Chapter 173: Come! Begin to Show Your Ability!
Madman!
This is simply a madman!
Tuffdy looked at Mord, his face full of terror.
While committing such cruel acts, his expression remained completely calm—this man before him was absolutely a demon.
Tuffdy couldn't even sense any emotional fluctuation from Mord, as if cutting off his hands was just the most trivial matter.
The intense pain and threat of death covered Tuffdy's forehead with cold sweat, but having served as a Kakin royal guard for over ten years, his past professional experience allowed him to make the most correct judgment at this moment.
He turned to look at Momoze who had fallen on the floor.
That was his only chance to survive!
Only by recapturing her and using her as a hostage could he stay alive!
"I advise you not to do that."
A cold voice sounded.
Mord's blade was already resting against the neck of Tuffdy's true body.
Mord looked at Tuffdy, his eyes seeming to see through human hearts as he slowly said, "Unless you're confident you can move faster than my blade."
"What do you want?!" Tuffdy was nearly driven to breakdown by Mord's sudden appearance, these words almost cried out through tears.
If you want to kill or torture me, just get it over with.
"Didn't I say? I'm bored and researching Nen Abilities." As he spoke, Mord had already stopped the bleeding from Tuffdy's severed wrists. If he let him continue bleeding like this, he would soon die from blood loss.
"I'll count to three. Return to your main body immediately, or you'll never need to return."
"Will you really spare me if I demonstrate my ability?" Tuffdy hesitated. Returning to his main body would leave him with absolutely no room for maneuver—his life and death would be entirely in the other's hands, though the current situation wasn't much better.
"Three..."
On the other side, the countdown had already begun.
Mord showed no intention of answering him.
"I need you to give me a guarantee."
"Two..."
Tuffdy stared at Mord, his psychological defenses completely collapsing at this moment. He directly deactivated his ability.
Even if there was only a sliver of hope, he was unwilling to give up on surviving.
Mord looked up at Momoze in the distance, who was gasping for fresh air, and said, "See? Even ants know how to cling to life."
Momoze, having narrowly escaped death, breathed heavily. From birth until now, she had never felt the importance of air so acutely.
From the moment she chose to board the ship and participate in the Succession Contest, she had already embraced the idea of death. That was why she remained indifferent to her mother's actions—in her view, it was nothing but futile struggle.
But when death truly approached, Momoze's body reacted for her.
Only after truly experiencing death did she understand the beauty of life.
It feels so good to be alive!
I want to live!
Momoze looked at the man in the distance, tears in her eyes, and nodded firmly.
Meanwhile, after the clone returned to the main body, Tuffdy gradually regained consciousness. However, having lost both hands, his condition didn't look good—his face was frighteningly pale.
Mord couldn't care less about this; at this moment, he resembled those heartless, unscrupulous bosses.
"Alright, you can start demonstrating your ability now," Mord said coldly.
Tuffdy glanced at Mord fearfully, not even having time to grieve for his lost hands. He could only brace himself and activate his ability once again.
Tuffdy's ability was called [Soul Departure]. Its function was to create a clone identical to the main body. The activation condition was maintaining a lying posture with eyes closed.
The clone's range of activity was a circle with a radius of 20 meters centered on the main body.
The ability was very similar to Hanzo's, differing only in some details.
Mord closely observed the flow and changes of Nen energy around Tuffdy. Before his eyes, a clone composed of Nen energy mixed with another special energy slowly appeared.
Mord frowned slightly. This other special energy should be mental will—no, more accurately, it should be Tuffdy's soul.
On this point, Mord questioned Tuffdy carefully, but even he himself was somewhat confused.
There are many clone ability users in the Hunter world.
Those like Morel, while technically capable of creating clones, their so-called clones neither share the five senses nor can speak. They're closer to unconscious Nen beasts than actual avatars.
Tuffdy and Hanzo's situations are completely different from Morel's.
Their avatars possess the main body's consciousness.
Pouf's clones are similar, though his ability Beelzebub decomposes his body—essentially, each small Pouf is himself.
For Tuffdy and Hanzo's type of clone, aside from pure Nen ability, they definitely incorporate their mental energy, that is, their soul.
However, this type of doppelganger also has significant drawbacks.
While creating a clone, the main body loses the ability to move, rendering it practically useless in actual combat.
When you think about it, only Kastro's double clone had some practical use.
The difficulty likely lies in the separation of consciousness. To maintain both the main body and the clone simultaneously, one must at least possess the ability to multitask.
Mord repeatedly observed Tuffdy's use of the ability and finally managed to grasp the flow of his aura. Though he didn't possess Ging's monstrous talent, his current strength had reached another level. From this elevated perspective, he could achieve effects similar to Ging's.
Having lost both hands and lost so much blood, Tuffdy continued to use his ability over and over again.
Tuffdy was in terrible condition, his aura nearly depleted to the point of Zetsu. He could collapse at any moment, but as long as the man before him didn't give the order, he didn't dare stop.
Tuffdy was like a tireless robot, demonstrating his ability again and again.
Nearby, Momoze watched everything with wide eyes, like a curious child. Though she was bursting with questions, she didn't dare speak.
What was happening before her felt like something from another world.
A clone? Could humans really do such a thing?
Was this the Nen Ability they had mentioned?
"Alright, that's enough," Mord suddenly said after Tuffdy finished another demonstration.
Tuffdy felt as if he had been granted a pardon, yet even so, he didn't dare make any sudden moves. He simply watched Mord silently, his face filled with anxiety.
Mord turned to Momoze and asked, "Do you hate him?"
Momoze shook her head and said, "He was only following orders."
"Is that so?"
As soon as the words left his mouth, Mord swiftly extended his right hand and snapped Tuffdy's neck.
He couldn't understand why it had been so difficult to strangle a defenseless little girl.
The strength of these royal guards was truly concerning.
Momoze covered her mouth with both hands as she watched Tuffdy's body collapse to the ground.