When the final glimmer of light faded from your eyes and slipped from your grasp, how can you describe that feeling?
That is despair.
Was it five seconds? Ten? Fifteen seconds before he hit the ground?
Dove's mind was completely blank. The despair bloomed and spread in his heart, shackling his thoughts and making it impossible to perceive the passage of time.
Even his last chance to turn his body mid-air was gone. He was like a meteor, crashing down.
Boom!
With a thunderous crash, Dove's upper body slammed into the ground, and his consciousness instantly blurred. A tidal wave of pain surged in to fill the blank in his mind.
The Scale Lizard, that was also cut in half, also hit the ground. Its vitality was far stronger, so even after hitting the ground, it thrashed about wildly, still full of life.
Netero stood in place, taking in everything that happened in less than a minute. He watched Law change his position in the air, watched Law cut off the enemy with one slash, and watched Dove and Scale Lizard fall to the ground from the air.
Finally, he looked at the Surprise Box that fell to the ground, and a feeling of nostalgia spontaneously arose in his chest. He was thinking about taking the Surprise Box, but a small figure moved faster than his thoughts.
"Law's Nen Beast..."
Netero stopped mid-step and calmly watched Kuro running towards the Surprise Box.
He had wanted to examine the Surprise Box more closely himself, but seeing Kuro get there first, he temporarily shelved that idea.
Shortly after, Law landed as well. Although he fell from roughly the same height, unlike Dove, he had methods to soften the impact and avoid injury.
On the surface of the lake, the huge meatball remained motionless. Even after the waves calmed down, there was no sign of Voids.
Law ignored the situation on the lake and walked straight toward Dove's upper body.
After falling from a high altitude, Dove's upper body had turned into a mangled mess of torn flesh. As for his lower half, who knew where it had landed?
The barely open eyelids proved that Dove not only did not die immediately, but also was still somewhat conscious.
Law came to his side, crouched beside him and stared silently.
As if sensing his gaze, Dove's eyes slowly turned toward him, taking Law's figure into his blurry vision.
It was a look of extreme resentment.
Faced with the gaze that seemed to want to skin him alive, Law took it calmly. As his Aura surged, his Domain expanded, enveloping Dove's upper body. Then, he began compressing part of the Domain, focusing it around Dove's head.
The two just stared at each other, and no one spoke.
Law's eyes were calm but contained a hint of killing intent, while Dove's was filled not only with extreme resentment, but also burning, unrelenting rage.
A person with such strong emotions before dying will often leave behind resentment after death, but that will just become food for Law's Nen.
Compress. Compress…
Dove felt it was becoming increasingly difficult to breathe, and his skull felt like it was being squeezed by countless invisible hands. If it were not for the protection of his Aura, his head would've burst like a ripe melon.
The breathable oxygen was thinning that it was almost become non-existent, and breathing was now pointless.
This feeling of slow suffocation allows Dove to deeply feel that death is approaching step by step. In this situation of walking towards death, his negative emotions only grew stronger and stronger.
Until finally, his last breath slipped away. The remaining half of Dove's chest slowly stopped moving and there was no sound.
His half-lidded eyes remained open, filled with the lingering shade of hatred.
Only when he confirmed Dove had truly died did Law rise and begin walking back toward Netero.
Stare into his eyes, then kill.
Throughout the whole process, Law remained silent, and Dove seemed to have no energy to speak, so when he saw Law, he didn't say anything either.
In that thick silence, a life was extinguished. And with it, Law felt a sense of relief.
He didn't care about the huge deformed meatball at all, let alone the potential threat of the Voids to the human world. The reason why he came here with Netero was very simple, that was to get rid of the Seirin Group's remnants and ensure Sanbica's safety.
In the distance, Kuro picked up the Surprise Box, which was the conjured item left behind after Ghost Lady's death.
Despite falling from such a height, it was completely intact.
'Better hide this for now.'
