It had been another four months since Loki had opened his aura nodes and one thing he had come to find frustrating was his minuscule amount of aura.
In his current state, he could only keep Ren up for about 30 minutes nonstop before running out of aura. This was a far cry from Gon and Killua's full three hours of holding Ren nonstop in the Chimera Ant Arc.
Loki's current schedule only consisted of a few things. In the morning, he focused on exercising his flexibility to maintain his fitness, even with a minimal food intake.
In the afternoon, he searched through garbage for food and things to trade. At night, he ensured that he exhausts his aura through Ren to increase his aura capacity.
It had been about a six months since he came to Meteor City, and Loki was pleased with the progress he had made since arriving.
From what he could tell, his body was back to when he was about thirteen years old, which worked well for him. With his current age, it left him plenty of time to explore his talent in Nen, but the current food intake was a problem.
Although the hunger didn't bother him too much, his body was still growing.
Knowing that this couldn't continue forever, he decided to take a risk and try to take some food from some of the local gangs on the perimeter.
Usually, he wouldn't take the risk, but with being able to use Ren for a couple of minutes and his skills from his previous life, he felt pretty confident in taking out a couple of gangsters.
With this thought in mind, he quickly made his way through the trash heaps toward the outer circle, making sure to pick up any sharp objects he could find on the way.
While running out of the corner of his eye, he saw a mask on top of one of the trash piles. It was somewhat cracked, and the upper right was completely broken off, but it attracted him.
The mask had a giant smile, similar to the one he used to wear when taking jobs.
Thinking that it might be good to hide his identity for what he was about to do, he grabbed it and put it on before quickly leaving.
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On the outside of a camp with gang members moving supplies, Loki was hunched down, marking his targets.
From what he could see, it was a small gang that was shipping some stolen goods, probably trying to sell them to someone in the area.
They were a small group of about eight people armed with pistols, from what he could see. Although they were armed, Loki felt confident he could take care of them without causing too much of a fuss.
Mentally planning his targets, he quickly sneaked towards the tents in the distance, doing his best to restrain his presence.
Quickly grabbing some of the sharp pieces of metal he had grabbed earlier, he threw them towards the throat of the man standing on guard outside the camp.
Although it didn't instantly kill him, it was enough for him to be unable to scream, allowing Loki to quickly drag him away and finish him.
Glancing inside the camp, there were six patrolling the camp outside, with the last one inside the tent with the goods.
Taking note of the situation, he quickly activated Zetsu, enhancing his senses, before making his way towards the nearest person.
He quickly got behind him and stabbed him in the lower back before turning around to see the other members looking at him.
Upon seeing the gang members, they immediately pointed their guns at him and yelled.
"Kill him!"
The remaining four began to fire, alerting the one inside of the tent.
Loki, seeing the situation, immediately grabbed the man he stabbed and used him to block the bullets before pushing him towards the nearest and continuing his killing spree.
Getting towards the nearest, he quickly jumped and slit his throat before continuing to weave through the hail of bullets.
Using Zetsu helped enhance his senses and allowed him to dodge the hail of bullets with ease.
Dodging the best he could, he continued to kill the rest of them. By the time he finished the last one, the man from the tent was already walking over.
"No wonder you killed them so fast… You a Nen user kid?" the man said while taking a puff of a cigarette.
Loki's eyes instantly narrowed as he looked toward the man who was smoking, unbothered by the situation.
"Tsk… I don't know where you learned your half-baked Nen, but I have to give an explanation to the boss why they are all dead when I get back." The man said before dropping the cigarette, stomping it out, and continuing.
"So you're going to have to die here for me kid."
Alarm bells instantly started ringing, and he felt his senses screaming as he looked towards the man.
"Just my luck… Of course, the random gang I choose just happens to have a Nen user…" Loki thought to himself as he started to back off.
The man flared his Nen before throwing a punch into the air. Loki reacted instantly, quickly canceling Zetsu and flaring his Ren.
A second later, he felt a punch in his gut, causing him to suck in a breath of air and spit some blood.
Loki instantly activated Gyo, seeing the man start to punch again, only to see a mass of aura shaped like a fist coming straight toward his head.
Tilting his head and barely managing to dodge, he quickly looked towards the man again, only to see him looking surprised.
