Even If Life Is Like Dust

Above an endless sea of white clouds, an airship belched smoke and flames. Its hull listed badly, on the verge of plunging into the cloudbank.

Inside the airship, screams erupted everywhere.

The terror brought on by a disaster at such altitude was like a ruthless hand squeezing the hearts of passengers and crew alike.

Under the crushing pressure of death, some gave up in despair, some screamed in helpless panic, and some clawed frantically at any possible lifeline.

Yet before an airship about to crash, even the fiercest will to survive was as insignificant as ants beneath human feet.

Listening to the panicked cries of the passengers, Moro and Kangzai reacted differently.

Moro headed silently toward the observation deck, moving against the slope of the tilted airship.

Once the airship began to crash, the fate of the other passengers was easy to imagine.

There was only one word in Moro's mind: save himself.

There was no room for anyone else.

Kangzai turned toward the source of the screams, hesitation flashing through his eyes before he let out a sigh.

There was no point dwelling on things he was powerless to change.

The hesitation vanished from his eyes, and he quickly followed Moro.

The two arrived at the observation deck one after the other.

Standing there, all they had to do was look up to see the smoke and flames pouring from the upper cabin, already closing in on the massive gasbag above the hull.

At the sight, both Moro and Kangzai tensed.

It was practically a gigantic bomb that could explode at any moment.

Suppressing the shock in his heart, Moro moved along the wall to the edge of the observation deck and looked down at the clouds close enough to touch.

The next moment, the listing airship plunged into the clouds, and a powerful gust whipped Moro's hair and clothes.

Moro gripped the railing tightly, nearly bending over as he looked below.

His gaze passed through a gap in the suddenly thinning clouds. For an instant, the vast earth lay spread out before him, and the howling wind seemed to carry a suffocating pressure.

A visible drop of several thousand meters...

Even with a Nen ability, there was no sense of safety.

Moro stared down at the impossibly distant ground. He had thought his heart would race and fear would become impossible to suppress...

But now that he was truly standing here, looking at the open sky only one step away, he was unexpectedly calm.

Kangzai came up behind Moro and said gravely, "Whether we survive depends entirely on our own abilities."

At a time like this, even mentioning luck was a luxury.

Even as an Enhancement-type ability user, he could not guarantee a safe landing from several thousand meters up.

Moro glanced back at Kangzai, then looked up at the gasbag that could trigger a violent explosion at any time.

With time running out, there was no room left for thought or hesitation.

Moro had previously imagined an airship crash, but the situation before him was even more perilous.

"Let's exchange contact information."

He took out his phone and looked at Kangzai.

Kangzai nodded. "Sure. If I make it back to the ground alive, I'll contact you immediately. If you die, I'll find a way to collect your body."

"Why, thank you so much."

Moro's eyelid twitched.

As if he could not hear the sarcasm, Kangzai said solemnly, "No need to be polite. We can be considered comrades-in-arms."

"..."

Moro fell silent for a moment, then asked, "Your number?"

Facing the increasingly powerful airflow, Kangzai recited his contact number.

After hearing it, Moro dialed the number as quickly as he could. The moment the first call tone sounded, he hung up.

"Take care."

Putting away his phone, Moro gave Kangzai a slight nod, then leaped forward. His body speared diagonally down into the sky like a javelin.

The airship could explode at any moment, so he had no spare time to consider whether his upcoming "survival technique" could get him safely to the ground.

Watching Moro plummet away, Kangzai's eyes flashed with admiration.

Then he glanced back at the cabin, complicated emotions rising in his heart—regret and shame alike.

After lingering for two or three seconds, Kangzai released the railing and jumped toward the wispy white clouds below, thin as cooking smoke.

He spread his arms and legs, and under the effects of air resistance, his descent began to slow.

From his current height, he could still see Moro below him.

Bang!

At that moment, a thunderous boom came from overhead.

Kangzai and Moro flipped over almost simultaneously, facing the sky as they looked toward the explosion.

Before their eyes, the airship exploded into a massive, dazzling fireball blooming high in the sky.

Moro silently watched the enormous fireball swell in an instant. He could vaguely make out countless fragments of the airship's hull.

But they were too far away, and he could not help feeling that among those scattered black fragments were many human bodies.

Many times... human lives were as insignificant as dust.

Only by holding power in one's hands did one earn the right to change things.

Moro flipped back over, faced downward, and spread his limbs to slow his descent.

"Deceptive Flying Stars."

With his right palm facing down, he condensed a fluorescent green Nen Bullet and fired it.

Whoosh—

The flying star dropped at high speed before abruptly coming to a stop a hundred meters below.

One second later.

As though time had reversed, the flying star shot back toward Moro, who had already fallen closer.

Facing the returning flying star, Moro drew upon his aura and met it with the back of his right hand, engraved with the Growth Rings tattoo.

Bang!

The flying star exploded against the back of Moro's hand.

The impact from the collision sent Moro's body tumbling violently upward.

"Not enough."

Struggling to steady himself in midair, Moro fired another flying star downward, then poured more aura into his entire palm.

Bang!

Another explosion rang out.

Moro was blasted away by the returning flying star again, though not as violently as the first time.

"Still not enough..."

Feeling the feedback from the clash of aura just now, Moro fired another flying star and increased the aura gathered in his palm.

Bang!

It was another collision of aura, but this time, it carried a faint softness.

The energy contained within the aura burst outward. Rather than being hurled away, Moro seemed to be gently held up by a palm, his body briefly coming to a halt in midair.

This was because the returning flying star and the back of his hand, wrapped in a fixed amount of aura, produced a strange neutralizing effect between attack and defense.

As their combined values drew infinitely close, Moro's falling momentum was greatly weakened.

"It'll work."

Having confirmed the result of his experiment, Moro felt somewhat reassured.

Above him.

Kangzai saw Moro's outrageous maneuver and unconsciously opened his mouth, letting the fierce wind pour in.

What the hell...!

Inside a stone chamber illuminated by luminous pearls.

The chamber was square, with a platform built from four flights of stairs rising at its center.

Upon the platform stood a harp with a jade-like body and ink-black strings.

Suddenly.

The strings moved on their own. A clear sound like sweet spring water echoed through the chamber, only to turn wild and relentless like a storm the next instant.

As the strings were plucked violently, streams of dark-tinged aura spread out, sketching a human figure before the harp.

Gradually, the figure's outline solidified from illusion into substance, revealing Saff's appearance.

Saff slowly opened her eyes. When she saw the harp playing on its own, her expression was both familiar and surprised before being replaced by deep confusion.