Jaku launched from the treetop, its wings beating a silent rhythm against the air.
Liam kept the aura on its small body minimal—a faint, flickering thinness. It was just enough for the Reflection to hitch a ride, lurking undetected on the bird's back like an invisible passenger. To anyone not attuned to the subtle shifts in the atmosphere, the guardian spirit beast was a ghost, a non-entity.
The bird felt lighter than it had in minutes. Whatever strange, oppressive weight had been dragging at its wings was gone. Now, it spiraled through the sky with a cheerful, carefree energy, surveying the sprawling garden below. The wedding guests were no longer a polite, orderly crowd; they were scattered across the lawn in pockets of confusion. Deeper into the manor grounds, two groups stood in a tense standoff near a villa where the courtyard wall had been reduced to rubble and the second floor gaped open like a wound.
Two against three.
"What is that?" Uvogin's voice was a jagged rasp. "Some kind of Nen beast?"
Bambie's eyes were fixed on the eight-armed black figure that had materialized beside Liam. It was an obsidian silhouette, a void in the shape of a man. There was no mistaking the cold, pressurized feeling it radiated. It was pure Nen.
Liam's lips curled into a smile. "What do you think?"
In the silence of his mind, he sent a pulse through the A-ring. Shizuku, work with me here. This guy is overloaded with power. We need to lighten the load.
The moment Kurapika saw Liam summon the guardian spirit beast from the sparrow to his side, the pieces of the puzzle fell into place. Back in the villa, during that initial, bloody clash, Liam and the giant must have traded more than just blows. They had exchanged blood.
The probability was high. Shizuku must have caught a sample with Blinky. The blood inside that vacuum would be as fresh and potent as the second it had sprayed from the wound.
"I'm not really a fan of riddles," Uvogin said, digging a finger into his ear as if bored. "I think I'll just beat you half to death first. You can explain the rest while you're crawling."
"Terrifying," Liam replied, condensing his aura into a sharp, vibrating focus. "Just try not to kill me by accident. I'm a terrible conversationalist when I'm dead."
Shizuku, get ready to feed the Reflection his blood.
Shizuku didn't nod, but her grip tightened on Blinky's nozzle with her right hand. Her left hand shot forward, a deliberate feint, telegraphing another chainsaw strike to keep their attention divided.
Just as the air between them began to hum with the threat of violence, Kurapika spoke. "Wait. I have a question first."
The C-ring hummed, transmitting his voice directly into their heads. Liam, Shizuku, hold.
The two of them glanced at him.
A dolphin-shaped bookshelf drifted lazily beside Kurapika. He reached into his collar, his palm pressing firmly against the skin over his heart.
Blinky already has that big guy's blood, right?
Liam, if that's true, he only needs to attack you three times before he dies.
Liam's eyes sharpened.
While Kurapika spoke aloud, his fingers were working, scraping the star mark off his own chest, peeling away the insurance policy.
But the risk is too high. My ability is better suited for dealing with Phantom Troupe members. Leave them both to me. As long as Shizuku uses her chainsaw and Blinky to get the woman's blood, I can handle them together.
As he coordinated with them telepathically, Kurapika's hand moved to the floating shelf, pulling a book from the dolphin's display.
Please assist me.
Both 'Uvogin' and Bambie noticed the distinct number on the book's cover. A single thought crossed both their minds: Is this brat setting conditions for a vow?
Liam remembered Kurapika's third book. He understood the gamble immediately. The only reason Kurapika had accepted the star mark in the first place was so he could discard it at the perfect moment. He was abandoning the safety of near-immortality, trading his life for a more absolute, merciless judgment. He was refining his resolve into a blade meant for Spiders and nothing else.
Kurapika's smile was thin, almost tragic. He flipped open the book titled "Abyss." A line of text etched itself onto the page, glowing a visceral, bloody red.
Liam know Kurapika's 'Abyss' ability may only be used against members of the Phantom Troupe. If he violates this oath, his heart will be paralyzed and all the blood in his body will burn to death.
The words were cold. The crimson was the color of a fresh kill.
