"Boom—"
The sedan crashed into the container truck. Flames shot into the sky with a thunderous roar, startling countless birds into flight.
After abandoning the car, Kisho and Roy Kuhl rolled to shed the massive impact, then borrowed the momentum of another roll to dive into the shadows beneath the wreckage of the explosion.
Dense bullets poured toward the two of them as if ammunition were free, striking the wreckage and producing ear-splitting clanging sounds.
Even with "Ten," a Nen user who is not from the Enhancement type and has not undergone thorough training would still be injured if hit by bullets—let alone under such an intense rain of fire.
Kisho frowned, expanding the range of his Nen. Combined with the earth-element power connected to the ground, he locked onto four people who were firing while slowly closing in.
He tilted his head toward Roy Kuhl and asked,
"Wasn't this supposed to be a covert mission? What's with these people?"
Nearly crushed to death and only pulled back onto the road by Kisho at the last moment, Roy Kuhl's face was extremely grim as he replied coldly,
"They may not have been sent by the mission target."
Kisho nodded slightly, thoughtful.
Roy Kuhl's voice remained icy.
"This kind of thing is normal. After all, the family head's business is profitable enough to make people jealous."
"These guys are just ordinary people without Nen." He looked back at Kisho. "But we don't know if they have any backup, so we need to deal with them quickly."
He didn't spell it out, but the meaning was already obvious.
Kisho fell silent for a moment, then said "Oh," using the wreckage as cover while surveying the surroundings.
This was a bend in a mountain ring road. The enemy's container truck had used this three-hundred-and-sixty-degree sharp curve to block Roy Kuhl's line of sight, intending to intercept and kill them. The plan was solid—it just underestimated the reaction speed of Nen users.
The wreckage of the two vehicles lay at the apex of the curve. The enemies used firepower to suppress them, preventing any escape, while moving in to check whether their targets were truly dead.
Which meant those people were right behind the wreckage.
Kisho slowed his breathing and entered the state of "Zetsu."
In an instant, his figure used the wreckage as cover, sprinting straight up along the cliff wall. At a certain point he adjusted his posture, then dove downward.
He was unbelievably fast. In just a few moments, he appeared right in front of the gunmen who were spraying bullets.
Even if people without Nen see a Nen user in "Zetsu," they instinctively overlook them.
So these ordinary people only saw a streak of light so fast it defied belief—and after that, they lost all sensation.
The light vanished. The bodies that had been stripped of life fell one after another, crashing onto the road and kicking up clouds of dust.
Until the moment of death, they never caught a glimpse of their enemy.
Kisho's figure appeared behind the four of them. He shook his right hand, still dripping with blood. Flowing clear water appeared at his fingertips, washing the blood away.
He hadn't used the three-edged spike. Against ordinary people, condensing Nen at his fingertips was more than enough.
Kisho stared at the corpses on the ground, then forced himself to look away.
In this bizarre world, even powerful Nen users couldn't guarantee they'd live safely forever—let alone… ordinary people.
"Even if they're ordinary people, they're still Lashan Mountain's gang—drug dealing and organized crime. Killing them… isn't wrong, right."
Kisho comforted himself in a way that barely counted as comfort.
After a brief pause, he called out to Roy Kuhl,
"It's all taken care of."
Roy Kuhl emerged from behind the wreckage, walked over to one of the bodies, and pulled off its glove.
"...They're Saro's people."
He stood up, his gaze sweeping over the sun tattoo on the back of the corpse's hand—stretching to the wrist and oozing black blood. His eyes darkened.
"It looks like either our plan was leaked, or… they wanted to strike first."
"I'm guessing the former," Kisho thought for a moment, then said. "If it were striking first, they probably wouldn't choose the bodyguards."
"Not necessarily." Roy Kuhl turned to look at Kisho. "The family head and the young lady are both under tight protection. If the other side is thinking in terms of 'slowly eroding the enemy's strength,' choosing me as the target isn't impossible."
"Oh." Kisho wasn't very interested in how one gang dealt with another. He asked, "So what's next?"
"The plan continues. We leave here as soon as possible."
Roy Kuhl adjusted his glasses.
"The car's gone. We'll run."
Kisho nodded. "Alright."
