Chapter 27: The Prince’s Shock × The Prototype Nen Beast

Outside the Cavern Restaurant, the screams of bystanders intertwined with the staccato rhythm of gunfire.

Drobada moved with lethal agility, weaving through the hail of lead, his own weapon barking in synchronization with his movements. Relying on the senses of The Observed, he didn't need to aim to know where his enemies were; he could fire with lethal accuracy without even glancing at his targets.

His bullets, infused with Aura, struck with devastating precision. Each shot felled an attacker. While his firepower was limited, he successfully pinned down the bulk of the assault force. The remaining enemies had their attention diverted by the two guards outside the door and the three private soldiers trailing behind the group.

To dare launch an attack like this in a busy commercial district… just who are they?

Drobada calmly ejected his empty magazine and dodged a stray bullet. While the assault appeared to be a conventional hit, a lingering unease clawed at his chest.

A force like this… are they really just ordinary thugs?

As the main body of the security detail arrived, the attackers, who appeared to be nothing more than common gangsters, were quickly overwhelmed and eliminated. The gunfire faded into silence.

Yet, Drobada did not relax. He didn't say a word; he simply turned and sprinted back into the restaurant. What met his eyes was a scene of pure devastation: a trashed dining hall, curtains torn from the walls, bullet holes peppered across every surface, corpses strewn about, shattered windows, and a bizarre, unexplained hole in the marble floor.

But there was no sign of Dia or the 12th Prince.

Drobada felt a cold sweat break out. Suddenly, he noticed movement within that strange hole in the floor, and a rock came flying out!

A few minutes earlier, San had dug his pit and buried himself, waiting for the gunfire to die down.

That guy from earlier, he seemed pretty strong, San thought, bored. His Ten was impressive, and the power of those bullets… to find such an expert in Yorknew City on my first day? This really is a big city.

Suddenly, he felt the noise outside cease.

It's over, then. Boring firefight… Right! Yours truly! It's resurrection time!

San grinned, tossed the rock aside, and leaped out of the pit, hands on his hips, ready to let out a triumphant laugh, only to be met with a cold, hollow gun muzzle and the icy stare of Drobada, whose Ren was radiating off him like a furnace.

San felt a bead of cold sweat roll down his temple.

Back on the second floor.

"Your Highness, you can open your eyes now."

Dia lifted Momoze from the ceiling, where she had been adhered by his Ripple energy, and placed her gently on the floor. Their victory was due in no small part to her obedience; had she panicked or opened her eyes, she might have been targeted, and the mission would have failed regardless of how soundly Dia had defeated the enemy.

Momoze opened her eyes slowly.

Her first sight was Dia, crouched on the floor in his white shirt, watching her. Then, she took a cautious look around and spotted the lifeless, wide-eyed corpse in the corner, covered by a black suit jacket. Her gaze drifted to the bloodstains on Dia's shirt, and just as she opened her mouth to speak, Dia, as if predicting her words, replied with disarming calm:

"Just a graze from a bullet, Your Highness. Do not worry. Let's head downstairs and regroup with the main force."

He reached out to help her up, shielding her toward the stairs. Momoze's questions died in her throat, and she fell silent, following him. As she watched his back, she noticed a large, dark smear of blood on the white shirt. At the center of the stain was… a hole. It looked exactly like the entry point of a gunshot.

No… that's definitely not just a graze!!

Momoze stared intently at the hole, her mind racing with the certainty that Dia was keeping secrets.

She was right; it wasn't a graze. Karl's ability had been terrifying, but thankfully, it hadn't been able to transfer the "dissolving" property of Dia's Ripple Nen. It had only reflected the physical impact. After Dia had gone all-out with Ken, it had only caused a superficial wound. With his Ripple technique accelerating his recovery, the skin had likely already scarred over.

"Hm? What's that?"

Suddenly, she caught a flicker of movement in her peripheral vision. Hovering just above Dia's head was a soft, white, gelatinous "organism." It looked like… a cloud?

"Mist? Fog…!?"

Seemingly sensing her gaze, the white creature shuddered in fear, emitting a faint, strange sound, before diving into Dia's hair and vanishing.

"Ehh-ehh-ehh!??"

Momoze's jaw dropped. Her royal poise and training were completely forgotten. The events of the day had shattered her worldview; a thousand questions bubbled in her mind, and just as they were about to spill out…

"Dia! Your Highness! Are you alright!"

A gruff, urgent voice cut through her thoughts. It was Drobada. He climbed the stairs, visible relief washing over him at the sight of the two survivors. But the sight of the corpse and the blood on the Prince's face made him wince. He hurried over to interrogate Dia and urged Momoze to return to safety.

The arrival of the other guards made it impossible for Momoze to ask her questions.

Dia let out a breath of relief. He would have had to invent a very elaborate lie to explain away what she'd seen.

As they swapped intelligence, Drobada's expression turned somber upon hearing about the Nen user. The enemy hadn't been inherently difficult to face. If one could close the distance before he fired, he would be easy to dispatch. The trouble was protecting a civilian during that approach. Given his ability, any ranged attack, be it bullets or Aura, would have been turned against the user. If Drobada had been in Dia's shoes, he would have had no choice but to carry the Prince and run.

On the journey back, Drobada mentioned the strange ability user he'd met on the first floor. The man called himself "San" and had been the one to point Drobada toward the second floor.

Meanwhile, Dia was lost in thought, about his Nen beast.

The fog from the battle had been generated by his Nen beast. It hadn't been fully developed yet; in fact, before today, he hadn't been confident that he could successfully manifest it at all. But as he felt the cool, faint tingle on his scalp, he realized his spur-of-the-moment attempt had succeeded.

A happy accident. Now, all I have to do is imbue it with further abilities…

Dia's natural affinity, Emission, was the ideal type for creating Nen beasts. It had been his first thought when designing his combat style. Over the past month, he had meticulously planned the development of his powers. His time-stop and Ripple Nen were sufficient for most one-on-one encounters, but there was a pressing concern.

As Chairman Netero had warned: he had to consider whether his time-stop ability would be exposed.

While the power was absolute, it didn't guarantee an instant kill within that frozen second. If he failed, the one-minute cooldown period would be his moment of greatest vulnerability. After all, despite his strength, he had only been studying the mysteries of Nen for one month.