Kurapika snapped the book shut and looked at the two figures across from him. "If you are truly members of the Phantom Troupe, answer me this. What were you thinking before you slaughtered those innocent people? How did it feel?"
The two Spiders were unaware of the telepathic link. To them, the boy had simply looked at a book and asked a sentimental question.
Bambie curled her lip in disgust. "Boring."
Omokage, perfectly mimicking Uvogin's blunt, brutal temperament, spoke in a flat, dead tone. "I felt nothing. Do you have special feelings after you step on a few ants?"
Kurapika fell silent. The air around him seemed to drop several degrees. He pulled another volume from the shelf. "Scum. Then you should die without feeling a thing."
Uvogin didn't wait for a rebuttal. He let out a primal roar and charged.
The mechanical scream of a chainsaw tore through the air, but it wasn't aimed at the giant. Shizuku sent it spinning toward Bambie.
Bambie exhaled sharply, a stream of shimmering bubbles erupting from her mouth to intercept the flying blades. They collided in mid-air, the bubbles bursting with the force of grenades. The chainsaws were blown off course, clattering across the stone.
Two of the deflected saws were caught by a hand wrapped in a monstrous shroud of aura. 'Uvogin' laughed, a low, vicious sound. He lowered his center of gravity, bracing his muscles. He was going to repeat the same trick—yank Shizuku toward him by the chain and end her with a "Super Destructive Punch."
But when he pulled, his hand met no resistance. He stumbled back, grasping at empty air.
Shizuku had already cut the line.
In the chaos of the explosions, Liam lunged at Uvogin. He fired off a volley of Spirit Gun shots—not to kill, but to blind. He just needed the aggro. He needed the giant's eyes on him.
While Liam drew the heat, Kurapika sprinted toward Bambie.
The aura surrounding Kurapika shifted, knitting itself into the form of a half-skeleton knight. A massive, bleached skeletal hand reached out, clawing at Bambie with predatory hunger. It wasn't an attack meant for a quick kill; it was designed for reach and range. He didn't need to crush her; he just needed a drop of her blood.
Bambie wasn't about to let him close the distance. She flicked a bubble into the path of the skeletal hand. The explosion was violent, wreathed in flame. The skeleton's hand shattered, but it managed to rake across Bambie's shoulder, leaving a jagged gash that smoked with burning aura.
On the other side of the yard, Uvogin ignored the stinging Spirit Gun shots and threw a massive fist at Liam. Liam moved like water, dodging at an impossible angle, but Uvogin was ready. He drove his knee upward into Liam's ribs. With nowhere left to twist, Liam crossed his arms, flooding them with aura to take the impact.
The blow sent Liam skidding backward, spinning through the air before he managed to dig his heels into the dirt and find his footing.
Uvogin's eyes flickered to the eight-armed shadow. The beast had been stationary, a silent sentinel, until the moment Uvogin touched the boy. Now, it was erupting with a localized, freezing hostility. It wasn't targeting the giant's body; it was hungering for his aura.
Meanwhile, Bambie stared at Kurapika. The skeleton knight on his body was changing, turning into a charred, flaming version of itself. The wound on her shoulder, where his aura had touched her, refused to stop stinging. If that flame touches my reserves, will it burn through my protection?
"I need distance," she realized. "I'm an Emitter. I don't need to be near this freak."
She took a deep breath and exhaled a continuous, dense stream of bubbles that filled the courtyard like a translucent minefield.
Kurapika watched the display, calculating her Nen consumption. No matter how efficient she was, she couldn't keep this up forever.
"Blinky," Shizuku's voice rang out. "Release one drop of the big guy's blood."
Don't! Kurapika thought, his fist clenching. That reveals the plan!
Uvogin's expression went ice-cold. Bambie flicked a bubble at Shizuku to disrupt her, but the vacuum's mouth was already open. It spat a single, brilliant crimson droplet into the air.
The Reflection, hovering like a dark cloud, darted forward and swallowed the drop in one gulp.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
A flurry of Spirit Gun bullets tore through the air, detonating the bubbles around Shizuku before they could reach her.
Liam raised a smoking finger and smiled at Bambie. "Nen is all about the chemistry, don't you think?"
