Had it not been for his Nen offense and defense benefiting from his Enhancer attribute, allowing him to naturally mitigate some damage even when his guard wasn't fully up...
Otherwise, that last strike would have…
The gruesome image of himself being severed at the waist flashed through Bushidora's mind.
This sudden sense of impending death further eroded his will to fight.
It was In.
As thoughts of retreat surfaced, Bushidora instantly realized that the human body concealed within the mannequin wasn't just meant to deliver the blow that injured him.
That woman...
She had poured a third, or even more, of her aura output into that headless human body in advance, erased its presence with In, and finally used the mannequin shell to conceal the last trace.
All while setting up her combat strategy, she simultaneously created the illusion that her "manifested Nen quantity was only this much."
And those dozens of mannequins she controlled separately were merely decoys.
Their purpose was to emphasize the all-or-nothing gambit of pouring all visible aura output into the final mannequin, thereby baiting him into allocating more aura for offense.
Damn scammer!
Staggering to his feet, Bushidora vaulted over the railing without hesitation, leaping down to the mall's first floor littered with debris.
As long as the green hills remain, there'll be no shortage of firewood.
Today's defeat was due to his own lack of ability.
So he must discipline himself more rigorously, overcome all exposed weaknesses, grow stronger, and prevent such a thing from happening again.
That's why he couldn't die!
Bushidora's feet slammed heavily onto the first-floor ground, producing a loud crash.
Immediately, gritting his teeth against the sharp pain from his wounds, he bolted toward the direction he came from.
Third floor of the mall.
By the railing at the clothing store entrance.
Amanda crossed her arms, watching Bushidora flee with a look of contempt and disgust.
She was already running late for Nolan's assembly order.
The trap she'd specifically set for Bushidora was meant to eliminate him in the shortest time possible.
But Bushidora's mastery as an Enhancer was far from third-rate; even with his defenses compromised, he'd stubbornly relied on his innate toughness to survive what should have been a fatal blow.
Still, that was just the advantage of being an Enhancer.
As an opponent, you didn't have to worry about Enhancers pulling out bizarre abilities, but by the same token, you had to face their resilience, nothing more to say about that.
Amanda could only curse inwardly about his dogged luck, then withdrew her gaze.
She still had to hurry and respond to Nolan's assembly order; of course, she couldn't waste time chasing Bushidora now.
After that heavy blow, she figured Bushidora would tuck his tail and flee far away.
Amanda pulled out her phone, glanced at the urging message from Ring Finger Adam, and had no intention of replying. Instead, she mentally commanded the headless security guard body originally tasked with watching over the semi-abandoned mall.
Creak, creak.
The headless security guard body crouched on the ground, its limbs morphing into wheel-like shapes, while the muscles along its spine twisted and bulged outward, forming a small seat. The ability "Die if You Don't Love Me," under the Limitation that control can only be obtained by personally severing the head, correspondingly gains the Vow effect of "absolute obedience."
This Vow effect brings two distinct features to the ability.
One is that Amanda can freely manipulate the target through "mental command," and the other is that it allows the target to transform at will into whatever form Amanda wishes to see.
It is through this second feature that Amanda perfectly stuffed a human body into a mannequin.
It is worth noting that this shape-shifting ability can only compress the body to make it smaller, not enlarge it.
Amanda sat on the small chair, crossing her long legs clad in black stockings.
Then, powered by aura, the human cart quickly spun its Rhythm Echo wheels and sped toward the exit.
—--
United States Of Saherta.
Two thousand kilometers southeast of the coastal city Yorknew lies a nature reserve.
Afternoon.
A gray car was parked in the lot near the nature reserve.
"Is this the place?"
Morrow rolled down the window and leaned out to look at the lush green mountains in the distance.
Without waiting for Kalluto's reply, Morrow turned his gaze to the reserve entrance, where a number of tourists could be seen queuing to have their tickets checked.
This was still a publicly accessible scenic area renowned for its natural beauty.
Kalluto also looked at the crowd of tourists having their tickets inspected at the entrance and affirmed Morrow's question: "Yes."
"Oh, building a hideout inside a scenic area, quite the idea."
Morrow shook his head slightly and, while surveying the surroundings, noticed a promotional map beside the entrance.
The map depicted various tourist routes and several strongly worded warnings.
At the very top of the map was a large area marked as off-limits, with various dangers from wildlife highlighted.
