Choose One of Two

Choosing to board this airship in the first place had been for the efficiency of a direct route.

If he got off midway, he would have to account for the time lost in transfers.

That was usually measured in days.

In other words, it could delay him by several days and affect his purpose for going to the Gugan Jade Great Country.

After considering it, Moro still decided to alter his travel plans.

In any case, he had not expected to accomplish much on this trip to the Gugan Jade Great Country. At most, he was going there to scout things out.

If he could find an opportunity to strike as an observer, then as someone within the situation, he could decide whether to step in and seize it depending on the circumstances.

But that possibility was extremely slim.

Simply witnessing a battle between experts from afar was already incredibly difficult.

In the end, if one was not strong enough, there were times when one truly could not move an inch.

With that as the premise, all choices and decisions had to compromise for it.

Moro stood and walked to the table where the telephone sat, picking up the itinerary notice beside it.

He opened it, letting his gaze sweep over the locations marked along the flight path before looking directly at the special notice concerning the midway supply stations.

It stated that the airship would arrive at the first supply station at around noon tomorrow.

"Tomorrow noon..."

Closing the itinerary notice, Moro looked back out at the night sky.

If he failed to catch Silva and the Phantom Troupe's chase and hunt, he could at least rely on Argo's intelligence-gathering abilities to do something, one way or another.

The premise was—

That he could contact Silva, and that Silva would accept intelligence assistance from an outsider.

And given the Zoldyck family's resources, they most likely had dedicated channels for locating enemies.

Silva might even have already clashed with the Phantom Troupe.

Staring into the night sky, Moro silently gave up his usual training for the night. He returned to the sofa, closed his eyes, and sank into meditation.

Whenever he had free time and was not training, Moro would continually construct in his mind the future paths of development for "Deceptive Flying Stars."

It had already become a habit.

He could vaguely sense that after dying and being reborn, the emergence of Deceptive Flying Stars had been far too natural and simple.

So simple that he naturally believed the birth of Deceptive Flying Stars seemed not to have occupied any Nen capacity.

That meant that even if he developed other effects for Deceptive Flying Stars in the future, he likely would not encounter difficulty or resistance due to the potential factor of Nen capacity usage.

For that possibility, and to surely develop rarer ability effects...

Moro often meditated.

At the same time, meditation could further improve the stability of "Ten."

Time passed, second by second.

"Hmm?"

After an unknown amount of time, Moro abruptly opened his eyes and sharply turned toward the room door.

Just then—

He had sensed an utterly undisguised Aura fluctuation.

The airship's lower deck.

It was deep into the night. Most passengers had already fallen asleep, with only a few still lingering in the bars on the upper and lower decks.

For Kawahara, late at night was the best time to invade shadows.

Because as long as the target was asleep, the time required to invade their shadow would be greatly reduced.

Based on that mechanism, Kawahara planned to stay awake all through the first night and obtain control over as many people as possible.

Once he had control over all the passengers on the lower deck, he could infiltrate the upper deck and wait for the right time to act.

"Be patient... Ensure the mission succeeds."

Like a maggot, Kawahara burrowed into a passenger's slanted shadow, repeating the same operation over and over.

By now, he had obtained control over nearly fifty passengers.

Just as he prepared to target the fifty-first passenger, he suddenly sensed an Aura fluctuation coming from the upper deck.

"A Nen Aura, displayed so openly... Who could it be?"

From within the pitch-black slanted shadow, Kawahara's body emerged. Astonishment flashed in his eyes as he looked toward the cabin ceiling.

At the same time.

Inside the cabin where Kangzai was staying.

"Saff, wake up."

Talia woke the silver-haired woman.

Saff was not the silver-haired woman's real name.

Moreover, as the Third Princess of the Gugan Jade Great Country, under the kingdom's harsh royal laws, Talia should not have addressed her by name. Doing so would have earned her a death sentence for violating the law.

However, there were priorities, and the silver-haired woman was not some brainless entitled aristocrat.

In extraordinary circumstances, using an alias was not something she found difficult to accept.

"What happened?"

Awakened by Talia, Saff sat up in bed and asked with calm composure.

By the door, Kangzai stood straight as a spear. Hearing Saff's question, he answered for Talia. "Someone is provoking us."

"Provoking us?"

A trace of confusion passed through Saff's azure eyes. She said calmly, "Wouldn't that be redundant?"

"Ah, normally, it would be redundant, but..."

Kangzai looked at the door. Halfway through his sentence, he suddenly did not know how to explain it to Saff.

No matter what happened, once a variable like a Nen ability was involved, one could no longer cling to conventional ways of thinking.

The unknown opponent releasing Aura had clearly come bearing Killing Intent, yet he had redundantly chosen to provoke them...

From the perspective of Nen abilities, it was possible that the opponent possessed a counter-type ability.

If they attacked rashly, their already unfavorable situation might become even worse.

Looking at it that way...

Their helpless decision to board the ship today was precisely the outcome the enemy had painstakingly sought, all to force them into an environment where they had no choice but to respond.

At that thought, Kangzai frowned.

On one hand, he had to ensure his client's safety. On the other, the situation was stripping away all his room to choose. It was truly too passive.

To the point that they did not even have room to probe the enemy now...

Even so, they could not do nothing.

Right...

He still had to explain the situation to Saff. Ah, what a headache.

In just a few seconds, a storm of thoughts churned through Kangzai's mind.

Although Saff knew of the existence of Nen abilities, her understanding was only superficial at best.

In Kangzai's view, if he really had to explain it, he could not make it clear in just a few words.

He had never been good at explaining things to begin with...

Saff did not get angry when Kangzai suddenly fell silent halfway through his sentence.

Beside her, Talia seemed to see Kangzai's difficulty, so she used her own understanding to help clear up Saff's confusion. "The act of provocation is only a trigger. They want to force us to choose between 'counterattacking' and 'watching.'"

"I understand."

Saff nodded lightly and said calmly, "But since they came prepared, wouldn't either choice be the result they wanted to see?"

"That's exactly the problem..."

Talia's expression turned grave.

Both she and Kangzai understood one thing: although the opponent's targeted actions still retained a trace of restraint, the various intertwined constraints had kept them in a passive position the entire time.

"So there is no third choice? For instance... not caring whether I live or die."

Saff's expression remained calm, as though she were merely speaking of something irrelevant.

"!!!" Talia.

"..." Kangzai.