"I'm asking you a question, little brother."
A large, heavy hand pressed down firmly onto the top of ten-year-old Killua's fluffy white hair, violently interrupting his internal thoughts.
Killua broke out in a cold sweat, his entire body stiffening. He didn't dare look up.
"There are... Twelve Palaces," Killua answered, his voice tight, finally addressing Liam's Gemini joke. "They are located very far toward the front of the estate."
"So it really is modeled after the Saint Saiya Twelve Temple," Liam mused. "That means this dark room we are standing in right now is one of the palaces located near the back of the line."
Liam let go of the boy's head and looked back at the massive, terrifying electric chair where he had found Killua sleeping.
"Are you down here for training?" Liam asked.
Killua finally raised his head, forcing a polite, perfectly practiced smile onto his face. "Why don't you start by telling me who you are?"
Liam smiled back, his expression relaxed and easy. "Relax, kid. Don't look at me like you are planning to bolt and run away at any given second."
Killua's polite smile didn't waver, but his eyes narrowed slightly. "I get why you'd think that, but my muscles are completely relaxed right now. There's zero tension. It's physically impossible for you to read my next move."
He was entirely confident in that fact. After all, he had been subjected to brutal, non-stop training as a professional assassin since the day he could walk!
Liam's eyes glowed faintly as he pushed a small amount of aura into his eyes. He looked down at the boy's legs, easily observing the relatively dense, swirling layer of natural aura heavily concentrated in Killua's calves and thighs, completely betraying the boy's intent to sprint.
Does it really matter whether your physical muscles are tight or not? Liam thought to himself, amused. I can literally just watch the flow of your aura pool in your legs, you poor little amateur.
"It seems you really don't remember me," Liam noted, turning away from the boy.
He began to walk slowly around the spacious, dim palace. Since the heavy stone doors on one side of the room clearly led to the so-called Capricorn Palace, which was apparently completely rigged with lethal traps, what about the doors on the opposite side?
"Have we met somewhere before?" Killua asked, shoving his small hands deep into his pockets as he silently trailed after Liam.
"Forget about it if you don't remember," Liam said dismissively. "But let me just clarify one thing first. I did not intentionally break into your house. My arrival here was purely an accident. I was forcibly teleported to this ghost place by a completely random accident."
"Did you really just refer to my family's ancestral home as a 'ghost place'?" Killua chuckled, the sound dry and devoid of actual humor. "Haha. That is actually a shockingly accurate description."
As for Liam's incredibly weak excuse about being teleported against his will, Killua didn't believe a single word of it.
"Teleportation? Are you trying to refer to some kind of cheap street magic trick? I've watched those kinds of shows on TV before!" Killua mocked lightly.
In response to the obvious bait, Liam just smiled and kept walking.
The ability to awaken and utilize Nen was deeply, intrinsically tied to the maturity and development of a person's worldview. Because of that psychological component, Liam could somewhat understand the logic behind the Zoldyck family's strict decision to intentionally prevent Killua from developing his Nen abilities at such a young age.
The reason he only somewhat understood it...
Nen abilities weren't entirely about developing complex, personal Hatsu! Even if Killua was strictly prohibited from prematurely developing his own unique Hatsu technique, it would still be incredibly beneficial and entirely harmless to simply give the boy the opportunity to unlock his aura nodes. They could have let him safely hone his basic physical skills through the Four Major Principles, allowing him to quietly and efficiently build up his raw aura capacity over the years.
The young, immensely talented prince of a dignified, world-renowned assassin family was eventually going to travel the outside world, yet he currently possessed absolutely zero knowledge regarding the existence of Nen. His worldview and vision were exactly the same as an ignorant country bumpkin. It was honestly outrageous parenting.
Wait. Why does this guy look like he is growing up faster than me? Killua thought, his brow furrowing as he stared at Liam's back.
Suddenly, it clicked. Killua finally remembered exactly where he had seen this tall guy before. The Heavens Arena!
Unlike Liam, who needed to adjust his eyes to the gloom, Killua's assassin training allowed him to see Liam's physical appearance perfectly clearly, even in the dim lighting of the underground palace.
I'm supposed to be the one in my prime growth stage, right? How is he so tall already? Killua thought angrily.
"I highly advise you not to open the door to that palace," Killua warned.
Seeing Liam casually reach out and touch the heavy stone doors leading to the mysterious Pisces Palace, Killua immediately stepped up behind him to stop him.
