The Reincarnator's Tavern - Chapter 28: The Power of the Force

Chapter 28 The Power of the Force

Rayleigh sat in the 200th floor’s waiting room, silently preparing himself for his match against the one-armed Sadoso. His anticipation was reminiscent of someone who had never played DnD for the first time, waiting for their first-ever game.

This would be the first time in Rayleigh’s life, either of them of course, he’d be using the fun parts of the Force, the parts that could be mistaken for magic in another setting. There were many major and minor reasons he denied himself such practices while on Tython, but they boiled down to two in particular: practicing the basics was more important, and any skill he devoted time to learning and mastering may end up useless in the future.

Every single skill within the Force was classified into one of three categories: Control, Sense, and Alter. The might of any skill used by a Force Practitioner was determined by two factors: mastery of the skill itself and mastery of the overall branch of which the skill was a part.

Rayleigh had memorized the entirety of the Temple of Force Skills, but he never practiced anything outside of what the Jedi taught him and skills such as Shatterpoint and Dark Transfer. The only exception was Force Muffle, the skill he invented by studying the Silent Desert.

Why was practicing the basics more important than devoting time to any single skill? Because Rayleigh had the Easy Mastery for each of the basic branches! If he devoted time to mastering a single skill, he would only get stronger in that skill. But when he spent his time mastering the basics, he was mastering everything. Rayleigh’s possession of the Easy Mastery for every branch meant his progress in mastering the fundamentals was eight times faster than it should have been. With his Chosen One Midichlorian count, he was learning them faster than a Padawan apprenticed to Grandmaster Yoda.

This brought up the main point of the second reason not to practice them. Any practice Rayleigh devoted to a skill would become useless if he didn’t need it in the future or if he created a better skill. Yes, that was his plan. With the exception of Shatterpoint and Dark Transfer, every other skill was just a technique, and he may either grow out of it or find something better. The fact that he invented Force Muffle proved he had the talent necessary to create his own abilities.

Even if there were skills he would definitely use, there was no great harm in delaying his study of them. Because his fundamental foundation was always getting stronger, the later he began to study a technique, the easier it would be to learn. Would a Jedi Master learn a new technique at the same rate as a Jedi Padawan? Certainly not. And though his connection to the Force was only at the early stage of a Jedi Knight, his fundamentals granted his Force abilities the strength of a veteran Jedi Knight.

But, did all of that mean Rayleigh was okay with patiently waiting until the time was right to learn them? NO! Of course not! Rayleigh was just a kid with a biological kid’s brain and brain chemistry. Past life memories or not, he wanted nothing more than to gain superpowers, show them off to everyone, and become the coolest kid in the Universe!

Every single day on Tython, the knowledge of how to perform all of those amazing and fantastical skills sat in the back of his head, tempting him to practice them. A single day couldn’t hurt, right? Maybe an hour, or perhaps just once. Such was the nature of thoughts he dealt with every hour of every day. Why didn’t he succumb?

It was because of that abomination of a robe that Rayleigh wore, the itchiest thing in the Universe, (at least in his mind). The Iron Will plan required never removing the Itchy Robe and not scratching the itches it caused him every second of every day.

When Rayleigh was tempted to learn the techniques, though he clearly knew it would be inefficient to do so, he was able to stop himself thanks to the Iron Will he gained. What’s more, the constant temptation also added to the difficulty, so not succumbing would strengthen his will even further.

But now, things were different. He already unlocked the Hunter Class. He knew the basics of the Hunter System. He may not know the fancy high-level skills, but he knows that the foundation of everything is just different applications and combinations of Ten, Zetsu, and Ren. All of which he now understood the theory behind. It was time to work on merging the two systems. Every reason to prolong the wait to learn them could now be reasoned around.

Of course, there was a small voice in the background claiming it might be better to wait until the Pirate System was unlocked and understood. That voice was promptly eaten by a Terentatek and erased from his memory. Yes, now was a perfect time, no reason at all to delay any further, no reason whatsoever.

But honestly, it really was the best time. The limitation of Force Valor, Enhance Speed, and Enhance Strength was already clear. Should his physical body exceed the strength these techniques could provide, they would become worthless. He needed to experiment, figure out how to stack his abilities, and see which techniques could be directly added to his repertoire and which he’d need to adjust or invent himself.

One promising candidate was Force Stasis. It was a technique that created a telekinetic lock around the target, halting their movements. What was better was that even if the target was strong enough to overpower the lock, said lock would not break, only bend. As long as Force Stasis was continuously applied, a weak target would be left immobile and a strong target would at least be slowed down to some degree.

