Dark nights, dark heights. Dark street lamps and bright star lights.

An endless star filled sky showcased the heavens. It was hard not to look up in awe at the celestial night sky. Canyons of steel and cement acting as narrow corridors to the heavens. The stars were finally allowed a temporary reprieve from the blinding lights of the city. As I ran, I admired a sight so grand and vast: human civilization pressed against a shining night sky; black pillars holding up a black, bespeckled wall of light.

It was majestic.

Unfortunately, I had to make sure this bright night sky was the only night York New City ever had.

If stopped my run and turned around toward the dead skyscrapers of the Center, you could see the glow of fires and hear mad screams. Of gunfire and conflict. Terrible rumbles and tremors. The sound of a howling winds. The noises of my Master defending a city…

The thoughts pushed us forward to the desert Outskirts…

The five of us moved quick but quiet, able to move like air because of Nen. Our sixth tagger-on, our resident Nen Cop, was doing his best to keep up. The sound of heavy breathing and gasping escaped him.

Behind his aged good looks and greasy charisma was belly fat full of donuts and coffee.

But I had to give it to him. He kept up. He had to.

The sun was going to rise in about four hours.

We noticed the clouds and citizens of the Outskirts were dead or gone. We had no time to spare if we wanted to stop this plot. I forced us to pick up the pace.

We raced across the city. Over cars, rooftops, and overpasses. Our speed dented metal and cracked cement with every step. The wind we generated knocked away anything not pinned down, such as garbage cans and broken glass.

But we didn't care. Time was of the essence.

We saw it. The street the Hert Hotel resided on. A pulse of adrenaline.

We turned the corner fast and sharp. We were a little less than five blocks from the Hert Hotel. I stared down the street, my eyes squinting to pick up details. Even with a blurry left eye, I could see the area around the abandoned hotel had changed drastically in the few hours since I was here. Our enemy had time to create defenses...

Sandbags, broken down cars, and concrete road barriers. They had been set up a defensive perimeter around the hotel, on the dead end street the hotel sat on. Machine gun emplacements and snipers on the low-rise buildings that lead to the high-rise hotel. I stared at the hotel only a few blocks away from the alley I met Jin-E…

The hotel was a tall, ritzy, and rich building that would have been a grand sight for any hotel, let alone half built. A giant white, rectangular building with an art deco aesthetic. Colossal statues of angels sat in prayer on the exterior of the building. The entrance had eight stained glass windows covered in biblical iconography, above it a large ornate brass clock. Below the grandiose display sat three doors covered in copper.

All of it tarnished by age and neglect.

In front of the doors were sandbags. Along with the entire street filled with over three dozen army-grade mafia goons. All of whom strapped to the gills with rifles and armor.

A panicked yell. They switched on gigantic floodlights powered by generators. They pointing of guns in our direction…

The Twins sped forward with a laugh and announcement, "We shall take care of them, our friends! Hahaha! Go on ahead!"

They moved in unison. Ren flaring to life they ran ahead of us and took point. Their feet tore through the pavement as they dived forward. They tumbled into the air and grabbed their knees. Human cannonballs sped up to unnatural speeds.

They glowed with aura as they held themselves so tightly they almost resembled cannonballs...

The sound when they hit their first victims certainly sounded like fucking cannonballs.

Each twin smashed through mafia soldiers with so much force… I've never seen a person literally snap in half. The next pair of unlucky people were only subjected to indented chests. I fought hard not to look away as I kept running forward into the slaughter.

The twins were ricocheting off any and every surface human imaginable. Like superballs on super crack. Across the street. At strange angles off walls. Bouncing off the pavement floor and leaving small craters and cracked asphalt. The sound of denting metal as they ricocheted off cars.

Every time their speed and momentum dipped because of crushing through or off people, they'd kick or punch off surfaces to get back to speed. The mafia goons made into makeshift soldiers were horrifically outmatched as they sprayed their assault rifles in a vain attempt to hit the twin cannonball rush.

It was a massacre… a display of how outclassed humans were when pit against mastered Nen-users…

Yet… as I stared at the Twins' assault… I realized… they weren't stronger than me anymore. It was a strange relizati-

I felt the scream of killing intent to my left. I stopped and jerked my head back. Something whizzed past where my head had stood, missing by a hair. I turned to my left and glared at the shooter.

High on a third story roof of a derelict building was a man pointing his right hand at me. His left hand gripping it like he was bracing it for fire. Freakish, horn-like nails stuck out the ends of his hands. Weird, sharp growths stuck out from his business suit. He pointed his freakish hand at me like a gun.

The sneer on his face I could see from down here. Through his brown locks and beard.

I snarled.

Time for my wire.

With a thought, my aura took control of the metal spool of wire strapped to my right forearm. With a tiny metal 'tink' it landed on the ground. The twisting piece of metal wire was capped with a metal spear tip that covered a USB wire.

This was my second Hatsu. My first, Woodsmith, allowed me to manipulate wood. My unfinished magnum opus, Tool, allowed me to manipulate technology. So far I could only manipulate very simple pieces of technology. But this wire was more than enough.