...
As night fell, Kisho and Roy Kuhl arrived at their planned destination.
This was the largest town within Lashan Mountain—not big in scale, but prosperous enough to be called a city.
Countless buildings, hidden from the outside by towering mountains, stood packed together. Flashy neon lights glittered everywhere. Beneath golden signboards stood greeters—some handsome, some breathtakingly beautiful—reaching out to every passerby, luring them into a boundless paradise of pleasure.
Various vehicles passed along the streets. Figures wandered the avenues like lost souls, while from unseen corners of dark alleys came all kinds of indescribable sounds.
A blur of lights and shadows, indulgence and excess—like a city that never slept.
Kisho and Roy Kuhl stood atop a clubhouse building.
Kisho turned back wordlessly, looking at the panting Roy Kuhl with a meaningful gaze.
Roy Kuhl's old face flushed red. He felt that whatever authority he had as team leader had been completely stripped away in this operation—right in front of this kid.
—Are kids from Meteor City all this good at running?!
Kisho seemed to read his thoughts and quietly withdrew his gaze.
It wasn't really about being good at running. In a place like Meteor City, running slow meant going hungry at best; at worst, you'd be used as a disposable shield by those ahead—without guilt, even gladly.
Roy Kuhl walked to Kisho's side and stopped. Looking down from above, his brows suddenly knit together.
"We took too long. The target is heading out of the clubhouse. We won't make it in time to infiltrate."
Kisho froze, then looked up at the captain who had done nothing the entire time yet somehow reached such a definite conclusion.
"...How do you know?"
"...Kid, hasn't anyone taught you not to casually ask about other people's abilities?"
Roy Kuhl met his gaze, displeased.
"You just need to know this is a technique of 'En.' The intelligence is absolutely reliable. No need to question it."
Kisho mentally noted the word "En."
"So this is also a Nen technique… No, he just said 'Nen ability,' which means 'sensing the target's position' is a Nen ability. 'En'… is sensing everything within a certain range centered on oneself… or the target."
"No wonder he said it wouldn't be impossible for the enemy to try killing him first… If it's a Nen ability that can pinpoint the enemy leader's position, then… every gang boss here probably dreams of killing him."
Kisho withdrew his gaze from Roy Kuhl, his thoughts stirring.
"That means the technique I used when fighting Vincent was probably 'En' as well. Through 'En,' perception can be massively enhanced, but… it's exhausting to use."
"Hey! You're spacing out at a time like this?" Roy Kuhl barked, pulling Kisho back to reality.
Kisho looked at him.
"Ah… um… did you say something just now?"
A vein popped on Roy Kuhl's forehead.
"I said, we're out of time to infiltrate. We'll have to act directly."
As he turned and ran toward a certain direction, he spoke low to Kisho,
"Follow me!"
The two kicked off the walls, their figures like arrows, diving down from a building dozens of meters high to reach the parking lot behind the clubhouse.
Standing atop the passage leading from the clubhouse to the parking lot, Roy Kuhl fixed his gaze on a fat man with a suit draped over his arm and two burly bodyguards following behind him.
Roy Kuhl said softly,
"The target is him."
The fat man and the two bodyguards—one in front, two behind—walked toward a low-key yet luxurious stretched limousine in the corner. Two more bodyguards stood at the front and rear of the car.
Kisho frowned slightly.
"...All four of them are Nen users."
If he approached rashly without a plan, even if the mission succeeded, he'd still face the predicament of being surrounded by four people.
He was confident in his strength, but he absolutely didn't have the assurance to take on four Nen users alone. Anything involving Nen demanded the utmost caution. No matter how insignificant a Nen user might seem, treating them carelessly could still lead to disaster.
This was a lesson he had paid for in blood during his days in Meteor City.
But Roy Kuhl stared at him, his expression nearly indifferent.
"So what."
He spoke calmly.
"The mission is to kill the target. At any cost. By any means."
Kisho listened to every word, blinking as if digesting the meaning.
Then, silently, the corner of his mouth curved upward.
For the upper echelons of a gang, enforcers sent from Meteor City were nothing more than tools. To achieve the objective, what did it matter if some tools were expended?
His gaze fell on the fat man, and he said,
"I understand."