*thwip* That was until he disappeared. In just one second, I no longer saw his standing form before I felt what could only be a trace of someone's presence behind me.
*BOOM* And I was subsequently blasted straight into the ground with an unholy amount of strength immediately afterward burying me underneath multiple feet of dirt and asphalt. I panicked as I choked on the various rubble that made its way into my mouth and the immense weight that was crashing down upon me.
Though, after a moment a sense of clarity came across myself as I began to refocus on the task at hand. I currently was unable to move my body, which was about to send me into another spiral of panic before I realized it was due to my entire body was coated in my Hatsu. It seemed I had hardened my aura subconsciously, not that it spared me from the full force of the attack. I could only manage to dissipate 80% of the attack while the rest managed to rough me up a bit.
*BOOOM* exploding myself out of the ground, I struggled to pull myself up as I blearily look around before I saw the familiar figures of Gon and Killua, though my vision was a bit cloudy as I stood still for a moment to let my vision focus.
It looks like they stopped their retreat due to being engaged by the enemy, and they were fairing far worse than I was. Shaking off my dazed state as adrenaline took over and the all too familiar feeling of pain started to ebb, I began to fluctuate my aura and shoot off toward the conflict.
Appearing to the side of Gon, in one instant I formed an amorphous blob of aura that served as a shield. I opted to protect Gon here as Killua was just struck down while I was getting my bearings, though he was certainly durable and it seemed our transformed opponent preferred strong attacks that would disable each of us before checking or finishing off his targets.
*Bang* and moving at imperceptible speeds to attack the two of us, he struck down hard at my shield as the Hatsu greedily ate all the force behind the strike, and anything it couldn't was redirected towards its origin. In return, the opponent stood there emotionlessly yet gave off a sense of confusion at the fact we were not red paste on the ground.
*Bwoom* using the large surface area of my shield I quickly pushed him backward with a medium-intensity burst of energy to put space between us. Immediately afterward, I chased after my airborne opponent attempting to reach his landing point beforehand to land a solid attack.
Using Ryu I began to focus more of my own aura on my right hand, having lost my knife in the ground I began to form a hardened gauntlet-like form on my arm as I traced my enemy's trajectory as I planted my feet firmly on the ground.
*vvooom* using more energy and aura to enhance my punch by small explosions shot out from my elbow as my punch connected with my enemy. Though he had tucked his body and crossed his arms as my strike connected with his forearms.
Tanking my attack he was pushed back a few feet as he deftly landed on the ground before he shot towards me again at his heightened speed. Creating another shield in response, I continued to try to keep him airborne as much as possible and unable to make contact with a solid surface, his inhuman speed and strength were much more manageable when he couldn't use them for anything. Though he would inevitably escape my attacks a few times which allowed him to land a few attacks that took a lot out of me to disperse or dodge.
Eventually, though neither of us would stop being able to keep up with the other, and in this situation, after already fighting a strong opponent I was sure I was the one to fall. And seeing that my situation was getting worst I began to attempt to create openings at slight risks to myself. Anything from unpredictable attacks, or receiving attacks in unexpected ways, to finally using a similar tactic I used fighting Nobunaga. That was, trapping my opponent with my aura, and with my target airborne once again I began to loosen my Hatsu and stretch it into a thin rope-like silhouette.
'Well here goes nothing…' musing to myself as I drew away all the aura surrounding my limbs with exception of my arms as I condensed all the aura and stored energy into a dense and chaotic blob, this was Ko. However, I wasn't done preparing as I poured into my aura my own emotions, things like pain, anger, distress, and all the negative emotions that have been eating away at me since my transmigration that have come to a climax here in Yorknew.
Casting the aura in a manner similar to a lasso I ended up wrapping the rope around his right leg before I hardened the portion around the leg locking it in place. Then, I proceed to reign in the aura as I charged forward with all the speed my beaten and tried body could muster.
Then, I released this burst of aura. Yet, unlike all the previous times I used similar techniques, it didn't make an audible sound. All I saw was a spear-like shape constructed of an opaque and chaotic aura impaling my opponent as blood began to flow down the 'shaft' of the spear and onto my hands.
I small part of me was surprised that such an all-in attack worked somehow yet, I mostly cared about the fact it did work in the end. Though there was a minuscule nagging at the back of my mind that I wanted nothing more than to ignore. Yet, I was sure there was something going on. There was no sense of accomplishment and a sense of looming danger.
"Fucking hell…" moving on to check on Killua, I found him in a state that could possibly be described as alright. There was a lot of bruising and a bit of disfigurement with limbs bending at odd angles. However, these were the sort of wounds Kurapika was able to fix up and if it had been anyone else had been in his place it would have been a bit more than broken bones and bruises. Picking him up I was a bit surprised when I heard his wheezing pick up as his eyes began to crack open. Positioning him on my back I gestured with my head for Gon to follow me, we had long overstayed our welcome on this battlefield and it was time to tactically retreat.