Morrow's furrowed brow as he contemplated an escape plan stood in stark contrast to Beyond's hearty, amused laughter.
The disparity in their advantages was far too evident.
Beyond and Marione held absolute initiative, while Morrow's chances of disengaging under such disadvantage seemed nearly impossible.
If escape wasn't feasible, then the only option was to find a way to generate a Death Threshold on Marione.
Because the secrets of Tree Rings and rewind... must never be exposed!
In this world, Nen abilities capable of reading or altering memories might just be the greatest malice toward transmigrators.
Beyond was deeply intrigued by the abilities Morrow had displayed, yet he also sensed a hint of incongruity in Morrow's behavior.
In his view, if Morrow could perceive his "ability attacks," it indicated Morrow possessed extreme sensitivity toward "bloodlust" or "malice."
Moreover, he must have keen observational skills; otherwise, developing such acute perception would be impossible.
If Morrow truly possessed these traits, then the most rational course of action when Beyond proposed "memory alteration" should have been compliance.
After all, when he made the proposal, he had clearly conveyed his intent through his "aura."
There was no bloodlust, no malice, merely a transaction devoid of any adversarial elements.
Given the obvious gap in their strengths, recognizing the reality of the situation was the optimal solution.
At the very least, it could prevent a worse outcome, better than dying meaninglessly here.
Yet, Morrow's reaction... was far more intense than anticipated.
Beyond could somewhat understand.
After all, there were always people in this world unwilling to accept that circumstances overpower individuals, stubbornly believing certain things held higher value than life itself.
But in his eyes, such behavior... was nothing but foolishness.
"Marione."
"Here."
"When I make my move, cripple him."
"?"
Marione glanced sideways at Beyond, slightly puzzled. "Didn't you just say, 'It's been too long since I met such an interesting opponent'? I thought you wanted to duel him one-on-one."
"Huh? We clearly have the numbers advantage. Why would I duel him?"
Beyond gave Marione a baffled look, then stated matter-of-factly, "Of course, we're going to gang up on him."
"..."
Marione fell silent.
Beyond's lips curled into a wide grin, his aura output surging like turbulent waves as he swiftly closed in, extending his right hand toward Morrow's back.
Nothing External to the Mind: Forceful Suppression
Beyond's immense aura instantly diminished significantly, while simultaneously, a shower of intangible black threads abruptly descended around Morrow.
With the sudden appearance of these black threads, Morrow felt as if a gravitational field had enveloped him, plunging him into deep ocean depths, crushed by immense pressure.
Beyond's ability again!?
Morrow's movements instantly bogged down as if trapped in mud, his fleeing speed plummeting.
His peripheral vision caught the surrounding grass blades flattened into thin sheets, even rocks cracking and shattering under the invisible force field.
This still seemed like an invisible attack, except... Beyond had dispersed the "power," forming an area-of-effect suppression ability.
Shifting the focus from offense to control; was it to block any chance of my escape?
No! It was to create an opportunity for his companion to strike!
The moment he was enveloped by the gravity field, Morrow realized the true intention behind Beyond shifting his focus from offense to control.
"Insidious Shooting Star"
Still, Morrow did not recklessly dismiss the Starlight Convergence ability. Instead, he reacted swiftly, mobilizing his limited aura output. As he ran, he channeled Nen through his right foot into the ground.
In an instant, a stellar cross emerged on the ground ahead.
Maintaining the effects of Starlight Convergence, Morrow stepped forward onto the stellar cross.
The next moment, a Shooting Star formed from a small amount of condensed Nen shot out from the stellar cross. Upon contact with the sole of Morrow's foot, it collided and exploded violently.
Boom!
The blast wave forcefully hurled Morrow high into the air.
Almost simultaneously, a azure light wave swept past beneath him.
It was Marione's attack.
Originally aimed at Morrow's spine, she had not expected him to use the explosive force of a spatial-transmission-type Nen bullet to propel his body into an emergency evasion.
To actually use the recoil of a Nen bullet's explosion...
Marione had launched her attack following Beyond's prior instructions, believing her reaction speed had been sufficiently fast.
Yet Morrow, whose movements were slowed by the gravity field, seemed to instantly grasp their intentions.
The attack was launched from outside that "weird En" range; how could he react so quickly?
