Killua was a kind child.
Although born into a family of assassins and subjected to cruel training from a young age—mastering various deadly techniques—his inherent "goodness" had never changed.
It was precisely because of this conviction that Yuu dared to promise him a request with no strings attached.
As a Jujutsu Sorcerer, using "Cursed Energy" born from curses and "Cursed Techniques" meant that every word and action was subtly influenced by curses.
For a formal promise or deal like this, once struck, even the most heinous Cursed Spirits or Curse Users would rarely break the terms lightly.
...
At this moment.
As "payment" for keeping his identity secret, Yuu agreed to spend the day hanging out with Killua.
They ended up at a highly-rated restaurant nearby.
Inside, Killua stirred the ice cubes in his juice with a straw and asked Yuu:
"Come to think of it, you haven't shown your full strength in the arena yet, have you?"
Yuu rested his chin on his hand and replied casually, "That's because those guys were too weak."
Right now, his aura capacity had more than tripled. If he activated "Ren" and reinforced it with Cursed Energy, the power he displayed would likely shatter the arena floor with ease.
If that kind of force landed on an ordinary person, they would explode into a bloody mist instantly.
And that was without even using his Cursed Technique.
Killua said, "But I want to see it... that way, I'll know how big the gap between us really is."
"Aren't you afraid of getting discouraged and never recovering?"
Yuu's tone and gaze were playful.
However, Killua said firmly:
"But you're leaving in a few days. Who knows when we'll meet again... If I don't see the gap now, I might not get another chance later, right?"
"Fair point..." Yuu nodded, acknowledging Killua's logic.
He looked at Killua's determined expression. After thinking it over, he gave his answer:
"If I encounter a decent fighter later, I'll show a little more strength... it depends on how strong the opponent is."
Hearing this, Killua's eyes lit up, his anticipation overflowing.
After a day of hanging out, both returned to their rooms early to prepare for the upcoming matches.
...
Over the next few days.
Since Yuu remained uninjured, his match schedule was extremely packed. Unfortunately, even after winning several matches in a row and advancing to the 170th floor, he didn't encounter any decent fighters.
Luckily, perhaps due to his skyrocketing popularity and overwhelming strength...
The arena arranged for the other major "Rookie King" of this season to be his next opponent.
Yuu watched one of the guy's matches. As expected...
He was a Nen user.
In every match, he destroyed the ring beyond recognition using just his physical body. He appeared to be an Enhancer.
Furthermore, his fans had dubbed him the "Ring Destroyer."
Seeing this, Yuu understood:
"No wonder they matched me against him..."
...
In the blink of an eye.
The match between the two Rookie Kings arrived.
Popularity was through the roof. Even before the fight started, the cheers from the opposing fan camps were already echoing through the venue.
Listening to the noise around him, Yuu realized his side seemed to be the underdog.
His opponent was named Xilu. He was a tall fighter with a skin tone and build similar to Uvogin, wearing a tattered dojo uniform.
"Hey, kid! I've watched your fights. I can tell you've got some skill!"
"But meeting the great me today means your luck has run out!"
"Surrender now. Otherwise, once we start, a casual punch from me might just shatter that fragile little body of yours!"
As he spoke, Xilu grinned, cracking his knuckles loudly.
Although his words urged surrender, his expression revealed nothing but bloodthirsty killing intent.
Yuu didn't react much. There were plenty of fighters who liked to intimidate their opponents before a match.
Seeing no reaction from Yuu, Xilu began to radiate a powerful aura.
Even Killua, watching from the stands, felt extremely uncomfortable.
"That feeling again..."
Sensing the strange aura around Xilu, Killua felt fear rising in his heart. He broke into a cold sweat for Yuu, who stood in the center of the ring.
Meanwhile.
Wing was also sitting in the audience, silently observing every move of the two fighters.
...
Soon, the referee checked the time.
And announced the start of the match!
"It's starting!"
Killua clenched his fists, determined to focus and catch every detail of Yuu's movements.
Although the fear Xilu instilled in him was stronger, during his time with Yuu...
Killua increasingly felt that his "extra brother" always exuded a reassuring aura.
He firmly believed Yuu wouldn't lose to a guy like this.
