The worst-case scenario had happened.
A blatant attack, carried out without any regard for the passengers' reactions or safety.
When Moro felt the burst of aura earlier, his first instinct was to check the airship's control room.
As he approached the area, a deafening noise echoed across the entire airship.
Moro had no interest in investigating the source of the sound, nor did he want to get caught in the chaos.
His only concern was whether the airship could land safely.
However, after using En to scan the area, he realized that the captain and other crew members in the control room were likely under someone's control.
This was possibly the worst-case scenario.
"Sir, please return to your room immediately and wait for further instructions…"
A sudden, urgent voice echoed from the opposite end of the hallway.
Moro turned to see a young woman in a flight attendant uniform rushing toward him with a worried expression.
His eyes quickly scanned her—nothing appeared amiss. However…
He raised a hand and formed a marble-sized sphere of aura at his fingertip.
Without any concern for her reaction, he flicked the aura ball toward her.
The moment the sphere left his finger, the flight attendant's body froze mid-motion. Her head tilted slightly back, and her eyes rolled into her head.
Moro narrowed his eyes.
The aura sphere passed harmlessly by her ear and struck the far wall at the end of the hallway with a faint sound.
This was a basic probing attack—a simple aura ball incapable of breaking through even the most basic Nen defense.
From the beginning, Moro had no intention of letting it hit her.
Yet, her response caught him off guard.
Thud!
The flight attendant collapsed to the ground, her body twitching as her eyes remained rolled back.
As Moro observed closely, he noticed something strange—the shadow cast by her body in the corridor's light… vanished into thin air.
The moment the shadow disappeared, the flight attendant's life ended. She was nothing more than a lifeless corpse now.
"Manipulation-type."
Moro instantly confirmed his suspicion, casting a glance at the control room door before returning his gaze to the corpse.
The ability to control the flight attendant seemed to be linked to shadows.
Furthermore, the controlled individual had displayed behavior, speech, and aura indistinguishable from that of a normal human.
Without the flight attendant's panicked reaction, detecting her true nature at first glance would have required adopting a ruthless "kill first, ask questions later" approach.
Yet her reaction was puzzling.
Manipulators typically cared little about the lives of their controlled targets.
Most manipulation abilities—excluding suggestion-based or contract-based ones—essentially robbed the target of their life the moment control was established.
So why withdraw the ability so suddenly before the controlled target was harmed?
It felt like the manipulator was avoiding something—perhaps a fear of the consequences?
For example, if the controlled individual were harmed, the damage might directly transfer back to the manipulator.
Could this be a soul-possession-type manipulation ability?
Such an ability would allow the manipulator to fully inhabit the target's body, achieving perfect disguise and real-time sensory feedback.
However, this type of ability would also likely carry the severe drawback of damage being directly transferred to the user.
If this were true, it could explain the earlier behavior.
To further confirm his theory…
Moro formed another small aura sphere at his fingertip and flicked it at the corpse's head.
Thud.
The aura sphere struck the head with a soft impact.
Moments later, blood trickled from the corpse's skull.
"The ability was definitely deactivated," Moro murmured.
He turned his attention back to the control room door, deep in thought.
If the attacker's primary target was Kang, why bother sending a controlled flight attendant to stop me?
Was it an attempt to ambush me, or simply to prevent me from entering the control room?
Mulling over the possibilities, Moro extended his En once more and approached the door.
As a user of the Emission category, Moro found En relatively easy to learn, making it an invaluable tool in situations like this.
His earlier suspicion about the flight attendant stemmed from the commotion caused by the attacker, as well as what he had already detected in the control room.
"Two people, still no reaction."
Breaking the lock, Moro pushed the door open and entered.
Inside, he immediately spotted two figures in captain's uniforms standing at the airship's control console—likely the captain and co-captain.
They were surrounded by faint traces of Nen, their bodies rigid as they mechanically operated the controls.
Moro's gaze dropped lower.
In the room's artificial light, there were no shadows beneath their feet.
Tap. Tap.
Moro stepped closer, his movements deliberate.
The captain and co-captain showed no reaction to his presence. They continued operating the airship like mindless puppets, their eyes void of life and filled with nothing but white.
"Driven by commands," Moro muttered to himself, observing their behavior.
It seemed there were two modes of control at play.
One mode involved a soul-possession technique, allowing the manipulator to perfectly mimic the target's behavior, senses, and speech but likely carrying significant risk.
The other mode turned people into simple puppets that acted purely on commands. However, this mode made the controlled individuals more conspicuous due to their blank eyes and lack of shadows.
"If the manipulator doesn't reveal themselves, it'll be a pain to locate them."
Moro frowned.
While En was an excellent technique for searching, it consumed significant stamina and mental energy.
Considering that a battle had already broken out on Kang's side, using En to methodically locate a manipulator hiding somewhere on the airship was unrealistic.
If only he knew how to land the airship, things would be much simpler…
In a lower cabin room, a figure was bound to a chair, unconscious.
Overhead, the light cast a long shadow across the floor.
Suddenly, a figure emerged from the dark shadow—Rokuhara.
"…I've been discovered."
Rokuhara's expression darkened.
Under normal circumstances, his ability would have allowed him to gradually take control of all the civilians on the airship, turning the entire vessel into his domain, Shadow's Refuge.
Then, when the time was right, he could activate his control switches to overwhelm Moro and capture him alive.
But the unexpected chaos caused by the battle between two other groups had completely disrupted his plans.
Worse still, Moro had already begun piecing together the nature of his ability.
Capturing the target had just become significantly harder.
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Powerstones?
20 Advance Chapters: patreon.com/milezen