Liam had a plan now. He looked up, feeling refreshed, and noticed Shizuku was experimenting with something on her own.
She held one hand out in front of her. The aura wrapped around her fingers kept shifting, changing shape.
Liam activated Gyo, focusing aura into his eyes for a clearer view.
Shizuku was trying to make her aura... thinner?
"I want to make the aura sharp," Shizuku explained, noticing his gaze. "But it's difficult."
The aura around Shizuku's hand had definitely become elongated and thin. But it lacked compression. Without enough density, it couldn't achieve true sharpness. The change was limited.
"Oh, I get it," Liam said suddenly. "You want to use sharp aura to cut the enemy's skin. Then you can use Blinky to drain their blood."
Shizuku nodded. "Yeah. If the skin isn't broken, Blinky can't suck it."
After spending so much time with Shizuku, Liam had learned plenty about Blinky's quirks and limitations.
One rule was that Blinky couldn't suck contents from sealed containers through the container itself. Blood and tissue fluid inside the human body, toxins and viruses mixed into the bloodstream—all of those required a wound or gap in the sealed object to serve as a passage for Blinky to access.
Blinky also couldn't suck things that were attached to other objects.
Houses built on the ground. Trees rooted in soil. Skeletons embedded in flesh. Nervous systems. And so on. But knock down the house, uproot the tree, pull out the bones? Then Blinky could vacuum them up no problem.
If Shizuku could create effective bloody wounds during combat, she could theoretically use Blinky to drain an opponent's blood directly until they died.
"But the premise is that the opponent's wounds don't heal before they're drained dry," Liam said, shaking his head. "From what I know, some really powerful fighters—especially martial artists and Enhancers—can use pure muscle strength to temporarily seal wounds and force hemostasis."
In the manga, Netero's right leg had been torn off by the Ant King. Blood gushed from the wound like a geyser. But the moment Netero gritted his teeth, the bowl-sized stump on his leg immediately contracted. The bleeding stopped on the spot.
"There are very few masters like that, right?" Shizuku asked.
"If you think about it that way, sure," Liam conceded. "And if the opponent stops the bleeding quickly, you can just give them a few more cuts. Add some new wounds. Small and frequent meals. You'll feed Blinky eventually."
March 3rd. Heavens Arena, 222nd floor.
Liam didn't have a match scheduled today, but he still came along with Shizuku to watch.
This match was Wing versus Tetsuro.
Wing didn't seem to know in advance who his opponent would be. When Tetsuro's name appeared on the scoreboard, Wing's eyebrows rose in obvious surprise.
It had been a month and a half since Tetsuro lost to Liam. He'd spent over forty days recovering both physically and mentally.
Today he stepped back into the ring with a full beard, looking more weathered. More resolute.
"After losing to Liam, he seems stronger somehow," Wing murmured, calculating internally.
He could vaguely feel the eyes of Liam and Shizuku watching from somewhere in the packed auditorium. It made him sweat slightly.
Tetsuro at eight wins, one loss. Wing at four wins, zero losses.
The match began at the referee's signal.
Surprisingly, Tetsuro didn't use his Judgment on the Stage ability this time. He just released all his aura in a standard combat stance and rushed forward with his fist raised. Tetsuro struck first, catching Wing off guard with the aggressive opening.
"Wait, what?" Liam muttered from the stands. "Do I have Talk no Jutsu powers or something? I made a few random comments and confused this guy into changing his entire fighting style?"
Both he and Shizuku could tell at a glance that Tetsuro and Wing were fighting with their aura functioning normally. No suppression. No manipulation effects.
And the result of fighting normally was exactly what you'd expect.
Wing's Ken alone far exceeded Tetsuro's defensive capabilities. Tetsuro hadn't even mastered advanced application techniques. His defensive power was barely better than basic Ten.
If Tetsuro had used his ability to force both fighters back to baseline human strength, it probably wouldn't have been such a one-sided beatdown.
The referee could barely keep up announcing Wing's consecutive point scores.
By the time Tetsuro had been pummeled into a battered mess, half the audience was booing.
Tetsuro's nose was broken, his face swollen, blood trickling from his split lip. But his expression remained utterly unchanged despite the injuries.
Wing stopped his assault and asked, "Do you regret not using your Nen ability?"
Tetsuro gathered the last remnants of his aura, channeling everything into his legs. He answered with action. Smashing his feet into the floor, he launched himself forward one more time to take another punch.
The arena erupted in noise.
Amid a mixture of jeers and applause, Wing's record advanced to five wins, zero losses.
March 7th. Liam won another victory. Six wins, zero losses.
Rain fell softly that evening.
Kurapika stared at a line of scarlet text that gradually appeared on paper. Finally, he closed the book. The number "5" was written on the black cover.
Book Five, "Judgment," was complete.
Time flew by in a rhythm of training, competing, and spectating.
By April 12th, Liam's record stood at nine wins, zero losses. He'd reached match point ahead of schedule. Now he just had to wait for Wing.
For the next month, Liam mostly stayed home, focusing on intensive training with Shizuku in their apartment.
Total aura capacity...
Four Major Principles...
Advanced applications...
Nen abilities...
Liam's total aura steadily increased. His newly developed ability gradually took shape.
By the end of April, Shizuku had made significant progress developing her own technique.
May 1st. The apartment.
Jaku—who often went off exploring and hadn't been seen for weeks—suddenly reappeared beside Liam. He caught the gray bird and stroked its feathers absentmindedly.
While Liam played with Jaku, he sat on the sofa watching Shizuku's demonstration.
"Blinky."
Shizuku gestured with one hand. A sphere of aura materialized into her distinctive vacuum cleaner. Two bulging fish eyes sat on the base like goldfish eyeballs. The slender pipe connected to it formed a mouth lined with sharp teeth.
"Transform."
Shizuku grabbed the vacuum head. She pressed something—Liam couldn't see what button or trigger.
Suddenly there was a mechanical whirring sound. "Bzzzzzz."
The fangs on Blinky's mouth flipped outward, growing to four times their size and standing upright. In an instant, the big-mouthed vacuum cleaner transformed into a terrifying chainsaw head...