Hisoka.
He is a man loyal to his desires.
There is only one thing he pursues.
And that is the ultimate pleasure brought by battle.
In his world, there are only two simple, pure relationships:
Hunter and prey.
To him, whether he is the hunter pursuing his desired prey or the prey being hunted by others, there is no fundamental difference.
What he truly enjoys is the thrill of life-and-death combat in the process of hunting and being hunted.
To satisfy this desire, he will stop at nothing and is even willing to compromise temporarily.
Every action, every thought of his is solely to seek opponents, whether now or in the future, who can fulfill his craving for battle.
Right now, his eyes can only hold Morrow. He wants nothing more than to fight Morrow to his heart's content.
This extreme, almost manic emotion is laid bare through his aura, without reservation.
Kalluto had never seen such a terrifying and twisted aura before. His face paled in shock.
Morrow instantly flashed in front, shielding Kalluto.
"You're scaring the kid, Hisoka."
Before the words even finished, Morrow, expressionless, unleashed his maximum aura output, using a cold, razor-sharp bloodlust to block out Hisoka's intensely emotional aura.
Hisoka saw Morrow's aura and couldn't help but feel deeply surprised.
He's gotten stronger...
Much stronger!
During the time he had been restraining himself, the ripeness of this apple before him had far exceeded his expectations.
How?
In such a short time?
It doesn't matter.
Heh, hehe…
It doesn't matter at all.
Hisoka received it clearly, an unbelievable delight.
His golden pupils trembled wildly, his completely distorted face twisting into an expression as if he wanted to devour Morrow whole.
Kalluto cautiously peeked out from behind Morrow. The moment his gaze met Hisoka's twisted, manic face, a chill shot up his spine, freezing him to the core.
Faced with Hisoka's aura, which seemed to have reached the limits of restraint, Morrow remained eerily calm.
His eyes swept over the torrential rain outside the window as he said flatly, "Stop acting crazy here. Let's take this outside."
"Heh."
Hisoka naturally had no objections.
Suddenly, he raised a hand and pushed open the window beside him.
In an instant, cold wind mixed with rain howled inside, the damp chill hitting their faces.
Without hesitation, Hisoka leaped out the window into the storm, his movements carrying a certain flair.
Seeing Hisoka jump out, Morrow immediately walked to the open window.
In just that short time, the ground beneath the windowsill had already been soaked by the rain. The cold wind continued to rush in, noticeably lowering the temperature in the ward.
Outside the clinic.
Hisoka, having jumped from the second floor, looked up at the window, his face brimming with impatience.
However, the expected sight of Morrow following right after him did not happen.
Instead, he saw Morrow poke his head out of the window, giving him a look as if he were staring at a lunatic, before decisively shutting the window.
"?".
Hisoka froze for a moment.
But soon, he sensed Morrow's presence moving to the first floor. Shifting his gaze to the clinic's entrance, he saw Morrow push open the door and step outside.
"..."
Hisoka fell silent for a moment before suddenly understanding the meaning behind Morrow's earlier glance.
It clearly said: What a lunatic, taking the window when there's perfectly good stairs.
In fact, Hisoka's interpretation wasn't wrong.
Morrow's expression had indeed carried that implication, but with one additional layer: Now you're letting cold air blow on Kurapika, the patient.
Ignoring Hisoka's reaction, Morrow walked straight past him toward the outskirts of town.
Although the clinic was relatively remote, it still fell within the town's boundaries, with scattered residential buildings nearby, clearly unsuitable as a battleground.
Moreover, in such an environment, Hisoka's abilities would hold greater advantage while Deceptive Shooting Star would be difficult to utilize fully.
"Let's go outside. Any objections?"
Morrow led the way, pointing toward the town's outskirts.
"Mmm~"
Hisoka still voiced no opposition.
For him, as long as it was a one-on-one fight to the death, any additional conditions were irrelevant.
Morrow glanced back at Hisoka, thinking No wonder Chrollo played you to death.
The two soon arrived at a clearing beyond town.
The distance from clinic to clearing wasn't actually far, but for Hisoka who'd been restraining himself to the limit, the journey felt interminable.
