Moritonio's Finale

Moritonio's Finale. Cards flickered back and forth between Hisoka's fingers, constantly being hurled out.

Infused with aura, the cards were every bit as sharp as throwing knives...

The cards sealed off every angle Moritonio could use to evade, leaving him nowhere to dodge.

After charging in close, Hisoka immediately whipped up a flying kick.

But all it sent flying was the old man's top hat... Moritonio had already bent over, preparing to counterattack.

Hisoka's speed was undeniably fast. Seeing that he had missed, he bent his elbow and smashed it toward the ringleader's crown.

Bang! Moritonio raised his arm, and their arms collided.

In that instant, Hisoka noticed Moritonio's body was slightly tilted. Using the angle of his arm, he perfectly blocked Hisoka's view, allowing his other hand, hidden behind it, to catch the falling hat and press it over Hisoka's face.

The hat came down, plunging Hisoka's vision into darkness.

A heavy punch struck Hisoka in the abdomen.

Hisoka's expression changed, crimson blood spilling from the corner of his mouth.

His body sprang backward like a coil, widening the distance between them.

"Talent needs time to grow... No matter how gifted you are, you're still just a newcomer who has only recently begun training," Moritonio said calmly, slowly lowering his arm.

He appeared extremely confident.

Their probing exchange had ended in the blink of an eye... Hisoka had suffered a hidden loss.

"I haven't gotten serious yet... Can you hold up?" The old man spread his arms.

"Be my guest."

Hisoka wiped the blood from his mouth and answered with a smile.

"Oh, right... Since you've had the rare fortune of seeing through my true face, let me reveal it to you... the secret and principle behind John Doe." Seemingly in the mood to perform, Moritonio pulled a handkerchief from his pocket. "This is a handkerchief with no mechanisms whatsoever..."

As he spoke, the old man spread the handkerchief over his face. "Once you place it on your face, imagine in your mind the appearance you wish to transform into..."

As his voice continued, the handkerchief began to contract and deform, while Moritonio's facial features changed along with it.

After several crackling sounds.

A completely new face appeared before them.

It was precisely the face of the serial killer from the wanted poster.

"This is the magic of the homicidal maniac Doe... my ability, Stitched Reality!"

Not far away, Oboro watched the scene without the slightest reaction.

This move was the predecessor of Hisoka's Texture Surprise.

"Interesting..."

Hisoka smiled.

"Then next... comes my own magic, filled with mechanisms and calculations... Hisoka, you'd best be careful."

Changing the subject, Moritonio suddenly extended a palm toward Hisoka.

Boom! For no apparent reason, Hisoka, who had been standing still, was struck with tremendous force. His right arm twisted out of shape, and he was sent flying.

Hisoka looked astonished, clearly caught completely off guard.

"It feels... like something is pressing down on me..."

After landing, Hisoka's mind raced. His injuries did not affect his thoughts or movements in the slightest.

"Minced meat, minced meat... It's time to happily make hamburger patties again..."

Moritonio's excited expression gradually turned savage as he muttered to himself.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Moritonio slowly rose into the air. Like a king descending upon the mortal world, he looked down on Hisoka as he ran back and forth across the arena, only to be knocked away again and again by some unseen force.

"It's coming through... that faint trembling of yours... that fragile life creaking beneath the pressure..."

Hovering in the air, Moritonio chuckled mockingly, like a cat playing with a mouse.

Hisoka was in a miserable state! Even though he instinctively defended himself with aura, every hit continued to worsen his injuries.

At this rate, Moritonio might literally toy him to death.

"Oboro... aren't you going to help him?"

From the air, Moritonio looked down at Oboro, who was watching from the ground with remarkable composure.

"No need... In my eyes, you're already dead."

Oboro spoke calmly.

"Oh?"

Moritonio did not take it seriously.

No one understood Hisoka's monstrous nature better than Oboro... His growth potential in battle, along with his insight and on-the-spot thinking, was all at the absolute peak! Moritonio thought he had Hisoka completely figured out only because he did not understand him at all. He had no idea what level Hisoka's strength had reached... The fact that he had found a way to use Zetsu through his own exploration meant that a Nen technique like Gyo would not be difficult for Hisoka either.

Snap! Sure enough, as soon as Oboro finished speaking.

On the other side, after sensing something approaching through the empty air, Hisoka immediately acted, gathering aura in his eyes... Two thick iron pillars instantly appeared in his vision, closing in from both sides.

Using his momentum and speed, he locked them between his arms and hugged them tight before they could hit him.

He neutralized the danger.

"What?!!!"

For the first time, Moritonio's expression changed.

"Gyo... When did he learn it? How is that possible... I never taught him... I even deliberately fed him false information to mislead him, so he wouldn't find the right path..."

The old man froze for a brief moment.

But he recovered quickly, immediately increasing the magnetic force of his aura and pulling the two iron pillars tightly together, intending to crush Hisoka into a meat patty.

Whoosh.

However, his wish fell through.

Hisoka shot upward, slipping through the gap between the iron pillars.

"He got out! He actually... escaped..."

