Ability conditions met.
Morrow seized the opportunity to retreat, quickly creating distance.
Youpi stood frozen in place, his gaze firmly captured by the golden specks of light drifting through the air.
He had arrived with overwhelming bloodlust, fierce and unstoppable.
Yet this violent momentum had now become his weakness.
Not only had he failed to gain the upper hand with his fierce attack, but in the brief moment they faced each other, Morrow had already planted a Star Mark on him.
But even if Youpi hadn't been affected by his anger, his shallow understanding of the Nen system would have led to the same outcome.
This was precisely why Morrow had chosen to target him.
Taking advantage of Youpi's momentary distraction, Morrow channeled all his strength, gathering it into his palm.
As one of the King's Royal Guards, Youpi's aura output undoubtedly exceeded Level 100, a height unattainable by humans.
Not to mention his almost unreasonable bone strength.
Morrow wasn't certain whether a fully-powered Shooting Star, enhanced by its return effect, could penetrate Youpi's astonishing aura defense.
But even if it couldn't inflict any substantial damage on Youpi, it would still activate the new ability he had recently developed.
The aura emanating from Morrow as he concentrated his Nen finally snapped Youpi out of his daze.
What was that golden chain just now?
Is it related to those specks of light?
What kind of ability is this?
I can't figure it out... but my body doesn't seem to feel any abnormalities.
Youpi quickly pondered, then just as quickly abandoned his train of thought.
He couldn't comprehend the connection between the starlight and the golden chain, much less guess the mechanics behind the ability.
The only thing he was sure of was that his body felt no discomfort.
Because of this, he stopped overthinking it and sharply focused on the flow of aura around Morrow.
The life energy that had been covering Morrow's entire body was rapidly converging toward his palm.
This was clearly an attack being charged,
but it also left the rest of his body completely exposed and unprotected.
Witnessing this, Youpi didn't hesitate to launch a fierce attack at Morrow.
Despite having been inexplicably immobilized by that golden chain for an instant earlier, his movements showed no hesitation, not even a trace of concern.
Not far away.
Morel and Shoot, observing from the sidelines, saw everything clearly.
According to the original plan, since Morrow had successfully drawn Youpi's attention, what they should do now was find the other Royal Guard.
Moreover, Knuckle must have sensed Youpi's astonishing aura and might have even witnessed Morrow descending from the sky. He would undoubtedly rush over at top speed to support Morrow.
So now, should they continue with their respective duties as planned, or should they intervene at this critical moment to buy Morrow the time he needed to complete his charge?
Morel and Shoot made their judgments almost simultaneously.
At least for now, if they stepped in to help, they might be able to reduce the pressure on Morrow when he later had to restrain Youpi.
Without the slightest hesitation, Morel gripped his massive pipe and, drawing on his rich combat experience, sprang into action in an instant.
'Deep Purple'. A massive plume of white smoke erupted from his mouth, instantly coalescing into sixteen smoke soldiers that cut into the battlefield from the side, forcibly blocking Youpi's path of attack.
Meanwhile, Shoot, who had reached the same conclusion as his master, failed to take that step forward.
His legs seemed rooted to the ground, pinning his body firmly in place as he could only stare blankly at Morel's retreating back.
Faced with a critical moment,
He remained...
Hesitant.
This was a weakness Shoot had never been able to overcome.
Even though he deeply despised this aspect of himself, he simply couldn't change it.
Time and time again...
Whenever a decision had to be made, he would always falter.
Just like now, though he clearly knew what he should do, he still hesitated and missed the opportunity.
Morel's sudden intervention immediately caught the attention of both Youpi and Morrow.
Youpi glanced at the sixteen smoke soldiers and without hesitation swung his willow-like arms, completely destroying the obstacles in his path.
All sixteen smoke soldiers lasted only a single second.
Meanwhile, Morrow continued charging his attack, glancing sideways at Morel.
Their eyes met briefly in the air.
Morrow gave a slight nod toward Morel.
Morel also nodded faintly, then as the smoke soldiers dissipated into wisps, he abruptly stopped, holding his pipe horizontally before him. He deliberately released his maximum aura output, adopting a stance of all-out attack.