With a point of my right arm, my wire lifted into the air and spun like a fan in front of me. A twirling shield of metal wiring covered in Shu. Strong enough to block bullets and fast enough to not let anything in.

The nail projectile was rebuffed off my wire and sent god-know-where. I turned over my right shoulder, "Leorio."

"Yup!" he said with a smirk from behind me. He stepped up into my right peripheral. I glimpsed him smiling.

He roared and both his fists crackled with spheres of green aura and sparks of electricity. He threw two punches at the ground with a roar.

In the distance I saw a fist ram into the bottom of the man's face, his eyes filled with surprise. Before he finished lifting off, another punch came from beside him and punched him in the jaw even higher. He twisted into the air, flew off the roof in an arc, and crashed into a car below. A meaty thud, the crumpling sound of metal, and the horn of the car alarm screamed out.

I turned behind me to see Mantis' scarf twirled around a kukri knife held by a mafia soldier with brown hair and in purple business. The silver piece of cloth shined with Aura as it fought the sharp blade.

The mafia soldier's knife glowed with aura and split down the middle. An enormous mouth opened up on the blade and ripped through the scarf as if it were paper. She jumped to her right as the blade crashed down toward her.

He followed it up with a horizontal slash to her abdomen. I grimaced and lunged forward, only to stop when Mantis jumped in the air and conjured a long DJ turntable the size of a keyboard between her hands. She slammed it down on the guys head with a hard crack. The guy fell down limp as a towel.

I saw the cop do his best to hold his own, firing his pistol at the distracted enemies and picking them off when he could.

The chaos of gunfire and fighting died down quickly left as it came. I turn around to see the mafia guards had been utterly annihilated in a few minutes. My astonishment disappeared when a surprised yelp came out of the Hotel. We turned to see one of the twins hurdling toward us. He wasn't a cannonball, and he was on a collision course with a car nearby.

I ran forward with Ren and grabbed the teen in the air and slid to a stop. It was Clyde, who was shocked more than harmed.

I set him down and turned down the street, past all the defenses, to see another huge as fuck person on this planet. He had dark skin and looked middle-eastern from my world. A five o'clock shadow and a crew cut. He was shirtless, with only baggy combat pants and black combat boots on. His body reminded me of a ripped strongman, and he was at least a head taller than Leorio…

He was certainly taller than Kalvin, who he had caught and held by the neck.

The man turned and flung him over back to us. Leorio jumped and caught him too. He stared at the finger horn sniper and then the kukri knife wielder. The man tsked.

"Tch, you can have Hatsu, but that doesn't make you strong. No substitution for training and experience... mafia soldiers with Nen are simple beasts with a blade. No understanding of what they wield…"

He took two large steps down the hotel stairs. That was all he needed to get to the street level.

"I come from a land where the sand never stops and the mountains are hard and harsh. I am reminded of it when I stand here, in the deserts of York New City. Yet, strength comes from adversity."

He spread his arms and clenched his fists. Large boney, hornlike growths began to spread around his upper body. As more grew, it became darker and rock-like. An armor of rock-like material covered his upper body. A large helmet with a single spike sticking from the center, with two rocky pauldrons on his shoulder. Large rocky gauntlets and bracers with two jutting spikes sticking out from his wrist.

Even his face was covered completely The only thing open was two dark holes where his eyes were.

"The amenities have made you Sarhertians too unskilled," said his muffled, whispering voice. Amplified by aura, we could hear it from behind his helm. It was soft, low, and coarse. It reminded me of sand.

The Domo Twins stepped past us with determined glares. Clyde spoke, his usual cheer gone.

"We have taken care of the guards. We will take care of this one. Go."

I turned around to see he was right. People hanging off cars, barriers, or dead on the floor. I didn't know how to feel about how easily the teens killed.

Kalvin nodded toward his brother and ran forward toward the man. He roared, "As if I would allow you all to-" he didn't finish as he was cut off from blocking a flying punch to his left by a frowning Clyde. The teen had cleared the half a street distance in an instant. Kalvin barreled forward into a human cannonball blocked by the giant soldier's other arm.

The three of them blurred as they became locked into combat. Exchanged superspeed punches, kicks, and blocks. I turned to Leorio, Mantis, and a hiding Charlie behind me. I waved my hand.

"Let's go!"

They nodded and we ran down the street. As we passed the three fighting, I saw out of the corner of my right eye the giant soldier try to break away from the twins. Only to be blocked off by another vicious assault of kicks and punches by the Twins. We ran up the hotel stairs and into the lobby.

The lobby of the old abandoned luxury hotel was all glitz and glamor. Age and indifference tarnished chrome signs and shiny mirrors. A wrap-around reception desk shoved up against the wall to the left with an old computer, piles of paper, and a surprisingly clean phone...

A spacious open lobby with dirty, scuffed marble floors instead of the usual polished ones that could reflect like a mirror.

Leorio turned to me nodded, "I hate to say it, but we need to split up. This place is something like a dozen stories tall: we'll search it faster apart."

I nodded, "You two stick with the cop and take the bottom five floors. I'll take the rest."