"Is that my blood?" Omokage muttered, a sense of dread finally piercing his borrowed bravado. He began to shift his form, trying to cycle to a different soul, but the eight-armed Reflection was already there. It lunged from behind, wrapping around him like a starved octopus.
It didn't bite. It didn't claw. It licked. It tasted the aura coating his skin, draining the energy away in great, greedy gulps.
Then, as quickly as it had appeared, the Reflection vanished. It left behind an Uvogin who looked suddenly hollow, his posture sagging as a chunk of his power was simply erased.
Liam was already in his face. He wound up and delivered a heavy punch to the giant's jaw.
Kurapika, do it now! Before he switches forms!
Uvogin was sent reeling. To block Liam's strength, he had to stay in this heavy, durable form. He was trapped by his own defense.
Kurapika knew the risks. If 'Uvogin' changed into another Spider, would the blood still count? Did the DNA shift with the Nen? He couldn't afford to find out.
Bambie tried to intervene, launching twenty bubbles at Shizuku and Kurapika simultaneously. Shizuku swung her chainsaw, clearing a path through the spheres, while her other hand hit the reverse switch on Blinky. A spray of Uvogin's blood arched through the air toward Kurapika.
Kurapika didn't hesitate. He held the third volume of "The Abyss" aloft. The blood splashed against the blank pages, soaking into the paper.
"Come with me into the depths."
Kurapika pressed his palm into the book. The remaining bubbles overhead were inches from his face, but they never hit.
Uvogin's body began to shimmer, his form starting to warp toward Machi's slighter frame, but it was too late. He collapsed into a brilliant sphere of aura and was sucked toward the book.
Simultaneously, Kurapika's own body dissolved into light. Two streaks of aura—one gold, one dark—plunged into the pages of "The Abyss."
The book snapped shut. The number "3" glowed on the cover as it drifted back to its place on the dolphin's shelf.
The bubbles that had been tracking them suddenly lost their targets, bobbing aimlessly in the air. The dolphin bookshelf remained, floating in a protective shroud of aura, looking almost cute with its big eyes and silent books. It was a clear message: The targets are gone. You can't reach them, and they can't reach you.
"Looks like they're in a private match to the death," Liam said, turning his attention to Bambie.
He and Shizuku both glanced toward the villa. On the ruined second floor, a bodyguard—one Liam had knocked out earlier—staggered to his feet. Blood ran down his face as he leveled a pistol at the group in the yard. "Who are you? What's happening?"
To him, the world was normal. He couldn't see the aura, the bubbles, or the floating dolphin. He just saw three teenagers standing in a graveyard of stone.
"Don't be annoying," Bambie said coldly.
She didn't even look back. She just pointed a finger.
The bodyguard's head vanished in a spray of red. He didn't even have time to pull the trigger before his body slumped against the broken wall.
Bambie laughed. "This is getting fun."
She watched Liam's face. She saw the way his fingers twitched—a suppressed urge to protect—and the way his weight shifted toward his heels.
"What's wrong, boy? Do you want to run away?"
"I'm a good person, I don't like seeing people die" Liam sneered, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
But inside, his heart throbbed. As the bodyguard died, a familiar wisp of cold death energy surged into his chest. His heart twitched, a painful, localized spasm, but he held it together. He wasn't at the breaking point yet.
Bambie's eyes flickered toward the wedding garden a few hundred meters away. Liam's expression tightened.
"You're cute when you're stressed," she grinned. She made a sudden, sharp motion as if she were going to bolt toward the crowd of guests.
Liam took a step to intercept, then stopped, realization dawning.
"I'm lying. I don't need to go over there," Bambie said. She held up her hand and slowly clenched it into a fist. "I already left plenty of toys behind."
Time seemed to grind to a halt.
As her fingers closed, flashes of light began to ripple from the direction of the wedding. Liam could almost see the shockwaves forming—ripples in the air traveling at the speed of sound. In two seconds, the screams would reach them.
The garden was over a thousand meters away.
Liam instantly projected his consciousness into the rock bird above. From the bird's-eye view, the world turned into a nightmare of fire and light.
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