Monster !"
That single word surfaced simultaneously in the minds of the remaining members of Adam's mercenary unit.
Five people now.
No one could tell whether the thought originated from one individual and spread through their shared senses, or if it was born at the exact same instant in all of them through Adam's Nen link. Under [Missing Wave – Five Senses Sharing], such distinctions had already lost meaning.
At this moment, Rimo's face calm, composed, even handsome appeared utterly distorted in their perception. Not because it had changed, but because their minds could no longer process him as human. To them, he had become something else entirely… a creature wearing human skin.
From the start of the battle until now, Rimo had already sensed something unnatural.
These opponents… they never spoke.
No verbal signals.
No eye contact.
Yet their coordination timing, spacing, attack rhythm was flawless to a degree that exceeded even veteran Nen users who had fought together for years.
In the world of Nen, even highly synchronized fighters like elite Enhancers or veteran squads still relied on subtle cues: shifts in aura, line of sight, or instinct born from experience. Even among tightly bonded groups, there were limits.
But these five…
They moved as if they shared a single consciousness.
Not anticipation certainty.
Not cooperation unity.
Even individuals like quintuplets, who shared identical upbringing and instincts, could not reach this level of absolute synchronization. Empathy was not the same as shared perception.
Rimo's suspicion deepened.
And then
He confirmed it.
When he used the spatial displacement of [Bombing Space] to instantly appear before the black-haired boy earlier, two of the members had not even been facing his direction.
Yet
All of them reacted at the exact same moment.
Not by searching for him.
But by already seeing him.
That reaction alone shattered any remaining doubt.
"…So that's it," Rimo thought.
"Their senses are linked."
None of the five displayed a Nen ability consistent with sensory sharing. The bald man was clearly an Enhancer. The glasses user combined Conjuration and Emission. The long-haired fighter leaned toward Transmutation. The cataract user controlled insects Manipulation.
There was no Specialist among them.
Which meant
"There's a sixth."
The moment that realization crystallized, Rimo no longer hesitated.
A vast and overwhelming aura erupted outward from his body.
[En]!
Unlike ordinary Nen users whose En might extend a few dozen meters at most, Rimo's aura spread violently, swallowing the surroundings like a storm.
Within a radius of nearly two hundred meters, everything fell under his perception.
Every movement.
Every breath.
Every fluctuation of aura.
And
Hidden within that field
A presence.
"Found you," Rimo murmured.
Far away, concealed under Zetsu to suppress his presence, Adam felt it instantly.
The moment Rimo's En brushed against him, it was as if his entire existence had been exposed, stripped bare before something immeasurably vast.
His body froze.
His heartbeat slowed.
Time itself seemed to distort under the crushing pressure of that aura.
This wasn't just Ren.
This was something far beyond what Adam understood.
Within Rimo's En, Adam felt like an insect pinned under a magnifying glass.
"…This is bad."
No
That wasn't accurate.
This wasn't "bad."
This was
Death.
Adam's brain, honed through countless battles and strategies, began operating at maximum capacity. Under normal circumstances, he could analyze variables, calculate probabilities, and devise countermeasures in an instant.
But now
Nothing.
Every path led to the same conclusion.
No escape.
No counterplay.
No survival.
No matter how he rearranged the variables, the result remained unchanged.
He would die.
And worse
He understood why.
Every previous miscalculation stemmed from a fundamental error: he had treated Rimo as a Nen user bound by rules.
But Rimo's abilities
Reflection.
Spatial cutting.
Instant movement.
Each one alone could be considered a high-level Hatsu.
Yet Rimo wielded them together, seamlessly.
Even with the known restriction that he could not maintain multiple spatial effects simultaneously the gap between them remained insurmountable.
Against such overwhelming Nen output and control, strategy lost meaning.
Meanwhile
Rimo observed the remaining five.
Their minds, linked through Adam, were collapsing under pressure. Fear spread instantly through the network, amplifying itself.
"So this is the limit," Rimo thought, a trace of disappointment surfacing.
One of the defining aspects of Nen combat something that set it apart from brute-force battles was the clash of intellect, deception, and creativity.
Much like complex stand battles in JoJo, victory often depended on how abilities were applied rather than raw strength.
That was what Rimo had hoped for.
But now
"They're done."
Their will had already broken.
"Looks like it's over."
Rimo raised his right hand casually.
The air in front of him distorted.
A裂け目
A spatial fracture formed.
[Bombing Space].
In the next instant
He vanished.
And reappeared directly before the cataract user.
Too fast.
Even with shared vision, their brains couldn't process the transition.
Rimo's hand moved.
" puff!"
The space itself collapsed along the trajectory of his strike.
There was no cutting motion in the conventional sense.
No blade.
No resistance.
Just
Erasure.
The cataract user's head disappeared instantly, consumed by the spatial distortion. Blood erupted upward in a violent spray.
"…Second."
The remaining three broke.
"Run!"
For the first time since the battle began, their synchronization fractured.
Fear overrode Adam's control.
They fled in different directions.
Rimo watched them for a moment.
Then sighed.
"Too late."
His fingers flicked.
Three black blades modified throwing knives appeared between them.
He infused them with Nen, engraving spatial markers through his Hatsu.
Then
He threw them.
The knives cut through the air with precision, each locking onto its target.
The moment they closed the distance
Rimo moved.
Not by speed.
But by displacement.
In less than a second, he appeared beside each of them in succession.
And each time
His hand passed through space.
Each time
Space collapsed.
Each time
A body was severed cleanly in two.
No struggle.
No resistance.
Only silence.
Within his En, every position was absolute.
Every movement, calculated.
Without it, even Rimo might have found the rapid spatial shifts disorienting.
But now
It was effortless.
Moments later, the battlefield fell completely still.
Rimo returned to his original position.
Only one presence remained within his En.
Adam.
"Now then…" Rimo said lightly, turning his gaze toward the shadows.
"Do you come out, or should I come get you?"
A pause.
Then
Adam stepped forward.
Hands raised.
But there was no fear left on his face.
Instead
A strange, almost feverish light burned in his eyes.
Through Five Senses Sharing, he had experienced everything.
Every death.
Every moment.
Five times over.
He had lived those deaths.
And survived.
His previous worldview his belief that intelligence and strategy reigned supreme had been shattered completely.
In its place
Something new was born.
Not fear.
Not despair.
But
Reverence.
"So this is it…" Adam muttered.
"The truth of Nen… isn't strategy…"
"It's power."
Absolute.
Overwhelming.
Inhuman.
He looked at Rimo as though gazing upon something divine.
"I…"
Adam took a step forward.
"I want to follow you."
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