The only reason Rayleigh hadn’t used this technique before was that it was a very high-level technique that required his entire attention and concentration to use. The moment he released his concentration, the lock would fade. But now, such a thing was not a problem.

Rayleigh was perfectly able to split his mind. In fact, he’d already started practicing to divide the divided minds further. What was his limit? He didn’t know. What he did know was that there were uncountable advantages to having multiple independent minds. The simplest is that Rayleigh could actually devote one mind to meditation while his other controlled his body and did day-to-day tasks. Meditating 24 hours a day? How overpowered was that? Especially since there were skills that could only be used during meditation, like Clairvoyance. Rayleigh could potentially maintain Clairvoyance at all times, always seeing everything around him.

It was even more broken when it came to battle-related Force Skills. Veteran Jedi Masters were capable of multitasking with the Force in combat due to their experience and the strength of their connection. What was interesting was that to such a Jedi, doing multiple things with the Force did not tire them out anymore than doing a single thing of the same difficulty would for someone who was unable to multitask.

The Force was not a mana pool that depleted with each spell that was cast. What did that mean? There was no potential limit to how much a Jedi could do with the Force at the same time. With multiple minds, each capable of independent thought, each mind could potentially use the Force on its own. They could perform different tasks or the same task. Was an opponent too fast? Use Force Stasis. Still too fast? Have another mind use Force Stasis. Still too fast? How many minds do you have?

Of course, fighting by slowing down your enemy has its limits and would not work on everything. It was still better to strengthen his base abilities than to devote so much effort to hampering his opponent.

And Force Stasis was only one of the contenders. Force Crash, Mind Trick, Force Whirlwind, Soft to Hard, Force Slow, Force Wound, Fear, Lightning, Drain, Crush, and Illusion were all battle skills he had never used before but knew the theory behind.

Among them, Force Slow also had promise. It was considered a dark side technique if overused, but the base use of the skill only clouded the target’s mind. It didn’t physically slow the target as Force Stasis did, it hampered the target’s ability to think and react, slowing their reflexes and thoughts. When the Jedi used it, they called it Force Exhaustion to prevent themselves from looking like hypocrites, even though it was the same skill.

Most of how these skills were viewed by the Jedi were imparted to Rayleigh during his lessons with Master Dyanameez. The actual Temple of Force Skills in the Silent Desert was built long before the splitting of the Jedi and the Sith, and skills from both the Light Side and Dark Side were found within. Unsurprisingly, a large majority of the skills he found were also not related to battle. Telepathy skills, mental skills, and meditation skills made up the majority of the rooms that had skills carved into the walls. He didn’t need them now, but the ones that strengthened the mind would be useful in the future. Once he reached the limit of splitting his mind, he could use the esoteric techniques to strengthen each fragmented mind to the point they could be further split and strengthened again for an endless cycle.

Now Rayleigh just had to figure out how to get as much mileage as he could before his test subject ran away. How strong were Sadoso’s Ren and Ten? How would Ren and Ten affect advanced skills like Force Stasis or basic skills like Force Hold and Force Push? Would Sadoso’s Nen Aura Arm be affected by Force Whirlwind?

Rayleigh couldn’t hurt him using the Force as the Force wouldn’t appreciate it, but anything that did not cause physical pain, damage, or distress was fair game. Fear might be okay if used just once. How would Sadoso react? Could Fear be stacked with the intimidation effect of Ren? Ren’s normal intimidation was resisted by Ten. Could Ten resist Fear, or would it have an effect?

So many questions, and so few chances to practice, but he had to be fair to Gon and Killua. Rayleigh did not think Sadoso would stick around once Rayleigh was done with him, and he couldn’t do the same to the Wheelchair guy and Peg-legged man before Gon and Killua had a chance to have some fun with them, so he’d probably only get to fight Sadoso and maybe wheelchair guy after Gon and Killua kicked his ass, but he doubted it.

Oh well, it wasn’t his way to ask for more when he should just appreciate what he already had, and thankfully, the time for the match was about to start. Rayleigh got up and made his way toward the stage. Let the games begin.

The announcer called out, [Ladies and Gentlemen of Heaven’s Arena! We have another exciting match for you from the fighters of the 200th floor! On one side, we have Sadoso, with a record of five victories and only a single defeat! On the other side, we have a first-time fighter of the 200th floor, Rayleigh! In Rayleigh’s time fighting his way up Heaven’s Arena, he has never lost a single match, but this is his first match on the 200th Floor. Will his record be maintained, or will the young warrior be defeated like so many others? Place your bets now!]

