Beyond was not without his own pursuit of the martial heart.
It was just that, in his view, there were things more important than that.
And compared to the process, he valued only the result.
It was for this very reason that he had teamed up with Marione to besiege Morrow last time.
Judging by his actions and decisions back then, he had not been careless, nor had he given Morrow any breathing room.
However, even with the advantage in both numbers and strength, he and Marione still allowed Morrow to escape at the last moment.
But based on the situation at the time, after landing the final blow, he had concluded that even if Morrow escaped, he would ultimately not be able to evade death.
But things did not go as planned.
The young man before him, whom he had once held in high regard, had not only survived but had also, in a mere two months, elevated his strength to a level that even he couldn't help but be shaken by.
Now, for Morrow to suddenly mention Marione in front of him with such a posture carried a hint of mockery.
"You really have a knack for timing, and for being an irritating eyesore."
Beyond's expression was icy. He acted as if he hadn't heard Morrow's words, his muscles tensing all over his body, ready to attack or defend at a moment's notice.
He had to admit that the current Morrow, just by standing there casually, could exert a tangible pressure on him.
This was caused by the disparity in their aura levels, one of the most practical suppressive factors in a Nen battle.
At this moment, he was undoubtedly the weaker party.
But this reality would not affect his combat readiness.
Let alone a mere verbal attack.
Seeing that Beyond did not accept his proposal and had instead adopted a suddenly tense, pre-battle stance, Morrow remained calm and said indifferently:
"Don't think I'm joking. The fact that you were able to quickly locate and intercept me in advance that night means that among your people..."
At this point, Morrow casually raised two fingers and continued, "There are at least two very powerful abilities. One of them is a rare long-distance teleportation-type ability, which could absolutely bring that machine woman here right now."
Morrow paused for a moment, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.
"However, I'm certain that the user of this ability isn't the machine woman, but someone else... Hmm, let me guess, a woman in a kimono?"
"Hm?"
Upon hearing this, ripples of shock appeared in Beyond's eyes.
This was because Sawa's Twin Flower Crossing ability... was one of the core abilities for the team's future exploration of the Dark Continent, possessing the effects of teleportation, storage, and even sharing fatal damage.
The preciousness and secrecy of this ability went without saying.
So, how was it exposed?
Beyond couldn't help but feel a jolt of surprise.
And in that very instant, the two fingers Morrow held up suddenly burst forth with two highly compressed Nen waves, shooting straight for Beyond's eyes.
In truth, he could only deduce that someone on Beyond's team possessed a long-range teleportation ability; he couldn't be certain who it was.
After all, the original work had only briefly mentioned the members of Beyond's team. Most of them weren't even named, let alone had their abilities revealed.
But Morrow knew that this type of teleportation ability was extremely valuable. Coupled with the fact that there was indeed a kimono-clad woman who was often by Beyond's side in the original work and was also a team member, he could make a casual guess using the characteristic of her attire, even if he didn't know her name.
In any case, regardless of Beyond's reaction, he was going to strike in the next moment.
He just hadn't expected... from the change in Beyond's eyes in that instant, it seemed his guess had hit the mark.
This sudden attack now held even greater tactical value.
Faced with this surprise attack he was completely unprepared for, Beyond didn't even have time to curse inwardly. He could only hastily leap backward, gaining a sliver of space, while simultaneously twisting his body to the side.
The Nen waves, carrying a scorching heat, barely grazed past his eyes.
Although he had narrowly dodged the blow, Morrow's second wave of attack was already upon him.
An even more turbulent and ferocious Nen wave, carrying a heart-pounding might, roared toward Beyond.
Was that opening move just to buy time for this attack?
Beyond had just stabilized himself when his vision was filled with the dazzling light of the Nen wave.
Even with the opening move to set it up, this aura-gathering speed and power... it was a bit too exaggerated.
Relying on his vast combat experience, Beyond instantly judged that he absolutely could not take this hit head-on.
The power of this attack was by no means comparable to that of the old and weakened Netero. If he were to block it directly, even if he could mitigate most of the damage, he would completely lose the initiative.
Pak!
Just as the Nen wave was about to engulf Beyond, a soft, crisp sound echoed on the field.
