Babimyna's En wasn't massive, but it wasn't small either. Liam estimated it could cover a multi-bedroom apartment, maybe fifteen meters in radius. When Babimyna activated it to scan for Nen script, everyone following him was naturally included in the detection sphere.
So this is what it feels like to be inside someone else's En.
Liam examined the sensation. It was like being watched by invisible eyes, a subtle pressure against his aura. Not unpleasant, exactly, but not comfortable either.
Not particularly special, honestly.
They followed Babimyna through the moonlit grassland until he stopped at a cluster of boulders. Frost glittered on the stone surfaces like scattered diamonds.
The Blanchett guards trailing behind hesitated, whispering into their headsets. Probably asking for instructions. Probably being told to stay alert.
Babimyna stopped in front of the largest boulder.
"There," Shizuku said, adjusting her glasses. She crouched, examining the surface.
Weeds grew thick around the base of the stone. Menchi pushed them aside, revealing intricate carvings beneath. "Is this the Nen script you were talking about?"
The symbols were dense, layered, spiraling across the rock like some ancient totem. They looked primitive. Ritualistic. The kind of thing you'd expect to see at a blood sacrifice, not a nature reserve.
Shizuku reached out to touch the script.
Liam grabbed her wrist. "Hold on. We don't know what it does yet."
He turned to Babimyna. "Is this the only one?"
Babimyna opened his mouth to answer.
His eyes sharpened. His head snapped to the side. "Who's there?"
A cold wind rose from nowhere.
The Kakin soldiers immediately drew their pistols, aiming into the shadows.
Liam, Menchi, and Shizuku activated Gyo in unison, their eyes glowing faintly.
The pale child appeared.
Flickering. Translucent. Like a candle flame barely clinging to life. Its form wavered in and out of focus, more suggestion than substance.
The Blanchett guards looked around, confused. They couldn't see anything. Just their employers suddenly acting paranoid.
Liam and the others shifted their aura to their ears.
The voice came through, thin and hollow.
"Hui Guo Rou... must die... Hui Guo Rou... must die..."
Around them, the forest came alive with glowing eyes. Dozens of Misery Moon Tigers emerged from the darkness, their sapphire markings shimmering like living constellations. They prowled in a loose circle, watching, waiting.
"Hui Guo Rou... must die..."
The chant repeated. Over and over. The temperature dropped. Frost crept across the grass.
Babimyna caught on to Liam and the others' technique. He concentrated aura in his ears. His expression, normally unreadable, shifted. Just slightly. A flicker of concern.
Menchi had sweat beading on her forehead. Shizuku, unbothered as always, just stared at the pale ghost with mild curiosity. If Liam could read her mind, he'd have smacked her. How are we even remotely similar?
Babimyna made a subtle gesture. His soldiers understood immediately. They moved behind the Blanchett guards. A series of muffled thuds. The guards crumpled, unconscious.
Liam glanced back. "Efficient."
Babimyna ignored him, focusing on the pale ghost. "Young Prince?"
"Hui Guo Rou... must die..."
No response. The ghost's eyes were as pale as its skin. No pupils. No emotion. Just emptiness.
Babimyna frowned. "Young prince?"
Menchi clenched her jaw. What the hell? Why is this Kakin guy throwing out royal names like he's guessing at a lineup? Do Kakin princes just die that often?
Apparently, yes.
"Hui Guo Rou... must die..."
The voice grew hollower. The moonlight above seemed to thin, grow colder, sharper. Goosebumps crawled up everyone's arms.
"Hey, hey, what's going on over—"
Dago and his crew stumbled into view, flashlights swinging. They froze. The pale ghost. The unconscious guards. The glowing tiger eyes surrounding them like a siege.
"Why are there so many Misery Moon Tigers?" one of them whispered.
"Did you find something?" Dago asked, trying to sound professional and not terrified.
Liam pointed at the boulder. "Besides the ghost? Yeah. Nen script. Inject your aura into it, and maybe something happens. No guarantee it's safe. No guarantee it's good."
Dago and his crew hesitated, exchanging glances.
Liam looked at Menchi and Shizuku. "What do you two think?"
"Your call," Shizuku said.
Menchi shrugged. "Stop pretending you don't already know what you're doing."
