Moro's Discovery

The two operational abilities of Shadow's End—

One is to take a shadow and control its actions with commands, called the Puppet Master Technique.

The other is to control the body of the manipulated through soul invasion, called the Headhunter's Art.

Moro's conjecture was correct.

While Kawahara was using the Headhunter's Art, if the manipulated person's body suffered damage, that damage, including death, would synchronize directly to Kawahara.

This was why Kawahara had reacted so strongly to Moro's probing attack, immediately canceling his ability and losing his subsequent opportunity.

Thinking back to his hasty actions just now, Kawahara couldn't help but regret it.

He carefully recalled the situation at the time. If he had been calm enough, he would have realized that the Nen ball's trajectory was actually off.

Therefore, if he had managed to maintain his composure and continue the disguise, he would have had a chance to achieve his goal.

But it was too late for regrets.

"Although I failed, however..."

Kawahara lowered his head, his right thumb continuously stroking the hilt of his sword as he thought about Moro's deliberately misaimed Nen ball.

When faced with an uncertain situation, would he try his best to avoid harming innocent people...

This point could be exploited.

Kawahara suppressed his regret.

Even though his ability's characteristics might have been exposed, he still had room to maneuver.

With this thought, Kawahara's Nen surged, and he stepped into the black shadow before him, sinking into it and vanishing without a trace.

His "Shadow Flow Technique" allowed him to travel freely through the shadows of ordinary people within a certain range, but this ability could not coexist with the Puppet Master Technique.

This was because people controlled by the Puppet Master Technique had no shadows.

Similarly, if he canceled the Headhunter's Art, the manipulated person would die on the spot and lose the shadow that allowed him to use "Shadow Flow Technique."

This was also why someone was tied to a chair in the room.

Diving into the shadows, Kawahara used his Shadow Flow Technique to select his next target for the Headhunter's Art—

A security guard on the airship!

At this moment.

In the airship's monitoring room.

A security guard was staring nervously at the numerous surveillance screens, holding a walkie-talkie and constantly reporting the situation to his colleagues.

Suddenly, the guard's expression, as well as his mouth and body movements, froze.

Kawahara had taken over the guard's body using the Headhunter's Art.

Click.

Kawahara turned off the walkie-talkie and then turned on the broadcast microphone.

"Attention all passengers, attention all passengers. The airship is currently under attack by unauthorized individuals, but our security forces have the situation under control. Please do not worry."

"To further ensure the personal safety of all passengers, please proceed to the upper deck immediately. I repeat, please proceed to the upper deck immediately!"

Kawahara used the security guard's body to broadcast a message throughout the airship. He then turned off the microphone and tilted his head slightly, looking at the display screen showing the cockpit.

He had currently planted control switches in the bodies of over fifty people.

Without activating the switches, these individuals were normal people unaffected by any abilities, and they also served as stepping stones for his "Shadow Flow Technique."

Kawahara's broadcast announcement solved the problem of how to get these people to Moro.

And it also brought along the passengers he hadn't had time to gain control over.

It was foreseeable that—

A large group of passengers would flood into the cockpit.

This would allow him to maximize the potential of his latent puppets amidst the chaos.

This was an almost unsolvable move against Moro.

Unless Moro decided to kill indiscriminately, eliminating all passengers and staff to remove potential threats.

"You rushed to the cockpit first to make the airship land, didn't you..."

Kawahara stared at Moro on the surveillance feed and muttered, "I won't let you succeed. Now, let's see how you'll respond... Hmm?"

Staring at the surveillance feed, Kawahara suddenly saw Moro look directly at the camera's viewpoint.

In a daze, Kawahara felt as if his gaze had met Moro's.

He noticed...

Kawahara reacted, his eyes suddenly narrowing, and then he saw the surveillance feed shake and turn into static.

Moro had destroyed the camera in the cockpit.

"..."

Kawahara frowned.

Although he thought his move was foolproof, he also felt that things wouldn't be that simple.

Inside the cockpit.

Moro didn't pay much attention to the broadcast content just now.

"How strange."

What he cared about more was the targeted nature revealed by the other party.

Did they have to go to such lengths just to prevent him from interfering with the airship's navigation?

With such abilities, wouldn't it be better to use them against Kan Kai?

Hmm?

No...

Something was wrong.

Moro looked up at the destroyed surveillance camera.

The initial aura fluctuations and the general direction of the loud noise made it basically certain that someone had attacked the client protected by Kan Kai.

That was Kan Kai of the Twelve Zodiacs...

To deal with a bodyguard hunter of this level, they still diverted their power?

And it was a massive diversion!

This made Moro suddenly realize that the person controlling the captain and the one who made the broadcast were likely not targeting Kan Kai's client.

So—

They were targeting me from the very beginning!?

"I was almost misled."

Moro's eyes changed slightly.

If it weren't for the fact that the bodyguard hunter was Kan Kai, he wouldn't have been so sure.

Sensing this, Moro's gaze shifted to the controlled captain and the other person.

He had observed them carefully just now.

The ones controlling the captain and the other person were using command-type Manipulation abilities.

This type of Manipulation ability usually only appeared on puppets.

The captain and first mate before him were already dead.

Until the controller issued new instructions to them, they would only act according to the current instructions and would not behave otherwise.

This made Moro temporarily abandon the idea of letting the airship land safely, and he also didn't plan to stay in the cockpit any longer.

He had originally intended to use delaying tactics here to deal with that Manipulation ability user.

The reason for this decision was that he believed there were some flaws in that Manipulation ability user's ability system.

While overly diversified abilities could raise the ceiling of their application, they inevitably had to bear corresponding restrictions.

Two modes of operation, and also benefiting from the "number of controlled targets"...

Based on this, Moro believed that the Manipulation ability user who used this ability must bear the cost of doubled Nen quantity consumption.

If Kawahara could see all of Moro's deductions regarding the current situation from beginning to end, his heart would surely clench.

You must know—

Kawahara was in the dark, while Moro was in the light.

The information received by the two was unequal.

Yet Moro could discern the truth amidst the chaotic situation.

Thump—

Moro, having changed his mind, pushed open the door and walked straight out of the cockpit before the passengers swarmed in.

Then, while expanding his En, he moved towards the location of the previous aura fluctuation.

He wanted to confirm the situation with Kan Kai and decide what to do based on the changes in the situation.

Considering the worst-case scenario, he had to be mentally prepared for the "airship crashing."

Just as Moro was moving towards Kan Kai, his outward-spreading En suddenly produced a feedback of touching "Nen."

"Hm?"

Moro abruptly looked towards the observation deck outside.

On the observation deck floor, about ten meters away, there was a large string of obscure symbols emitting the glow of Nen.

"Divine Script?"

Moro didn't understand Divine Script at all, but he could vaguely recognize that this was probably one of the advantages of being a transmigrator.

Why... was there Divine Script here?