An invisible force struck Beyond a step faster than the Nen wave.
Instantly, under the impact, Beyond was sent flying sideways toward the lake.
At that critical moment, he had decisively used the power of Nothing External to the Mind to attack himself, using the resulting impact to escape the attack's range at the fastest possible speed.
BOOM!
The violent Nen wave that missed Beyond plunged straight into the forest, instantly carving out a massive trench.
Morrow tilted his head, watching Beyond fly horizontally across the lake's surface, kicking up a spray of water.
He had gone to the trouble of using words to gain the initiative, but he hadn't expected Beyond to be able to resolve the crisis so decisively.
He was, after all, one of humanity's top powerhouses. If nothing else, his combat experience was certainly forged through a thousand trials.
As his thoughts raced, the Nen on Morrow's body suddenly shattered, turning into a shower of starlight.
Starlight Convergence・Cosmic Choreography.
A clownesque puppeteer materialized above Morrow's shoulders, then lifted him up with Nen strings, allowing him to fly through the air toward the lake.
In order to suppress Beyond from beginning to end, until he was completely crushed... his offense had to be relentless, giving Beyond no chance to breathe.
With this thought in mind, Morrow didn't even have time to exchange a single word with Netero.
And Netero, having exhausted his potential aura, felt his own aura grow increasingly faint.
He watched Morrow's figure unhesitatingly pursue Beyond. Whatever thoughts he had, he could only stand there powerlessly, becoming a spectator to this battle.
As Morrow and Beyond moved their battlefield over the lake, Linne, with a lingering sense of fear, quickly walked to Netero's side.
"That young man... what's his origin?"
Linne's gaze swept past Netero and turned toward the lake, her old eyes unable to hide her astonishment.
If Morrow hadn't appeared in time to block Beyond's fatal blow, Netero would likely be a corpse right now.
In addition to her lingering fear, Linne couldn't help but feel a bit of curiosity toward Morrow.
Mainly because... Morrow was simply too young.
So much so that the strength he displayed exuded a sense of incongruity that was difficult to comprehend.
Hearing Linne's question, Netero's eyelids drooped as he slowly said, "His origin...? He was one of the successful candidates of the 287th Hunter Exam."
"..."
Linne was stunned by his words.
—--
At the same time.
Above the lake.
The original tranquility was completely shattered.
After nullifying the impact, Beyond quickly adjusted his posture and stood suspended in mid-air, just a meter above the lake's surface.
This was yet another application of Nothing External to the Mind; an energy construct condensed from his will acted like an invisible palm, holding him steady in the air.
Morrow, on the other hand, was suspended by the Nen strings of Terpsichora, also standing in the air.
Seeing Beyond stabilize himself in mid-air, Morrow maintained his Terpsichora ability and gathered all the circulating starlight into his right hand.
Shooting Star.
In an instant, his Nen condensed into a bullet of light and shot out.
Its speed was extremely fast, and its power was not to be underestimated.
But after their earlier exchange, Beyond already had a feel for Morrow's mastery of Emission. Now, seeing the light bullet approach, he already had a countermeasure in mind.
This time, he didn't dodge or evade. He raised his hand and clenched it in the air.
An energy construct of his will suddenly materialized in the light bullet's path, and the two collided with a boom.
However, the expected scene of the light bullet being intercepted and shattered did not occur.
With a piercing shriek, the light bullet was forcibly deflected, shooting diagonally into the depths of the lake.
BOOM!
The light bullet exploded violently at the bottom of the lake, sending up a monstrous wave.
Beyond caught a glimpse of this from the corner of his eye, his brow furrowing slightly.
To ensure the power of an Emission attack, there was an inevitable process of gathering aura before releasing it all at once.
A highly skilled master could often form an attack in a relatively short time.
But no matter what, for an Emitter, the length of time spent gathering aura usually directly affected the attack's power.
In other words, even if an Emitter could master an attack technique that was practically instantaneous, its power would inevitably be lacking.
In contrast, an attack from Nothing External to the Mind, given its special nature, could guarantee its power even without charging up.
But from the clash just now, Beyond realized that Morrow's practically instantaneous Emission attack was actually no weaker in power than his own Nothing External to the Mind.
Morrow couldn't care less what Beyond was thinking.