Rayleigh wanted to give Killua his money so he could bet on Rayleigh’s victory, but each person could only bet so much, and both Killua and Gon bet the maximum on Rayleigh’s victory, while Wing wasn’t interested and Zushi was not allowed by his teacher to gamble. Unfortunately, fighters were not allowed to bet on themselves, at least without a proxy.

The crowd was bustling, and Wing, Zushi, Gon, and Killua all had seats. Rayleigh even noticed Hisoka, Springheeled Jack, Armory, and White Knight in the audience. Now that he had his Hunter License and knew a thing or two about Nen, he could give them a show. Even if no one understood what he did, Rayleigh could claim it was Nen, even if no one saw him using Aura while he played around.

From the other end of the arena, Sadoso said, “Go ahead and make it look good, kid.”

Rayleigh then remembered something that had slipped his mind. Sadoso still thought Rayleigh was going through with losing on purpose.

Rayleigh used Force Muffle to prevent his words from being heard by anyone but Sadoso and said, “Ah, my loss was contingent on you leaving Gon alone. You didn’t hold up your end of the bargain, so I’m not going to lose.”

Sadoso’s face looked like a porcelain mask normally, but Rayleigh’s admission broke that expressionless visage and clearly hit a nerve. He replied, “You don’t have to lose on purpose. You’re still going to lose.”

Rayleigh added, “I’m really not. In fact, since you broke our deal. You should go ahead and give up now, that way I won’t have to fight you.”

“Was that supposed to be a joke? A kid like you thinks he can win?”

“I don’t, ‘think,’ anything. I’m not going to lose. It really is better for you and everyone else if you just give up now and save us all the trouble.”

“Your jokes are getting annoying. I’m going to squeeze you until you pop!”

Rayleigh shrugged at the threat, “Are you sure you don’t want to give up? Last chance.”

Sadoso shouted, “Enough!” He then turned to the ref and said, “Start the match already!”

The ref argued back that there was still a minute before the match started. He saw Rayleigh speaking, but over the roar of the crowd, he wasn’t able to hear what he said for some reason, but it didn’t matter.

Rayleigh hid his smile. What was going to happen to Sadoso would be, unpleasant. He had to at least give him a chance to surrender peacefully. And he did. In fact, he gave him three chances. He felt something click into place, and now, as long as Sadoso was not physically harmed, what Rayleigh did to him with the Force was just what he had coming.

The ref kept his eyes on the clock, and once it was time, he got out of the way and shouted, “Begin the Match!”

The armless sleeve of Sadoso’s left side fluttered violently as a large aura hand extended out of it on a large arm of aura. Rayleigh dashed to the side as the claws of the aura hand scraped the arena’s floor.

The announcer shouted, [Oh! And our newest Fighter dodges Sadoso’s Invisible Hand! But how long can he keep this up?]

Sadoso sneered, and the aura arm faded from view, truly becoming invisible.

Even Rayleigh’s Force senses could not detect aura under the effect of In, but now he wasn’t defenseless. Even if he could not see it, he could use Sense Danger and Battle Precognition to detect the spikes in Sadoso’s killing intent to determine when he was going to attack. Like right now.

Rayleigh jumped to the side again, dodging another claw. He ran to Sadoso’s side and used Ren. Each component of Ren requires visualization to get your aura to accommodate the effect. Rayleigh’s mental image for expelling aura from his cells was the Cellular Breathing from Toriko. In the Manga, Toriko, the protagonist, could make his cells breathe. He could even make the cells on his skin exhale so quickly that his strikes would be propelled like a jet fighter craft. Ray’s image for his Ten was a calm sea. No matter how strong the wind, it could not reach into the depths of the sea. It would always be bounced back. These two images of cells that could exhale aura at the speed of a Jet-Fighter’s exhaust and a sea that could bounce back any degree of wind meshed quite well and allowed him to form a strong and solid Ren.

Now he just needed to use Gyō. Rather than dedicate his entire Ren to Gyō, Rayleigh did something else. There were many seas, and some met others without mixing. Using the image of multiple seas, Rayleigh divided his Ten, making a separate internal layer of Ten, and concentrated that into his eyes. It was like forming a bubble around the upper half of his body within his Ren and then having the bubble shrink until it was concentrated just over his eyes. The remaining excited aura spread throughout his Ren, halving its strength, but it was better than being completely without it. Rayleigh used the image of a sea concentrating into a pair of thick binoculars to shrink his internal Ten into position just above his eyes.

