As Auren's Aura gushes outward like a strong river, forceful, wild, and unyielding, he immediately gets overwhelmed by the loss of Aura.
I can't keep this up for long. No time to waste!
"Now!" Auren yells, stretching out his arms, only for Vanessa to jump onto them. He then lowers them and swings them upwards in one fluid and quick motion, Vanessa matching his timing with a jump, allowing her to shoot at least a hundred meters into the sky, the fog still present far above them completely covering her, as she disappears from view. At the very last moment, Auren sees her use her Wingsuit.
She can remain a while in the air... she probably needs a moment or two to prepare her attack.
Glancing at Neffi, both of them immediately move, circling around Hisoka.
Hisoka immediately reacts by staring directly at Auren, throwing a barrage of Aura-enhanced cards at him, which he easily blocks by just raising his arms, his Aura-imbued Regalia so strong that he doesn't even feel any real impact.
I could block thousands of those cards without taking even a hint of damage. With so much Aura... I'm invincible... for a short period. Even without them, with my Aura, it's absolutely useless; he must know that as well... which means...
A quick glance with Gyo reveals the hidden Aura trace on his arms, connected to Hisoka. Drawing his two ordinary katanas, two quick cuts immediately sever the connection, causing Hisoka to take a step back, visibly confused by his quick reaction.
Attacking from behind, Neffi activates her Hatsu, Living Poltergeist, her scarves and mantle, as well as a skirt she wears over her pants, which is usually almost invisible, flying into the air and surrounding Hisoka as they move like ghosts around him.
Auren calmly uses his own Transmutation Hatsu, the cold counterpart to Limitless Water, which he named Biting Cold, to fire multiple bolts of cold Aura towards the ground, aiming them so that they hit the ground around Hisoka from all sides, turning the ground completely frozen.
Hisoka calmly spectates and ignores Auren's Hatsu, focusing on dodging Neffi's clothes, perfectly reading them, despite the attacks coming from different directions at chaotic angles. He's completely unbothered by the frosty ground and acts like he's on completely clear terrain.
"That... doesn't work. ♦️" He says, enjoying the dance as he seemingly effortlessly dodges Neffi's clothes without slipping.
That is his Hatsu... but I knew he'd be capable of that... it's all to leave him guessing... for what's coming next. I've designed this strategy to take down anyone... Neffi's keeping the target busy... she's not even serious until now, just buying time... she should start soon and then....
"Now!" Neffi yells, her scarves, mantle, and skirt flying with incredible speed around Hisoka, suddenly twice as fast as more and more of Neffi's Aura pours into them, shrouding them in Aura, making it momentarily impossible for him to escape.
"Hoh❤️?" Hisoka wonders, still enjoying the battle, now having to try a lot harder and put in much more effort to dodge Neffi's attacks.
Trying to escape, but unable to, he draws more cards, uses Shu, and then tries to cut Neffi's clothes apart with limited success, as they're filled with her own Aura and made out of high-tech nanofibres and resources from Hollow Blade's new settlement, namely the tamed giant-spiders. While he creates some cuts and damage, he's unable to cut them completely.
It's time...
Auren charges even more Aura, his output spiking, gathering around his hands, the ground next to him freezing up instantly from the small amounts of Aura that leak and drip onto the floor, causing Hisoka to glance at him, his eyes filled with Aura of his own, directly staring at Auren's hands.
Suddenly, the fog above partially disappears as multiple large objects appear from the sky, piercing through the layer of fog, all directly aimed at Hisoka and the surrounding vicinity.
Shocked, Hisoka stares at the sky, unable to believe what is happening.
Now... it's time to see if my reactions, combat sense, and awareness are up to par with my strength. I only got this one shot. If I fail... I am simply unworthy. I have all the information... we outnumber him three to one... there are no excuses for me to fail. If I can't even do that... the Dark Continent...!
No... no need to doubt myself, I'll take him down!
As the meteors violently explode, ripping the ground where Hisoka is standing to shreds, the impacts resemble an earthquake, causing the ground to shake and dirt to fly violently everywhere. Auren focuses really hard, maintaining the frosty Aura on his hands, gathering more and more Aura, yet also directing some of it into his eyes, dodging incoming dirt, rocks, and plants by twisting his neck, while ignoring anything flying to his body, his eyes following Hisoka's Aura in the fog.
Like an actual meteor shower, or more accurately, a bombardment making the scene resemble an active warzone, Vanessa's terrifying Hatsu completely wrecks the area, but as quickly as it appeared, it also comes to an end. Meanwhile, Auren does not retreat or cower back. His eyes wide open, he carefully follows Hisoka's position, noticing the man covering himself in Aura and digging into the ground as far as he can, desperate to survive the meteors. With Vanessa's Hatsu over, he's clearly wounded, as his hole couldn't reach very deep. Suddenly his Aura vanishes.
Zetsu....
I froze the ground on purpose... for that exact reason... to make it impossible to dig through it, yet he was still able to dig quite deep... it kept him alive.
