Chapter 157: Funeral
"I thought your relationship with him was special," Illumi said.
"Special?" Haze looked mildly surprised.
Then, understanding Illumi's gaze, he replied calmly,
"If I'd wanted to kill him, he'd already be dead."
Illumi believed that Haze and Hisoka had known each other for a long time ...
that their bond had twisted into a strange rivalry.
That they could, and should, only die at each other's hands.
To fulfill one another's obsession.
But clearly, Illumi misunderstood.
Haze wasn't Hisoka. He didn't share such peculiar hobbies.
Like the Phantom Troupe, Hisoka no longer posed a threat or any sense of pressure to him.
Of course, that was also because Haze's mentality had evolved;
at his current level, his way of thinking had changed completely.
In the human world, there were only a handful of people he actually cared about.
Hisoka was nothing more than a performer of life ... someone to watch for amusement.
If this had happened a few years earlier, when Haze still had the urge to execute him,
Hisoka might have been dead long ago.
Meanwhile, in the arena…
Hisoka covered his disfigured face with one hand and let out a raspy, sinister laugh ...
more like a low moan.
The unbearable pain coursing through his body brought with it a strange stimulation ...
a twisted sense of pleasure.
It only excited him further.
"How wonderful…"
Hisoka licked the blood off his face, eyes lifting toward the night sky.
Then, his gaze locked on Chrollo.
Chrollo smiled back, closing his book and spinning his sharp dagger between his fingers,
throwing Hisoka a taunting glance that said, keep going.
"So even with the book closed, you can still use your ability… how convenient," Illumi remarked.
Suddenly, an enormous surge of Nen erupted from Hisoka's body.
His whole form seemed like a blazing furnace ... his aura not diminishing, but intensifying even further.
"His Nen… it's changing," Illumi said, astonished.
A sudden breakthrough?
"Useless," Haze concluded flatly.
Zas!
Hisoka shot forward like lightning, lunging straight at Chrollo.
Chrollo retreated, moving his feet lightly as he threw blades like darts ... but none hit their mark.
Just as Hisoka closed in, Chrollo reopened his book, used his Nen, and vanished again.
But this time, the situation was different.
Chrollo didn't just switch the blades' locations ... he also changed the substance attached to them.
Hisoka quickly analyzed and understood this new Nen ability.
He had been watching very closely.
This "coordinate shift" technique didn't just move living beings in space ...
it could transport anything connected to them.
He had subtly coated the blade with Nen, letting it touch the ground upon impact.
Then, the sword instantly teleported elsewhere, increasing the distance ...
and the "gum" stuck to it stretched, then recoiled in a flash, flying back along its trajectory ...
and stabbed toward Chrollo!
The blade sliced Chrollo's white shirt open, nearly grazing his skin ...
a narrow miss that could have been fatal.
The sword was coated with deadly poison!
For a warrior as powerful as Hisoka, using the same Nen ability twice greatly reduced its effect.
Achieving such precise control again mid-battle was incredibly difficult.
Even so, Hisoka had already anticipated Chrollo's "Coordinate" ability
and lunged forward just as Chrollo dodged the thrown knife.
The two clashed in close combat.
Under Haze and Illumi's watchful eyes, Chrollo's earlier advantage was fading ...
Hisoka's offense grew increasingly ferocious.
More importantly, Chrollo's many Nen abilities no longer seemed to threaten him.
Hisoka's aura was rising rapidly, fueled by sheer willpower ...
not a dramatic transformation, but one powerful enough to make a difference.
It was becoming obvious ...
in close quarters, Chrollo couldn't suppress Hisoka and had even taken damage.
Chrollo kept retreating, maneuvering constantly, never giving Hisoka the chance to close in.
Was Hisoka insane?
Of course not ... his madness was mixed with clarity.
This strange composure made Machi and Quartz, watching from afar, clench their fists in worry for their leader.
But their concern was unnecessary ... Chrollo was too confident.
First, Hisoka's severe wounds were undeniable.
Second, Chrollo still had hidden cards to play.
Just two or three minutes later, Chrollo finally revealed the power of the Marker ...
activating two Nen abilities simultaneously.
Chrollo continuously shifted positions,
launching hidden blades from within his body at Hisoka.
Even if Hisoka could imbue the blades with Nen,
the energy cost was far too high ... making Chrollo's assault more efficient.
There were simply too many blades.
Hisoka couldn't possibly manipulate them all.
