Chapter 6: Forgiving You Doesn't Mean I Won't Kill You
With each word Ivan uttered, Hose suffered more. Now, he bore no resemblance to his earlier confident self.
He looked more like a lamb kneeling and begging for mercy.
Before he could even utter a plea, a deep voice rang out: "How boring. You don't even have the ability to put up a fight. Gardevoir, Psychic!"
A sense of foreboding surged in Hose's heart—an involuntary instinct when facing death.
Yet under the overwhelming pressure, he couldn't move an inch... and could only await his demise.
Darkness engulfed his vision as Hose's consciousness vanished completely into the void...
Moments later, Gardevoir withdrew her pressure, and Hose had long collapsed on the ground. The Nen he took pride in was pitifully weak, unable to withstand even the slightest attack.
In the end, he died in the way he had believed impossible—brain death from a Nen impact, his breath completely gone.
With Hose's death, his Nen dissipated directly, and his body began to break apart, much like the clown Buggy after consuming the Bara Bara no Mi.
It turned out the aftereffects of Hose's baptism weren't merely skin-deep but had damaged him more profoundly.
The awakened Nen had formed a delicate balance with his shattered body.
The meager Nen acted like glue holding his body together; now that he was dead and the Nen had scattered, his body naturally fell to pieces.
Ironically, he had repeatedly vowed to crush Ivan, yet in the end, it was he who ended up shattered...
Gardevoir's experience bar also saw a change. Eliminating a D-class Nen Ability user had granted her a slight amount of experience.
Truly pitiful—compared to the lengthy progress bar, it was a drop in the bucket.
Well... next is you!
Ivan shifted his gaze from the pile of shredded flesh, his eyes darkly fixed on the trembling Piers beside him.
By now, Piers was utterly terrified, shaking like a leaf and not daring to even glance sideways.
He swore this was the most horrifying scene he had witnessed since birth—not even the instant deaths of several guards he'd seen before could compare in the slightest!
As a gang leader, he had witnessed death many times, but the bloodiest scene he'd ever seen was a head explosion.
Who had ever witnessed the scene of a living person directly transforming into countless fragments!
Piers, who knew nothing of Nen Ability, firmly believed that Hose's gruesome state was caused by Ivan, even forming an impression in his mind that Ivan was a dismemberment maniac.
"Thump! Thump!" Ivan heavily stomped the floor twice, signaling Piers to lift his head.
"Ahhh! Don't kill me..."
Piers slowly raised his pig-like head, his eyes filled with panic and terror.
In his eyes, Ivan resembled a soul-sucking black hole, constantly pulling at him, about to drag him into a bottomless darkness!
"Please... I beg you, sir, spare me..." The hoarse voice carried unmistakable despair!
He didn't believe Ivan would let him go... but he dreaded even more ending up like Hose—scattered in pieces here and there.
"Where is my identification?" Ivan ignored his plea and spoke coldly instead.
Piers' pupils constricted sharply, his body trembling uncontrollably once more.
Piers knew exactly what he had been doing these past few days—aside from using connections to find Nen Ability users to help him regain face, he hadn't done anything else.
The identification had long been forgotten. In his view, with the "experts" he had hired at great expense taking action, the matter should have been easily resolved.
"I... this... identification..."
Ivan wasn't surprised by this. He would have been shocked if Piers could produce the identification right now.
"I'll give you one hour. If I don't receive it within an hour, you'll end up like him!" Ivan crossed his arms and spoke slowly.
Ivan didn't specify who "he" referred to, but both of them knew perfectly well who was meant.
The last arrogant person had already become "everywhere."
...
One hour later, Ivan held the brand new identification card containing information such as name, gender, and birthplace.
The name and gender went without saying, while the birthplace was directly registered as this town.
A "kind" smile appeared on Ivan's handsome face as he addressed Piers, who still knelt before him:
"See? It was possible to make it in time after all. Efficiency truly comes from pressure."
"You're absolutely right, sir..." Even though he was on the verge of collapse both mentally and physically, Piers still had to kneel and force a smile.
"Sir, could you possibly... spare my wretched life? I'll give you all my possessions!"
Piers' mind was completely blank now, he couldn't think of anything else—he just wanted to live!
He bitterly regretted his actions over the past few days. What did a little humiliation matter? Now, instead of just losing money to avoid disaster, he might lose his life too.
"Forgive you? Sure." Ivan pocketed the identification, stretched lightly, and walked toward the door.
Piers stared blankly as Ivan stepped out, as if struck by a huge pie falling from the sky, so overjoyed he couldn't tell east from west.
But this joy didn't last long...
The moment Ivan officially stepped out the door, Piers' heavy, obese body collapsed to the ground...
A smile still lingered on his face from before death.
If not for the dripping fresh blood, one might have thought he had simply fallen asleep.
"Forgiving you doesn't mean I won't kill you... Try having better judgment in your next life. Not everyone can be provoked so casually."
In the pitch-black, silent night, the moon was obscured by clusters of dark clouds. Ivan slowly disappeared into the ink-like darkness, leaving only a sigh behind.