With just half a second having passed since the last meteor landed, Auren makes his move, dashing forward, clearly seeing Hisoka's position in the torn-apart ground, hiding in the hole he desperately dug, despite using Zetsu.
I kept my eyes on him!
However, just as he approaches it, he spots two strings of Aura connected to the outside of the hole, stretched to the limit and now flinging back, causing Hisoka to fly out of the hole with great speed, using his own Aura like a slingshot, heading directly towards Auren, holding two cards covered in Aura. "Hehe...hehehehehe! ❤️" he cackles, full of madness, his body roughed up.
What a lunatic... is that really all he is?
Countering his assault, Auren immediately releases the Aura gathered on his hands, cupping both of his hands together as a colossal stream of cold Aura shoots against Hisoka, all of Auren's immense Aura channeled into it, leaving the rest of his body completely defenseless.
Hit me... and I die... but can you?!
However, despite the incredible amount of Aura used, Auren's attack is incapable of stopping the flying Hisoka; his speed is too great to be stopped by just cold Aura, which, even propelled forward through Emission, is not capable of generating enough force to stop him.
This is not... Limitless Waters... there is no need for pressure or physical force... instead...
Auren does not panic or change his approach; he keeps shooting his Aura at Hisoka, not raising his hands in defense or dodging, just emitting more and more of his transmuted Aura.
As Hisoka is about to make contact with Auren, his cards are about to cut directly into Auren's unprotected neck; Auren still keeps up his Hatsu.
He's now as dangerous as the dirt earlier... which means.
Finally, in the last fraction of a second, Auren simply sways his head to the side, as Hisoka flies past him and shoots forward, not reacting at all as he misses him and flies forward towards the sky until he no longer gains height, gravity causing him to descend and crash onto the ground face-first with still no discernible reaction.
Auren and Neffi, along with Vanessa, who had just smoothly landed with her wingsuit, immediately rush to his location, seeing him still lying on the ground, not moving.
Neffi does not hesitate or waste time; she uses all her clothes as makeshift ropes as they wrap themselves around the frozen Hisoka, tying his arms to his back and his legs together as well.
"He's... completely frozen... I didn't even need to do that," Neffi comments. "Is he dead?"
"No, he's even conscious," Auren says, normalizing his Aura while breathing heavily, using Gyo to notice Hisoka's Aura still active and flowing, probably the only reason he's not unconscious or even dead.
Completely frozen, yet his eyes are panically moving, Hisoka stares at the group of three standing around him as they look down on him.
Now... I'll do what I think is right... consequences to my status be damned!
"You know... I'm just playing 'examiner...'" Auren mutters. "Just like you, right? Sadly... you failed. You failed as an examiner, you failed in combat... and you failed in life."
"It's nothing personal... I'm just doing to you what you did to the others you judged unworthy," Auren states. Hisoka's eyes turn panicked for the first time as they constantly dart around, his body unable to move even a tiny bit, frozen up and tied together.
"Are you... killing this lowlife?" Vanessa asks. "I'm for it... he's the type to go for revenge if you let him go. Since we started this... let's finish it."
"Whatever you do... we support you," Neffi adds, her voice serious, sounding just a little worried.
The only thing able to hurt this guy... is not physical pain... not even death. It's the feeling of loss and humiliation. His own realization of his helplessness and inadequacy. A constant reminder of his failure... a feeling of complete hopelessness. Anything less... is too kind for him.
"Unlike you... I'm a very kind examiner... and I won't even kill lowlives like you... at least not yet," Auren declares before looking at these two friends.
To truly hurt him....
"I'd be as bad as he is if I just kill him... since he is so much below us... below me... this would be beneath me. I'm already at a level he will never reach, and I'm still growing at a pace he can never match..." Auren reasons. "He's not even worthy enough to see my face... killing this waste of a guy would be wrong...."
Shrugging, Auren lowers his head, looking at Hisoka once again. "Much like the examinees he saw as flies... he's not all that different to me, I guess."
He turns around before quietly whispering. "But I guess... punishment and education need to happen."
Then, without hesitation, Auren focuses his Aura on his leg and turns around, stomping on Hisoka's frozen lower left arm, causing it to shatter violently and rip off, his remaining part of the arm now ending just below his elbow.
"UGHGHGH," Hisoka, despite his frozen body, voices out, his frozen teeth clacking against each other, his body violently spasming in pain, while his half-frozen tongue causes him to choke.
Lifting his frozen body up, he quickly places his hand on his shoulder before hitting his stomach and face. "This is all just a teaching moment," Auren says casually, hitting him again, his body taking crippling internal damage.
"Now listen to me... examinee. I'm offering you a chance. Pass this exam... without killing a single examinee... and I'll let you live. Maybe... I'll also offer you a shot at restoring your missing hand if you slave away for me for a few years. If you want to know more details... ask Chrollo," Auren says playfully, despite threatening the Jester.
From now on... I'll do whatever the fuck I please!
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A/N: Always thankful for Power Stones, Comments, and Reviews. Thank you for reading!
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