This move indeed captured Youpi's attention once again.
Youpi looked at the closer, more aggressive Morel and naturally switched targets, viewing him as the next object that needed to be eliminated.
The aura intensity of these humans was completely insignificant.
A single strike would be enough to completely crush him.
A murderous gleam flashed in Youpi's eyes as his extended arm prepared to swing, determined to tear this reckless human to shreds.
However, just before he could strike, Morel suddenly turned while carrying his pipe and fled at full speed.
As if his previous stance and aura of fighting to the death had been nothing but a meaningless joke.
'?' Youpi was momentarily stunned.
What kind of joke is this?!
After processing what happened, his first thought was to charge at Morel and strike him from behind.
But at that moment, a fluorescent green light swept across his vision.
Youpi's gaze shifted to see a Nen bullet glowing with fluorescent green light shooting diagonally into the sky before suddenly stopping mid-air.
Only then did Youpi realize he had been tricked by Morel.
Whether it was the smoke soldiers or the feigned stance of fighting to the death,
Everything,
Had all been to buy time for Morrow, allowing him to complete his final charge without any risk.
Damn humans!!!
In his rage, Youpi's face contorted, becoming so ferocious he almost lost his original form. A violent Nen pressure erupted around him, kicking up large amounts of sand and dust.
His roar echoed in all directions.
However, before the final echoes could completely fade, the Nen bullet suspended in the air already traced a blinding arc as it descended like a meteor.
The fluorescent green light rapidly expanded in Youpi's sharply contracting pupils.
The next moment,
A deafening explosion roared to life!
The fluorescent green energy bloomed like an angry flower bud, instantly swallowing Youpi's figure.
A violent shockwave exploded outward in a ring pattern, the ground cracking inch by inch as rubble and dust were violently thrown upward, only to be pulverized into fine powder by the powerful impact.
This was yet another Emission attack of terrifying power. The violent commotion caused by the explosion once again seized the attention of everyone on the battlefield.
It seemed to be a blatant declaration to the Chimera Ants: the one assaulting the nest is right here.
However, for Neferpitou,
even without the explosion, she could have pinpointed Morrow's location instantly.
She simply hadn't expected that, having emerged just a few steps behind Youpi, she would witness him being directly struck by that fully unleashed Nen bullet.
Given Youpi's temperament and combat style, how could he allow his opponent to maintain a safe distance and execute such an all-out attack?
What had happened in between?
Neferpitou wasn't sure, but she knew what she had to do now.
'Puppeteering.'
Leaping from the heights of the Chimera Ant Nest, Neferpitou once again materialized Puppeteering mid-air.
But this time, instead of roughly using it as a temporary foothold, she landed lightly in the giant palm of the outstretched Puppeteering.
One of Puppeteering's abilities was levitation,
which meant it could exert force mid-air just as it would on the ground.
In the next moment, Puppeteering's hands abruptly closed, gently and securely holding Neferpitou within its palms.
Then, like throwing a baseball, it hurled her forcefully toward Morrow below.
A direct, straightforward, and swift assault.
In Neferpitou's view, this posed no risk whatsoever.
Thanks to her precise perception of human aura intensity, she had already confirmed this.
So whether it was a frontal assault or a covert ambush, even without concentrating her Nen at a single point, she was confident of achieving an overwhelming victory in a confrontation with a human.
This was the most direct advantage brought by the intensity of life energy.
Before the aftermath of the explosion had even dissipated, Morrow detected the aura fluctuations of Neferpitou activating Puppeteering.
But he merely glanced up at the figure above before immediately turning his gaze to the unsettled smoke and dust ahead.
Youpi's surging and ferocious aura still raged within the haze, showing no signs of weakening.
As expected... it still couldn't break through his defenses.
Despite being mentally prepared, a flicker of disappointment crossed Morrow's heart.
After all, to meet the conditions for the Star Mark locking ability of Starlight Convergence,
if he had made even a single misstep, he could have met a gruesome end under Youpi's savage assault in the next moment.
This was the risk he had to bear.
And after successfully planting the Star Mark, while tasked with diversion, he still had to unleash the Deceptive Shooting Star using Ko right in front of Youpi.
