Both Sides Injured

Oboro had barely risen to his feet when Illumi followed after him.

The two of them seemed to be on the same flight.

But without any warning, Oboro sensed an extremely faint aura emanating from behind him.

Even as the warning flashed through him... Illumi struck. His arm moved so fast it became an afterimage, sending a Nen Needle toward the back of Oboro's head.

With a sharp whoosh.

It was as though Oboro had eyes on the back of his head. He tilted his head aside, and the sharp weapon grazed his scalp before flying past and embedding itself in a nearby stone pillar, leaving a hole as if it had been punched through by a bullet.

That showed just how terrifying the force behind that strike had been...

Whoosh...

His sneak attack having failed, Illumi flicked his hand again, hurling several Nen Needles at multiple vital points on Oboro's body.

This time, Oboro did not dodge. Instead, he unleashed his aura without restraint, forming a protective layer over his body. With several crisp clangs, Illumi's Nen Needles struck as though they had hit a steel plate, ricocheting away and falling to the ground.

Oboro slowly turned around, his gaze beneath his sunglasses ice-cold as he stared at Illumi.

"Hmm... so you really are a Nen user."

Illumi, however, seemed not to think there was anything wrong with suddenly launching a lethal sneak attack on Oboro. He merely said calmly,

The way he acted... it seemed he had simply wanted to test him. As for whether he had offended or provoked Oboro, he did not care.

Oboro flexed his fingers. The next second, his large hand, like an iron clamp, swung directly at Illumi's temple.

The savage palm wind even stirred the air, producing a dull boom.

Yet when his palm struck Illumi, it did not feel like it had hit anything solid... Illumi's figure blurred before vanishing from where he stood.

Killing techniques!

The Zoldyck family's secret arts.

As the renowned family of assassins, the Zoldycks began learning techniques specifically designed for killing from childhood... Shadow Step, Rhythm Echo, Snake Alive, and more. Killua knew them too.

Illumi, in particular, had begun working in his childhood. No one knew how many people had died by his hand.

It could be said that Illumi's combat experience was unimaginably seasoned.

Oboro's pupils contracted. Just as he was about to react, a shadow had already slipped up behind him. A flash of silver glinted, and the sharp point of a Nen Needle was only a few centimeters from Oboro's ear.

Bang! Just as Oboro was about to be hit due to his delayed reaction, he suddenly bent at the waist and drove his elbow back in one fluid motion, slamming his arm into Illumi's lower abdomen.

For the first time, a faint change appeared on Illumi's numb face.

In Illumi's eyes, there was no way the man before him could have defended against that sudden change in attack... Oboro clearly could not keep up with his speed, and his gaze had failed to catch the path of his movement... Yet not only had he dodged, he had injured him as well! Seemingly unable to feel pain, Illumi flipped backward and opened the distance between them.

Then he lowered his head and looked at the tear in his clothes caused by the heavy blow, murmuring, "My bones... are cracked...?"

The moment he finished speaking, Oboro dashed in front of him.

His fingers joined like a sword, reaching for Illumi's throat.

Illumi twisted his ankle and sidestepped.

Oboro pressed in, giving his enemy no chance to catch his breath.

Bang! Bang! Bang! The hall immediately descended into complete chaos... Their fists and feet collided repeatedly, their battle growing increasingly fierce. Nearby ordinary people fled in panic, while a blonde woman let out a scream.

The two moved so quickly that, to onlookers, they were nothing more than two indistinct shadows wildly entangled in battle.

Steel chairs snapped and warped like plastic whenever their fists and kicks swept across them... One of Oboro's palm strikes hit a stone pillar, shattering it outright and sending rubble spraying everywhere.

However... although Oboro appeared fierce and held the upper hand, with Illumi not daring to take his Vajra Finger head-on, a closer look would reveal that very few of Oboro's attacks actually landed directly on Illumi, apart from that unexpected elbow at the start.

Meanwhile, Illumi's arms, transformed into whip-like shapes, struck Oboro's openings every time he got close.

What surprised Illumi was that... his strangling attacks seemed ineffective against this man... The strength of Oboro's body exceeded his expectations.

