Without hesitation, Shalnark activated his final trump card.
Black Voice's Autopilot!
This ability would cause Shalnark to lose consciousness while simultaneously unleashing an aura output far greater than usual.
The explosive surge in aura output could drastically enhance Shalnark's physique, strength, speed…
And even his pre-programmed combat techniques under Autopilot.
In essence, this was an ability capable of breaking through the "limits of the human race."
Fundamentally, it was akin to violently shattering a jar filled with "potential Nen" and releasing all of that Nen output in one go.
"Autopilot, activated."
After inserting the antenna into himself, the phone in Shalnark's hand emitted a female voice prompt.
Seeing Shalnark immediately activate "Autopilot," Morrow responded just as decisively.
Boom! Boom!
He gathered and released aura beneath his feet at the fastest possible speed.
Propelled by the explosive force of Emission, he ascended into the air like Iron Man.
By this point, even more aura output surged violently from Shalnark's body, and the impish-looking phone issued its next prompt.
"Target locked."
As the female voice faded, Shalnark's eyes lost focus, and his entire body erupted with a torrent of golden aura.
The sheer energy of this aura alone generated powerful shockwaves.
High above in the sky.
Morrow looked down at Shalnark, now enveloped in a vast golden aura.
Though somewhat inappropriate, the image of a Super Saiyan naturally surfaced in his mind.
In a way, the overwhelming aura he was witnessing now indeed matched that analogy.
All I need is to stay one second ahead, and your ability becomes meaningless.
Gazing down at the surging golden aura below, Morrow continued ascending rapidly while hurling two Shooting Stars downward.
At the same time.
"Commencing target elimination!"
With the impish phone's announcement, Shalnark's Autopilot fully engaged.
BOOM!
A terrifying burst of aura erupted beneath Shalnark's feet, cratering the ground beneath him.
Propelled by this explosive force, his body transformed into a golden streak of light, shooting straight toward Morrow in the sky.
Yet just as Shalnark rapidly closed the distance, the two Shooting Stars Morrow had thrown earlier arrived beneath his feet.
The Shooting Stars steadily supported Morrow, carrying him even higher into the sky.
But Shalnark was no Super Saiyan capable of flight.
Though he could propel himself to great heights with his monstrous explosive power, without another foothold to push off from, he could only helplessly begin his descent.
Standing atop the Shooting Stars as they carried him upward, Morrow calmly observed Shalnark's now-faltering momentum below.
The distance between them, once close enough to reach out and touch, was now visibly widening with every passing second…
Had Shalnark been conscious, he would have realized. The farther he was from Morrow now, the closer he was to defeat.
This was the fatal flaw of Autopilot. Once the target was locked and action initiated, it would proceed inflexibly like a cold, unfeeling program.
Thus, when Shalnark crashed onto the ground, another terrifying burst of force erupted beneath his feet.
In an instant, his entire body transformed into a streak of golden light once more, stubbornly and relentlessly attempting to chase after Morrow, who was already far beyond reach.
Yet, this was ultimately a futile effort.
As the distance between them grew, Morrow's gaze toward Shalnark was that of a man looking at a corpse.
Feitan, Shalnark, it didn't matter.
The follow-up abilities of these two could barely be considered the same type; once activated, they could utterly crush their opponents with overwhelming force.
But their abilities also shared the same flaw.
The startup time.
Feitan's Rising Sun, after meeting its conditions, required three stages: aura eruption, materializing the heatproof armor, and releasing the Rising Sun ember.
Meanwhile, for Shalnark to activate his Autopilot Mode, he had to go through three stages as well: inserting the antenna, locking onto the target, and initiating execution.
From the moment they triggered their abilities to full activation, at least one second was needed.
Though the startup time was a weakness, if the opponent didn't know Feitan and Shalnark's abilities, they would usually only realize the danger by the second or third stage.
And only after recognizing the danger could they formulate a countermeasure.
But by then, completely evading Feitan and Shalnark's abilities was no longer an easy task.
Morrow knew their abilities.
So he could seize that crucial one second.
That one second determined the line between life and death.
That one second pushed the value of intel on abilities to its absolute limit.
Shalnark, trapped in Autopilot Mode, rapidly exhausted all his potential aura in his repeated, desperate attempts to launch himself skyward.
In less than a minute.
His potential aura was completely depleted.
The dazzling golden aura dissipated in an instant, and Autopilot Mode deactivated.
"Huh?"
As he exited Autopilot, Shalnark's consciousness returned, and he immediately felt an overwhelming ache throughout his body.
But he ignored the exhaustion, swiftly scanning his surroundings, only to see crater after crater littering the ground.
"Did I… take care of him?"
His eyes flickered, but he wasn't sure.
The next moment.
A presence descending from the sky gave him his answer.
BOOM!
Under Shalnark's wide-eyed, horrified gaze, Morrow crashed down like a meteor, the impact blasting a crater into the earth.
The shockwave that followed sent wind and rain lashing against Shalnark's body.
Weakened, aching, and completely drained of aura, Shalnark was like a frail invalid, the force of the blast sent him tumbling to the ground.
"Wh-what's going on…?"
Struggling to rise, he suddenly felt the rain pelting his body turn unbearably cold.
He had always believed that relying on Autopilot to defeat enemies was an act that left him with no sense of accomplishment.
But that also meant he had absolute confidence in Autopilot's overwhelming strength.
Because of this, when he saw Morrow completely unharmed, for a brief moment, he could hardly believe his own eyes.
Morrow slowly straightened, his body wreathed in an oppressive aura as he stepped forward, one deliberate stride at a time, toward Shalnark. Without any aura protection, Shalnark felt as if he were standing naked in a frozen wasteland, his heart completely chilled by Morrow's overwhelming aura.
"You...!"
Shalnark's eyes widened as he tried to speak, but Morrow suddenly vanished from his sight in an instant.
The next moment.
Shalnark's vision spun violently.
He froze for a second before seeing his own headless body in the wildly flipping view, and Morrow holding a blade in his hand.
Soon, darkness swallowed his consciousness.
Thud.
The large head crashed heavily onto the ground, splashing water.
The spider had lost its second leg.
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Bonus chapter @200 power stones.