Data stream glimmers flickered in Marione's eyes, her heart filled with doubt.
Beyond, however, transformed into the team's pressure-monger, taunting, "You actually missed? Marione, are you even capable?"
"..."
Marione fell into deathly silence, though her aura grew restless and violent.
Knowing when to stop, Beyond shifted from pressure-monger to an understanding teammate, adding, "But that kid is truly impressive. If he hadn't been trying to help his companion escape, we might not have been able to hold him back."
"Again."
Marione ignored his remark, her gaze fixed intently on Morrow, who had already escaped the gravity field area.
Beyond grinned soundlessly. Raising his hand, he activated his ability once more.
Again, it was a dispersed pressure rather than a concentrated force.
Instantly, countless black linear forces descended, enveloping Morrow's location in the form of a gravity field.
In that fleeting moment, Marione adjusted her angle. The energy ring at the tail of her hand cannon lit up rapidly, propelling energy to converge into a azure light wave aimed at Morrow, whose movements were once again hindered.
Facing the combined assault from Beyond and Marione once more, Morrow did not resort to "Insidious Shooting Star" this time.
He didn't think his opponents were fools.
Using the same method a second time would inevitably play right into their preparations.
Morrow's response this time was to decisively abandon the aura output used to maintain the Starlight Convergence ability.
Then, he released a new surge of aura output at the fastest possible speed.
Leveraging the explosive power granted by maximizing his Nen, Morrow forcibly broke free from the gravity field's suppression, evading the azure light wave shooting toward him from behind.
Whoosh...
The light wave brushed past his side, shooting into the night ahead.
After dodging the light wave, Morrow immediately rushed out of the gravity field's range.
Unable to fully decipher the nature of Beyond's ability, he could only preliminarily speculate that it was likely a "Specialization" ability. Earlier, while suppressed by the gravity field, he had noticed an important detail.
That force field remained fixed in position, showing no signs of movement whatsoever.
Including the attack trajectories he had perceived earlier using Starlight Convergence, all exhibited perfectly straight paths.
This was enough to indicate Beyond's intangible and free-form ability had at least one significant Limitation: it could not change course mid-attack.
It was like throwing a straight punch with unwavering determination and forward momentum.
Never retreating.
Even if the target suddenly turned into a sharp blade, the fist would still collide with the edge.
Realizing this, Morrow decisively retracted his Starlight Convergence ability, switching to Ren to break through the gravity field's suppression and evade Marione's energy shots.
But his response didn't end there.
The moment he escaped the gravity field, Morrow immediately condensed a Shooting Star in his palm.
"Deceptive Shooting Star: Dandelion"
As the Shooting Star took shape, it suddenly transformed into countless tiny light spheres, like dandelion seeds scattered by the evening breeze, drifting into the night sky.
His usual casual Nen sphere games and months of rigorous Divine Script training had greatly enhanced his Nen control skills.
And now, that accumulated experience became a crucial advantage.
Not a single step he had taken was wasted!
The dandelion-like light spheres scattered across the sky like stars, while Morrow swiftly passed beneath them.
The next second, countless dandelion-like light spheres seemed drawn by magnetic force, all chasing after Morrow.
Just as these tiny light spheres reversed direction, Morrow abruptly twisted his waist and turned around, facing the incoming swarm of Shooting Star particles, and the relentless pursuit of Beyond and Marione.
At that moment, Beyond's telekinetic will attack arrived.
He had seized the moment Morrow retracted "Starlight Convergence."
But he hadn't expected Morrow, based on his deduction of the possible Limitation, to use the Dandelion Shooting Stars as a substitute for early warning.
This was an extremely bold move.
It was also a trait commonly seen among Nen masters.
A sharp glint flashed in Beyond's eyes as he watched his "Will Force," following a trajectory detached from "physical space," pierce straight through the sky full of dandelion-like particles toward Morrow's body.
But... the light slightly distorted.
More precisely, the Nen light sources emitted by these harmless tiny particles split from the Shooting Star were affected by an invisible force, causing the light to warp.
Yet the particles themselves remained intact.
It was this slight distortion of light that clearly revealed the trajectory of Beyond's attack.
Morrow took in the entire phenomenon and, while rapidly sliding backward, suddenly tilted his head to the side.
Sshhk!