Against an ordinary Nen user, one exchange would have been enough for Illumi to tear them into pieces and drench the ground in blood.

"His aura reserves are astonishing... and his control over aura is equally effortless... He is not merely using Ten to reinforce his body and withstand my attacks... His natural physical abilities are also exceptionally powerful... A martial artist? And... because he has enough aura, is he using 'Ken'? A war of attrition would be disadvantageous to me if we keep fighting like this..."

"His fighting style is simple, but taking him down... probably will not be possible in a short time."

Very quickly, the experienced hunter Illumi reached his conclusion.

By then, no one else remained in the area around them.

Uniform footsteps sounded from afar as a group of fully armed security guards arrived belatedly, carrying shields and wearing firearms.

Seeing that they had attracted the attention of public officials, Illumi decided there was no need to continue fighting this man and began to consider retreating... Of course, it was not because he feared his opponent. He simply felt that dealing with Oboro would be troublesome and take some effort.

His identity as a member of the Zoldyck family could not be exposed.

With that thought, he suddenly retreated. His figure seemed to split apart into five or six bodies, their flickering forms like ghosts as they muddled Oboro's vision.

"You are very skilled."

Several Illumis spoke at once. Oboro's ears twitched, but even through hearing alone, he could not distinguish which one was the real body.

"You seem to be somewhat wary of my methods... Have we met before?"

Illumi asked.

If Oboro could not immediately identify the real one, Illumi could leave with ease... A few seconds were more than enough for him.

In a deathmatch between experts, let alone several seconds, even a single breath could decide everything! When Oboro did not answer, a business card suddenly shot down at his feet, piercing the tile like a knife point.

Oboro could not even see where the card had come from...

"I am Illumi Zoldyck. If there is someone you wish to kill, you can contact me... As a new client, I will offer an appropriate discount on your first order. The amount of the discount depends on the difficulty of the job. As long as you can pay enough... I can deal with anyone."

"Though I do not know how you learned about me... since you know who I am, there is no need for me to say more."

"Until next time."

With that, the several Illumis scattered like crafty rabbits, darting in different directions as they prepared to leave.

With a thunderous boom.

The stone tiles beneath Oboro's feet exploded, cracks spreading everywhere. Veins bulged across his thighs, twisting like tiny snakes, and his entire body shot forward like a cannonball. In an instant, he crossed nearly thirty meters, soared into the air, and swept above the head of one Illumi who had already turned away.

Mount Tai Crushing the Top!

His large hand caught Illumi by surprise, gripping his head tightly before smashing him violently into the ground.

It was like setting off a bundle of explosives, the impact utterly terrifying.

Illumi's head was pressed into a deep pit of shattered stone, leaving him unable to move.

His true body had suffered a heavy blow, and the other afterimages created by his movement technique immediately vanished.

How was that possible?!

Waves stirred within Illumi's heart... That same deeply discordant feeling again.

He was certain... this man's reaction speed could not keep up with his, and his combat techniques and experience were relatively lacking... If not for his powerful body and a certain level of mastery over Nen, he would have been a corpse long ago.

But just like when he had struck Illumi at the beginning, how had he managed to attack him so accurately when his eyes could neither track him nor see through the trick? "Stop!"

"Stop it, both of you bastards... Do you hear me?!"

The security guards spread out and aimed their guns at both of them... The captain shouted at the top of his lungs.

"If you do not comply, I will open fire!"

The security captain swallowed, urging them on while pretending to remain calm.

The rising dust gradually dispersed.

They finally saw the two culprits clearly.

A young man in sunglasses, his clothes shredded all over, was straddling another man beneath him.

The latter had half his face seized by the man in sunglasses and was pinned firmly to the ground, unable to move. The long-haired man appeared to still be struggling, forcibly twisting his neck... The security guards could even hear the sound of bones grinding. It felt as though, with one more movement, his neck might snap beneath the crushing force of the man in sunglasses.

