Time seemed to slow to a crawl at that moment.
To most people in the stands, all they saw was Jidou unleash his lethal spinning-top storm, while the newcomer in white still stood foolishly in place, seemingly too frightened to move.
The outcome seemed inevitable.
Yet the few true experts, such as Hisoka in the shadows at the very top of the stands and Wing, who had been watching the entire arena with Gyo, saw something completely different-something that overturned everything they knew.
Just as Jidou's swarm of tops came within half a meter of Lin Yan's body.
An almost imperceptible streak of crimson-gold light, as fine as a thread, flashed from Lin Yan's hanging sleeve.
Shick.
At that instant, a series of extremely faint shicking sounds rang through the air, one after another without pause.
The top leading the charge, the one infused with the most of Jidou's Nen and powerful enough to smash through a wall, abruptly stalled in midair.
Then it was neatly sliced down the middle, as though by an invisible scalpel of unparalleled sharpness.
Split in two.
The halves flew past either side of Lin Yan's body.
The cut surfaces were smooth as mirrors, reflecting the pale lights above the ring as centrifugal force spun them around.
That was only the beginning.
After slicing through the first top, the crimson-gold streak did not stop.
With an uncanny movement that completely defied inertia, it made a sharp turn in midair and appeared beside the second top like a bolt of golden lightning.
Shick.
Another soft sound, and the second top was likewise split in two.
Then the third, the fourth, the fifth...
Within the small confines of the ring, that crimson-gold streak became a golden dragon of unparalleled speed and agility.
Every flash, every leap, was