The moment that streak of reddish-gold light appeared, it let out an exceedingly faint sword cry, yet one that seemed capable of piercing metal and splitting stone.
Clang!
The sound was quiet, but like an invisible steel needle, it stabbed viciously into the eardrums of every Nen user present, reaching into the depths of their souls.
The members of the Heretic Inquisition Squad all gave muffled grunts. They felt as though a heavy hammer had struck their brains, and even the circulation of their Nen aura stalled for an instant.
The Bird-Mask Man went pale. The mental links he had established with hundreds of puppets through his staff shook violently under that sword cry, nearly collapsing.
What is that?! Horror filled his mind.
Before he could react, the streak of reddish-gold light had already moved.
Silently, it sliced through the air and plunged into the puppet army in an instant.
Fast!
Impossibly fast!
No one present could follow its path with the naked eye—not even the Bird-Mask Man, a Manipulation Nen user whose dynamic vision far surpassed that of ordinary people.
All they could see were slender reddish-gold afterimages, sweeping freely through the forest of steel puppets like the brushstrokes of death.
Shhk! Shhk! Shhk! Shhk!
A rapid succession of blades slicing through metal rang out.
A giant puppet at the very front, assembled from half a tank turret and an excavator arm, had barely taken a step when its massive body abruptly froze.
The next second, more than a dozen smooth cuts split its body from head to toe.
Crash-
Countless parts and scraps of iron scattered across the ground like building blocks, becoming a heap of genuine garbage.
That was only the beginning.
The streak of reddish-gold light seemed to possess a life and will of its own.