Kaizen leapt back swiftly, dodging the incoming strikes. Across from him, Raiken did the same, moving with calculated precision as they fought and retreated.
Parker raced to Peter's side, her eyes darting over the battlefield.
Meanwhile, high above, Zeno's aura condensed midair, shaping into a massive dragon that coiled in the sky. The image burned into Kaizen's mind.
"Dragon Head!"
Kaizen knew this technique. In the original timeline, Zeno Zoldyck revealed only two abilities.
The first was designed for mid-range suppression—to control the flow of battle by disrupting his enemy's attacks.
The second, Dragon Head, was an overwhelming large-scale assault. Zeno unleashed it twice: once against Chrollo Lucilfer during the Yorknew arc, and later on the orders of Netero during the Chimera Ant extermination.
During the latter, the Dragon Head had blanketed an entire palace, a shimmering onslaught of destruction. Yet, while it was powerful, its limitation lay in the lack of precision—it excelled at wiping out swarms of weaker enemies but wasn't always reliable against single, agile opponents.
Today, though, this technique had found the perfect battlefield.
The ground below was swarming with cockroaches—thousands, maybe tens of thousands. The sight was revolting, but Kaizen held his nerve.
"Dragon Head!"
At Zeno's command, the enormous dragon shattered, breaking apart into countless glowing fragments. Each fragment morphed into an arrow of light that rained down from above.
BOOM!
PFFT!
BOOM!
PFFT!
Every arrow detonated on impact, cratering the earth beneath them. Cockroaches exploded in bursts, their bodies torn apart by the assault. Most of the swarm was obliterated in seconds. Only a handful managed to escape the deadly barrage.
The massive cockroach, however, roared defiantly, its sheer size allowing it to endure.
Zeno hovered above it, his expression indifferent. Aura surged around him again, gathering in his palms. Without hesitation, he dived straight toward the cockroach's head.
Too fast. Too strong.
The creature had no time to dodge. Desperately, it raised its twitching antennae in defense.
CRASH!
The ground shook violently from the impact. Even from a distance, Kaizen felt the tremor through his feet.
"So powerful..." Parker whispered, staring at Zeno in awe.
But Kaizen knew better. This wasn't even Zeno's full strength. The dragon technique Zeno used today was nowhere near the scale of the one he unleashed during the Chimera Ant mission. It was smaller, more controlled—but still devastating.
The giant cockroach shrieked again, its body battered and broken. One compound eye burst, its antennae snapped in half, and its head was a mangled mess of twitching flesh.
But despite the damage, the creature's rage only deepened.
And Zeno responded with even more ferocity.
By now, he'd assessed the cockroach's strengths and weaknesses. The time for gathering intelligence was over—this was the Zoldyck way. Learn your enemy's patterns first. Then, execute the kill with precision.
Zeno vanished from sight, using a silent movement technique known only to assassins of the highest caliber. The cockroach could neither see nor hear him.
In a flash, Zeno appeared at the creature's tail.
PFFT!
His hand pierced deep into the cockroach's body.
Before the creature could react, Zeno reappeared at another angle—another strike.
PFFT!
PFFT!
The attacks were relentless, each one precise and deliberate. The cockroach's body, massive though it was, couldn't withstand the onslaught.
What had seemed like an even fight at first now looked entirely one-sided. The cockroach flailed in vain, unable to land a single hit on Zeno. Its attacks passed through thin air, while Zeno's strikes carved deeper and deeper into its flesh.
Kaizen watched, his mind racing.
This... this is how the Zoldycks fight.
The battle wasn't just about strength—it was about strategy. The first phase was reconnaissance, gathering information without dealing fatal blows. Once the enemy's weaknesses were uncovered, the kill was swift and absolute.
Three minutes later, it was over.
With a final blow, Zeno drove his hand deep into the cockroach's head. He twisted his wrist and pulled, and the creature's body convulsed one last time before collapsing.
The smaller cockroaches that had survived the earlier barrage fell silent. Without their leader, their bodies twitched once, then lay still, life draining from them like air from a deflating balloon.
Zeno stood before the carcass, unfazed.
"Grandfather Zeno," Kaizen called out as he approached, cautiously stepping around the remains.
At that moment, the cockroach's corpse began to disintegrate, crumbling into fine powder.
But nestled among the remains, Kaizen spotted something strange—a piece of bone. It was coated in a thick layer of cockroach eggs, their tiny forms writhing grotesquely across its surface.
Kaizen grimaced, barely suppressing a wave of nausea.
Zeno flicked his fingers, and a cloud of aura wrapped around the bone, lifting it into the air.
"Is this... what you were talking about?" Kaizen asked, his voice tight with disgust. "Something we can use as a focus for Nen?"
Zeno gave a satisfied nod. "Exactly. With the right materials, you can forge potent artifacts infused with aura. This one is leagues above anything made from ordinary metals."
Kaizen frowned. "How much would something like this cost?"
Zeno's lips curled slightly. "One billion Jenny."
Kaizen groaned. "Can I... put it on credit?"
Zeno chuckled, amused. "I suppose. Consider it an investment."
Kaizen knew Zeno was giving him a bargain. In truth, materials like these—born from disasters—were exceedingly rare. This was likely a B-level, maybe even A-level, Disaster.
Ten billion Jenny might seem like a fortune, but for skilled Nen users, it wasn't out of reach. Greed Island cards could sell for twice that amount.
Kaizen took the bone gingerly, slipping it into the dimensional space of his Killer Queen.
He turned to Parker. "All right. Lead the way."
Parker nodded, stepping forward as the group continued deeper into the unknown.
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