Seemingly Joyful, Yet Also Satisfied.

The man's arrival instantly altered the atmosphere of the Temple courtyard.

The aura manifested by "Nen" can reveal a Nen user's emotional fluctuations to the greatest extent.

At this moment, the man's aura radiated a cold, murderous intent.

Facing this aura, which had been rendered by killing intent, Monica, as an ordinary person, suffered immensely.

Moyu, however, remained unaffected; he concealed his presence as much as possible in the shadows, waiting for an opportunity to strike.

The man walked toward Monica just like that.

From the moment he stepped into the courtyard until now, the man's gaze had remained fixed on Monica, never wavering in the slightest.

He stepped up to Monica and smiled, "Do you know why I haven't killed you yet?"

Monica's face was ashen; she could only stare wide-eyed as the "monster" she perceived drew closer step by step.

Stunned by the aura of killing intent, she had completely lost the ability to think, and naturally, she lacked the capacity to answer the man's question.

"Not even enough energy left to guess?"

Seeing Monica's reaction, the smile on the man's face deepened:

"It doesn't matter. I, for one, love to chat. In the limited time remaining, let me unilaterally tell you the reason slowly. The reason I didn't kill you outright is, of course, because..."

Mid-sentence, the man suddenly erupted like a pouncing tiger or leopard, lunging violently toward Moyu, who was hidden in the dark corner.

From this moment on, whether his previous words to Monica—"Do you know why I haven't killed you"—were superfluous no longer mattered.

And whether the claim about "loving to chat" was true or false had become irrelevant.

What the man wanted was to use his words to attract and manipulate Moyu's attention, then quickly end the fight.

"..."

Facing the man's sudden attack, a look of uncontrollable panic appeared on Moyu's face.

In the blink of an eye, the man caught this reaction.

"So, just a brat after all."

The man sneered in disdain, his right fist, gathered with potent Nen, striking toward Moyu's vitals at maximum speed.

As the fatal attack neared, Moyu seemed terrified; he scrambled backward in a panic to dodge, only to trip over something and land hard on his backside.

This caused the man's lunging punch to miss its mark.

However, having fallen to the ground, Moyu clearly lacked any ability to counter.

Unless he had a sharp weapon to extend his reach, what awaited him was the man's second, fatal round of attacks.

But Moyu clearly had no weapon in hand.

After all...

The brat before him was, at best, a rookie who had only just glimpsed the world of Nen and knew nothing of true combat; he was not to be feared.

"You must think that's what I'm thinking, right?"

The man suddenly retracted his disdainful smile, his gaze as cold and venomous as a viper, locking onto Moyu's hands braced against the ground.

At that very moment, Moyu, while on the ground, seized the chance to draw a long, pointed Western-style kitchen knife hidden under a rag, thrusting it violently toward the wrist of the man's outstretched right hand.

This was the part Moyu could reach the fastest.

But the man had not let his guard down from the start, and having noticed Moyu's small movement immediately, how could he possibly be struck?

Dodging would have been perfectly fine—

Yet, in order to end the fight faster and more cleanly, this man, who seemed to take pleasure in slaughter, actually opened his right palm, actively meeting the incoming kitchen knife.

Squelch!

The long, sharp blade pierced through the center of the man's palm, spraying blood.

However, the man remained expressionless; instead of pulling his hand back, he pressed down hard against the blade.

As blood splattered, his entire palm slid from the blade down to the hilt.

Immediately after, as if he could not feel pain, the man used his bloodied, pierced palm to grip Moyu's knife-wielding hand in a death lock.

"The Manifestation Aura I can release is a cut above yours, so from the moment I closed in and restrained you, you lost everything. Come now, let me see you truly panic."

The man looked composed; if he wished, his other hand, rippling with "Nen," could put Moyu to sleep at any moment.

To be able to finish off a Nen user without even using an ability.

Even if it was just a brat, it still brought a sense of accomplishment.

Moyu tried to struggle, but because his "Manifestation Aura" was lower than his opponent's, the struggle was ineffective.

However, the opponent's high level of vigilance caught him off guard, and his ruthless audacity in trading injury for a foundation of victory could not be underestimated.

This guy... is more troublesome than he appears on the surface.

"So, you talking all that nonsense to Monica wasn't just to distract me; you really do love to chat."

Moyu sighed softly; he wasn't exactly calm and collected, but he didn't show the panic or terror the man had hoped to see.

The man stared at Moyu's reaction and said coldly, "It seems I underestimated you. In your next life, don't go sticking your neck out so easily; you might live a little longer that way."

"You say that as if you would have let me leave if I hadn't acted. Your aura has exposed your base nature without reservation."

"Tsk, is it that obvious?"

The man said eerily, "Indeed. The moment I saw your Nen, I already marked you as my prey."

Before the words had even faded, he threw a punch straight at Moyu's vitals.

Moyu, seemingly restrained and with nowhere to run, was waiting precisely for this moment—the instant his opponent committed to a lethal blow.

Just as the ferocious fist was about to shatter Moyu's skull, a pair of pitch-black hands appeared from nowhere, reaching out from both sides of the man's cheeks before clamping onto his face and snapping it backward with violent force.

CRACK!

The man's head was instantly wrenched backward by the black hands, his throat bone snapping and piercing through his skin, spraying a large amount of blood.

"Hm?"

The sudden turn of events caused the man's expression to freeze instantly, confusion coiling in his mind like rapidly growing vines.

What just happened?

He wanted to say something, but could only emit a wheezing, unintelligible sound before quickly collapsing to the ground as a corpse.

The Shadow Dummy that had appeared out of thin air behind the man slowly retracted its hands, then returned to its normal shadow state under Moyu's command.

First, he had created layers of illusions to hide the presence of the Shadow Dummy, then allowed it to manifest at the most critical moment to execute a one-hit kill.

And so, the battle ended in less than a minute.

Moyu looked down at the man's corpse, a strange emotion brewing in his heart.

It felt like pleasure, yet also like satisfaction.

"How strange. I'm certain I don't enjoy killing, so why do I feel this way?"

Moyu raised his index finger to his chin, muttering to himself in confusion:

"Is it because I watched this guy fall step by step into a trap I laid in advance? Or is it because I got rid of a nuisance without much effort? A thrill similar to a speedrun in a game?"

"Right, I don't even know this guy's name, or his Hatsu... wait, did he even have Hatsu?"

"Forget it, it doesn't matter."

Moyu shook his head slightly, then looked at the man's corpse once more.

That feeling of victory from just a moment ago continued to echo in his heart.

Battles involving Nen are truly interesting; you only need to successfully lay a piece of foreshadowing to end a fight in the blink of an eye.

And I can still become stronger...

Thinking of this, Moyu couldn't help but reveal a smile.

Monica, having witnessed the man's fate and the smile on Moyu's face, felt a chill run through her entire body.