The true power of the Nen tool Abyssal Sheath lies not only in its ability to absorb energy attacks but also in its unique energy storage mechanism.
By pre-charging it with Nen, the stored energy can be released at an astonishing speed.
Although there is some loss during the conversion process, its advantages lie in its incredible release speed and sufficient concealment.
Imagine if Emission specialists like Silva or Zeno were charging an attack; the intense aura fluctuations would inevitably draw immediate attention from enemies.
This also means that without exceptionally refined techniques, it's usually difficult to use Nen bullets for sneak attacks.
The Abyssal Sheath's concealed charging capability solves this problem.
However, against a Nen user of Chrollo's caliber, mere concealment isn't enough to elevate its tactical value to that of an Ultimate Move.
It was the teleportation ability, Astral Step, that pushed the Abyssal Sheath's "unique trait" to a higher level.
So the moment Chrollo sent Hisoka flying, Morrow effortlessly took him down using this combination of concealed charging and instant ambush.
Yet, the man who led the Phantom Troupe all this way was no ordinary opponent.
Even in dire straits, he managed to react, gathering crucial Nen at the last moment to defend himself.
Had he failed, he would already be a corpse.
But judging by the severity of his injuries, Chrollo might as well be one already.
Morrow slowly lowered the Abyssal Sheath, sheathed the Poultry Scarlet Knife, and strode toward Chrollo, who lay on the ground with faint signs of life.
Even from a distance, he could clearly see Chrollo's injuries.
His entire head was charred black, with barely any hair left.
His skin had mostly carbonized and peeled away, exposing glimpses of red muscle tissue beneath the scorched surface.
Such severe injuries would leave an ordinary person unable to stay conscious, let alone survive.
But Chrollo...
Somehow, he dragged his aura output, on the verge of dissipating, back from the brink of unconsciousness.
Though it was nowhere near as stable or powerful as before, he had at least maintained the most basic state.
Morrow's gaze swept over the flowing aura output on Chrollo's body, proof that he hadn't lost consciousness.
If one were to assess the current level of Chrollo's aura output, it would be around Lv. 30.
"Just to be safe."
Morrow stopped twenty meters away, raised his right hand, and sharpened the swirling aura into a dangerous Shooting Star.
He wouldn't give Chrollo even the slightest chance.
Every thought, every action...
Had to be flawless.
With a calm expression, Morrow prepared to fire the Shooting Star at Chrollo.
But at that moment...
A faint whistling sound cut through the air behind him, laced with traces of bloodlust.
Morrow sensed it instantly, withdrawing the aura from his palm and maintaining a stable Ken to ensure flexibility between offense and defense.
Then, with a swift sidestep, he narrowly avoided the slender object that shot toward him. Morrow caught a glimpse of the slender object darting away in the corner of his eye; it was Illumi's bead-head needle.
At the same time.
Illumi flickered like a ghost, appearing at Morrow's side in an instant.
His pitch-black eyes gleamed with icy bloodlust as the bead-head needle, wrapped in ominous Nen, transformed into a streak of cold light aimed straight for the back of Morrow's skull.
In that split second, Morrow's right hand shot out like a striking viper, leaving behind a barely visible afterimage before clamping down precisely on Illumi's wrist, the one holding the needle.
Hmm?
Illumi's pupils contracted slightly as his gaze fell on his firmly restrained wrist.
Through their touching skin, an astonishing force pulsed relentlessly from Morrow's grip.
This level of Nen intensity...
A rare flicker of surprise crossed Illumi's face; he clearly hadn't expected Morrow to possess such overwhelming strength.
The aura output around Morrow's right hand flared like raging flames, his fingers embedding like steel into Illumi's wrist.
To resist Morrow's force, Illumi had no choice but to concentrate enough Nen around his wrist.
Then, Morrow tilted his head slightly, his cold gaze slicing across Illumi's face like a blade.
I was just wondering whether you, this eyesore of a rat, were lurking in some nearby gutter.
...
The surprise on Illumi's face receded like a tide, returning to his usual zombie-like expression.
In truth, he had come from a nearby area after receiving Chrollo's notification.
The trigger for the message had been Hisoka's arrival at the rendezvous point.
But according to prior arrangements, even if he arrived nearby, he wasn't supposed to reveal himself immediately; instead, he was to wait for Chrollo's next instructions.
Yet he truly hadn't expected...
