From the moment his ability's weakness was exposed by Illumi...
The phrase "turn the enemy's scheme to one's own advantage" surfaced in Morrow's mind.
Just as Illumi had accurately deduced the mechanics of his ability, Morrow had also anticipated that Illumi would make the most correct judgment at the critical moment.
That was why Morrow deliberately revealed his remaining strength despite his severe injuries, precisely to guide Illumi into making this "perfectly logical" decision.
He believed Illumi would realize it and respond within an extremely short timeframe.
Thus, the Shooting Star imbued with Essence Siphon, which should have only been able to target ordinary Needlemen, struck the two special Needlemen Illumi had willingly offered up.
As the Essence Siphon effect of the Shooting Star activated, Morrow's injuries began visibly healing at a rapid pace.
The vitality-extracting ability of Shooting Star · Essence Siphon could only function on "living beings."
And Illumi's Needlemen, though their brains had been disabled by a coercive Manipulation ability, were still fundamentally alive.
The life force of the two special Needlemen directly restored most of Morrow's injuries.
If he had only drained the vitality of an ordinary Needleman, Morrow wouldn't have been able to turn the tide at all.
This decision was too crucial.
He had successfully misled Illumi by "getting injured" and then skillfully danced on the edge of life and death.
Fortunately, Illumi didn't disappoint him.
The excruciating pain in Morrow's body gradually faded. As he retreated to create distance, he began gathering aura in his palm.
Next, he needed to kill that ordinary Needleman so the Star Mark could transfer to Illumi.
It was a shame that Shooting Star · Essence Siphon wasn't powerful enough...
Its composition leaned more toward its vitality-extracting function.
If its destructive power had been sufficient, he might have been able to eliminate all the Needlemen in one go and force the Star Mark to transfer to Illumi.
Now, he still had to complete the step of killing the ordinary Needleman, which also meant giving Illumi time to react.
An Enhancement-type healing ability.
Illumi saw the green wisps of light rising from the corpses of the special Needlemen and noticed how Morrow, who had been on the verge of collapse, had suddenly recovered most of his condition. He immediately understood.
Had the shift from defense to offense while injured all been for this moment?But the possibility of "transferring damage" through the Needlemen was still high, he couldn't let his guard down.
Illumi's eyes turned icy. He first glanced at Morrow, who was retreating to create distance, then at the ordinary Needleman drenched in thick, coagulated blood.
Gyo.
Illumi's eyes ignited with the sheen of aura, blazing like torches.
With just a single sweep, he spotted the faintly glowing Star Mark peeking through the gaps in the blood.
Having confirmed the presence of the "ability medium," Illumi narrowed his eyes slightly. His reaction was observed by Morrow.
Too tenacious.
Seeing that Illumi didn't recklessly pursue him but instead cautiously used Gyo to inspect the ordinary Needleman, Morrow sighed inwardly.
This guy clearly held a significant combat advantage, yet he showed no inclination to overwhelm his opponent or the typical Manipulator mindset of "seeking a one-hit kill."
Instead, he methodically sought to control the situation entirely within his grasp.
Even now, as the circumstances shifted, his first instinct was to eliminate potential threats.
I can't use Shooting Star · Essence Siphon anymore. I need to take out that ordinary Needleman quickly!
From Illumi's reaction, Morrow keenly grasped the crucial information, yet he showed no greed, willingly giving up the chance for full recovery to ensure the fastest elimination of the ordinary Needlemen.
Immediately, Morrow decisively abandoned the weaker and slower Shooting Star · Essence Siphon, opting instead to release a standard Shooting Star.
But to prevent Illumi from catching on, Morrow fired two Shooting Stars at once, one aimed at Illumi, the other at the ordinary Needlemen. This way, his true intent would be obscured.
Morrow's choice wasn't wrong, but he overlooked one critical detail.
In the time he had mastered Nen, he hadn't had the luxury to refine high-level techniques like Ryu or Ko.
Thus, in the brief intervals of shifting his thoughts, his coordination with aura couldn't match the efficiency of a top-tier fighter.
As a result, his two Shooting Stars prioritized speed over power.
And this led to...
The moment Illumi saw the two Shooting Stars, he confirmed his suspicions and discerned Morrow's true intention.
His reasoning? The Shooting Stars lacked the power to threaten him, but they could easily destroy the ordinary Needlemen.
He wants to sever the Nen on the Needlemen...
Illumi reacted instantly. The moment Morrow released the Shooting Stars, he flicked a Nen needle toward the ordinary Needlemen.