A bizarre sight unfolded on the battlefield ...
Chrollo's figure flickered from every direction,
while Hisoka chased and countered relentlessly, always a step behind.
Each time he closed in ... Chrollo disappeared again.
It made Hisoka the perfect moving target,
forced to defend against an endless barrage of flying blades.
A term from a past life came to mind ...
"Kiting."
Like an archer circling a monster in a video game, firing arrows while staying just out of reach.
Hisoka was being kited.
However, Chrollo's two abilities also had limitations.
The first ... Coordinate Exchange ... had a short cooldown between swaps,
but still required time to recharge.
The farther the targets, the longer the cooldown.
The second ... Internal Storage ... was a Nen ability similar to an internal container,
allowing Chrollo to store objects and precisely sense their number and size.
But even so, there was a limit.
He couldn't store an infinite number of blades.
Chrollo's strength lay not in each ability alone ...
for their weaknesses were obvious individually ...
but in how seamlessly he combined them in combat.
And indeed, after some time,
Chrollo could no longer produce any more throwing knives.
His objective was complete.
Hisoka had burned through an enormous amount of energy ...
not just Nen, but also stamina, mental focus, and blood loss.
Hisoka's aura was now incredibly dense;
if Chrollo engaged him directly, he might actually be at risk.
So Chrollo ceased using Coordinate Exchange.
Seeing Hisoka charge toward him, he grabbed his book
and leapt into the eerie green mist ...
disappearing completely.
"Single use only?" Illumi murmured.
He was referring to Chrollo's Coordinate skill.
The same knife could only be swapped once ... it couldn't be reused.
And the coordinates had to be marked beforehand.
This proved how carefully Chrollo had prepared to kill Haze and adapt to any unforeseen situation.
Used together, these abilities were overwhelmingly powerful ... not just against Haze, but anyone.
Haze looked toward the spot where Chrollo had vanished.
Within the Phantom Mist, he could sense everything within its shrouded domain ...
for this was his territory.
"Clever…" Haze thought, understanding Chrollo's plan.
Moments ago, gunfire had echoed at the palace gates.
Now, silence reigned.
Kurapika had killed Duan.
This triggered the remaining gang members outside to rush in ...
they didn't know what was happening inside the palace.
All they saw were corpses scattered across the floor and the swirling mist.
Soon, the sound of footsteps and shouting filled the hall.
And these newcomers ... were Chrollo's next targets.
Hisoka's aura flared, slicing through the mist.
But the Phantom Mist suppressed Nen perception, weakening his "En" and dulling his senses.
He couldn't pinpoint his opponent's location.
When the fog suddenly burst apart,
Hisoka looked up to see a crowd of mafia members standing before him ... expressionless,
each bearing a mark on their foreheads.
Another Nen ability ...
the one Chrollo had used against Hisoka in the original story: Human Trial.
Once marked, he could control people as simple puppets, issuing basic commands.
It couldn't be used on the dead ... except on those copied by the "Right and Left Hands of God."
Haze closed his eyes ...
a vision appeared in his mind.
It was the scene Hisoka faced.
Haze's sight was shared through a wandering ghost ...
one of the secondary uses of his Thresh ability.
Hisoka couldn't see it,
but Haze could.
Chrollo had disguised himself as one of the mafia,
hidden among the crowd ...
a "Transfer Student."
With Human Trial and Transfer Student combined,
Chrollo now wielded five different Nen abilities ... perhaps even more.
Human Trial for control,
Transfer Student for disguise.
If the Phantom Troupe ever wanted to kill Haze,
these abilities could adapt to any situation ...
and at the very least, Chrollo could change form and escape unnoticed.
Haze suspected Chrollo still had one or two more abilities unrevealed.
For Hisoka, this battle had become impossibly difficult.
At the start, he might have been able to kill Chrollo ...
but the timing was wrong.
And perhaps, Chrollo had been preparing for this moment for a long time.
Even without today's events,
had they fought elsewhere,
Hisoka still would have struggled to win.
Haze opened his eyes,
no longer paying attention to the battle raging within the mist.
The outcome was already decided.
"Retrieve Hisoka's body," Haze said softly.
"He deserves to be buried alongside these fallen mafia bosses. A fitting funeral."
He stood up from the corpse beside him and smiled faintly.
"Shall we hold the funeral now? As luck would have it, I'm free," Illumi asked.
"Of course…" Haze replied.
(End of Chapter)