Mantis responded, "Are you sure, James? That'll probably be where most the enemies are."

Leorio nodded, "She's right. Better if we split in two."

I shook my head and pointed to Charlie, who's grimaced face made apparent he knew what I was going to say.

"You'll need two people to take care of him. And… weird to say now, but I'm the strongest out of the three of us. I've been training for this," I said confidently, but inside my stomach twisted.

They nodded without question. That was what I was afraid of. Pressure and fear hit me- then disappeared with a spike of anger.

Now is not the time to falter

I can't hesitate now.

With one last nod, we broke off. We ran down the hallway and went our separate directions. I turned left and ran up a staircase…


The fight outside was fast, furious, and destructive.

The Twins were used to death. They were used to fighting. But they were not used to fighting to the death.

They danced, jumped, and moved with the finesse and lithe movement of their chosen professions. Acrobatic performers. With the grace and speed of hares and the explosive fury and ferociousness of Rottweilers. Where one would leap away to avoid a fist or a kick with a hair's distance, the other would unleash a vicious combination with everything they had.

Yet they could not penetrate the armor.

They struck him as hard as they could, with all they could muster. The man would fly with the hits. He would bounce off cars. Smash through walls. Collide off concrete barriers.

Unfazed, he kept getting up.

The man stood up out of the crater of concrete rubble and asphalt. Black holes where eyes should be. A body encased in brown stone-like keratin.

There were indents where the teens hit the man in the chest with twin punches. Two dips in the chest glowed with aura before suddenly and quickly popping back into shape. The twins frowned.

The man slowly walked toward the street where the boys stood. Cars and barriers moved by violent his forming a makeshift arena for them to fight in. The man nodded.

"You two are very much like your father. The great Mayer."

The twins looked at each other. The frowned and turned back to the man with suspicion in their eyes, Clyde responded.

"Who are you, hmm, to know who we are and who our father is."

The man replied, his voice an audible whisper.

"I am Esfandyar. We, who had nothing, admired the man. The orphans and the ones with no homes. He came from nothing and became one the strongest…"

He took a step forward, but the twins sensed it wasn't an attack.

"And one day a group of Spiders came along and took it all away…" he said with sympathy. The brothers frowned, finding it hard to stare at their opponent.

"I do not wish to kill the sons of a man I have admired all my life. So, please. Walk away. I will spare you two. Our work will be done once we kill the leader of the Tao…" he said with a hand raised to the twins.

The twins looked at each other for a moment, then turned to the man and shook their heads. They answered in unison.

"We do not back down from a fight! And we do not abandon our friends! Prepare yourself for the might of the flying Domos!"

They broke off in opposite directions of their opponent, flanking Esfandyar and putting man in a pincer attack. Juggler balls made of aura materialized in their hands. They juggled the balls with ease as they bounced around the arena. The two had copied the other's Hatsu and were (while not as proficient) capable of synergizing with each other.

Esfandyar turned to face one Domo, only to be hit by a ball from behind. He turned around, only to be assaulted by another. Juggler ball after juggler ball bounced off Esfandyar, shifting and sliding his feet from the impact. His boots struggled to stay on the asphalt. The sound of sliding gravel and the smell of burnt leather the result of sliding boots against the rough pavement.

Still, his armor held.

Unbeknownst to him, the twins plotted in secret. They spoke with eyesight and body language. As if with telepathy. They anticipated each other's actions. Thought the same thoughts. Planned the same plans. Followed the exact roles needed.

They nodded.

Then they acted.

Kalvin flew in from behind, low to the ground, and came for a double leg tackle. But Esfandyar sensed the teen and twisted his upper body around and smashed the boy into the ground with an armored arm. The teen bounced off the ground with a crack of thunder, grimacing in pain. Esfandyar had expected something and tried turning, but was too late. Clyde came flying in from behind and latched on to the soldier's back like a monkey.

With all the strength he could muster, Clyde held the giant armored tank of man in a full nelson. He pushed his Ren and superhuman strength to the limit as the man resisted. His armor bending and cracking, but holding. He roared and tried to whip the teen off his back, but found it impossible.

Kalvin rebounded off the ground, his hurt but ultimately fine. His his Hatsu, Contortionist's Delight, granting him a rubbery body and helping him withstand damage. With a roar, he extended two fingers deep into the armor's eye holes with all his strength.

Esfandyar's roar was blood-curdling.

When Kalvin pulled his fingers out, blood and liquids fell off his fingers. They leaked out his helmet holes.

The man dropped to his knees. Clyde let go of his hold and stood next to his brother. The twins breathed heavily, staring at their foe.

"We cannot defeat you with that armor, but you cannot defeat us now. Give up, Esfandyar. You have fought well."

Kalvin nodded, "Yes! You were a fine opponent indeed!"

The Esfandyar looked in the teen's direction, their voices echoing in his head. He put his head down and shook.

"The Sen'sari motto is 'Suicide Or Success'. I have lived a fine life."

Before either of the Twins could say a word or react, the man's helmet faded into dust and he crushed his own head with his fists.

The twins looked away, eyes downcast.