The essence of this scenic area was clearly still that of a nature reserve.
But likely to cover daily maintenance costs, a section had been opened up for tourists to enjoy the natural scenery.
Following the guidance of Kalluto's ability, since it was confirmed that Nolan's hideout was somewhere in this nature reserve, it was most probably in one of those restricted areas.
Seeing the map led Morrow to this conclusion, as it seemed unlikely Nolan would choose a location constantly frequented by tourists.
Kalluto asked at the right moment, "Shall we go in from here?"
"That works."
Morrow nodded, pulled a bill from his pocket, then glanced at Kalluto's hands, neatly folded and resting on his lap.
"Buy two tickets, please."
With that, he placed the bill directly on the back of Kalluto's hand, leaving no room for refusal.
Kalluto looked down at the bill Morrow had tossed over, paused for a moment, then involuntarily clenched his fist.
Even something as trivial as buying tickets had to be left to him!
Kalluto took a deep breath, straightened his expression, picked up the bill, pushed the car door open, and walked toward the ticket window near the entrance.
"Thanks for handling it."
Morrow said this as he also got out of the car.
But he headed straight for the entrance.
A short while later.
Kalluto returned with two tickets and handed them expressionlessly to the ticket inspector. The ticket inspector took the tickets and checked them, noticing they were two adult passes. He couldn't help but glance up at Morrow standing beside Kalluto and hesitantly said, "Was there a mistake? These are two adult tickets."
"Hm?"
Hearing this, Morrow glanced down at Kalluto.
Kalluto simply turned his head away, giving Morrow a view of the back of his head.
Seeing this, Morrow could almost read Kalluto's thoughts… intentionally buying two adult tickets seemed like a petty attempt to make him waste money...
Indeed, no matter how much the Zoldyck Family tried to force maturity upon their children, they were still fundamentally childish at heart.
But unlike Killua, who cautiously fought to express his true nature even under Illumi's suppression...
Kalluto had learned to endure from a very young age, silently accepting every arrangement made by the family, displaying a unique kind of resilience through his quiet demeanor.
Morrow turned to the ticket inspector and asked, "In that case, can we exchange these for a refund?"
"Of course, but you'll need to go to the ticket window for that."
Kalluto suddenly interjected, "No need. We're in a hurry."
"Ah."
The inspector was taken aback and could only look to Morrow for confirmation.
Noticing the inspector's gaze, Kalluto said coldly, "I bought the tickets. Why are you looking at him?"
"Uh, well..."
The inspector was at a loss for words.
Morrow smiled and defused the situation. "It's fine."
"Alright."
The inspector promptly opened the gate.
A few minutes later.
Morrow and Kalluto walked along the cobblestone path built within the scenic area.
Kalluto drooped his eyelids, expressionless, and muttered, "Why do I have to wear this thing?"
On his small, round head was a pink frog hair clip. From a distance, the clip's round, bulging frog eyes looked more like a pair of bear ears.
"This scenic area is pretty nice. Since we were in a hurry and didn't go for a refund, they just gave you a free souvenir, kind of makes up for some of the loss."
Morrow glanced at the hair clip on Kalluto's head, admiring the place's thoughtful service.
Then, without waiting for Kalluto's reaction, he pulled out the map he'd picked up at the entrance and said to himself, Let's see... the fastest route to the "Restricted Zone" is... oh, B2.
Following the map's directions, Morrow headed toward the B2 route based on the signs along the path.
Seeing that Morrow was deliberately changing the subject, Kalluto raised his hand to the hair clip, intending to pull it off and throw it at the back of Morrow's head.
But his hand only lifted the clip slightly before suddenly stopping.
In the silence, Kalluto realized that although Morrow had forced the clip onto his head, he hadn't refused it at the time.
This slightly tight, childish hair clip had nothing to do with his family, and his mother would certainly disapprove of it.
But at least it was something he had chosen to accept on his own...
Slowly, Kalluto lowered his hand and silently followed Morrow.
Though September neared autumn, the mountain forest remained lush and green.
A warm mountain breeze swept up scattered leaves from the ground, sending them tumbling across the cobblestone path.
Kalluto stepped through the dusty leaves swirling toward him, his white tabi socks instantly stained with dirt.
But he paid it no mind.
Morrow led the way, with Kalluto following behind. The two of them walked one after the other into the depths of the nature reserve.
