing his blade towards Netero, the veteran Association chairman no longer hesitates. Instead of playing around, he takes a few calm steps toward Auren.
Looking slightly wary, he instantly appears right before Auren and punches again, Auren desperately trying to dodge—Netero's fist still manages to graze his body, throwing him off balance.
Auren somehow counters, performing a diagonal slash beginning from the ground, only for Netero to catch the blade again, instantly kicking at it with his foot, hoping to get rid of it.
Auren, who is holding onto it with all his might, loses his balance again, but manages to keep his grip—only for Netero to spin around before kicking him, this time directly into the chest.
As the kick connects with Auren, despite focusing his Aura onto his chest in a desperate move to mitigate the damage, it feels like Netero has kicked a hole straight through him.
He falls back and tries to breathe—unsuccessfully. His lungs are somehow not expanding.
I can't breathe... what is this?!
"Sorry," Netero says. "I guess I overdid it. You can be proud. Remain calm, I'll perform first aid."
Now seriously frightened—but more importantly, angered—Auren freezes up for a tiny moment before erupting with his absolute strongest Aura, using his maximum Aura output.
He forcefully punches his own chest with his left hand, allowing himself to breathe once, get up, and jump backward, gaining distance from the astonished Netero.
Filled with anger, gripping Eternity strong enough to crush normal steel, he instinctively activates Azure Restoration, as a colossal amount of Azure Aura covers his entire body.
What is this?! This Aura... it's so powerful. This amount. I could never do this before! It's multiple times stronger than what I am capable of... how?!
"What kind of trick is this?" Netero wonders, his eyes reflecting the beautiful Azure Aura, eyeing it with interest.
The additional Aura, it's... coming from Eternity!
Somehow, despite not even aiming for it, Auren has managed to use his blade—or more specifically, the freshly drained Aura in his blade—to drastically boost his own Aura and Hatsu.
Netero now looks stunned at Auren, whose injuries recover almost instantly, consuming a huge amount of Aura in the blade, but in return, mending his wounds like time itself is reversing.
Fully healed and back in peak condition, Auren grins manically.
I see... if I don't do anything, Eternity will simply absorb the Aura, growing slightly stronger... but if I want, I can actively use that Aura! My earlier thought was to absorb it, which was naive and didn't work, but instead of absorbing it, I can borrow it to strengthen my techniques! Perfect!
Holding Eternity forward, instinctively drawing on its Aura, he performs a ranged slash using emission and Limitless Waters. A huge and powerful Aura slash, resembling a high-pressure waterfall, flies at Netero with such immense speed that Netero has no option but to forcefully punch it away.
As his fist clashes against the Aura blade, it manages to shatter it—however, his fist is now covered in a large red cut, and by the looks of it, seriously wounded.
"What level is that now?! Huh?!" Auren asks, holding Eternity forward, slowly but surely draining more Aura from Netero, trying to recover the Aura he just spent.
Almost all of the Aura I drained from Netero is gone—only about 30% is left. Azure Restoration took most of it, and the slash, while powerful, is not something I can keep using.
"I don't think my little assessment is even relevant anymore. I'm quite intrigued by your abilities. It's only fair—I'll demonstrate one of my own," Netero says in a stern, raised voice, blood gushing from his right hand, dripping onto the ground. His left arm is also wounded, as more blood drops hit the floor.
He forcefully stops the bleeding with just his Aura—Auren immediately noticing that the amount of Aura that Eternity absorbs has also decreased by over half.
"100-Type Guanyin Bodhisattva," Netero suddenly announces, as a huge multi-armed Nen construct, resembling a golden statue, appears behind him, coloring the sky yellow.
"Show me what you can do against my strongest technique!" Netero yells, beaming with joy.
Damn... it almost looks like some sort of god. The amount of Aura it contains is unreal!
Auren, knowing exactly what this Hatsu is capable of, makes the instinctive decision to back off by jumping backwards until he's out of the Bodhisattva's reach.
I can't react to his attacks. He can strike with it in less than 0.1 seconds, and the speed is similar to his punches—which I can't even avoid! The only way I can survive is by outrunning him. I need to stay out of his range.
