A deafening explosion echoed. Ron eyed the middle-aged clown.
"So he's a Nen user specializing in Emission," Ron thought.
Although Ron himself wasn't an Emission Type, he leaned that way and therefore paid close attention to the abilities of other Emission users.
"That shot just now wasn't an ordinary Nen Bullet. It had a transmuted property."
He observed faint traces of lightning in the aftermath of the blast.
"An electrical Nen Bullet," Ron concluded. "Definitely more destructive than a simple shot—if it hits. Otherwise, it doesn't matter."
In the next instant, the clown conjured another sphere in his hand, and Ron likewise gathered aura around his own. Their projectiles collided again.
They traded blasts like two cannons locked in an artillery duel. Neither used any other abilities, yet the commotion they generated eclipsed all the other battles raging around them.
Ron's eyes flickered.
"As expected of the Herd—Oster's most trusted elite force. They're on a different level from the Three Hounds or the Four Beasts. If I hadn't used my own Nen Bullet to match his, this could have been troublesome."
The clown's bullets displayed several properties: lightning, flame, ice, corrosion, raw explosion. It was a potent strategy for Emission users—varying effects for different battle scenarios. Nen's strength often lay in versatility, and the clown clearly had more potential options than Ron's simpler bullets. But Ron wasn't a bullet specialist; he was a Beast-Type user. Comparing Ron's weaker aspect to the clown's strong suit wasn't exactly fair.
Still, Ron's projectiles were enough to keep the clown's shots at bay. The clown grew irritated. His techniques surpassed Ron's in sheer power, yet he couldn't seem to land a decisive blow. In a sense, Ron's style directly countered him.
Meanwhile, Natsu's fight with Largin intensified. Largin kept glancing Ron's way, wanting to break off and attack him, but Natsu pressed too hard, allowing no opening.
Elsewhere, the bunny-girl singer also wanted to target Ron; however, events on another side of the plaza demanded her support. The petite girl was engaged in close combat against Zeno, struggling to get near him, but Zeno denied her every chance.
"Dragon Head Strike!"
Zeno's aura took on the shape of a dragon's maw, rearing high like a tangible beast. Its sheer intensity smothered the petite girl. He also far outstripped her in speed. His unrelenting onslaught left her with no choice but to dodge or block, never finding a chance to fight back. Zeno thoroughly outclassed her.
Seeing that the petite girl looked on the verge of collapse—one mistake from being killed—the bunny-girl had no choice but to intervene. She produced a microphone, raised it to her lips, and aimed at Zeno.
A blast of powerful sound waves barreled toward him, so loud they drowned out every other noise around the plaza. The pressure bearing down on Zeno would be intense.
"An ability based on sound?" Ron mused.
He recalled Uvogin's roar from the original events—enough to kill the Shadow Beast Porcupine outright. But that was nothing like these sonic waves. The bunny-girl's attack was on a whole different level.
Zeno cast her a calm look. A surge of aura formed a protective shield in front of him. When the sonic waves struck, the shield quaked violently, but it nullified the attack. Zeno then kept the dragon-headed aura pinning down the petite girl with one hand, while raising the other.
Beams of aura condensed into glowing projectiles, raining down on the bunny-girl like a shower of arrows.
"A smaller version of Dragon Lance?" Ron thought, noting how closely it resembled Zeno's Dragon Lance technique, albeit on a reduced scale. But for dealing with the bunny-girl, it was still more than enough. The barrage forced her to frantically dodge every shot.
True Dragon Lance could envelop a whole royal kingdom's main castle spanning acres of land, indicating just how massive Zeno's aura reserves were. The A-Class range covered a huge span of power, from those barely stronger than a top-tier B-Class to those who had truly found their own path. Zeno had carved out his path long ago. He'd once mentioned to Ron that he could kill the Floor Masters in Heaven's Arena if he really wanted to. That spoke volumes about his prowess.
Facing two foes on his own, Zeno still completely dominated them, nullifying the Herd's advantage in numbers. Ron was holding down two others. That left two more to contend with Silva and Hisoka, who likewise weren't easy targets.
One man exuded a piercing aura—he was the swordsman. Gripping his hilt, he assumed a draw stance against Silva. Silva just stood there, arms folded, watching the swordsman. This corner of the plaza was conspicuously quiet, neither man making a move. But their mindsets were starkly different.
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