Ryker stood amidst the violently flickering residual lightning and the churning tides of darkness, his senses overwheld by a crushing, suffocating pressure radiating from the void itself.
His eyes were locked onto the massive, semi-transparent phantom materializing above the crater. His chest rose and fell slightly, and his heartbeat had involuntarily accelerated. The man sketched in light and corrupted data wore a shabby, dust-covered exploration jacket, his face weathered by countless storms. Yet, his eyes were abnormally clear, possessing a profound depth that felt as if it could pierce through the very fabric of reality.
"The Dark Continent?"
Ryker's voice was calm and steady, but the internal fluctuations within his mind were impossible to ignore. His instincts scread that the appearance of this phantom heralded the descent of a terrifying, unfathomable power.
Gon's voice once again broke the dead silence. "Dad?!"
The boy's eyes were swimming in a chaotic sea of shock and disbelief. The sheer vulnerability in his voice made Ryker's heart sink a fraction.
The phantom of the man—Ging Freecss—smiled. It was a cynical, world-weary smirk that hung casually on his lips.
"Heh. Never thought my kid would be having this much fun playing around with you guys."
His tone was dripping with teasing amusent, yet every syllable carried an indescribable, atmospheric weight that pressed down on the souls of everyone present.
Ryker, however, was not completely deterred by the overwhelming spectacle. He slowly raised his right hand, pushing the output of his [A.T. Field - Modified] to its absolute limit. Even in the face of a threat of this magnitude, he wouldn't retreat a single inch.
Suddenly, the phantom's eyes shifted. His gaze landed directly on Ryker, and it felt as though he had instantly seen through every layer of Ryker's defenses.
"You people... you still don't understand the true nature of the trial you're about to face."
Ging's phantom chuckled softly, his words loaded with absolute provocation. "Are you ready to welco the descent of the 'Dark Continent'?"
The very instant the words left his mouth, a wave of unprecedented, pure black aura violently exploded from the phantom!
The entire arena was instantly subrged in this abyssal power. The atmospheric pressure skyrocketed exponentially. Every single survivor felt an agonizing weight settle over their bodies and minds, as if the gravitational pull of the entire planet had suddenly been multiplied tenfold.
Ryker clenched his fists tightly, holding his breath. Deep within his core, the Lightning Nen roared to life, emitting a blinding, defiant radiance! He knew, with absolute certainty, that the enemy he was facing now was fundantally different from anyone he had fought before.
"You think this is enough to intimidate ?" Ryker asked, his voice as cold as absolute zero. The lightning core in his hand began to rapidly draw in and compress even more ambient energy. He absolutely refused to let anyone—especially an unknown, spectral entity—trample over his bottom line.
The phantom of Ging simply laughed louder, his amusent entirely unrestrained, as if everything happening was perfectly aligned with his calculations.
"Your struggles... are entirely aningless."
Before his voice even finished echoing, the churning tide of darkness violently swelled, transforming into a literal tsunami that swept directly toward Ryker!
In that split second, Ryker's expression didn't shift a single milliter. He frantically circulated his Lightning Nen, bracing himself to et the devastating dark wave head-on.
However, he had severely miscalculated the nature of the attack.
The dark tide wasn't a physical or energetic concussive wave. It was saturated with the horrific, alien essence of the Dark Continent—a power that directly bypassed physical defenses and infiltrated the consciousness itself!
Ryker felt a sudden, agonizing spike of pain drill directly into his brain!
It felt as though millions of whispers, dripping with dark, twisted intent, were violently trying to warp and rewrite his cognitive processes. Ryker desperately concentrated his willpower, relying on his [A.T. Field - Modified] to physically shield his body, but the violent turbulence ravaging his mind was impossible to pacify.
"Damn it..." Ryker's heart clenched.
This power was incredibly bizarre. It felt like a direct, malicious challenge to the absolute limits of his willpower and sanity.
And right then, a highly dangerous, predatory smile curled onto the lips of Ging's phantom. His voice dropped to a low, thunderous rumble that reverberated through the arena:
"This is only the beginning. The true 'Dark Continent'... has only just arrived."
The power of the dark tide surged even higher, rapidly surpassing the threshold of Ryker's control. Ominous spiderweb cracks began to violently spread across the surface of his absolute defense, the [A.T. Field].
The dark, putrid aura of the Dark Continent slithered through the cracks like venomous vipers, seeping into every inch of his skin, plunging him into an overwhelming, agonizing state of weakness...
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