"Clang!"
A fist wrapped in [Hard] slammed into a pair of blazing blades coated in [Ken].
Roy's twin flaming swords crossed in front of him, catching Ginta's brutal, straight–on punch. The instant the blow landed, the force pouring through the man's knuckles made Roy's arms dip under the weight.
So strong.
"Is he an Enhancer too?"
That single testing clash told Roy enough—this was on a whole different level. His mind reflexively flashed back to that ageless "auntie" with the last name Bisky in Heaven's Arena. The difference was, Biscuit's monstrous body came from brutal training, while this guy—sign of the Sheep, Ginta—felt like he was born wrong compared to normal humans.
"Oh…? You actually blocked that?"
Their auras collided—fist-wind split by blade-wind—and now it was Ginta's turn to be surprised. He hadn't expected this undersized kid to meet him head–on. Snorting, he poured more strength into his arm, eyes narrowing as he pressed down.
Roy's knees creaked under the pressure, joints pushed toward bending.
On the edge of the battlefield, Elena, in charge of "cutting signal" and overseeing everything, watched via her [Control All] ability: a multi–screen, "god's–eye view" of the fight.
Her attention was mostly on Roy and Gotoh.
Gotoh had drawn the Infinite pistol and was moving within the black dome, hunting for the third nen user hiding within.
Roy had simply…vanished. On Elena's screen, all she could see was a spreading patch of mud.
Then, cutting to another angle, she saw Roy—
He was already behind the huge "little giant" of a Hunter, driving a suddenly lengthened [Divine Spear] straight toward the man's back.
"A spatial–type application on top of that forced sleep? How many tricks does he have…" Elena murmured, pushing her glowing glasses up and updating her notes at high speed.
With Roy and Gotoh tying up Ginta and the Black Curtain user, Ging had a free lane across the field.
He strolled right up to the van like an old friend dropping by and climbed in, plopping down shoulder–to–shoulder with Razor. Through the window, he watched Roy thrust at Ginta's back and whistled softly.
"How's that? My teammate's not bad, right?"
"Passable," Razor said. He crossed his arms. The cuffs on his wrists snapped with a casual flex. Narrowed eyes swung to Ging. "Don't recall ever seeing you before."
"Well, you've seen me now, haven't you?" Ging said lightly.
"Fair."
Razor spread his legs; the shackles on his ankles also parted with a crisp snap. He watched the flaming blade hit Ginta's back and said, almost lazily:
"Shame it's a little lacking. That guy's thick–skinned. He's not going down that easy."
"Clang."
The point of Roy's blade struck Ginta's back—
But instead of piercing flesh, it hit something like solid steel wrapped in inky nen. The sword tip bit in only a hair, then stopped dead.
[Flow].
Move your [Ken]/[Hard] to another part of the body.
Ginta's command of nen was clearly far more refined than it looked. The moment he felt his punch miss and caught the exposed line on his back, the future Zodiac—one of the few men Hisoka would rate above ninety, higher even than some of the Defense Team—instantly shifted his aura, letting [Hard] surge to his back just in time to block the stab.
"You're a sneaky little bastard, aren't you?"
Ginta actually got angry. For someone with his simple, honest face, that looked oddly wrong. His aura flared, suddenly wild and violent. He swung his whole arm around, bringing one huge palm whipping toward Roy's face like a sledgehammer.
That [Hard]–coated hand glowed with a chilling sheen.
Roy, back to Ging and Razor, didn't even look over his shoulder.
"I bought you time so you could fight," he said. "Not watch."
He lifted one hand, raising a translucent magnetic field shield in front of his head. Ginta's enormous palm smacked into it; sparks flew. In the same motion, Roy caught the opening and drove another stab in at Ginta's chest.
Blade–light and hardened aura crashed together, throwing off a spray of sparks.
Ding ding clang clang—the sounds of metal ringing on metal echoed under the dome.
In the van, Ging rolled his wrists, then glanced at Razor.
"Looks like my teammate's getting irritated," he said.
He pressed his hood down. Nen surged outward, wrapping his fists. His [Ren] roared to life, blasting out like a shockwave strong enough to make the Black Curtain shudder.
Razor leaned back, spiky hair brushing the van wall, narrowed eyes fixed on him.
"Funny," he said. "I thought you came to break me out because you saw me as a teammate."
"I do." Ging rose, smiling. "That's the plan. But…"
"If I don't beat you first, you won't buy it."
Razor nodded, standing with him. The heavy steel chain wrapped around his torso split apart with a series of sharp crack noises.
Then his [Ren] exploded outward.
The two auras collided—
"Boom!"
Caught between their nen, the van ballooned like an overinflated balloon and then ruptured all at once.
Metal plates, seats, steering wheels, and glass shards blasted outward.
Even Roy, locked with Ginta nearby, caught a few stray projectiles and lazily sliced them apart with two quick strokes.
"Hell of a nen output," Ginta grunted, slapping aside a flying steering wheel with one hand. He flicked a look toward Ging and Razor, now squared off and clashing in the wreckage.
Compared to the poachers and small–time criminals he'd hauled in before, this stranger's aura was on another level entirely—easily among the strongest he'd ever felt.
He hadn't taken the Hunter Exam yet; otherwise, he'd probably recognize Ging on sight.
Roy's blades stayed in motion, his En spreading as he fought.
He brushed against Ginta's aura—clear, straightforward, almost painfully earnest—and couldn't pry out anything meaningful before Ginta's own En shoved him back, blocking the probing nen like slamming a door in his face.
"You're a weird one," Ginta said. "How can one guy have so many bizarre tricks?"
