During this period, Morrow had been meditating in his room, accumulating momentum.
The fluctuations in his thoughts inevitably manifested through his aura.
Thus, Biscuit noticed that Morrow's "ideological restraint" was becoming increasingly severe.
This approach could indeed unleash astonishing combat intent during a duel, but it would also place a heavy burden on his consciousness.
Nen itself was a double-edged sword slumbering within human will and spirit.
Wielded well, it could wound the enemy; wielded poorly, it could wound oneself.
Biscuit understood this but couldn't intervene, forced to watch as Morrow's aura grew sharper and more intense.
Fortunately, the arrival of the little girl in the kimono had somewhat eased Morrow's tautly strung spiritual will.
This was beneficial.
And it made Biscuit worry a little less.
—--
Meanwhile.
Morrow took Kalluto around to enjoy the surroundings before sending him off to the airport.
"I really wish I could stay to watch tomorrow's finals."
In the departure lounge, Kalluto couldn't hide his disappointment.
The duel between masters held immense appeal for him.
Morrow smiled. "Heavens Arena seems to have arranged a live broadcast. You can watch it on your phone."
"I guess that'll have to do."
Kalluto lowered his eyes.
The camera angles of a live broadcast could never compare to watching in person.
But he had to hurry home and couldn't stay.
"Boarding time is almost here. Go on."
Morrow glanced at the departure information on the lounge's large screen and reminded him.
Kalluto gave a small nod, bid Morrow farewell, and headed straight for the boarding gate.
Morrow watched Kalluto leave until the airship ascended into the sky before returning to Heavens Arena.
Tomorrow was the match against Orion.
But Morrow had no intention of training in the remaining time.
Nor did he dwell on the upcoming match.
Right now, both his body and mind were exceptionally relaxed.
All he needed to do was get a good night's sleep.
—--
December 31st.
As the finals of Battle Olympia approached, every screen in Heavens Arena was surrounded by crowds of spectators.
Tickets for the finals were distributed via a free lottery, but the lottery was only open to Heavens Arena members.
Thus, the vast majority of spectators had to gather outside, soaking in the atmosphere while watching the live broadcast.
At this moment.
The arena was as noisy as ever.
The spectator stands were packed, while the VIP seats on the elevated platform were occupied by dignitaries from various fields, including Netero.
"To all martial arts fans from around the world, welcome!"
The commentator stood at the center of the ring, arms outstretched.
His impassioned voice, amplified by the microphone, echoed throughout the venue, instantly quieting the crowd.
"After four rounds of fierce competition, the two finalists who have earned their place on this stage are... Morrow and Orion!"
"These two fighters have risen above the ranks of Floor Masters, undoubtedly representing the pinnacle of strength, skill, and even willpower!"
"So when you hear their names, rest assured, we are about to witness a top-tier martial arts spectacle!"
"Moreover, at this historic moment, a legendary man has graced us with his presence!"
"Please welcome the Chairman of the Hunter Association, Mr. Netero!" The commentator finished his passionate narration and immediately raised his arm, pointing toward the central position on the high platform.
Netero sat there, bathed in the concentrated spotlight beams from the venue. At the same time, the live broadcast cameras promptly switched to focus on him.
"Hmm... I am Netero, Chairman of the Hunter Association. First, I welcome everyone's presence."
Netero held a microphone in one hand, but his eyes kept glancing at the speech draft in his other hand, which wasn't captured by the cameras.
"Heavens Arena is hailed as the sacred land of combat. Here, every fighter battles for the "Upper Tier Honor," which is essentially a challenge to push beyond one's limits..."
At this point, Netero paused and skimmed through the densely packed paragraphs that followed in his speech draft.
"Hmm..."
The audience and commentator alike waited for Netero's next words.
What they got instead was an abrupt and casual conclusion.
"Well, everyone, just enjoy yourselves."
"Eh?"
"Huh?"
The venue fell silent for a moment.
The commentator quickly picked up the slack: "As Chairman Netero said, let us wholeheartedly enjoy every moment to come..."
