Future Sight represents the observable limit...
By further compressing the range of Starlight Convergence and locking onto Neferpitou's position like a spotlight, one could constantly track her movements.
The application of this ability was equivalent to concentrating the power of Starlight Convergence at a single point, making it particularly suitable for one-on-one combat.
At this moment, the tubular starlight resembled tentacles, also like a spotlight, always focused on Neferpitou's position, feeding all information back into Morrow's consciousness.
The second attack arrived as expected.
It remained just as swift and fierce, a lethal move difficult for human Nen users to withstand.
Yet Morrow simply sidestepped cleanly once more, treading through mud and rainwater, evading Neferpitou's deadly, vicious strike again.
Two figures brushed past each other.
Amid the pouring, interwoven rain, a flicker of astonishment passed through Neferpitou's eyes.
Across from her, Morrow's gaze remained as still as deep water, showing not the slightest ripple.
Their eyes met in that instant.
In his Starlight Convergence state, Morrow was like someone in deep meditation, devoid of any emotion, capable of freely controlling his mind and body even with closed eyes.
His unflustered reaction struck Neferpitou with even greater impact.
My movements... are all within his grasp?
Neferpitou's form shattered layers of rain as she passed Morrow, waves of unease rising in her heart.
She had clearly mastered techniques to conceal her attack intent and trajectory, so why did it feel like she was being seen through completely?
With this inexplicable doubt, Neferpitou flipped mid-air and landed, steadying herself while raising her eyes to look at Morrow, who maintained his sidestepping posture.
Then she would just have to be faster!
Driven by intense bloodlust, a crimson glow shimmered in Neferpitou's eyes. The Nen strings extending from the Terpsichora puppeteer to various parts of her body suddenly tightened, vibrating and emitting bursts of mist.
Splash!
The rain-soaked ground blossomed with a jellyfish-shaped spray as Neferpitou's feet left the ground. Her figure transformed into an afterimage, charging toward Morrow with even more terrifying momentum.
As she moved, the tubular Starlight Convergence followed like a stage spotlight.
Instantly, even the subtlest movements were broken down into countless pieces of information, rapidly flowing and analyzing within Morrow's consciousness.
Supported by this data, it seemed even Neferpitou's actions in the next second could be predicted by Morrow in advance.
And so, Morrow unsurprisingly dodged Neferpitou's swift assault once again.
As they crossed paths, he casually swung out an insignificant Nen wave that collided with her solid aura defense, merely creating a faint ripple.
Insufficient to break through her defense, it naturally couldn't cause substantial damage.
But it quietly accumulated another attack count.
My ability, though not yet reaching "perfection," is indeed evolving bit by bit as my level increases.
Feeling countless pieces of information dancing in his consciousness, Morrow suddenly closed his eyes.
In the pitch-black field of vision, Neferpitou's glowing form abruptly emerged from the darkness. She was so brilliant, her presence so overwhelming.
And light in the darkness naturally has nowhere to hide.
Morrow "saw" even more clearly.
Swish...
His skin sensed the airflow disrupted by the fierce wind and the raindrops heavily slapping against the air.
This was Neferpitou launching another attack.
But Morrow saw clearly in the darkness, calmly sidestepping to evade before smoothly releasing a Nen wave that struck Neferpitou's abdomen with precision.
Aside from the forehead, the smallest area of impact, the other six regions where Accretion Charges were ignited were clearly easier to hit and accumulate conditions.
After several rounds of exchanges...
Unless Neferpitou could elevate her speed another level or restore her body to normal, otherwise... Morrow was confident he could defeat Neferpitou in direct combat.
Relying solely on the defense of "Starlight Convergence" and the offense of "Stellar Collapse."
He actually closed his eyes...
Neferpitou increased her speed slightly, but her assaults were still deftly dodged. What caught her attention more, however, was Morrow's act of shutting his eyes.
This move, tantamount to seeking death in battle, seemed to have sharpened Morrow's senses instead.
Neferpitou realized this in an instant.
