Outside the Cave Restaurant.
The screams of passersby mingled with gunfire.
Drobada darted nimbly through the hail of bullets, pulling the trigger of his gun again and again.
With [The One Being Watched], he knew exactly where his enemies were without looking. He could even fire without so much as a glance!
His aura-infused bullets were astonishingly accurate. Every shot brought down an attacker. Although he lacked firepower, he still kept most of the enemies pinned down.
The remaining enemies had their fire drawn by the two guards who had been outside the entrance and the three Private Soldiers who had followed them.
"To launch an attack like this in a crowded district... who the hell are they...?"
Drobada calmly changed magazines and dodged the stray bullets flying around him.
Although it seemed to be nothing more than an ordinary armed assault, for some reason, Drobada felt uneasy.
Is an attack like this really the work of ordinary people alone?
With the arrival of the main Guard Unit force, the attackers, who looked like ordinary gangsters, were swiftly wiped out.
The gunfire gradually subsided.
Yet Drobada did not relax. Without a word, he turned and hurried into the restaurant, where he was greeted by-
A restaurant in shambles, curtains drawn, bullet holes from gunfire and stray rounds everywhere, corpses strewn across the floor, shattered windows, and a hole whose purpose was unclear.
But there was no sign of Dio or the Twelfth Prince!
Drobada broke out in a cold sweat.
Then he noticed something moving inside the hole. A moment later, a rock actually flew out of it!
A few minutes earlier, San had dug a hole and buried himself in it, then started waiting for the gunfire to stop.
That young guy looked pretty strong, whether it was the [Ten] around him or the power of that bullet...
He mused idly to himself. He had never expected to encounter such an expert so soon after arriving in Yorknew City. It really was a big city.
Suddenly, he realized that the noise outside seemed to have stopped.
"That boring shootout's over, huh... all right! The great San is back!"
San grinned, casually tossed the rock away, and leaped out of the pit. Planting his hands on his hips, he was just about to let out a hearty laugh.
But what greeted him was-
The dark muzzle of a gun, Drobada's icy gaze as he aimed it at him, and the [Ren] erupting from his body.
Cold sweat trickled down San's skin.
Meanwhile, on the second floor.
"Your Highness, you can open your eyes now."
Dio lifted Mumuzawa down from where she had been stuck to the ceiling and set her on the floor.
Her obedience throughout the fight, neither moving recklessly nor opening her eyes, had also contributed to this victory.
Otherwise, if she had been marked, the mission would probably have failed even if Dio had blown the enemy apart with a punch.
Only then did Mumuzawa slowly open her eyes.
The first thing she saw was Dio crouching on the floor in only his white shirt, looking at her.
Then she cautiously looked around and discovered a corpse farther away, its eyes still open, with a black suit jacket draped over it.
Next, she noticed bloodstains on Dio's shirt. Just as she was about to speak, he spoke in a level voice, as though he could see the future.
"It's only a graze from a bullet. There's no need to worry, Your Highness. Let's hurry downstairs and find the others."
Then he reached out, helped Mumuzawa up, and headed toward the stairs.
The words Mumuzawa wanted to say caught in her throat, leaving her no choice but to follow silently.
She watched Dio's back sway ahead of her. There was a large bloodstain on the back of his white shirt, and at its center was a... hole?
Like a hole left by a gunshot.
No, that's definitely not just a graze!
Mumuzawa stared hard at the hole, certain that Dio was hiding something.
It indeed had not been a graze. His metallic-colored Ripple bullets were exceptionally effective at injuring Nen users.
Fortunately, his opponent's ability had not transferred the [Ripple] that depleted [aura] along with it. It had only reproduced the amplified power.
After he activated [Ken] at full strength, it had caused nothing more than a flesh wound. With Hamon at work, it had probably already scabbed over.
"Hm? What's that?"
Suddenly, she seemed to catch something out of the corner of her eye-
A soft, white "creature" quietly emerged on top of Dio's head. It looked like... a cloud?
"Mist? Mist-!?"
As though sensing her gaze, the white creature shuddered in apparent fear and made a faint, strange sound.
Then it plunged headfirst into Dio's hair and vanished!
"Huh? Wh-what!?"
Mumuzawa's mouth fell open in shock, but she could not get out a complete sentence.
Hearing her, Dio turned around. Seeing her stunned expression, he asked curiously:
"What is it, Your Highness?"
"Just now, you, I..."
Mumuzawa stammered, utterly forgetting her royal etiquette and composure.
The strange things she had encountered today had completely surpassed her understanding of the world. Countless questions flashed through her mind, and just as she was about to blurt them out-
"Dio! Your Highness! Are you both all right?"
An urgent, deep voice interrupted her thoughts-it was Drobada.
The moment he reached the second floor, he was relieved to see that both of them were still alive.
But the corpse in the room and the blood on the Twelfth Prince's face gave him another fright.
He hurried over to ask Dio what had happened and urged Mumuzawa to go downstairs so they could return at once.
At the same time, the other guards' voices came from the stairwell, forcing Mumuzawa to reluctantly abandon the idea of questioning Dio.
This also allowed Dio to breathe a little easier. If Mumuzawa asked about what had just happened, he would have to spend time making something up.
Afterward, Dio and Drobada exchanged information.
Upon learning that Dio had been attacked by a Nen user, Drobada's expression grew somewhat grave.
From the description, the dead Nen user would not have been difficult to deal with alone. As long as one closed in before he fired, he could easily be killed.
The trouble was how to get close to him while protecting an ordinary person.
Judging by the enemy's ability,
It probably countered all ranged attacks, including bullets and Nen projectiles.
Had an Emission user like Drobada been in that situation, his only option would probably have been to take the person and flee.
On the way back, Drobada also mentioned the strange Nen user he had encountered on the first floor.
He had called himself "San," and he was also the one who had told Drobada to look for Dio on the second floor.
Dio, meanwhile, was thinking about something else-
His Nen Beast.
The mist during the earlier battle had been created by his Nen Beast, but it was not yet fully developed. In fact, before today, he had not even been confident that he could complete its Conjuration.
Now, however, Dio felt the cool sensation against his scalp. The Conjuration he had decided to attempt on the fly had actually succeeded.
An unexpected bonus, too. Next, I'll have to give it some other abilities...
Dio's true natural category, [Emission], was the category best suited to developing Nen Beasts. That was why, when developing his ability, one of his first ideas had been to use a Nen Beast to support him in combat.
Over the past month, he had considered the direction in which to develop his abilities.
Time Stop and the destructive power of [Ripple Nen] were already enough for him to handle the vast majority of one-on-one encounters, but he also had to consider one issue.
The one Chairman Netero had mentioned-whether his Time Stop ability would be exposed.
After all, although Time Stop was overwhelmingly powerful, that did not mean he could always kill his enemy within that one second.
If something unexpected happened, the remaining one-minute cooldown would become a period of danger for him. In the end, he had only been learning [Nen] for a month.
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