As he suspected, Sadoso’s In was not at the level of Hisoka. Wing told Zushi, someone whose Ren was still a notch higher than Rayleigh’s current Ren, that he needed to put all of his aura into Gyō to see completely through Hisoka’s In. But with Sadoso, using just half was enough to break his In.

The process of forming his Ren and Gyō took about three seconds, and in that time, Sadoso had enlarged his ghostly hand five-times larger than Rayleigh himself. The moment he finished enlarging it, he pressed forward, the massive claw coming directly at Rayleigh.

Rayleigh dodged, of course, but a second, smaller hand and arm extended out of the side of the hand he just dodged and quickly snatched him before raising Rayleigh into the air.

[Oh my! The Young Warrior’s quick dodges have failed! He is now firmly within the grasp of Sadoso’s invisible hand! No one has ever gained victory after getting caught, is this the end of the young Fighter?!]

Sadoso squeezed but noticed Rayleigh’s Ren was up. He said, “That’s odd. I thought you would have used Gyō. No matter. How long can you keep it up?”

Rayleigh understood Sadoso’s strategy with that. For those who could not use Gyō, they would just have to dodge the invisible hand. For those who could, he’d trick them with that double-hand stunt since using Gyō usually meant you weren’t using Ren to defend yourself. Rayleigh doubted he pioneered using Ren and Gyō at the same time, so this strategy would only be useful against newbies. Once Sadoso caught them, it would be a match between how long he could maintain that hand and how long the victim could maintain Ren if they were lucky enough to have it when caught, since activating it while caught was likely quite difficult.

Rayleigh doubted his half-powered Ren would last longer than Sadoso’s aura hand, but he’d already had enough fun. Ray just wanted a bit more experience fighting a Nen user, even if it was a weak one, before he started playing around.

Rayleigh had been using one mind to maintain Ren and another to maintain Gyō. Since he allowed himself to get captured, he didn’t need to maintain Gyō anymore, and that mind was freed up to do as he pleased. Even if he did nothing, he could not lose. Force Valor could be used to make sure his organs continued to function while being squeezed, and he could use Breath Control to ensure he didn’t pass out even if he was deprived of oxygen for a few minutes. Sadoso’s constriction was not enough to break anything, he was like an anaconda, constricting until his opponent passed out but unable to do much more. To be fair, it worked against opponents of the same level, but Rayleigh was above him before he even entered the tower.

First Test: Force Slow. The Force existed within everyone, and the Alter Aspect of using it entailed using the Force outside of your body as if it was within your body, essentially acknowledging that separation was an illusion and we are all one. Rayleigh imagined himself as Sadoso, and then imagined the Force gathering within his mind like heavy syrup being poured into a well-oiled machine, or stuffing mounds of cotton into an engine block. The dark side aspect of this skill required imagining the target as a part of yourself you hated and despised, a weakness to be removed or eliminated. That, however, could be replaced with empathy, though doing so required feeling as the target felt. Empathy is a universal means of connecting one mind to another, as social species are rarely capable of blocking an empathic connection.

The invisible hand dissipated, and Sadoso staggered as if he had just gotten motion sickness, causing his senses to spin around for a moment.

Second Test: Force Whirlwind. This was a multidirectional Force Push centered around an axis that also lifted the target off their feet. It was physically harmless, but usually rendered the target incapable of doing much until they fell down.

Sadoso was suddenly lifted into the air and began to spin around. He tried to maintain his balance, but his slowed reactions prevented him from remaining upright, and in the next moment, he was sideways while still being spun around.

The announcer was loving it. [Unbelievable! Through some unknown means, our young Fighter has been freed from Sadoso’s Invisible hand! And now, the one being caught in some unseen force is none other than Sadoso himself! What an upset! Will Sadoso’s five-time winning streak end today, or will he overcome this challenge and take another victory?!]

Third Test: Ren Vs Telekinesis. Similar to how an amateur would have difficulties using Gyō and Ren, Sadoso did not use Ren while launching that aura hand of his. Rayleigh released the effect of Force Whirlwind to allow Sadoso to fall and gain his bearings.

[That’s a down! Two points for Rayleigh Rush!] Since Sadoso didn’t land on his feet, the Ref decided it was a down and awarded the relevant points.

Sadoso’s humiliation at being on the opposite end of the match’s manhandling turned into anger the moment he landed on the ground. He turned over and got up while Rayleigh casually said, “Ready for Spin Time Round 2? You should probably defend yourself.”

Sadoso’s anger turned into fear and he immediately used Ren.

Rayleigh then used Force Push with enough strength to blow him out of the ring. Sadoso suddenly slid back, but turned his body as the push seemed to slip past him. He was only pushed back a few meters.

