Hunter x Hunter: From Obtaining the World to Beyond Heaven

An aged voice came, and a short, elderly man limped slowly over, joining Kuroro, who was wearing a biohazard suit, in looking at Machi's tombstone:

"Poor child, although we have only ourselves to blame for getting to this point, we can't just let it go like this."

Kuroro's empty, lifeless eyes looked at the old man through the goggles of his biohazard suit:

"Elder, let the council stop arguing. That person is not someone you can successfully retaliate against."

"...Kuroro, you have always been our pride, and the elders trust your judgment, but this matter...we must respond."

The elder shook his head and said slowly.

Kuroro knew he couldn't persuade these stubborn old men, so he said no more.

Although he knew that retaliating against that hunter named Dia would surely invite a thunderous strike, wouldn't he have nothing to worry about if he killed him before he was retaliated against?

Kuroro slowly closed his eyes, raised his head, suppressed the madness in his heart, and let his soul fall into the abyss ten thousand meters below the ground.

He didn't know how much time had passed when the pattering raindrops reached his ears, and he opened his eyes with a start, looking around.

Sparse raindrops fell all around him, splashing up countless dirty mud and stains.

It's just an illusion...

Kuroro stared blankly at the gray sky.

Both Machi and the Knight died on such rainy days, both were brutally dismembered, and even the day his childhood friend Sarasa died was also a drizzly day.

All this bad news caused him to develop a kind of stress response to rainy days.

Kuroro shook his head, perked up a bit, and began to think about his next move.

He already knew the enemy's name and identity, but had no way of finding the enemy's location, and knew very little about the person's abilities.

The brief battle in Pattani ended in a complete defeat for him and Hisoka.

The man named Dia possesses exceptional mental fortitude, superhuman strength and speed, outstanding combat skills, and formidable Nen abilities of multiple levels.

He was like a born hunter—ruthless, cold-blooded, patient, and intelligent, leaving no room for error.

the most important is--

A fleeting glimpse of the Empire State Building flashed through Kuroro's mind once more.

That person must possess some kind of incredibly powerful special ability, perhaps a kind of [Specialty] Nen ability.

According to the autopsy data, Maggie died just minutes after the phone call.

In other words, disregarding the time discrepancies, Machi probably didn't even last a minute against that person.

'Although Machi isn't good at combat, her [Psychic Thread Barrier] isn't something an ordinary person can easily break through. How did he manage to break it in such a short time...?'

Kuroro paced slowly in the rain, repeatedly immersing himself in the image of the deceased Machi, as if returning to that bloody night.

He seemed to see Machi's barrier appear before his eyes.

In a daze, a demon-like figure appeared instantly and cleaved Machi's barrier with a single slash!

Layer upon layer of afterimages flashed by, the light of the blade bloomed like flowers, and then blood splattered everywhere...

'That man severed Machi's limbs, but didn't kill her. He spared her life to lure me out. Machi couldn't have just let him hack her away without resistance... There are two possibilities...'

'Firstly, Machi was completely immobilized at the time, perhaps under the control of a [manipulation] ability, but why bother severing her limbs then...? Secondly, that person was a swordsmanship master faster than Nobunaga, who cut through Machi's barrier at a speed completely impossible to react to, and then severed her limbs...'

Kuroro recalled the cyan-green light in the Empire State Building; Machi must have been controlled by that power.

His movements were so fast that Machi was unable to use the threads to control herself and launch a counterattack after the [Nen Thread Barrier] shattered.

Extremely fast...fast...

Kuroro frowned, feeling as if he were standing at the door to the answer, but unable to push it open and enter.

His research and understanding of Nen abilities ironically became a chain—a chain called "common sense"—that bound his mind.

After a long while, Kuroro calmly left the graveyard, leaving Machi lying alone on the ground.

It seems... I have to confront that person head-on before I can possibly solve the mystery.

--------------

"You're not familiar with my abilities, so avoid any conflicts during this time. If you encounter a situation where you absolutely must use [Atmosphere Creator], unleash [Training] at over 70%, and the contract will automatically break..."

At the Loy City Airport, Qiduo was giving Dia a long, detailed explanation, and Dia nodded in response from time to time.

As she spoke, she seemed completely oblivious to the stares of others as she stepped forward, stood on tiptoe, and adjusted Dia's collar.

She carefully straightened his clothes, just as a mother would when seeing her son off.

As the green head bobbed back and forth in front of her chest, Dia didn't sense anything amiss.

After a brief farewell, Diya turned and boarded the airship, her destination—Kakin!

Here's the thing.

A few days ago, he and Pokson waited in ambush in Meteor City for a long time but Kuroro did not show up, so they had no choice but to return to the Hunter Association Building.

