BOOM!
Wave met wave—Nen bullets formed at the same time in Ging's hand and "Razor's," then slammed into each other with a thunderous crash!
In that ownerless space where fog rolled endlessly, the Nen bullets swelled—from fingertip-sized, to egg-sized, to apple-sized… to volleyball-sized. Ging's hood was blown up by the aura surge, exposing his messy bangs as he kept testing his opponent's limits.
Just as Netero had guessed… this fake Razor—identical in appearance, with dull, puppet-like eyes as if controlled by someone behind the scenes—was running at roughly 80% of the real Razor's level in both aura quantity and Nen understanding.
By Nen theory, if your main type can bring out 80% of a sub-type's power, that's already considered a "perfect" performance.
Ging narrowed his eyes, formed a basketball-sized Nen bullet, clashed again—then his shadow stirred. A silent "shadow" peeled off and slipped behind the fake Razor, and Ging suddenly drove a Ko-wrapped punch straight into the puppet's back—
Almost certainly, whoever was controlling this wasn't some ordinary Nen user, nor even a typical elite Hunter. Their grasp of Nen application was on another level.
BAM!
En snapped out—fake Razor's head twisted in an impossible angle, and a whipping kick cracked into the shadow.
A wolf's howl burst out—
The shadow dispersed, condensed again at Ging's side, and revealed its true form—
A majestic, powerful white wolf.
"So pretty…" Its huge, fluffy tail curled like it could wrap Ging up completely.
…
Hunter Association
Netero's designated volleyball training court.
Wing split his focus, watching both Roy and Ging on two screens. In both feeds, phantom wolves appeared—fangs bared, cold light gleaming.
Beside Wing, Bisky stood with her arms crossed. Flat as an airfield up top, she nonetheless watched real Ging and fake Ging with genuine interest—this was the first time she'd ever seen Ging use his Nen so openly.
A giant turtle… a white wolf…
Bisky narrowed her eyes. "Ging's more 'beast specialist' than most Beast Hunters."
"And he still insists on being an 'Archaeological Hunter.' Total waste."
Netero, hair tied in a skyward braid, chuckled. "Isn't that fine?"
Archaeological Hunter who contracts beasts.
Gem Hunter who can't stop teaching.
In the footage: Roy's black hair whipped upward, Snow-Walk in his left hand, Moon-Wane in his right. Two blades, two breaths—he alternated Sun Breathing and Wind Breathing, blocked the wolf with one cut, then threw out:
"Wind Breathing, Second Form—Claws-Purifying Wind!"
A spray of razor wind-blades tore through the air toward fake Ging's head.
Clearly a Conjurer, yet he fought like a natural Enhancer—wasn't that another kind of "off-track"?
Netero spoke softly.
"The times have changed. People can't be chained by type."
Bisky's earlobe twitched—she clearly knew what he meant. She remembered Netero once mentioning how even as an Enhancer, he'd leaned toward Emission… and she herself, a brawler by nature, ended up with a "healing-focused" Transmutation ability.
Bisky fell silent.
Even Wing noticed something was off.
He watched a Roy his own age—only a few months apart—fighting like a monster. Then Roy opened his mouth and said:
"Sleep."
A wave of drowsiness poured out—Whispers of Ordained Unconscious Mesmerism—and in the opening created by the attack exchange, he put the phantom wolf to sleep, its body suddenly heavy as it crashed down.
Wing turned to his teacher, wanting to ask something…
Bisky smacked his forehead with a knife-hand.
"If you've got something to say, say it. Stop hesitating—doesn't suit a guy."
Wing scratched the back of his head, awkward. "It's nothing… I'm just confused."
After Heaven's Arena, he'd trained like his life depended on it for nearly a year, trying to catch Roy. He'd dreamed of meeting again and finally trading blows.
But what he saw now—
Roy could go toe-to-toe with Ging, the man both his teacher and grandteacher had praised… and not fall behind.
Wing's heart swayed so hard he started wondering if he'd chosen the wrong path.
He voiced it carefully:
"Teacher always tells me 'one specialty is better than lots of half-baked skills' but… they don't look specialized at all. It feels like they've developed more and more different methods."
"And?" Bisky shot him a sideways look. "What are you really trying to say?"
"You wanna quit Enhancement and switch your type?"
Wing shut up immediately.
Netero laughed warmly.
"No need to be that harsh on the kid."
"Let him recognize reality early—it's not necessarily bad."
With a flick, he sent the volleyball into a ball basket perfectly.
He took the tea Bean-faced Man offered and smiled at Wing.