"You know how to see aura? This makes things troublesome, kid." the man said with his brows frowning in annoyance.
The man quickly got more serious as he continued to throw punches at faster speeds.
As Loki dodged around the camp with holes being blown up around him, he tried to analyze his ability based on what he knew.
"Most likely an Emitter using some Enhancement. He can extend the reach of his punches and make them stronger. I don't know his max distance but for now I can assume there isn't one. Certainly tricky with my current level, but I'm not looking to fight him." Loki thought to himself as he ran.
Emitters can separate their aura from their body for long periods of time, over long distances while Enhancement greatly increases physical attack and defense.
Quickly looking for some cover, he continued dodging as he headed towards one of the camp's tents.
Once inside he quickly scanned around him only for his eyes to light up.
"This could be helpful…" Loki thought as he glanced towards a pile of grenades and weapons laying in the tent with a smirk in his eyes.
He quickly grabbed a belt of grenades, a pistol, and a couple knives before another fist shaped aura ripped through the tent exploding the ground where it landed.
Seeing this, Loki quickly exited the tent and hid behind cover before pulling the pin out of a grenade and throwing the belt towards the man.
*SFX* BOOOOOOM
Hearing the explosion Loki quickly came out of cover and ran towards the tent holding the food aiming to get the food and run before the man recovered from the explosion.
It wasn't worth him fighting to the death with a Nen user for food that would probably only last him a week or two.
If he had known he would be fighting a Nen user, he wouldn't have bothered to raid this camp.
Quickly finding the food and grabbing all he could take, he started to run back towards the trash heaps. Getting a good distance, Loki started to look back before feeling a mass of aura rushing towards him.
Quickly rolling to the side, Loki managed to look back to see the man with an expression of rage with his clothes burnt and some blood leaking down his arms.
"Did you really think I would just let you get away after all that…" The man said furious as he started to raise his fist to punch at him.
Seeing this Loki quickly got up and tried to run towards the trash heaps hoping to lose him but the man was relentless.
"Looks like i'm going to have to fight him anyways…" Loki thought to himself in annoyance.
Knowing he couldn't run, Loki quickly turned around and pulled out his gun. He started shooting while using the little aura he had left to protect himself he tried to dodge the punches coming his way.
The man easily blocked the bullets with his aura before continuing to punch at Loki in the distance.
Knowing that he needed to do something before his aura ran out, Loki quickly began to come up with a plan.
He dropped the bag of food he was carrying before pulling out a knife in both his hands and running towards the man at fast speeds.
Instead of trying to attack from a distance, it would be better to get as close as possible to remove his advantage.
Seeing Loki running towards him, the man instantly lit up with a smile.
Right when Loki was about 10 feet away, he punched out with both fists.
"Die!!!"
Loki's eyes widened as he saw a giant fist of aura rushing towards him at high speeds. Quickly rolling to the side he barely managed to dodge but he was still injured by the explosion.
His head was now bleeding, and he was in bad shape. Staggering to his feet, Loki quickly threw both of his knives while attaching the last of his aura to them.
The man quickly turned to try and dodge, but he was still grazed on the cheek. He was about to turn back and say something but as he turned he saw Loki right in front of him plunging his fingers towards his throat.
He tried to quickly raise his arms, but he was too late.
The man quickly started choking as he fell to the ground holding his throat.
Loki, seeing this, quickly got behind him and wrapped his arms around his head and twisted as hard as he could.
*SFX* CRACKKK
The man fell to the ground with a thump, causing Loki's nerves to relax. He quickly got up and grabbed the two knives he had thrown and the food before trying to head back to his hut but halfway through the garbage mounds the exhaustion had caught up to him.
Barely finding a place to lie down in the trash, he hid the food under him and passed out thinking to himself.
"I need to make my Hatsu before I get into another fight…"
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Hatsu Name: Sucker Punch
Nen Type: Emitter, Enhancer
Description: Allows the user to punch phantom fists that can travel and attack from long distances. These phantom fists are much stronger than normal punches, being able to knock out and even severely injured those unprotected by aura. Additionally, by punching with both hands at once, the user consumes a large amount of aura to summon a massive phantom fist capable of severely injuring aura users and killing those unprotected by aura.
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