Shooting Star.
Taking advantage of Phinks still having the leisure to respond to Shizuku's teasing, Morrow raised his hand and fired another Shooting Star.
No variation, still splitting.
The Nen bullets rained down on Phinks like a storm, blasting the red soil at his feet and kicking up a crimson dust cloud.
He continued to block all the Shooting Stars with Ken.
These attacks were all bark and no bite, incapable of harming him in the slightest, but they were as annoying as flies and mosquitoes.
A fierce glint flashed in Phinks' eyes as he charged forward recklessly through the barrage of Shooting Stars, each step cracking the red earth beneath him.
Ten seconds to finish this. He had indeed spoken too soon.
But his intention to end things quickly remained unchanged.
Facing Phinks' even more ferocious assault, Morrow raised a hand to signal Kalluto to step back.
Kalluto nodded obediently and immediately moved closer to Kurapika's side.
Phinks' gaze flickered briefly toward Kalluto's movement but quickly snapped back to Morrow.
Initially, he had planned to take out the seemingly weakest target, Kalluto, but Morrow's tickling Nen bullet attacks had successfully drawn his ire.
Now, Phinks' eyes were locked solely on Morrow.
He intended to crush Morrow's head with one hand as quickly as possible.
Bursting with frenzied bloodlust, Phinks tore through the obstruction of Shooting Stars and stepped into striking range in one decisive motion.
Starlight Convergence.
As Phinks closed in, Morrow calmly activated his ability.
Countless Nen motes, radiant like starlight, floated gently and harmlessly around Phinks.
Phinks' figure scattered these Nen motes as he moved, but the aura output enveloping his body detected no attack intensity, not even the slightest hint of threat.
At the same time, the moment Morrow released these Nen motes, Phinks immediately noticed that Morrow had only retained enough aura output to maintain Ten.
Is this... an ability similar to En?
Phinks' thoughts raced as his eyes reflected the countless motes of light.
If so, it must lean toward "reconnaissance." To be safe, I'll maintain Ken for now!
In an instant, he made his decision. Keeping Ken active, Phinks closed the distance to Morrow in one swift motion, then thrust forward with a Palm Blade.
But within the Starlight Convergence, the faintly glowing stars instantly read Phinks' attack trajectory.
Morrow received and processed the information, then calmly pressed his toes against the ground. Using the technique of Gazelle Steps, he propelled his entire body backward as lightly as a feather, evading Phinks' vicious Palm Blade.
Phinks' strike met empty air. In the next instant, his legs exploded with force.
Boom...
The red earth trembled and cracked.
Phinks' figure twisted, lunging toward Morrow at blinding speed.
Faced with this sudden burst of power, Morrow lowered his eyelids and immediately abandoned the maintenance of Starlight Convergence.
In an instant, the drifting motes of light scattered like dust in the wind.
This habitual tactic allowed Morrow to reclaim all his aura output at the fastest possible speed.
His entire body was now shrouded in boiling aura. His left hand gripped the scabbard, while his right swiftly settled on the hilt of his blade.
As he made this move, both his hands were enveloped in a bright, floating Nen, wrapping around the sheathed Poultry Scarlet Knife.
Iaido slash?!
Phinks was all too familiar with Morrow's starting stance.
After all, their team had Nobunaga, who specialized in the Iaido slash. To maximize the lethality the moment the blade left the sheath, one usually had to focus aura on both the hand and the katana beforehand.
Though he recognized that Morrow was about to use a combat technique similar to the Iaido slash, Phinks had no intention of retreating.
This was the conviction unique to the Enhancement type.
Clang!
In the blink of an eye, Morrow forcefully drew the Poultry Scarlet Knife. The abnormally rough motion caused the blade to scrape against the sheath, producing a grating sound and even sparking slightly.
Yet the moment the Poultry Scarlet Knife was fully drawn, Morrow followed through with the motion, hurling the blade toward Phinks, who was only a few body lengths away.
That violent drawing motion was precisely to accelerate the knife's throwing speed.
Phinks had assumed Morrow intended to use the Iaido slash to halt his charge. Never did he expect such an unconventional move, drawing the blade only to throw it instead of striking.
