Chapter 61: Hisoka, you lose.

Offensive Emission-type users, as well as Conjuration-type users who primarily focus on physical objects, will inevitably gather more Nen in their dominant hand before unleashing their abilities.

For a Conjurer, the gathered Nen is relatively soft yet harbors a hint of sharpness, forming a clustered shape.

On the other hand, an Emitter needs to channel and release a larger amount of Nen, so its form will inevitably take on an aggressive, pointed shape.

This is essentially a characteristic that Emission-type users must display in combat.

Even someone as profoundly skilled as Zeno could not manage to conceal his intent to strike at this stage.

Perhaps only someone on Netero's level could pull off such a feat.

Based on Moro's Nen-gathering shape, Hisoka made a preliminary judgment that Moro was an Emission-type user.

"Snatching someone else's prey is not a very good habit, ♧."

When he spoke in response, Hisoka could barely suppress his urge to strike.

Moro wore a puzzled expression. "Prey? What prey?"

"Heh, heh-heh..."

Hisoka was adept at lying, and naturally even better at seeing through lies.

Though from the very beginning, there was no need to see through it...

He had pursued him from afar, and with just a single glance, he perceived Moro's true nature.

Kindred spirits—

Undeniably kindred spirits.

That lingering aura of post-satisfaction could not be faked.

If Moro knew what Hisoka was thinking, he would surely cry out in grievance.

After killing Imori, he indeed felt very satisfied.

Yet what satisfied him was not the slaughter, but the feedback after leveling up.

Seeing Hisoka's aura turn sharp along with his laughter, Moro had no intention of keeping up any pretexts. He directly raised his right hand, the pointed Nen upon it suddenly spinning and contracting.

Under his deliberate control and compression, the spinning and contracting Nen took on a slightly flattened shape, with fluorescent green light flowing along its edges.

"Slandering others as prey-snatchers... is not a good habit either. Besides, letting the prey slip right under your nose is a form of incompetence in itself."

"Mmm..."

The corners of Hisoka's eyes curved to the extreme, and suppressing his voice, he slowly said, "I won't deny that point. So... can we begin our 'loving each other' now, ♡?"

"Let's make a bet..."

Moro suddenly said.

"Oh-ho?" Hisoka's aura stagnated slightly for a moment, and with keen interest, he asked, "Is this considered 'foreplay', ♠?"

"Yes."

Moro calmly took up the thread and said, "You can also refuse, but once you refuse, I will resign myself to fate, give up all resistance, and stand completely still waiting for you to kill me. I imagine... you probably wouldn't enjoy a 'completely unresponsive' one-on-one, right?"

"..."

Hisoka fell into a rare silence.

He could tell that Moro was dead serious. That indifferent attitude when speaking of death lent tremendous persuasiveness to those words.

This simply won't do...

Standing completely still would be far too uninteresting.

Hisoka flipped his hands, producing a few playing cards, and narrowed his eyes. "Let's consider it 'foreplay' then. I agree. So, what are the terms of the bet, ♠?"

"Let's bet... on whether you can successfully kill me."

Moro stared unblinkingly at Hisoka.

Hearing the terms, Hisoka understood immediately and instantly lost his enthusiasm.

If the 'foreplay' you speak of is merely a chase... do you really think I can hold myself back, ♧?"

As he spoke, Hisoka placed one hand on his hip, intentionally or unintentionally accentuating his pelvis.

Moro noticed this gesture, which frequently appeared in the original story, and inevitably caught sight of certain reactions.

Yet his expression remained completely unperturbed as he enunciated clearly, "As I said just now, letting your prey slip away right under your nose is a form of incompetence in itself."

"..."

This was Hisoka's second silence.

In contrast, the desire manifested within his aura grew even more intense.

"If—"

Unable to control himself, he took a step forward, filtering out everything except Moro within his golden pupils, and asked, "I fail to kill you?"

"One year."

