Miste's appearance had completely changed from before.
Her long white hair was now tied into a ponytail, with the front styled into an upright fringe. She wore a white training uniform.
Her entire demeanor was different too—like an apprentice raised in a dojo. There wasn't the slightest trace of her former air.
Ron handed her the documents in his hand.
"Miste, starting today, this is your new identity."
"Understood, Big Brother."
Wendy sized Miste up.
On the drive to the second phase of the Nirvana Festival, Ron had already told Wendy about Miste's situation.
Wendy knew that Miste was an orphan, one who had been abducted. Now that Ron had rescued her, it was a stroke of good fortune for the girl.
Miste turned to Wendy.
"Big Sister, were you also bought by Big Brother to be his tool?"
Ron's eyelid twitched.
"Miste, don't say such things."
Wendy's face instantly turned into a strange expression.
"Wendy is a good friend of mine. You can just call her 'Big Sister Wendy' from now on."
"Alright, I understand, Big Brother. I'm sorry."
Miste lowered her head.
Ron noted that Miste wasn't entirely "robotic." At times, she still showed traits of a normal child—like now.
In that sense, it was obvious Hongtelan hadn't finished molding her.
Besides, the fact that Miste once asked Ron why he was "glowing" didn't seem like something Hongtelan would teach. Typically, traffickers tell their abducted children not to speak to strangers at all.
"This indicates that Hongtelan's training for Miste was incomplete."
Ron glanced at Wendy.
"Wendy, would you like to go absorb your new abilities first?"
"Yes, I was thinking the same. I'll go to the training ground."
"All right. I'll come by shortly."
The door clicked shut behind her.
"Miste, carry on with the exercises I assigned. I have something else to take care of."
Ron headed to another room and closed the door. Then he focused his mind.
"Ryūnosuke Akutagawa!"
Two figures appeared before Ron.
With the same amount of aura allocated to them, the presences of Baki Hanma and Ryūnosuke Akutagawa were noticeably stronger than before. This was the first of their gains from the Land of Nirvana.
Their second gain was the white bone masks covering their faces.
This was connected to a new joint ability.
"They look almost like Hollows from Bleach," Ron remarked.
"Scales of Gravity"—The name of the New Ability
The white bone masks concealed much of their faces, leaving only their eyes visible. Both Baki and Ryūnosuke exuded an entirely different aura now—like two different people compared to before.
"'Gravity Game of the Scales'!"
"It's a gravity-manipulating ability."
"It requires two Nen Beasts to operate."
"When Baki Hanma and Ryūnosuke Akutagawa appear simultaneously:
1. If the enemy is fighting Baki alone, the longer the fight goes on, the more gravity increases on them.
- The amount of gravitational intensification depends on two factors:
a) How much aura from Baki's attacks has struck the opponent.
b) The distance between Ryūnosuke and Baki.
- The more aura Baki lands on them, the heavier the gravity pressing on them becomes.
- The farther apart Baki and Ryūnosuke are, the more the gravity intensifies on the target.
- However, there's a limit to that distance: it cannot exceed the coverage of my En. Once outside that range, the ability ends.
2. If the opponent is fighting Ryūnosuke alone, the longer the fight goes on, the more gravity on them decreases.
- The amount of gravitational weakening is similarly based on two factors:
a) How much aura from Ryūnosuke's attacks has struck the opponent.
b) The distance between Ryūnosuke and Baki.
- The more aura Ryūnosuke lands, the lighter the gravity becomes for the target.
- And again, the farther apart Baki and Ryūnosuke are, the greater the reduction in gravity.
- The same En-range limit applies; if they exceed it, the skill doesn't work.
"This is a pretty good technique."
Ron, who knew how much weight training and gravity shifts could affect a Nen user, was keenly aware of the implications—especially in the heat of battle, adapting to abrupt gravity changes isn't easy. Even a powerful Nen user might slip up under such conditions, and in a serious fight, one mistake can decide everything.
"Just one more ability added, and Baki plus Akutagawa have both grown several times stronger.
"Moreover, this can pair well with Baki's other skill—'Position Swap.'
"I can have Baki fight the enemy first. Once the target is weighed down by extreme gravity, Baki can abruptly use his swap with Ryūnosuke.
At that instant, the enemy's gravity flips from heavy to light. That sudden shift is even harder to handle than the normal slow changes of the 'Gravity Game of the Scales,' and there's a high chance they'll expose a weakness.
"Likewise, they could start with Ryūnosuke, then swap him out for Baki to exploit the opening.
"There are plenty of possibilities with such a Nen ability."
Nen users make up only a small fraction of the total population. However, because the world is so large, you can still find a sizeable number of them—enough to be spread across Taris, Fiora, the V5 nations, Kakin, Meteor City, and the broader underworld. Each region's Nen users have different traits and develop different abilities. Broadly, these abilities fall into two groups:
- Enhancement-oriented: Focused on bolstering offense, defense, and speed. They're simple and direct—easy to understand even for bystanders.
- Rules-based: More complicated, requiring certain conditions to unleash heightened power. Once those conditions are met, they can be devastating.
The Scales of Gravity Game clearly belongs to the latter. If the opponent can't figure out the rules quickly, they'll struggle to counter it.
Of course, it's also limited by certain vows and restrictions to maximize its power under the right conditions.
At his command, Killer Queen appeared.
"Baki, attack Killer Queen!"
The two Nen Beasts faced off per Ron's instruction, while Akutagawa stepped away, widening the distance between himself and Baki.
Ron could plainly see Killer Queen's gravity increasing bit by bit.
"One times normal… two times normal… …"
"At the moment, it caps out around triple gravity."
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