"My great-grandfather currently lives in there," Killua explained, his voice dropping to a serious whisper. "He is nowhere near as easy to talk to as I am."
Liam's hand had already pushed the heavy stone door open a tiny crack. He stopped pushing immediately.
The ancient great-grandfather who casually beats up the other Zoldycks for fun... is his name Maha Zoldyck? Liam thought, racking his brain. To be completely honest, I've never been able to tell the actual difference between Maha Zoldyck and Zzigg Zoldyck. Who is whose father again?
Liam leaned forward, carefully glancing through the narrow crack in the stone door.
Deep in the shadows of the room, he briefly thought he saw a hunched, corpse-like figure sitting perfectly still, completely wrapped in a suffocating layer of unknown, pitch-black aura.
Suddenly, Liam flinched backward in shock. The blurry image of a short, bald old man had violently flashed directly across his line of sight, entirely blocking his view of the room's interior.
Liam immediately grabbed the edge of the heavy stone door and pulled it tightly shut, sealing it with a heavy thud.
"You say you are easy to talk to," Liam said, turning around to face the boy with a relaxed smile. "Does that mean we officially count as friends now? We only met that one time back at the Heavens Arena, but I think you're actually quite an easy kid to get along with."
"..."
Killua stared up at him, his face completely blank.
Is this person genuinely unable to feel the intense, suffocating murderous aura I am currently projecting? Killua thought, bewildered. Or is this guy just impossibly stupid?
"Killua does not need friends."
The sudden, chilling voice echoing from the shadows behind them made Killua violently flinch, waking up like a terrified little beast caught in a trap.
"Big brother..." Killua whispered, his entire body locking up in sheer terror.
A tall, incredibly slender figure with long, straight black hair slowly pushed open the heavy stone doors of the Capricorn Palace and stepped smoothly out into the dim light.
Standing against the brighter lighting spilling out from the trap-filled palace behind him, Illumi's physical figure appeared slightly blurry and distorted. However, the cold, biting, and utterly absolute hostility radiating from his body instantly filled the air of the dark room.
His tone, on the other hand, was entirely casual and conversational.
"There was absolutely no such thing as friendship in your past," Illumi stated calmly. "And there will be absolutely no such thing as friendship in your future."
Illumi finally stopped walking. "Am I right about that, Killua?"
Illumi didn't even bother to look down at his younger brother. His large, completely dead, pitch-black eyes were locked entirely onto Liam through the dim lighting.
"Yes..." Killua squeaked out. He was so utterly terrified that he was visibly trembling. His muscles completely stiffened, rooting him firmly to the stone floor.
"Do you see?" Illumi asked, taking a slow, measured step toward Liam.
"Are you asking if I think I am his friend?" Liam asked, keeping the easy smile on his face.
"No," Illumi replied softly.
At some point during his slow walk, several long, thin metal needles had silently appeared, pinched securely between Illumi's long fingers.
"I am asking if you see that you are not his friend," Illumi clarified, his face completely devoid of any human expression. "Because you are going to disappear very quickly."
Illumi flicked his wrist with a casual, almost lazy motion. Several long needles tore through the air, thrown directly toward Liam's face and chest with lethal speed.
Illumi was a master Manipulator. If a person was pricked by even a single one of his specialized Nen needles, they would instantly become a mindless, obedient needle puppet, completely controlled by his will.
Naturally, Liam already knew this.
The needles sailed smoothly through the empty air where Liam had been standing just a fraction of a second ago, sinking deeply into the solid stone wall behind him with a series of sharp thwacks.
At the exact same moment he had thrown the needles, Illumi had violently pushed off the ground, rushing forward with terrifying speed. He flattened his hand, turning his palm into a rigid, lethal blade. The veins in his long fingers throbbed visibly with concentrated aura, and his fingernails seemed to sharpen into points.
He drove his hand blade forward, aiming directly for Liam's heart. But he only ended up stabbing through empty air. Or, more accurately, his lethal strike brushed harmlessly through the fluttering fabric of a wide, green sleeve. He lost all his forward momentum and was smoothly pushed backward by an invisible force.
Of course, a top-tier assassin like Illumi wasn't that easy to throw off balance.