His Hatsu has a weakness, though. He can't move with it! If I stay out of range, he can't touch me. This is a game of tag... if he catches me, I'm done. I just need to be careful that he doesn't simply approach me and then resummons his Bodhisattva. I mean, he could probably beat me up without it, but if he wants to use it—then I'll abuse its weaknesses! He is actually giving me a chance. He is still playing around.
"You are... running from me?" Netero says, now angry and seemingly disappointed.
"Just a tactical retreat!" Auren yells—Eternity still absorbing Aura, albeit less and less, due to the distance between them.
Hiding in Mist!
Auren conjures more Mist, creating another thick layer of fog.
Using the fog as cover, Auren quickly creates one more Water Clone and hands Eternity to it, in order to deceive Netero, before using Zetsu and disappearing into the fog, slowly circling around Netero—trying to approach him from behind again.
However, before he can reach him, the statue suddenly punches in every major direction—the fog getting blown away with just a few strikes, instantly vanishing.
"Much better," Netero says, looking at the clone, before smirking.
Auren feels dread creeping through him as Netero slowly turns his head—and now stares directly at him.
He saw through my clone!
Ceasing Zetsu, Auren rushes forward, running even farther away from Netero.
I am still out of range. I am safe.
However, suddenly, he hears Netero scream joyously: "Tenth Hand!" before briefly praying—a movement Auren can barely perceive—then the statue unleashes a palm strike, emitting a massive burst of Aura, directly aimed at him.
Fuck! A ranged attack!?
Auren feels his body smashed by a scorching wave of Aura, the heat almost boiling him alive, as all his senses erupt in pain and shock.
He gets blasted even farther away by the impact, crashing hard into the ground.
He can use... Emission with his damn statue?! I didn't know that!
No... I am not done...
Breathing heavily, throwing up blood again, Auren pushes himself forward—desperately using up most of his remaining Aura to create multiple sharp, watery, knife-like constructs through Emission and Limitless Waters, blasting them toward Netero.
Some veer off-course and seem like they'll miss—but suddenly, they begin to curve mid-air, changing direction and coming at Netero from multiple angles.
Netero simply brings his hands together in a praying motion—and slaps them all away in a single attack of the Bodhisattva.
He's distracted! I've got to do it now!
Together with his clone, Auren decides to take a gamble, aiming to surprise Netero with a final gamble.
I can't win by running; might as well try before losing by running away and eventually running out of Aura.
He rushes forward—and the moment he gets even the vaguest sense that Netero is about to attack, he activates the special ability of his clone. Instantly, he appears where his clone stood, causing a huge watery explosion to burst out around him as the clone disintegrates and drops Eternity.
Auren expertly catches Eternity—which is now back in his hand—and, using all of his own Aura along with the remaining Aura stored in the blade, he unleashes Limitless Water onto Eternity for the last time. A massive surge of Watery Aura envelops Eternity, the blade growing to nearly ten times its usual size. It now resembles a raging typhoon, a swirling mass of water and Aura that can cut through anything.
Without hesitation, he slashes forward diagonally.
Netero calmly prays, then commands his Bodhisattva—one of its hands performing the motion known as First Hand, chopping down in a clean, precise strike.
As the powered-up Eternity collides with the Bodhisattva's descending hand, Auren feels resistance. He's cutting something. But before he can push through, the sheer force and weight behind Netero's Hatsu overwhelms him. He's blown backward again, his own weight no match for the heavy impact of the colossal nen construct.
I cut it... I cut one of his hands!
No longer filled with rage, Netero smirks satisfied—then prays once more.
Another hand of the Bodhisattva lashes out. This one slaps Auren with such impossible speed that he can't react. The hit lands directly on his body and face, hitting him head-on.
Auren takes the full impact. His ears ring violently. His vision spins. He's seconds from blacking out.
With the last scraps of consciousness, he feels himself flying—crashing violently into the nearby forest. His body rolls across the ground before slamming into a tree, a loud crack echoing from his shoulder as it connects with it.
"That hurt..." he mutters weakly, before finally closing his eyes—his blurry vision catching the moon glowing above the trees.
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A/N: Always thankful for Power Stones, Comments, and Reviews. Thank you for reading!
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