"What's going on?" Killua gritted his teeth. The electricity inside his body was surging frantically, but he could clearly feel that the overarching flow of his aura was being shackled and restrained by some bizarre, invisible force.
"This power..." Ryker said, his expression incredibly grim. "It's not just Nen. It's more akin to the power of 'Rules'. It has the ability to interfere with, and completely suppress, the Nen inside our bodies."
"The power of Rules?" A flash of profound realization crossed Biscuit's jewel-like eyes. "No wonder you activated the [Dark Sacrificial Authority] earlier."
"Authority?" Ryker's gaze darkened. "This power itself is the physical incarnation of sacrificial rules. It can fuse 'Nen' together with 'Rules' to forcibly generate an entirely new type of Covenant and Restriction."
"What should we do?" Gon asked urgently, his voice laced with the heavy apprehension of the impending battle.
"Keep your distance," Ryker ordered sharply. "I'll shatter that Dark Eye first and buy us some time."
The moment the words left his mouth, Ryker leaped forward! Lightning violently erupted from his boots as he carved a blindingly fast arc through the air, diving directly toward the colossal Eye!
An incomprehensible, blood-red light flickered within the Eye, as if an ancient consciousness was slowly gathering its focus. Ryker didn't slow down in the face of the apocalyptic atmospheric pressure; instead, his charge grew even more decisive.
Just then, the colossal black Eye suddenly cracked wide open!
A terrifying, violent dark vortex erupted from its pupil, lunging directly at Ryker like the open maw of a leviathan!
A flash of absolute resolution crossed Ryker's eyes. He knew with certainty that this single clash would dictate the entire flow of the coming battle.
"Wrath of the Thunder God: Lightning Cyclone Strike!"
He pushed his Lightning Core to its absolute maximum! The electrical arcs inside his body detonated outward, transforming him into a literal tornado of raging lightning as he violently smashed head-on into the black Eye!
"SHATTER!"
KABOOOOOOOM!!!
The lightning and the dark vortex collided catastrophically! The darkness in the immediate space looked as though it were being physically torn to shreds, and the sheer shockwave instantly blurred everyone's vision.
But within the epicenter of the clash, Ryker felt the power inside his body being violently siphoned away! He nearly lost his kinetic mobility on the spot.
[WARNING: Dark Sacrificial Authority interference is reaching critical threshold!]
Despite the agonizing drain, the corners of Ryker's mouth slowly curled upward, and a wild spark of lightning flashed in his eyes.
"Bring it on! Let's witness the true face of the Dark Continent together!"
The dark vortex acted like a bottomless abyss, ferociously devouring the energy inside Ryker's body. That anomalous energy belonging to the [Dark Sacrificial Authority] felt as though it had touched upon a taboo rule of reality, attempting to twist, corrupt, and completely absorb his Nen fluctuations.
The System blared continuously, warning of massive instability within his trait fusion engine and his Lightning Core!
Forcing himself to withstand the dark corruption, Ryker immediately leveraged the hyper-predictive capabilities of his [Phantom Mirror Chain-Breath] trait. Anticipating the vortex's next gravitational pulse, he violently tore himself backward!
His figure blurred into a long string of afterimages, his boots carving jagged trails of residual lightning into the air as he forcefully broke contact.
"System! Switch combat modes! Activate [Trait Aegis: Core Stabilization]!"
[Trait Aegis: Core Stabilization Activated.]
A pale-gold energy shield instantly wrapped around his entire body, temporarily isolating the corrosive dark energy against its outer layer.
Ryker could clearly feel the absolute rejection radiating from the Dark Rule's power, but it didn't make him back down a single inch.
"That dark eyeball..."
In Ryker's line of sight, bizarre, writhing runes were now flashing deep within the colossal [Eye of Rules]. It felt as though the Eye was actively prying into his mind, attempting to pierce straight through his mental barriers.
"It's not a simple enemy," Ryker whispered, his voice cold. "It is the literal incarnation of the Dark Continent's will. It is the physical manifestation of Rules."
Down below, Gon, Killua, and Biscuit remained on absolute high alert, scanning their surroundings. Even though Ryker had temporarily withstood the crushing pressure of the Eye, it was glaringly obvious that this apocalyptic battle was far from over.
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