Forth Test: Force Stasis. Rayleigh imagined the space around Sadoso had been solidified by Rayleigh’s Telekinesis, holding every single molecule in place. A proper use of Stasis should have stopped someone’s movement entirely, making them as motionless as a statue. Instead, the effect on Sadoso who still had his Ren up was lesser. Sadoso was able to wiggle himself around, struggling to move within the space created by his Ren. It seemed Stasis could not fully penetrate his Ren, but his Ren could not break the Stasis either.

[What is this?! Sadoso has been frozen in place, bound by another invisible force! How the tables have turned! Is this how Sadoso will end, defeated by the very move he has always used to gain victory, or will his expertise grant him insight into breaking through this unknown hold!]

Rayleigh required an entire mind to maintain Stasis, but since he had one to spare, that didn’t stop him from doing other things. Rayleigh walked up to Sadoso as the man continued to struggle, his Ren getting weaker. Reapplying Stasis froze the shrunken space further and was done whenever Ray felt like it. Once Sadoso’s own Ren ran out, he’d become a statue.

Sadoso obviously knew this, his struggle was visible to the entire crowd, his expressionless mask shattered as his gritting teeth were visible for all to see.

A few seconds later, Sadoso’s Ren lost steam and became a normal Ten. He was almost completely frozen in place, his Ten only providing enough room to shake himself. Unlike Sadoso’s own technique though, Rayleigh’s Force Stasis did not harm the target. Someone under the effect of Stasis can still breathe and blink, but is unable to twitch even a single finger until the Stasis is removed.

What was interesting was that, unlike aura, what Rayleigh was doing was actually somewhat visible to the audience. Everyone saw a rippling field of air over the surface of Sadoso, making it clear that he was under the effect of some strange technique.

Rayleigh then pulled out a sharp kitchen knife.

[Rayleigh has completely frozen Sadoso in place, and now he has brought out a knife! As you know, weapons and even killing are allowed on the 200th floor. Will this be the end of Sadoso?]

Fifth Test: Fear. Similar to Force Slow, Fear required connecting to the target and instilling him with Fear. While one of Rayleigh’s minds held Sadoso in place with Force Stasis, the other envisioned itself in Sadoso’s place and imagined becoming more and more frightened.

Rayleigh held up the knife and slowly walked over to Sadoso. He said aloud, “You really should have given up when I gave you a chance. Then again, you really should not have broken our deal. I know that such a person cannot be trusted, but I don’t want to kill Guido and Riehlvelt. It’s okay though, I’ll just make an example out of you. Then they will know what it means to get on my bad side and will become a little wiser in the future. Become a better person in your next life, okay?”

Rayleigh said each word without a trace of hostility or anger, like he was talking to a good friend. He also raised his knife bit by bit, higher into the air with each word. Even those unaffected by Fear were given the heebie-jeebies. It’s safe to say that Sadoso was feeling much worse. His entire body was shaking. In his eyes, the knife was clearly the reaper’s scythe. Every word Rayleigh spoke hammered hopelessness into his heart. Though unable to move or even open his mouth, his eyes were trembling nonstop as Sadoso witnessed the knife raise into the air, its tip pointed directly at his eyes.

Sadoso’s eyes and everything else stopped moving. Rayleigh released Stasis and Sadoso fell to the ground, drooling and clearly unconscious.

Rayleigh stuck his tongue out and said, “Kidding.”

The ref came over and confirmed Sadoso was unable to continue the match, awarding Rayleigh his first victory in Heaven’s Arena.

The crowd exploded, and a single burst of killing intent made its presence known before it was suppressed. Rayleigh turned to Hisoka and politely waved. The magician waved back, his smile, wide and creepy as always.

[What an astounding match! What a fantastic performance! What will Rayleigh show us in his next match? There’s only one way to find out, make sure you return during that time and see for yourselves!]

Rayleigh rolled his eyes at the announcer as he left the stage. He didn’t even know if there would be another match.

In any case, he was satisfied.

Force Slow was usable even when Sadoso was using his aura arm and even had the added benefit of disrupting his use of aura.

Force Push and Force Stasis were unable to properly form a solid grasp while Sadoso was using Ren. If the same was true for Ten, he did not know yet.

He was unable to test if Fear was usable during Ren, but at least confirmed it worked under Ten.

Conclusion: Force Push and Force Whirlwind are not terribly viable, while Force Stasis and Force Slow have potential. Force Fear requires more tests.

