With every word that came out of Link's mouth, the pain in Hoss's body grew deeper. The arrogance and confidence he'd shown just moments ago had completely vanished.
Now, he looked more like a lamb on its knees, begging for mercy.
Before he could even stammer out a plea, Link's calm, low voice cut through the air:
"How boring. You can't even put up a fight. Gardevoir—Psychic."
A wave of dread surged through Hoss's chest, his body's instinctive reaction when death loomed near.
But crushed under the weight of Gardevoir's aura, he couldn't move a single muscle… He could only wait for death to come.
His vision went black. And just like that, his consciousness faded into the abyss.
Moments later, Gardevoir withdrew her oppressive aura.
Hoss lay crumpled on the ground, lifeless.
His so-called Nen, his pride, was pathetically weak. It hadn't even been able to defend him from a fraction of the attack.
In the end, he died in the very way he thought he wouldn't: brain-dead, overwhelmed by psychic pressure, his life snuffed out completely.
As he died, his aura dispersed, and then something even stranger happened, his body began to fall apart.
Piece by piece, it scattered across the floor, like a marionette whose strings had been cut.
It looked almost comical, like something out of a twisted cartoon. Just like Buggy the Clown after eating the Chop-Chop Fruit, only without the punchline.
Turns out, the side effects of his Baptism went deeper than just the fractured skin.
His Nen and his shattered body had formed a delicate balance, holding him together.
That meager aura had been like glue, binding his broken body into one piece. Now that he was dead and his Nen had dispersed, his body quite literally fell to pieces.
And the irony? He'd come here ranting about how he was going to crush every bone in Link's body…
But in the end, the one who shattered was himself.
Meanwhile, Gardevoir's experience bar shifted ever so slightly.
Eliminating a D-rank Nen user gave her a tiny bit of XP, barely enough to register against the long bar of progress.
A drop in the bucket.
Well then… now it's your turn.
Link pulled his gaze away from the mangled remains and turned his cold, shadowed eyes toward the trembling man nearby—Pierce.
Pierce was already a mess. His body trembled like a leaf in a storm, eyes wide with primal fear. He didn't even dare to glance sideways at the corpse next to him.
He swore to himself, this was the most horrifying thing he'd ever witnessed. Even the time he watched a group of guards get slaughtered in an instant didn't compare to this.
As a mafia boss, Pierce had seen his fair share of death. He'd even witnessed bloody scenes, people getting shot point-blank, heads exploding.
But this?
This was something else entirely.
He had never, not even once, witnessed a living person get reduced to a pile of mangled, scattered flesh right in front of him.
Pierce, who didn't know the first thing about Nen, was convinced that Hoss's gruesome death was all Link's doing. In his panicked mind, Link had transformed into some sort of sadistic butcher, a monster who delighted in dismembering people.
Thump, thump!
Link stomped the floor twice, heavy and deliberate, signaling Pierce to lift his head.
"A-Ah! Please, don't kill me!"
Pierce slowly raised his pig-like head, terror carved deep into his wide eyes.
To him, Link wasn't human anymore, he was a black hole, a force of nature, dragging him helplessly toward the abyss.
"P-Please… I beg you, sir… please spare me…"
His hoarse voice trembled with despair. He didn't believe for a second that Link would actually let him go, he just didn't want to end up like Hoss, torn apart and scattered across the floor.
"Where's my ID?" Link didn't answer the plea. His voice was cold and flat.
Pierce's pupils shrank. His whole body trembled again, completely out of his control.
He knew exactly what he'd done these past few days, called in favors, spent money, and hired a Nen user to try and regain his dignity. That was it. The ID? He'd tossed that concern aside long ago. After all, with a "master" like Hoss on his side, this should've been an easy job.
"I… I-I mean… the ID…"
Link didn't look surprised in the slightest. If Pierce had actually handed it over now, that would've been surprising.
"I'm giving you one hour," Link said, arms crossed, his tone slow and even. "If I don't have it by then… you'll end up like him."
He didn't say who "him" was, but they both knew.
The last arrogant fool was now nothing more than scattered meat.
…
One hour later, Link held a freshly issued ID in his hand. It listed his name, gender, and a local birthplace within the town.
With a faint smile on his handsome face, one that didn't quite reach the eyes, Link looked at the still-kneeling Pierce.
"See? It can be done in time. Amazing what fear does for productivity."
"Y-Yes, sir… you're absolutely right…"
Even with his mind and body on the verge of collapse, Pierce forced a smile, still kneeling, still trying to curry favor.
"S-Sir, perhaps… maybe you could… spare my life? I'll give you everything I own, I swear!"
At this point, Pierce's mind was blank. He wasn't thinking of dignity, revenge, or even money. He just wanted to live.
He hated himself, hated the fool he'd been these past few days. So what if he had to suffer a little humiliation? Now, it wasn't just money on the line, his life was on the chopping block.
"Forgive you?" Link tucked the ID into his pocket, stretched lazily, and started walking toward the door. "Sure."
Pierce stared, dumbfounded, as Link strode calmly away. It felt like the heavens themselves had dropped a miracle on his head. He couldn't even think straight from the joy, he was going to live!
But that joy didn't last long.
The moment Link stepped over the threshold, Pierce's bloated body collapsed to the ground.
There was still a smile on his face.
If not for the blood pooling beneath him, someone might've thought he was just peacefully asleep.
"I forgave you," Link's voice echoed faintly, "but I never said I wouldn't kill you… Next time, try having better judgment. Some people… just aren't to be messed with."
Under the ink-black sky, with the moon swallowed by thick clouds, Link disappeared into the night, his final words trailing behind him like smoke.