They were not used to fights to the death at all.


Leorio, Mantis, and Charlie ran through the hotel beating mafia members without issue. Leorio with his fists. Mantis with her kicks. And Charlie with his pistol.

Everything went well until he reached the fifth floor

Broken windows spanned out before them. The desert sand seemed to glow, stretching endlessly beyond the fifth floor. The Outskirts and desert beyond looked like a blueish ocean of sand. A pale blue yonder under an endless starlit night, unencumbered by earthly lights.

The wind breezed through the empty floor. Wooden weapon crates filled up the floor. Some closed. Some cracked wide open with rifles, rocket launchers, and explosives of all types and sizes. Enough crates of ammo to arm a small army…

And tens of grey-skinned, lumpy humanoids standing around.

No face. No clothes. No life.

The three of them stood at the door to the room abandoned during construction. They stared in horror at the sight before them.

Leorio was the first to speak, his words filled with disbelief.

"W-what the hell is this? They look like…"

Mantis finished for him, her voice short and hard, "Clay monsters. Grey putty monsters…"

Charlies swallowed. He could sense it was the work of Nen. The humanoids just stood there. Unmoving.

He risked a gulp and stared at them all…

"It's like that show… with the colored rangers…"

Leorio slowly nodded his head, "Whatever ability this is… it's terrible…"

They stared at the unmoving forms. The darkness shrouding the putty soldiers in dark cloaks of shadow. Deep bumps of grey, misshaped, and misaligned flesh. Wrinkled chins, warped noses, distended mouths, and deformed eye sockets. With far too much muscle for actual humans. No hair, sexual organs, or identification marks to determine sex.

They all turned to the three heroes. Center stage in front of a mass of inhuman abominations.

They heard a voice echo from the dark. It was deep and arrogant. Fat with conceit and blubber. It guttered out deep from the man's throat. Supreme confidence when hidden in shadow and surrounded by soldiers.

"Well, well. You've arrived at my hotel," said Mr. Hert himself. Seemingly from everywhere and nowhere.

Charlie grabbed Leorio's right shoulder, "We should leave. These things look too powerful. Best to retreat and regroup."

Leorio and Mantis shook their heads at the same time. Leorio stared at her masked companion, the only one looking dressed for the occasion. He cracked a nervous smirk, then nodded at her.

"We can't leave. I bet the Nen-user is on this floor…"

Mantis nodded. A blubberous chuckle from the disembodied Mr. Hert showed he agreed as well. His next words were laced with arrogance.

"You're right. The Nen-user is here. Someone you know too."

Leorio looked around at the slacked, hunched forms. He searched in vain to find the user, but was left empty-handed as he saw only shadowy, malformed shapes in the dark…

There was a beam of light, far off near the other end of the room. It pooled around like a spotlight in the immense darkness. Out strode a woman in brown boots, a purple bodysuit, a brown tunic that served as armor. Brown bracers on her arms, held low next to her waists. A knife holster strapped to her right leg.

She wore twin ponytails. Her hair was black.

There were two earrings on her ears.

Leorio's horrified eyes locked eyes with familiar green. His jaw hung low and his lip quivered in confusion.

"Anita?"

Hert laughed, "A lot of people have a problem with the Tao Long. Some worse than others. Hehehe..."

Leorio continued to stare, the voice of Mantis and Charlie deaf to him. Hert continued.

"Evira made a lot of promises to us crime bosses in York New City. Said we'd make more money than god. But once she was in charge, it got worse for us. Before we knew it we were making scraps. Can't even sell these pricks outside…" he said, referring to the poor masses in the Outskirts.

"She's a bleeding heart. Wants to help the downtrodden and poor. Well, if we ain't getting a cut nothing i-"

"Shut up," cutoff Anita.

The crime boss growled. Anita continued.

"I'm not here for money. I'm not here for your petty ego… I'm here to pay back Evira for what she did to my family…"

She found it hard to look at Leorio, who wondered if he was in reality. His lips fumbled for words.

"Anita… your father was a criminal… he… why wo-"

Tears balanced on her eyelids as she grimaced, holding in the pain at what she was doing. But the pain inside was too much to keep in check.

She exploded into a display of Ren that shocked the trio. Undisciplined. Uncontrolled. Without direction. Infused with rage and malice.

"I came back home to find my mother had died. She had lost her mind in grief when my father died… I had taken care of her… I wasn't there…"

She gripped herself tightly and looked at the floor. Her face was shadowed from a mixture of night and pale moonlight.

"My revenge… it can't be for nothing… I can't be alone… it's all her fault…"

Shrouded in Aura, and filled with hurt, her pain and loneliness was all-consuming. The echoing voice of Mr. Hert called out.

"After coming home and finding her mother dead, sweet Anita used her father's connections to find a Nen teacher. She found herself to be… not quite as talented as she expected. She needed power and contacted me. So I connected her to the Tallyman. To make right what was wrong…"

Anita shook, her body unable to contain her despair. She turned her head up to stare at Leorio, eyes filled with hate.