Upon arriving, he would witness two groups already engaged in battle.
And the first thing he noticed was Chrollo, his face severely injured, lying on the ground as if incapacitated, followed by Morrow moving in for the finishing blow.
Illumi had accepted Chrollo's request, so of course he couldn't allow Morrow to deliver the killing strike.
After confirming that Kalluto was unharmed, he acted decisively at the critical moment, intercepting Morrow and immediately going for the kill.
But the unexpected shift in Morrow's displayed strength left him stunned.
And what unsettled him even more...
Morrow seemed aware of the contract between him and Chrollo, which was why he had anticipated Illumi's presence nearby.
Realizing this in an instant, Illumi ignored Morrow's icy words laced with bloodlust, his left hand suddenly thrusting toward Morrow's face.
Within the afterimage, a glint of cold steel flashed, another bead-head needle held between his fingers.
Fully prepared for Illumi's counterattack, Morrow simply raised the sheath in his left hand, blocking Illumi's needle-wielding strike.
Their strength and Nen clashed instantly.
But in the next moment, Morrow abruptly exerted force with his left hand, tilting the Abyssal Sheath downward to press against Illumi's wrist before swiftly channeling Nen into it.
Hum...
In an instant, energy erupted from the sheath, propelling the Poultry Scarlet Knife outward, its hilt slamming hard into Illumi's chin.
Yet before impact, Illumi had already allocated his aura output, reinforcing his chin with concentrated Nen.
Thus, the strike failed to deal any damage.
But then he saw Morrow aim the sheath capable of spewing energy waves at Chrollo, who was lying on the ground not far away.
This seemed to be Morrow's true intention.
To stop him, Illumi flicked his left fingers, sending the bead-head needle shooting into his own right arm.
Thwip.
The needle pierced Illumi's right arm effortlessly.
More accurately, it struck an acupoint.
In the next instant, the Nen imbued in the needle activated the point.
Illumi's right arm suddenly swelled like the Hulk's, muscles bulging as if to burst free from Morrow's grip on his wrist.
Yet, at the same moment Illumi reinforced his arm, Morrow withdrew his hand deliberately, then swiftly reached down and caught the Poultry Scarlet Knife, which had struck Illumi's chin earlier and rebounded, in a seamless motion.
All of this happened in the blink of an eye.
Morrow gripped the knife and slashed upward in a lightning-fast motion, a crimson arc slicing toward Illumi's throat.
Illumi instantly realized that Morrow's earlier act of aiming the sheath at Chrollo had been a feint to mislead him.
...
To block Morrow's sudden attack, Illumi could only raise his now-muscular right arm horizontally, shielding his vulnerable throat.
Sshhk!
The sharp Poultry Scarlet Knife sliced across Illumi's arm, sending a spray of blood into the air.
The blade carved a deep gash into his flesh.
Yet Illumi's expression remained utterly calm, not even a twitch of his facial muscles, as if the arm didn't belong to him at all.
As blood splattered before his eyes, Illumi suddenly lowered his head and bit down on the bead-head needle embedded in his right arm.
Then, in one swift motion, he tilted his head back and, using the gap between his lips, inhaled sharply, puffing his cheeks before spitting the needle directly at Morrow's face from point-blank range.
At this moment, Morrow was still mid-swing with the knife, completely unable to defend himself.
But his left hand still held the Abyssal Sheath, which had been adjusting its angle all along.
Pfft.
A two-finger-thick energy beam shot from the sheath's mouth, angled slightly upward, and struck the needle mid-flight with pinpoint accuracy.
The needle was sent spinning into the sky.
After deflecting Illumi's attack, Morrow didn't retract the knife; instead, he simply released the hilt.
The Poultry Scarlet Knife fell toward the ground but was swiftly drawn back into the sheath by its magnetic pull.
At the same time...
Morrow's now-free right hand merely twisted at the wrist, turning his palm toward Illumi.
"Shooting Star."
Nen gathered rapidly in his palm, condensing into a Shooting Star that shot straight for Illumi's face.
Illumi's eyes narrowed. Deciding against continuing the close-quarters fight, he leaped back in a flash, raising his left arm, reinforced with Nen, to block the projectile.
Boom!
The moment the Shooting Star made contact, the energy within it detonated violently.
Illumi used Gyo to mitigate the damage, but the sheer force of the blast still sent him skidding backward.