Watching Hisoka leap into the air and land atop the arena's ceiling, Moritonio's gaze darkened.

"What was that... It's quite simple. I thought your magic would be far more mysterious, but it's nothing more than magnets..."

"At the beginning, you deliberately used the handkerchief to display your Nen ability only to give me the illusion that all of your aura could be seen..."

Above him, Hisoka shrugged. His miserable appearance seemed not to have affected him at all as he ran a hand through his red hair. "Powerful mutual attraction, and invisible magnets... That's your trump card? A little boring..."

"..."

Seeing Moritonio remain silent.

Hisoka continued, "The essence of magic is concealment... In that regard, you were far too crude."

"The victor has yet to be decided... Boy, as you can see... my ability transforms aura into magnetic Iron Pillars, but I haven't used my full strength yet... You're celebrating too soon!"

Bipolar Iron Dyeing!

With the old man's shout, the number of iron pillars appearing in the air suddenly became far denser.

"Stop playing around... Hurry up."

At that moment, Oboro, who stood on the ground, coldly called out to Hisoka.

He had no interest in watching any longer.

"Hehe..."

Hisoka laughed. The next second, he vanished from sight.

Moritonio controlled the iron pillars, wildly firing them at the afterimages flickering around him, but every attack missed.

"Impossible... His speed... How can it be this fast?!"

"Where is he... Where is he?"

The old man kept turning his head, his eyes darting about as he tried to catch Hisoka's position.

Yet he found Hisoka repeatedly appearing atop one iron pillar after another, standing or crouching there, only to flash away again without stopping.

Even worse... Moritonio had no idea what was happening. The iron pillars manifested from his aura seemed to be breaking free of his control, becoming Hisoka's playthings as they changed direction in midair.

"Why?"

"Is he imitating my ability? Or... is this his Nen ability? But that shouldn't be possible... He doesn't even understand the basic training knowledge of aura, and he hasn't even developed Hatsu to maturity. He is merely using aura directly, so how could he have an ability?"

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

"Imitation? This feeling... It's just like that man back then..."

In his daze, Moritonio recalled someone—Ging Freecss.

The next moment, Hisoka finally circled behind Moritonio, descending from the air and landing in a crouch.

"I'll use my magic to bring this performance to an end..."

Hisoka spoke softly.

Then, he tugged with his hand.

High in the air, the massive magnets that had already gathered around the old man were instantly pulled, all crashing toward their target at the center.

Bang! A deafening sound erupted. Air currents surged, and even the arena structure shuddered.

Hisoka snapped his fingers, admiring the masterpiece he had created.

A mangled, blood-covered figure fell from dozens of meters in the air and crashed onto the ground.

"Cough, cough, cough..."

Moritonio lay on the ground, continuously coughing up blood.

His pupils were beginning to lose focus.

"My ability... Bipolar Iron Dyeing, so this is how it was meant to be used? Hisoka... You did it better than I did... I never imagined my aura could be so perfect..."

The old man murmured lifelessly.

"My aura possesses the properties of both rubber and gum. I stuck one end to the magnets and changed their trajectory. Then I stuck the other end to you, and made it contract all at once... I've named this move Bungee Gum."

Hisoka slowly walked over.

"Gum... Bungee Gum? A child's snack... Hehe... It suits your style..."

The blood spilling from Moritonio's mouth had already begun flooding back into his nose.

"This... should be your... first time using aura in battle... Why... could you reach this level?" Moritonio's breathing had become extremely weak.

"To him, your aura techniques and application were far too simple... Ever since he entered the Circus, he had been observing you..."

"Slaughtering ordinary people also erased your upper limit. You believed that Nen ability techniques alone could solve everything. You clearly knew far more aura techniques than he did—using Ten to strengthen defense, Zetsu to conceal yourself, Ren to increase fighting spirit... You had so many methods available to you, yet not one of them showed any advantage... Your combat mindset remained at the level of an ordinary Nen user. That is... why you failed."

Oboro's cold voice came from nearby, causing the old man's stiff eyes to turn toward him.

"So... what I thought was my full strength... was, in your eyes, so... full of flaws and laughable..."

"Hisoka... Oboro... You two... and him... truly are... monsters from the same... world."

After stammering out his final words, Moritonio breathed his last and died.

The man he referred to was undoubtedly Ging Freecss.

Hisoka slowly crouched down, picked up the handkerchief that had fallen from Moritonio's face, infused it with aura, and followed the principle the old man had just explained to use Texture Surprise, turning it into the appearance of the homicidal maniac John.

The properties of his aura were highly suited to this move.

"Mm... This face suits you better."

Hisoka smiled. "I had actually been looking forward to this fight... But... it was rather anticlimactic..."

"Was I... simply too strong after all?"

"..."

Oboro did not respond and turned to leave.

Moritonio was dead. There was no point in staying at the Circus any longer, so he prepared to depart.

Seeing this, Hisoka immediately followed with quick steps. The two walked side by side as they left the arena.

The night grew deeper, and the troupe members were still celebrating.

Abachi, finally free, had also come out to look for the three of them, but she could not find them for the moment...

"Strange... Aah... Where the hell did those two run off to?"