"When my master told me you five had already mastered Nen… I can't believe it. I struggled to even master the basics. Why? What makes you five so special? If…"

Leorio nodded. His heart heavy with guilt for something he never cared to have. Wishing he could go back and cure his friend… to make the world pay for neglecting them.

If only.

"…you were strong enough. If only you were talented enough. Maybe you could get your revenge. Just like how I wanted the license to become a Doctor…"

Leorio closed his eyes. He knew she wouldn't back down. No amount of words would sway her heart filled with hurt.

He gritted his teeth and stared at Anita. Resolve in his heart demonstrated on his face. He gripped his fist and raised it to the enemies in front of him. Including Anita.

"I won't let you destroy this city. Even if Evira was the one who ordered your father dead…. Even if it resulted in your mother's death… it doesn't justify inflicting that pain and suffering to everyone else!"

His Ren flared. Mantis' Ren flared. Anita's aura disappeared as she transitioned into Zetsu and disappeared into the darkness. Charlie ducked for cover behind a nearby crate, pistol ready.

The putty soldiers moaned. They lunged forward with superhuman speed.

Then all hell broke loose.

Leorio let out a furious roar as he ran straight into the crowd of enemies. His fists clenched tightly, filled with green energy as he crashed into the putty soldiers like a tidal wave of hurt. His fists flew with reckless abandon, smashing any enemy in reach with fists crackling with Aura. Any foe not in range would swiftly find they were not safe, as a disembodied fist would smash into a face or chin.

Mantis hesitated at seeing Leorio's rage. That moment of hesitation allowed her to see that the enemies weren't falling. Leorio would cave in their heads with a punch, they would fall to the floor as if dead, only for said indentations to pop out like balloons being filled with air. Followed by standing up as if nothing happened.

She stared in horror, then noticed one soldier fall to the ground from a punch to the chest. Right near the heart, where a tumor-like growth bulged from their grey skin. It quickly collapsed into dust, disintegrating before her eyes. Leorio's fury blinding him to the fact.

"Aim for the chest!" she screamed out, before dishing out a leaping kick to a particularly large putty soldier.

Leorio heard it and reacted instantly. He began tearing through the putty soldiers. A fist to his face would be responded with a bone-shattering punch to the chest. A blocked kick would be given swift elbow to the heart. A knee to the gut would be responded with a headbutt and a knee of his own.

He was on a warpath. No amount of damage or enemies would stop him.

Mantis stayed close to Charlie, keeping him protected as he tried to line up shots at the hulking grey forms. All they did was bounce off their skin. He sighed, cursed, and looked around to find some use. It was up to Mantis, with her Aura infused martial arts, to defend him and thin out the seemingly endless amount of putty soldiers.

She was terrified. But she would be lying if she didn't felt secretly elated in that moment. A dream come true.

She turned around to see if the cop was fine, and he was gone. Terror gripped her heart until she heard a muffled scream behind a crate. A fat man in a white suit came flying out, knocked out.

Charlie came out with a slick smile and dusting off of his hands.

Leorio fists broke through collapsing enemies, before frowning and running toward the back of the floor where empty windows let the winds in. A cold, terrible breeze ran through Leorio. He felt it.

She came from the shadows. Behind him. Using stealth to overcome her lack of talent.

He felt it coming a mile away.

Leorio spun around and punched her square in the cheek. She landed in a heap nearby.

The gap in talent was too wide.

Leorio stared down at Anita. Tears fell down her face. All she could do was repeat the same words.

"Why?"

Leorio quietly agreed with her.

But he knew they would never get an answer to why the world was so unfair.


I kicked open the roof access door.

I saw the entire world. Eleven stories above the city. A vast sea of sand.

It felt like a god was peaking through the crack of the moon in the sky, shining light from its divine domain to give us mortals some light. It wasn't alone. With the city lights dead, the desert glew brilliant with stars that revealed heaven to a city devoid of light.

A water tower sat to the left. I could see to the right corner facing the city was piles of radio equipment hooked up to a large generator. Cans of oil sat neatly in a row on the edge. I saw the man giving orders. He wore a white cowboy hat with a black feather sticking out. It shone under the waning white moon that was being eaten by black night.

In the distance was the city… I could see the large swaths of clouds disintegrating against the red of a flame-filled city.

I smiled. They had found the enemy…

The man chuckled as he dropped the radio receiver. He spoke. His voice was that of a cowboy. Gruff and rough. Yet… there was something in it.

Cunning intelligence.

"Well then, mighty Sam-oo-rye, it seems ya'll foiled my mess. Or would it be better to call ya' a Ronin? Masterless and seeking a purpose?"

I narrowed my eyes. I could feel the atmosphere change. The building of electricity. The anticipation of a fight. I stared at the man, looking off in the distance.

A curious smile on his face…

"I'm not from Jappon, so I'm neither..."

He turned to me and squinted, before turning to stare at the desert, "Pardon me, friend. Hard to tell in this dark since your features and that sword o' yours... but I ain't far off, ain't I?"

I didn't answer. I squeezed my sword in my left hand. He continued.

