High in the sky, a green-yellow Dragon-shaped Demonic Beast was traveling through the clouds.
It had three pairs of wings and a slender body; every beat of its wings stirred up whistling air currents, leaving several visible white contrails behind it.
On the back of the Demonic Beast, two people stood steadily.
Zeno stood in front, his silver-white hair drifting in the wind, his hands behind his back and tucked into his sleeves, his gaze looking calmly ahead.
Sliva was behind him, his muscular arms gleaming with a bronze luster under the sun.
On the horizon ahead, a gray-white mushroom cloud was slowly rising.
"Old man." Sliva's voice was low.
"It seems we are one step late."
Zeno did not turn his head, merely giving a faint hum.
"It doesn't matter, our employer is not them."
He looked down at the ground, where a white figure was emerging from the ruins.
"We've arrived, let's go down."
The Demonic Beast let out a low cry, and the two jumped down.
Leo and Kalluto were preparing to leave.
Kalluto had taken out the teleportation medium, crouching on the ground, about to place it on a flat stone.
Two sounds of breaking air came from the sky.
The sound was sharp and piercing, as if something was tearing through the air at an extremely high speed.
Leo sensed it the moment the sound rang out.
His body was faster than his consciousness— "Ken" instantly covered his whole body, golden Nen flowing on the surface of his skin, forming a dense protective layer.
He looked up, his gaze shooting toward the sky.
Kalluto was a second slower.
Seeing Leo's reaction, his hand suddenly stopped, and he looked up.
Two black dots were rapidly enlarging, swooping down from the high altitude.
Leo's powerful eyesight allowed him to clearly see the faces of those two people—silver-white long hair, clothes with the words "Active Duty" written on the chest, and another with white long hair and purple clothes.
Sliva and Zeno of the Zoldyck Family.
Leo's pupils contracted slightly.
Zoldyck?
Appearing here at this time, they were coming for him.
They weren't hired by the Ten Dons; those people were already dead.
It was the person behind the Doctor.
Kalluto also saw two blurry figures; his body suddenly stiffened, and he blurted out,
"It's the enemy!"
He put away the teleportation medium and assumed a fighting stance.
A paper fan slid from his sleeve into his hand, the fan half-open; his body leaned forward slightly, his eyes full of vigilance.
Two seconds later, "Bang!"
Dust kicked up from the ground.
As the dust dissipated, the figures of Sliva and Zeno slowly walked out.
Kalluto's eyes widened.
"Da... Dad and Grandpa?!"
His voice carried a tremor he hadn't expected.
He looked at Sliva, then at Zeno, his lips moving before he finally managed to call out,
"Dad! Why are you here? Are you here to kill Leo?"
Sliva did not answer.
He stood there, his hands hanging naturally at his sides, his gaze passing over Kalluto and landing on Leo.
That gaze was very calm, without a ripple, just looking at a task that needed to be completed.
Kalluto's face turned pale for a moment.
He understood; he knew his father too well—no answer meant silent agreement.
"Why—"
Kalluto wanted to say something, but Leo raised his hand to stop him.
"Kalluto, don't say anything."
Kalluto turned to look at him, his eyes filled with anxiety.
"But..."
"Kalluto!"
Leo's voice was calm, but his tone was a bit heavier than usual.
He looked straight into Kalluto's eyes and shook his head.
Kalluto opened his mouth, his Adam's apple bobbed, but in the end, he didn't make a sound.
He looked at Sliva, then at Zeno, wanting to find a hint of softening on their faces, but there was nothing.
That wrinkled old face had no expression, and those eyes, cold as blades, held no warmth.
Zeno spoke.
"Kalluto, step back."
His voice was not loud, but every word pierced into Kalluto's ears like a nail.
"You should know the ancestral teachings and rules of the Zoldyck Family."
Kalluto's body stiffened.
Of course he knew. As a child of the Zoldyck Family, he had been instilled with those rules since he was young—the mission comes first, the client comes first, the Family comes first.
One cannot be soft-hearted toward the target of a mission, one cannot mix personal feelings into a mission, one cannot violate the will of the Family for anyone.
He thought he could do it; he thought he was prepared.
But now, when his father and grandfather were truly standing in front of him, when that blade was truly about to fall, he realized he wasn't prepared for anything.
On one side was Leo.
The person who took him away from Kukuroo Mountain, the person who rented him a house, the person who let him know what freedom tasted like, the person who smiled and said to him, "Welcome to the team."
On the other side were his relatives.
His father, his grandfather, the Family he had looked up to and chased after since he was a child.
He stood there, his heart in great torment.
Leo looked into his eyes and spoke again. This time, his voice was softer.
"Don't worry. Let me handle it myself."
Kalluto looked at him for a long time.
In his eyes, something was slowly extinguishing.
He took a deep breath, lowered his head, and took a step back, then another.
His fingers gripped the paper fan, his knuckles turning white, but in the end, he still didn't open it.
He retreated to the distance, stood next to a rock, lowered his hands, and watched quietly.
After Kalluto walked away, Leo turned around and looked at Sliva and Zeno.
Three people stood on the empty ruins, surrounded by rubble and scorched earth, with a gray-white sky overhead.
The wind blew, rolling up a few scorched blades of grass.
The corners of Leo's mouth turned up slightly.
"I didn't expect that when we met again, it would be time to fight for our lives."
He looked at Sliva, the man he had met once at the Shiririko Auction House.
At that time, Sliva had come to kill members of the Phantom Troupe; they were two parallel lines with no intersection.
Now, these two lines had finally collided.
"May I know who hired you?"
Sliva looked at him expressionlessly.
"I cannot tell you. Keeping secrets for the client is the rule of the Zoldyck Family."
Leo smiled, not surprised at all.
He had his guesses about who had placed the assassination order.
The greatest possibility was the person behind the Doctor—the man who was hidden in the top echelons of V5, held great power, and to whom even the Ten Dons had to bow their heads.
Liam!
Leo did not press further.
He knew he couldn't ask, and he didn't need to ask.
He looked at the two people in front of him.
Sliva, the current head of the Zoldyck Family, an Emitter Nen User.
Zeno, the former head, also an Emitter, whose Nen Ability had long since reached perfection, a top expert whose Nen cultivation level had reached the [Extreme] level.
In the entire Emitter category, only the Ant King Meruem and Zeno had reached the [Extreme] level of Nen cultivation.
These two joined forces and once fought Chrollo in the original work.
That battle was anticlimactic and had no result.
But it was obvious that Zeno had not used his full strength—he was wary of the Bandit's Secret in Chrollo's hand and did not want to take risks without knowing the details.
But he was not Chrollo either.
His strength was already very close to Chairman Netero.
He was not worried that he would die at the hands of these two.
"Then may I ask."
Leo's tone was relaxed.
"How much did the other party pay?"
Zeno glanced at Sliva, but Sliva did not speak.
Zeno withdrew his gaze and spoke faintly.
"Well—it's not impossible to tell you."
He raised his right hand and held up two fingers.
"Your life is worth 20 billion."
Leo raised an eyebrow, the corners of his mouth curling up slightly.
"Only 20 billion? So little?"
"I'm afraid you will lose money. My life is not so easy to take."
"And there are only the two of you; didn't old man Maha Zoldyck come? If the three of you attacked together, I might have fallen here."
He shook his head as if feeling sorry for the Zoldyck Family.