And finally understood completely; the tubular starlight moving in sync with her was essentially Morrow's eyes.
No, it was something even more formidable than eyes.
Her opponent was using this to evade her attacks.
Neferpitou immediately shifted her strategy, adding an extra step to her offensive approach.
That was, before directly assaulting Morrow, she must first shake off these dazzling tubular starlights that pursued her relentlessly like spotlights.
She indeed put this into action.
Yet the tubular starlights clung to her like a shadow; despite multiple attempts, she couldn't shake them off.
Even feints and deceptive movements seemed unable to fool Morrow's "eyes."
After a continuous stream of missed attacks, Neferpitou gained a deeper understanding of Morrow's ability.
Faced with such a capability, even if she concealed her intent within her aura flow, her opponent could react swiftly.
This indicated that what Morrow "saw" likely went beyond the surface to something deeper.
If he could see the deeper layers so clearly, then superficial aspects would only become easier weaknesses.
Thinking this, Neferpitou suddenly recalled the Terpsichora currently controlling her body.
More precisely, the Nen strings pulled by the Terpsichora puppeteer.
Could it be that the plucking rhythm of the Nen strings or the hand movements of the puppeteer are giving that human a warning?
To restore her speed and strength as much as possible to their original levels, she had no choice but to shift her focus to the utilization of Terpsichora.
Thus, when her aura amount consumption increased, Terpsichora became almost fully materialized.
If it were just about allocating more aura output, it wouldn't mean much to Neferpitou.
But once the ability materialized, the Terpsichora puppeteer's movements manipulating the Nen strings could indeed expose operational intentions directly during combat.
If I exploit this, I might be able to deceive him with feints!
To break the deadlock, Neferpitou wouldn't overlook any possibility.
Acting decisively, after another attack was dodged by Morrow, she immediately tampered with the Nen strings. By subtly erasing the functions of several Nen strings, she could mislead Morrow's judgment according to her intentions.
After a series of covert manipulations, Neferpitou transformed into an afterimage once more, striking directly at Morrow's vital points.
Noticed it, did you...
Morrow immediately detected Neferpitou's subtle trickery.
His Starlight Convergence indeed gathered more precise and specific information by sensing the vibrations of Nen strings and the puppeteer's hand movements.
But even without Neferpitou's manipulations, Starlight Convergence's ability could penetrate deeper, still monitoring every slightest movement within its domain.
So it was utterly meaningless.
Facing Neferpitou's assault, Morrow still didn't open his eyes.
Evade, counterattack.
Another seamless response; after dodging Neferpitou's abruptly shifting attack, he struck her chest with a Nen wave.
Thus accumulating another effective hit.
Still dodged it.
Shattering through the rain, Neferpitou flew back to a distance, flipped mid-air to regain her posture, then landed heavily on the ground, splashing large amounts of water.
For this failure, she had some psychological preparation.
After all, according to her speculation, if Morrow could comprehensively monitor every subtle movement of the Terpsichora puppeteer, he might also see through her tricks.
Thus, the situation on the field returned to square one.
Neferpitou's attacks repeatedly missed their mark.
But she didn't give up thinking.
Is there a way to both conceal the puppeteer's presence and preserve the ability's effects?
At this moment, Neferpitou didn't realize that her line of thinking was essentially the Nen Technique known as In.
This was because among the numerous pieces of intelligence extracted from Pokkle's mind, there was no information about this technique.
But now, seeking a way to break the deadlock, this idea began taking root.
Then, relying on terrifying talent... this notion quickly bore fruit.
Neferpitou succeeded.
Right after her 31st attack missed, she used the In technique to successfully conceal the Terpsichora puppeteer and Nen strings.
To spontaneously master In just from tactical necessity...
Morrow clearly knew that Neferpitou hadn't possessed this technique before, and he couldn't help but marvel once more at the Royal Guard's innate talent.
These monsters weren't just natural awakeners; they could even master aura output far exceeding human limits without prolonged systematic training.
That alone was impressive enough, but their talent was truly frightening.
As the saying goes... given more time, destroying human society would be effortless for them.