The next moment!
BANG————!
The spirited Xilu suddenly shattered the ground beneath him, launching himself like a cannonball toward the lazy-looking Yuu.
His momentum was unstoppable!
Xilu's explosive power and speed were so great that even the commentator couldn't react in time. In an instant, his fist was already flying toward Yuu's face!
However, in a split second.
Xilu felt his fist suddenly decelerate, stagnating less than ten centimeters from Yuu, unable to move forward.
The fierce wind from the punch washed over Yuu but seemed to be dispersed around him by an invisible barrier.
At the same time, giving his opponent absolutely zero time to react, Yuu raised his hand and landed an uppercut on Xilu's chin.
A punch with full force behind it!
It blasted Xilu's massive frame four or five meters into the air.
Before Xilu could even recover...
Yuu flashed above him like a teleporter and delivered a solid axe kick to Xilu's back as he hung in mid-air!
The sound of cracking bones followed.
The moment Xilu hit the ground, his body smashed a crater into the arena floor. The sheer force made him cough up a pool of blood.
Pfft————!
If Xilu hadn't maintained "Ren" from the moment he attacked, that combo would have been enough to carry him out on a stretcher.
Just as Xilu was about to congratulate himself for his foresight, he saw a fist coming straight for him. He scrambled to roll over, barely dodging the seemingly soft punch.
Where Yuu's fist landed, deep cracks instantly spiderwebbed across the floor.
In just a few exchanges.
The pristine ring was now scarred and broken.
Xilu looked like a survivor of a disaster, panting heavily as he stared at the boy not far away. He muttered to himself:
"He wasn't this brutal in his previous matches... why is today..."
He couldn't figure it out.
But Xilu knew that if he didn't go all out now, he wouldn't stand a chance.
He gathered a massive amount of aura in his right palm, forming a ball of light made of "Nen." It expanded and contracted like breathing, the aura becoming denser with every second.
An imposing Nen bullet was taking shape in Xilu's hand.
"An Emitter, huh..."
Yuu muttered thoughtfully.
While he was thinking, Xilu hurled the fully formed Nen bullet at him.
The moment it touched the range of Yuu's technique, the bullet exploded.
The massive amount of Nen surged like a torrent of water crashing against a boulder. After the explosion, it flowed around Yuu's invisible "barrier" and rushed past him.
It left only two distinct gouges in the ground near him.
But when the dust settled, Yuu was unscathed.
"My turn."
Yuu spoke, then leisurely raised his hand toward Xilu, mobilizing the Cursed Energy within him.
"Cursed Technique Lapse: 'Blue'!"
A blue-black, twisting sphere of gravity formed in the center of the ring.
It was about a meter wide.
The ground beneath it was instantly pulled upward, the debris filling the sphere and outlining its shape.
With a thought, Yuu pushed the formed "Blue" forward.
Unlike the sudden burst of Xilu's Nen bullet.
The gravity sphere named "Blue" remained eerily quiet, continuously sucking in the surrounding ground. As it moved, it carved a distinct trench in its wake.
"I forfeit!"
Xilu frantically gathered all his aura, gritting his teeth until they nearly shattered, and barely managed to escape the inexplicable gravitational pull, fleeing the ring successfully.
...
Watching the near-supernatural duel end in a flash...
Though confused, the audience could only express their shock and applaud wildly.
Killua looked at the decimated ring. He seemed to understand that both fighters possessed a similar power he couldn't comprehend.
And he could tell that Yuu was far stronger than his opponent.
But after watching this fight, Killua suddenly felt that his path to becoming stronger had become much clearer.
...
On the other side, Wing, having watched the match, looked even more bewildered.
Unlike Killua, who knew almost nothing about "Nen," Wing's understanding came from the Shingen-ryu lineage and years of rigorous training.
In that fight, Wing couldn't tell what kind of Nen ability Yuu had used—or if he had even used a Nen ability at all...
He even began to suspect that he had slacked off too much in recent years, causing his mastery of "Nen" to regress.
Thinking of this, Wing asked Biscuit, who was sitting behind him: "Master, did you figure anything out...?"
"Neither did I."
Biscuit replied calmly.
...
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