REVIEWS AND POWERSTONES PLSSS!!!!!REVIEWS AND POWERSTONES PLSSS!!!!!REVIEWS AND POWERSTONES PLSSS!!!!!Chapter 56: Mega Man's Mega Buster
[Mega Buster: Grade C Nen tool. Left-hand equipment. Ranged attack weapon. Plunderer type. Growth type. Origin: Mega Man.
Equip to the left hand to use. Converts your aura into Nen blasts without loss. Current conversion rate: 0.1 aura units = 1 Nen blast.
Each time you defeat a unit that can be identified as a "BOSS," a "Weapon Chip" possessing partial characteristics of that unit's traits will be generated. The chip can be loaded into the Mega Buster to unlock a corresponding exclusive attack mode.
If the defeated BOSS is a "Secret Realm stage unit," only 1 chip may drop per BOSS.
The Mega Buster can only load 1 Weapon Chip at a time. You may hold a maximum of 8 Weapon Chips simultaneously. If you exceed the limit, you may choose whether to replace any.
The Mega Buster can be bound to the left hand. Once bound, it can be recalled and summoned in Conjuration form. Binding the Mega Buster permanently occupies 2 aura units of your maximum aura capacity. Each time it is summoned, it consumes 2 aura units and releases that amount from your maximum. If the Mega Buster is undamaged when recalled, 2 aura units are returned and the 2-unit capacity is reoccupied.]
The new Nen tool was in hand, but Ross was still frowning. His need to understand things had him working through the connection between the Mega Buster and the dead Rando.
Eventually he managed to string together a chain that was at least possibly reasonable.
The core logic of this Nen tool's generation was Rando's "Technique Plunder" nature, not his identity as a spider demon.
Plundering techniques from others and then killing the original owner: that was very close in underlying structure to Mega Man defeating a BOSS to obtain a chip and acquire a new form.
And because Rando had already encountered Yusuke before the arena, Ross had reason to believe the humanoid spider had already copied the Spirit Gun by then. A Nen blast attack as the baseline ability matched the Mega Buster's fundamental firing mode.
Beyond that, he genuinely couldn't think of any more plausible explanation.
"Oh, almost forgot."
Ross suddenly remembered something, crouched over Rando's now somewhat deflated-looking corpse, patted around, dug through pockets, and finally located Badge 66 tucked in a trouser seam.
Six points. All in. The exam was effectively done.
He carefully tucked the badge away, then slid the stubby blue Mega Buster onto his left hand and gave it a couple of test swings with the expression of someone who had just gotten a new toy.
Beep.
When the countdown expired, the winning Ross and the dead Rando were transported out of the Toudou Zaibatsu arena together.
...
Yusuke had been waiting. Keeping his fist primed with aura, frequently checking the roulette wheel still hanging in mid-air.
He didn't know the specific rules of Ross's ability, but as long as the wheel was still there, it probably meant Ross was still alive.
As the minutes passed, neither Ross nor Rando reappeared, but he was increasingly aware of other people in the vicinity.
They had been drawn by the demon aura, the large-scale destruction, or both. Yusuke didn't care. He was ready to hit Rando at full power the instant he showed up.
At exactly the four-minute mark, transport aura appeared, and two figures materialized from nothing.
One standing. One lying face-down.
Yusuke's fist was already moving. His brain had instinctively concluded that Ross had no business beating Rando, especially not in All-Style Judo, the most dangerous of all five competition types.
Which was not wrong, exactly. Ross's raw fighting ability was nowhere near enough to go head-to-head with Rando. But the kid had been vicious enough to poison himself in the process, grinding a young demon of considerable potential down to the execution threshold, then finished it with thorough knowledge of the rules and heavy arena investment.
This was why most Nen users found opponents who played with rules so profoundly nauseating.
When Yusuke registered that the standing one was Ross and the one on the ground was Rando, his brain stalled completely, but he stopped the punch in time.
Ross flinched anyway, almost dropping into a defensive crouch.
Yusuke looked at Rando. He saw the neck bent to a number-seven angle.
"Dead?"
Yusuke went blank.
"Dead."
Ross nodded.
"...How?"
Ross didn't answer. He mimed zipping his lips and glanced around.
Yusuke caught on. Even between friends, you didn't talk openly with obvious company nearby.
"Move. Somewhere else."
He gestured at a direction.
"What about this?" Ross said quietly. "Don't you need some kind of proof to confirm the kill?"
He was thinking of fantasy games where quests required proof like a goblin's left ear.
"No. The Spiri-cough, cough. The boss said the detective agency has some kind of arrangement with the Association. If Rando's actually dead they'll send someone to confirm. Probably."
Unlike in the original story, Rando hadn't crushed Kuwabara's bones in front of Yusuke and hadn't engaged in any genuine life-or-death fight with him. So at this moment, Yusuke's attention had shifted entirely from the dead Rando to Ross.
He just wanted to know how Ross had pulled this off.
Precisely because Ross's thorough briefing had made clear exactly how difficult an opponent Rando was, the accomplishment landed as more impressive rather than less.
There was some genuine regret about not getting to settle things with Rando personally, but...
The look Yusuke directed at Ross had a certain warmth to it.
The guy who beat Rando is right here.
If I beat Ross later, that's basically the same as beating Rando.
Single-minded Yusuke's brain had arrived at a conclusion that seemed to have no obvious flaws.
The two moved off quickly, leaving behind Rando's corpse, which everyone could tell was probably not human.
A few candidates who had arrived first briefly considered trying for an easy one point, but when they saw Ross and Yusuke pair up and leave together, they thought better of it. Some followed. Others left.
About five minutes after the two had gone, Hisoka arrived at a languid saunter, hunched like a shrimp, fashionably late.
Making no attempt whatsoever at concealment, Hisoka simply fixed his gaze on Rando's obviously non-human corpse and went completely still, like a statue.
At that moment, Badge 23 Kibano arrived on the scene. His extensive past hunting experience let him identify Rando's corpse as a demon's at a glance, and in his shock, he accidentally snapped a branch underfoot.
The next second, Hisoka's face, by now visibly saturated with predatory hunger, turned toward the source of the sound.
On the other side, Gon had already gripped his fishing rod.
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