Killua fell into self-doubt.
For the first time, he deeply questioned his own definition of strength.
He was a descendant of the Zoldyck assassin family. From childhood to adulthood, all he had received was training in combat, assassination, and similar techniques. The intensity of his training was enough to break most adults, and what he had absorbed through constant exposure was naturally what Nen users in the human world understood most profoundly.
Numbers alone did not mean much. True strength was a combination of combat techniques, on-the-spot performance, and fighting methods. Without combat wisdom, a powerful hulking idiot would be easily slaughtered.
This was a core element of Killua's worldview.
But not long ago, when facing the Chimera Ants, that worldview had already suffered an enormous challenge.
Humanity's strongest Nen user, the former chairman of the Hunter Association, could be said to stand at the pinnacle of human combat. His techniques, his adaptability in battle, and his fighting methods surpassed Killua's by streets. He was also the strongest person Killua knew, without question.
Yet when faced with the Chimera Ant King, he had ultimately been defeated and killed. The Ant King had only been slain through a technological weapon, a radioactive explosive device known as the Poor Man's Rose. That outcome had already made Killua question the "strength" he had learned about since childhood.
At the time, though, he could still convince himself that it was because the Chimera Ants were another race, one whose racial gifts far surpassed those of humans. It did not mean there was a problem with his definition of strength.
Until this moment, when his worldview truly seemed about to shatter completely.
Kula.
A companion he knew well, someone he had once fought alongside. Although Kula had displayed unbelievable strength when facing the Phantom Troupe,