Kroll would rather turn on his own subordinates than attack Kaizen directly.
First, he assumed that the rest of Kaizen's team was already dead.
Second, it was far easier to eliminate his underlings than to fight Kaizen head-on.
Kaizen was also an A-rank Nen user. And with Kroll's large-scale aura techniques, landing a decisive blow against someone like Kaizen would be nearly impossible.
It was like Zeno's technique used during the Chimera Ant arc—an overwhelmingly powerful wide-range ability, but not suited for single-target precision.
Such abilities are meant for clearing the field of small fry.
Kaizen, of course, was no small fry.
Now that Kroll's plan to revive Rosgel had reached its final stage, he didn't want to delay a moment longer.
When only the strongest subordinate remained, Kroll made his move.
Rosgel's revival was still incomplete.
Kroll had hoped to fully restore him by sacrificing all his underlings and then let the reborn Rosgel deal with Kaizen.
At the very least, he could gauge what level Rosgel had reached post-revival.
But the process stalled.
Rosgel remained dormant.
Kroll was down to three choices:
Take down Kaizen.
Kill the last strong subordinate.
Sacrifice himself.
Kroll was willing to give his life for Rosgel—but not yet. Not now.
So, he chose Kaizen.
...
The burly subordinate charged toward Kaizen.
Kroll maintained his illusion ability, placing constant pressure on Kaizen's body.
It forced Kaizen to maintain a steady outflow of aura just to preserve the water within his body and prevent it from being drained—what had happened to so many others.
But what Kroll didn't know was that Kaizen's resilience far surpassed that of ordinary Nen users.
He burned through aura at a much higher rate than others—but for him, that was nothing.
He was a Specialist, and his abilities didn't rely on a physical body the same way others did.
His conjured Nen beast had no "body water" to drain.
Kroll's trick was completely ineffective against it.
...
As the brute bore down on Kaizen again, Natsu leapt forward.
"Gravity Game of Libra!"
The man suddenly felt his body sink, weighed down.
The longer he fought Natsu, the heavier he became.
By the time the multiplier hit thirty times normal gravity, he could barely move.
He wasn't incapable of withstanding that force—it was just impossible to fight while adapting to it. And this wasn't a passive situation.
He was in the middle of a high-intensity battle.
At the same time, Uchiha Sasuke provided support from a distance.
By keeping his range, he allowed the gravity field to remain concentrated on the target.
Still, Sasuke wasn't just there for support.
"Lightning Prison: Fall!"
A bolt of electricity crashed down, locking the brute's muscles in a momentary spasm.
Natsu followed up immediately.
"Fire Dragon's Fist!"
His blazing fist slammed into the man's torso.
Boom!
The man flew backward from the impact.
...
Kroll's eyes flickered.
He vanished in a flash, reappearing at the man's side.
Shhk!
Without hesitation, Kroll drew a blade, plunged it into the man's chest, twisted, and pulled.
Blood gushed. The brute's eyes widened in disbelief.
"For Rosgel-sama!"
"For Mimbo!"
"Forgive me."
"That guy's stronger than we expected. Even with both of us, we wouldn't take him down quickly. I had to make this call."
"This plan must succeed."
"There can be no further delay."
He killed him.
Another life offered to the altar of revival.
...
Then—
A pulse.
A tremor in the atmosphere.
A suffocating pressure surged outward as the surrounding life energy flowed toward a single point.
The presence that emerged was more overwhelming than anything Kaizen had ever felt.
Not even in Meteor City, during the chaos caused by the Kute Gang of Thieves, had the air grown this heavy.
Not even the monsters of Taris Kingdom radiated this level of aura.
Kaizen narrowed his eyes.
He raised his hand—
A door appeared out of thin air.
He stepped inside, but didn't close it immediately.
He stood in the doorway, observing.
He wanted to see for himself what kind of being this "revived Rosgel" was.
...
Outside, Natsu and Uchiha Sasuke stood ready.
If Rosgel attacked, they'd buy enough time for Kaizen to vanish through the door.
They didn't need to win—only to delay.
Kaizen had already prepared a secondary exit somewhere else.
If the door closed here, he could escape to the real world through the other one.
By now, Kroll had completely stopped paying attention to Kaizen.
He didn't even notice the doorway.
His face contorted into an expression of religious ecstasy.
His aura condensed into a sphere in front of him.
A black orb, spinning violently.
All remaining life energy in the area surged into it.
Kroll fell to his knees.
Head bowed.
"Rosgel-sama!"
...
Kaizen's face hardened.
"That aura... it's insane."
"This isn't just A-rank. It's far beyond that."
"I've only felt something like this once before—from my great-grandfather."
"Maha Zoldyck…"
"Is this what they call S-rank?"
"What was Rosgel before death? And now, revived—is he stronger? Or weaker?"
He'd encountered only a handful of S-rank Nen users.
Only two, really, that he could confirm.
One was Maha Zoldyck.
The other—Isaac Netero.
Though, Netero had never revealed his full aura in Kaizen's presence.
He'd also once seen Ging Freecss during a confrontation with the Kute Gang of Thieves.
But even then, Ging hadn't shown his true power.
And the Floor Master of Heavens Arena?
According to Maha, that guy had found his own path and wasn't doing too badly...
But Kaizen still wasn't sure if he was truly S-rank.
Now, standing at the edge of the door, he was about to find out.
Just what kind of monster had returned from the grave?
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Fanfic is completed on patreon.com/FanficsHub (1047 chapters in total)