Despite the unexpected action, Phinks relied on his exceptional reflexes to tilt his head at the last moment, letting the Poultry Scarlet Knife's blade whiz past his cheek, leaving behind a fading crimson trail.
I overestimated you... Huh?!
Having dodged the incoming Poultry Scarlet Knife, Phinks was about to break through Morrow's defense in one go, when suddenly... his eyes reflected a dangerous glow.
The source of the light was the sheath in Morrow's left hand.
The pitch-black sheath erupted with a blinding radiance, a torrent of energy surging diagonally upward from below, slamming into Phinks' abdomen.
"Wha... what...?!"
Phinks' face twisted in shock as the point-blank energy light wave sent him flying backward.
Morrow watched calmly as Phinks was blasted away.
Earlier, he had channeled Nen to envelop both hands and the Poultry Scarlet Knife. Outwardly, it seemed like preparation for a swift drawing strike, but in truth, it was to funnel his aura output into the Abyssal Sheath as quickly as possible.
Without knowing the Abyssal Sheath's ability, hardly anyone could have guessed Morrow's true intent.
As Phinks was sent flying, Morrow couldn't be sure whether the attack had achieved significant results.
Because while Phinks appeared ferocious in offense, his defensive awareness was sharp.
Compared to Uvogin, who was more aggressive in battle, Phinks, though also of the Enhancement type, leaned closer to Nobunaga's style. While equally eager to attack, he carried an added layer of composure.
Yet beneath that composure, Phinks shared a certain trait with Nobunaga.
And that was... overconfidence.
Shooting Star.
Morrow raised his hand, firing another wave of fractured Shooting Stars at the airborne Phinks, more of an annoyance than a threat.
Meanwhile, Shizuku faced Kurapika and Kalluto alone, but with her nimble movements and mastery over her Conjuration ability, she held her ground without faltering.
However, when Phinks was blasted away, she nearly lost focus, almost exposing an opening.
Is that guy really this strong?!
Shizuku exhaled some of the smoke she had inhaled earlier, using it as cover to create distance and evade Kurapika and Kalluto's combined assault.
Taking advantage of the smoke's cover, she even had the spare capacity to observe Phinks' situation after creating distance. She couldn't help but marvel at how Morrow, who didn't seem particularly formidable, could actually make Phinks, an Enhancement specialist, struggle in a direct confrontation.
This unexpected development led her to consider a possibility.
Could it be that the deaths of Feitan and Shalnark, along with Franklin and Bonolenov's disappearance, were related to these people before her?
Was this accurate?
Shizuku did sense a hidden, threatening strength from Morrow that belied his outward appearance, but the other two... they were quite ordinary.
With this lineup, forget about Franklin and Bonolenov who had been missing for days; Feitan alone could have easily handled them.
Shizuku arrived at this conclusion in an instant, and Phinks, who had just been blasted away by the energy light wave, naturally thought the same.
He had to admit, he had genuinely underestimated Morrow's combat prowess.
After acknowledging Morrow's displayed strength, it was inevitable for him to associate Morrow with the perpetrators.
However, this speculation was quickly dismissed.
With such lackluster Emission attacks, even combined with that peculiar scabbard, they were nowhere near Franklin's Double Machine Gun.
Not to mention Franklin had Bonolenov fighting alongside him.
These three before him clearly lacked the capability to defeat Franklin's group.
Moreover, Franklin and the others were merely missing; it wasn't certain they had met with misfortune.
But regardless of the possibility... they could just ask.
So, first eliminate the other two, then break this guy's limbs and interrogate him!
Phinks processed all this in a flash.
"Shizuku!"
Mid-air, his fierce eyes suddenly widened as his right arm swung like a windmill.
It was the opening stance of his Nen ability, Ripper Cyclotron.
The ability concentrated most of his aura output into his arm, amplifying its power through rotation.
The more rotations, the greater the destructive force.
But at this very moment, Morrow had just fired a split-type Shooting Star.
By initiating Ripper Cyclotron's charging phase now, Phinks was essentially stripping off his Nen armor, leaving himself exposed to danger.
Quite confident... but not unexpected.
