Weaver's Lie could help Luke neutralize four life-threatening attacks.
The high fault tolerance provided by this ability granted Luke immense operational flexibility in combat.
Against evenly matched opponents, he could use the Weaver to create openings and swiftly end the battle.
Against stronger foes, he could leverage the Weaver's fault tolerance to probe and verify intelligence.
Moreover, by observing the Weaver's reactive mechanisms, he could gauge the intensity of enemy attacks and adapt his strategies accordingly.
With this ability, Luke had successfully defended against the lethal threat posed by Shooting Star and, alongside Adam, cornered Morrow.
At this stage of the battle, the outcome seemed all but certain.
That was why Adam could afford to smile again.
What Adam didn't know at this moment was that Weaver's Lie harbored a hidden mechanism that could benefit the enemy.
After neutralizing four high-risk attacks, the Weaver would illuminate the Crown on its back, triggering the "Jackpot" mechanism.
However, this Jackpot ability presented the enemy with a moral dilemma, a test of character.
There were no hints or clues about what the Crown entailed. Apart from Luke, no one knew what it would bring.
Accepting the Crown meant facing unknown possibilities in an already precarious battle.
Rejecting it would result in no immediate consequences, but for the duration of the Crown's activation, Luke would be unable to use the Weaver's ability, effectively sealing his Nen temporarily.
The Fingers were indeed privy to each other's abilities.
But the final-stage mechanics of Weaver's Lie were far too critical.
That was why Luke had kept this detail hidden from the very beginning.
This was also why Adam's eye twitched involuntarily when he saw Morrow suddenly erupt with a terrifying aura.
In fact, the moment he noticed Luke's grave expression, Adam had already sensed something was wrong.
"Luke, care to explain?"
Feeling the overwhelming danger radiating from Morrow, Adam no longer felt any joy in "seizing assets." Cold sweat beaded on his forehead as he instinctively took two steps back.
Luke didn't answer. Instead, he plopped down onto the grass, his tense expression melting away like a receding tide, replaced by a stillness akin to stagnant water.
Watching Luke's actions, Adam froze for a moment before veins bulged on his forehead. "Hey, what the hell does this mean?!"
"We've lost."
Luke's gaze remained calm as he observed Morrow rapidly adapting to the overclocked aura, finally answering Adam's urgent question.
Adam's expression twisted. "Huh? What kind of bullshit is that?!"
Luke saw no point in explaining.
Because it was meaningless.
From the perspective of the Weaver's ability, even if Morrow dared to accept the Crown, it didn't guarantee a 100% comeback.
After all, the overclocked aura had a time limit, and after the Nen burst, the Crown's bearer would exhaust their potential aura.
So, if he and Adam could endure this phase, even at the cost of sacrifice, victory would still be theirs.
But they were doomed to lose.
The true key to their defeat lay elsewhere...
The Star Marks.
The Star Marks branded on both him and Adam. That locking ability completely stifled all their room for counterplay, making it utterly impossible to survive the phase after Morrow's Nen burst.
Since death was certain, there was naturally no point wasting effort explaining the situation to Adam.
"You really have the guts, huh? Not worried at all that the Crown might become the final straw that breaks you?"
Luke stared unblinkingly at Morrow.
Though they were enemies, he couldn't help but be awed by Morrow's strength.
That strength lay in Morrow's unshakable mentality, even in the direst of circumstances.
Even on the razor's edge of death, he had endured Adam's relentless assault without flinching, steadfastly executing his own judgment, a display that left Luke deeply unsettled.
Morrow ignored Luke's words, silently adjusting to the flow speed and scale of his overclocked aura.
Though he had guessed that the Golden Crown would likely bring positive effects, he hadn't expected it to be this brutal.
So brutal that he had to consider the potential side effects afterward.
No matter. The tables had turned; he'd deal with these two first.
Morrow casually raised his right hand, golden aura surging down his arm and gathering visibly in his palm, condensing into a Nen mass.
Yet at its core, an emerald glow pulsed, as though a nucleus resided within.
This was the core of his vitality-extracting ability.
Ironically, Morrow hadn't yet reaped the benefits of this ability.