—--
Far away in the Hunter Association Building in Swaldani City, Beans watched the televised broadcast of the Battle Olympia with his hands clutching his head.
"Who ends a speech right after starting it? The draft was all prepared..."
Beans sighed in resignation.
—--
Back at the Battle Olympia finals venue.
"The two contestants have entered the stage! Let us turn our attention to the arena!"
The commentator had now returned to his booth.
Countless eyes focused on the arena, where Morrow and Orion stood facing each other.
"I told you, once you step onto this stage, I'll crush you like dust."
Orion's eyes brimmed with chilling killing intent, his lips curling into a manic grin as he declared, "Let me make this clear now: you won't be leaving this arena alive."
Faced with Orion's pre-match taunts and his overwhelming, violent aura, Morrow remained expressionless. His eyes didn't even flicker as he silently channeled his aura, waiting for the match to begin.
The referee assigned to the finals was the most experienced at Heavens Arena.
Even so, he struggled to withstand Orion's erratic, nerve-wracking aura.
How to describe it?
Standing near Orion made one involuntarily imagine the worst... what if this lunatic suddenly stabbed me?
And the scary part was, such incidents had indeed happened before.
Bearing this psychological pressure, the referee positioned himself between the two fighters.
"The match follows a points-based knockout system. All weapons are permitted. Additionally, I must emphasize—strictly adhere to the scoring rules during combat. Severe violations may result in immediate disqualification by the referee panel. I trust both contestants understand this."
As he spoke, the referee glanced at Morrow and Orion in turn.
Yet neither seemed to hear him, their icy gazes locked in a silent clash.
Strictly follow the scoring rules?
This unusual pre-match reminder was due to Orion's past behavior in previous matches.
But it was meaningless.
The Battle Olympia rules prohibited "death matches," yet both Morrow and Orion knew the truth.
Here and now.
This was a fight to the death. Seeing that Morrow and Orion showed no reaction, the referee took a deep breath and retreated a distance, clearing the space between them.
His action seemed to serve as a signal, prompting Morrow and Orion to instantly unleash their maximum aura output.
"Begin the match!"
The referee's shout rang out abruptly.
In that instant...
Orion struck first, abruptly raising his arm and directly conjuring a Nen clone in his hand.
A clone ability developed from the foundation of personality split; its speed of conjuration was truly remarkable.
Once the Nen clone materialized, a frenzied grin spread across Orion's face as he hurled the clone, which carried his rational personality, toward Morrow like a javelin.
Facing Orion's assault, Morrow gripped the Poultry Scarlet Knife in a reverse grip and immediately retreated.
Calm rationality and violent madness.
These were the defining traits of the two personalities.
From the previous matches, whenever Orion used his Nen clone ability...
No, to be more precise, ever since Orion created this Nen clone ability, he had to bear the Limitation of "loss of control."
One of the manifestations of this Limitation was that Orion's violent personality couldn't suppress the display of his emotions.
Thus, Morrow could distinguish and judge the two personalities based on Orion's words and actions.
The Nen clone carrying the rational personality was clearly more adept at leading the offensive.
Moreover, it could use the properties of the conjured object to apply the Nen Technique of In to itself.
Most importantly, the violent personality currently in control of the body could likely synchronize information with the clone without needing to split focus to manage the clone's combat decisions.
This was the core of Orion's ring-gang-up tactic, which revolved entirely around this point.
However, this ability had a rather obvious flaw.
When switching personalities between the main body and the Nen clone, the process required "dismissing the Nen clone."
This meant that when Orion hurled the clone barehanded, the tactical applications were confined to a "general range," leaving little room for flexibility.
In other words, it became easier to predict.
As a result, during the fight, Morrow's burden of "instantaneous thinking explosiveness" would lessen significantly, and the speed of his real-time judgment and information processing would correspondingly increase.
Moreover, this form of attack initiated by Orion had long been within Morrow's expectations.
But...
There's no need to think that much.
Morrow lifted his gaze to the incoming rational-personality Nen clone.
Without any suspense, the flying clone instantly vanished from sight.
This was nothing more than an attempt to force the opponent to allocate part of their aura to their eyes, thereby affecting the distribution of aura for offense and defense.
