This was a premeditated ambush.
While flying backward, Omokage instantly realized this.
Although he managed to restrain the opponent's palm-knife with his reaction, the subsequent Nen bullet struck a relatively weak point in his aura defense.
And once the balance of offense and defense is broken, one must bear the direct damage.
This Nen bullet made Omokage cough up a large mouthful of blood, and the accompanying pain nearly twisted his features.
Yet, he endured the shock of the pain to his consciousness and immediately reacted in the critical, life-and-death moment of being struck and sent flying.
"I need to swap the Feitan doll, which has the strongest restraining capability, to this location, to disrupt the opponent's pursuit tempo..."
Omokage made his decision, and a red glow emanated from his eyes.
At the same time.
On the long street, the Feitan doll holding the rapier suddenly warped and vanished in a red light.
Hisoka saw this and slightly narrowed his eyes, glancing at Omokage, who had been cowering in the rear, with a sense of realization.
In the one-way alley, Omokage fell from mid-air, slamming heavily onto the concrete road with a dull sound.
But the red light previously shot from his eyes had already manifested the Feitan doll in front of him.
At this moment.
Moro strode toward Omokage.
Without looking back, he swung his hand behind him.
The Hishi that flew in, mainly intended to attract attention, were crushed by this slap into scattered specks of light.
However, the sudden appearance of the Feitan doll interrupted Moro's intention to press the advantage.
"A handcrafted doll can be summoned and recalled freely like a Conjurer's object... One can only say that Specialization is truly unreasonable. My ability is currently leaning towards Manipulation. Maybe I can switch to Specialization through some serendipitous opportunity later."
Seeing the sudden appearance of the Feitan doll, Moro inwardly sighed at the power of Specialization, and an aspiration for the category inevitably arose.
Normally, only a conjured object could achieve this kind of remote, free summoning and recalling ability.
However, the inherent complexity of Specialization could, to a certain extent, shatter such common understanding.
Glancing at the Feitan doll's empty eyes, the hatred Moro had developed from countless "Death Replays" certainly wouldn't be transferred to a mere doll.
But, it had to be Feitan.
It seemed this person heavily relied on Feitan's speed attack capability, not even caring about Hisoka's reaction.
Perfect.
He could use this to test the newly developed Starry Convergence...
Moro stopped walking, his expression calm.
The Feitan doll saw that Moro made no further move and stood still with its sword.
Its command was to block Moro's pursuit, but limited by the framework of its ability, even if it possessed some of the original's aggressive desire, it could not act on autonomous impulse.
"Cough, cough cough..."
Omokage raised his hand to wipe the blood seeping from his mouth.
Seeing Moro and the Feitan doll in a standoff, he immediately got up from the ground, yet staggered as if he might fall over at any moment.
If Hisoka hadn't instantly killed the Uvogin doll just now, allowing him to retrieve one-third of his visible aura...
He might have been taken out by this bastard in one hit just now.
"Wh- Why... cough cough, why attack me?"
Omokage lowered his hand, revealing his blood-soaked mouth, his gaze towards Moro mixed with a hint of anger.
Ignoring Omokage's question, Moro suddenly unleashed the maximum extent of his visible aura.
Immediately, all his Ten pores opened.
The abundant, bright Nen was like a torrent, yet it also revealed a visibly sharp quality amid the agitation.
An incredibly intense desire for battle was thus conveyed to Omokage through the aura.
Bastard, damn bastard—!
Just seeing the Nen aura that Moro suddenly unleashed, Omokage involuntarily thought of Hisoka on the other side.
The same, absolutely the same.
The reason these two bastards attacked him tonight was not due to some personal vendetta or similar cause!
And this was the most despicable part.
It made him feel like an unlucky person suffering an unprovoked disaster!
"Kill him!"
Omokage's features twisted.
As he issued the command, he revealed teeth stained red with blood.
The moment his voice fell, the Feitan doll instantly responded.
