Each with Their Own Agenda × Accelerated Consumption

"Fuck! How the hell did this stupid fish find me? Can it see now?"

Sweat poured down Lakshya's face as he narrowly dodged the monster fish's attack. His specialty, Emission attacks, put him at a serious disadvantage at this range.

What he simply couldn't understand was how this [Leader Catfish] could detect him.

Lakshya quickly scanned his surroundings. The smaller catfish seemed completely oblivious to the battle here. Instead... they had started devouring one another?!

An ominous feeling welled up in Lakshya's heart.

Big fish eating little fish made sense, but what the hell was little fish eating little fish supposed to mean?

"Is this a way to speed up the feeding process? Probably sacrificing some energy to shorten the digestion time."

Lakshya gritted his teeth. He couldn't even handle the [Leader Catfish] in front of him, much less spare the effort to kill those ordinary catfish.

Looks like I can only count on that guy hiding in the mist. He's probably up to no good, too. He wants this fish and me to tear each other apart...

Within the thick mist, Dio resisted the urge to charge forward and kill the smaller catfish himself.

Too soon.

At least a dozen smaller catfish were still devouring one another. His marksmanship wasn't good enough to score precise headshots on that many moving targets at once.

If he couldn't kill them all in one go, the [Leader Catfish] would immediately fall back to defend them, costing him his chance.

None of these fish had Nen, so ideally, one bullet would be enough to kill each one.

To maximize his gains, Dio needed to hold his fire as long as possible, letting the little fish devour one another until their numbers dwindled enough for him to wipe them out in a quick burst.

The most extreme option was to wait until only one remained, then shoot it dead, leaving the enemy nothing to devour.

But would that [Leader Catfish] really be stupid enough to let him take his time killing all these catfish?

He's waiting, too. Once these little fish have eaten enough of one another, he'll swallow them all in one go.

Dio knew perfectly well that the only reason the [Leader Catfish] hadn't fallen back yet was that he hadn't fired.

The enemy was remarkably composed. He understood that this was a contest of timing.

If Dio shot the little fish too early, the enemy would immediately fall back and eat the survivors.

But while digesting, he wouldn't be able to quickly swallow the next one. Dio would undoubtedly seize that window to shoot the little fish he couldn't devour in time, resulting in a massive loss of energy.

Even so, the enemy could still swallow most of the remaining fish. He simply couldn't judge whether eating them would give him enough strength to defeat both Dio in the mist and the mercenary in front of him.

But if Dio held his fire and waited for the little fish's numbers to dwindle naturally, the enemy wouldn't rush back to defend them either.

So Dio needed to fire as late as possible, but not leave it until the very end, when the enemy could easily scoop up the entire lot.

And once the enemy's reasoning was laid out, he was certain he could get back in time to swallow at least one little fish. Judging by his speed, that was entirely possible.

Falling back early to devour them would prompt Dio to fire early, killing the little fish he couldn't swallow in time.

So the later he fell back, the better. But waiting until the very last moment risked letting his enemy wipe out the whole lot.

Just like that, the two men's reasoning reached a strange agreement-pretend those little fish didn't exist!

Holding their positions seemed to be a win-win for both of them. So who was losing?

"Me, goddammit!!"

Lakshya was about to explode with rage. He was taking all the pressure on the front line while the guy in the mist pretended not to see it, and this damned fish was doing everything it could to bite him to death.

The two seemed to be targeting him by unspoken agreement.

And this damned fish's mechanics had completely changed. It was definitely tracking him through some mechanism he knew nothing about.

But if it could track him, surely it could track Dio in the mist as well. Why was it so focused on killing Lakshya?

Because he was closer, of course...

At that moment, Qi Peixin was nowhere near as calm as the two men outside imagined.

Because his arm had been left without any aura protection while he used [Ko], the damage Dio's shot had inflicted went far beyond simply severing an arm.

The pain he was suffering was beyond anything the two outside could imagine. On one side, the Ripple Dio had left behind kept dissolving his Nen at the stump of his arm. On the other, the [Leader Catfish]'s stomach acid was constantly [digesting] him.

Most importantly, his mind was also struggling to withstand the [Leader Catfish]'s encroachment. If his mental defenses collapsed, he would instantly become a mindless beast.

To regain control, he would probably have to wait until the [Leader Catfish]'s aura had been depleted enough for it to deactivate on its own.

In short, he was going to become fish-powered. How tragic...

Suddenly, a Nen Bullet dragged Qi Peixin's attention back to the battlefield-Lakshya had fired it without warning.

The Nen Bullet wasn't aimed at the [Leader Catfish] containing Qi Peixin. Instead, it flew toward the little fish that were still devouring one another!

Qi Peixin instinctively swept his tail across it, batting it apart.

A moment later, he realized something was wrong-he had fallen for the bait.

Sure enough, having caught an opening under extreme pressure, Lakshya didn't use the opportunity to gain some distance. Instead, he calmly stood his ground and hurled four more high-speed Nen Bullets, heedless of the cost.

The Nen Bullets flew straight toward the school of smaller fish. Qi Peixin could clearly sense that, if they landed, the four little fish that had devoured the most in the pond would all be killed outright!

While dodging my attacks, he was also watching how much the [Fish Fry] had devoured, and he seized the exact moment my attention slipped...

Qi Peixin decisively abandoned his fight with Lakshya and fell back early to defend the fish.

He had come out slightly behind in that exchange. It was his own oversight, but also a testament to his opponent's perception, decisiveness, and even the accuracy of his Nen Bullets. This was no easy enemy.

Bang! Bang!-

Within the thick mist, Dio saw Qi Peixin fall back and immediately emptied his magazine.

Several bullets streaked toward the little fish in the pond, targeting precisely those that the four Nen Bullets hadn't covered!

Without pausing, Dio deftly swapped magazines, preparing to keep firing.

But immediately afterward, Dio sensed someone approaching at high speed through his Ripple Radar!

It was Lakshya.

Throwing out four Nen Bullets at once had taken a substantial toll on him. His manifested aura had visibly thinned.

Having successfully shaken off Qi Peixin, Lakshya knew full well that continuing to fight alone in his current condition would be suicide.

He needed to find a partner-or rather, someone to die in his place!

I'll use that skulking bastard as a shield and let him tangle with Qi Peixin. Once they've worn each other down, I'll try a sneak attack and kill them both. If that fails, I'll go find Marol...

Lakshya quietly worked through his little scheme.

A flicker of killing intent crossed Dio's eyes as he sensed Lakshya closing in at high speed. Of course he knew what the man was planning-he had just done the same thing himself!

So he continued firing while immediately retreating, intending to keep his distance, and thought:

Keep my distance and let this idiot mercenary keep drawing attention. I have enough bullets to ambush them and kill them all. Then I'll go find Bokushin...

As Qi Peixin rushed back to defend the fish, he sensed that the two men weren't trying to join forces. Instead, one was approaching while the other retreated, and he sneered inwardly.

Two fools still scheming against each other with their lives on the line. Go ahead and keep distrusting each other. Better yet, give me more time to digest. Once I've eaten them, if I'm still conscious, I'll go find Kantigara...