"Kid—genius is genius. Ordinary people are ordinary people."
He sipped tea while watching Roy force-sleep the wolf, then fire Divine Spear by stretching Moon-Wane through space—piercing fake Ging, and even punching a tiny hole through the shell of that deepwater giant turtle.
Another move—one Roy hadn't shown in the Hunter Exam.
Netero said with feeling:
"Ordinary people can spend their whole lives doing one thing well, and that life isn't wasted."
"But geniuses… they bloom everywhere. One insight becomes ten. They do things ordinary people couldn't accomplish in ten lifetimes—or…"
"Become achievements."
…
Wing lowered his head, hiding the frustration burning in his eyes.
Bisky's gaze was on him. Netero's words rang in his ears.
And yet the bitterness still rose:
Why does it feel this unfair?
…
The seabed ruin—inside the cathedral
Roy had been fighting fake Ging harder and harder, burning through nearly a tenth of his aura. Finally—using the moment fake Ging had Deepwater Giant Turtle block Divine Spear—
Light bloomed at Roy's lips.
He manifested a third blade.
Eclipse.
Roy clenched down, then dragged a Ko: Zanka no Tachi edge along the sleeping phantom wolf—barely a brush.
The white-furred, ferocious wolf didn't even manage a scream.
It vaporized in an instant—
like chalk erased off a board.
A prompt flashed:
[Nen +10]
[Reminder: "Door of Cognition" strengthened—only 5 points remain until the second gate opens.]
A black, emberless Zanka blade whispered up a starry wind of fire.
Roy froze.
That prompt was different.
Not a "phantom wolf" talent. Not a turtle ability.
He bit down on Eclipse, and with his other two blades he slapped away the two Nen bullets fake Ging had copied from Razor.
His thoughts snapped into place.
He'd been in the wrong mindset.
The Monster Index "recognizes things"—but the wolf, the turtle, even this "Ging" in front of him…
They were all fake. They were just constructs formed by the hidden controller's Nen.
Unlike Zigg's re: Game of the Dead, which was built on the real Dark Continent as a base—
This illusion dungeon pointed back to one thing:
the controller's Nen ability itself.
And the controller—who understood "real and unreal" so well—was clearly a Conjurer… either the Baku itself, or someone deeply tied to the Baku.
Footsteps.
Fake Ging did two backsteps, eyes finally showing fear—like a puppet that had learned dread.
…
Hunter Association
Netero's eyes sharpened. He swept his gaze across the screens:
Fake Razor… fake Gotoh… the elephant-bodied tapir-faced beast… and—
Only the "fake Ging" fighting Roy was showing fear, and pulling distance.
Netero caught the scent of something deeper.
"It's afraid…"
Bisky and Wing both locked in.
"Afraid of who?" Wing asked.
Netero answered without blinking.
"Roy."
Bisky immediately used Gyo, and her face changed.
Wing's eyes widened too.
The fake Ging wasn't just "stepping back."
It looked smaller, and more importantly—
its aura was thinner.
"Ren shows your numbers," Bisky muttered. "His aura's dropping."
"Getting eaten," Netero said simply.
Then he glanced at Bisky like: And you didn't teach your student that?
Bisky's face reddened. She hammered Wing's head again.
"How many times have I told you? You just don't remember!"
She raised her voice and pretended she hadn't noticed Netero's look.
"He thought it was a video feed, not real people—so he didn't think to check!"
Wing, stung and embarrassed, wanted to crawl into the floor.
Netero's laugh covered the moment.
He stared at fake Ging.
The moment fake Ging shrank after losing the wolf, its eyes hardened.
It summoned Feccha's Parrot without hesitation.
"Little Sakura…"
That "copy-once-you're-hit" parrot chirped and popped into existence on fake Ging's shoulder—watching Roy's three-sword stance, trying to memorize his swordwork and replicate it.
Roy looked at it… strangely.
Then, at the exact same time—
he called out his own bird.
"Goldie."
The three-legged golden crow burst out above Roy—
and in front of fake Ging, Netero, Bisky, Wing's stunned eyes—
Feccha's Parrot ditched fake Ging and flew straight to Roy.
It landed on Roy's head, nuzzled up against Goldie like family.
Roy's free hand snapped up, grabbed the parrot—
and crushed it into ash in one motion.
The system prompt rang:
[Nen +20]
["Door of Cognition" has met the condition to open…]
[Second Gate: OPEN]
[Generating character…]
[Uchiha Ren… Uchiha Itachi's elder brother… generation complete!]
~~~
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