At first, Moses couldn't be sure if the black-haired girl was indeed Shizuku.
But with the appearance of the conjured 'Blinky', it was unmistakable.
Blinky, which is Shizuku's Conjuration Ability, has an overall appearance similar to that of a vacuum cleaner, except that the nozzle is filled with a row of teeth and a long tongue.
And the vacuum cleaner's collection canister is topped with a pair of black, shiny eyes.
Strictly speaking, it's a hybrid between a Nen Beast and a Nen Tool.
Its ability is to suck in anything Shizuku considers non-living, but it cannot absorb things created by Nen.
At the same time, Shizuku can also control Blinky to spit out what it has sucked in, provided she remembers what it is.
Controlling Blinky's nozzle to deflect the flying dagger, Shizuku refrained from counterattacking immediately. After all, there were two opponents, and she lacked a reason for a preemptive strike.
Parme, after her failed attack, did not make any further moves. Instead, Regan suddenly charged at Shizuku.
Shizuku had her back to the stairs at this time, and perhaps she felt that her moving area was restricted, so when Reagan charged towards her, she decisively moved to one side.
Regan, noticing Shizuku's move, threw the black spike in his hand at her.
Whoosh!
With a sound of breaking through the air, the black spike flew towards the moving Shizuku's thigh with great precision.
"Blinky, suck it in."
Shizuku suddenly stopped, raised Blinky's nozzle, and aimed it at the flying black spike.
Upon hearing Shizuku's command, Blinky immediately opened its tooth-filled nozzle, instantly generating a strong suction force that stirred the airflow.
Since Shizuku wasn't sure if the black spike had any special properties, using her ability to directly suck it into Blinky's collection canister was a way to reduce her concerns.
There is nothing wrong with Shizuku's decision, but unknown Nen Abilities can always be unpredictable.
Whoosh!
Without any warning, the black spike that was flying through the air suddenly disappeared, and was replaced by the dagger that had just been knocked to the ground.
At the same time, the dagger, which should have remained stationary on the ground, now 'inherited' the kinetic energy of the black spike and flew toward Shizuku.
"Hmm?"
While Shizuku was slightly surprised, she keenly noticed that the flying dagger seemed to ignore Blinky's suction.
'It's a dagger conjured by Nen...'
In a flash, Shizuku reacted quickly, pressing down Blinky's nozzle, knocking the dagger to the ground.
Clang!
The dagger, wrapped in Nen, spun and stabbed into the ground.
But at this moment, accompanied by a distinct 'Whooshing' sound, the dagger stuck in the ground once again turned into a black spike.
'Can they swap the positions of two objects at will?'
A look of surprise appeared in Shizuku's eyes behind her glasses.
Suddenly, the black spike embedded in the ground exploded, like shotgun pellets, scattering into numerous small particles that covered Shizuku's entire body.
Shizuku hadn't expected the black spike to suddenly explode after swapping places with the dagger.
She barely managed to position Blinky in front of her but was hit by a multitude of black particles, causing numerous tiny bloodstains to appear on her body.
After the coordinated attack was successful, both Regan and Parme both showed cold smiles.
[Token of Life and Death]
This is Parme's Emission-Type Ability.
The effect is that by colliding the conjured dagger with any kind of cold weapon three times, the condition of the ability 'exchange token' can be activated.
Due to the Ability's Emission Nature and Nen Attribute Constraints, the conjured dagger is very weak in strength.
If used in close combat with cold weapons, the dagger will most likely break into pieces due to insufficient strength while meeting the 'ability conditions'.
The damage sustained by the dagger naturally causes the ability to become ineffective.
Interestingly, the dagger wrapped in emitted Nen is more durable in terms of strength, but it essentially loses the possibility of meeting the ability condition.
Since Parme can only conjure one dagger at a time, this also means that during the stage of using her ability, she can only establish an exchange token relationship with one weapon at a time.
However, there is no monotonous way to use the Nen Ability itself.
Parme can indeed use this ability to seize the enemy's weapons when the opportunity arises during a battle, but this usually involves certain risks, and the success rate cannot be guaranteed.
Thus, a cooperative combat strategy was developed.
Before the battle begins, Parme easily establish the 'exchange token' condition with her partner's weapon.
Afterwards, she can coordinate with her companion's other ability to launch an attack, so that the Nen Ability that was supposed to be a 'defensive counterattack-type' was forcibly transformed into a coordinated combat ability.
Just like now—
The frequent swapping of the dagger and black spike in attack and defense had torn through Shizuku's defenses.
The suddenly exploding black spike also contained another Nen Ability.
[Our Love Will Never Part]
This is Regan's Manipulation-Type Ability.
By infusing iron sand containing Nen into the target's body, it creates a binding effect on the target.
During the activation of this ability, the target will not feel any pain.
Although this is a Manipulation-Type Ability, the user cannot freely control the target's thoughts and body. They can only limit the target's mobility through the binding effect, and can use their own body to 'suck' the target over.
If the target clears the iron sand from their body, the ability will be removed.
However, Regan's belief is: If we are both deeply in love and cannot escape, then I do not wish to control your thoughts or force your body, but you definitely cannot easily escape me.
Therefore, it is not easy to clean out a large amount of iron sand that has entered the body.
With the help of Parme's [Token of Life and Death] ability, Regan easily used [Our Love Will Never Part] to bind Shizuku.
This is the terrifying aspect about cooperative Nen battles.
Two seemingly ordinary and non-lethal Nen Abilities can find a way to deliver a decisive blow to the opponent through cooperative combat.
"It doesn't hurt."
Shizuku could clearly feel process of numerous black particles piercing through her skin and drilling into her muscles, yet there was no trace of pain.
At the same time, she could intuitively feel her body being immobilized, as if it had been encased in cement.
"As long as I can still speak, it's fine."
Despite being struck and restrained, Shizuku's face remained calm, as if the one who had been hit was not her.
This reaction in the heat of battle gave the impression not of extraordinary mental fortitude and calmness, but rather of a bizarre sense of detachment.
"Blinky, absorb all the black particles in my body."
Shizuku commanded.
"Chirp chirp!"
When Blinky received the order, it immediately pursed its lips and inhaled.
Accompanied by the formation of a circular airflow, many black particles suddenly flew out from the wounds on Shizuku's body, heading straight towards Blinky's nozzle.
During this process, the blood flowing on Shizuku's skin showed no signs of disturbance.
Apparently, Blinky can accurately identify the items it wants to absorb, and will not suck them out along with the small drops of blood in Shizuku's body.
This was why Shizuku needed to use the seemingly redundant method of 'giving the command' to drive Blinky's ability.
A limitation necessarily corresponds to a vow.
The essence of Nen abilities is largely like this.