Natsu and the young man collided, launching into a rapid series of close-quarters exchanges without pause. Their movents were so fast that if any ordinary person had been present, they would only hear the barrage of impacts without being able to see the attacks themselves. The entire clash unfolded in less than a heartbeat; within that fleeting instant, their bodies blurred through space, striking, dodging, and countering nearly a dozen tis before the world could even catch up
Both were highly skilled in hand-to-hand combat. In terms of pure technique, the young man might have had a slight edge, but Natsu had the advantage of fire. For a while, neither could gain ground; they were locked in a back-and-forth deadlock. Yet such a tenuous balance could be broken at any mont, depending on who made the first slip.
Psychologically, Natsu held the upper hand. As a Nen Beast, he had no worries—Ron's command was to fight all-out, and that was precisely what Natsu did, free of distraction. By contrast, the young man had other concerns. He wasn't necessarily worried about his companion's survival but rather what the potential consequences ant for him if he was alone.
anwhile, Ron gripped the hilt of the Rotten Life Blade. Sasuke's eyes glimred with three rotating tomoe as he cast a genjutsu toward the woman. Her willpower was strong, and Sasuke wasn't that skilled in illusions, so the seizure only affected her for a fleeting mont—but that was enough.
Just as before, when Ron had used faints and sneak attacks to corner two of the Four Beasts into Sumas's space, he exploited that opening again.
"Rotten Life Blade!"
Ron slashed, sending a ghostly gleam hurtling at the woman. It struck ho, spawning countless insect eggs on her body.
"Squish!
"Squish!
"Squish!"
White maggots burst from their shells and began writhing across her skin, devouring her aura. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't shake them off—they clung like parasites. As her aura drained away, her movents slowed. Sasuke and Ron both drew closer.
Realizing this, she gritted her teeth. "Damn it!"
Before this mission, she had maintained more caution than her three fellow mbers, largely because her position within the Four Beasts was special—she was effectively their vice-captain. She was also exceptionally fast, which gave her confidence that, should anything go wrong, she could escape with relative ease. But now she saw there was no chance of escape left.
"If you want to kill , you'll pay a price for it!"
She eyed the surface of her arm.
"It's about ready…"
An alarming surge of aura flared around her. In the next instant, sothing seed to evaporate from her body. It dispersed into the air, rging with the dust and forming a pale mist—reminiscent of the oily fog used by Ron's Lampent, though not as dense. However, unlike that fog, it carried poison.
Ron simply held his breath and used as little aura as possible to counteract the poison, as a trained assassin his body could handle it. Sasuke however moved in having no concern about the poison, and the woman charged to et him, only to pivot away at the last second. Her speed spiked once more as she darted around Sasuke, preventing him from reacting. She shot straight for Ron.
Ron raised the Rotten Life Blade and slashed again. Another eerie gleam flashed out, but this ti she moved too fast and dodged it.
"She's even quicker now?"
Ron's gaze flickered. As the woman closed in, he gave a ntal command.
"Aka!"
Aka stabbed at the woman. She sensed a threat and abruptly halted, swerving aside to evade, but in doing so lost her chance to strike Ron. Aka pressed the attack, and Sasuke looped around to join in.
Ron watched her carefully, frowning.
"It's not just about increased speed. There's sothing else going on…"
He stepped back, retreating beyond the boundaries of the mist. Sasuke threw a punch at the woman. She dodged, and his fist pounded the ground, sending shards of rock and earth spraying everywhere—so inside the fog, so outside.
Ron squinted his eyes and noticed a discrepancy in so of the stones.
"Ti… That's her real ability.
"The stones that landed in the mist took longer to fall than those outside. It ans that everything inside the mist—except the woman—experiences slowed ti, making her appear faster. This is a clever power, but she hasn't developed it enough to be truly overwhelming.
"We can still handle it. Although using sweat to create the mist is…a bit unusual."
Ron issued new orders to Sasuke and Aka. In the next mont, Aka took the lead while Sasuke hung back slightly.
The woman clearly feared Aka's blade, and Ron's Nen Bullets only added to her woes, as did the lingering effects from the Rotten Life Blade. Most of all, her intent was obvious: she wanted to reach Ron himself. By staying alert to that single goal, Ron could effectively contain her.
She was wary of Aka's weapon and thrown off by Ron's precisely tid Nen Bullets, which always ca at the worst mont for her. The cumulative effect left her feeling like she was fighting an opponent far stronger than herself, soone with greater experience and sharper instincts, who thodically hemd her in from every angle. She had power, but no way to use it.
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