His goal was to sever the Nen applied to them, eliminating any potential threat of "damage transfer."
But because his Nen needles functioned by pinning Nen to the target via bead-head needles, he couldn't remotely dispel the Nen on the Needlemen.
The only way was to forcibly destroy the Nen needles, and before that, he couldn't let the ordinary Needlemen take any damage.
Whoosh!
The Nen needle, as if guided by sight, intercepted the Shooting Star aimed at the ordinary Needlemen with perfect precision.
Boom!
The two collided mid-air, exploding violently.
Had there not been so many Nen needles embedded in the Needlemen's heads, the thrown needle might not have intercepted the Nen bullet, but instead destroyed the Nen needles on their skulls.
Meanwhile, the other Shooting Star struck Illumi directly, but Illumi tanked it with sheer Nen defense, leaving only scorch marks on his clothes and no real injury.
"Come here!"
Illumi then commanded the surviving ordinary Needlemen while moving toward them.
With the crucial Shooting Star intercepted, Morrow's eyes narrowed. He realized Illumi had likely devised a countermeasure, and that he himself had made a mistake.
His habitual act of planting Star Marks and creating distance...
In past battles, it had bought him time to enhance the lethality of his Deceptive Shooting Star, but now it had given Illumi the perfect opportunity to intercept.
Still, it had to be said...
Compared to past opponents, Illumi's combat instincts were razor-sharp, always dissecting and countering his tactics with surgical precision.
No choice.
Deeply aware of Illumi's threat, Morrow abandoned his plan to transfer the Star Mark. Instead, he gathered aura, adjusted his angle, and fired a Deceptive Shooting Star backward.
Whoosh! The Deceptive Shooting Star hovered in place a hundred meters behind before suddenly surging in power and arcing back toward Morrow.
This was the original usage of the Deceptive Shooting Star, independent of the Star Mark's tracking effect.
In the next instant, Morrow twisted his body sideways.
The returning Deceptive Shooting Star whizzed past his front, carrying astonishing momentum as it streaked toward an ordinary Needleman.
At this moment, Illumi had already begun destroying the Nen needles embedded in the ordinary Needleman.
Morrow had precisely timed this instant.
The Deceptive Shooting Star struck the ordinary Needleman. The violent energy contained within erupted abruptly, triggering a fierce explosion that sent plumes of dust and shattered rock flying.
The commotion startled flocks of birds from the surrounding forest.
Seeing the Deceptive Shooting Star hit its mark, Morrow took a deep breath. The aura in his palm once again took on a sharp, stalactite-like form before visibly coalescing into a concentrated mass.
My "Ko" is too weak.
While gathering aura, Morrow muttered to himself.
Creating a Shooting Star attack fundamentally relied on the Gyo technique to concentrate most of his aura into his hand before releasing it in one burst.
In other words, he could also use the Ko technique to gather all his body's aura into a single point, forming an even more powerful strike.
But Morrow's mastery of Ko was lacking.
During daily training, he could execute the Ko technique smoothly, but the process took far too long, making it impractical for actual combat.
Advanced techniques like these weren't something one could immediately apply just by learning them.
Without sufficient speed in execution, these high-level techniques would only become a hindrance.
The Star Mark disappeared.
Morrow's expression shifted as he stared at the billowing dust.
His earlier attack had still failed to transfer the Star Mark to Illumi...
With this thought, Morrow hurled a Shooting Star into the rising dust clouds and immediately prepared to flee.
But at that moment, a bead-head needle wrapped in solidified aura shot through the smoke, piercing the Shooting Star mid-air with pinpoint accuracy.
In an instant...
Like a needle popping a balloon, the Shooting Star exploded violently in mid-air.
The next moment, Illumi's figure tore through the dust, charging through the explosive shockwave.
His body was visibly covered in grime. His usually smooth long hair was now disheveled, and his clothing bore numerous tears.
Though Morrow's earlier Deceptive Shooting Star had failed to transfer the Star Mark, it had still managed to injure Illumi while he was focused on destroying the Nen needles.
Now, Morrow could sense anger within Illumi's aura, along with an even heavier, icier killing intent.
Even if he was a monster born from the Zoldyck Family's twisted environment, at his core, Illumi was still human. He couldn't discard human emotions entirely.
So when "events" spiraled out of control like a runaway horse, even a monster nurtured in the Zoldycks' warped soil would feel rage.