Truly remarkable, but useless.
Morrow's Starlight Convergence could still completely see through every minute movement of Neferpitou.
The presence or absence of the Terpsichora puppeteer didn't affect this outcome.
So Neferpitou ultimately failed to breach Morrow's dead line.
The 32nd attack utilizing In ended in failure once again.
However, Neferpitou didn't give up easily. Maintaining her In technique, she continued launching fierce assaults against Morrow.
But only after the 50th failed attempt did Neferpitou finally have to accept the result.
Even with the puppeteer concealed, she still couldn't hit Morrow...
The fundamental reason seemed to be insufficient speed.
This left Neferpitou momentarily at a loss.
If not for the snake venom coursing through her body...
After prolonged failed assaults, an inevitable trace of impatience began to surface in Neferpitou's heart.
Against a human expert of Morrow's caliber, she should have possessed a more reliable path to victory.
That would be leveraging her overwhelming physical superiority to exhaust Morrow's potential aura through sheer attrition.
Had she adopted this approach, there would have been no need for frantic assaults.
Maintaining the status quo until Morrow depleted his last shred of aura would have sufficed.
Yet... A.P.R.'s presence loomed like an hourglass, relentlessly reminding Neferpitou of their limited time.
Thus, the attrition strategy was effectively neutralized.
So she had to press the attack, had to find ways to further accelerate.
Until her speed or attack frequency reached a level where Morrow could no longer react.
Then, a single strike would suffice!
Yes, just one blow to eliminate this troublesome human!
How can I drastically increase my attack frequency?
After her 63rd failed assault, Neferpitou's contemplation yielded initial results.
Terrain.
To enhance attack frequency, she must leverage the terrain.
By using walls or ceilings as footholds, she could drastically reduce the time and extraneous movements needed to reset her offensive.
But this was an open plain...
Neferpitou quickly devised a solution.
If there were no footholds, she would create them herself.
The wind and rain vanished from Neferpitou's perception, leaving only Morrow's figure in her sights.
Whoosh.
Another afterimage cutting through the air with a sharp whistle.
Yet again evaded by Morrow's exquisite footwork.
But this time, as Neferpitou twisted mid-air, she didn't descend directly toward the ground. Instead, she stepped firmly onto empty space.
In reality, she had instantaneously conjured the broad palm of her Puppeteering ability.
Using this conjured hand as a foothold, she reset her assault with even greater speed.
Thus, Neferpitou completed an aerial reversal in an instant, lunging at Morrow once more.
Still constrained by Starlight Convergence, this attack naturally missed its mark.
Yet the true purpose of Neferpitou's tactic was to achieve one specific effect:
Progressive acceleration!
Bam bam bam...!
Through repeated aerial reversal attacks, Neferpitou's assault speed steadily escalated.
Thus she carved imperceptible trajectories through the curtain of rain, converging all endpoints toward Morrow at the center.
When Morel emerged from Hide and Seek and witnessed the intricate duel between Morrow and Neferpitou, his eyes could only widen slowly, revealing utter disbelief.
This was far beyond any battle he could casually intervene in.
In that moment, alongside his shock, Morel felt a surge of powerlessness wash over him.
Within the combat zone, a similar sense of powerlessness began creeping into Neferpitou's heart.
Despite pushing her attack frequency to such extremes, she still couldn't touch the human even slightly.
Compounded by A.P.R.'s incessant countdown and its continuously swelling form, her mental state was inevitably affected.
Powerlessness. Frustration.
Why... can't I land a hit?
Neferpitou felt as if she had been dragged once more into a massive vortex woven from human Nen, unable to break free.
—--
Meanwhile, deep underground, within an ancient ruin supported by countless giant stone pillars, the King and Netero clashed fiercely.
Why... can't I dodge it?
Even after pushing his offensive rhythm to its limit, the King was still sent flying again and again by the colossal palms of the 100-Type Guanyin Bodhisattva.
In this moment, what he felt in his heart was strikingly similar to what Neferpitou had experienced.