Something about the use of Ren made any form of telekinetic hold slip off. He guessed it was due to the Force that existed within the targets. Although none of them were force-sensitive, normal humans did have a Midichlorian count between two thousand and seven thousand. When Rayleigh used his aura, his Force moved around. Perhaps this occurred with others as well, meaning aura techniques contained weak Force attributes. This would explain why a Force skill could be blocked or hampered by someone not using the Force.

It also meant that even if someone could not use the Force, if they had high-level mastery over Ren, they could defend themselves with an approximation. A strong Ren could allow them to slip completely out of Force Stasis, but it would at least slow them down marginally unless their Ren was simply overwhelmingly powerful.

He’d have to ask Wing about the methods Nen users used to defend themselves from mental attacks, because Slow and Fear may be more effective than stasis against higher-level fighters. No, that wasn’t true. If Rayleigh was unable to invoke any fear in the person, he could not use the Force to amplify it. If someone fought using instinct or had an incredibly strong or fast mind, slowing down their thoughts would be useless. Indeed, regardless of the circumstances, going up against high-level fighters would require strengthening his own abilities rather than reducing the abilities of others.

For now, it was time to return to Wing’s house. The next match was Gon’s rematch with Guido in a week. The next day would have Killua against the Wheelchair guy, Riehlvelt, and Rayleigh would fight what, if anything, was left of Guido the day after that. If he hadn’t run away by then, Killua would fight Guido the day after that, and then Gon would fight Riehlvelt the next day. Rayleigh would then fight Riehlvelt last.

The 200th floor only held a single match a day, and other than Rayleigh Vs Sadoso, the remaining three-on-three fights were set to occur once a day, every day, for the following eight days starting next week. Rayleigh doubted the crowd would get what they wanted. Sadoso would never enter the ring again, and Gon was quite mad at Guido, so it was anyone’s guess if there would be anything left of him after their fight for Rayleigh to meet in the ring. Riehlvelt would definitely fight Killua, and probably fight Gon, but Rayleigh wasn’t going to bet that the wheelchair-bound Nen user would show up for their match after what he saw him do to Sadoso and what Killua and Gon would do to him.

What did that mean? It meant that this was probably Rayleigh’s first and last fight in Heaven’s Arena. That was fine with him. According to Springheeled Jack, most of the other fighters on the 200th floor, besides Hisoka, were decent human beings, so other than those three who target rookies, there were no other good targets to practice his Force abilities on. Again, that was fine. He still had to finish learning the basics of Nen.

The group arrived back at Wing’s house, and Wing said, “Rayleigh, although I’m quite confused, I’m also very impressed with your abilities.”

Rayleigh shook his head, “None of those tricks would work on someone much stronger than I am. Wanna see for yourself? That thing where I made Sadoso immobile is harmless, so I can use it on you without doing any damage.”

Wing looked intrigued and said, “Oh, then please.”

Gon, Killua, and Zushi also stood to the side, looking with interest.

Rayleigh used Force Stasis on Wing, and a shimmer of waves looked like it was surrounding him. Wing suddenly used Ren and the telekinetic lock was easily pushed aside. He then started moving, though slower than normal, as if he were underwater.

Wing then intensified his Ren, making it far stronger. He was then able to move around far more freely.

As an additional test, Rayleigh used Force Stasis with his second mind. Wing’s movement became noticeably slower, but not by much. Stasis only reduced his movement by about 5% when he went all out using Ren, and the second layer increased that reduction to 7% or 8%. The effects did not fully stack because Rayleigh was lacking experience doing such things for now.

Wing then nodded to Ray as the signal to stop, and Ray released both uses of Force Stasis while Wing stopped using Ren. Wing commented, “I see what you mean, though, against an opponent of the same level, that can still prove useful.”

Killua added, “He didn’t even break out his laser sword.”

Zushi asked, “You have a laser sword?”

Rayleigh nodded, “Yeah. Though Netero was able to block it with a rubber ball.”

Wing smiled at that. “Well, we are getting a little off-topic. I saw that Rayleigh was able to use Gyō during the match. How about you two?”

Killua answered, “Yeah, can you show us that video of Hisoka’s match again?”

Gon nodded, also eager to ‘see’ how Hisoka performed those magic tricks.

Wing nodded and played the video once more.

Rayleigh also used Gyō and confirmed a few things. When Kastro desired, his doppelganger could become invisible. Ray was also able to see how Hisoka had been playing with Kastro from the moment Kastro took Hisoka’s right arm.

Hisoka created wires of aura from his left arm and connected them to the thirteen spade-suited cards he had scattered as a distraction while throwing his arm into the air. When he tossed the Ace of Spades to Kastro, he also tossed the connecting wires that had been attached to the cards to Kastro, while also connecting a line from Hisoka’s left arm to Kastro’s chin.