Seeing the light bullet blocked by that invisible force, he immediately thrust out both hands, Nen surging in his palms.
If a single Shooting Star or Nen wave could be intercepted or dodged... then... what about dozens, or even hundreds?
Relying on his formidable aura output, Morrow's light-wreathed hands instantly became like machine guns, continuously spewing countless light bullets the size of small balls, which rained down on Beyond.
This offensive was quite similar to Franklin's Double Machine Gun.
But the power of each light bullet was far beyond what Franklin could ever hope to achieve.
Seeing the sky filled with a web of whistling light bullets, Beyond's face darkened.
He had weathered many storms in his life and had seen many powerhouses from the V5.
But this was the first time he had ever seen an Emission attack of this scale.
What irked him even more was... his opponent clearly possessed such overwhelming firepower, yet he had still resorted to verbal trickery to seize the initiative.
He was actually all too familiar with this kind of tactic.
He himself often used similar strategies when he had the upper hand in strength. As long as it could secure victory faster, he didn't care if it was called despicable or shameless.
But now the tables had turned, and he was the one on the receiving end.
With an indescribable sense of frustration and with no way to escape, Beyond could only fully mobilize the power of Nothing External to the Mind, constructing an invisible defensive barrier in front of him.
The next instant.
The dense barrage of light bullets exploded against his front.
The continuous impact instantly crushed the defense of Nothing External to the Mind, and the residual force slammed into Beyond's body like countless heavy punches.
BAM! BAM! BAM...!
Under the torrential assault, Beyond's body trembled violently. In less than a second, blood was already seeping from his mouth and nose.
However, as the second second arrived, Morrow's offensive was once again blocked.
Beyond had deployed the barrier of Nothing External to the Mind again.
As long as his will remained clear and firm, no matter what kind of impact his body sustained, the strength of this ability would not be affected in the slightest.
To give a simple example, even if several bullets pierced Beyond's vitals, causing him to collapse instantly and leaving him one step away from death... as long as his will remained firm, even with only a faint breath left, he could still exert the full strength of Nothing External to the Mind.
This was the absolute mechanism of Vow and Limitation.
Using this mechanism, Beyond was able to regroup and re-establish his defense so quickly while taking damage.
But even so, just one round of Nen bullet bombardment had left Beyond with considerable injuries.
And just defending required his full effort.
If this trend continued, he might not find any means to counterattack and could only passively defend while continuously accumulating injuries.
RUMBLE!
SPLASH!
The ceaseless Nen bullets enveloped Beyond, with many falling directly into the lake, causing violent explosions.
Morrow stood suspended in the air above Beyond, completely unconcerned with the consumption of his potential aura, maintaining his maximum firepower output.
He could clearly see the energy field, shimmering like distorted heat, that surrounded Beyond, struggling to withstand the explosive attacks of the Nen bullets.
At most, it could only block them for a second or two.
When that energy field collapsed, Beyond could immediately reactivate his defense.
But no matter how fast he could deploy and retract his ability, there were still gaps for the residual impact of the Nen bullets to penetrate and cause damage.
This was already a slow death.
This was also Morrow's true Emission suppression, no mind games, no tactics, just absolute suppression through sheer stats and release techniques.
He's struggling just to defend, let alone counterattack.
Watching Beyond being suppressed to the point where he couldn't even lift his head, Morrow naturally didn't have to worry about his opponent using that invisible force to attack him during a gap in his defense.
However, just in case, with a slight shift in thought, Morrow deployed Starlight Convergence in a one-meter radius around himself.
This move, which left no openings, could be said to have completely snuffed out the last sliver of opportunity for Beyond to launch a surprise counterattack.
And what made Beyond despair even more was... even though Morrow had diverted a portion of his Nen output and concentration to maintain the Starlight Convergence ability, the overwhelming barrage of Nen bullets spewing from his hands showed no decrease in power or speed.
This meant that the Nen bullet assault just now... was not even Morrow at his full strength.
Realizing this, Beyond viscerally felt the gap between himself and Morrow.
At this moment, he felt as if he were standing in the shoes of the old and weakened Netero from just moments ago, facing a battle with no suspense whatsoever.
But why?
Why was the person before him so strong?