While Conrad and the middle-aged woman stood facing each other,
Anisa and Cailo had been fighting for more than two minutes.
For Nen battles, two minutes of sustained close combat was an eternity.
Anisa's breathing had grown heavier.
Blood soaked parts of her clothes, thin cuts and deeper gashes marking her arms, shoulders, and abdomen.
None were instantly fatal, but together they slowed her movements, dulled her reactions, and burned with every step she took.
She was still standing still, fighting, but only because she refused to fall.
Cailo, on the other hand, looked invigorated.
The aura surrounding his twin blades had grown monstrous.
seven meters of blade-shaped aura, each swing carving the air itself.
From a different kind of perspective, it was odd for a mafia family like Herivo to have a Nen user like Cailo helping them out.
It is strange that they are capable of hiring such a man to help them out. It was not hard to see that the power level and talent of Cailo were much higher than ordinary nen users and borderline Shadow Beast Level.
Cailo rolled his shoulders and smiled.
"You end here, Madam..." he said weirdly and still pretended to have respect for his opponent.
He stepped forward.
But, before he had his chance to attack Anisa with his blade,
A heavy impact slammed into his side from the right, not sharp like Anisa's dagger, but blunt and crushing.
His ribs screamed as his body flew several meters, crashing through broken concrete before skidding across the ground.
Before Cailo could even fully process what had happened, a familiar voice reached his ears.
"It seems like you're in need of help."
Adarte stood between him and Anisa, bat resting casually on his shoulder, Nen flowing smoothly around his body.
His clothes were torn, splattered with blood that wasn't his own.
Compared to Anisa, he did not have much of a problem dealing with just mafia members.
Basically, gangsters, ordinary people with guns. They were no threat to him and did not need him to spend much of his aura.
Anisa exhaled sharply, relief flashing across her face for just a moment.
She straightened, wiping blood from her lip, and gave Adarte a small nod.
"Good timing," she said.
Cailo pushed himself up with a groan, coughing violently as blood spilled from his mouth.
His momentum, his advantage, had been interrupted.
Two Nen users…
"That wasn't expected," he thought grimly.
His eyes flicked between Anisa and Adarte, recalculating.
"If it's two… then I'll need Melisand."
That thought alone told him how dangerous the situation had become.
He prided himself on handling threats personally.
Calling for help meant acknowledging real risk.
In every kind of fight, fighting against groups was dangerous, and the risk was a lot higher.
But, in the battle of Nen, it is even more dangerous.
If the nen users in the question are intelligent and know each other, their combined attack would prove fatal to most of the nen users.
So, Cailo knew that, even if he trusted himself and his ability was active and his blade was seven meters long, he would have less than a 1% chance to win and a much higher chance to lose his life against two Nen users that were capable of fighting him.
But as those thoughts raced through his mind, something felt… off.
Anisa wasn't attacking.
She stood still, shoulders rising and falling.
Then another.
Her eyes closed briefly, as if she were centering herself rather than preparing to strike.
Cailo frowned.
She opened her eyes and looked directly at him.
"You don't know, do you?" Anisa said.
Cailo tightened his grip on his blades, aura flaring instinctively.
While he flared, Adarte gloves flared in return, as he showed that he was ready to defend his teammate and would provide close-combat support.
"Know what?" he demanded.
She tilted her head slightly, almost pitying.
"You're already dead."
The words sent a chill through him, not because they were threatening, but because of how calmly they were spoken.
Before he could respond, Anisa raised her revolver.
She didn't aim at him.
She just fired.
Five shots rang out in rapid succession, the sound sharp and echoing as the bullets streaked upward into the air, vanishing into the night sky.
Cailo's eyes widened.
Upward?
An instant later, he understood.
He turned and ran.
Away.
Every instinct screamed at him to escape, to put distance between himself and whatever condition she had just completed.
He leapt forward, aura flaring around his legs, pushing his body past its limits.
Too late.
The air above him rippled.
The bullets came down.
They fell with terrifying precision, guided by Nen.
Cailo tried to twist, tried to raise his blades, tried to expand his aura.
It didn't matter.
After conditions were fulfilled, resistance was meaningless.
That was the nature of Nen.
The bullets struck his head one after another, piercing cleanly, devastatingly.
His body collapsed to the ground, lifeless, before it hit.
Silence followed.
Anisa lowered her revolver slowly.
She staggered slightly, catching herself before she fell.
Adarte stared at Cailo's body, then at Anisa.
"…That was brutal," he muttered.
She let out a breath that was half a laugh, half a sigh.
"Marked him early," she said. "Every cut, every exchange… all I needed was time."
She glanced toward the building where Conrad had gone.
"Let's hope he's doing just as well."