After seeing Tonpa coincidentally throw the pure gold crown to the position of the puppet, Shalnark, who originally planned to just watch the show, finally couldn't help but take action.
As far as 'battle' is concerned, the timing of this move was not good, even terrible.
But as far as 'demand' is concerned, the pure gold crown flying straight towards him gave Shalnark a reason to take action.
'Actually, I should 'confirm' the way to leave here first... It's regrettable that I couldn't inform Sheila the message of 'seeking foreign aid' in time."
'Now that I have the pure gold crown, although it's a bit of a reversal of priorities, it's what my heart hoped for.'
Shalnark's thoughts were spinning, and at the same time, he calmly faced the pressure from Lion.
This Enhancer in front of him, in terms of both combat skills and the strength of aura displayed, was at a level above the norm.
Undoubtedly, he was a master honed through life and death battles.
But compared to Uvogin, Enhancer from his group, there was still a gap.
That being said...
The type that Shalnark dislike dealing with the most are Enhancer like Wo Jin.
Because the outstanding offensive and defensive capabilities would increase the difficulty of attaching the antenna, as well as the risks he takes when plugging in the antenna.
'Then let's fly the 'kite'.'
Controlling the antenna-inserted puppet to dash towards the approaching armors and head-holding human statues gathering around, Shalnark had no intention of confronting Lion head-on, and had been in a passive evasive state.
Lion saw through Shalnark's intentions.
He did not chase the antenna-inserted puppet. On one hand, he did not want to actively enter the encirclement of armors and head-holding human statues in this situation. And on the other hand, he had common sense in dealing with Manipulators.
After getting rid of the controller, the controlled puppet will naturally lose its 'power source' and collapse.
At that time, he could just go to the controlled puppet's location to recover the pure gold crown.
With this in mind, Lion allowed the puppet holding the pure gold crown to escape while he continued to press the attack on Shalnark.
Shalnark has no intention of attacking at all, and blindly defending can greatly reduce the possibility of him exposing his flaws.
In this way, it is impossible for Lion to take down Shalnark in a short period of time.
After all, Shalnark had also fought his way here, and although he was a Manipulator, he wasn't the type to be easily handled in direct combat.
If he didn't have the most basic ability to fight head-on, how can you insert the 'antenna' onto the target?
Even if he is forced into danger in the end, Shalnark still has the ultimate explosive ability of 'Autopilot Mode'.
'He's the one who should be worried, not me.'
After understanding the situation clearly, Shalnark dealt with it quite easily.
Mainly because the Enhancer in front of him had been slashed by Moses, which more or less reduced the pressure he faced from facing the enemy in direct combat.
Outside the battlefield.
Moses had turned from a combatant into a spectator.
Looking at Shalnark and Lion, who seemed to ignore something and were fixated on the pure gold crown, Moses felt that something was off.
Whether it is Shalnark who is trying to snatch the pure gold crown now, or Tonpa, who had recklessly thrown himself into danger earlier…
They both gave Moses the feeling of... losing their mind.
'There are no traces of Nen on that thing…'
Sensing that something was wrong, Moses's first reaction was that there might be something wrong with the pure gold crown, but he had just observed it carefully and didn't find any traces of Nen from it.
'Am I overthinking it... If there really was a problem with that crown, I might have unintentionally immunized myself against the unknown ability because of the Star of Mankind's Shine Buff, but Menchi doesn't have this kind of resistance.'
Since Menchi's reaction was normal, Moses quickly overturned the speculation about the solid gold crown.
Without delving into this issue further, Moses focused on how to deal with Lion.
Compared to Shalnark, who currently had no 'hostile relationship' with him, Moses prefers to deal with Lion first.
After all, he had killed two of Lion's companions with his own hands, and the grudge between them has reached a point where they should be fighting to the death.
'All those things in the ruins seem to be converging towards here.'
Moses turned his eyes and looked at the armors and head-holding human statues coming from all directions.
The number of these objects controlled by the black parasitic lines is very alarming, but most of them are still moving slowly, and only a small part of them move at a more conspicuous speed.
At this time…
Dozens of armors and several head-holding human statues were approaching where Shalnark and Lion were.
The attack methods of Enhancer had considerable destructive power. Even if the attack didn't hit the enemy, the resulting shockwave inevitably affected the surrounding environment.
Lion persisted in his aggressive assault, while Shalnark kept evading.
This resulted in Lion's punches and kicks often missing their targets, hitting either the air or the ground. The resulting shockwaves inevitably affected the approaching armors and head-holding human statues.
Facing the residual effects of Lion's attacks, the bulky and heavy head-holding human statues were able to withstand the oncoming impact.
But the armors, who were relatively light, were not so lucky, and were knocked over by the shockwaves that swept towards them.
Clatter-
Various armor parts and even rusty weapons were scattered all over the place.
At the next moment…
The mixed armor pieces automatically separated and reassembled into their original forms. At the same time, their slow movement speed noticeably increased, and they once again closing in on Lion and Shalnark.
Lion just wanted to get rid of Shalnark quickly, and didn't pay attention to the armors and head-holding human statues approaching from the surroundings.
This left Shalnark feeling somewhat bitter.
'Is this guy... doing it on purpose? Or is it because he doesn't understand the mechanism of those things?'
Seeing the aftermath of the battle destroying those armors one after another, Shalnark could almost predict what would happen in a few minutes.
The continuously destroyed and reassembled armors would become very fast through repeated rebirths.
And there is no guarantee that after reaching the 'max level' in terms of speed, those armors wouldn't have their 'attack power' increased due to the next 'disassembly'.
Lion's reckless actions made Shalnark assume some possible threats in advance.
Mutual destruction…
This is probably the worst outcome Shalnark could anticipate.
Since Shalnark, who was at the center of the fierce battle could predict this, Moses, who was watching the battle from the sidelines, could naturally thought of it too.
'Without knowing how to leave, if the armors and the head-holding human statue in the ruins evolved to a very troublesome extent…'
'Let alone having the energy or space to search for a way out, it would be a challenge to leave this city ruin.'