Chapter 6: Patchwork World

I just want it.

The moment he saw those "eyes," Chrollo Lucilfer simply wished for them for no reason at all.

I even think asking for a reason or a meaning is blasphemous.

That vivid blue gripped and pierced Chrollo's heart.

Even the words "purity" and "innocence" felt so pure that they seemed like impurities, yet I was captivated by those eyes that swallowed the entire turbid world and melted its contradictions.

As soon as Sora opened his eyes, Chrollo said: "Bandit's Secret" Hunter's skill was extracted.

Therefore, the fact that Sora himself performed "Hard" was not worth being alarmed about.

Nen Users, especially those who specialize in combat, would do so even if they felt the slightest sense of discord.

However, Chrollo and Shalnark, who were both skilled in combat, also forgot to pay attention to Sora's movements due to the "Hard," losing their words while their gazes were drawn in.

It was such an incredible phenomenon that I had never seen before, and at the same time, I felt it was so beautiful that I could not describe it in words.

Aura gathered in Sora's eyes, and the color of the eyes changed according to the amount of Aura.

As if watching the dawn sky in fast-forward, from a distance, the brightness of the midnight blue eyes, which were close to black, rose, changing from a clear sky blue to the color of the distant sky known as "blue within blue." I just watched it silently turn into azure.

His words and actions were already disappointing to the extreme, but his appearance was top-notch. Judging by his skin tone, he was Eastern, yet his hair was pure white like an albino's—a rare beauty, the kind that a Human Body Collector would want to decorate as a plush toy, but once you saw his eyes, you would never find any value in him again.

"……Shalnark, take a step back."

Chrollo widened his eyes, his gaze never leaving Sora, who was looking straight at him with bright, shining eyes, and issued the order.

"……Right, right, I understand. But be careful, no matter how you look at it, it's abnormal."

"I know."

Hearing Chrollo's words, Shalnark revealed a hint of a troubled wry smile and took a step back as instructed.

Even without being told, as an orthodox Manipulator, Shalnark was in an extremely disadvantageous position without other humans to manipulate as weapons, so he intended to leave the rest to Chrollo.

Chrollo might have had this thought at first, but now he might not have forgotten Shalnark's existence, and he might have ignored Shalnark's suggestion from right to left.

To tell the truth, Shalnark did not understand why Chrollo was so obsessed with those eyes, and he stepped back a little.

Admittedly, the beauty of those eyes could not be described in words, and no matter how you looked at it, it was certainly one of the rarest things you would never see again.

His lineage as a thief was not without its pride, but Shalnark's survival instinct surpassed his pride and sounded an alarm.

Speaking of the change in eye color, it reminded me of one of the seven most beautiful colors in the world, the "Scarlet Eyes" of the Kurta Tribe. And while the splash of scarlet they actually saw was indeed beautiful, the woman before them had eyes of another dimension.

It was beautiful, of course, but at a glance, the "Scarlet Eyes" were nothing more than physical traits obtained through genetic mischief, and they were fundamentally different from the "Hollow Eyes" in origin and nature. Even without knowing the name of the eyes, even without knowing what the world reflected and perceived by those eyes looked like, I could understand it.

It was impossible for Chrollo not to be aware of the danger and abnormality he felt instinctively rather than logically, even if he was not as intuitive as Machi.

If you noticed it, it was normal for Chrollo to retreat to this point. No matter how you thought about it, this woman was actually difficult for Chrollo to capture, let alone kill.

Because he could calculate so calmly, although he was the leader of the Phantom Troupe and the person he liked to follow, today Chrollo did not even have the intention to retreat temporarily; if things went poorly, he could steal the original "Release Ability." Shalnark did not understand why he was obsessed with those eyes and forgot his purpose.

Of course, Shalnark did not notice.

Even Chrollo himself was unknowingly addicted to it.

What Chrollo was fascinated and obsessed with was not Sora's "eyes" themselves.

What he was pursuing was not the beauty on the surface of those eyes, nor the dead silence that those eyes could see through, but the furthest depths, the Abyss, the original destination.

I do not understand myself, I do not know what I truly want, so no one knows that I am fascinated by the eyes that connect the "Root" and the "".

Sora held a cheap Ballpoint Pen like a knife while opening an old book that Chrollo had manifested.

This was his list of Collections and his armory.

The target was the Hollow Eyes, which swallowed all light while shining at the same time.

