After hearing Rimo's words, an unnatural twitch passed across Machi's face.
She reacted quickly, tilting her head slightly and lowering her gaze to prevent Oss from noticing the change in her expression.
"Papa?"
Oss's brows knitted together.
His first reaction was not anger, but suspicion. Ever since Uvogin, Nobunaga, and Machi's station had suddenly transformed into a place that looked completely out of place in Meteor City, Oss had already been investigating the source of those changes.
Clean houses. Solid walls. Real furniture. Endless food.
None of it made sense.
He immediately began searching his memory, replaying every name that carried weight in Meteor City, every fighter, every scavenger boss, every rumored Nen user who had once left traces behind.
But no matter how he searched, there was no one whose name matched "Ba Ba."
No record. No reputation. No rumors.
That alone made Oss even more uneasy.
Normally, with his cautious personality, he should have backed off already and continued gathering information. But the problem was that every day he watched Uvogin and the others eat warm food, sleep comfortably, and live like kings, while he and his men were still digging through garbage heaps for scraps.
That kind of gap was enough to drive anyone mad.
And more importantly—
He now had a secret weapon.
That confidence had inflated him far beyond his usual limits.
Now that the arrow was already on the string, there was no turning back.
Oss raised his remaining arm and waved it down sharply.
"I don't care if you're a tyrant, a bully, or some nobody!" Oss shouted hoarsely. "Today, this place belongs to me, Os! You hear that?!"
He turned and roared at the group behind him.
"Get him! Whoever kills that bastard becomes my deputy leader!"
As soon as those words left his mouth, Oss had already made his decision.
He was unwilling to let go of such a massive prize.
Life and death were determined by fate. Wealth depended on courage.
Oss subconsciously glanced at the empty space where his right arm used to be.
Superpowers?
He had already paid the price once.
The current him was no longer on the same level as before.
If he hesitated now, he would regret it for the rest of his life.
The group of hyenas behind him instantly erupted.
The shock they had felt from Rimo's earlier kill was swallowed whole by greed.
Deputy leader.
That single phrase was enough.
If they took this place and secured that position, their lives would change forever.
Maybe after Oss captured Machi, they might even get a share.
Just imagining it made their blood boil.
"Kill him!"
The mob surged forward all at once, waving rusted blades, iron rods, and scraps of metal as they charged Rimo like starving beasts.
"Hmph. A mob."
Rimo snorted coldly.
Even if he couldn't compare to Uvogin, the original owner of this body had still been a notorious scavenger fighter in another district of Meteor City.
This group of trash wasn't enough.
With a flick of his wrists, five flying knives instantly appeared in each of Rimo's hands.
Arms, wrists, fingers—everything moved in perfect coordination.
Ten knives shot out in a single breath.
They weren't as precise as his earlier lethal throw, but they still struck down the ten people rushing at the front.
The predecessor of this body had survived by dirty tricks and ambushes. His throwing knife skills were never weak.
And now, with materialization acting as infinite ammunition, Rimo didn't need to hold back.
Standing in place, Rimo turned into a human turret.
Knives kept appearing and flying out endlessly.
Although each throw carried slightly less power, the sheer number overwhelmed them.
"Ahhh—!"
One hyena at the front was pierced by more than a dozen knives and finally collapsed unwillingly.
A man behind him reacted quickly, lifting the corpse to use as a shield.
Puff! Puff!
More knives embedded themselves into the body.
Though it quickly turned into something resembling a hedgehog, it worked.
At least the man behind avoided immediate death.
At that moment, Machi moved.
Thin threads shot out from her fingers, snapping tight as her body leaned forward.
The wires gleamed faintly under the sunlight.
In a blink, Machi vanished into the crowd.
Small and agile, she slipped through gaps like a butterfly weaving through flowers.
Seeing someone use a corpse as a shield, others followed suit.
But while it blocked Rimo's knives, it completely ruined their field of vision.
They couldn't track Machi at all.
Her hands moved fluidly.
Threads danced.
Blood splashed in constantly changing patterns.
"What—!"
Screams rang out again.
One man dropped the corpse in agony, instinctively reaching for his leg.
Rimo's eyes flashed.
A knife flew.
It pierced straight through his forehead and lifted his body off the ground.
"So that's it…" Oss muttered, eyes narrowing. "Those knives really are appearing out of thin air. That confirms it."
Rimo was a Nen user.
"But even if he's a Nen user…" Oss sneered. "I've dealt with Nen before!"
As he spoke, Oss drew a dagger from his waist.
Aura surged around his body, crude and violent.
Then—
He lunged.
Straight toward Machi.
During his escape from the elders' enforcers, Oss had survived Initiation at the cost of his arm, forcibly opening his aura nodes under Nen pressure.
That was how he lived.
From his observation, Rimo's ability seemed limited to creating throwing knives.
Compared to the elders' guards, this power looked far weaker.
But Oss wasn't foolish enough to gamble on that.
Rimo might be harder to kill.
Machi wasn't.
Cutting off one finger was better than fighting all ten.
That was Meteor City logic.
Sting!
Machi's sixth sense screamed.
A blade pressed against her perception.
Her pupils shrank to pinpoints.
No escape.
She turned toward the threat.
With Nen reinforcing his body, Oss was already too close.
Time slowed.
Her thoughts scattered.
And strangely—
The first thing that surfaced was Rimo.
The quilt.
The soft mattress.
The food.
The quiet "good night."
All the good things in her life had come from him.
"Rimo… if I could… I really want to keep walking with you…"
Her eyes closed.
Puff.
The sound of flesh being pierced echoed.
"Machi. We'll keep going."
Rimo's voice rang out firmly.
Her eyes snapped open.
Blood sprayed into the air.
"Rimo!!!"