Nen could only be countered with Nen.
That was common sense.
If the enemy might possess a reactive (counterattack) ability, then responding with a Manipulation-type ability was the optimal choice.
However, both Kanzai and Talia were Enhancement types.
Still, the Enhancement type's inherently high margin for error could keep the risks of probing to a minimum.
So what truly troubled Kanzai was not some hidden motive beneath the enemy's bluff, nor a reactive ability that might already be lying in wait, but...
The restrictions of having to ensure the client's safety, combined with an environment where there was no room to retreat, left him utterly constrained.
Hearing Saff's declaration at that moment, Kanzai did not feel that the problem had been solved at all. He even wanted to roll his eyes, but held it back.
Saying not to worry about whether she lived or died was easy enough...
If the commission failed, his lifelong reputation would be ruined.
Without saying a word, Kanzai pretended not to hear Saff and fixed his gaze on the door, as though his eyes could reach the center of the Aura.
"I have already submitted a report to the Hunter Association stating that the commission was successfully completed."
Saff's voice suddenly came from behind him, and Kanzai paused slightly.
"What?"
He could not help turning to look at Saff, only to see her lightly wave her phone twice.
Saff's expression remained as calm as water. "You should receive confirmation that the commission has been completed very soon."
"..."
Kanzai was stunned, then immediately felt his phone vibrate faintly.
When he took it out, he found that he had indeed received confirmation that the commission was complete, along with notice that the enormous payment had been transferred into his account in real time.
"Aren't you afraid I'll run?"
Kanzai looked up at Saff with a strange expression, as if he were seeing his former client anew.
Saff lowered her phone. Ignoring Talia's anxious expression beside her, a faint smile appeared on her cool face. "The assassin gave you a choice between two options, so I'll give you one as well. Even if you choose to run, I will calmly accept that outcome."
She had even deliberately avoided using the word "flee"...
Because there was no need for any so-called provocation.
This was a decision Saff had made from the heart.
"Tch."
Kanzai put away his phone. Since even a noble Princess dared to put her own life on the table, there was no need for him to keep holding back.
As for running...?
What a joke.
He would not do something that sullied the identity of a Professional Hunter even if he had to force himself to copy a thesis ten thousand times.
"Talia, protect her."
Leaving those words behind, Kanzai pushed open the door and walked out.
Outside was a corridor barely three meters long, with a spacious lounge area furnished with sofas at its end.
The moment Kanzai stepped out, he saw a man standing in the lounge.
The source of the Aura was that man.
"Yo, you came out."
The man was Muer. He smiled with a somewhat flippant air.
Kanzai took two steps forward, the Nen around his body surging visibly. "You look pretty relaxed..."
"Scary, scary."
Watching Kanzai release Nen that vastly surpassed his own, Muer maintained his flippant smile, but inwardly, his sense of danger had reached its peak.
A reactive spatial ability, plus enhancement through prepared Divine Script...
Even with such preparations, Muer still could not find enough confidence.
The reason was not entirely Kanzai's identity as one of the Twelve Zodiacs, but rather the sheer strength of the Nen intensity he displayed.
Seeing it firsthand at close range was far more convincing than anything he had heard.
"If your attack hits me, I'll die on the spot, won't I?"
Muer also released the maximum amount of visible aura he could manage. However, part of his Nen was being used on the Divine Script, leaving his total aura at less than fifty percent of Kanzai's.
Yet such an obvious and immense gap could not determine the outcome of this battle.
Because the countless strange forms Nen could take brought too many unknowns into combat.
Kanzai looked expressionlessly at Muer and stepped forward.
Judging solely from the gap in their visible aura, he could naturally knock Muer down with one punch.
But assuming the other side possessed a reactive Nen ability, he could not unleash all his attack power in their very first exchange.
When dealing with reactive, counterattack abilities, the greatest taboo was going all in from the start.
Even if he could kill his opponent in one blow, triggering a condition might still result in injuring the enemy by a thousand while damaging himself by eight hundred.
First, I'll test what type of ability it is. It may not necessarily be reactive. It's just one extra step of probing, anyway...
Kanzai quietly calculated.
When Nen users fought, their first exchange was usually a test, like cautiously feeling their way through fog.
For someone in Kanzai's current predicament, if he could reveal the entire map—obtain all the information—he would not need to be so excessively cautious.
The battle was on the verge of erupting.
But at that moment, a tremendous crash suddenly rang out and spread throughout the entire airship in an instant.
The sound came from the room behind Kanzai.
Kanzai's pupils contracted. The instant he heard it, he understood that someone had violently smashed through the ceiling and broken directly into the room where the client was.
"Hm?"
During the extremely brief opening when the deafening crash shook Kanzai's focus, Muer exploited the information gap. In a flash, he appeared at Kanzai's side, then drew a long, narrow fruit knife and stabbed toward Kanzai's carotid artery.
This was clearly a plan arranged in advance, meant to seize this chance to strike, overflowing with chilling Killing Intent.
Kanzai reacted and, stimulated by the intense Killing Intent, instinctively launched a defensive counterattack.
But the moment after he threw his punch, he knew something was wrong.
Bang!
Unable to control his strength in his haste, his fist struck Muer's outstretched elbow with overwhelming force.
Crack.
With a horrible sound, Muer's body was flung backward, his arm—lacking sufficient defense—suddenly suffering a comminuted fracture.
Then Kanzai saw Muer smile.
This bastard... set up a double safeguard!
Kanzai's eyes narrowed, and then he saw the surrounding environment ripple like water for an instant.
The walls, ceiling, sofas, and everything else in the lounge were still there, but they had all been stained with an aged yellow hue.
At the same time.
A sharp pain shot through his arm, and it hung limply at his side.
Kanzai quickly glanced at his right arm and instantly understood why.
It really was a reactive ability. It had the effect of distributing damage, and it was also spatial in nature.
This is troublesome...
Bang!
A huge crash suddenly sounded.
Moro walked through the corridor, able to feel the floor trembling faintly beneath his feet.
"A brazen attack."
He looked back in the direction of the sound. It was obviously coming from Kanzai's side.
Luckily, he had not been too close, or he would have been dragged into it by now.
Moro withdrew his gaze, arrived at the passage outside the cockpit, and stopped.
En
The Nen surrounding Moro's body immediately spread outward like ripples of light, passing through the floor, walls, and ceiling in a spherical shape and reaching into the cockpit.
"Oh?"
As his En swept through the captain's cabin, Moro keenly sensed something unusual.
Despite such a huge commotion, even when touched by En...
The people inside showed no reaction of panic at all.
Were they being controlled?
Moro thought to himself.
Before you continue