Like the "Scarlet Eyes," death would not necessarily carve that beautiful azure into the eyes, so it was best to capture her alive.

For this, you did not need limbs.

In an instant, he weighed and chose his top priority, what he was willing to sacrifice, and the ability that would most effectively get him what he wanted, and then the page turned.

"Apocalyptic Beast World's End Beast"

While chanting the name of the ability, he concentrated his Aura on his left hand, opposite the hand holding "Bandit's Secret."

A palm-sized amount of Aura turned into a ball of light, separating from Chrollo, and the moment it bounced behind him, the light ball, which was originally just a faint, lantern-like glow, turned into a strong light release.

In order not to be blinded by the light, Sora covered his eyes with his arm and jumped back.

Seeing Chrollo smile slightly at Sora's move, Shalnark breathed a sigh of relief; he jumped to the high decorative ceiling window of the museum, sat there, and truly enjoyed the view from above.

Captivated by Sora's eyes, Shalnark had lost his composure as if he were delirious with a fever, but Shalnark discovered from Chrollo's smile that his worries were superfluous.

Sora's ability was still an unknown and extremely dangerous, but the observation battle just now and the sudden move had almost convinced him.

She was not used to fighting that many battles. Or rather, because his avoidance of "death" was so strong, even if he understood that his actions would theoretically backfire, he was also a person who prioritized escape and could not actively attack.

Her ability to "nullify the opponent's Nen Ability" was 89% out of 10, and in both cases, it was highly likely to be activated through close-range attacks.

Even so, keeping a distance from Chrollo at this time was nothing more than a bad move. If she were to fight with her own ability, she should have risked closing the distance.

Chrollo must have understood from the previous battle with the Puppets that he was not good at dealing with multi-directional attacks.

"Hey, it might be cute."

Sitting in a large stained-glass window, I expressed my most ruthless words of sympathy to the person whose limbs had been torn off by the beast, presumably the person who was still alive.

The reason I was not sincere was usually because I did not care about the life or death of others, but this time it was different.

The ability Chrollo chose was probably the one best suited to capture her alive, sacrificing her limbs, and Chrollo's combat experience and skills were also overwhelming.

I was worried that there would be danger once he lost his composure, but when I saw Sora's movements and the smile that seemed to say "Ah, as expected," I was convinced that he had not lost his composure.

However, I could not imagine Shalnark.

I really knew. What I muttered were not words of sympathy.

I could not imagine Sora falling to the ground after losing, and I knew these words were nothing more than words I told myself to cover up the anxiety of not being able to see the scene where we defeated that woman.

Although Shalnark was very worried, that ball of light still shone with an even brighter radiance, illuminating Chrollo from behind and creating a long, large shadow caster.

And the shadow master was a bubble.

Just like boiling water, it bubbled with a gurgling sound, and then something crawled up.

It was a Beast.

A beast, certainly, but not an animal.

In the world where Sora lived, creatures that no longer existed, known as "miraculous species," had left the other side of the world; naturally, they still existed in this world, but these rare beasts were different from phantom beasts and monsters.

Synthetic beasts created by kneading parts together, to injure, destroy, and kill someone, something, and all living things, would be the most accurate description.

Such creatures crawled out from Chrollo's shadow. Many pitch-black beasts, like larvae hatching from insect eggs, made clucking sounds and faced Sora.

Apocalyptic Beast World's End Beast

A Nen Ability based on an avatar, capable of creating and using Nen Beasts from the shadows created by a ball of Aura.

The Materialization System is the exact opposite of the Emission System, so if you cannot separate it from your own shadow, or if you do not have a lead connected to your hand, the Nen Bead will be severely weakened; the Nen Bead can only be created from the shadow produced by the ball of light, overcoming the disadvantage of an extremely limited quantity.

Due to the restrictions, the materialization of the Nen Bead has a time limit, and there is a new disadvantage: it can only be used at night or in a dark room where the lighting has been destroyed, but even so, among the things Chrollo has stolen, it is an ability with high attack power. So, create as many Nen Beasts as possible, then Chrollo commanded.

"Go. Eat that woman's limbs."

It is difficult to call it a fierce beast or a Beast possessing nearly twenty corpses, and it is a strange beast. It probably takes less than ten minutes to realize these things, but for the party being attacked, this is too long.

If they knew that the avatar beasts had a time limit, no matter how many people there were, they could run away or attack, but their only purpose was to harass, tease, injure, and kill humans. Fear.