Meanwhile, aside from his torn and disheveled clothes... the man in sunglasses had been stabbed in the center of his brow by a metal needle held at a bizarre backward angle by the long-haired man's arm, bent in a way that violated normal human anatomy. Blood trickled down his face.

However, the needle point had sunk less than two centimeters into his skin, so the injury did not appear too serious.

Oboro glanced at the armed security guards, then at Illumi pinned beneath him, and said coldly, "Three, two, one..."

The moment he finished speaking, the two men sprang apart.

Oboro had no intention of fighting Illumi to the death... After all, Illumi was part of the Zoldyck family, with an enormous background. Offending that whole family would bring trouble in the future. Besides, although he appeared to have subdued Illumi... neither of them had gone all out.

He had only wanted to "teach" Illumi a lesson. Killing him was impossible.

In fact, after their exchange... if the two of them truly fought a deathmatch, Oboro felt... he was more likely to lose.

Illumi's advantages were too obvious... speed, reflexes, an ample "arsenal," meaning offensive methods... And he had not even demonstrated much in the way of Nen application... In other words, this was not Illumi's true strength.

It was obvious Illumi had initially intended to end the fight quickly... But he had never expected Oboro to possess this level of ability, and Oboro had caught him off guard.

Oboro knew that... he had gained a bit of an advantage.

On top of that, he knew at least something about Illumi's abilities and hidden cards.

Illumi never "looked down on" any prey; that was his rule... But Oboro's disguise had been too good. A year and a half of harsh training had given Oboro considerable mastery over concealing changes in his aura.

There was a reason he could dance with fireflies and sleep among wild beasts...

It was precisely because his perception of "aura" was extraordinarily sharp that... Oboro had kept Illumi's aura locked onto the entire time. No matter how Illumi changed, misled him, or deceived his vision, it was useless... His reactions might have been a beat slow, and his eyes might not have seen it... but his five senses had constantly fed Oboro clues.

Even if Illumi suppressed his aura to an almost negligible degree... Oboro could still detect it.

Of course, his body's defensive power—his Chinese Martial Arts Iron Shirt and Vajra Finger—had also played a role, though... not a particularly obvious one.

Blood ran down Oboro's forehead, and the new clothes he had just bought were ruined... Across from him, Illumi's clothes were torn open at the abdomen, while half his face was completely misshapen, his flesh mangled.

Neither of them was in much better condition.

"Hands up! Do not move!"

Seeing that they seemed to have stopped fighting, the security captain approached step by trembling step and ordered them.

His finger rested on the trigger, ready to fire at any moment.

But... what chance did ordinary people have to resist two Nen users?

Oboro saw Illumi's figure blur. In a flash, he had already circled through the security team, inserting Nen Needles into their brains with swift, blade-like motions.

Once struck by the Nen Needles, their bodies trembled and their faces instantly went blank... They became Walking Dead.

It was not only the security personnel; Illumi also controlled several administrators who had rushed over.

"Looks like it is about to depart..."

After doing all that, Illumi raised his head and glanced at the clock in the hall.

Then he passed by Oboro, handed his ticket to a puppet employee, and entered the passageway.

"Passengers... friends... the disturbance... at Gate... Five... has... now been properly... contained and... resolved. Please... have your tickets... ready and... begin board...ing."

As Oboro watched, an administrator with drool at the corner of his mouth made a stuttering station-wide announcement through the communicator in his hand.

The tension in Oboro's heart finally eased.

He did not have enough money left to buy another ticket...

Nor could he cooperate with public officials for an investigation. If he missed the flight, he would have to find another way to get money, or seek another method of reaching the Republic of Padokea.

Illumi's ability had solved that problem perfectly.

Oboro took the ticket from the woman with a Nen Needle stuck in her head... then followed behind Illumi and boarded the airship.

Not long after the airship took off...

Every puppet controlled by Nen Needles, without exception... committed suicide.

The incident caused quite a stir in Graham... However, the underworld forces on the Yorbian Continent were rampant. Bloody cases occurred in cities every day, with death tolls so absurdly high... Thus, before long... the matter faded into obscurity and was forgotten.

The degree of chaos in this world... was complicated, yet pure.