I'm not out of my little break yet, but I don't want you to think I've dropped the fanfic, I'm just taking a break to stock up on chapters as I've increased the benefits of chapters released on Patreon up to 60 ahead of public release. (I always have at least a 100 chapter stocked)
...
Oboro used his telepathic ability to suppress the ghost mist that had been sweeping through the palace. The dark green sea of mist dissipated, clearing everyone's vision and revealing the surroundings.
The scene was completely devastated. The entire square was littered with corpses and blood, so much time had passed that some pools of blood had already solidified. In the distance, groups of mafia members were spinning around like headless flies. When the green fog lifted, they could see the battle and David, the head of the Fells family.
Most of the gang members didn't know the identities of Oboro and Filslily. They only recognized David. Of course, some knew that the Fells family had a handicapped blood relative, but they had never seen him. Most of the high-ranking gang leaders with significant reputations were already dead. Those who hadn't entered the hall when the banquet was held were basically the heads of some medium or small families.
Oboro and Illumi saw Hisoka's body lying on the ground. Oboro took the lead with Illumi following close behind. After seeing David and the Shadow Beast, the Mafia members approached one by one. Some noticed Kurapika and Chrollo as well.
David stepped forward to explain the cause and situation of the incident to these fellow juniors who had escaped the disaster. Of course, what he called an "explanation" had been polished and edited.
"Killed in one blow!" Illumi remarked as Oboro walked over to Hisoka's body and crouched down.
"Not dead yet," Oboro said in a playful tone.
"Not dead? Impossible," Illumi raised his eyebrows. As far as he could sense, Hisoka was no longer alive. He didn't even need to touch him to know that Hisoka's heart had stopped beating.
If Hisoka died, his soul would most likely fall out, but his spirit in the mist hadn't caught it before.
He wasn't killed by the explosion, even such an injury can be healed by relying on his nen after death?
Oboro was surprised. He was sure that Hisoka's nen had saved his life, but how was unclear.
Finally, it came to this.
There was nothing strange about Hisoka's nen continuing after death. Not to mention that he was much stronger now, his fate no longer determined by himself. In the original timeline, he had achieved this resurrection with his own abilities.
"It seems a bit strange that the wound on his neck has stopped bleeding," Illumi bent down, took a closer look, and suddenly spoke.
"His telekinesis originally has some repair properties, it can stick and glue things together. Even wounds like skin burns or broken arms can be covered and repaired," Oboro explained, raising the corner of his mouth. "But it has no real healing properties. It's just a temporary remedy, an illusion, a disguise. But if telekinesis is controlled to the ultimate level of fine-tuning, perhaps even injuries to blood vessels can be temporarily adjusted with a Band-Aid method."
"Can he do that?" Illumi put her hand to her chin, skeptical.
If what Oboro said was true, it would be an extremely complex and delicate feat. Not to mention the fact that Hisoka was dead now, even if he were still alive, he might not be able to do it. Besides, repairing the blood vessels would take an extremely long time. If it took too long, Hisoka would surely die and there would be no way to save him.
To put it simply, if there was any thought still active in Hisoka's body, he was racing against time with the God of Death.
Suddenly, a loud noise erupted behind them.
Illumi turned his head. "Ah, there's a fight going on over here."
Oboro also looked over.
Kurapika was wielding his chain like a retractable, extremely powerful iron whip, constantly lashing out at Chrollo. The spider-head held the book manifested by his Nen ability and jumped from side to side, having completely lost the composure he had maintained while fighting Hisoka.
Kurapika's flexibility and speed in controlling the chains was simply inhuman, more intimidating and deadly than Hisoka's attacks had been. The chain struck the ground, shattering thick slabs of stone and leaving deep pits. With that kind of force, Chrollo would be severely injured if not killed by a direct hit.