Ordinary people cannot escape, cannot throw it off; everyone knew from the beginning, but no matter how hard they tried, they always ended up in a dead end.

... It should have been.

"—I don't want to die."

Sora's murmuring changed, and at the same time, the amount of Aura surrounding Sora also changed.

Although in a state of "Hard," the Aura in her eyes was still a little more than in her whole body, and she applied an appropriate amount of Aura to her whole body, neither more nor less. That kind of Aura changed instantly, like flipping a switch.

Concentrating Aura on the head, hands, and feet, switching to a state where even if the torso is not dead, the Aura field is almost non-existent, Shalnark said: "I'm going in such an extreme direction?", not knowing if it was surprise at Sora's overly bold defense or an impression of admiration.

Shalnark was right to describe it as overly ambitious and extreme.

However, a big mistake appeared here.

The only time I realized this was not defense was when Sora used her Aura to strengthen her legs, created a crater in the cement floor, and then plunged into the group of shadow beasts created by Chrollo.

As expected, Chrollo opened his eyes in surprise; the woman who had been running away until now suddenly rushed in, and then seeing Sora's movements, his smile deepened.

Shalnark, with a smile, said in surprise: "Ah."

From the beasts' claws, fangs, horns, strong forelegs, and calyxes, Sora narrowly escaped, dodged, and dismembered the beasts.

It is like this in words; although I cannot imagine the clumsy movements of running around just now, I am still convinced.

Concentrating Aura on the hands and feet, mobility is greatly improved, but even so, it cannot be called exquisite movement; sometimes she forcibly twists her body, slips, and loses her balance and falls. Over.

However, she recovered from it with abnormal speed.

She first lost her balance and fell to the ground; although until just now she seemed not to have noticed the attacks from her complete blind spot, if the beast's claws and teeth approached her throat, she would avoid any unreasonable posture. Because they would counterattack.

If I say this is a miraculous Coincidence, that is it.

But what if it happens two or three times in a row?

In that case, it would be called a stupid reflex at the scene of a fire.

But what if it is five, six, ten, twenty, and so on?

Without a doubt, this is a stupid reflex at the scene of a fire.

But this is not just for this moment.

It is not revealed for the time being.

Chrollo and Shalnark have no way of knowing, but Sora has been in the "fire zone" for a long time.

In a world where inevitable "death" itself is always closing in on me, I am always running away, saying "I don't want to die."

That is how she learned.

She always dreams of the unreasonable dilemmas she accidentally attacks, imagines her "death" one second later, thinks of every possible way to escape that ending, and she is forever alive.

Unwrapping the "clay" wrap, boldly wrapping Aura only where there are Magic Circuits, exposing an undefended torso, is not just to increase mobility. That is an act of deliberately creating a part without defensive ability and eliminating its own limiter by attracting "death."

Movements cultivated in such an overly clumsy and irrational world cannot be captured by a beast that does not know "death," but above all, it increases the possibility of survival.

"She is more like a beast than the beast."

Chrollo used a Ballpoint Pen to dismantle the Nen Beast, as if it were designed to be easily detached from the beginning. Do not move.

What should be alive is not one's own existence, but the person who creates and inherits one's own thoughts. The Phantom Troupe Spider Chrollo felt there was no need to move because his own death was not something he should avoid like her, but he just had time.

That "shadow" squirmed behind the woman who had dismantled most of the beast herd, the Aura accumulated under her feet created another pit on the floor, trying to leap in here.

"！?"

Sensing an ominous Aura behind her, Sora turned around, only to see the parts of the beast she had dismantled—fangs, horns, claws, jaws, eyeballs, internal organs, etc. —all mixed together, turning into something new. Desperately wanting to be a beast whose only reason for existence is to slaughter others.

This is the essence of this Apocalyptic Beast World's End Beast.

The Nen Bead is a "shadow" beast born from the caster's "shadow." Because it is Materialization, physical attacks are normal, but it cannot be killed.

As long as the ball of Aura created by the caster does not disappear, it can be dismantled into pieces or crushed into fragments, but the Nen Beast will parasitize the nearest shade and revive there as a strange beast again.

Sora quickly jumped away from the shadow under her feet, but that shadow no longer looked like Sora; although it did not retain a human form, it faithfully followed her feet, and then a jaw with shark teeth emerged from under her shadow.