Not that he didn't want to, but its activation required dealing substantial damage to a target.
The problem was, if he tried to enchant Shooting Star with this extraction trait, it would inevitably weaken the attack's lethality.
The mechanism was like allocating points.
If all 10 points went into power, Shooting Star would be purely destructive.
But if 5 points were diverted to the vitality-extracting ability, only 5 would remain for power.
The most obvious example was Zeno's Dragon Head.
When facing Chrollo, Zeno had imbued Dragon Head with tracking and control functions.
Thus, when it struck Chrollo, it merely restrained him without dealing real damage.
Morrow faced the same dilemma when trying to grant Shooting Star the vitality-extracting trait.
In battles of equal level, this ability could greatly improve his odds.
But in "over-level combat," it was far harder to make use of.
Right now, however, Morrow didn't need to worry about power.
Because at this moment, he was the one with the higher level.
Watching Morrow gather his strength, Luke lowered his gaze slightly, his expression still calm.
He knew death was unavoidable, but beyond acceptance, he felt some regret and relief.
Regret that he hadn't finished that "Neighbor Big Sister" gravure photobook.
Relief that Morrow had been severely wounded by Adam before receiving the Crown's benefits.
This meant that once Morrow's Nen burst ended, he'd have to face both depleted aura and the consequences of his injuries.
With Caleb still in reserve, Morrow would still be left exhausted and doomed.
If his and Adam's deaths could buy that outcome, it wasn't a bad trade.
Luke glanced at the terrifying Nen bullet forming in Morrow's palm and gave a faint smirk.
Nearby.
Adam, seeing Luke seemingly resigned, broke into a cold sweat.
"Hey… hey!" At this moment, he also thought of a fatal issue.
The Star Mark!
Adam's gaze flicked toward the Star Mark on Luke's arm, then back to the terrifying aura emanating from Morrow's Nen bullet. His pupils trembled violently.
What to do, what to do... With my current assets, plus what I just plundered, can I block it? Can I withstand it...?!
Adam was no longer concerned with Luke's reaction, instead frantically calculating whether he could endure the intensity of Morrow's current aura.
Luke, having already given up, barely paid attention to Adam, focusing entirely on Morrow.
Meanwhile, Morrow had finally adapted to the high-intensity operation of his overclocked aura and couldn't help but look at the young Nen user before him, a man who possessed both a calm demeanor and sharp analytical abilities.
This world was vast.
Even as a transmigrator, he had only glimpsed a fraction of it through the perspectives of certain characters.
Perhaps in places unseen by the original narrative, there were countless others like this young Nen user standing before him.
"Don't look at me with that 'I'll see you in hell' expression. After crushing the Crown, I knew there'd be some side effects, but it definitely wouldn't be something like being forced into Zetsu. As long as I can confirm that, there's nothing to worry about."
Morrow met Luke's gaze and, as he spoke, hurled the fully charged Shooting Star.
Hearing Morrow's words, Luke's previously composed face twisted in shock as the Shooting Star shot toward Adam like a laser beam.
Seeing this, Adam's heart pounded, but he still clung to a sliver of hope and attempted to dodge.
Yet the Shooting Star curved mid-flight, homing in on Adam's vital points.
Adam's pupils contracted violently. At the brink of life and death, he could only muster his aura at the fastest speed possible, concentrating the most Nen at the point of impact.
Ssshh!
Aura, arm, chest, heart, life.
The highly compressed and penetrative Shooting Star pierced through them all with ease.
Like a drill passing through stacked tiles, utterly without resistance.
Adam's mouth fell open, blood gushing out like a spring.
He looked down in shock, his arms hanging limply, and saw a neat, bloody hole in his chest.
30% of his investment, plus the 25% of assets he'd plundered from the other...
And yet, he still couldn't resist at all...?
With stunned despair, Adam collapsed to the ground.
Above his lifeless body, several firefly-like orbs of light suddenly floated up, then, as if drawn by some force, streaked toward Morrow like ethereal wisps.
Soon, the spherical lights passed through Morrow's golden Nen and seeped into his body.
A flash of green light followed.
