The young man swept his gaze across the crowd, and the expressions around him turned grim.
Ron quickly analyzed the state of the Fallen One. In the next moment, he stepped forward.
"I'll leave the young man's half to you all," he said.
"I'll take the mummified part myself."
"I alone will be enough."
Buhara looked over immediately.
"Ron, are you sure? Don't force yourself if you're not confident—this is Gourmet Paradise's problem, you can walk away."
"It's fine, no major issue," Ron shrugged and said, "as long as you can hold the other half back."
"Alright. Even if I have to risk my life, I'll hold him off." Buhara nodded heavily.
With a thought, Ron summoned a figure beside him—Natsu. With knees bent, Natsu launched forward with a tremendous push, shaking the ship's body. Waves of ripples spread across the sea's surface, and flames surged in both his hands. Under his control, the two flames merged into one mass of golden fire.
"Flame of the Fire Dragon King!"
Natsu hurled the golden flame toward the location of the Fallen One.
The sea shook violently as torrents of water and steam exploded upward, scattering into a rain of towering droplets. The surrounding squads from Gourmet Paradise were heavily affected. The surging waves submerged their vessels. The corpses of the aquatic humanoid monsters below were thrown into the air, crashing down onto the water's surface and shattering into pieces.
The two halves of the Fallen One were forcefully separated. But it wasn't over.
Natsu clapped his hands together.
A wave of power fell upon the mummified half of the Fallen One. In the next moment, its body was transported hundreds of meters away, fully separated from the young man's half. Three figures surrounded the mummified half from three directions—Ron, Natsu, and Uchiha Sasuke.
Ron and his two Nen Beasts stood atop the ocean's surface by condensing aura with immense control under their feet, just like the mummified Fallen One.
The mummified one stared at Ron with a gaze full of malice, but it said nothing, only let out beast-like growls from deep within its throat.
From its aura and expression, it was clear that this half no longer retained human traits—it resembled a wild beast, or rather, a monster. But even in that state, it could still recognize that Ron was the true core. The moment it was transferred, it lunged at Ron.
The moment the ice bullet struck, it froze the mummified Fallen One and the sea beneath it. Though it shattered the ice within seconds, Ron's second attack had already arrived, landing precisely on target.
"Explosion Nen Bullet!"
The force of the blast sent the mummified half flying backward. At the same time, Natsu and Sasuke didn't remain idle.
"Fire Dragon's Roar!"
Their attacks followed in rapid succession. After pulling some distance, Ron drew the Rotten Life Blade from his waist. Injecting aura into it, a faint ghostly glow appeared and slashed toward the mummified Fallen One, hitting its body squarely.
In the next moment, countless parasite eggs appeared on the mummified form.
White larvae broke through their shells, writhing on the corpse, continuously burrowing in and devouring its aura in large mouthfuls. The grotesque sight only amplified the mummified form's horrific aura—it was like a corpse dug up in its final stage of decay, shriveled and dry, crawling with maggots and reeking of stench.
In a one-on-one, neither Ron, Natsu, nor Sasuke alone could surpass the mummified Fallen One. Even after being split in two, with its aura divided, the mummified half still retained its formidable strength—an apex A-rank Nen user, one step away from touching the threshold of S-rank.
Based on Ron's estimate, the Fallen One's true goal was for both halves of its body to achieve perfect fusion. That was the purpose of the Cursed Coin plan. If successful, the Fallen One would ascend to true S-class. But in their current split state, both the mummified and youthful halves remained at the A-rank—though each stood at the very top of that tier.
Still, Ron was no weakling either.
With himself and two Nen Beasts, leveraging position shifting, the Rotten Life Blade, his Nen bullets, and long-range lightning attacks, Ron managed to completely suppress the mummified half. It posed no threat to him. As the battle dragged on, the parasites grew in number, devouring more and more of its aura, while the mummified half could do nothing about Ron. The longer it went on, the more the advantage tilted in Ron's favor, and the mummified half became increasingly agitated.
The youthful half of the Fallen One could sense what was happening and, in response, unleashed even fiercer attacks on Buhara and the others. Of the six B-rank Nen users present, three—Menchi and her two companions—had already lost the ability to fight due to backlash from the Cursed Coins. The situation was clearly turning unfavorable.
Buhara served as the tank, standing at the front. Misty weaved through the chaos, her body constantly shifting. A black sphere was hurled at the young Fallen One. Shizuku and Sally stood side by side, fending off the remaining aquatic humanoid monsters.
But conditions for Gourmet Paradise were worsening. One squad leader, gritting his teeth at the state of things, prepared to act. He was the only A-rank Freelance Gourmet Hunter present. Though the curse's backlash hit him hard, as an A-rank Nen user, he was in better shape than Menchi and could still fight, although barely.
The A-rank Gourmet Hunter charged at the young Fallen One.
Already frustrated by the worsening situation of his other half, the young Fallen One's rage exploded at the sight of the new challenger.
He repelled the A-rank Gourmet Hunter with a single strike, then flashed behind another hunter. A strange aura surfaced around his body. In the next moment, a surge of black energy swept outward. The struck hunter immediately began to convulse, his face contorting grotesquely. His expression went blank and twisted, and his body began moving abnormally—as though no longer under his own control.
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