Chrollo again used his ability to swap coordinates and launched a sneak attack on Kurapika. However, his method, which had been enough to injure Hisoka, seemed to have little effect on Kurapika, who was easily deflected by his telekinetic barrier.
After exchanging a few moves, Chrollo realized that his attacks couldn't penetrate the blond boy's "strength. The Kurta didn't even use "Flow" to mobilize his mental power and turn "Firm" into "Hard" to specifically counter his attacks.
When a Nen user is in the "firm" state, both attack and defense are at 50%. By transferring and redistributing Nen through the flow, the attack and defense of certain body parts can be increased. Likewise, the Nen in other parts of the body will weaken their defense.
Fighting at the master level requires precise distribution and transfer of aura, using different techniques depending on the movements and timing. But the boy in front of him wasn't doing any of that.
His goal was simply to maintain the most basic "firmness", to keep his offensive and defensive abilities balanced at 50%. In other words, the blond boy didn't have to consciously focus his energy on certain parts of his body to improve his attacks or strengthen his defenses.
With that average 50%, the boy was confident that he could withstand Chrollo's attacks, and equally confident that the ordinary power imbued in his chains would be enough to kill his opponent!
What astounded Chrollo even more was that, aside from his Nen, the boy's physical fitness was abnormally strong, completely at odds with his slender frame. It was completely unreasonable. With fighters like Wing or Oboro, the strength and richness of their aura could be seen with the naked eye, but this young man was too thin.
However, the speed with which he swung the chain, including his agility and reaction time, weren't abilities that could be granted by Nen Energy alone. The only explanation was that it wasn't just Nen, but a special state.
"The characteristics of a specialized Nen ability?" Chrollo wondered, analyzing the blond boy's abilities as he attacked and dodged.
Facing the approaching chain, Chrollo pushed himself to his limits. Even when fighting Hisoka, he had never felt so exhausted. After a short time, his white shirt was soaked with sweat.
He desperately tried to find the blond boy's weakness. When he finally succeeded, he struck at his opponent's vulnerable spot, but the boy blocked with his arm. The Kurta's hand bones made a crisp sound as if they were breaking.
However, this blow still failed to penetrate the boy's telekinetic defenses, only having a slight effect on his physical body. The young man's mental power that enveloped his body was like an impenetrable film that was never really damaged.
This attack was one of the few opportunities Chrollo had managed to get close to during the entire battle. He put all his power into his fist, but it still wasn't enough!
Seeing Kurapika preparing to counterattack, Chrollo instantly swapped places with a stone and vanished. His main body reappeared ten meters away.
Looking up, he saw a chain on the boy's finger flutter and wrap around his injured arm, then emit a faint light. The injury healed instantly.
Chrollo confirmed one thing: it was indeed the power of Nen, and a very powerful one at that. This kind of power wasn't obtained through normal practice, it was the development of a special ability with specific conditions.
This young man actually made him feel the same powerlessness that he had only experienced in the face of Oboro. He couldn't find any weaknesses. Reaction time, mobility, strength and the manipulation of Nen, the boy crushed him in all aspects.
"It's not easy to get this kind of power. You must have paid a price," Chrollo smiled, his experienced eyes able to distinguish between true mastery and situational effectiveness. "Judging by the way you look at me, I can tell that you developed this ability specifically to deal with me?"
People like Oboro had already reached the pinnacle of Nen users and possessed truly unfathomable backgrounds. It wasn't the invincibility granted by Nen abilities, but their very existence that made such Nen abilities possible.
For them, their existence came first, and their telepathic abilities followed.
For a young boy like Kurapika, the Nen power came first, and the person followed Very weak, not just physically.
An idea flashed through Chrollo's mind. He realized that if these abilities weren't developed specifically against the Phantom Troupe, even the weakest member could probably kill the boy. The successive deaths of Pakunoda and Shalnark had made Chrollo understand the nature of the boy's abilities.
"Not just you, but all spiders," Kurapika replied coldly.