And last, there were two more lines of aura, one from the severed right arm stuck on the roof to the handkerchief, and one from the handkerchief to Hisoka’s right stump.

As for how all the tricks worked? The aura stuck firmly to whatever Hisoka connected it to, but Hisoka could control the stretchiness, elasticity, and how sticky it was. He could remove the stickiness and toss it somewhere, and he would make it stick to that. If it was stretched out, he could command it to remotely retract. From what he could see, the retraction applied an immense amount of force, allowing something that was being retracted toward something else, like playing cards or a severed arm, to strike with incredible power.

Killua used his Gyō to count every line of aura successfully, and just like Rayleigh, deduce its properties and effects.

Rayleigh’s first question was if he could cut it with his Lightsaber, but since Hisoka would become a floor master with one more victory or leave the tower with one more loss, he would not fight Rayleigh no matter how much he wanted to since he already promised a match with Gon.

In any case, after confirming they had succeeded in learning Ren and Gyō, Wing instructed them to practice Ren and Ten until their matches. While at Wing’s, Rayleigh practiced Ren and Ten with one mind while meditating with another. At his apartment in the tower, he used Psychometry on the Journals with one mind while practicing Ren with the other.

Divine Script was unlike any language Rayleigh had learned, but that didn’t mean he was completely unfamiliar with it. It just so happened that Divine Script had a lot in common with Force Calligraphy. Force Calligraphy was not a style or language, it was a method to allow the Force to guide your writing and how to express the Force through the stroke of a brush.

Divine Script was similar. There wasn’t a language you could read aloud, there was a technique you could use to write your Hatsu down and impart what you wrote on the properties of your Hatsu. As for what Hatsu was, it was just a fancy way of saying customized Nen ability. Sadoso’s aura arm is considered a Hatsu. Hisoka’s stretching aura strings are considered a Hatsu. Kastro’s Doppelganger, etc.

Rayleigh would spend the week ensuring he got the essential points before returning the journals and decided not to tell Wing of his accomplishments, though he’d tell Gon and Killua if they asked. He wouldn’t be able to use it until he had a Hatsu of his own, or at least an idea of one.

The days passed, and soon it was the rematch of Gon Vs Guido. As Rayleigh predicted, Sadoso had left Heaven’s Arena. The stage would forever be a reminder of his death, and he’d never be able to fight within again.

On the fourth of June, Gon once more stood in the arena facing the peg-legged Guido. What surprised many in the audience was that this time he had not come unarmed.

The announcer was the same woman from their prior match and sounded quite excited.

[The Revenge match we’ve all been waiting for is about to begin! Guido Vs Gon. In his first match three months ago, Gon was sent to the Hospital! This time, he does not come empty-handed. For the first time in Heaven’s Arena’s History, we’re going to see a Fishing rod used as a weapon. What kind of strategy has Gon come up with and will it be of any use? Let’s Find out!]

The ref began the match and Gon charged forward without giving Guido time to breathe.

Before Gon could approach, Guido activated his Ren and started rapidly spinning. The last time Gon touched that, he was sent flying outside the arena, this time he approached it more cautiously.

What Gon did not expect was that, even while spinning, Guido was somehow able to launch his tops. In fact, he was able to rapidly fire them like an automatic machine gun directly at Gon’s position.

This time, however, Gon was not unprepared. Gon used his Ren at full power, the immense force of the nen-powered tops struck the barrier of Gon’s explosive Ren and each and every one of them shattered!

Guido’s attack was completely ended, but as long as he kept spinning, Gon would also have difficulty attacking. Guido didn’t have to maintain Ren at all times after all, just when Gon attacked.

Gon then cast his fishing rod, letting the line fly over and strike Guido. Unlike what many were expecting, the line’s hook did not catch Guido’s spinning clothes, as the peg-legged man used Ren at the moment of impact to ensure the hook bounced off without catching anything.

Gon then reeled the line in. What no one in the audience expected, was that the tiny hook on the end of the line caught the edge of the stone tiles on the arena floor. These tiles were quite large, and this tile was the very one Guido was spinning on. Gon used all his strength, and the tile beneath Guido was lifted off the ground by the tiny hook. Guido was launched into the air and unable to maintain his spinning technique or even land on his peg leg.

Gon stood above him a moment after Guido landed and readied his fist. Before Guido could voice his surrender, Gon slammed said fist down, causing a large crack to be heard. The crack was not Guido, however, but the metal pole Guido used to stand. Gon had snapped it with a single punch. Gon then promised Guido, “If you lay a hand on Zushi one more time, it’s your face that will be punched. And I won’t be holding back!”

