Liam let out a sigh of pure, unfiltered despair.
I was just thinking about your legacy, Old King. Just a few innocent thoughts about your many Buddha statues and the Dark Continent treasures tucked inside. Is it really necessary to dump me in the middle of nowhere at every turn?
He looked around, and his mood soured further. There was the sea in front of him, and when he turned around, he could see the shoreline again, not far behind. He paced it out—three hundred steps.
He was standing on a strip of land so narrow it was practically a tightrope. What kind of place was this? Had the King's ghost decided to drop him onto a deserted sandbar just to show off his mastery of teleportation?
Liam groaned, a frown deepening on his face. For some reason, the environment felt wrong. It was too loud. The waves hitting the shore, the wind whistling through the rocks, the distant cry of a seabird—every sound was magnified, ringing in his ears with unnatural clarity. It felt as if the island itself was whispering to him, but when he focused, the whispers dissolved into the mist.
He took a deep breath, forcing the restless aura in his body to settle into a perfect Ten. He wrapped himself in a shroud of still water, calming his nerves.
He was about to reach for the Moon Mark on his ring when he felt it—a pulse. The other two rings were calling out to him.
I've been moved, he thought. What about the others?
He opened the mental channel. "Status report."
They had followed the treasure map to an inaccessible valley, finding a divine script talisman etched into the rock. Kurapika, having discarded his "semi-immortal" Star Mark during the fight with the Spiders, had been cautious. Shizuku still had hers, but Liam, as the leader, had stepped up first.
"As soon as your aura touched the array, you turned into a ball of light and vanished," Shizuku's voice echoed in his head.
"Vanished? Great," Liam replied.
"So, we've likely been sent to a physical island somewhere in the world," Kurapika added. "This doesn't feel like the alternate dimension I was trapped in before. This feels real."
"It's real, alright," Liam said, kicking at the sand. "The sea breeze is plenty salty. Wait—did you guys follow me?"
"Of course," Shizuku said.
"After you disappeared, Shizuku touched the script immediately," Kurapika explained. "I had no choice but to follow."
"You're both idiots!" Liam barked. "At least one of you should have stayed behind to secure the exit. If we all get stuck, the organization dies before it even launches!"
"I apologize. I wasn't feeling particularly patient," Kurapika said. "But considering the Star Marks you and Shizuku carry, I assumed the teleportation wasn't lethal. If it was an attack, the mark would have flared. Since it didn't, I took the risk."
"Logic," Liam sighed. "Fine. It makes sense."
"Before I touched the array," Kurapika continued, "I instructed the rock bird to peck its own skin at dawn every day. That will trigger the Star Mark on its body, giving you a daily window to possess it and call for help if we get stuck. If we need a rescue, we can hire professional Hunters."
Liam felt a spark of appreciation for the strategist's foresight. "Good. Now, let's sync up. What do you see?"
He began walking along the coastline to his left.
"The land is narrow—no more than three hundred meters wide," Kurapika reported. "The mist is thick. I can see maybe a thousand meters in either direction. It's like a ring."
"Same here," Liam noted. The mist seemed to follow him, clinging to the edge of his vision. "If this land is a circle, we should run into each other eventually. Shizuku?"
"I'm here."
Liam focused on the Star Mark. He could feel Shizuku's presence—not ahead or behind, but across the water. She had intentionally wounded herself to flare the mark, giving him a beacon.
"The land is an arc," Liam realized, mapping it out in his mind. "It's a giant runway island shaped like a ring. I'm walking left. Shizuku, you go right. We'll meet in the middle."
"Understood," Shizuku said.
Liam briefly took control of Shizuku's perspective to confirm her surroundings. Through her eyes, he saw the same endless gray mist and narrow strip of land. He left her with a simple instruction to keep the mark active and returned to his own body.
They kept the channel open as they walked. Despite the casual chatter, both were on high alert. This wasn't just a deserted island; it was a trap set by the True Martial King, a man who had already proven he enjoyed torturing his guests.
"The air is weird here," Liam whispered. "It's like someone is whispering right into my ear. And no, I don't mean you."
"I hear it too," Shizuku replied.
"It sounds like madness," Liam muttered. "I think the fog is the source. Maybe it's Nen. Maybe it's the King's ghost still trying to play games."
"Liam, wait!" Shizuku's voice cut in.
Liam slowed his pace, his eyes locking onto the swirling mist ahead. A figure was slowly taking shape.
It wasn't that the person was walking out of the fog, but rather that the visibility was shifting as they approached. It was a strange realization: Liam felt like the air around him was clear, but to anyone else, he was just as hidden as the stranger.
Liam approached cautiously. The person was pacing, one hand pressed to their ear as if adjusting a headset. They were talking to someone.
They have companions, too, Liam thought. They must have triggered a different array and ended up here just like us.
The stranger spotted him and spun around, her hand darting into her jacket.
Going for a gun?
"Hello? How are you?" Liam shouted, raising his hands to show he wasn't armed.
The woman seemed surprised. She slowly withdrew her hand and raised both palms, nodding to him as she walked closer. Her face was stern, her hair cut in a sleek, short style. She looked like a professional.
"What happened here? Do you know where we are?" Liam asked.
The woman shook her head. "I don't know. I woke up on this shore. What about you?"
As they closed the gap, her movement turned into a blur. She whipped a pistol from her jacket and fired three times in rapid succession—forehead, neck, heart.
I knew it!
Liam raised his arm. His aura flared into a solid wall of pressure. The three bullets hit the invisible barrier, spinning furiously as they tried to bite into the air, but they couldn't reach his skin.
The woman didn't skip a beat. She dropped the gun and lunged.
Liam's arm swept out, his fingers catching a strand of her hair and twisting it into a Star Mark. At the same time, the woman slapped a strange sticker onto Liam's chest.
Her eyes widened in shock. The "sticker" fell away, unable to stick to his pressurized aura. Simultaneously, Liam's Star Mark touched her skin under her collarbone.
A Manipulator, Liam realized. We're both playing the same game.
The woman didn't retreat. She channeled her aura into her hand, forming a lethal blade of light. She slashed at his throat
Flowing Star Strike.
Liam's intuition took over. He ducked the strike, his body moving with the fluid grace Netero had praised. He drove his shoulder into her midsection, knocking her back, and followed up with a flurry of strikes.
Nothing left to say. He had to take her down.
The woman was a wreck. Her face was bruised and swollen, and she lay huddled on the sand. Liam sat on her back, spitting out a bit of blood from a cut lip.
"You're tough," he remarked. "Your Ken is almost as good as mine. Now, talk. Who are you? No random passerby fights like that."
The woman remained silent, her jaw set.
"That uniform... it's military, isn't it?" Liam sneered, testing a theory. "Which prince sent you? Kakin business doesn't usually end up on deserted islands."
He saw the briefest flicker in her eyes.
"The First Prince?"
No response.
"The Second? Third? Fourth?"
Liam realized listing them was a waste of time. "Whatever. It doesn't matter. I'm knocking you out now."
He delivered a sharp blow to the back of her neck. Her eyes rolled back, and she slumped into the sand, unconscious.
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