With a light, almost imperceptible tap of his toes against the floor, Illumi violently twisted his entire body's center of gravity backward in an extremely unscientific, physically impossible maneuver. He instantly followed up his failed strike with a devastating, aura-laced roundhouse kick aimed at head height.
During the fluid motion of his recovery and counterattack, Illumi's sharp eyes quickly analyzed the current situation. The tall young man who had just been speaking to Killua had smoothly dodged backward, leaving behind an ethereal, glowing Nen beast that looked exactly like a masked Taoist nun to take his place.
His Nen needles had been completely unable to pierce the incorporeal, aura-based body of the Nen beast, and therefore, his manipulation attempt had completely failed.
Jade didn't flinch away from the incoming roundhouse kick. Instead, she advanced smoothly, floating directly toward Illumi. She raised her arm and sharply flicked her wide left sleeve to intercept the blow.
"You are the eldest son of the Zoldyck family. Your name is Illumi, right?" Liam's calm voice echoed from the dark corners of the room.
Illumi completely ignored the question. As his kick connected with the heavy fabric of the sleeve, he smoothly twisted his body mid-air, reaching out with his backhand to violently grab Jade's left arm. Using the Nen beast's own momentum against it, he effortlessly threw the nun directly toward the exact location where Liam's voice had just echoed from.
Standing frozen a few feet away, Killua was sweating profusely, his heart hammering in his chest.
What on earth is my terrifying big brother doing? Killua thought, his wide eyes tracking Illumi's movements. Why is he violently moving his hands and feet, attacking the empty air? My brother is way too serious to be acting out some kind of bizarre mime routine. He absolutely does not possess that kind of stupid humor.
Because Killua hadn't awakened his aura nodes, he couldn't see the Nen beast at all. To him, Illumi was fighting ghosts.
The moment he threw Jade out of his way, Illumi landed silently on the stone floor. His expression remained completely blank as he instantly darted into a blind spot in the dim lighting. He launched a secondary attack from a low angle, his hand blade stabbing viciously upward, aiming directly for Liam's exposed throat.
Damn it, this guy moves exactly like a ghost! Liam cursed internally, barely tracking the strike.
Relying entirely on his muscle memory, Liam recalled a specific defensive maneuver Bisky had ruthlessly drilled into him. He shifted his weight, intentionally making a slight, calculated mistake in his footing. The feint worked. He cleanly caught Illumi's incoming hand blade—which felt like it was about to explosively expand into a massive beast's claw—and immediately jumped backward, using the momentum to bleed off the vast majority of the lethal kinetic force.
At that exact moment, Illumi opened his mouth and let out a soft "poof" sound.
A single, hidden needle shot directly out of his mouth, pressing instantly toward the center of Liam's chest.
Liam himself was also a master Manipulator. Furthermore, he had already permanently marked himself with his own Star Mark, establishing an absolute layer of self-control over his own body and aura.
In the rigid, unyielding rules of the Manipulation category, the first player to successfully establish control always wins. It was a strict, first-come, first-served system. Because Liam was already actively controlling himself, even if he was directly hit and pierced by Illumi's specialized Nen needle, Illumi would be completely unable to override the Star Mark and control him.
Of course, Liam knew this perfectly well.
However, if he actually allowed himself to be pricked by the Nen needle, Illumi would immediately feel the feedback and realize his control had failed. That realization would be tantamount to loudly announcing to Illumi that Liam was also a high-level Manipulator, giving away a massive tactical advantage.
Before the needle could pierce Liam's shirt, Jade suddenly stretched her pale hand out from behind Liam's shoulder. She gracefully pinched the speeding needle between her index finger and thumb, stopping it dead just a fraction of an inch away from Liam's chest.
The moment Liam let go of Illumi's wrist, the assassin immediately retreated, disappearing back into the shadows exactly like a ghost.
But while his physical body vanished, the cold, suffocating, and terrifyingly dense murderous intention radiating from him lingered in the air, growing even heavier. As a world-class, top-tier assassin, if Illumi truly didn't want a target to notice his murderous intent, he was definitely capable of hiding it completely.
The fact that his murderous intent was currently so overwhelmingly obvious meant it wasn't actually aimed directly at Liam. It was being intentionally projected to violently intimidate and suppress his younger brother, Killua.
Standing off to the side, Killua was so absolutely terrified by the crushing pressure that his face had turned completely, deathly pale. He was probably on the verge of experiencing severe visual and auditory hallucinations.
