Liam looked around the dim clearing, assessing the absolute monsters surrounding him.
Zeno stood a short distance away, his posture entirely relaxed with his hands casually clasped behind his back. "Your eyes are darting all over the place," the old man noted, his voice smooth and unhurried. "What exactly are you plotting? Relax. We are professional assassins. Nobody is paying us right now, so we are not going to kill you without reason."
"Thank you very much for that," Liam said, his breathing slightly heavy. "I have a rather low tolerance for pain, and digging out my own kidney is a bit much. Would anyone mind lending a hand?"
As he spoke, a faint, five-pointed star pattern surfaced on the skin of his palm.
Up on the high stone wall, Silva stared down with predatory stillness. Closer to Liam stood Kikyo, the wide brim of her hat casting a deep shadow over her face, save for the glowing electronic visor that covered her eyes. None of them moved. None of them offered to help. They simply watched him.
Seeing he had no other choice, Liam stiffened his fingers into a rigid blade. He drove his hand into his own abdomen, tearing through muscle and tissue to forcibly extract his left kidney.
Kikyo's electronic visor flashed a sharp, continuous red at the sheer, brutal decisiveness of the act.
Silva dropped from the top of the wall, his boots hitting the ground with a heavy, earth-shaking thud. He straightened up and asked in a low, rumbling voice, "Question one. How did you get inside?"
"Question two," Zeno added with a dry chuckle. "What is your purpose here?"
Ignoring them for a moment, Liam placed the wet, bloody organ into Alluka's small, waiting hands.
"Question three," Kikyo demanded. She snapped her fan shut and pointed it directly at Alluka. The temperature in the air seemed to drop. "How do you know about this child?"
The Zoldycks had watched the security feeds. They had seen Alluka make the first request to this sudden intruder, asking for his eyes. They had heard Liam mutter to himself, complaining about what the previous person had wished for. That alone proved he knew exactly how Alluka's wish-granting ability worked. He knew the rules deeply.
And just now, trapped in a highly unfavorable situation, he had not tried to take Alluka hostage. He had not looked for an opening to run. Instead, he had mutilated himself just to satisfy the child's second request. He clearly understood the terrifying, unavoidable consequences of rejecting or ignoring Alluka.
Knowing someone outside the family understood the child's power was enough to keep the entire Zoldyck family awake at night.
In truth, the people most terrified of Alluka's unexplainable ability were the family members themselves. Because they understood the rules, they knew the danger. One wrong move, one failed set of requests, could trigger a backlash that would wipe their entire bloodline from the face of the earth. It was the sole reason family members were strictly forbidden from killing one another. They had even gone so far as to strip Alluka of family status, reducing the child to an outsider so they could eliminate the threat if things ever went completely out of control.
Now, a total stranger who knew their darkest secret had appeared directly inside Alluka's isolation room. A coincidence was impossible. They had mobilized instantly, rushing out to intercept him. They needed answers, or they would never sleep peacefully again.
The moment Alluka gripped the kidney, Zeno raised a single finger. A concentrated needle of aura shot across the space, striking Alluka squarely in the forehead. The child's eyes rolled back, and Alluka slumped over, unconscious.
Liam shifted his weight slightly. Instantly, an overwhelming, suffocating pressure rolled off Silva. The bloodlust was a physical wall, warning Liam that if he took a single step toward the child, his heart would be ripped from his chest.
"You knocked the kid out to stop the third request, just in case I try to use the wish to wipe out your family," Liam said, forcing a strained smile as he watched Kikyo step forward to support Alluka's limp body. "Why are you all so paranoid? I would never make a wish like that. I actually really like Killua."
Zeno tilted his head. "You met Killua at the Heavens Arena, did you not?"
"How did you figure that out, old man?" Liam asked.
"That boy has only left this mountain once in his life," Zeno replied calmly.
"Then you should also know I could have easily grabbed Killua and used him as a hostage to secure my escape," Liam pointed out.
Zeno scoffed lightly. "Are you referring to your Nen beast? Do not play the fool. Based on my observations, your beast cannot maintain its form if it travels more than ten kilometers away from you. This location is over thirty kilometers from the main estate. You could not possibly reach Killua from here."
Liam fell silent, internally cursing the old man's sharp eyes.
His mind drifted back to his escape from the estate. He had struck Killua, forcing the boy's aura nodes open, then thrown him backward before burning the Chainsaw Woman talisman to flee. Illumi had seen the chaotic aura spilling from his little brother, realized Killua was teetering on the edge of learning Nen, and angrily stormed off to hunt Liam down.
Killua had been left alone, drowning in confusion. He could not understand why a glowing, white light was pouring out of his skin, or why the world suddenly looked entirely different. He had realized his older brother was covered in the same light, only a hundred times denser, which finally explained the suffocating pressure Illumi always exerted.
