A few more days passed. Under the brightly lit, colorful nightlife of the city…
Two Heaven's Arena competitors, after enjoying some revelry outside, were on their way back to the arena when they were ambushed by a mysterious man in a windbreaker.
Initially dazed with drink, the duo immediately sobered up. No time to think, they teamed up to fight the enemy.
Indeed, the person intercepting them was Xiang Nan.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…
Xiang Nan swung his windbreaker, using his Nen to accelerate as he raced along the wall of a building. A barrage of razor‑sharp whistling sounds rang out—the projectiles thrown by one of the men (a user of "Emission/Release‑type" Nen) kept coming, but Xiang Nan easily knocked them aside mid‑air with the surgical knives he likewise tossed out.
"So it's an Emission Nen ability, something like target‑locking? Not bad… But that means, in boosting the attack's accuracy, you inevitably reduce its destructive force. Cracking it is pretty simple—if you can't dodge, you can still focus on defense and interception."
Xiang Nan thought to himself.
Meanwhile, the other Heaven's Arena fighter suddenly reached out and touched his teammate. Xiang Nan, bounding along the building's exterior walls like a giant bat under the night sky, leaped downward in a flash. Clutching his surgical knife, he slashed mercilessly at the Emission‑type fighter's body.
Clang!
However, the blade's impact gave Xiang Nan a small jolt of surprise. The opponent's real combat experience and martial prowess were nowhere near Xiang Nan's level. Under Xiang Nan's sudden ambush, this Emission user had no time to defend—yet when the knife cut through his clothes, it failed to damage his flesh at all. The seemingly soft fabric blocked it completely.
"It's not a Nen defensive skill. At his level, if he can't react in time, he can't just rely on basic defense to tank my attack. That means the fabric's texture itself must have changed—reinforced until it's practically metal."
Comprehending immediately, Xiang Nan's gaze flicked toward the Variation (Transformation)‑type man standing behind the Emission‑type user.
That guy stayed in the back without engaging in direct combat. This showed that his ability to alter material was presumably more support‑oriented. Xiang Nan's first target in this skirmish, then, was to eliminate that supporter.
"Careful!"
In that instant, Xiang Nan flung his windbreaker upward, streaking off like a bolt, instantly throwing off the Emission user in front. That man realized something was off and wanted to warn his companion. He tried flinging more projectiles to stop Xiang Nan, but each was again deflected mid‑flight by Xiang Nan's knives, never even approaching him.
Xiang Nan had already figured out the Emission user's patterns and timing, so those attacks no longer posed a threat.
Boom!
He smoothly closed in on the Variation user and unleashed a fist square into the man's abdomen. But the punch failed to budge him, leaving him completely unharmed.
"Heh heh heh…Think you can hurt me? In the arena, people who tried that ended up losing to me the same way," the man sneered.
Because of how he'd adapted his Nen ability, he was covered head to toe in clothing— even his head was under some balaclava‑like hood, with transparent lenses around the eyes. Through his ability, his outfit had become a sort of invulnerable armor. Superficially, it left him with no obvious weak points.
"You changed the material's properties, not just externally but internally as well. Basically you're shut inside a sealed, metallic cocoon, so even though you're well‑protected, your outfit now weighs a ton. Your movements end up stiff and cumbersome… The direction you took in developing this ability, it's basically turning yourself into an iron turtle."
Observing the man's smug expression, Xiang Nan spoke coolly.
Then, with a sudden flick of both arms, his windbreaker fluttered up as he rained down a flurry of blows on the man's helmet—like a swirling black mass. In the blink of an eye, he pounded the surface an indeterminate number of times, each strike carrying vicious force.
Momentarily, the Variation‑type user might not get physically cut or stabbed from outside, but that "solid metal dome" of clothes created a sealed space. Xiang Nan's repeated heavy hits produced massive vibrations and sonic shock inside that sealed environment. It was no less terrifying than a direct slash. If the external pounding was strong and frequent enough, it would effectively shred anyone cowering within.
His past opponents likely never managed such intensity or such continuous strikes.
Bang bang bang…
A sequence of violent smashes later, the man's "armor" softened, and blood gushed from his seven orifices. His eyes rolled up as he collapsed, limp. The violent reverberations had turned his brain to pulp.
Next, Xiang Nan didn't even glance back. He simply raised one hand to catch an oncoming projectile fired behind him.
He turned around, eyeing the littered throwing blades and his own surgical knives scattered on the ground, smirking at the pallid‑faced Emission user.
"Running out of ammo, I suppose? I'm pretty much out of scalpels as well."
The thrown objects the Emission user wielded were real physical weapons, not conjurations. His Nen ability created faint "Nen clusters" to lock onto the target and boost power in flight. But given his limited skill, once these weapons were gone, he had little left. A purely Emission "Nen ball" from him wouldn't be strong enough to do much damage.
"He's worthless now. His brain's done for, so you're the only one left…"
Xiang Nan curled his lips into a faint grin.
"Aah!"
The Emission user cried out, petrified by Xiang Nan's smile, instantly turning to flee.
Xiang Nan set off in steady pursuit.
Elsewhere, on a building rooftop overlooking the whole scene…
Hisoka sat with one leg perched up, toying with his playing cards. He watched the melee unfold below, the entire spectacle reflected in his eyes.
"Heh heh."
As the excitement in Hisoka's gaze gradually settled, a nighttime breeze rustled the cards in his hand, scattering them across the wind. He let out a low, mischievous laugh.
…
With time, a tense mood was spreading among the two‑hundred‑plus‑floor fighters in Heaven's Arena.
Seven or eight of them had abruptly gone missing—no one knew their whereabouts.
Among the set of combatants on the 200+ floors, everyone was at least slightly acquainted and generally stayed in the arena between matches. They wouldn't just vanish without warning.
But these people all disappeared overnight, leaving no clues. It was strange—like some sinister plot was overshadowing them all.
~~~
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