After fully understanding Brone's ability,
Conrad shifted from pure observation to planning.
His body continued moving almost on its own.
Step, slide, twist, leap, each action and movement caused him to feel some sort of ecstasy.
The feeling of the danger, being capable of moving away from it, kept his mind and soul refreshed.
"It is like my reward system of the brain gives more ecstasy and fun through the hormones."
Every time Conrad escapes from an attack and dodges, the brain rewards him with fun and a feeling of happiness due to escaping pain.
This phenomenon was different for Conrad. It was basically new.
Twelve rings moved through the air in intersecting paths.
Conrad, they no longer felt overwhelming.
His speed, refined footwork, and tight Nen control created just enough margin that even this many projectiles could not corner him.
It was not effortless, but he was not in great danger.
Twelve Rings has no way to hit him as long as he does not take offense against Brone and stays on the defensive.
Inside Brone's mind, doubt began to grow.
"His Nen mastery…"
Brone thought as his fingers subtly adjusted the rings' trajectories.
"His control is all better than mine."
He narrowed his eyes.
"This doesn't make sense."
Brone continued internally.
"No Nen user reaches his level of mastery without a Hatsu."
"He hasn't used anything."
"Not once. Or he is already using some sort of speed amplifier."
"I do not think he is an enhancer, but he may be..."
That realization unsettled him far more than Conrad's speed.
Brone was experienced enough to understand what that meant.
Conrad was not struggling.
He was waiting.
Every second Conrad spent dodging without counterattacking was another second Brone was forced to maintain focus, aura output, and mental strain.
Most people would not understand, but keeping control of conjured nen objects in a battle scenario is not an easy thing to do at all.
Each second and minute is worth a lot.
The nen is not an infinite source of energy, and Brone kept spending more aura and focus each second he kept on controlling twelve different nen-conjured objects.
Seconds passed.
Then more.
The rings slashed through the air again and again, but they only cut empty space.
Each miss increased Brone's irritation.
His breathing grew heavier, just slightly.
His aura output rose, unconsciously compensating for the lack of progress.
"He's reading everything," Brone realized.
"Movement patterns… timing… angles."
Worse still, Brone had no idea what he was fighting against.
Is his enemy spending time dodging because of some sort of condition, or is he just having fun dodging?
What is his plan?
All these thoughts are starting to take a toll on Brone.
Conrad felt it clearly as he looked into the eyes of Brone.
He was starting to understand what Hisoka felt when he looked deep in the eyes of Kastro.
The tension.
The impatience.
The small fluctuations in aura betrayed Brone's growing stress.
"This is enough," Conrad thought.
He leapt backward in a single smooth motion, creating a wide gap between himself and the incoming rings.
His feet touched the ground, and for the first time since the fight began, he stopped moving.
Brone's eyes widened slightly.
He did not relax his control.
If anything, he sharpened it.
The rings slowed for a fraction of a second, hovering in formation, ready to surge again.
Conrad stood upright, shoulders relaxed.
"Good," he thought.
"I have a plan now."
At that moment, Brone felt something wrong.
Not danger, at least, not the obvious kind.
It was more like a disturbance in the flow of the fight, a subtle shift that didn't belong.
His instincts screamed before his logic caught up.
"What is that…?" Brone thought.
His eyes flicked upward.
For a split second, he felt something fast and barely visible cutting through the air at a sharp angle.
"A bullet?"
The realization hit him late.
Brone twisted his body to the right on pure instinct.
Bang.
The sound echoed sharply through the arena.
Stone shattered where he had been standing, leaving behind a clean, narrow hole punched deep into the floor.
Brone landed several steps away, heart pounding.
"…Emission," he muttered under his breath.
He snapped his head toward Conrad.
Conrad had not moved from his spot.
"So that's it."
Brone thought, cold sweat forming on his back.
Brone immediately pulled the rings back into a tighter orbit around himself, abandoning the pressure on Conrad.
The formation shifted from offense to defense, circling him like a rotating shield.
His mind raced.
"That wasn't random," he realized.
"He waited until I was focused entirely on control."
"He created an opening without touching me."
Brone was not sure of what Conrad wanted to do, but now that he saw something, anything, his mind felt calmer.
The fear of the unknown is bigger than the fear of something he can name; humans are simple creatures in terms of concet of "fear".
They are more scared of what might be in the darkness than the monster that they know lives in the darkness.