From Sora's shadow, the beast that leads to the end appeared.

She looked at it with "sky" eyes and muttered to herself.

"……The 'line' is not good."

Ton, lightly stabbed.

The Ballpoint Pen landed deeply on the monster's nose.

The Shadow Beast will not revive again.

The beast pierced by Sora with a Ballpoint Pen melted as it was, crouching at Sora's feet, and then gradually deformed.

I returned to the shadow that shaped Sora.

When Shalnark learned that not only abilities using humans as mediums, but also Nen Beasts of Aura could be erased, Shalnark's expression changed, but Chrollo still enjoyed it, generously saying: "... That's great." Praise.

Hearing this, Sora raised her head and looked back.

She looked at Chrollo with those " " eyes that I couldn't understand at all what she was thinking, and then said.

"I'll tell you one thing."

＊＊＊

"The name of this eye is 'Deadly Evil Eye'.

This is not a type of Nen Ability. That is why the rule of thumb does not apply.

If there are living things in this world, living things, or if something exists, even dead people, or intangible Spiritual Power, it is also a Doomsday Eye that can kill gods."

"... Hmm." Chrollo nodded, waiting for the rest of the words, without attacking the remaining few beasts.

It is easy to think it is stupid, but it is stupid.

Although knowing that this woman's power cannot be explained by "Nen", being obsessed with "Nen Ability" and giving up other possibilities is extremely stupid.

Well, this kind of thinking is just an excuse installed later, and personally, Chrollo just wanted to know.

I just asked because I wanted to know about the eyes I have always longed for.

"Just by looking with your eyes, whether it's a Ballpoint Pen or a Puppet, whether it's a person or a Nen Beast, can you cut it so smoothly and kill it in one blow? This is the Death God itself."

Hearing Chrollo's words, Sora slowly stepped forward and smiled faintly.

"A little different.

If it were the original object of this eye, I might be able to kill it just by looking, but a human Container is impossible. You see, these eyes show me the time of death contained in that existence in the form of 'lines' and 'dots'."

"...'Lines' and 'dots'?"

Chrollo was a little suspicious of the unexpected answer, but Sora remained unwavering.

With a faint smile on his face, he took another step forward.

"That's right, what it sees is not the power of killing, it's just that these eyes perceive 'death' as Sight Vision information.

Well, even if I tell others to stab or cut the dots or lines I see, it won't work, so from fragile parts like cracks that my eyes can identify, 'death' drags it out and thinks it looks like a black line or a black dot. I don't even know what it is myself."

"... Does that mean that interfering with those 'lines' and 'dots' will produce the effect of 'death'?"

Hearing Chrollo's affirmative words, Sora smiled: "It would be good if you could swallow it."

Shalnark smiled happily at the smooth progress of the story, and a chill slid down his spine.

"Wait a minute!"

Following Chrollo's instructions, Shalnark, who was watching from the safe zone, shouted instinctively.

Looking back, Sora had a look on her face as if to say: "Ah, right, this guy has been here the whole time."

Looking at him with eyes that cut through the blue sky, putting it into the eyeballs, the chill penetrating Shalnark's whole body became even more intense.

He endured and endured, squeezing out his voice to ask.

"... If that's true... if that story is true, and if those eyes and what you just did are not Nen Ability..."

I don't think the common sense, morals, values, and views on life and death of me and my comrades are decent.

To be honest, even Shalnark, who knew it could only be described as madness, couldn't believe it.

"... How does the 'world' look to you?"

By performing "Ken", the color of the eyes and the atmosphere given by the eyes changed. This is why Chrollo and others initially mistook it for a Nen Ability.

However, if this is the same as the act of squinting when looking at things in the distance, if it is just strengthening what already exists... if cutting like tracing lines or hitting "dots" is meaningless, then if a person who can see "lines" and "dots" must do so, then there is no effect...

In that case, when Shalnark's first Puppet was killed... the scene she saw in the "Goo" state was—

Sora stared at Shalnark's doll-like but handsome face, the black lines all over his body that reminded me of cracks ready to split at any time, and the dots that reminded me of the Abyss she escaped from.

"Patching"

With an ugly smile, as if revealing the true identity of Santa Claus to a child, he only answered this question.

Shalnark's answer of "... Crazy" was the same smile.

＊＊＊

As expected, Chrollo also showed a slightly relaxed expression.

"... Well, you can live."