His reply confirmed Chrollo's conclusion.
"Do we know each other?" Chrollo already knew that death was inevitable, yet he smiled.
"You should have seen my eyes." Kurapika stepped closer, his voice solemn and accusing.
Chrollo suddenly realized that he obviously recognized the young Kurta from his expression.
Scarlet Eyes, he thought.
But what he said next made Kurapika turn pale with disgust: "Did your family die at our hands? I can see the flames of vengeance burning in your eyes. But ah" "I'm really sorry, I really can't remember what they looked like. After all, too many people have died at our hands."
"Can you tell me what they looked like? Maybe I can remember."
Chrollo said with a smile. His expression made it clear that he clearly remembered, but he just didn't want to admit it. Not only did he show no remorse, he seemed to be pleased.
"In this world, weakness is the original sin. We are like that, you and your family are like that. Now that you have this kind of power, shouldn't you hate yourself even more? Hate yourself for not saving them? Hate yourself for not being strong enough back then?" His smile grew colder. "You're still alive, which means you weren't there then, right? Otherwise you would have been killed by us. In other words, your death has nothing to do with us. If we want to blame someone, just blame them for being too weak. Just blame you for running away, for being so incompetent.
Kurapika was stunned. He had never expected such words to come out of the man's mouth so easily and nonchalantly. How shameless does one have to be to place all the blame on the victims?
Kurapika lost his composure, angrier than ever! His features twisted with rage as he let out a primal scream.
"AAAAAAAH!" He charged directly at his smiling enemy.
Oboro withdrew his gaze. It was he who had trained Kurapika.
Even if Chrollo's Nen level hadn't dropped to that of a national level hunter, even if the fight with Hisoka hadn't drained his energy, even if Pakunoda were still alive and the effects of her "Memory Bombs" were still active, he couldn't have defeated Kurapika.
Restrictions and Oaths! The core principle behind the development of Kurapika's abilities was to kill spiders. When he faced the Phantom Troupe, he was invincible.
The stronger Chrollo became, the stronger Kurapika would naturally become in response, and the greater the price he would have to pay. No matter what, he would always be superior to any spider.
Unless there was a special situation where the cost became so high that Kurapika couldn't bear it, his Nen ability would self-destruct. This wouldn't happen against someone like Meruem, let alone Netero.
If the chairman were a member of the troupe, Kurapika's Nen abilities would likely be overwhelmed.
No matter how extraordinary a Nen ability might be, no matter what development logic it followed, the fundamental limiting factor was the person! It was life itself.
Wear shoes that fit your feet.
All Nen abilities were based on a person's life force. Even if Kurapika burned up his vital energy and completely overdid it, he might not be able to raise his Nen abilities to a level beyond Netero. But he could still severely limit the old man.
It would be almost impossible to surpass someone like Netero. The main reason was that Kurapika was fundamentally too weak. This weakness existed on many levels, potential, spirit, aura attributes, physical body, and more. These were innate limitations.
Moreover, Kurapika hadn't trained any of these fundamentals, but had taken a massive shortcut by skipping many stages of development.
If it had been Gon or Killua who had grown to a certain level before acquiring this kind of Nen ability, the result would certainly have been different. Even Netero would be defeated.
Of course, the price they would pay was obvious.
The reason why Kurapika's Nen abilities were so powerful against the troupe was that these abilities were essentially specialized for one purpose. Precisely because the development was focused on "one point," the effects of his restrictions and oaths were infinitely magnified.
This maximized both ability and cost. Even though the Phantom Troupe didn't have that many members, after using these abilities just a few times, Kurapika's normal lifespan would be drastically reduced.
Chrollo was doomed to die. From the moment the troupe arrived at the Fells' residence, Oboro had no intention of letting Chrollo escape. He wanted to see how long the spiders could last without their brains and with only a few legs left.
Or was Chrollo really irreplaceable to the Phantom Troupe?