Morrow's eyes narrowed slightly, taking in every movement of Phinks.
An Enhancement user who developed an ability like Ripper Cyclotron would naturally possess extreme self-assurance.
Confidence to withstand all interference during charging, and confidence that the attack would land once completed.
This personality trait, reflected in the ability's mechanics, was identical to Nobunaga's; even knowing his Iai Strike would leave him vulnerable, he remained convinced his blade would behead the enemy first.
As a transmigrator, Morrow could grasp and understand these individuals' Nen abilities.
But leveraging this advantage effectively was another matter.
The true key was using Nen ability intel as a starting point to analyze deeper personality traits.
This happened to be one of Morrow's specialties.
So it was with Feitan, and now with Phinks.
Morrow would make better use of this advantage.
Within the battlefield, Shizuku heard Phinks' shout.
At that moment, she had just used the smoke to break free from Kurapika and Kalluto's combined assault. Having kept an eye on Phinks' situation earlier, she quickly assessed the circumstances and realized his intent.
"Blinky, suck up Phinks' clothes!"
Shizuku immediately issued the command.
"Ha-yo!"
Blinky obeyed, opening its large mouth and generating a powerful suction force directed at Phinks.
Under this targeted suction, Phinks was yanked to the ground, tumbling toward Blinky.
At the same time, a barrage of Shooting Stars streaked past overhead.
Blinky's suction had inadvertently helped Phinks evade Morrow's wave of Shooting Stars.
But the assistance didn't end there.
Once the Shooting Stars passed, Phinks, while maintaining the buildup for Ripper Cyclotron, used the suction force to propel himself swiftly toward Shizuku.
His goal was to eliminate Kurapika and Kalluto first, then deal with Morrow at his leisure.
Shizuku, recognizing his intent, cleverly adjusted her position while activating Blinky's ability, ensuring that Kurapika or Kalluto remained in Phinks' direct path.
Nice work, Shizuku!
Phinks silently praised her seamless coordination.
This was the beauty of teamwork.
Next... he would use Ripper Cyclotron to obliterate one of them first!
Phinks' killing intent surged.
But just then, a stellar cross abruptly materialized in his path.
It was Morrow's Insidious Shooting Star!
The seemingly harmless Shooting Stars Phinks had dismissed earlier, along with the brief use of Starlight Convergence, had all been preparations for this moment.
The "vital point" Morrow aimed to strike was Phinks' vulnerability when using Ripper Cyclotron, a state where his Nen defenses were inevitably compromised.
If he seized this critical instant, Insidious Shooting Star would become a perfect counter against Phinks.
Starlight gleamed on the ground, and a Shooting Star erupted from it.
It struck precisely where Phinks' feet landed.
Phinks had anticipated Morrow using the splitting Shooting Stars to disrupt him and had prepared accordingly.
But he never expected that the "Shooting Star" would erupt directly from beneath him.
Disbelief flashed in Phinks' eyes.
Boom!
The long-planned Insidious Shooting Star detonated from the ground, its violent energy like the fangs of a beast, instantly shredding everything below Phinks' waist into a crimson mist of blood and bone.
The ensuing shockwave hurled his bisected torso into the air.
Morrow slowly rose from the ground, watching the severed figure of Phinks soaring through the air before striding toward his landing point.
As he walked, he glanced at Shizuku in the distance.
At that moment, the somewhat airheaded and straightforward member of the Spider, No. 8, stood frozen in shock, her mouth agape at the sudden turn of events.
Morrow withdrew his gaze as Phinks' mangled remains crashed onto the red earth, kicking up a bloody dust cloud.
Although everything below his waist had been completely shattered, this confident Enhancer who enjoyed crushing necks and skulls with his hands still clung to a sliver of life.
"Itchy?"
Morrow looked down at Phinks' face frozen in shock and resentment, his tone eerily calm.
Phinks' eyes widened, his features locked in a mask of fury and unwillingness.
He tried to struggle upright, only to spill more of his severed intestines onto the sand.
The impact of Shooting Star hadn't just crushed his lower body; it had ruptured his internal organs.
Now, even speaking was beyond his reach.
What awaited him... was only death.
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Bonus chapter @150 power stones.