"You'll get used to it, you can't see lines and dots in the 'Absolute' state."

Turning her gaze from Shalnark to Chrollo, she smiled happily.

I thought she was a big idiot who couldn't read the atmosphere, but even Chrollo didn't hate this woman.

Colleagues, no matter when they are at work or after work, are relatively harsh and do whatever they want without looking at the atmosphere.

Such a friend reminds me of my childhood friend, so if I were to become friends, I would really want to kill number 4 or so to create a vacancy.

However, as expected, a faint voice flashed through my mind that I might not be able to control it.

This woman is so crazy that the leader of an organization of abnormal people recognizes and retreats.

The proof is that in a world that seems to be collapsing at any time, in front of a person who is about to die, she sees the lines and dots that are about to end her own death. Talking happily about why she can live in such a vision.

"Besides, isn't it safer to be on the verge of collapse?

'It looks like it will break at any time' proves 'I am fine now.'"

Even if you escape from " ", you can't escape, and now I remind you, this is just a grace period.

Chrollo smiled in front of a crazy woman, just to get the "natural" that everyone does.

"Now, are there any other questions?"

The hell souvenirs are sold out. After that, let us simply slaughter each other. If you do not want to die.

While thinking about the madness of being asked to resume fighting by such a crazy, perverted, high-end woman, he did not flinch. The thief's instinct skill Hunter reached out a hand that was not there.

Following Chrollo's instructions, the beasts that had been waiting quietly let out a groan, lowered their upper bodies, and were ready to pounce at any time.

"Ah, right, it's terrible that I can't give you a souvenir, but bandits are opponents, don't count on it."

"Chrollo!!"

Although he only apologized to Shalnark once in his heart, he ignored the voice summoning him with the intention of "retreat."

Even though he knew the danger of those eyes, even though he knew it would be impossible to steal them if not for his Nen Ability, Chrollo still wanted them.

At the farthest end connected by those eyes, there is something some call "truth."

I don't even know what I was looking for there; when I found the answer I was looking for, I couldn't let go of the childlike expectation, so I had to demand it.

"Haha! This is a foolish expectation!"

Chrollo's lighthearted joke made Sora run, laughing happily in agreement.

By accumulating Qi in my eyes, I can see the lines and points of the opponent's Qi that are usually invisible, hmm, down to the bottom of the Spider's head.

Even if he smashed my head, the Phantom Troupe Spider Sora certainly didn't know it would keep moving, but even if he knew, he would do the same thing.

"I don't want to die." Knowing from himself that this world is full of patchwork and full of death, for Sora, who clumsily clings to struggling to survive, this is not his only instinct, but his will as a human. He is the one who deprives you of the reason you want to live.

If they don't want to die, they have no choice but to kill them.

As long as these guys are around, one knows that someone wants to jump into "death" themselves.

Protecting such a youth is the reason for Sora to "live."

This is the reason I remember.

"Death is not scary at all.

What I fear most is that this anger will eventually dissipate."

Attracted by my brother's words with painful scarlet eyes.

My answer to this.

"Hey, don't kill me!!"

"Teeth?"

Just at the same time as this sudden shout, Sora disappeared from Chrollo's line of sight, and the other beasts that were about to attack him fell to the ground with a dull sound.

"Darashaha!!"

Chrollo's reaction was slow; he jumped in a direction he hadn't noticed, thinking it was the beasts and himself, or his true target.

By the time he turned around, Sora had already kicked away the light orb that created the Shadow Beasts.

Even if you can't see it, her toes are light orbs," the Apocalyptic Beast World's End Beast I can understand it points to ".".

Chrollo's fight is a tribute to the fight against Nrvnqsr Chaos in "Tsukihime."

So far, the names of the abilities are not the names from the original work itself, but... in the Nemu movie, the ability name I am using now is the first ability name.

I originally thought it wouldn't be used, so I kept the original flavor, but I like it because the ruby rhymes.

I will never come out again.

In addition, Sora's fighting style and the direction of his madness are modeled after Akiha Tohno in "DDD."

Distinguishing from the two people who originally had Mystic Eyes, not killing the Mystic Eyes, and unable to save most of their Mystic Eyes, I thought this was the only way to go on, but the result is truly a madman...

Originally, it should have been Sora's first-person perspective starting from the second chapter, but when I thought "Ah, this guy's first-person perspective is wrong," I changed it to the third-person perspective.