Conrad went back to his room without wasting any time lingering in the arena.
After entering his room, he headed straight for the shower.
Warm water washed over his body.
As the steam filled the room, Conrad examined his injuries carefully.
Minor bruises and some soreness around his ribs and shoulder, nothing serious.
Certainly nothing that would slow him down in the next fight.
He grinned.
Once finished, he wrapped a towel around himself and sat down on the large, comfortable chair near the window.
His muscles relaxed as he leaned back, letting his thoughts settle.
"Great…"
He would be lying if he were to say that he did not have fun in the battle.
The fight had gone almost exactly as he planned.
The strategy itself had been simple.
Once Conrad concluded that Brone's rings were being controlled directly rather than being given preset commands, everything became clear.
The rings were not autonomous weapons; they were extensions of Brone's focus and intent.
That meant their speed and lethality were tied directly to his mental stability.
Disrupt the mind, and the ability collapses.
From that moment on, Conrad knew he did not need to overpower the rings.
He only needed to overwhelm the man controlling them.
The first step had been a test.
He deployed the White Death Orb and fired a single shot, not to kill, but to probe.
He wanted to be sure that the rings were controlled directly and a threat to life; a sudden attack would disrupt their speed, which would result in proving his theory.
The bullet's purpose was psychological as much as physical.
The sudden, unseen attack introduced fear. When fear arises in the mind of most Nen users that are not combat experts, they start to get weaker even without understanding the reason for it.
Conrad believed that when a nen user is not at the best mental capacity and starts getting stressed out or scared, the power of the said individual would be cut down by at least half.
The probing bullet worked.
The rings slowed.
Not dramatically, but enough for Conrad to confirm his hypothesis.
Their trajectories became less sharp, their timing slightly off.
A small change, but in a Nen battle, small changes were everything.
The second shot followed shortly after.
This time, Conrad used White Death not just as a distraction but as a positional tool.
While Brone dodged again, Conrad closed the distance.
The closer he got, the more pressure he applied.
Brone's focus fractured further, and once again, the rings lost speed.
By then, Conrad was certain.
As long as Brone feared the next shot, as long as he anticipated death from an unseen direction, his control would never stabilize.
The third phase was the execution.
Another shot.
Another forced dodge.
That was all Conrad needed.
He stepped in.
At close range, he deployed the Aura Blast Orb.
Unlike White Death, which relied on precision and distance, Aura Blast was pure overwhelming force.
Releasing it at such a short distance and activating it left Brone no time to recover his focus, no room to reinforce his defenses.
The blast was all that was needed to stop Brone.
If Conrad wanted, he could have killed him by letting the Aura Blast Orb get in point-blank, which would have had a similar effect to a powerful grenade exploding in the mouth of the target.
A messy and gory image came to his mind, and he shook his head to keep on analyzing.
Brone was not dead, but he might as well have been, from a combat perspective.
Gravely injured,
The outcome had been sealed the moment Conrad identified the true nature of the rings.
"A great plan and a great result,"
He leaned forward in his chair, resting his elbows on his knees.
The battle had confirmed something important, not just about Brone, but about Nen users in general.
Many relied too heavily on their abilities.
They honed them, refined conditions, and added clever mechanics but forgot that abilities were only tools.
Without a stable mind, without adaptability, even the most impressive Nen technique could be dismantled.
A powerful nen ability that was created by a potential-filled nen user, if not used right, would be wasted on them.
Like, Cheetu, as a chimera ant, his speed and physical capability were top-notch.
But because, as Morel put it, "He was an idiot," he never reached his full combat capability, and not to mention, he chose a wrong ability that was not suited to his character.
Of course Pouf was the one who prepared his ability, but Cheetu must have some control and wishes over it.
Conrad, on the other hand, had built himself from the ground up.
His orbs were powerful, yes, but they were only effective because he understood when and how to use them.
He glanced at the three orbs resting quietly on the table.
They had performed exactly as intended.
Still, he knew better than to grow complacent.
Brone had been stronger than his previous opponents, and future enemies would be stronger still.
Some would not break under pressure so easily.
Some would welcome fear, even thrive in it.
Those were the ones he needed to prepare for.
Conrad stood up and stretched his arms.
One more battle won.
Several more awaited.
He smiled faintly.