With a slight sound, its figure turned into an afterimage, its rapier's sharp edge charging toward Moro directly.
Under the flickering, dim light, pure killing intent was revealed.
The torrent-like Nen on Moro's body suddenly contracted, then violently spread outward into a dazzling starlight.
"Starry Convergence"
The Nen shattered into brilliant, dense points of light, swirling within a five-meter radius around Moro, like a celestial galaxy.
And Moro, at the center of the galaxy, was enveloped in a thin layer of Nen, reflecting the surrounding starlight.
The Feitan doll, like a sharp ray of light, stabbed into the colorful points of starlight.
In an instant, the seemingly flowing starlight was violently scattered.
And these touched points of light, like neurons, completed the function of receiving, integrating, and transmitting information at an extremely fast speed.
The opponent's attack trajectory appeared in his mental space, resembling...
A move on a star-studded chessboard.
Moro's eyes flashed.
As he stepped forward, he subtly shifted his body to the side.
Feitan, who had disturbed the dazzling points of starlight, thus passed by Moro's side.
But almost in the same second, Feitan, whose sword thrust missed, executed a second-stage combo—using astonishing body coordination to plant both feet on the ground, spin around, and swing his sword to slash at Moro.
Moro was currently facing Feitan sideways, yet his gaze was not on Feitan.
Instead, he was staring intently at Omokage in front, experiencing something inexpressibly...
Pleasurable?
No, a ruder adjective should be used.
It was euphoria.
More direct and profound than he felt on the Heavens Arena platform.
It was like dancing on a knife's edge, allowing the pressure of death to permeate every single cell in his body.
But he couldn't allow any emotional fluctuation due to the high pressure of death...
Because any slight change in emotion would cause "Starry Convergence" to crumble.
This was a restriction stemming from the psychological level.
However, for Moro, who had experienced countless "Death Replays," this could no longer be called a restriction.
It was the existence of "Death Replay" that facilitated the creation of this ability.
Moro carefully savored the emotional feedback brought by the new ability.
Then, still sideways, he squatted down and slightly lowered his head, dodging the sword slash that Feitan had aimed at his neck.
Shhh.
A few strands of hair drifted into the air, like catkins intruding upon the brilliant stars.
Feitan's horizontal slash missed.
He twisted his wrist, bringing the blade back to slash diagonally at Moro's shoulder, once again disrupting the star river.
Moro's bent knees naturally exerted force, propelling his body forward one step, narrowly avoiding the diagonal sword slash from Feitan.
The empty sockets of the Feitan doll's eyes seemed to show a ripple, but its offensive did not stop.
It stepped forward, driving its rapier to stab straight at Moro.
However, Moro sidestepped in the opposite direction, letting Feitan's rapier graze past his body.
The four lightning-fast successive strikes all missed.
The Feitan doll did not notice that as its every sword strike missed, the surrounding colorful points of starlight had quietly adhered to its body.
And just as it quickly supported the rapier-wielding right wrist with its left hand, intending to swing the sword to cut across Moro's chest, these starlight points adhering to its body vaguely converged into starlit chains, causing its body to instantly freeze.
Moro glanced sideways at the Feitan doll, which had starlit chains appearing on its surface.
The control effect of the counter-ability could not suppress the target's Nen aura, and the duration of the control depended on the difference in Nen strength.
But it was enough to deal with the Feitan doll, which had only half of Omokage's visible aura.
Moro, still sideways, extended his hand parallel to the rapier and seized the Feitan doll's neck.
At the same time, the ethereal starlit chains on the Feitan doll's body, like a flowing galaxy, condensed into a cross-shaped star sign on the doll's heart area.
This star sign, which resembled a shooting crosshair, allowed the flying stars released by Moro to possess a locking capability.
This meant that even Moro's Deceptive Flying Star: Swallow Return...
Could be applied to this ability mechanism.
After the returning attack's power was doubled, it would in turn lock onto the target marked with the star sign.