Yet now that they'd truly "stepped into the ring," Hisoka found himself less impatient.
"I came from the "graveyard.""
With a flip of his hand, a Joker Card appeared between Hisoka's fingers, his tone meaningful.
"Oh."
Morrow responded indifferently, maintaining maximum aura output.
From Morrow's reaction, Hisoka gleaned little.
Though poised for imminent combat, he retained some curiosity about the charred corpse's identity at the graveyard.
"I met... Shalnark there."
Hisoka didn't elaborate on the "location" topic nor mention the corpse's existence and identity, instead directly referencing another person.
Shalnark.
This abrupt, essence-targeting questioning style often disrupted psychological preparation, leaving little time for contemplation.
To Hisoka, if Morrow truly hadn't participated in the graveyard fight, hearing Shalnark's name should elicit no special reaction, just an unfamiliar name.
Conversely, if Morrow had indeed fought Feitan, he might react to Shalnark's presence.
Even the slightest reaction would confirm Hisoka's earlier intuitive judgment.
This was Hisoka's indirect probing.
After mentioning Shalnark, he scrutinized Morrow's response closely.
Just as expected...
He caught an extremely fleeting change in Morrow's gaze, confirming his suspicion.
Morrow lowered his eyelids, slowly drawing the Poultry Scarlet Knife into his palm.
Knowing Hisoka had come for him specifically, Morrow wasn't surprised to learn Hisoka had come from the graveyard.
Shalnark's presence, however, was unexpected.
A coincidence...
Compared to Hisoka's inevitable appearance here, Shalnark arriving at the graveyard shortly after the battle's conclusion seemed more like an unfavorable accident.
This also meant the Phantom Troupe would soon learn the corpse was Feitan's.
"Hisoka." At this thought, Morrow casually raised his sword before him, his expression calm as he asked, "I have a question for you."
"Hmm?"
Hisoka watched him with keen interest.
Without caring whether Hisoka would answer or not, Morrow went straight to the point: "Are you a "Spider"?"
"..."
Hisoka's eyes narrowed slightly, surprised by the question and unsure of Morrow's motive in asking.
"No."
But Hisoka didn't evade the question, giving a straightforward and truthful answer.
Because the dead don't reveal secrets.
And if he were the one to die, it wouldn't matter anyway.
"Then, shall we begin?"
Hisoka then raised a playing card to his chin, his gaze growing increasingly excited and greedy.
Morrow gave a slow nod.
That motion was as good as a starting gun.
In an instant, Hisoka flicked his wrist, sending three playing cards flying toward Morrow while simultaneously pushing off the ground, charging right behind them.
Morrow focused aura into his eyes, brightening them like torches in an instant, guarding against Hisoka's signature combination of In and Bungee Gum.
With a swift motion, he fired three ping-pong ball-sized Shooting Stars forward, accurately intercepting the three airborne cards.
At that moment, Hisoka dashed through the scattered fragments of the shredded cards, closing the distance rapidly. With both hands, he produced six more playing cards from nowhere and hurled them all at Morrow in one fluid motion.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
The six cards spun at high speed from both sides, slicing through the rain as they flew toward Morrow.
Facing Hisoka's relentless assault, Morrow maintained Gyo in his eyes, instantly detecting the Bungee Gum Hisoka had secretly flung alongside the cards, its traces erased by In.
"Resorting to tricks the moment you close the distance..."
Morrow abruptly pressed his toes against the ground.
"Gazelle!"
With a powerful push, the water puddle beneath him was instantly compressed dry as he swiftly retreated backward.
The moment his feet touched the ground again, the aura gathered in his left palm had already formed into a Nen bullet, which he fired at the rain-soaked ground before him.
Boom!
The Nen bullet exploded violently, sending up a surge of shockwaves and murky water spray, obscuring Hisoka's vision and blocking both the incoming cards and the concealed Bungee Gum.
Unfazed by the two thwarted attacks, Hisoka remained unfazed.
But Morrow's unwavering vigilance with Gyo and his deliberate avoidance of direct contact with the cards made it clear that he was wary of Bungee Gum.
"I'm delighted."
Hisoka's lips curled into a wide grin.