"I've been watching you. You don't belong here, don't ya? You ain't no killer. No crook. No villain. You just tryin' to find your purpose and you're just stuck in a shitty situation..." something was off. That wasn't enough confirmation to confirm my fears…

The wind was blowing.

"You got that all stalking me?"

"I got it from the look in your eyes. just now. You're trying to escape from yourself assumed nightmare, just like me," he twitched and I moved, "just so happens my nightmare is peace!"

I felt a breeze that didn't exist hit me as the man twisted. His entire body jingled and jangled. The leather gun belt around his waist only visible from the side as he turned his body. It disappeared when he faced me, his poncho draping over himself and hiding his torso and arms. Tight black cloth pants with leather bullet bandoleers wrapped around them in a spiral. He had enough bullets to fight a platoon of people.

I continued to sprint to my left. Ducking low. My eyes glued to him…

He looked every bit of a cowboy. In the dark night, I could see the straw hanging from his lips, stubble surrounding his chin. He was as cowboy as they came. But there was a darkness in his eyes. A cold, vacant fascination that reminded me of a familiar psycho. A mad man. A composed killer, more preoccupied with a good fight than a good life.

His lips danced with a smirk of excitement.

He reminded me of Hisoka.

This could only end in death.

His right hand revealed a revolver trained at me.

The world becoming faded colors and a distant reference point as I blurred.

The barrel of his gun. The clicking and revolving of the cylinder. The cocking of the hammer.

The crack of the hammer.

No sound. No feeling. No sign if the bullet even exited the barrel.

The evidence came in night-instantaneously from the spray of concrete that came out from behind. The wall that separated me from the stair access exploded.

I was faster than the pull of trigger and slamming of the hammer. I was not faster than that sound defying bullet.

I slid to my left, stopped, and ducked as I sprinted in a zig-zag toward my opponent. I was at a severe disadvantage at range.

Thoughts and concerns disappeared. Doubts and questions disintegrated. Duty or death took over.

The man smiled, but I saw the twitch in his face. Another twitch. A movement of his arms. No sound, but a breeze.

He was experienced, but he made such subtle telegraphed movements that it felt like I was just telepathic. Yet, it was enough. From pure instinct, my mind and body interpreting those tells and moved. I halted to my left and shuffle to my right. Another destroyed hole in the wall behind me.

Three meters left to reach him.

He gritted his teeth and grinned. His face was excitement incarnate.

With a flourish of both his arms, he threw back his poncho to reveal both revolvers and belt upon belts of ammo.

An opening

Three wooden darts flew from my hand and toward his chest, forcing him to dodge with his torso as he swayed to the right. He twisted back to form, crouched, and pointed his right revolver toward me. All I saw was a blur of his left hand as he fanned his gun at super speed.

A swift breeze.

I jumped into the air and twisted my body. I didn't even feel a rush of wind as I barely saw something fly under me as I twirled through the air. Six holes ripped through dust and debris that was forming from all the destruction.

In the air, I saw it. What the trick was.

Little holes. Tunnels through the dust. As if by magic. Just mundane Nen…

He pushed the air out, making an airless tunnel in the bullet's path. Then pushed the air behind the bullet to accelerate them even faster. I could see those tunnels in the smoke. My body was feeling the missing air as a breeze...

I felt a 'breeze' aimed at my body while I laid suspended in the air.

With every ounce of training, speed, and reflexes I could muster; I acted.

My right arm threw Stick towards the floor with all my might, like a Zeus throwing a lightning bolt. The cement roof smashed to pieces, my throw sending me off course of the bullets. An explosion of cement chunks rained against me, helping me to twist out of the way of danger. I saw several chunks of cement explode as several air-accelerated, frictionless bullets collided with debris.

The sound was like miniature explosions in the dead of night.

I landed on a roof filled with white smoke from debris. The moment my shoes tapped the ground I felt and saw the air tunnels form nigh-instantaneously on my position. I let myself fall in time for a pair of bullets to fly by soundlessly and rip right through my suit jacket.

I reacted quickly and brought out two popsicle sticks. Lobbed one far to my left, then ran toward the direction of the gunfire. The dust cloud granted me cover, but I couldn't see or hear if he shot. Only when I saw or felt the tunnel open towards me did I know... I jumped to my right and threw another popsicle further to my right as if I hopped twice.

I ducked as fast and quietly as I could, a tunnel of death quickly opening and closing above me.

With a burst of speed, I sprinted forward and explode from the smoke. I saw him pointing a revolver in the direction my popsicle stick hand landed. His instincts and fighting reflexes becoming his worst enemies right at this very moment.

I pulled back my right fist.

In the high-speed rush of combat, he stared at me in shock.

He was defenseless.

Or so I thought.

My right cross was parried away with his left wrist, his left hand gripped tightly around a pistol he tried to angle toward my face. With quick desperation, I switched my cross to an awkward grab and wrenched his wrist away from my face. I saw a tunnel form right in front of my face. A silent bullet flying through the sky, a hair's breath away from my eyes.

He grimaced as he tried to hip fire his right pistol, but failed as my god-gifted arm length saved me with a punch from my left. I punched the gun as hard as I could, bending the barrel and sending it flying over the edge.