Lirp swallowed the Surprise Box in one gulp, then turned his head and looked around slyly. He suddenly froze, as he saw Law staring at him quietly.
"You didn't see anything… right?" Kuro said, trying to act serious and suppress its awkwardness.
Law simply curled his index finger. He was originally walking towards Netero, but then noticed Kuro's actions and happened to see him swallowing a strange square box, which fell from Dove.
Kuro walked over to Law calmly.
"Spit it out." Law said flatly.
Kuro's face fell, and he opened his mouth and spit out the Surprise Box.
Law glanced at the Surprise Box, then casually stuffed Shin into Kuro's mouth before picking up the Surprise Box.
The moment he touched it, the White Smoke Font appeared, giving the option of whether to absorb it, and also listed the functions of the Surprise Box.
"Surprise Box..."
A strange glint flickered in Law's eyes. When he saw the functions listed by the White Smoke Font, he immediately understood that those artificial creatures and the huge meatball in the lake were all products of the Surprise Box, so he did not choose to absorb the Surprise Box immediately.
"You know the Surprise Box?"
Netero's voice suddenly rang in his ears, as he had heard Law muttering its name.
Law was stunned. His attention had been entirely on the White Smoke Font and he hadn't noticed Netero's approach at all.
The main reason was that the flow of Aura in Netero's body was too quiet. At that level, even while using Ten or Gyo in direct combat, one could still miss his presence.
'But for Netero to call it by name immediately… it meant he recognized the Surprise Box.'
'Should I say I know or I don't know?'
His thoughts raced, and Law calmly replied, "I don't know it. But when I touched the box, the name just popped into my head."
Half a lie, half the truth.
The White Smoke Font is an absolute secret and not even the slightest hint could be revealed.
Netero raised his eyelids and was about to ask Law for the Surprise Box to take a look, when the lake, which had been calm for a while, became agitated again. It was the huge meatball that suddenly began to move again.
The sound coming from the lake attracted both Law and Netero's attention.
On the surface of the lake, the countless human limbs on the meatball began to tremble at a rapid pace.
Law and Netero could clearly see tendrils of black Aura flowing over the surface of the meatball, which was something they had not seen just now.
At the same time, countless dead bodies suddenly floated up on the surface of the lake, and soon covered the entire surface of the lake. These dead bodies were all creatures living in the lake.
The black Aura wrapped around the huge meatball was actually the Nen left behind by Dove after his death, while the corpse floating in the lake was the Voids' doing.
Two abnormal events occurred simultaneously, and with no countermeasures for the time being, thick green smoke emerged from the bottom of the lake without warning, spreading rapidly.
Just like the countless floating corpses, it covered the entire lake in a few seconds.
The huge meatball was entangled by the green smoke and was swallowed by it in a short while.
However, the green smoke, which posed a fatal threat to living creatures, had no effect whatsoever on the huge meatball.
The reason for this is that Dove's Zombie Mushroom had strengthened through his death, thereby depriving the giant meatball of its status as a living creature. And since it wasn't alive, the poison naturally had no effect t.
Everyone in the prison was dead, and the Seirin Group's remnants were completely wiped out. But the aftermath was far from over.
On the shore, Law and Netero retreated without hesitation. They turned around, and ran in the direction they came from.
The green smoke was spreading rapidly, and it seems to be trying to engulf the entire island.
As far as Law was concerned, no matter what chaos Void or the meatball stirred up, it had nothing to do with him.
If he had the chance, he would definitely go to the underground space to take a look.
But if the situation didn't allow it, then he would have no choice but to evacuate Sanbica and the others from the island… for now.
Looking back at the spreading green smoke, Law's expression remained indifferent.
Netero was also paying attention to the green smoke and the huge meatball that was continuing its rampage within the green smoke, with a frown on his face.
He'd come to the island and accomplished virtually nothing. And now this thing that remained… didn't seem like it could be dealt with by force alone.