Meanwhile, Poxen took another airship directly to New Delhi, as the King's army was pressing her for help.

Fortunately, during this time, Diya had been using [Ripple] to help her heal the aftereffects of [The Fool], which allowed her to barely recover.

However, the lifespan lost due to the power cannot be recovered.

A few days later, when Dia returned to the Hunter Association in an airship, she found that Mumu Ze had already gone back.

It was said that the King's army had issued a military order to her mother, Queen Seranghi, which concerned her, so the Seventh Queen told her to go back and deal with it immediately.

Helpless, Mumu Ze had no choice but to end the trip early, leaving only the words that Diya should come to her palace before leaving.

When Keita relayed those words, her gaze almost pierced through Dia's entire body...

In short, Dia decided not to waste any more time loafing around at the association and instead prepared to head to Kakin to find clues to the third [Insect Arrow Fragment].

According to the information he obtained in the ancient Ganyu Kingdom, it is possible that Kakin possesses one of the fragments.

But Keita objected to this.

She believed that Dia was wasting her time searching for artifacts.

Instead of doing those things, it's better to fully develop your own abilities first.

Dia knew, of course, that Qiduo was worried about him getting caught up in the complex power struggles between the great powers, and that his ability development had indeed stagnated for a long time.

She worried that these trivial matters would hinder his development.

But Dia knew in his heart that the [Insect Arrow Fragment] was of great significance to him and was well worth the time and effort he had invested in it.

But ultimately, she couldn't explain all of this to Qiduo. She couldn't very well say that she was a "Stand User" and that she was looking for those things to help her Stand evolve.

This is utter nonsense.

Just as he was caught in a dilemma, Qiduo saw this and could only say helplessly:

"I really don't know why you're so obsessed with that thing... Fine, if it really doesn't work, just entrust your abilities to me, and I'll develop it for you."

After hearing this, Dia was stunned. If he understood Qiduo's words correctly, it should be the same idea he had previously envisioned: using the [Yorkshire Scribe] to implement the [Ability Development on Behalf] function.

Does her statement imply that she has already figured out this usage?

"You figured it out? Tell me about it!"

Dia asked all sorts of questions like a curious child.

He only mentioned the "capability development outsourcing" feature casually at the time and didn't really expect it to be implemented.

In hindsight, he underestimated Kira's genius.

As expected of a young girl who has become one of the few three-star hunters in the world, with a reputation for genius.

Qiduo explained her approach to developing her abilities.

The Yorkshire Clerk's ability is essentially based on contracts, but it has two important prerequisites: inequality and unfairness.

"Asymmetry" refers to the unequal bargaining power between the two parties in a contract, while "unfairness" means that the content of the contract is absolutely unfair to her.

In other words, it is a forced act of harming oneself to benefit others.

This differs from the conventional legal thinking that emphasizes fairness and equality.

In order to develop and transform the essence of "Nen", Kito had to step out of the thinking dimension of a legal scholar to design his ability.

In addition, there are four or five cumbersome restrictions that make this ability inconvenient to use, and Qiduo rarely uses it in actual combat.

The last time I used this ability in actual combat was against Pariston.

As a result, although he gained great power in a short period of time, the price he paid was serious injuries that lasted for a long time.

"Getting back to the main point, this newly developed feature is an extension of the [Yorkshire Clerk]'s capabilities, which I call [Exchange Contract]."

As she spoke, Qiduo summoned the Yorkshire Scribe, which was still that large, ornately bound book.

He has the ascetic air of a legal scholar.

She flipped to the last page of the book, where a semi-transparent "contract" appeared.

"My capabilities are currently limited to this level; I can only generate one [Exchange Contract] at a time, and I cannot truly achieve large-scale transactions."

Qiduo wrote a long and detailed document on the contract, then signed her name and handed it to Dia.

The general idea is to exchange Nen abilities between the two people until either party violates the "contract".

After Dia readily signed her name, the pages of the book magically split into two parts, which then disappeared into the bodies of the two of them.

Then, Dia suddenly felt a powerful force forming a seal, firmly locking his own [Qi] at 70% of its original level!

Diya was completely baffled by this change, so she asked Qiduo:

"Why has a small portion of my Qi suddenly stagnated, and now it's only about 70% of what it used to be...?"

"Huh?"

Upon hearing this, Qi Duo was stunned for a moment, then quickly realized what was happening and said:

"That's impossible. Logically speaking, the [Exchange Contract] should extract the [Qi] from my body and then raise your [Qi] to my current level..."

Even Qi Duo herself was a little confused as she spoke.

Because she didn't feel her "qi" being drained...

"Wait a moment……"