We glared at each. Took a glance at the gun in his left hand. Then locked eyes.

The cowboy sent loose a right cross filled with aura as he used Ryu to shift his aura. I measured quickly, seeing how much aura he invested. Seventy percent power…

My left hand flew up and wrapped it around his, steaming with seventy percent of my aura as well. Crushing grip answered a steel-like fist that shook with a massive amount of strength. He tried to shove his fist toward my face.

He inhaled suddenly through his nose. I grimaced. My head whipped away to my right. I felt the left side of my head burn with pain, level with my eye. I felt blood rush down the side of my head as I saw the piece of hay gone from his mouth. A smirk on his face from using his makeshift toothpick as a weapon with Shu…

He nearly took my eye. I snarled.

I followed suit by using my mouth and spit in his fucking face. Directly in the eyes.

He yelped in surprise, his eyes close shut as I showed the fake fucking cowboy how the west was really won: by playing dirty.

I stomped on his right foot with my left with all my strength and with sixty percent aura. I felt bones give as he roared in pain. He reeled back as I pushed his arms away from me. I switched myself into top gear, willing my Ren to its limit, and sent forth an uppercut Jack Dempsey would have found proud. My right hand flying up with all the strength and speed of the lightning.

But this man was no joke. He leaned back, my uppercut just grazing his chin as he fell back. I felt something touch my chin, shifted my aura, and I was suddenly on my laying on my back. Staring at black, and in a world of pain.

I looked down my body to see the cowboy on his back too. He kicked me. I think he kicked me. I rolled to my right side and struggled to get up. I propped myself up on my arms and knees. I could feel my strength come backs as my mind rebooted.

I felt two hands wrap around the back of my head. I heard a suctioning sound.

I couldn't breathe.

No air. No sound. I was standing. I fell onto the floor.

My legs kicked fruitlessly against the ground. I tore at my throat as my lungs. Air. Need air. My face was cold. So cold. My hand moved around my head as I felt it. The vacuum. Bullets. Tunnels. Air. Breath.

Air.

Vision going black. Arm moving… Suit… Popsicles sticks... mouth.

AIR! Amazing air!

My teeth bit down and my lips wrapped around a wooden tube greedily. A tube. A wooden snorkel tube.

In my dying desperation... I saved myself. I had turned my popsicle sticks into a fucking snorkel. Holy shit am I genius or was that pure desperation…

I stared around and found the cowboy dragging his right foot as he hobbled over to his remaining revolver. He had dropped when I hit him with that uppercut. I saw it teetering over the edge of the roof.

I stood up, only for my legs to shake and give out after a step. My body was still feeling that kick… I gritted my teeth, the feeling of wood in my mouth painful as I forced my feeble legs forward.

One step. Then another. The next step was a jog. Followed by a stumbling sprint. Culminating in a roaring run.

I saw cowboy grab the big iron. I watched him turn.

Like a bolt of lightning.

I tackled him. We fell.

We flew.

We tumbled.

It was surreal.

Then we realized what was happening. Our eyes locked in flight as fell.

His right arm moved the gun toward me. I swatted it away with my left, followed by a right cross to his face with Ryu. I gripped his right hand with my left and hit him with another right, this time with Ko. Then another. And another! One after god damn other. Fury and instinct calling-

Turn him-

The crunching sound of a van roof being crushed. Twisting metal screamed in my ear. The sound of broken glass. The blaring horn of the alarm system.

The cowboy was sandwiched between me with Ken on, and a fucking van.

The sound… sound…

I cautiously removed my snorkel and tasted sweet air. I gasped in excitement. Then realized what happened and pulled myself off the man. I stared down. We were on a crumpled van. His face smashed up beyond recognition…. but his eyes held that excitement in it…

"Hehe... can't feel my back... ribs crushed... good job, heh..."

He coughed. He twisted his swollen, broken jaw into a grin.

"You know... I hate civilization... it makes people so... cold... monotonous... civilized... dead... what's the point of life... if there ain't no challenge… no excitement to it?"

He looked down at me with a smile and a sphere of aura around his head. My eyes widened in shock as the life drained away from his eyes. Staring back to me as I stared helplessly as he suffocated himself. I watched as the man kill himself rather than having his freedom taken away.

I closed my eyes and tried to forget. But I couldn't. The image of him staring off into the stars and dreamed something beautiful. It haunted me.

Was that the smile of man free? A man fulfilled?

I stared off into the distance. I saw a man in a cloak and feather on his head. High above the rooftops. Watching.

I turned down to the street. Three people…

I squinted. Was that Ryu-


Underneath York New City…

York walked into the room. It was a room with dozens upon dozens of TV cameras. A circular switchboard console with thousands of lights, knobs, and buttons was in the center. A surveillance room to end surveillance rooms.

He stared to his left. In a folded chair was a slumped over mobster who held watch. Head decapitated.

York turned up to the center of the room, where the console was. The circular command center held a man who would be considered Indian. Half his body was melded with a mechanical chair. Large bushy hair with a metal visor on his face connected. The visor, multi-lensed and bulging, was connected to a wire that ran to the hi-tech, cybernetic chair. He had no legs to speak of.

