My Ability Is Called Kidō

Bai Zhu pulled over a wooden chair, ready to deal with the sobbing woman, when a wave of icy cold air suddenly poured in through the doorway.

The already feeble fire in the room flickered with a "puff," nearly going out.

The wooden door had somehow swung wide open. Two figures stood outside like ghosts, blending into the wind and snow.

Milluki's gaze swept back and forth between Pige Aaron, trussed up like a dumpling on the floor, and the tear-streaked Ella. Finally, it locked onto the yellow rope of light. Curiosity nearly overflowed from his chubby face.

As for Illumi, he did not spare the two captives a glance.

His hollow, unruffled catlike eyes had lit up with a spark—a light mixed with extreme curiosity and twisted possessiveness—fixed firmly on Bai Zhu's fingers, which had just finished casting the technique.

The air in the room seemed to have been instantly drained away, and the temperature plummeted.

Illumi walked in step by step. The pressure belonging to a top-tier assassin was infinitely magnified in the cramped space, like countless invisible ice needles stabbing into every inch of Bai Zhu's skin.

Milluki, following behind, sensibly shrank his neck and took half a step back, wisely distancing himself from the area where his elder brother was about to lose control.

Pressure?

Bai Zhu felt it, but rather than being intimidated, he found it even more interesting.

It was as though he felt none of that pressure at all. Under Illumi's gaze, he even brought his index and middle fingers together again. A faint glimmer flashed at his fingertips as he pointed directly at the dazed Ella.

"Ma'am, this is for your protection too."

A thinner yellow rope of light shot out instantly. Before Ella could cry out, it gently bound her to the chair. The force was not strong, yet she could no longer move at all.

This was a blatant provocation.

"Your ability..."

Illumi finally stopped in front of Bai Zhu. His cool teenage voice carried an excitement he could not suppress.

He extended his pale, slender hand and reached directly for the rope of light binding Pige Aaron.

That was not Nen.

His En could not detect the slightest energy fluctuation, yet his eyes could clearly see the rope of light!

This completely overturned his understanding of Nen abilities.

Just as Illumi's fingertips were about to touch the rope of light,

Bai Zhu lazily reminded him, "I'd advise you not to touch it. This thing... is a little rough on the hands."

Illumi did not pause in the slightest.

His fingers still touched it decisively.

Bzzzt—!

With a faint crackle of electricity, Illumi jerked his hand back as if he had been shocked!

There was no extra expression on his poker face, but his hollow catlike eyes stared fixedly at the fingertips that had touched the rope. His pale fingers unconsciously curled and stretched, as though confirming that his hand was still intact.

A violent, pure, alien energy completely different from Nen had just surged up through his fingertips. It was weak, but incomparably domineering!

"See?" Bai Zhu met Illumi's gaze and revealed an inscrutable smile. "I call it Reiatsu and Kidō."

Without waiting for Illumi to question him, Bai Zhu stood up. He knew that this was now his stage.

Like the most devout preacher, he slowly spread his arms and began his "performance" in a tone almost like a chant.

"You can understand it this way: it's also a kind of Nen, but after undergoing a certain... ultimate restriction and vow, it underwent a fundamental mutation!"

He paused, thoroughly enjoying the increasingly grave expressions on the Zoldyck brothers' faces before continuing at an unhurried pace.

"I offered everything I had to a supreme being! In exchange for forever giving up the freedom and endless possibilities of my own Nen, I gained another form of power!"

"From then on, my Nen was no longer endlessly changeable. It became this singular, pure energy under absolute control—Reiatsu."

"As for Kidō..."

Bai Zhu raised a finger. A wisp of faint yellow light danced at its tip like a living sprite. "...it is the fixed 'miracle' I can use after this mutation."

This explanation perfectly applied the underlying logic of the Nen ability system while throwing out a "supreme being" that the others had no way to verify.

Wasn't the system a supreme being?

Giving up the potential growth of Nen? He did not know Nen in the first place!

This was what they called making a fortune with nothing but empty hands!

"A supreme being?" Milluki muttered instinctively. The shut-in database in his brain spun wildly. Suddenly, as if he had thought of something, his eyes lit up.

"Are you talking about Tiga? The Giant of Light?!"

"..."

Bai Zhu gave Milluki a compassionate glance, as though looking at an idiot.

Illumi completely ignored his foolish younger brother.

He was rapidly processing the information in Bai Zhu's words.

Giving up Nen's endless possibilities in exchange for fixed, powerful techniques... that was itself an exceptionally harsh restriction, enough to support the powerful binding force displayed by Bakudō.

No wonder... no wonder he could not sense any Nen aura from Bai Zhu.

Because his "Nen" had already become something else.

Having figured this out, the biting chill surrounding Illumi finally receded somewhat.

Kill this mysterious man? The risk was extremely high, and the benefits were unknown.

Use him to pry open the secrets of the Creation Society? That aligned with the mission objective.

The balance of gains and losses was weighed in an instant.

"Alright, the academic exchange ends here." Bai Zhu clapped his hands and tilted his chin toward Pige Aaron, who was making muffled noises on the floor. His bearing instantly shifted from charlatan to project manager. "Instead of studying my personal secrets, shouldn't we get down to business?"

He lazily glanced at Illumi.

"A Zoldyck professional like you should be better at interrogation than I am, right?"

Illumi gave him a deep look. Without another word, he turned and walked toward Pige Aaron.

Bai Zhu smiled in satisfaction.

Done.

Illumi slowly crouched down. Several Nen needles gleaming with a sinister cold light spun nimbly between his fingers. With two fingers, he disgustedly pinched out the stinking sock stuffed into Pige Aaron's mouth and casually tossed it aside.

The flickering firelight cast his twisted shadow onto the wall, making him look like a demon poised to devour someone.

He gently pressed a Nen needle against Pige Aaron's temple.

"Hiss..."

A faint sound, so quiet it was nearly inaudible.

Pige Aaron's body suddenly stiffened, then went limp like a puddle of mud. His struggling stopped completely. Only his eyeballs still rolled wildly, filled with utter terror.

At that moment, Ella's heart, bound to the chair by the rope of light, felt as though an invisible hand had clenched it brutally.

She looked at her husband.

The man who had deceived her, who became crazed and violent over an illusory god, yet who would clumsily tuck her in at night... was gone.

Right before her eyes, that living person had been stripped of his soul and turned into an empty shell that could only drool and await orders.

Fear and heartbreak twisted together. She wanted to scream, but her throat felt stuffed with cement, and not a sound came out. Her tears finally burst through the dam, falling scalding hot onto the backs of her hands.

Bai Zhu glanced at her, utterly unmoved.

See? This was what happened to love-addled fools.

What interested him more was Illumi's almost miraculous technique.

Holy shit, what a professional!

The Zoldycks really knew their trade!

Illumi looked at Pige Aaron and spoke without emotion.

"Now, let's talk about why this 'god' needs so many children."

Pige Aaron's eyes instantly lost focus.

The fire, fanaticism, anger... every emotion in his eyes was completely emptied in a single second, leaving behind only a dead, ashen gray.

His eyes rolled back, saliva dribbled from the corner of his mouth, and a flat voice like a leaking bellows came from his throat.

"Alright..."

"God... God needs sacrifices..."

His voice stuttered, as though struggling against some instinct, but in the end, he was completely controlled.

"Living..."

"...'vessels'..."