The wind had stopped.
A few minutes ago, the earth had still been trembling and groaning beneath that monster's trampling, chaos and calamity filling the eye. Now, only scorched earth lay silently sleeping across the ground.
The hideous black spatial rift in the sky was slowly drawing inward and healing, like a savage wound being stitched shut. The Four-Disaster Fusion Monster's ultimate self-detonation, powerful enough to overturn a hundred miles of land, had been forcibly snuffed out by everyone working together in the dimensional rift.
As the violent aura that could destroy everything completely receded, the entire wilderness suddenly fell into extreme silence. It was so quiet that even the faintest insect chirp or breeze was hard to hear, leaving behind only the desolation and solemnity of a battle's end.
Gon bent over, bracing both hands on his knees. Beads of sweat the size of beans kept rolling down and smashing onto the cracked, charred ground.
He gasped heavily. His tattered combat suit hung loosely from his body, a large bruise at his waist glowing a dark purple, while fine scrapes covered him from head to toe. The dark clouds had dispersed, and scattered sunlight pierced through them and spilled down, making him instinctively narrow his eyes.
"...It's locked away."
He murmured in a low voice, his throat hoarse from the fierce battle. The liveliness he usually carried had faded, leaving only the relief of having survived a disaster.
Beside a pile of rubble in the distance, Killua slowly sat down with his back against a broken rock. His silver hair was covered in dust, no longer neat as usual. His eyes lowered as his fingertips repeatedly massaged his sore and numb wrists. The muscular tremors left by the high-intensity, high-speed struggle had yet to settle.
"Tough one."
After a