After repelling Illumi, Morrow swiftly pivoted, turning his palm toward Chrollo, who was struggling to get up.
At this moment, although Chrollo hadn't lost consciousness, the severe head injury made it extremely difficult for him to even stand up, let alone reopen all his aura nodes.
He clearly needed some time to recover.
But Morrow would never give him that chance.
Right now.
No one could stop Morrow from taking Chrollo's life.
"Deceptive Shooting Star."
A fluorescent green Nen bullet tore through the air, shooting straight toward Chrollo.
Chrollo's head was filled with a deafening roar, his vision flickering with afterimages that blurred and twisted unpredictably.
Yet, even in such a dire state, Chrollo could still sense the incoming danger.
With great effort, he managed to half-rise from his crouch, only to force his body to collapse heavily to one side as the Shooting Star closed in.
With a soft thud, Chrollo's body hit the ground hard.
The fluorescent Shooting Star whizzed past just above him.
After dodging the attack, Chrollo lay weakly on his side, trembling as he raised his right hand, struggling to focus.
"Skill Hunter."
Flame-like Nen swirled around his right hand.
But in the next instant...
A flash of red light streaked across his wrist, leaving behind a thin crimson line.
Beads of blood seeped from the cut, and the fiery aura enveloping his palm abruptly dissipated.
Chrollo barely managed to crack open his eyes, only to see his entire right hand fall limply to the ground.
As his severed hand dropped, it felt as though his soul was plummeting into hell alongside it.
He couldn't... stop here!
Plop.
Chrollo's severed hand landed on the ground, bounced lightly, rolled halfway, and came to rest at Morrow's feet.
That flash of red had come from the Poultry Scarlet Knife in Morrow's grip.
He had severed Chrollo's right hand.
As for why he hadn't simply killed Chrollo outright...
Morrow's gaze abruptly shifted from Chrollo toward the direction he had come from.
There, Illumi was charging toward him, radiating overwhelming bloodlust.
Their earlier close-quarters exchanges had led Morrow to conclude that Illumi hadn't been nearby initially; he had stumbled upon their battle with the Troupe by coincidence.
Though calling it a coincidence wasn't entirely accurate.
After all, Illumi had accepted Chrollo's assassination request, so his presence here wasn't strange at all.
And it wasn't impossible that Chrollo's request had also included targeting Hisoka.
As for the evidence that Illumi hadn't been here from the start...
After intervening to stop Morrow from killing Chrollo, Illumi had engaged him in several close-range exchanges, yet no Needle People had appeared.
This was proof enough that Illumi had arrived suddenly, without even the time to prepare his Needle People.
Watching Illumi charge toward him, murderous intent flickered in Morrow's eyes.
If killing Chrollo now was about resolving the Death Threshold...
Then his desire to kill Illumi here was purely a matter of personal will.
If I take this chance to kill Illumi, then... Morrow thought to himself, subtly glancing toward Kalluto's direction.
Before he could dwell on it further, Illumi was already upon him.
At the same time...
The Shooting Star Morrow had fired earlier had now returned.
But instead of dodging, Morrow swung his right arm downward, using the Tree Rings on the back of his hand to deflect the incoming projectile.
A crisp snap rang out.
The trajectory of the Shooting Star was forcibly altered by that strike, abruptly plunging toward Chrollo on the ground.
Boom!
The Shooting Star pierced through Chrollo's body and exploded violently upon impact with the ground.
Instantly, Chrollo's body was obliterated into fragments. Blood, flesh, and dust were swept up by the surging shockwave, engulfing Morrow and the nearby Illumi in an instant.
In the end, Illumi had failed to stop Morrow from killing Chrollo.
And with the employer's death, the commission was immediately terminated.
Illumi no longer had any reason to attack Morrow.
Yet within the swirling dust, Morrow's bloodlust remained as intense as ever.
After luring Illumi over and killing Chrollo, he stirred the dust, his figure flashing like a sledgehammer smashing into Illumi, who was also shrouded in the haze.
Thud!
With a dull impact of flesh, Illumi's body was sent flying backward, carving a tunnel through the dust.
As he flew back, Illumi frowned.
The Morrow he had known had vanished like a bubble's illusion.
In his place stood a Nen master who was no longer weak in any aspect.
So, should he withdraw now...?
Or go through the trouble of killing Morrow here, even if it meant working for nothing?
Illumi hesitated.