"Kaizen, check over there. I'll handle this side," Wendy said, her voice steady despite the tense atmosphere.
"Got it."
The two split up, their movements precise and coordinated.
"Gyo!"
Kaizen activated his Gyo, scanning the area. The small town's aura had shifted drastically. What was once an evenly distributed, ominous black haze now looked fragmented—like a blank sheet of paper splattered with ink.
"This change…" Kaizen murmured. "The monsters must be concentrating in those spots."
He glanced back toward Dominica, who was holding her ground against a horde of monsters.
"Dominica is incredible. To manage such a large-scale ability so effortlessly... That level of control isn't something ordinary Hunters have. I wonder how she compares to Uncle Silva."
Kaizen's gaze returned to Wendy, who caught his eye at the same moment. A silent understanding passed between them.
They moved in unison, each gathering aura into their hands.
"Luckily, all that training with Nen projectiles paid off," Kaizen thought as he condensed the swirling energy into a dense, glowing sphere. "Otherwise, creating a mind bomb capable of taking down these monsters wouldn't have been possible."
Wendy mirrored his movements, forming her own Nen projectile.
"Go!" Kaizen shouted.
They unleashed their attacks simultaneously.
Boom!
Kaizen's projectile obliterated a nearby building, sending debris flying. Wendy's blast struck a pool, creating a massive spray of water and tearing up the ground beneath it. Fish and other creatures caught in the blast were shredded into fragments.
"Again!" Kaizen called, his focus sharpening.
As they prepared for a second strike, the lurking monster realized its hiding spots were being systematically destroyed. Staying concealed was no longer an option.
The creature's attention turned to Dominica. Out of the three, her aura was by far the strongest. If it could eliminate her, Kaizen and Wendy would pose little threat.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Monsters on the outskirts began to fall one after another. Those already restrained by Dominica's abilities collapsed as black threads unraveled from their bodies.
Suddenly, an overwhelming surge of black lines erupted from the ground around Dominica. The threads coiled and twisted, wrapping her in layer after layer until she was completely encased in a dense, writhing sphere.
The sheer number of threads made Kaizen's skin crawl.
"What the hell…?" he muttered, feeling a wave of unease.
Nearby, a building crumbled, revealing a figure within.
It was a girl, no older than sixteen or seventeen. Her pale, gaunt face bore the exhaustion of someone who hadn't slept in weeks, with blood-red eyes encircled by heavy dark rings.
"Why…?" the girl muttered, her voice trembling with a mix of anger and despair.
"Why do you have to bother me?"
She took a step forward, her movements erratic and unsettling.
"I wasn't going to hurt you. I just wanted to be left alone! So why are you destroying my things? Why are you here?!"
Her voice rose into a hysterical scream.
"I just want love! Is that so wrong?! Why won't you leave me in peace?!"
Her long, disheveled hair hung down her back, divided into countless tendrils. Some strands pierced into the floor, others wrapped around beams, and a few connected to lifeless bodies scattered around the room.
Kaizen's eyes narrowed as he recognized one of the corpses—a young man he'd seen on his last visit to this town.
The girl raised her hand, and the hair-encased sphere holding Dominica lifted into the air, supported by countless strands anchoring it below. With a sudden motion, the sphere began to compress.
"She's trying to crush her…" Kaizen muttered.
He assessed the situation quickly. "This girl wasn't here before. When I was in this town last time, everything seemed normal. In less than half a year, this place has turned into a nightmare."
Kaizen tightened his grip on the hilt of his blade.
"This girl's aura is incredible. In such a short time, they've created something this dangerous. Is this the power of the Taris Kingdom's Nen experiments?"
He recalled the cockroach disaster he had witnessed in Meteor City.
"This might not be as bad, but the sheer scale… Sacrificing an entire town for one experiment?" His jaw tightened. "No wonder Taris has so many enemies. Their methods are beyond reckless."
Kaizen glanced at Wendy. Despite the chaos, she showed no signs of fear or panic.
"She's steady," he thought. "And Dominica isn't someone who'll go down so easily. If I can hold the girl off long enough, Dominica will find a way out."
Turning his attention back to the girl, Kaizen took a deep breath.
"Let's see how strong you really are."
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