Liam grinned. "Professionalism means doing the job even when it's stupid."
Babimyna, meanwhile, was still trying names. "King Wangu?"
"Stop guessing, man," Liam said. "He's saying 'Hui Guo Rou must die.' You're not Hui Guo Rou. You're a soldier. Why are you nervous?" He gestured at the ghost. "Look. He's not attacking you. Let's just touch the script and see what happens."
Liam, Menchi, Shizuku, Dago, and his hunter friend stepped forward. They placed their hands on the boulder's surface, letting their aura flow into the carved symbols.
The moment their Nen made contact, the script flared white.
"What the—"
Liam's voice cut off.
They turned into light. All of them. Their bodies dissolved, crashed into the boulder, and vanished into the Nen script.
Gone.
The Kakin soldiers stared, mouths open.
And then the pale ghost moved.
It swelled. Expanded. Its small, fragile form erupted outward, flesh peeling away to reveal bone, limbs elongating into wings, a skull stretching into a dragon's maw. Within seconds, the ghost had transformed into a massive skeletal dragon, four wings spread wide, green will-o'-wisps dancing in its empty eye sockets.
The aura radiating from it was monstrous. Malicious. Overwhelming.
"Is this level of aura even real?!" Babimyna immediately activated Ken, wrapping his body in maximum defense. He took two steps back. "Pure malice..."
The bone dragon's skull lowered, its hollow gaze fixed on Babimyna. The voice that emerged was deeper now, resonant, like wind through a crypt.
"Must die...!"
The roar shook the air. Ordinary people wouldn't hear it. But to Nen users, it was deafening.
Among the glowing tiger eyes scattered through the forest, one pair was watching with particular interest.
Lumos. Or rather, Liam, possessing Lumos.
He stared at the bone dragon, and words appeared in his mind, unbidden, like he was reading invisible text.
"Eternity Unending."
Specialist-type.
Parasitic.
A soul that died with hatred fused with a Nen beast that lived in its body. The resentment lingers, anchored to the place the ancestors left behind. The Misery Moon Tigers serve as vessels for reincarnation, life after life. The grudge never fades. No true consciousness remains. No intelligence. Only when it encounters the blood of the Hui Guo Rou royal family does its true murderous intent awaken.
Liam blinked. His perspective shifted.
"Liam, are you okay?"
Menchi waved her hand in front of his face. "You look like you fell asleep standing up."
"I couldn't understand it, but I was shocked," Liam muttered.
Shizuku extended a hand. Liam grabbed it, pulled himself upright, and brushed dust off his clothes. He looked around. "Where the hell are we?"
Flashlight beams swung toward him. Liam squinted, raising a hand to shield his eyes. A spirit-gun charged instinctively on his other hand.
"Don't shoot!" Dago's panicked voice. "It's us!"
The flashlights lowered. Dago and his crew stood in a dim corridor, looking rattled.
"What are you swinging those things around for?" Liam snapped. "I almost blew your head off by accident."
Dago looked sheepish. "Sorry."
Liam dispersed the charged Nen on his fingertip. About 100 aura wasted. He frowned, scanning the walls.
Stone. Ancient. Carved with patterns. And something else.
He activated Gyo, concentrating aura in his eyes.
"Is there something?" Menchi asked, stepping closer.
Shizuku did the same, her eyes lighting up. "There's writing on the wall?"
"It's a message written in Nen," Liam said, studying the glowing script. "Only Nen users can see it. Kind of redundant, honestly. Anyone who can trigger the Nen script to get in here is obviously a Nen user. Why bother hiding the message with Gyo? Who are you trying to keep secrets from..."
He turned to Dago. "What does this place look like to you?"
Dago and his crew were also using Gyo now, reading the words on the wall. "Probably an ancient tomb," one of them said.
"That explains it," Liam muttered.
Menchi read the message aloud. "'Give me some face. Don't disturb this place.' Signed... Ging Freecss."
Liam froze.
Menchi blinked. "You know that name?"
Liam stared at the wall, at the casual, almost flippant handwriting glowing faintly in his Gyo-enhanced vision.
Ging Freecss.
Gon's dad. One of the top five Nen users in the world. The guy who designed most of Greed Island's game mechanics and then ditched his son to go play archaeologist.
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