Nighttime. Forest.
Gon was biting his lower lip, crying uncontrollably at his own helplessness.
"For the first time, I've felt how powerless it is to be weak…" he said, each word heavy with pain, eyes full of despair.
Killua stood beside him silently, eyes lowered.
"That's your first time? Huh. That's weird," a voice suddenly broke the silence—a silence thick with sorrow, like a wounded cub licking its wounds in the dark.
"Considering how weak you guys are." A white-haired figure crouched casually on a branch nearby. The thin branch didn't sway in the slightest, as if it didn't feel his weight at all.
"Isn't it normal for you two to get beat up all the time…" Cyr trailed off mid-sentence and suddenly crouched.
Ah… getting beat up probably wasn't the part that hurt. What really broke Gon must've been not being able to do something important because he was too weak.
"Never mind," Cyr cut off the thought and suddenly zipped in front of Gon, curiously eyeing the purple plush toy on his shoulder. "Anyway, what's this thing?"
It looked like a stuffed animal, but it was actually a conjured Nen ability—something like Kite's Crazy Slots, or Cyr's own roulette.
Cyr reached out and started squeezing the toy, giving it a good squish. It felt no different from a normal plush.
Whose Nen ability was this? It was kinda cute.
Definitely gave the vibe that its user must be a musclehead.
"It's… Knuckle's ability," Killua answered from the side. "Gon's going to be in a state of Zetsu for thirty days."
Knuckle's ability, Hakoware—was basically like a loan shark's Nen. Gon had defaulted on a Nen debt, and as a penalty, he was forcibly locked into Zetsu, unable to use Nen at all.
"Thirty days? Isn't it all over by then?" Cyr's face lit up with surprise.
Huh? Wasn't this supposed to be the protagonist's big growth arc? What was this thirty-day lockout supposed to mean? Were they just kicking the protagonist off the stage?
C'mon, Gon… are you really the main character or not?
"Looks like you two can only play in the backlines now." Cyr shook his head. He didn't quite get it, but he didn't dwell on it either.
Didn't seem like it made much of a difference whether those two participated or not.
"What's going on at the front lines?" Gon asked.
"..." Cyr didn't know how to answer for a moment.
What should he say? That the ants had surrendered? That the Ant King was some kind of devoted son?
Gon and Killua took his silence as "the situation on the front lines isn't looking good," and both immediately sank into gloom.
"Kite… I'm too weak…" Gon's tears silently fell.
Too weak to avenge Kite.
"..." Cyr scratched his cheek with his index finger.
Maybe he shouldn't have said Kite was dead? That kind of blow was a bit too much. Maybe he should've left some hope. Like, Kite was dead… but not completely dead?
Ah—right. That cat-like ant's ability.
If she could control those soldiers in the palace, she could obviously control other things too.
"Actually, Kite isn't dead." Cyr cleared his throat and spoke up.
Gon looked up with wide, hope-filled eyes. "Really? That's great!"
"But he'd be better off dead." Cyr followed up immediately.
Gon's expression darkened, now full of worry. "How could that happen?"
"There's this ant—you've met her before—she can control people's bodies. She took over Kite's body and tortures him in new ways every day." Cyr lied like a pro, completely straight-faced, sounding logical and convincing.
You'd never guess it was all made up.
"..." Gon said nothing, but his fists clenched so tightly they trembled.
"Death might've been kinder," Cyr sighed theatrically. "I was going to rescue him, but…"
He hit a snag in his story.
How could he spin this to sound like he was powerless rather than just being a bystander enjoying the drama?
Say the Ant King was too strong? Come on, that would imply he couldn't beat the King. Embarrassing. Their last fight ended in a draw, and honestly—if they were really going for a fight to the death?
There was no way he'd lose. With Limitless and Reversal Technique, even if his energy bar ran out, he could draw cards to refill it. With 24/7 mana regeneration, he could keep spamming ultimates.
At most, he'd just be bleeding from every orifice thanks to some debuff while still fighting...
"But Kite's like this because of you guys," Cyr wrapped it up with a serious tone. "I thought maybe if you rescued him yourselves, it'd be better…"
"Too bad, you're not capable anymore." Cyr shook his head with a look of regret.
"..." Gon crouched down, looking completely defeated.
Cyr kept up the regretful act on the surface, but his hand was itching to pull out his spear and stab that toy that locked Gon into Zetsu.
After a moment of consideration, he gave up on the idea. Too small of a target—forget it. Better to test it on someone else.
Actually, the one he really wanted to stab was Kite's Crazy Slots—because that clown could talk, and every word out of its mouth made you want to punch it.
Kite himself always looked like he wanted to smack it too. If they had a chat, maybe he'd actually agree.
"Well, I'm heading out," Cyr said, about to leave.
"Wait a minute," Killua suddenly called out, urgently. "Come with me." He looked straight at Cyr, who paused in place and turned back to face him.
Cyr raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything. He simply followed Killua a short distance away.
"Can you show me your full strength?" Killua stopped walking and turned to face the figure who stood a whole head taller than him.
"Did you suddenly develop some weird fetish?" Cyr said while ruffling Killua's hair like petting a cat.
"I did not!" Killua yelled in a hushed voice.
Who the hell had a weird fetish!?
"I just…" His eyes dropped, and a shadow of melancholy crossed his face.
Whenever he faced a powerful enemy, his instinct was to run. No matter how many times it happened, it was always the same.
It felt like a flaw he could never overcome.
But if he couldn't overcome this, how could he stay by Gon's side?
At that thought, tears welled up in Killua's eyes and began to fall.
Two boys—one squatting and crying, the other standing in front of Cyr, crying silently with a blank expression.
Cyr actually found the scene kind of fascinating. Crying with a blank face? If this were a movie, the director would definitely give it a full-screen close-up.
Cyr had never cried. He couldn't understand why the two of them were crying, and frankly, he couldn't be bothered to try. He knew it had to do with something called "feelings."
But emotions, to him, were just boring.
"I just… don't want to run anymore." Killua said softly.
"Ah…" Cyr looked at Killua's head and suddenly understood.
That nen needle Illumi had stuck in Killua's head—so this was the effect. Looked like Killua couldn't stand it anymore.
"That's easy. Just need to give you a little brain surgery." Cyr said, tone halfway between a joke and being completely serious.
"...Are you serious?" Killua was no longer crying, just staring at him in confusion.
What the hell kind of brain surgery?
"Believe it or don't." Cyr shrugged. "Relax, it's not a big deal. You'll be fine." He patted Killua's shoulder dismissively.
"Of course, if you really can't wait…" he added, his voice full of suggestion.
His face practically said "If you're in a hurry, I can do the brain surgery right now."
Killua silently took a step back.
Who the hell volunteers for brain surgery? Wait—why would this guy even mention brain surgery?
Did it actually have something to do with what he was going through? Or… did he mean—
Was there something in his head?
A thought clicked in Killua's mind, and his expression turned downright grim.
°°°
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