The pain throughout Morrow's body rapidly dulled, and the injuries hidden beneath his clothes seemed to have healed to some extent.
But it wasn't enough.
The damage was worse than he'd anticipated.
With this thought, Morrow shifted his gaze from Adam's corpse and looked back at Luke.
Luke, meanwhile, wore an expression of utter disbelief.
He had witnessed the terrifying power of the Shooting Star, seen the firefly-like green orbs, and watched as the wound by Morrow's mouth suddenly healed. Instantly, he understood the purpose of those green lights.
An Enhancer's healing ability! To heal oneself by taking the lives of others?
At this moment.
Only now did Luke understand why Morrow had been so confident despite knowing the side effects.
Would he, who had descended into hell first, truly be able to wait for this terrifying guy?
Cracks began to form in Luke's calm composure.
Morrow condensed another Shooting Star imbued with a special property.
Compared to a pure Shooting Star, infusing it with the essence-draining property inevitably increased the wind-up time.
"Shooting Star · Essence Siphon."
Morrow released the Shooting Star, while the golden aura around his body rapidly diminished.
The Shooting Star, its core shimmering with a green glow, carried an aura of death as it hurtled toward Luke.
What Luke didn't know was, Morrow's confidence in rejecting his "meet in hell" proposal didn't actually come from the healing effect of Shooting Star · Essence Siphon, but rather from the leveling ability granted by the Tree Rings tattoo.
Sssshhh!
The Shooting Star pierced through Luke's vitality.
This young Nen user, possessing a rare Conjurer-type ability, lost his life just like that.
Several green specks of light flew out from the corpse and seeped into Morrow's body.
As the green light flashed, Morrow's injuries were completely healed.
Simultaneously,
the Tree Rings tattoo underwent another level-up.
"Lv.41 → Lv.43"
Earlier, after killing Adam, his level had risen from 38 to 41.
Now, with Luke's death, Morrow climbed from level 41 to 43.
"Hah."
Morrow exhaled deeply.
Fighting above his level inevitably placed him in peril, where a single mistake could mean instant death.
But high risk meant high reward.
The massive experience gained from fighting above his level allowed Morrow to level up rapidly.
On this race against time with death, such efficiency was undoubtedly paramount.
Fortunately, he had decisively chosen an Emission-type ability leaning toward operational versatility back then, which now gave him the room to fight above his level.
Had he simply pursued raw Emission-type power, he wouldn't have been able to handle even same-level battles against multiple opponents, let alone fights above his level, during the early transition phase.
The cost of the burst is depleting my potential aura... acceptable.
Morrow glanced at the level on the back of his hand.
By shattering the Crown, his aura output had broken through its limits, surging to around level 60 or even higher.
In contrast, this state would drain his potential aura in an extremely short time.
However, leveling up had restored a small portion of his potential aura.
But it wasn't enough. He needed to hurry and recover.
With that in mind, Morrow turned his attention to Kalluto's battle.
—--
Caleb had been overwhelming Kalluto the entire time.
Only now, he no longer held the same confidence as before.
Earlier, he had received roughly 10% to 15% of Adam's aura output as a return, and he had taken a moment to check on Adam's situation.
Without a doubt, that intimidating guy was absolutely doomed.
All he had to do was use this boost in aura output to finish off that slippery Zoldyck brat in one go.
But just when he thought the dust had settled...
In less than half a minute, the returns he had barely warmed up to were suddenly lost.
Then came Adam's death, causing the investment to fail outright and locking away 30% of his aura output.
This abrupt turn of events left Caleb in disbelief.
How did that guy's aura suddenly become so terrifying?!Even though we were already pushed to the brink...!What on earth just happened?!
Even in his Deep Addict state, Caleb could clearly feel his heart pounding wildly against his chest, driven by sheer terror and shock.
As Caleb's mental balance wavered, the pressure from Kalluto also diminished slightly.
Seizing the moment, Kalluto glanced at Morrow, who had been observing the battle from the sidelines.
"Morrow won" Kalluto murmured to himself, tightening his grip on the paper fan.
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Bonus chapter for every new review and for every 10 Power Stones the story gets.