Just then, a Shooting Star pierced through the water spray, aimed straight at Hisoka's face.
Reacting swiftly, Hisoka tilted his head slightly to dodge it, then flicked a playing card between his fingers, though this time, he didn't throw it.
Because...
The distance was now perfect.
Hisoka lunged forward, stepping through the falling droplets, closing in on Morrow.
"Rhythm Echo."
As Hisoka neared, Morrow's footwork abruptly shifted in tempo, creating a series of afterimages as he retreated to widen the gap.
Yet Hisoka, sharp as ever, discerned the real from the illusion, chasing Morrow's true form with surgical precision, his playing card poised like a scalpel. Morrow's eyes flickered slightly. Facing Hisoka's fierce assault, he neither activated his Starlight Convergence ability nor maintained Gyo in his eyes. Instead, he swung his Poultry Scarlet Knife to deflect the playing cards slashing toward him.
Clang!
Mid-air, the collision between the playing card and the poultry knife sparked a shower of sparks.
To make a playing card that hard undoubtedly required an exceptionally high level of Shu, a testament to Hisoka's skill.
After deflecting the card, Morrow didn't spare a glance at his knife, using the momentum to create more distance between them.
Just then, the Shooting Star that Hisoka had dodged earlier by tilting his head now returned at an even faster speed, aiming for the back of Hisoka's skull.
To be precise, the Shooting Star's treachery mechanism was designed to target Morrow.
But since Morrow and Hisoka were aligned in a straight line, it was Hisoka who had to face the returning projectile.
However, having already witnessed the Shooting Star's treachery during their first encounter, Hisoka was prepared.
As the Shooting Star neared, he swiftly sidestepped, letting it whiz past him and head straight for Morrow ahead.
Morrow, however, raised the back of his hand, intercepting the Shooting Star's trajectory.
Clank!
The projectile struck the indestructible Tree Rings tattoo on his hand but didn't explode upon impact. Instead, it rebounded, flying back toward Hisoka.
Hisoka was slightly surprised but reacted instantly, leaning his upper body forward abruptly.
The Shooting Star grazed past his scalp.
Simultaneously, dazzling Nen particles, radiant as starlight, enveloped Hisoka in that instant.
It was Morrow's Starlight Convergence.
While dodging the Shooting Star by leaning forward, Hisoka had already seized the moment to flick his wrist, sending a playing card arcing gracefully yet lethally toward Morrow's neck.
Morrow retreated a step, narrowly avoiding the card aimed at his throat.
But Hisoka's attack didn't end there.
The arm that had swung the card in a diagonal slash, now missing its mark, used the momentum of its motion to whip forward several other playing cards pre-attached to his shoulder with pink Nen Threads...
Like pendulums, these cards extended their reach, carving tiny arcs as they slashed toward Morrow.
This attack method was incredibly deceptive, almost impossible to guard against.
Most people, after evading Hisoka's exaggerated arm-swinging card slash, would likely seize the chance to counterattack.
And in doing so, they'd fall right into Hisoka's trap, struck by this hidden follow-up.
Unfortunately for him...
Morrow's Starlight Convergence leaned more toward defense, and he had no intention of counterattacking, so there was no chance he'd take the bait.
Quickly processing the information, Morrow retreated further, dodging the pendulum-like cards.
Even so, the aura-laden cards' residual force sliced several gashes into the fabric over Morrow's chest.
This was the drawback of having too little aura output in Starlight Convergence mode.
When Morrow allocated his limited aura output to enhance the explosive power of his lower body, other areas inevitably became more vulnerable.
As a result, the Nen-infused playing cards nearly threatened Morrow's life with just their residual aura.
But ultimately, it all came down to Hisoka being too cunning... Compared to Feitan's straightforward attacks, Hisoka's unpredictable and insidious tricks were far more troublesome.
However, Morrow could still rely on his Starlight Convergence ability to mitigate the risks. Even if his clothes were slashed, as long as he wasn't injured, he was still accumulating successful dodges.
Seeing Morrow evade the pendulum-like slashes of his cards, Hisoka understood that Morrow's reaction speed was entirely due to the starlight permeating the surroundings.