There was no time to consider how to exploit this realization; Illumi was already closing in at terrifying speed.
Even without the cover and assistance of his Needlemen, Illumi still possessed formidable close-combat abilities.
In a way, an Illumi who no longer needed to distribute his aura output among Needlemen was more akin to an Enhancement specialist with unparalleled melee prowess.
「Starlight Convergence」
Feeling the overwhelming pressure of Illumi's frontal assault, Morrow immediately activated his ability. The aura swirling around him suddenly shattered into starlight, enveloping the charging Illumi.
Illumi attacked Morrow without hesitation. His approach remained simple yet devastating, using the sheer intimidation of his Nen needles to corner Morrow on the brink of a cliff in mere moments.
In his Starlight state, Morrow could only muster a fraction of his aura. Against an opponent of Illumi's caliber, he had no room for initiative, forced to exhaust every ounce of effort just to evade.
This passive limitation imposed by the Starlight state essentially handed Illumi free rein to act as he pleased.
Yet without the ability of "Starlight Convergence"...
Morrow wouldn't even have the right to stand his ground against Illumi.
Clang!
The translucent red blade of the Poultry Scarlet Knife deflected Illumi's thrusting Nen needle.
Leveraging the knife's reach advantage, Morrow barely managed to parry the attack.
But Illumi used the force in his knuckles to violently flick the deflected needle straight toward Morrow's body.
Such a bizarre and unexpected strike; only Morrow's Starlight Convergence allowed him to narrowly tilt his head aside in the nick of time.
Yet this very evasion gave Illumi the opening to chain his assault.
Illumi stepped forward, driving his knee upward toward Morrow's abdomen.
Morrow hastily crossed his other arm to block the knee strike.
Boom.
The collision of limbs erupted into a shockwave of force.
At the same time, Illumi's left hand shot out like a striking viper, lightning-fast, aiming straight for Morrow's chest.
Only now did Illumi reveal the signature Manipulator style of "seeking a single lethal blow."
But instead of a Nen needle, he employed a specialized technique that altered his palm's structure, sharpening it into a blade's edge.
This was an inheritance mechanism of the Zoldyck Family, yet Illumi had refined it with Nen, making his Palm Blade sharper and longer.
With this reach advantage, Illumi's Palm Blade surged forward, instantly grazing Morrow's line of death.
Thanks to the feedback from Starlight, Morrow was fully capable of defending against this killing move.
But he knew, even if he blocked this strike, Illumi would simply follow up with another.
Rather than letting Illumi whittle him down bit by bit, he might as well stake his life on a decisive counter, trading mutual destruction!
In that split second, Morrow made his choice.
—--
But just as he was about to act, an indescribably terrifying killing intent erupted from the trial gate.
This killing intent bore down heavily on both Morrow and Illumi.
In an instant, Morrow felt as if he'd been plunged into the abyssal depths of the ocean.
Cold, suffocating, crushing...
Even with his ironclad resolve, the sheer force of this killing intent chipped away at his defenses.
The starlight suffusing the surroundings trembled violently, as if glitching, on the verge of collapse.
Damn it...
Shaken by the killing intent, Morrow's heart lurched.
But he wasn't the only one affected.
Illumi, too, froze mid-attack as if struck by a paralysis curse, because the source of this terrifying killing intent was none other than his great-grandfather, Maha Zoldyck.
Illumi's initial shock gave way to confusion.
Why had his great-grandfather intervened? Had Kalluto summoned him?
Seizing the moment, Morrow retreated, his gaze snapping toward the direction of the killing intent. Before his eyes stood a short, elderly man with a wrinkled, hairless face, puffy eye bags, and a wide mouth that stretched his cheeks.
At first glance, he looked like an anthropomorphized frog.
This was Kalluto's great-grandfather, Maha, the strongest and most enigmatic figure in the Zoldyck Family.
No wonder he could exude such terrifying killing intent...
Morrow's expression was grave.
Under the watchful eyes of Morrow and Illumi, Maha shuffled forward in a pair of outdated, worn-out slippers, seemingly oblivious to the tension, and leisurely approached a canvas bag lying on the ground.
It was the same bag Morrow and Illumi had discarded before their fight.
Maha stopped in front of it, crouched down slowly, and pulled out a pair of unreleased Keroppi sunglasses from the open bag.
With apparent amusement, he put them on, then casually took out his phone and snapped a selfie.
"..."
"..."
Morrow and Illumi watched in silence.
--------
Bonus chapter.