Joey dismissed two of his animal familiars created via Golden Experience. Then, from the ground nearby, he picked up a fist-sized rock.
With Nen flowing into it, the stone swiftly transformed into a gecko, which dropped to the earth.
Before it could land, Killer Queen raised its hand and struck with a knife-like chop.
The gecko's tail fell off mid-air and reverted into stone. Landing gracefully, the gecko spun around, bit into the tail fragment, and swallowed it.
Five minutes later, Killer Queen touched the stone regurgitated by the gecko — and turned it into a primary bomb.
Joey left the bomb-laced stone on the ground.
Three minutes after that, Jamie and Arturo arrived at the site.
One of Jamie's miniature Nen beasts pounced on the stone, and the instant it made contact—
Boom.
It detonated from within, vaporizing in mid-air before it could even hit the ground.
Jamie's cold gaze landed on the fractured stone. Opening his palm, he stared at the remaining coin shards nestled within — not many were left.
"He did this on purpose," Arturo rasped.
Jamie's eyes narrowed. "Indeed. Let's see what he really wants, then."
He raised his revolver and infused it with aura. A single shot shattered the stone.
From the surrounding shadows, dozens of tiny Nen beasts skittered out, collecting the stone fragments and bringing them back to Jamie.
A closer look revealed something odd — each piece glimmered faintly with two distinct aura colors:
Pink and golden yellow.
Jamie took the fragments and muttered under his breath. With a thought, the pink aura was quickly absorbed into the bodies of his Nen beasts.
[Revolver of Locked Aura].
That was Jamie's Hatsu.
Anything shattered by his revolver retains residual aura. That aura can then be sniffed out, absorbed, and tracked by his Nen beasts.
Depending on what aura is absorbed, the residual fragments would glow in different hues.
Once his beasts ingest the aura, Jamie could then fire a bullet fused with that aura and the original object's fragment — and the projectile would space-jump toward the target's location, guided by the specific Nen signature.
The more aura embedded in the target, the bigger the fragment, the stronger the bullet.
And once his bullet locked onto an aura signature, his connection with the Nen beast would let him track the target's location with uncanny precision.
The pink aura on the stone matched the one that came from Joey's earlier coin — the same one that had detonated. That was his Nen.
Which meant, with the aura absorbed, his bullets could now find Joey.
Jamie grinned — cold and murderous.
He raised the revolver again and fired.
Minutes later.
Another bullet flew toward Joey, and Killer Queen once again intercepted it mid-air.
As the bullet came, Joey noticed the stone shard embedded alongside it.
His eyes narrowed.
"He can lock onto my aura signature," Joey muttered. "So much for throwing off his trail and ambushing him."
He glanced at the shard. "They're closing in. Faster than I expected. Their physical stats must be pretty high."
His gaze shifted to Arturo. "The real problem is that guy. Still hasn't shown any ability yet."
Turning to Ponzu, Joey asked:
"How many bees can you control? I want a few on me. Once I signal you, have them move together — not to attack, but just to cause noise. Make it seem natural."
Ponzu nodded. "I've got about thirty."
Her hat quivered, and dozens of tiny bees, each the size of a fingertip, flew out and settled on Joey's coat — appearing like black specks dotting the fabric.
"You stay hidden. This fight's not for you." Joey's tone was firm.
Against trained Nen users, Ponzu would be dead within a blink.
Still, her expression was resolute.
Joey could tell — she felt guilty. If she couldn't save Joey or Pokkle, she had no plans of leaving NGL alive.
She had that kind of stubborn personality.
Probably a Reinforcement type if she ever awakened Nen. Or maybe a lone-wolf Manipulator.
Joey made the mental note.
He didn't know what happened between her and Pokkle, but whatever it was, it had left a fire in her strong enough to die for someone.
To Joey, that made her a good person.
He created a new hummingbird using Golden Experience, assigned it as a primary bomb, and sent it flying.
Then, he found a clearing and stood tall, Killer Queen at his side, poised for confrontation.
A few minutes passed.
Jamie, unharmed and calm behind his silver-rimmed glasses, and Arturo, massive and quiet, entered Joey's sightline — dragging a barely conscious, broken Pokkle behind them.
Joey's eyes flicked to the miniature Nen beasts surrounding them.
Flickering arcs of electricity danced on their bodies.
Joey's gaze sharpened.
Arturo's ability?
Was he not a Manipulator after all?
Could he, like Killua, use Transformation Nen to convert aura into electricity?
Or maybe the arcs came from a weapon? If the current remained on the Nen beasts, though, the electricity must be laced with aura.
Either way, Joey would need to watch for long-range tricks.
As for Pokkle — it was now clear:
He had taken the full brunt of Joey's bomb.
That made it obvious — they were using him as a shield, a disposable tool.
And given his condition, Joey doubted saving him would gain him anything.
Better to focus on eliminating Jamie.
That's when the hummingbird swooped down at lightning speed.
"Watch out!" Arturo's gravelly warning echoed as he yanked Pokkle in front of him.
But the bird never intended to hit him.
It had locked onto Jamie from the start.
Arturo's retreat didn't matter.
Jamie noticed just in time. His revolver spun — three bullets fired in rapid succession, forming a triangle-shaped barrier aimed at the descending bird.
Three meters away, the first shot clipped the bird's wing.
Jamie smirked.
The second would pierce it through — he'd already calculated the arc.
But then—
Killer Queen pressed its thumb.
Click.
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