No matter how extensively he had trained his physical assassination skills, Killua, who possessed absolutely no Nen ability to protect his mind, was exactly like a naked, helpless little lamb standing directly in front of Illumi's massive, overwhelming aura. He was being casually and effortlessly mentally abused at his brother's whim.
In the brief flash of time it took Liam to process the situation, Illumi's next lethal attack came rushing out of the shadows.
Liam threw himself to the side, barely managing to avoid the strike. His mind raced, desperately trying to formulate a viable countermeasure.
The terrifying little old man of the Zoldyck family is sleeping literally right next door, Liam thought, his heart pounding. And considering all the commotion we are making, I am guessing Killua's overprotective parents and their army of well-trained butlers probably already know about my sudden appearance by now. Just dealing with Illumi in a confined space is tricky enough. If I keep dragging this fight out here in the basement, there will be absolutely no hope of me successfully sneaking out of the Zoldyck estate alive.
Using the wide body of Jade as a visual cover, Liam quickly reached out and snatched a specific, freshly made talisman that the Nen beast smoothly dropped from her right sleeve.
Killua was still standing completely frozen in the dark, violently trembling and looking deathly pale. Suddenly, a strong hand grabbed him roughly by the shoulder. Before he could react, he was violently yanked forward, rushing directly toward the solid stone wall of the palace that didn't have a gate.
"What are you doing? This specific outer wall is more than ten meters thick of solid bedrock!" Killua hissed, quickly lowering his voice as he was dragged along by Liam. "You can't possibly break through it to escape!"
"You really do have such a good, caring heart," Liam said, turning his head slightly to offer the boy a small, genuine smile. "Because of that, I am going to need you to delay him for me."
Killua was completely stunned by the words. The world suddenly spun violently before his eyes as Liam lifted him off his feet.
Just before he was thrown, the man leaned in and whispered directly into his ear.
"Imagine yourself completely soaking in a warm ball of hot water. Try your absolute best to gather that feeling of hot water closely around your physical body."
With a single, powerful palm strike to the chest, Liam violently knocked Killua away. He threw the boy directly backward, crashing him heavily into the rapidly approaching, shadowy figure of Illumi.
Illumi had absolutely no intention of catching his younger brother. His expression remained completely blank as he effortlessly swayed his upper body to the side, smoothly dodging the flying Killua without breaking his stride. He continued his lethal, silent fall directly toward Liam.
The loud, painful sound of Killua hitting the solid stone floor echoed from behind a second later.
In just the blink of an eye, the dim light directly in front of Illumi suddenly flared with a blinding brightness. A massive, jagged crack, easily as high as a full-grown person, had miraculously appeared directly through the ten-meter-thick solid bedrock of the outer wall.
The young man he had been chasing had already slipped through the gap and escaped into the night.
"That is really quite strange," Illumi murmured, his voice entirely flat.
He immediately slowed his sprint, dropping his lethal posture. He walked calmly over to the massive, human-sized crack in the wall. He reached out a pale hand, gently running his long fingers over the smooth, cleanly severed edge of the fractured stone.
"Looking closely at the friction marks, it appears as though the solid bedrock was cleanly cut completely through with some kind of massive, high-powered tool in a fraction of a second," Illumi analyzed quietly. "There is absolutely no way he could have had such a massive, heavy weapon hidden on his physical body. Could his Nen type be Conjuration? But his humanoid Nen beast was incredibly complete and highly flexible in combat. Based on that alone, he should definitely be an Emitter."
Even if a highly skilled Nen user with a natural affinity for Emission tried their absolute hardest to force their aura to conjure a complex weapon or cutting tool, it would never be powerful enough to cleanly cut straight through the reinforced outer wall of the Scorpio Palace in such an impossibly short amount of time.
Just as Illumi was silently processing this confusing tactical contradiction, he was suddenly startled by a faint glowing light behind him. He slowly turned his head to look back into the dark room.
Killua had pushed himself up from the floor and was standing completely still in the center of the darkness. The boy was staring down in absolute, wide-eyed shock at his own hands, his arms, and his entire physical body.
He was completely enveloped in a soft, bright, and incredibly warm ball of glowing white light.
"What on earth is this?" Killua whispered, his voice trembling with awe.
Illumi stood by the broken wall, his face remaining completely calm and entirely expressionless. But deep down, he was genuinely, incredibly unhappy with the strange young man who had just escaped.