Bang!
The force of the punch roared like an explosion, smashing into Reynard's helmet. With a loud crack, the helmet shattered instantly!
After a brief moment of dizziness, Reynard focused his vision — and saw Bisky morphing back in her true, towering form.
Bisky's fists were merciless, and her words even harsher.
"At this point, you're still trying to use unreliable memories to gain sympathy and stall for time, hoping to create more 'allies'? That's exactly what a 'fake' would do."
"To put it simply, the fastest way to tell who's real between us — is for one of us to die. What happens after death will prove everything."
"In our memories, we're both professional Hunters. If you're real, you should have the same resolve as me."
Bisky dropped into a Shingen-ryu stance and, without another word, launched herself after Reynard.
Reynard noticed that Germain and the others had no intention of stepping in. He frowned slightly inside his broken helmet but had no choice — he had to go all out.
He gripped his dual swords, now wrapped in Nen, and slashed at Bisky again and again, each strike fierce and sharp.
But when it came to pure combat strength, Bisky clearly had the upper hand.
She batted away Reynard's strikes with her Nen, and with the Shingen-ryu techniques, she kept pushing Reynard back.
Each time her fist's wind grazed his armor, pieces of it cracked, crumbled, and fell away. His body was soon covered in cuts and bruises.
Worse still was the crushing pressure on his mind.
Because Reynard knew very well — whether he won or lost this battle, he was unlikely to survive.
If this were a game of chess, his king was already cornered, checkmate inevitable.
Facing this desperate situation, Reynard suddenly pulled out a scroll from his chest and slammed it open onto the ground!
Bzzzz—!
A dazzling golden light flashed right into Bisky's eyes, forcing her to pause instinctively.
Taking advantage of the moment, Reynard quickly rolled up the scroll, turned around, and dashed toward the darkness of the rainforest, trying to escape.
The armor shattered under Bisky's twin punches, conveniently helping to lighten his load, making his steps faster and lighter.
Reynard saw what happened to Leonardo, who was also trying to escape, but at this point, he had no other choice.
However, when he turned his head, he jumped in shock.
Because Ging was already standing behind him without him noticing, golden aura quietly gathering around him for a long time.
"It's you, no doubt."
Before Reynard could even speak, Ging raised his fist and swung.
"No! Wait—"
The golden aura bit down like a venomous snake, giving Reynard no chance to react. In an instant, his head exploded like a watermelon!
Reynard's body staggered for a moment, then collapsed onto the ground.
After a while, black smoke started rising from his body.
After a "Fake" dies, they self-immolate — a symbol that they came with nothing and left with nothing.
That's also why, during the daytime battles, there were fewer corpses left behind than expected among the fighting tribes.
With the chaotic battle finally over and all the "Fakes" dead, the four survivors let out a sigh of relief and gathered together.
For now, it was temporarily safe.
Bisky, having returned to her small form, wiped the tears at the corners of her eyes with a little handkerchief — the flash from the scroll earlier had left her eyes sore and stinging.
After feeling a little better, she opened her eyes, glanced at the others, and asked:
"You guys couldn't tell at the end whether it was me or Reynard who was real, right? What would you have done if I had been killed by him just now?"
Ging joked:
"Aren't you stronger than him? Besides, weren't you the one swearing earlier that, as professional Hunters, you should already be prepared for this kind of thing?"
"I've prepared myself mentally, but I'd still rather not die because of this... If I really have to die, then I want to go out in the most beautiful, most dazzling way possible."
Bisky answered naturally.
"Don't worry," Germain said. "Reynard can't afford to gamble in a death match. If he tries to run away, it'll basically confirm he's a fake."
"If he stubbornly keeps fighting you, we'll step in before either of you gets seriously hurt and figure out another way to judge him."
Bisky nodded and said, "I knew that's what you were thinking. That's why I acted first and forced Reynard into a corner — it was also my way of showing you my true identity."
"After all, he's just a 'person' who was newly created, so he doesn't understand you guys very well."
"Shizuku, you should be able to tell that I'm the real one, right?"
"Uh..." Shizuku tilted her head and thought for a bit, then chose to nod.
In truth, she couldn't really tell.
But being around smart people for so long had rubbed off on her — she'd learned to be a little sneaky too.
She almost believed she might be the 'fake' herself, so how could she really recognize Bisky as the real one?
"Good, I'm glad all my kindness to you wasn't wasted."
Bisky also laughed and chose to believe her.
Germain thought for a moment, then shook his head and said, "Maybe they weren't just newly created 'people'... Maybe they were based on some pre-existing templates."
Everyone turned to look at him in confusion.
After Reynard fell, a sealed-off part of Germain's memory finally unlocked.
He remembered.
Things like "Crusader," "Cursebound," "Barbarian Warrior," "Shieldbreaker" — they were all characters from a game called Dark Dungeon.
But they weren't exactly the same as the Dark Dungeon heroes.
Their backgrounds and histories had been altered and localized to better fit this world.
In other words, "Twin-Tailed Snake: Hellbell" was using the memories of Germain, Ging, Bisky, and Shizuku to create these half-familiar "hybrid humans."
Facing everyone's confused gazes, Germain explained:
"You guys should still remember, right? Reynard, Hart, Sigman, and Leonardo... their pasts, their relationships..."
"These things aren't something that can be created in just a short time or with simple effort."
"So, I believe they come from our memories, a mix of all sorts of images."
"They were just turned into templates by the 'Twin-Headed Snake: Hellbell' to quickly create human forms, becoming part of its 'bait.'"
Ging understood and said, "That's right. The 'Twin-Headed Snake: Hellbell' can't create perfect humans out of thin air because it doesn't fully understand human society."
"Plus, it needs to shape different Nen abilities too. That requires even more information — something it can't completely process and digest in a short time."
"So, pulling fragments from our minds and blending them together is the most practical and efficient method."
"To avoid us noticing the flaws too quickly, it used tricks like altering our perceptions and sealing parts of our memories."
Bisky smiled proudly, "Normally, against an average team of Nen users, this tactic would've been more than enough."
"Unfortunately for them, they happened to run into us."
"'Botanical Weapon: Brion,' 'Immortality Disease: Zobae,' 'Human-Keeping Beast: Pap'... after facing all kinds of disasters, we're not so easily shaken."
Everyone looked at each other and laughed, feeling a lot more at ease.
Now that they knew the true nature of the 'Twin-Headed Snake: Hellbell,' they could come up with ways to counter it, instead of stumbling around blindly like before.
The rest of the night passed without incident.
Everyone took turns standing watch, while the others took the chance to rest properly.
They didn't necessarily have to sleep — as long as they could slowly recover their energy and Nen, and not let yesterday's exhaustion drag down today's actions.
A few hours later, the orange-red sun slowly rose. Even the thick, towering jungle canopy couldn't completely block out the light.
The gray-white and charcoal-black ashes from the campfire danced in the sudden chilly, damp wind, swirling through the air like scraps of paper.
After a whole night of rest, the sky grew dark and heavy again.
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