Linck felt an odd sense of deja vu at the sight before him.
That swirling yellow sphere of Nen looked exactly like Naruto's Odama Rasengan
The only differences were that this one carried the element of fire within it, and its destructive force was much weaker than Naruto's.
"Haah!"
Caught off guard, the man in the hip-hop outfit had no time to dodge. He stopped his charge abruptly, crossed his arms in front of him, and braced himself.
He had no choice but to take the hit head-on!
The massive explosion unleashed a shockwave that swept across the battlefield, shrouding the hip-hop man in a thick cloud of smoke.
For a brief moment, everyone's attention fixed on that smoke.
Whether the hip-hop man could still stand would decide the outcome of this battle.
But the twin fighters, having unleashed their trump card, were completely drained. For the time being, they could no longer fight.
A breeze swept through, clearing the smoke. From within emerged a figure still standing, it was the hip-hop man!
Though injured, he now resembled an enraged beast. Every step forward made the ground creak and crack beneath his feet.
"Huff… huff…"
His chest heaved like a giant bellows, each breath ragged and heavy.
As he finally emerged from the smoke, his battered state became clear to everyone.
The pseudo–Odama Rasengan hadn't defeated him outright, but it had left him badly scorched. His already dark skin now looked unnaturally charred, as though he'd been roasted alive.
Only the gleam of his bloodied teeth remained starkly white against the blackened surface.
The tattered remains of his clothing barely clung to him, and blood poured from several gaping wounds.
But his body, shockingly, had grown even larger! He now stood like a massive black bear, brimming with raw, violent energy.
He had withstood the strike!
If Linck were to evaluate that last attack, he would've placed it at least at a B-rank level.
Normally, no one would still be standing after taking it head-on.
Linck's eyes shifted toward the bespectacled man sitting cross-legged at the side.
He hadn't moved throughout the fight, yet his face was pale as paper, drenched in sweat. Linck thought silently to himself:
It's highly likely the glasses guy transferred a huge surge of Nen into the hip-hop man at the critical moment, dampening part of the damage and keeping him in the fight.
But now the hip-hop man's aura had swelled to nearly double its former strength, oppressive and violent, leaving the Fire-Wind duo drenched in cold sweat and pale with despair.
They seemed to have already abandoned all hope of survival.
Then, all of a sudden, layer upon layer of black insects surged forward, stacking atop one another like waves, blocking the hip-hop man's path.
He furrowed his brow and turned toward the source.
There was Pete, crouching low with a mocking grin, both hands pressed against the ground.
Wave after wave of insects poured forth endlessly, surging toward the hip-hop man.
Meanwhile, the leather-clad woman who was supposed to keep Pete occupied lay heavily injured on the ground, unable to rise again.
"Shanai."
Only after Gardevoir's whispered explanation did Linck piece together what had just happened.
While everyone's attention had been on the hip-hop man's battle, Pete had seized the perfect moment, striking just as the leather woman let her guard down for an instant.
Ordinarily, a mere glance away wouldn't have led to such severe injuries. But Pete wasn't fighting fair, he was a true schemer.
From the very start, he hadn't shown the strength expected of a B-rank fighter. Instead, he feigned being only C+ level, just barely matching the leather woman blow for blow.
He'd been hiding his real power all along, waiting for the decisive opening.
In truth, his B-rank strength far outclassed hers. Even in a head-on fight, he would've won, perhaps with a bit more effort, but still decisively.
Yet he chose the most cautious, calculated approach: using his two bodyguards as bait, patiently waiting for his chance, then striking the enemy's second-strongest fighter out of the battle in a single blow.
Only when the Fire-Wind duo was on the verge of being smashed to death by the hip-hop man did he reveal his hand, fooling all three siblings at once with his little performance.
To Pete, the fallen leather woman was already worthless. Saving the two bodyguards offered him far more strategic value.
After a short rest, they could return as fighting forces.
If Pete had wanted to go further, he could've even sacrificed their lives entirely, just to sap more strength from the hip-hop man.
This was how he saw himself: the patient mantis. And the raging hip-hop man? Nothing more than a desperate cicada.
"Big sis!"
The hip-hop man roared, his eyes bulging, a beast's fury blazing within them. His fists clenched so tightly they crackled.
After a brief buildup, he charged like a runaway truck straight toward Pete.
[Ability Appraisal Activated!]
Name: Hip-Hop Man
Strength: B- (now B+)
As expected, repeated blows had pushed his Nen capacity to its very limits.
Which also meant his body was already at the breaking point.