His head was slumped over, barely hanging over his right shoulder by a piece of robotic spine. Mouth agape. The four mechanical arms draped off him like dead octopus arms.

"God fucking damnit…" whispered York. He pulled out his radio, "Dharmil's dead. We won't be able to verify and track Nen users using the security cameras… whoever did it were pros…"

There was a quiet hush of static. The frustrated voice of Evira called through.

"Fuck…"


I sat in a chair. Chained up. Head groggy. I trying my best to move. Can't… I was in a basement… someplace abandoned and dingy… My face hurt. My body hurt.

A woman walked around me, her hand firmly planted on my head.

Mind fuzzy… head hurts…

"Who are the leaders and members of the Tao Long?"

I stayed quiet. Like hell I was going to tell her. All I did was growl.

She pulled back a fist and punched me in the gut. Ugh. That one had Aura in it...

ERROR. MEMORY COMPROMISED. ERROR. MEMORY COMPROMISED. ERROR. MEMORY COMPROMISED. ERROR. MEMORY COMPROMISED. ERROR. MEMORY COMPROMISED. ERROR. MEMORY COMPROMISED. ERROR. MEMORY COMPROMISED. ERROR. MEMORY COMPROMISED.

"Shut the fuck UP!" I yelled at both the creature in my mind and this woman…

Her face showed struggle. Like she was fighting something.

Why is this thing saying memo-

Wait. I remember. Zelle touched my head. Memory manipulation...

I thought about anything. Everything. Anything. In my mind, I began reciting the Hunter bylines. The fundamentals of Nen. Both practical Nen and Nen of the Flames. My memories of training at Mayer's house.

"That won't work. But your mind... someone has set up barriers. But there's a crack in it... a TV. A couch. A man..."

My stomach dropped…

The tattoo on my right hand glowed...

Red.

She winced as something inside me fought her.

My mouth spoke, but it wasn't me…

"Get off your hand-"

She pushed back my head and sighed in exhaustion. I fell to my left side, strapped in place of her chair.

"What was that?.."

Someone stepped into view. My eyes widened in shock.

Shalnark stepped over, curiosity on his face, "Hmm, what's wrong Pakunoda?"

"N-nothing. This guy's mind... someone placed defenses in it. There's also... something inside of it. It was fighting me."

The Samurai walked out from the left. Scratching his face. His body covered in dry blood…

He turned to me. Eyes dead. Staring through me.

I twisted my head up. The flames of hope inside me, dying.

Shalnark frowned, "Does that mean you couldn't get anything?"

Pakunoda frowned and shook her head.

I felt mad joy inside me.

"No. That's not it,"

My stomach dropped.

"It's just incomplete. I know the names, faces, and some locations of the leadership here in York New City."

I struggled in my chains. Ren flaring burning around me. But Shalnark's aura made these chains nigh-unbreakable. I flailed helplessly. I screamed. It was all I could do.

"You cocksuckers! You pieces of fucking shit!"

Shalnark stared at me like I didn't exist. His dead eyes becoming completely apparent to me. Pakunoda looked away from her comrade and to me. I could see her cold, dead eyes as well.

Shalnark lifted his chin towards me, "I guess we're done with him, huh?"

Pakunoda nodded as she grabbed the air. A long, silver revolver appeared in her hands.

"Yeah."

She walked toward my prone body. A combination of rage and despair spilling from me. Tears of frustration, anger, and sadness dropping from my eyes.

5

"You- you bastards..."

4

"Damn it Shalnark I thought..."

Shalnark shrugged, a smile on his face, "Sorry about this!"

Pakunoda leveled her revolver at my face.

All I saw was Red.

"YOU-"


I woke up on the floor. My head was groggy. I blinked and stared at my surrounding. My face. I was in a broken-down house.

My head, ugh.

I propped myself up and groaned in pain. I held my head. What the fuck...

Ugh... what a fucking night… what happened?... My stomach hurts...

I got up and stopped in my tracks. I saw something glowing red out of the corner of my eye.

I whipped my head to my right.

It was a broken piece of reflective glass. I blinked. All I saw was a disheveled me. Bruised, bloody and dirty.

I scratched my head.

Now. Where the fuck am I?

I turned toward the exit and saw a floating, glowing head in front of me. I froze.

'Hello James.'


In the dark night shuffled. Two men and a woman. Clad in cloaks and rough clothing. They crossed the desert toward the east from the mountains and the ocean. Their sights on a city in darkness.

Deep beneath the recesses of their cloaks, they sung.

"…Myrrh is mine; its bitter perfume,
Breathes a life of gathering gloom; -
Sorrowing, sighing,
Bleeding, dying,
Sealed in the stone-cold tomb…"

They shuffled across the desert. Silent as the night.


Hello everyone! I hope you are all doing well and continue to do well!

We only have a short breather chapter, a short arc, then York New City arc. Then the story will be finished!

For now, please welcome James to the realm of the Specialists. Hehehe.

See you in the next chapter!

Rondo out!