While Killua was distracted by the revelation, Liam had deployed Jade the Nen beast, sinking it into the ground the way Razor hid his beasts. Because Liam had forced Killua's nodes open, the boy's eyes and ears were attuned to aura. He would have been able to hear the nun call his name, allowing the beast to capture him in its sleeves.
The nun had risen silently behind Killua, inches away from speaking his name. But at that exact moment, the heavy door of the final Zoldyck palace had creaked open. Maha Zoldyck, the short, bald patriarch of the family, had stood in the shadows, his ancient eyes locked directly onto the hidden Nen beast.
Liam had felt a surge of pure dread. The old man possessed zero presence, making him completely unnoticeable until he chose to be seen. Even though Maha no longer managed the family's daily affairs, he would never allow an outsider to kidnap his great-grandson right in front of him.
Forced to abandon the plan, Liam made the nun lean close to Killua's ear and whisper a single word: Alluka. Killua had frozen in absolute shock, breaking into a cold sweat as he spun around, only to find empty air as the nun vanished back beneath the earth.
"Answer the questions."
Silva took a slow, heavy step forward, snapping Liam back to the present. The invisible aura radiating from the large man smelled distinctly of fresh blood, making the night air feel dangerously thick.
Liam raised both his hands in a placating gesture. "I cannot reach Killua right now. That is true. But I do have Illumi. Madam, your visor should be able to verify if I am lying."
Kikyo reached up, a mechanical click sounding from her headset as she cycled through the estate's internal surveillance network. A few seconds passed. Through the cameras, she saw her eldest son, Illumi, pinned to the forest floor by Tsubone, Gotoh, Canary, and over twenty other butlers.
It was a gruesome sight. Many of the servants were missing limbs, their bodies riddled with Illumi's needles. Yet, they fought with relentless, suicidal aggression. Tsubone herself was bleeding heavily, but she had Illumi locked in a brutal chokehold he could not break.
"Manipulation, Emission, and Enhancement," Kikyo listed coldly, her voice tight. "Your abilities are quite complex. But if you truly believe you can capture Illumi with a handful of servants and use him to blackmail the Zoldyck family, you are gravely mistaken."
"He also possesses a remarkable healing factor," Zeno added, his eyes dropping to Liam's abdomen. The massive incision where Liam had removed his kidney was already closed and knitting together perfectly. "I imagine the butlers under your control share this regenerative trait. They simply outlasted Illumi through sheer attrition. Your Nen ability revolves around placing a mark. Whoever carries this mark falls under your command and gains extreme self-healing."
The old man smiled, though his eyes remained utterly cold. "Since you have marked yourself, it stands to reason your natural category is Manipulation. The rest of those flashy tricks were developed separately to support it."
"Look, I never intended to invade your territory or threaten your family," Liam said, keeping his tone as reasonable as possible. "I have no ill will toward any of you. I was brought here by accident, and I just want to leave in one piece. I have someone waiting for me at home."
He looked directly at Silva. "There is a game called Greed Island. It was created by a group of elite Nen masters, and the island is packed with highly complex aura mechanisms. My friends and I triggered a trap and were teleported randomly across the world. My friends are somewhere else entirely. You saw me on the cameras. I appeared out of thin air in your son's room. As for why the trap dumped me exactly there..."
He shifted his gaze to Kikyo. "I honestly do not know. You would have to ask the people who built the game. And regarding how I know about Alluka..."
Liam paused, choosing his next words carefully. "I am sorry, but I cannot reveal my source. Let us just say I learned things I was not supposed to know through a type of prophecy. I assure you, there is no traitor in your ranks. Nobody leaked your secrets to me. I swear that on my Nen. I am telling the truth. Now, can we act like professionals and make a deal? Swear to wake Alluka up, let me fulfill the third request, and reset the wish mechanism so I can leave without worrying. You do not want me stuck in the middle of a wish cycle any more than I do. Let us reset it now. I swear on my Nen I will not make a wish that harms the Zoldyck family."
He exhaled slowly, having delivered the entire pitch in one breath.
Zeno stroked his beard, his face an unreadable mask. Silva stared silently, his muscles coiled. Liam had purposely appealed to their core philosophy. Deals and contracts were sacred to the assassin family; if they swore to a transaction, they would never break it.
"A prophecy..." Kikyo murmured, her visor flashing rapidly as her breathing grew uneven.
Before anyone could speak, a desperate, angry shout tore through the quiet forest.
Liam let out a long breath. It was finally here.
Killua burst from the tree line, his clothes soaked in sweat and his chest heaving. He took in the terrifying standoff, his eyes locking onto the limp body of Alluka in Kikyo's arms. A look of absolute, unhinged fury crossed his face. Moving faster than he ever had in his life, Killua launched himself off the ground, kicking Kikyo squarely in the chest, sending her crashing into the dirt as he snatched the unconscious Alluka away.
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