A golden sea of flame engulfed both Sasuke and Largin.
But they fared differently. Sasuke, as Ron's Nen Beast, had a natural resistance to fire – especially since his base powers leaned around fire techniques more than lighting, he was simply overshadowed by Natsu's more powerful fire. However, even if he got damaged by fire Ron continued feeding him fresh aura, allowing Sasuke to withstand the blaze. Largin, who was already at his limit, had no such advantage.
Caught in that inferno, his life ended there.
Boom!
By the time he collapsed, the surface of Largin's body was a layer of charred black.
Hisoka's eyes flickered.
"He didn't use that when facing me. I see Ron was hiding far more skills.
Fascinating."
Ron moved among the corpses, gathering them up. While A-Class corpses might mean nothing special to most, they held value for Ron – he could feed them into Sumas's Trial Grounds. The Herd was slightly different from ordinary Nen users, though. As Parker had mentioned, their members not only had strong individual abilities but also possessed valuable Nen tools.
They'd had three such tools in total. Hisoka took one of them—the curved twin blades that belonged to Tri-Eye, capable of producing slicing wind blades. It was the second time Hisoka had ended up with an opponent wielding a similar style of weapon, and he felt there must be some odd "destiny" with scimitars. Now he had both blades strapped at his waist.
The second tool was the bunny-girl's microphone, which amplified her sound-based powers.
The third was the clown's brightly colored orb, capable of altering aura's nature into six different elements: flame, frost, lightning, corrosion, explosion, and storm. At the same level of output, it consumed more aura than a simple Nen Bullet, but the trade-off was a greater variety of effects.
"This will be quite handy for me," Ron mused, turning the ball over in his hands. "My Nen Bullets are a decent attack method, but too limited. If I combine them with this, I can up my game considerably."
He decided to name it "Six-Harmony Sphere," after the orb's six attributes. With the fighting done, the plaza returned to a tense calm, though it bore heavy marks of the earlier battle.
Stepping away from the carnage, Ron approached Zeno and Silva.
"Grandfather Zeno, Uncle Silva."
Zeno glanced his way. "From here on, that matter no longer concerns you. Will you return to the Zoldyck estate with us?"
"Yeah," Ron replied. "It's been a while. I'd like to go back and check in."
"Then come along. Your great-great-grandfather is waiting for us in the mountains."
Mido—the magical beast that Zeno and the others used to reach Saherta so quickly—was already resting nearby, exhausted from the journey. It resembled a Western dragon from Ron's past-life memory, though not nearly as strong in combat. Its real specialty was speed.
"Sure," Ron agreed.
Neither Zeno nor Silva spared a glance for Hisoka. But Hisoka, well acquainted with Illumi's ties to the Zoldycks, knew that was their way. He merely pulled out his phone and sent Ron a text:
¨Don't forget our deal.¨
Ron texted back:
¨See you at Heaven's Arena.¨
Soon, Ron spotted Maha Zoldyck perched on a hilltop. Nearby, Mido lay sprawled on an open patch of ground.
"Great-Great-Grandfather!"
Ron jogged over. The Zoldyck family valued kinship, and for Ron especially, Maha was the closest thing to a father figure he'd had. He'd grown up under Maha's wing, enduring the harsh training and lessons Maha designed.
Maha Zoldyck gave Ron a once-over, smiling.
"Not bad. You've gotten taller."
In his youth, Maha had been a towering figure, though age had gradually whittled him down. When Ron first left the Zoldyck estate, they'd been about the same height, and now Ron was noticeably taller.
The four of them mounted Mido's back. The creature beat its wings, rising into the sky and setting off toward the Zoldyck estate. Unlike their mad dash to get here, Mido flew more leisurely now, no longer in a hurry, and it was tired besides. The flight was bumpy, nowhere near as smooth as an airship, but none of them minded. After all, they were three A-Class Nen users plus an S-Class – a bit of turbulence didn't bother them.
Ron turned to Maha. "Great-Great-Grandfather, how will the Saherta Union situation be resolved? This isn't just a local affair anymore; it's become V5's concern, right?"
Maha nodded. "Yes, it's out of Saherta's hands now. The whole V5 is involved."
"Then what about Oster?"
"Oster?" Maha echoed. "That's the man behind Gegus's death, the one who orchestrated those attacks on you?"
Ron nodded.
"The Saherta Union will take him into custody. He won't appear in the outside world again. Parasites are forbidden—sealed long ago. I only encountered them once, ages past. People have tried to research them in secret, but I never imagined anyone would see real progress. The V5 is very interested. Oster's findings will be shared among them, and from there, how they use them is no concern of ours."
Ron nodded, his mind racing through scenarios. Oster had gone to great lengths to bury evidence of his research—slaughtering Gegus's entire team and trying to kill anyone else who'd stumbled on that remote village. Hanzo and Ruco had already left, so Oster hadn't moved on them yet (or perhaps had dispatched people who hadn't caught up). Ponzu was a special case.
"It was clear from how he treated Ponzu that he didn't just want to silence her. He intended to capture her. Which suggests she's holding something crucial he needs. Likely the Hive Queen."
Ron recalled what the vine-wielding man said—that Ponzu was the only survivor—and how Oster had fixated on her whereabouts ever since. Plus, the Hive Queen had revealed that Parker wasn't human, but rather one of her own kind, an experimental subject of Oster's.
A sudden hypothesis took shape in Ron's mind.
"Transformation. Oster might be seeking to transform himself into a non-human being of some sort."
With that ominous possibility hanging in the air, Ron gazed out at the passing clouds, leaving the Saherta Union—and its dark secrets—behind.
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Note; Do you see now why Ron just says Great-Grandfather when referring to Maha? I find it annoying to say Great-Great-Grandfather xD. Will go back to that after this chapter
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