When they reached the fork at the end of Route B2, a seven- to eight-meter-high iron fence stood before them.
This barrier was meant to keep tourists out, but it was no obstacle for the two of them.
They easily crossed the fence, and what lay before them was an expanse of forest that stretched beyond sight, filled with the sounds of wildlife.
Without needing a reminder from Morrow, Kalluto took the initiative to step forward and lead the way.
They continued trekking through the forest for a long time.
Until they spotted a human figure among the trees.
It was a man wearing a ranger uniform, carrying a hunting rifle. Upon seeing Morrow and Kalluto, he immediately strode toward them with an angry expression.
"Hey, I'm a ranger of the Dalzollene Nature Reserve. Don't you know this area is..."
"Tch."
Morrow fired a small Nen bullet, piercing the man's forehead.
The man's face stiffened, and he collapsed to the ground with a bewildered expression.
It seemed even in death, he couldn't comprehend why Morrow had killed him.
Kalluto was equally puzzled.
Though their time together had been short, he felt that given Morrow's personality, he wouldn't suddenly kill an insignificant ranger without reason.
"Killing intent."
Meeting Kalluto's questioning gaze, Morrow calmly stated the reason for his action.
Kalluto frowned at this.
As an assassin raised in the Zoldyck Family, Kalluto had undergone specialized training since childhood. He had not only honed his skills in concealing his aura but had also risked his life to develop the ability and experience to sense killing intent.
Yet in that situation just now, he hadn't sensed any hostility from the ranger, let alone killing intent.
"But I..."
"Shh."
Morrow pressed his index finger to his lips, signaling Kalluto to be silent.
Kalluto cut himself off mid-sentence and fell silent, though his frown remained.
Morrow walked over to the corpse and searched it, retrieving a portable listening device and an in-ear headset for communication.
Crack.
With a squeeze of his fingers, he crushed the equipment.
Kalluto watched the remnants of the listening device Morrow casually discarded and vaguely understood something.
But what still preoccupied him was the issue of killing intent Morrow had mentioned.
"I didn't sense any killing intent from him earlier."
Kalluto pointed his fan at the motionless body of the ranger.
Unable to discern the persistence and stubbornness in Kalluto's heart, Morrow habitually brushed it off with a casual lie: "Because you're weak. Just train more and you'll get it."
"!?"
Kalluto's smooth forehead wrinkled abruptly.
Don't bother with this jerk, don't bother with this jerk...
Kalluto took a deep breath, suppressing the urge to smack Morrow's head with his paper fan.
"I know you... you often spout nonsense without thinking."
Lowering his fan, Kalluto stared directly at Morrow's face and asked seriously, "But I want you to answer this question honestly: was this person's killing intent real or not?"
"..."
Faced with Kalluto's unusually solemn gaze, so mature for his age, Morrow was taken aback. He then set aside his indifferent attitude and replied earnestly, "I'm not joking. That man truly had killing intent toward us, even if it was only for a fleeting moment." He utilized the negative effects of "X" to actively embrace thousands of death experiences, making him extremely sensitive to killing intent, which allowed him to detect that fleeting, faint trace of hostility.
But Kalluto couldn't do it.
Or rather, at Kalluto's current level, he lacked that kind of acuity.
Upon receiving the answer, Kalluto couldn't help but lower his head and avert his gaze, hiding a flicker of disappointment.
Morrow observed Kalluto's reaction and sighed, "There you go again."
"What?"
Morrow didn't answer directly but instead calmly countered, "How old are you this year?"
"Seven."
Kalluto frowned slightly again, not understanding why Morrow was asking this.
Morrow looked at Kalluto and said, "Then what are you in such a hurry for? At your age, having this level of skill is already proof enough of the effort you've put in. Why feel disheartened over unavoidable gaps? You're already very impressive, Kalluto."
"..."
Kalluto's eyes widened slightly, and he lowered his head in silence.
A few seconds later.
He asked, "Aren't you the same? Even the time it takes to park the car, you seize every moment to train."
"It's not the same."
Morrow shook his head slightly. "You're chasing after something, while I'm racing against death."
Kalluto said, "How is it different?"
"Adult matters; kids shouldn't meddle."
Morrow waved his hand, swiftly changing the subject. "Hurry up and lead the way. We probably can't sneak in unnoticed."
Kalluto gritted his teeth.