This, too, meant that during the charging process, he would be exposed to even greater danger.
From activating the ability to delivering the full-force strike,
Morrow had been walking a tightrope high in the air, where the slightest disturbance could send him plunging into an abyss of ruin.
Yet, even an attack accomplished under such immense risk had failed to yield any tangible results.
This was the most insurmountable aspect of the Royal Guards.
With just the overwhelming hardware advantage brought by their immense aura output, they could render even humanity's most desperate attacks meaningless.
However, Morrow's disappointment lasted only a moment.
After all, even Netero's powerful strike had failed to inflict any truly effective damage on Neferpitou.
So how could he expect to severely injure Youpi with just a single attack of his own? Morrow maintained his aura in a heightened yet stable critical state, his gaze fixed on Youpi's turbulent aura fluctuations within the billowing smoke.
Only when a sharp whistling sound pierced the air from above did Morrow finally shift his gaze to meet Neferpitou, who was diving toward him with lethal intent.
The judgment surfaced naturally in Morrow's mind the moment Neferpitou's bloodlust-filled figure entered his vision: only by using Ko to concentrate all his aura output at the point of impact could he possibly block her attack.
Yet, faced with this imminent mortal threat, Morrow's eyes remained so tranquil it seemed as though he wasn't the target at all.
Thus, at the convergence of extreme motion and stillness, his nearly indifferent gaze met Neferpitou's.
Time and scene seemed to abruptly rewind to that night of their previous clash.
In this seemingly infinitely stretched instant, Neferpitou once again saw Morrow's eyes, calm to the point of disregarding death.
This was the second time.
A heavy doubt surged within Neferpitou.
No longer constrained by the Chimera Ant Nest's safety, she held absolute confidence in ending Morrow's life with her next strike.
But why... did this human remain so composed, without a trace of reverence for death in his eyes?
It was as if, from the moment she struck, he had already been certain...
Her attack was utterly meaningless.
She refused to ponder further.
Her lethal claws were about to sever Morrow's lifeline.
But what followed was even more unbelievable.
In the infinitely stretched time, Neferpitou saw Morrow abruptly avert his gaze, looking once more toward the lingering smoke.
I'm being ignored?
In that instant, she suppressed her inexplicable doubt.
Her sole thought was to pierce through Morrow's chest with her claws.
Yet, the moment she abandoned thought, the answer revealed itself.
It was a golden light.
An unavoidable attack.
It came from nowhere, without a sound.
Only at the last moment before impact did she suddenly realize.
The image of Morrow turning his head away, so close before her eyes, rapidly receded in her violently widening field of view.
The truth was...
Someone had intervened at the critical moment, forcibly interrupting Neferpitou's certain strike.
Thus, for the second time, she missed her chance to kill Morrow.
The one who had struck and sent her flying was, naturally, Netero.
Morrow dared to completely ignore Neferpitou's threat precisely because he was confident Netero would intervene faster than she could pierce his chest.
Thus, he chose not to divert his focus to counter Neferpitou, instead concentrating entirely on guarding against Youpi, who was regrouping within the smoke.
This bold yet meticulous act, seemingly a provocation of death, was rooted in unreserved trust in Netero's ability.
However, Netero had no way of knowing Morrow's true thoughts.
What he saw was Morrow's nearly flawless tactical composure and calmness in the face of a powerful enemy.
It was undoubtedly a form of spiritual strength.
Having reached this conclusion, even as Netero detected Youpi's rapidly intensifying aura fluctuations within the smoke... He chose not to intervene.
Just as Morrow believed he could stop Neferpitou.
He also believed that Morrow had his own means to restrain Youpi.
Thus, Netero used the 100-Type Guanyin Bodhisattva to strike himself, propelling his body like a cannonball soaring into the sky, chasing directly after Neferpitou.
And in the very moment he left the battlefield, a crimson spear condensed from flesh and blood suddenly tore through the smoke, thrusting straight toward Morrow!
But how could Morrow, in his state of complete focus, fall for such a move?
He dodged it with ease.
And a thought arose in his heart.
Fortunately, the target I chose was you, Youpi.