Blood splattered across the asphalt.
It was a gruesome, terrifying sight. At the end of the hundred-meter trench carved into the street, Franklin looked utterly pathetic. His face was a mangled mess of blood and bone, and his lower jaw had been completely blown off by his own detonated explosive round.
Yet, his eyes still burned with an unyielding, furious hatred. From point-blank range, he raised his ten finger-barrels, desperately trying to fire at Ryker's clone.
"Too weak. Just incompetent rage," Ryker's clone sneered coldly.
Ryker had zero intention of showing mercy to a mass murderer.
His hand, still firmly clamped onto Franklin's ruined face, tightened.
CRUNCH!!
Ryker's clone crushed Franklin's skull like a rotten watermelon.
The deafening roar of the Gatling gun fire ceased instantly. The massive, two-meter-tall behemoth slumped over, dead.
[DING! You killed Phantom Troupe Member: Franklin Bordeau. Auto-plundering...]
[Acquired: {Double Machine Gun} (Gold), {Peacemaker} (Purple).]
[DING! {Peacemaker} trait auto-scrapped.]
[DING! {Continuous Lucky Star} (Double Gold) activated. Forced Drop Target: {Emission Talent} (Gold).]
[DING! Synergy Detected: You already possess {Emission Master} (Gold). Merging...]
[Upgraded: Your trait has evolved to {Emission Talent} (Double Gold)!]
A mechanical symphony played in Ryker's mind as a massive influx of data and muscle memory flooded his brain. He instantly assimilated a lifetime of Franklin's combat experience, specifically the intricacies of the [Double Machine Gun] ability.
Franklin had dedicated his entire life to perfecting this single technique, and now, all that effort belonged to Ryker.
[Trait: Double Machine Gun (Gold)]
[Effect: Allows the user to fire devastating Nen bullets from their fingertips. Power and rate of fire scale with the user's aura output.]
Ryker already had Silva Zoldyck's [Nen Orbs], but the two abilities served entirely different purposes. Silva's orbs were like a Kamehameha—massive, concentrated, controllable blasts designed for single-target annihilation. Franklin's ability was meant for overwhelming, large-scale AoE suppression.
Perfect, Ryker thought. This completely covers my long-range AoE blindspot.
Whether it was close-quarters brawling or long-range bombardment, Ryker was now an absolute grandmaster. Moreover, his base [Emission] talent had just skyrocketed to the Double Gold tier, placing him at the absolute zenith of the Hunter world.
Further down the street, Shalnark witnessed Franklin's brutal death.
Under the influence of his Autopilot, Shalnark's mind was submerged, but his subconscious still registered the loss. Driven by cold, mechanical logic and a primal urge to destroy the threat, Shalnark's body continued its hyper-speed assault against the other Ryker clone.
"Heh, what a shame. Your partner just died. Shouldn't you consider joining him in hell?" Ryker's voice echoed.
The main Ryker had swapped places with the clone fighting Shalnark.
The moment the switch happened, Shalnark's instincts flared wildly. The oppressive, suffocating pressure radiating from the real Ryker was entirely different from the clone.
Ryker didn't bother using his newly acquired machine guns. He dismissed his remaining clones, pulling all his aura back into his core.
A simple, straightforward punch.
[Thunder Style: Shave!]
[Thunder Style: Tremor Punch!]
BOOM!
Ryker closed the distance instantly, appearing directly in Shalnark's path. He threw a straight right hook.
The sheer physical force behind the punch broke the sound barrier, emitting an ear-piercing sonic boom. It was a supersonic strike, heavily layered with Uvogin's [Big Bang Impact]vibration effect.
Caught off guard by the sudden spike in speed, Shalnark's Autopilot instincts forced him to cross his arms in a desperate block.
The moment Ryker's fist made contact, Shalnark's arms shattered like dry biscuits.
The bones instantly pulverized. The muscles tore. The skin burst open, spraying blood in every direction. Both of Shalnark's arms were completely blown off by the kinetic impact.
But the punch didn't stop there. It carried straight through Shalnark's ruined guard and slammed directly into his chest.
BOOM!
The impact launched Shalnark backward, but the kinetic shockwave tore completely through him. A massive, bowl-sized hole was blown straight through his torso.
Behind Shalnark, a fifty-meter cone of absolute destruction was carved into the street, vaporizing trees and buildings.
Drip... Drip...
Shalnark hung suspended in the air for a moment, impaled on Ryker's fist. Blood dribbled from his mouth onto Ryker's knuckles.
The fatal blow violently knocked Shalnark out of his Autopilot state. His pupils returned, wide and staring. He coughed up a massive amount of blood. He opened his mouth to say something—perhaps a final curse, or a lament for the Spider—but the life faded from his eyes before he could speak.
His ruined hand twitched, brushing against Ryker's fist, before his body slumped to the ground.
[DING! You killed Phantom Troupe Member: Shalnark. Auto-plundering...]
[Acquired: {Enhancement Talent} (Gold), {Black Voice: Fate Manipulation} (Gold), {Hacker} (Gold).]
[DING! {Continuous Lucky Star} (Double Gold) activated. Forced Drop Target: {Black Voice: Autopilot} (Double Gold).]
[DING! Synergy Detected: {Enhancement Grandmaster} (Double Red / Double Gold) merging...]
[Upgraded: Your trait has evolved to {Enhancement Grandmaster} (Double Red / Triple Gold)!]
A massive surge of information flooded Ryker's consciousness, detailing Shalnark's intricate Nen development and his deep understanding of manipulation via electronic mediums.
Ryker closed his eyes, a delighted smile spreading across his face.
