The Strongest Assassin of the Zoldyck Family!

"Dragon's daughter, this time, I'm the one who wins!"

"What's the point of running away?"

"You can attack me a thousand times."

"But I only need to hit you once to defeat you."

A massive crashing sound rang out.

But the Beast's Son suddenly felt something was off.

When his hands slammed down, he didn't feel the sensation of hitting anything. Subconsciously looking back, he saw Wendy's figure now standing behind him.

"Blade Storm!"

A surge of powerful aura gathered in Wendy's hand.

In the next moment, it landed beside the Beast's Son.

Countless wind blades shot forth.

"Slash!"

"Slash!"

"Slash!"

Wounds appeared one after another on the Beast's Son's body.

Immediately after, Wendy raised a hand again.

A massive cross-shaped wind blade formed, slashing down toward the Beast's Son, striking right at his chest. Two huge intersecting wounds appeared, even exposing white bone.

The Beast's Son toppled backward.

"Bang!"

He crashed heavily to the ground.

At the same time, his body rapidly shrank, reverting from the giant ape form back to a human. Medical-type Nen users swiftly entered the stage to treat him.

The Beast's Son stared at the ceiling blankly.

"What just happened?"

"I remember clearly landing a hit."

"Why did I miss?"

"When did she move behind me?"

He couldn't figure it out.

Not only the Beast's Son, but even the audience outside and the Star's Son were puzzled.

They had a different perspective, though. They clearly saw that from start to finish, the Beast's Son never properly targeted Wendy.

He had attacked to one side of Wendy instead.

This left them all very confused.

"Could it be some kind of illusion-based ability?"

"The Beast's Son only suffered minor wounds before. There's no way it affected his mind or consciousness."

"But why would the Dragon's daughter have illusion-based powers?"

"The Dragon Dojo's style isn't known for that."

Only Ron knew that Wendy's technique wasn't any sort of illusion ability.

It was purely visual manipulation.

By using the principle of air refraction, she influenced the Beast's Son's vision.

When Ron sparred with Wendy, he'd brought up this idea. Wendy immediately became interested and tried to learn it.

But it was very difficult.

Even after so much practice, Wendy had only mastered a tiny bit of it.

Still, using it at the critical moment proved highly effective, as Wendy now realized.

Because it affected the enemy's vision, not just Wendy's form but also the aura around her would be refracted. Even if the Beast's Son could use Gyo, he wouldn't be able to see through it.

The next match began with Star's Son being one of the fighters.

Compared to previous matches, this one was much more intense.

However, compared to Wendy's battle with the Beast's Son, it fell short. The gap between these two contestants was much larger than the gap between Wendy and the Beast's Son.

The Star's Son claimed victory.

But he used two Nen beasts.

One was the one previously seen.

The other was a creature with a human upper body and a scorpion lower body.

"The first one resembles Taurus."

"The second one resembles Scorpio."

"I have to admit, both Nen beasts are excellent."

"They're quite strong."

"As for how they compare to Baki Hanma or Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, we'd have to see them fight to know."

"From what the Star's Son has shown, he indeed has a way to counter Wendy."

"Especially that second Nen beast."

"No wonder Dominica was so wary."

"Now it's up to Wendy to figure out how to handle this."

Ron looked over at Wendy in the competitors' area.

---

Half an hour later, the match for third place officially began.

The contestant who lost to the Star's Son faced off against the Beast's Son.

There was no suspense.

With overwhelming superiority, the Beast's Son won.

But for that young fighter, reaching this point was already enough.

He'd never aspired to place in the top three.

He had only hoped to earn a spot in the top four.

The top four could enter the third phase of the Nirvana Festival.

He had achieved that goal.

If there was any regret, it was that he felt he hadn't performed well enough against the Star's Son and the Beast's Son. He believed he could have done better.

An hour later, the finals officially started.

Wendy and the Star's Son both stepped onto the stage.

Ron didn't know what strategy Wendy would use.

By raw strength, the two were quite evenly matched.

Just like against the Beast's Son, the difference between Wendy and the Star's Son wasn't large.

Wendy had seized victory over the Beast's Son thanks to the air refraction trick that created an opportunity to deliver a decisive strike.

But against the Star's Son, Wendy's abilities were somewhat at a disadvantage.

Taurus had tremendous strength and wielded a giant axe. Wendy's ordinary wind blades posed limited threat to it.

And Scorpio could control sandstorms.

This Nen beast's ability countered Wendy.

"Wendy's ordinary wind blade attacks are meaningless against the Star's Son."

"The only move that can threaten him is that one."

That one move was similar to the Wind Dragon's Roar.

"Your special training seems effective."

"But unfortunately, I haven't been idle either."

"My progress surpasses yours, not by a little."

"First place will be mine."

"The strongest of the younger generation can only be me."

"Wendy, surrender."

The Star's Son stood on the stage, looking at Wendy across from him.

Wendy didn't respond to the Star's Son, but turned to the referee.

"Are both sides ready?"

Both Wendy and the Star's Son nodded.

"Begin!"

At the sound, Taurus appeared beside the Star's Son.

Wendy, on the other hand, maneuvered into the air above.

A gust of wind swirled around Wendy.

The Star's Son frowned instinctively.

"Seizing the aerial advantage?"

"Using such a gas-consuming technique right from the start?"

"Trying to end it quickly?"

"But isn't the Dragon Dojo known for endurance battles?"

"You're using your weakness to fight my strength?"

"Do you know you can't beat me?"

"Is that why you're resorting to this strategy?"

The Star's Son snorted inwardly.

Right then, Wendy opened her mouth.

She inhaled large quantities of air into her lungs.

"By eating it, the power surges forth!"

In an instant, Wendy's aura soared to a peak, climbing higher and higher.

Then, Wendy looked down at the arena below.