Moro raised his left index finger and calmly stated, "If you lose, we will immediately end our 'passionate romance' and enter a 'cold war period' lasting one full year."

"Oh?"

Hisoka immediately grasped the meaning once more.

If he lost, he would have to wait a full year to resume the passionate romance, and only then restart loving and hurting each other.

Perhaps it was just his imagination...

Though it was their first time meeting and interacting, he surprisingly felt that the person before him shared an exceptionally high degree of synchronization with his own nature.

To kill him right here would be somewhat of a pity—

However,

I cannot endure it; I truly cannot endure it.

He must, absolutely must be killed right here.

My mood right now is crying out intensely for this exact outcome.

Unable to restrain himself, Hisoka licked a circle around his lips and suppressed his tone to ask, "Without even knowing your name, how could this be considered a passionate romance, ♢?"

"Ah, right..."

Moro nodded and stated his name, "Moro."

Hearing Moro's name, Hisoka raised an eyebrow with a hint of surprise, but he had no leisure to care about such trivialities right now, and his voice trembled slightly as he said:

"Hisoka is my name. So now... can we begin?"

"Come."

Moro acknowledged, and abruptly hurled the slightly flattened fluorescent green Nen bullet in his hand toward Hisoka, then rapidly retreated to open up distance.

The corners of Hisoka's mouth split to their absolute limit in an instant, and he lunged forward in a sprint, ducking down just in time to dodge the Nen bullet, continuing his charge toward Moro with unabated momentum.

At this very moment, every single cell in his body was leaping with joy.

Looking at Hisoka's face, which blended extreme emotions of excitement, yearning, and craving, Moro could only inwardly remark on his top-tier facial contortions.

Thought aside, his hands did not stop.

Before Hisoka could close in, Moro pinched out another slightly flattened Nen bullet and tossed it behind his back.

Having made this move, Moro stopped retreating and instead actively moved to meet Hisoka.

"Hmm?"

Seeing this, Hisoka's already-activated sensitive nerves made it feel as though he could already see the Nen bullet looping back toward him.

Almost by pure reflex, he abruptly halted his charge mid-stride and leaned his upper body backward.

Right at that instant, the returning Nen bullet flashed past Hisoka's field of vision.

"A boomerang-style attack pattern, huh..."

Utilizing his astonishing waist strength, Hisoka snapped his torso upright with incredible speed, then gripped his playing cards, preparing to slash away Moro's life.

However, Moro suddenly leaped high into the air, likewise dodging the returning Nen bullet.

Yet to Hisoka, such a move was no different from seeking death.

Taking advantage of Moro being airborne, Hisoka shifted his target and threw his playing cards straight at him.

Swish, swish, swish!

The playing cards spun at high speed toward Moro, who had nowhere to dodge.

But at that exact moment—

The Nen bullet Moro had tossed backward earlier also came hurtling back at high speed.

Only, its return trajectory resembled that of a swallow skimming low across the ground before abruptly pulling upward into the sky.

And its target was no longer Moro!

The slightly flattened Nen bullet arrived directly beneath Moro.

Without the slightest hesitation, Moro lowered his center of gravity, bent his knees, and squatted directly onto the flattened Nen bullet—which had suddenly doubled in surface area—and was immediately lifted upward into the air by it.

By then, the playing cards, arriving a fraction too late, merely grazed Moro's clothes, failing to achieve any other effect.

Then, under Hisoka's thinly veiled astonishment, the Nen bullet carried Moro upward like a missile, continuing its ascent into the sky.

Star Mark—

Its use is not strictly limited to human targets.

Before running over here, Moro had left a Star Mark on a sparrow.

Then, he used the second Deceptive Flying Star to link with the directional effect of the Star Mark, resulting in the scene unfolding right now.

This is my escape route!

Overwhelmed by an inexplicable sense of exhilaration, Moro shouted, "Hisoka, you lost."

"¿"