Under Uvogin's thunderous roar, amplified by Nen and echoing through the old hideout they had been using since returning from their last job in Yorknew, the news of Rimo's exit from seclusion shook the entire house.
The moment Machi and Nobunaga heard Uvogin's unmistakable voice, both reacted almost instinctively. Nobunaga's En flickered outward for a split second before he suppressed it, confirming the familiar presence upstairs. Machi, more subtle, extended a nearly invisible thread of Nen through the corridor just to make sure nothing felt distorted or ruptured.
They reached Rimo's door in seconds.
"Rimo, you're out?!" Nobunaga stared at him in surprise, one hand already resting on the hilt of his katana. The aura around Rimo felt… denser. Not violent. Just compressed, like a coiled spring.
"You locked yourself up for five whole days. If Machi hadn't said she didn't sense any abnormal fluctuations in your aura, Uvogin and I would've assumed you collapsed in there from overtraining."
Machi did not speak. Her eyes, sharp and analytical as when she stitched up Uvogin's broken arm after the Shadow Beasts fight, scanned Rimo from head to toe. She focused on the flow of his Ten, the steadiness of his Ren, and the subtle rhythm of his breathing.
After confirming there were no torn aura nodes, no chaotic leakage like a novice who forced open their pores, she relaxed slightly.
Only then did she breathe out, almost imperceptibly.
Rimo blinked. "Five days?"
From his internal sense of time, honed after studying Zetsu and meditation techniques described by Wing during Gon and Killua's training at Heavens Arena, it should have been two… maybe three days at most.
Unexpectedly, five days had already passed.
"Ahahaha… really? I didn't expect it to be five days in seclusion."
He scratched his head awkwardly. In truth, nearly half that time had been spent asleep. Enforcing a Restriction and Oath wasn't as simple as shouting conditions like Kurapika did when forging his Judgment Chain. It required precise emotional focus and mental clarity. He had drained himself more than he anticipated.
Meanwhile, Uvogin had been standing guard outside like a guard dog, arms folded, aura occasionally flaring whenever someone approached. Nobunaga rotated shifts with him. Machi checked twice daily with thin aura threads to ensure Rimo's life force remained stable.
Knowing they had waited like that made Rimo feel a rare flicker of embarrassment.
"Rimo," Machi finally asked, voice calm but direct, "how did it go?"
That was her real concern.
Rimo's lips curved upward. "Oh? This… very successful."
A trace of excitement flickered in his eyes. Unlike Kurapika's chain which specialized against the Phantom Troupe, his ability wasn't built on hatred. It was structured through pure conceptual refinement of spatial control through Nen. A difficult path, but a flexible one.
"Uvogin, Nobunaga," he continued, rolling his shoulders, "didn't you say you wanted to spar? Perfect timing. Help me test it."
Uvogin grinned, veins bulging on his temples. Nobunaga's eyes sharpened instantly.
They had wanted to measure the gap between them and Rimo for a long time. Ever since seeing him effortlessly suppress a squad of mafia Nen users in Yorknew without killing them, they understood he was on another tier. But how big was that gap?
Before, Rimo had been too busy refining aura control and experimenting with Conditions.
Now, the Oath had been completed.
Even if they suspected they were being used as test subjects, neither of them refused.
"Come!" Uvogin bellowed.
The three moved to the open training ground behind the house.
Rimo stood casually in the center. "Together," he said, hooking his fingers.
They didn't mistake it for arrogance. In the Phantom Troupe, weakness wasn't shameful. Arrogance without strength was. Rimo had proven his strength repeatedly.
Nobunaga lowered his stance. Nen flowed from his torso through his right arm and into his blade. Unlike Gon's raw enhancement, Nobunaga's aura was refined and concentrated along the cutting edge, similar in principle to Ko.
Uvogin drew in a massive breath. His Ren exploded outward in a dense surge. He focused nearly all of it into his right fist.
"Big Bang Impact!"
The same principle he used to obliterate the Shadow Beasts' Worm and crater the ground beneath Kurapika.
Simultaneously, Nobunaga stepped in with explosive leg power.
"Drawing Slash!"
His blade flashed forward with Iaido precision, timed to overlap Uvogin's punch. Left and right angles sealed. Seamless cooperation born from years of fighting together.
Facing their combined assault, Rimo did not move.
Instead, he raised both hands casually.
"Unlimited Technique. Activate."
The moment their attacks approached within a meter of Rimo—
They slowed.
Not abruptly. Gradually.
Like pushing through invisible, thickened air.
Uvogin's monstrous fist, capable of leveling stone, decelerated. Nobunaga's blade, vibrating with sharpened aura, crawled forward.
Then—
They stopped.
Frozen in midair.
Not truly motionless. If one observed with Gyo at microscopic perception, the aura particles were still advancing—just at an infinitesimal speed.
"This…?!" Nobunaga's pupils shrank.
Uvogin roared and pushed harder.
Nothing.
They tried to retract.
Nothing.
Their attacks were suspended in a spatial interval where forward and backward movement were equally suppressed.
Nobunaga at least could release his sword.
Uvogin, however, had committed his fist fully. His entire right arm was caught within the field.
"Damn it!"
"Well," Rimo said lightly, "this is the result of my seclusion. My Nen ability, Unlimited Technique. Not bad, right?"
Uvogin didn't care about bragging. He redirected aura instantly.
"Flow!"
The advanced technique Rimo had taught him—rapid redistribution of aura between limbs, a refinement of Ryu.
Aura surged into his leg. He pivoted and swept a kick toward Rimo's ribs.
It stopped.
Midair.
Rimo chuckled. "You assumed the field only existed in front of my palms?"
In reality, the moment activated, the spatial distortion enveloped his entire body in a full sphere. The hand gesture was merely aesthetic.
Uvogin now had one fist and one leg suspended.
Rimo couldn't help laughing.
Then his fingers shifted into a deliberate gesture—reminiscent not of Nen tradition, but theatrics.
The suspended vectors twisted.
Uvogin's punch and Nobunaga's blade were redirected.
"Boom!"
Their attacks collided head-on.
The shockwave blasted both of them backward, smoke erupting from the ground.
They rolled and quickly regained footing. Because the aura density in both attacks was similar, neither suffered major injury.
Nobunaga coughed once. Uvogin cracked his neck.
"Rimo," Uvogin growled, eyes blazing, "what kind of ability is this?"
Nobunaga's voice followed, sharp with disbelief. "We can't advance. We can't retreat. And you can redirect our force?"
In Nen combat, control over initiative meant everything. Even Kurapika's Chain Jail required direct capture. This—
This denied motion itself.
Rimo lowered his hands, aura settling smoothly back into Ten.
"It's simple in theory," he said calmly. "By imposing a restriction that I must remain stationary at the moment of activation, I drastically increase the compression ratio of the surrounding aura. Within a defined radius, movement vectors approaching me are infinitely subdivided. The closer they get, the slower they become."
He smiled.
"As long as your aura output doesn't exceed the condition's threshold, you'll never reach me."
Silence hung in the air.
Uvogin grinned slowly.
"So if I hit hard enough…?"
Rimo's eyes gleamed.
"Then try."