Swiftly adjusting his stance, Hisoka reached behind his shoulder and flicked his fingers, lifting the pink adhesive threads attached to the cards.
Then, using both hands, he rapidly swung the cards wrapped in pink Nen threads, weaving a dazzling blur of afterimages before charging straight at Morrow.
This kind of wide-ranging, airtight assault was the natural counter to Starlight Convergence.
Morrow dodged the first two cards flung at him with incredible speed.
But to minimize risk, he decisively abandoned the aura sustaining Starlight Convergence and instead focused on maximizing his aura output for defense.
Yet Hisoka's onslaught was relentless, forcing Morrow into retreat. In a critical moment, he raised his knife to block, only to be sent staggering back by the overwhelming force behind the cards.
The properties of Bungee Gum, combined with the increasing centrifugal force, imbued the cards with devastating power.
Realizing the situation, Morrow knew he had to create distance first before disrupting Hisoka's assault with long-range Shooting Stars.
And so he did, leaping back several times to put space between them.
Hisoka's gaze subtly flickered to the Poultry Scarlet Knife in Morrow's hand, his lips curling into an exaggerated grin.
Throughout their earlier exchanges, Morrow had consistently used Gyo to guard against Bungee Gum.
But under the pressure of Hisoka's relentless attacks, this defensive measure had faltered.
This was only natural.
In close-quarters combat, a Nen user prioritizing offensive and defensive aura output couldn't sustain Gyo on their eyes indefinitely.
Hisoka exploited this very pressure, using the collisions between his cards and the Poultry Scarlet Knife to secretly attach strands of Bungee Gum to the blade.
This was the essence of In at its finest.
Hisoka was certain Morrow hadn't noticed the Bungee Gum clinging to the knife.
Now, all he had to do was maintain the pressure while waiting for the perfect moment to activate the Bungee Gum on the blade.
To create that opportunity, Hisoka lunged forward like a javelin, charging at Morrow with unstoppable momentum.
Faced with this fierce assault, Morrow hastily retreated, his footwork and coordination inevitably thrown into disarray.
Seizing the moment, Hisoka triggered the Bungee Gum attached to the Poultry Scarlet Knife.
Swish, swish, swish...
The cards at the other end of the threads contracted like rubber before hurtling toward Morrow at blinding speed.
If these cards, propelled by the elastic force, struck the poultry knife with enough impact, Morrow's guard would be shattered, leaving him wide open.
And that would be Hisoka's chance for a decisive, lethal strike.
But...
Had Morrow truly not "seen" the Nen on the Poultry Scarlet Knife?
Indeed, he hadn't. Because when he actively used the Poultry Scarlet Knife to block the playing cards, he no longer had any energy left to use Gyo on his eyes.
All of this was to make Hisoka believe that he had been overwhelmed by the rapid pace of the battle, leading to an unavoidable oversight.
If he didn't use Gyo, naturally, he wouldn't be able to confirm the presence of In.
But Morrow didn't need to confirm it at all.
Because from the very beginning, he had "assumed" that Hisoka would resort to such tricks.
Or rather, as long as he deliberately gave the opportunity, Hisoka would seize it to employ such tactics.
But why go to such lengths?
Of course...
It was to safely accumulate the number of evasions needed to fulfill the conditions of his ability.
"Starlight Convergence."
In an instant, starlight enveloped Morrow's entire body, and he flung the Poultry Scarlet Knife to the ground.
Thud.
More than half of the crystalline blade sank into the earth.
At the same time, several fiercely flying playing cards were drawn toward the knife on the ground.
Morrow simply stood in front of the knife, then dodged a few cards in a half-hearted, almost performative manner.
The next moment...
The conditions for the Star Mark ability were met.
Under Hisoka's slightly stunned gaze, golden light shimmered around him, and the faint silhouette of chains gradually materialized…
"It seems you celebrated too soon."
Morrow calmly stared at Hisoka, his palm manifesting a stalactite-like spike of aura.
The Star Mark was planted.
As long as the difference in aura output wasn't too great, Hisoka's defeat was all but assured.
--------
I forgot to publish Chapter 198. If you missed it, it's available now. I've also released an extra chapter.
Bonus chapter @100 power stones