An invisible attack grazed his cheek, leaving a thin blood trail.
A minor scratch; what mattered was that he had neutralized another of his opponent's assaults.
Morrow looked toward Beyond, who returned his gaze.
Their eyes met and clashed in mid-air.
One growing calmer, the other growing excited.
The next instant, Beyond suddenly grabbed Marione's arm and, with a spinning windmill motion, hurled her forward.
Marione remained expressionless, shooting toward Morrow in a straightened posture through the air.
Simultaneously, Beyond maintained his throwing motion, palm aimed toward Marione's direction.
There was no warning, nor any obvious fluctuation of aura.
Suddenly, a violent surge of aura erupted beneath Marione's feet mid-air, generating a terrifying propulsive force that instantly brought her before Morrow.
Morrow's eyes narrowed slightly as Marione, utilizing this momentum, viciously slammed her head toward him.
Facing Marione's rocket headbutt, Morrow hastily crossed his arms.
Boom!
Amidst the burst of white aura, Morrow was forcefully pushed back a considerable distance, nearly losing his balance.
Marione, her momentum exhausted, executed a forward flip and landed where Morrow had originally been.
As soon as she stabilized her stance, her grounded feet erupted with a fierce burst of Nen, shattering the ground beneath.
Swish!
Moving like lightning, Marione closed in on Morrow, her hands enveloped in torrent-like Nen, instantly unleashing a barrage of fist shadows that enveloped him.
"Starlight Convergence."
Morrow's face tightened as his flowing Nen transformed into starlight, enveloping them both.
The numerous stars drifting in the air were agitated by Marione's fist onslaught, immediately relaying the information to Morrow's consciousness.
Morrow's body moved in sync with the flurry of fist shadows, precisely dodging each of Marione's punches through rapid, minute shifts.
In just one second, the torrential rain of fists all missed their mark.
This brief second of evasion was enough to fulfill the second-stage condition of "Starlight Convergence."
The disturbed stars around them instantly attached themselves to Marione's body.
But just as the golden chains began to take shape, Beyond's invisible attack passed directly "through" Marione's body, slipping through the gaps between the stars and slamming violently into Morrow.
Boom!
Crack!
The left side of Morrow's body, including his arm, crumpled as if struck by an invisible sledgehammer, flesh instantly collapsing.
Then, like a submarine imploding, his entire left arm exploded into a mist of blood.
"Guh-ah!"
Morrow vomited thick blood, his body sent flying like a severed kite.
What ability was that...?
As he flew backward, Morrow's consciousness blurred for a moment, but he forced it back through sheer will, simultaneously kicking out several Deceptive Shooting Stars with his feet.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
But Marione gave the stars no chance to hover or return, directly blasting them apart with hand cannons.
Meanwhile, Beyond sped across the field, closing in on Morrow like a death scythe.
Morrow's body crashed to the ground, bouncing and tumbling heavily.
"Insidious Shooting Star, Deceptive Shooting Star."
Sprawled on the ground, face smeared with blood, Morrow pressed his palm to the earth, activating the Insidious Shooting Star ability, while using his foot to shoot a nearly ground-skimming phosphorescent green Shooting Star behind him.
Whether he could escape... depended on this single chance.
A stellar cross lit up beneath Morrow.
From its center, a dark blue Shooting Star shot upward, violently launching his body into the air.
But at that moment, Beyond's remote attack struck again.
Thump!
Morrow's legs abruptly imploded into a bloody mist, his whole body tumbling through the air. Yet, clinging to consciousness, he flung his remaining Star-Marked Divine Script coins toward Beyond and Marione.
Simultaneously, the previously ground-skimming Shooting Star suddenly split into over a dozen copies, shooting toward Beyond and Marione. Only one Shooting Star was locked onto Chimera's direction, thus soaring toward the sky.
Amid his spinning vision, Morrow tenaciously tracked the trajectory of that Shooting Star.
He had endured a grueling minute precisely for this moment.
"Astral Step."
His figure vanished into thin air.
In the next blink, he materialized above that Shooting Star, hooking it precisely with his sole intact right hand.
Whoosh!
The Shooting Star carried him toward higher altitudes.
Simultaneously, the dozen-plus Shooting Stars flying toward Beyond and Marione detonated in succession.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
---------------
Bonus chapter @200power stones