His explosion of aura had not only boosted his strength—his entire presence had changed. That hulking, afro–topped frame, big enough to fit two Roys side by side, loomed like a giant. Feeling Ging's nen clashing with Razor's, he grew impatient.
"If this drags on, it'll be trouble. I'll end you first."
Crack crack crack crack—
A rapid staccato of joints popping burst from his body like popcorn.
On the edges of the battlefield, every nen user present paused to glance over—Roy, Ging, Razor, Elena with her all–seeing map, and Gotoh, who was still shooting into the dark for the hidden Black Curtain caster.
Ginta's aura swelled like a tidal surge.
Roy could feel it—comparable to Razor's, easily enough to stand shoulder to shoulder with Ging and Razor for sheer pressure.
And his body began to change.
First his feet and calves swelled, then his thighs, chest, arms, shoulders—and finally his head. His afro stretched and curled, spinning outward, and from his forehead, two sharp, spiraling horns thrust out, ram–like and menacing.
Ginta threw his head back and roared,
"Rrraaaah!"
In the space of a heartbeat, the man had become a ten–meter–tall horned giant.
Enhancement-type nen ability: [Horned Demon]—release aura, transform, massively boost physical stats and break past human physical limits. Duration: one minute.
"Hmph."
Ginta snorted. The Demon snorted with him. Twin jets of vapor blasted from its nostrils as he looked down at Roy—now barely ant–sized beneath its shadow.
He lifted one massive foot and stomped.
A broad, crushing shadow fell.
"Young master," Gotoh muttered under his breath.
He turned his head to look—
A bullet came for his face.
The third nen user, still hidden somewhere inside the Black Curtain, had taken his shot.
"Split your attention in a fight and you'll die," a cold, snake–like voice hissed from within the darkness.
Gotoh tilted his head, letting the bullet whip past his cheek, and fired back without hesitation. Nen bullets poured into the Black Curtain like a rainstorm. Ripples sprang up across the inside of the dome, hinting at a silhouette scrambling away deeper within.
"Ginta, hurry it up!" the hidden man shouted. "I need backup!"
Usually, the more specialized a Controller or Conjurer was, the worse they were at straight fights. Powerful control often came at the cost of their own combat stats.
Whoever was maintaining this one-way barrier clearly fell into that pattern: deadly with his ability, but not confident enough to trade fire with Gotoh.
Inside his shield, Gotoh could feel it: the enemy's nen reserves weren't huge, but this dome itself was tricky as hell—a bowl dropped over the battlefield.
Anything without a mind—bullets, nen bullets, shrapnel, debris—could pass in and out freely. Anything alive—humans, beasts, perhaps even some beasts of the Dark Continent—could not.
He didn't know whether that was a built-in limitation or a "vow and condition" the user had imposed on himself. Either way, it made flushing the man out a pain.
"Left–up quadrant, coordinates 41.22 / 541.11," Elena's voice came through via nen.
Even here, her [Control All]—which, in the future, would let her monitor the entire Greed Island—had locked onto a ripple in the curtain and traced it back to the source.
Gotoh adjusted his aim instantly.
"Bang, bang, bang…"
Nen bullets punched into the coordinates she'd given.
The Black Curtain shuddered violently. A shadow bolted deeper inside.
"Ginta!" the man screamed. "Now!"
"I'm on it!"
Outside, Ginta's Horned Demon stomped.
"Boom!"
The ground fractured like glass, sinking into a huge crater around Roy.
This time Roy didn't try to slip under the earth with [Swamp Space]—the shockwave alone would've pulped his insides.
Instead, he planted his feet and raised both blades.
"Sun Breathing: Total Concentration."
Sunlight—or something like it—seemed to fall through the Black Curtain and spill over him. Roy drew a deep breath. His skin flushed; heat steamed off him in visible wisps.
He'd never felt this powerful before.
On the outside, that showed as this:
He braced both swords over his head and caught the Demon's descending foot.
The Horned Demon's huge hoof slammed into his crossed blades, and the ground caved further, but Roy's knees did not buckle this time. The crater cracked deeper; the shock rattled every person on the battlefield.
From Razor's vantage point, Roy looked like a nail hammered into the earth, holding back a titan.
Razor let out a low whistle.
"Not bad," he said to Ging. "Your teammate's got some bite."
"Not just mine," Ging replied, voice low and amused. "He's yours too."
"What a shame."
"Hm?"
"What's a shame?" Ging asked.
Razor's answer was a nen bullet.
He snapped a shot off like it was nothing; the projectile hit Ging square in the chest.
Ging let himself be hurled back, smashed into the Curtain like a kite with its string cut, woke a ripple through it, and slid down onto the ground in a tangle of limbs.
"Shame I never agreed to anything," Razor finished, flicking his finger as if to dust it off.
Watching from her console, Elena pinched the bridge of her nose.
Every single time, he lets himself get hit once, she thought. Why does he always have to eat the first strike?
Because he wanted to mimic it.
Because any direct attack that didn't outright kill him was basically a tutorial to him—and once he'd "seen" it, he could copy it.
Down in the crater, Roy's biceps bulged as he forced the Demon's leg up and away, boots grinding trenches into the stone.
Ginta grunted as his stomp was rebuffed.
Roy spared a glance over at Ging, now getting lazily back to his feet, then—
A familiar chime rang in his mind.
[Notification: Rare Beast detected… Opening 'Index' for recording…]
[Feccha Parrot: Rare Beast]
[Description: A "phantom parrot" that lives in the cracks between dimensions. By "riding" wave-particle duality, it can hop between perspectives and "parrot–copy" others' nen abilities]
[First Discoverer: Feccha — stumbled into an interdimensional rift during an expedition and discovered this bizarre creature, which he then named after himself]
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