And this locking was directional.
This compound application of abilities actually turned the restriction, which should have had a negative effect, into a component within the ability system used to enhance damage.
Now, if Moro wished, he could unleash a carpet bombing of maximum-powered Deceptive Flying Stars on the Feitan doll.
However, there was no need for this, and Moro wanted to use this opportunity to verify another possibility.
Moro retracted "Starry Convergence."
The outward-flowing starlight suddenly contracted onto his body, reverting to its most primitive Nen form.
Then,
Moro's hand clenched violently, crushing the Feitan doll's neck.
After all, it was just a fake.
With a crisp sound, hard fragments flew everywhere.
The Feitan doll's head separated from its body and fell to the ground.
Shhh shhh...
A dark red Nen aura flew out from the damaged doll and headed straight toward Omokage.
At this moment.
Omokage's eyes widened in shock as he saw the Feitan doll crushed in Moro's grip.
Only when the Nen aura residing in the doll's body returned did he react, and he suddenly noticed...
"What is this?"
Omokage quickly glanced at his chest.
A cross-shaped star mark was abnormally glaring.
This mark had appeared on the Feitan doll just moments ago.
It transferred over?
Without time to think further, to guard against Moro's attack, Omokage once again used the Soul Doll ability, summoning a strong-bodied doll with eyes in a flash of red light.
Moro held his arm straight out, condensing a massive luminous green Nen bullet in his palm.
He looked at Omokage and said calmly:
"You made a bad move."
Because he was overly reliant on the doll, when the star mark appeared, he had no awareness of strengthening his own defense.
Instead, he continued to follow his instinctual judgment, summoning another doll to set up a defense.
This meant Omokage had distributed at least another one-third of his visible aura.
Coupled with the Emitter doll on Hisoka's side...
His defense was severely lacking.
Furthermore, the transfer phenomenon of the star mark alleviated Moro's concerns.
He wouldn't have to worry about this ability being countered by battle methods involving Nen beasts or similar constructs in the future.
"Deceptive Flying Star"
Moro lifted his arm.
The massive luminous green Nen bullet in his palm shot into the sky like a launched rocket.
Moro then turned and walked away without looking at Omokage.
"Huh? What is he doing... cough, cough. Bluffing? No, there's no need for him to do this... So what exactly is..."
Cold sweat streamed down Omokage's face.
He stared wide-eyed at Moro's retreating back.
A moment later.
Omokage suddenly saw a luminous green light reflecting on the ground in front of him.
He abruptly looked up, and the shape of the flying star was reflected in his pupils.
The next moment.
The flying star suddenly split, spreading out like fireworks, and then gathered back towards him, drawing bright arcs in the air.
"Block the attack!"
Omokage shouted in a hoarse voice.
The doll, clearly an Enhancer-type, obeyed the command and faced the incoming swarm of flying stars, which resembled a meteor shower, with its muscular body.
However, the numerous flying stars seemed to possess consciousness, directly bypassing the Enhancer doll.
"Wha- What...!"
Omokage's face jolted.
He was instantly submerged by the flying stars.
On the long street.
Hisoka, as if taking a leisurely stroll, avoided the arrow-shaped Emitter attacks, whose power and accuracy were clearly diminished.
He had originally intended to go straight for the jugular, immediately resolving Omokage who was entrenched behind the battle lines.
But when the Feitan doll vanished into thin air, he realized something was amiss.
Avoiding the attacks, Hisoka did not counterattack but strode toward a certain direction.
He couldn't tell if it was an intuition or some kind of sudden flash of inspiration.
Hisoka ignored the imminent follow-up attacks.
Then—
The long-armed doll, which he had deliberately ignored, and Omokage, who had been positioned further back, suddenly had their Nen auras dissipate, falling to the ground as if lifeless.
"Interesting."
The corner of Hisoka's eye curved into an exaggerated arc, and his constricted pupils trembled uncontrollably.
(End of this Chapter)
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