But Morrow didn't need to do that.
Nor did he need to probe further.
Even if Orion's clone was stronger than the conventional "split in two," or if it hid other trump cards, it didn't matter.
Starlight Convergence
The determination to crush Orion in a single strike drove Morrow to immediately activate the ability of Starlight Convergence.
Brilliant, beautiful starlight bloomed like fireworks, spreading around Morrow.
No need to use Gyo on his eyes.
Every speck of starlight around him was Morrow's eye. The rational personality Nen clone, concealed by In, plunged into the scattered starlight without the slightest panic, nor did it disrupt the predetermined tactical assault.
Because it was now a Nen clone.
Not only did the starlight's ability manifestation lean more toward a "detection" effect, but it could also fully utilize the clone's inherent traits to directly serve as a "mine detector."
This was the approach most Manipulation or Conjuration Nen clones would adopt in combat.
Testing an opponent's ability was, in itself, a normal occurrence in Nen combat.
And their method of probing could essentially circumvent risks.
With this mindset, the rational personality clone advanced directly before Morrow and decisively launched an attack, a fierce whip kick aimed at Morrow's lower body.
If following the original tactic, the rational personality clone wouldn't have moved so swiftly. It would typically wait for the aggressive personality controlling the main body to press forward simultaneously, thereby maximizing pressure on the opponent.
But the emergence of the starlight ability prompted the rational personality clone to independently decide to shift tactical priority to "ability testing."
This decision was instantly relayed to the aggressive personality at the rear, maintaining real-time synchronization.
Thus, the aggressive personality abruptly halted, standing just outside the starlight's range, ready to retract the clone ability at any moment.
Facing the rational personality clone's whip kick, Morrow relied on the starlight's feedback to retreat a step in advance, effortlessly evading the strike.
How... utterly predictable.
Morrow lowered his eyelids, veiling the starlight in his eyes
When encountering an ability with unclear effects, the instinctive response was to use a Nen clone as a mine detector.
This countermeasure from the opponent was far too easy to anticipate.
But this was precisely the specialized effect Starlight Convergence had against Manipulation and Conjuration Nen Beasts.
Because the Star Marks of Starlight Convergence could be directly transferred to the opponent via a "Nen medium."
This was something Morrow had already verified in his past battles with Omokage.
Thus, deploying Starlight Convergence directly on a Nen clone was, in essence, an overt stratagem.
After dodging the first attack, Morrow immediately shifted from defense to offense, slashing at the rational personality clone with a reverse-grip blade.
Even now, with only a minimal amount of aura coating his body in Starlight Convergence state, he was capable of proactively taking further action.
This was the fruit of his specialized training.
His blade strike wasn't aimed at harming the opponent.
Rather, it was to force the opponent into a defensive counter, thereby accumulating progress toward planting the Star Mark.
Unaware of the ability's details, the rational personality clone had no inkling of Morrow's true intent.
Still in the probing and observation phase, it abruptly leaned its upper body backward, evading Morrow's seemingly non-threatening slash.
Then, transforming its fist into a palm, it chopped at Morrow's wrist holding the blade.
Morrow simply bent his arm, dodging the clone's Palm Blade, and then retreated in advance with the support of the starlight's information.
At that moment, the rational personality clone's downward stomping kick landed on empty air.
Three.
Morrow silently counted, estimating that one more would fulfill the condition. With practiced ease, he deliberately revealed a barely noticeable flaw in his footwork as he retreated.
After all, Orion was originally a martial artist.
Spotting the rhythm flaw in Morrow's footwork, the rational personality clone didn't hesitate, it lunged forward with a wide, forceful straight punch aimed at Morrow's face.
But in the next moment, the punch landed on an afterimage.
Morrow had used Rhythm Echo.
The dissonance in his footwork rhythm could actually serve as the trigger for Rhythm Echo.
Since Rhythm Echo inherently creates visual discrepancies by controlling footwork rhythm, it could deliberately create openings that appeared like missteps in rhythm.
When the fourth attack from the rational personality clone missed, the effect of Starlight Convergence instantly activated!