The malicious thoughts, like a stormy sea, continued to spread around Rimo.
In an instant, the entire area seemed to transform into a pitch-black vortex.
The hyenas, who had barely managed to remain standing under the joint suppression of Rimo and Machi, began to tremble violently, as if they had been stripped naked and thrown into an extremely cold wasteland.
In the next second, their eyes rolled back simultaneously, and their bodies collapsed to the ground, completely dead from the overwhelming burden on both their minds and bodies.
This was not an attack.
This was Nen suppression.
Pure, unfiltered killing intent released without restraint.
"How should I thank you?" Rimo tilted his head slightly and looked at Os with a faintly amused expression.
Pfft!
Os was so terrified that his legs gave out completely, and he fell heavily onto the ground.
"Monster… monster…"
From Os's perspective, the black, ink-like malice pouring out of Rimo's body had taken shape, forming a massive beast that devoured everything in its path. It loomed above him, roaring silently, its saliva dripping down like death itself.
"Lin… Rimo, you're okay… that's great."
Although Rimo had deliberately restrained his Nen so that it would not directly affect Machi, the terrifying aura erupting from him could still be clearly felt by her.
But at this moment, Machi had no time to care about anything else.
After seeing the massive hole in Rimo's abdomen completely heal itself in less than a second, Machi's heart finally relaxed.
Her only concern now was whether Rimo was truly all right.
Rimo turned around and gently placed his hand on Machi's head, smiling softly.
"Didn't I tell you? We'll keep going."
Feeling Rimo's large hand stroking her hair, Machi froze slightly, her face flushing from the sudden, intimate physical contact.
After quietly admiring Machi's reaction for a moment, Rimo turned his gaze back toward Os, who was trembling uncontrollably on the ground.
Looking at Os, who had completely lost the will to fight and could not even stand properly, Rimo suddenly felt bored.
He had only just grasped Nen, and to him, Os was nothing more than a test subject.
But now, Os was clearly unqualified.
"Oh… forget it. Just die."
Rimo's figure vanished in an instant.
When he reappeared, he was already standing behind Os, his back facing him.
Click!
The sound of a neck being twisted echoed sharply through the air.
Os's head spun a full three hundred and sixty degrees, his neck collapsing limply as life drained from his body. His eyes rapidly lost all light.
Although Rimo had experienced countless killings through Mo's memories, this was still the first time he himself had taken a life.
Earlier, when he killed a hyena with a flying knife, the enemy had died too quickly to register anything.
Now, with everything settled, Rimo stared at his hands with complicated emotions.
From now on… there would probably be many more people he would have to kill.
Just as Rimo turned to walk back toward Machi, his body suddenly trembled.
An unfamiliar throbbing surged through him.
Rimo's body twisted unnaturally, flesh and bones shifting as if molded by invisible hands, and in the blink of an eye, he transformed into Os's appearance.
Not only his body, but even his clothing was identical.
"Rimo…?!"
Machi cried out in shock.
"This is…"
Not only Machi, but even Rimo himself didn't understand what had just happened.
Just as the thought of changing back crossed his mind, his body twisted again, returning to normal the very next second.
Machi hurried over, her expression tense.
"Rimo… what was that just now?"
Although Rimo didn't fully understand it either, the sensation was unmistakably familiar.
That same throbbing.
Rimo instinctively knew it was related to whatever abnormal existence had accompanied him during his crossing.
So he forced himself to remain calm and said, "It's fine. Just a new inspiration for my ability. Thanks to him, I finally figured out how to properly use Nen."
Machi looked at him suspiciously.
"Really? Was your self-healing ability also Nen?"
"Yes," Rimo replied smoothly. "The essence of my ability is transformation. As long as I can reconstruct lost flesh and organs, it's basically the same as self-healing."
It was a hastily assembled explanation, but it barely made sense.
Machi still felt something was off, but she couldn't pinpoint what exactly.
Knowing Machi's sharp intuition, Rimo quickly changed the topic.
"Machi, let's clean this place up before the bodies start to stink and ruin our living area."
With that, Rimo picked up Os's corpse and walked toward the surrounding garbage dump.
Machi hesitated briefly, then followed.
"It's been so long since I felt this refreshed!"
Uvogin's booming voice echoed from afar.
Sure enough, not long after, the figures of Uvogin and Nobunaga appeared.
"Hey! Rimo, we're back!" Uvogin waved enthusiastically when he saw Rimo and Machi standing outside.
"I'm telling you, Nobunaga and I wiped out Allen's group completely. They refused to admit anything before dying, but garbage is garbage."
Rimo and Machi stared at them with expressionless eyes.
"You two picked a great time to come back."
Uvogin and Nobunaga froze.
At this moment, Nobunaga finally noticed the bloodstains around Rimo's abdomen and the traces of battle scattered across the ground.
His expression darkened.
"What happened here?"
"Os attacked while you were gone," Machi said calmly. "Karen's matter was probably fake news he spread to lure you away."
"Os?! That bastard!" Uvogin roared. "Where is he? I'll tear him apart!"
Rimo gestured casually toward the garbage pile.
"Dead."
Then he smiled faintly.
"And thanks to him… I finally learned how to use Nen properly."
After a pause, Rimo looked at the three of them.
"I might even be able to help you awaken Nen too."
"Interested?"