Saiyu's body was covered in black tendrils, leaving only his bloodshot, vacant eyes exposed.
He appeared both dazed, as if mentally broken, and in excruciating pain, creating a bizarre sense of contradiction.
The Nyoi Bo was tightly gripped in his hand, but in the world of Kyoka Suigetsu, it was Moses who held the Nyoi Bo, forcing Saiyu to his knees.
He regarded the illusion as reality.
Then, an indescribable sense of absurdity overwhelmed his thoughts.
'Why had Moses been able to break free from the curse of the Three Monkeys?'
'And why could Moses use my Nyoi Bo?'
Saiyu's previously arrogant demeanor had completely shattered, replaced by a mask of agony.
He couldn't understand-
He couldn't understand why the situation had flipped so suddenly.
'The one kneeling on the ground, crushed by the Nyoi Bo, should have been him, right?!'
'What was going on...'
'Why is this happening?!'
Saiyu's eyes widened, and the bloodshot eyes made his expression look extremely terrifying.
In stark contrast, Moses's face remained utterly emotionless.
With just a flick of his finger, Moses intensified the pain coursing through Saiyu's body.
"Aaahhhh!"
Saiyu's scream drowned out the sound of the mountain wind rustling through the trees.
But in reality, the surroundings were still filled with the howling wind.
Saiyu stood motionless, like a statue.
Moses slowly walked up to Saiyu.
In the multiple illusory worlds created by Kyoka Suigetsu, he had made Saiyu unknowingly deactivate the three Nen monkeys' abilities, restoring Moses's hearing, vision, and speech in the real world.
"If you're here for the '70 billion,' then that's easy to handle. Otherwise..."
Moses's icy gaze swept over Saiyu's bloodshot eyes, and he did not hide the killing intent in his heart.
Before his death, Chrollo had left behind a 70 billion bounty that had been certified by the underground world. Saiyu, being a Blacklist Hunter, could very well have been motivated by this bounty.
As for the Hunter Association's rule against harming fellow hunters...
In the eyes of some people, it means nothing.
Or rather, as long as it was done discreetly enough, the rule might as well not exist.
Moses had actually hoped Saiyu was after the 70 billion. After all, from his 'transmigrator perspective', this guy's identity was too sensitive.
But regardless of the motive or reason, it would be revealed with a simple question.
Moses collected his thoughts and once again activated the power of Kyoka Suigetsu.
Moses's original intention of developing this ability was, on the one hand, because the materials for the ability happened to be available, and on the other hand, to use it to deal with the most troublesome Enhancers.
In terms of practicality, this ability had greatly expanded his tactical options and had been the key to breaking the deadlock set by Chrollo and Uvogin.
Now, using it to 'extract information' proved equally effective.
Saiyu would likely never understand how he had lost.
From a position of absolute advantage, he had suddenly plummeted into the abyss, all because of an ability called Kyoka Suigetsu.
Dark clouds churned in the sky, and the night was as black as spilled ink.
About ten minutes later.
Moses had extracted the motive and reason behind Saiyu's ambush.
It had something to do with Chrollo's 70 billion bounty...
The reason why Saiyu had been able to track Moses's movements and set up an ambush in the forest thanks to information provided by the underground world, as well as details about the temple and Hawk, which Pariston had leaked.
Since Moses's head was now extremely valuable, an intelligence agency in the underground world had taken an interest in the potential profits.
Of course, this intelligence agency had no intention of using its power to get the 70 billion bounty. What they wanted to do was to make money by using Moses's movements.
This kind of 'business' was quite common in the bounty world.
After returning to the Six Continents, Moses had rushed to the temple. He did not deliberately conceal his whereabouts while taking public transportation.
Thus, his movements were noticed by the underground intelligence agency, which then sold the information to Saiyu for 1 billion.
Just the information about his movements was worth 1 billion...
This was the ripple effect of the 70 billion bounty.
But Saiyu's motive for ambushing Moses here was not for the 70 billion, but because he was instructed by someone.
The one who had sent him was none other than Pariston, the Vice-Chairman of the Hunter Association.
As for the reason, it was of course Moses's journey to the Dark Continent.
Even though they went to the Dark Continent secretly, how could a group of people who disappeared for nearly a year possibly escape the notice of someone with ulterior motives?
What's more, among those who disappeared were Kanzai and Pyon, two of the Zodiacs, as well as Sanbica, who often worked in the Hunter Association's Headquarters.
Not to mention someone as 'goal-oriented' as Pariston. even Netero could have uncovered the information about Moses's trip to the Dark Continent.
In fact, Netero did know that Moses and his group had sneaked into the Dark Continent, and later learned from Cheadle the reason why Moses went there.
However, Netero didn't know that Moyu and his group had already returned to the Six Continents.
But Pariston is different. It is not difficult for him to conduct an in-depth investigation on Nises, and leveraging the situation was second nature to him, as this is a trick he often uses.
Thus, Pariston knew about the relationship between Hawk and Moses, and through hospital records, he had learned that Hawk was nearing the end of his lifespan.
Then, using the influence of the '70 billion bounty', he had arranged to receive information about Moses's movements as soon as possible.
Therefore, in order to confirm the 'process' and 'results' of Moses's journey to the Dark Continent, Pariston had skillfully used the information at his disposal and instructed Saiyu to ambush Moses in the forest leading to the temple.
Of course.
Pariston's intention wasn't necessarily to kill Moses. He simply wanted to ascertain whether Moses had successfully reached the Dark Continent, whether he had obtained the Nitro Rice to extend Hawk's life, and what he had seen and experienced on the Dark Continent.
This information is very important…
Or rather, it is very important to the entire 'Beyond Netero team'.
"Pariston, huh..."
After getting the information he wanted, Moses's gaze toward Saiyu grew even colder.
The moment he sensed the killing intent, he anticipated that the owner of the killing intent might be a greedy person who was attracted by the '70 billion bounty', or it might be the work of Beyond Netero and Pariston.
As a result, the worst-case scenario had become a reality.
What was somewhat unexpected was...
This matter had nothing to do with Beyond Netero. It was done by Pariston on his own initiative.
Moses took a deep breath, pulled out his phone from his pocket and pressed the power button.
A moment later.
The phone booted up.
Buzz-
The phone that had just been turned on suddenly vibrated.
Moses glanced at the screen, and saw it was a call from 'Masochist', who had been persistently trying to reach him.
With a swipe of his finger, he declined the call.
The whole process was smoothly done in one go.
Then, Moses dialed Hawk's number.
A few seconds passed, and the call connected.
Moses quickly asked, "Hawk, is everything okay on your end?"
"Huh?"
Hawk was caught off guard by the question and asked back in confusion: "What could possibly happen to me?"
"I'm glad you're okay."
Moses breathed a small sigh of relief and asked again, "Is Rat Jewel with you?"
"Yes, it just got home not long ago."
Hawk felt something was wrong, but he didn't think too much about it. He then asked, "Where are you? Why didn't you come back with Rat Jewel?"
"I'm halfway up the mountain. I wanted to see if I could hunt some game nearby, so I sent Rat Jewel ahead to find you. It missed you a lot."
Moses casually made up an excuse, and while speaking, he consciously glanced at the motionless Saiyu.
Hawk bought Moses's explanation and immediately scolded, "Do you even know what time it is? And with this awful weather, where do you think you're going to find game? Hurry back. There's plenty of game at home for you to eat."
"Okay, I'll be there soon. I'll hang up now."
Moses agreed and then hung up the phone. He looked at Saiyu expressionlessly, and muttered to himself: "Does monkey count as game?"