Hear Your Partner Out!

Although Ankeli had been badly injured!

Mizaistom quickly regained his composure and, sticking to the original plan, swiftly attacked Ian.

He had already figured it out.

The boy before him who had called out his name from nowhere was the leader of these children. Only by arresting him could he bring everything to an end.

"Swish!"

As Chrollo closed in and thrust a knife at him, Mizaistom calmly raised the Yellow Card in his hand, holding the side marked with an exclamation point toward him.

"Don't come near me!"

Mizaistom knew full well that his Nen Ability was immensely powerful, an almost perfect counter to any form of hand-to-hand combat.

Everyone had inertia: the inertia of fighting, of throwing a punch, of moving.

He only had to make good use of it at the right moment.

Then he could easily fulfill the conditions for his Nen Ability and "restrain" his opponent!

Even as the knife was about to strike him, Mizaistom was not worried in the slightest.

He had already briefly foreseen the outcome.

"The second one..."

Just as he was about to flip the card over and "restrain" the boy before him again—

"Whoosh!"

Chrollo's knife thrust came to an abrupt halt!

Chrollo's eyes were calm, and he understood.

Just as I thought... As long as I don't attack him, I won't be controlled by his ability.

Judging by his expression, it probably isn't just attacks. Even moving forward might be enough... Then... what about backward?

With that thought, Chrollo put it to the test.

"Swish! Swish!"

He quickly took two steps back, putting some distance between himself and Mizaistom.

"Ian, when this guy shows his Yellow Card, we can't attack him... We can't move in his direction..."

"Considering his attitude toward us, his ability is probably connected to prohibiting violence or criminal acts... We have to be careful when attacking him..."

"I suggest that, since we know his name, we try using the Trip Expert against him."

Chrollo's expression was calm. He knew he could never defeat a Nen user this strong.

So from the very beginning,

his only goal had been to test him.

Right now, what he could do for Ian was test the scope of their opponent's ability.

Surely, once Ian had information on the other man's Nen Ability, he could use the items he had to come up with a good way to fight him.

Right in front of Mizaistom, Chrollo told Ian and everyone else present what he had learned.

Ian nodded.

Thanks to Chrollo's reminder, he remembered a little more about the man before him.

This two-star Crime Hunter is going to be tricky to deal with...

"I understand!"

Ian quietly hid his right hand, already wearing the Good Friend Ring, behind his back.

At the same time, he was privately grateful for Chrollo's reminder. He had nearly used the Good Friend Ring on Mizaistom just now, and he had no idea whether firing a laser counted as an attack!

If he had been restrained like Nobunaga, that would have been trouble.

Meanwhile,

although Mizaistom's expression was blank, he was deeply shocked.

He had never expected that, among these children, someone would be able to figure out information about his ability from such a brief exchange.

Though some details were missing, the core of his ability was no longer a secret.

"If... I leave these people alone, they'll probably cause a great disaster in the future..."

Mizaistom's expression grew grave.

They were still just children, and they should have been exceptional Nen prodigies.

But their methods were far too cruel...

It wasn't that he had failed to understand Ian.

There was clearly some misunderstanding between the two sides. Judging by their actions so far, they really didn't seem to be villains, aside from their excessive disregard for human life.

Everything that had just happened had taken place in the blink of an eye.

For a moment,

the two sides seemed to have reached a standoff...

Ian and the others were wary of Mizaistom's "restraint" ability.

Mizaistom, meanwhile, was a little wary of Ian's hidden right hand...

At the same time, he had begun to doubt his earlier judgment...

Could these children really be considered criminals?

At first, he had only been worried that a group of Nen users who regarded ordinary lives as no more than ants would roam the city and continue committing crimes.

But judging by the situation so far,

the group really hadn't harmed any ordinary people other than those gangsters.

Mizaistom fell into hesitation.

"Damn it... You evil little brats!"

"Take your punishment!"

Just then, Ankeli suddenly clutched her face, anger flashing in her eyes. The intense pain made her want nothing more than to quickly arrest these heinous criminals.

She would make these brats pay!

"Hammer Punishment... Mmph!"

But before she could finish speaking,

it was as though someone had suddenly covered her mouth, leaving her unable to speak!

A short distance away,

the moment Ian saw that she was trying to shout again, he hurriedly clamped his hand tightly over the Ankeli doll's mouth.

"That's for not listening, for attacking us, for trying to arrest us..."

As Ian covered her mouth to keep her from making a sound, he gave her several more hard punches to the head.

"Mmph... Mmph..."

With every punch, Ankeli's pupils contracted, and she whimpered in pain.

Her nose had already been broken, and now her head was taking heavy blows. Her former icy beauty was nowhere to be seen; all she wanted to do now was cry.

Seeing this, Mizaistom's eyes darkened, and he said in a low voice,

"Stop!"

Hearing him, Ian sneered.

"Hey, you were the ones who started this, and now you're telling us to stop?"

"So you get to have it both ways, is that it?"

"You're treating us like criminals?"

"Didn't I ask you before whether you wanted to end up like those scumbags!? Do you think we so-called criminals shouldn't do it, or that we can't?"

"Answer me! You should be able to tell that I can strangle your companion to death right now!"

Ian demanded.

Anyone would be angry after being ambushed for no reason and treated like a criminal!

Besides, they were standing up for a bunch of scumbags. That kind of "justice" was truly baffling!

Still, after getting revenge for Uvogin, he had calmed down quite a bit!

He loosened his hand over Ankeli's mouth a little, so she wouldn't actually suffocate to death. That would have been a bit of a letdown.

Mizaistom, meanwhile, truly regretted his actions.

Another of his judgments seemed to have been wrong as well...

Especially after seeing what Ian had done, he understood that there was something seriously wrong with that camera!

He still couldn't figure it out.

What kind of Nen Ability could have created a connection between Ankeli and that doll?

But in any case,

the facts were plain to see.

The boy could kill Ankeli simply by attacking the doll, and that was something Mizaistom did not want to see.

"I'm very sorry..."

After hesitating for a moment, Mizaistom finally spoke.

Partly for Ankeli's sake and partly out of guilt over his own misjudgment, he spoke first and willingly admitted that what he had done was wrong.

Many people thought admitting their mistakes was easy...

In reality, admitting a mistake was hard!

For people like Nen users, whose personalities and wills were magnified without limit, admitting their own faults was harder still.

For example, Ankeli immediately began struggling.

It was as though hearing Mizaistom apologize stirred her up more than killing her would have.

"Be quiet and hear your partner out!!"

"Bang! Bang!"

Ian showed no indulgence to the woman who had used such a vicious move on Uvogin, and landed two more punches.

It was hard to say whether she had heard the word "partner"... or been beaten into it, but she finally settled down...