Offensive Emitters and Conjurers who specialize in weapon-based abilities inevitably accumulate more aura in their dominant hands before activating their techniques.
For Conjurers, aura gathering tends to form soft yet slightly sharp clusters.
Emission types, needing to channel and release larger amounts of aura, naturally manifest their energy in aggressive, pointed formations.
This serves as an unavoidable tell for Emitters during combat.
Even someone as skilled as Zeno couldn't conceal his attack intentions at this stage.
Perhaps only someone at Netero's level could achieve such concealment.
Based on Morrow's aura-gathering pattern, Hisoka initially judged him to be an Emitter.
"Stealing someone else's prey isn't a good habit," Hisoka responded, barely suppressing his urge to strike.
Morrow looked puzzled. "Prey? What prey?"
"Heh, heheh..."
Hisoka was adept at lying, which made him even better at detecting lies.
But no detection was needed here...
Having chased his target from afar, he'd recognized Morrow's true nature at first glance.
A kindred spirit...
Undoubtedly so.
That post-satisfaction glow couldn't deceive him.
Had Morrow known Hisoka's thoughts, he would've protested loudly.
While he did feel satisfaction after killing Omokage, it wasn't from combat, but from the post-level-up feedback.
Seeing Hisoka's aura grow sharper with each laugh, Morrow abandoned pretense. He raised his right hand, where the pointed aura suddenly swirled and contracted.
Through deliberate compression, the rotating aura flattened slightly, its edges shimmering with phosphorescent green light.
"Accusing others of stealing prey... that's no good habit either. Besides, letting prey slip right through your fingers; that's incompetence, isn't it?"
"Mmm..."
Hisoka's eyes curved to crescents as he slowly modulated his voice: "I won't deny that. So... shall we begin our "lovely courtship"?"
"Let's make a bet," Morrow suddenly proposed.
"Hmm?" Hisoka's aura flickered momentarily as he asked with interest, "Is this our "foreplay"?"
"Yes."
Morrow continued calmly, "You can refuse. But if you do, I'll resign myself to fate, standing motionless while you kill me. I imagine... you wouldn't enjoy a completely unresponsive one-on-one, would you?"
"..."
Hisoka fell into rare silence.
He recognized Morrow's sincerity; that detached attitude toward death lent terrifying credibility to his words.
This wouldn't do...
Motionless targets were so dull.
With a flip of his wrist, Hisoka produced playing cards and narrowed his eyes. "Very well, let's consider it "foreplay." I accept. What are the terms?"
"The bet is... whether you can successfully kill me."
Morrow never took his eyes off Hisoka.
Understanding instantly, Hisoka's interest waned. "If by "foreplay" you mean some chase sequence... do you really think I could restrain myself?"
As he spoke, Hisoka rested one hand on his hip, deliberately accentuating his posture. Morrow noticed Hisoka's frequently recurring gesture from the original work and inevitably observed certain reactions.
Yet his expression remained utterly unperturbed as he enunciated each word clearly: "As I said earlier, letting prey slip right through your fingers is incompetence in itself."
"..."
This was Hisoka's second silence.
In contrast, the desire radiating from his aura grew even more intense.
"What if..."
He took an uncontrolled step forward, golden pupils excluding everything except Morrow, and asked: "What if I fail to kill you?"
"One year."
Morrow raised his left index finger calmly. "If you lose, we'll immediately terminate our "honeymoon phase" and enter a year-long "cold war period.""
"Oh?"
Hisoka instantly grasped the implication.
After losing, he'd have to wait a full year before resuming their passionate relationship (mutual torment).
Perhaps it was just an illusion...
Despite this being their first meeting and interaction, he unexpectedly felt an unusually high synchronization with the person before him.
Killing him now would be such a waste...
But,
I can't hold back, simply can't.
I must, must kill him here and now.
My current emotions are violently demanding this outcome.
Hisoka uncontrollably ran his tongue around his lips, restraining himself as he said: "How can it be a honeymoon phase when we don't even know each other's names?"
"Ah, true..."
Morrow nodded slightly and stated: "Morrow."
Hearing the name, Hisoka's eyebrows rose slightly in faint surprise*, but he had no attention to spare for such matters now. His voice trembling, he said:
"Hisoka, that's my name. So now... shall we begin?"
"Come."
Morrow agreed, suddenly hurling a flattened fluorescent green Nen bullet toward Hisoka before swiftly retreating to create distance.
Hisoka's grin stretched to its limit as he charged forward, merely ducking slightly to evade the Nen bullet before continuing his relentless advance toward Morrow.
At this moment, every cell in his body was leaping with excitement.
Observing Hisoka's face, a perfect blend of exhilaration, craving, and demand, Morrow could only mentally acknowledge it as peak facial artistry.
Thoughts aside, his hands never stopped moving.
Before Hisoka could close in, Morrow formed another flattened Nen bullet and tossed it behind himself.
After this action, Morrow ceased retreating and instead actively advanced toward Hisoka.
"Hmm?"
Seeing this, Hisoka's already heightened nerves made him perceive the returning Nen bullet almost instantly.
With reflexes honed to perfection, he abruptly halted mid-charge and arched his upper body backward.
Precisely then, the ricocheting Nen bullet whizzed past Hisoka's face.
"A boomerang-style attack pattern..."
Using his incredible core strength, Hisoka snapped back upright at lightning speed, immediately slashing playing cards toward Morrow's vital points.
Yet Morrow suddenly leaped into the air, also dodging the returning Nen bullet.
But to Hisoka, this move seemed tantamount to suicide.
Capitalizing on Morrow's airborne vulnerability, Hisoka redirected his cards toward the defenseless target.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The rapidly spinning cards flew toward Morrow with nowhere to evade.
But at this very instant...
The Nen bullet Morrow had thrown backward came hurtling back at breakneck speed. However, its returning trajectory was like a swallow skimming low before suddenly soaring upward.
And it was no longer targeting Morrow!
The slightly flattened Nen bullet arrived beneath Morrow.
Without hesitation, Morrow shifted his center of gravity downward, bending his knees to crouch directly on the now-doubled-in-size flattened Nen bullet. Then, he was lifted upward as the Nen bullet carried him into the air.
At that moment, the delayed playing cards merely sliced through Morrow's clothes, achieving nothing more.
Under Hisoka's gaze, which could barely conceal his astonishment, the Nen bullet continued ascending like a missile, carrying Morrow higher into the sky.
Star Mark.
It wasn't limited to humans.
Before arriving here, Morrow had placed a Star Mark on a sparrow.
Then, by using the second Deceptive Shooting Star to link with the directional effect of the Star Mark, he had created this very scene.
This... was his escape route!
Feeling inexplicably exhilarated, Morrow shouted, "Hisoka, you lose."
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* : Hisoka's last name is Morow.
I'll release the next chapter later.
Bonus chapter for every new review and every time the story gets 20 Power Stones.