Autopilot was an incredible trump card. By relinquishing conscious control, the body could react faster than the nervous system could process thought, breaking past natural physical limiters. It was practically the Hunter x Hunter equivalent of the Kurta Clan's Scarlet Eyes, but driven purely by instinct.
However, Ryker was slightly disappointed that his Enhancement trait hadn't broken through to the Black tier yet. It seemed the gap between Red and Black was astronomically wide.
As Ryker analyzed Shalnark's [Autopilot] and [Fate Manipulation] abilities, the System chimed again.
[DING! Synergy Detected: {Conjured Chanting} (Purple) and {Black Voice} (Double Gold)...]
[You have comprehended a unique Nen application.]
[Acquired New Trait: {Gaming Console} (Double Gold)!]
Ryker's eyes snapped open, his heart leaping with excitement.
[Trait: Gaming Console (Double Gold)]
[Effect 1 (Invaders Must Die): You can trap any target with a lower total aura output than yours inside your conjured Gaming Console. You dictate the rules of the game they must play. If they die in the game, they die in reality, becoming permanent NPCs under your control. The duration of the trap is dependent on the console's battery life.]
[Effect 2 (GM Mode): You can activate a self-targeting 'Game Master' mode. This acts as an instinctual 'Autopilot', granting you hyper-accelerated combat reflexes that bypass conscious thought (A simplified version of Ultra Instinct). This state does not increase your total aura pool, but maximizes its efficiency.]
Perfect!
Ryker was ecstatic. The System had seamlessly fused Shalnark's abilities and upgraded them into an absolute nightmare of a Hatsu.
Effect 1 was essentially a pocket-dimension instakill for anyone weaker than him. Effect 2 was the Ultra Instinct combat mode he had wanted, completely removing the self-harm drawbacks of Shalnark's original ability.
It heavily resembled a specific Fullbringer ability from Bleach that he remembered from his past life.
There are no weak Nen abilities, Ryker marveled. Only weak applications.
"..."
Behind him, the dust finally settled.
Gon and Killua stood frozen in shock. Leorio, who had just regained consciousness, rubbed his bruised head and stared blankly at the devastation.
"Uh... where did those two guys go? And the other two?" Leorio stammered, looking at the massive trenches and the bloody remains. "Brother Ryker... did you kill all of them?"
"Brother Ryker... is so strong..." Gon swallowed hard.
Having witnessed the entire battle from the front row, Gon was fundamentally shaken. He silently swore to himself that he would spend the rest of his life chasing Ryker's shadow. Killua was equally awestruck.
The Phantom Troupe, the most feared criminals on the planet, had forced Ryker to cut off three of his limbs... and they still got absolutely massacred. And now, Ryker stood there, completely whole, without a single scratch on his newly regenerated body.
Meteor City. The Throne Room.
Machi, Shizuku, and Kortopi stared at the man sitting on the throne in absolute terror.
They had traveled to the edge of the world to find a savior, only to realize they had walked directly into the jaws of the enemy.
"Damn it... We're leaving!"
Machi glared at Aizen. Dozens of practically invisible Nen threads shot out from her fingertips, crisscrossing the room and instantly wrapping tightly around Aizen's limbs and torso, binding him to the throne.
Shizuku and Kortopi didn't hesitate; they immediately bolted for the exit.
Machi knew the mechanics of her threads perfectly. The longer the thread, the weaker it became. But if she shortened the threads to under ten meters, their tensile strength surpassed steel. They were strong enough to restrain a raging Uvogin.
She considered rushing in for a sneak attack while Aizen was bound, but her sharp survival instincts screamed at her to run.
She turned to flee.
Snap. Snap. Snap.
Machi froze. Her pupils contracted in pure, unadulterated horror.
She turned around and saw Aizen casually standing up. He wasn't struggling. He wasn't using any special technique. He simply stood up, and the ultra-dense Nen threads shattered around him like dry spaghetti.
Impossible! Machi thought, her face draining of all color.
If her threads couldn't hold him, it meant only one thing: Aizen's base aura output was so overwhelmingly dense that it simply crushed her Transmutation through sheer volume.
"RUN!" Machi screamed at the top of her lungs, unleashing a massive storm of threads toward Aizen to buy her teammates time.
Aizen's expression didn't change. He didn't even look annoyed. He just kept walking forward at a leisurely pace.
Ping! Ping! Ping!
The razor-sharp threads struck Aizen's skin and instantly snapped, completely unable to pierce his passive aura defense.
What kind of monster is this?! the three Spiders thought in unison. And a monster this powerful... serves Ryker?! Why has the world become like this?!
Realizing the extreme danger, the three Spiders split up, fleeing in three different directions.
Aizen stopped walking. He raised a single finger.
[Bakudo #81: Danku (Splitting Void)]
Three massive, invisible, rectangular barriers of spiritual energy instantly manifested in the air.
SLAM!
Machi, Shizuku, and Kortopi crashed face-first into the invisible walls, bouncing off them like birds hitting a window.
"W-What is this?!" Machi gasped, feeling the impenetrable, steel-like density of the barrier.
Before they could recover, Aizen smiled.
Pitch-black shadows erupted from the ground beneath Aizen's feet. It was a darkness so absolute it seemed to swallow the light itself. In the blink of an eye, the shadows expanded, completely engulfing the three Spiders.
From the outside, a massive, perfect black cube had materialized in the center of the room.
Aizen vanished, leaving only a small, handheld gaming console hovering in the air where he had stood. The black cube was sucked entirely into the screen of the device.
Inside the black void, Machi, Shizuku, and Kortopi heard a chilling, mechanical voice echo in their ears.
[BEEP. Welcome. You have joined the Death Game.]
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