The following day had Killua’s match against Riehlvelt, as Sadoso’s withdrawal had caused the matches to be held earlier. The moment the match started, Killua jumped over the gap between the fighters and attempted to land behind the wheelchair-bound fighter.

Before Killua could land a Ren-enhanced punch, Riehlvelt’s wheelchair burst forward at incredible speed, perfectly avoiding the strike.

Before Killua could prepare for another assault, Riehlvelt pulled some weapons from hidden compartments in his wheelchair. A pair of whips. Riehlvelt then swung them around like mad, his wheelchair approaching Killua. The length of the whips and wildness of the assault caused his whipping attack to fill up nearly a quarter of the arena. It seemed his plan was to either chase Killua out of the ring or get lucky with a strike after cornering him.

What was funnier was that Riehlvelt started monologuing about how he was now invincible.

The face Riehlvelt made when Killua casually caught the heads of both whips made Rayleigh want this match on DVD. It was priceless.

But that shocked expression quickly turned to glee as Riehlvelt flipped a pair of switches on the handles of the whips. The cackle of electricity was heard as Killua was being lit up from the shock he was receiving. Riehlvelt claimed someone who caught his whips would receive a jolt of one million volts. Rayleigh wondered if he had capacitors in the handles.

Though clearly getting shocked with enough voltage to send any man unconscious, Killua had not passed out. In fact, he didn’t even look like he was receiving damage. To prove this, Killua yanked the whips up, causing Riehlvelt to be flung into the air from gripping them too tightly.

Killua’s strength was immense, and Riehlvelt had been flung all the way to the roof. His problem was that since his legs were crippled, he had no good way to orient himself in the air and land safely.

Killua teased him and asked if he needed help, to which Riehlvelt screamed, “PLEASE HELP ME!”

Killua, being the kind and thoughtful person he was, easily and safely caught Riehlvelt before he hit the ground. Oh, and Killua was still holding the one million-volt whips. The moment he was safely in Killua’s arms, he was also heavily zapped by his own weapons and promptly passed out from the shock.

Guido’s match with both Killua and Rayleigh was not held as the peg-legged fighter had withdrawn from the matches, accepting a loss.

Both Guido and Sadoso had a single loss from their Baptism and their three further losses to Rayleigh, Killua, and Gon meant they were both out of the Tower. At first, Rayleigh felt he might be able to fight Riehlvelt, but then he discovered Riehlvelt had another loss before he met them other than his Baptism. After losing to Killua, he had three losses, and if he didn’t beat Gon, he would not be able to fight Rayleigh.

For obvious reasons, Rayleigh was not expecting to see the man again after today.

Riehlvelt arrived on stage fully prepared to meet Gon. Before the match even started, he already had his whips ready, and the moment the ref declared the start, Riehlvelt started whipping like crazy.

Gon did not approach him. Instead, he walked over to the side and bent down. He then lifted one of the arena’s giant stone tiles directly off the floor and threw it at Riehlvelt.

The wheelchair-bound man was obviously not expecting this. He used a burst of aura to shoot his chair forward to dodge, but in doing so, he fell into Gon’s trap. Riehlvelt could only launch himself forward in the direction he was facing, something anyone was easily able to see. And he certainly could not maintain his fancy whip movements while being propelled forward.

Gon had already jumped, and the moment Riehlvelt’s propulsion ended, Gon had landed in front of him and had taken Riehlvelt’s wrists tightly within his grasp.

Gon apparently had massive grip strength from years of fishing, and he used it to squeeze Riehlvelt’s wrists hard enough for the man to release his grasp on both whips.

Gon then took the whips up himself and flicked them at Riehlvelt, coiling the pair around Riehlvelt’s neck.

Gon looked at the handles for the whips and asked aloud, “The buttons to turn these on are here right? And this one turns the power up to the maximum? Ok, maximum power, and turning, On!”

Riehlvelt panicked, the memory of being fried yesterday still clear in his head. In fact, it was so clear, he suddenly passed out again, even though Gon had not actually turned on the whips. Gon poked his tongue out, and the crowd cheered for his victory.

The only thing left to do at Heaven’s Arena was for Gon to face Hisoka, but first, they needed to complete their studies on Nen and learn more about Hatsu. With the limitless potential he had and the bright future before him, Rayleigh felt like he could do anything. At least until he saw a new message in the General Chat.

[Hercules: Holy Sh1t! In the Finals of the World Martial Arts Tournament, someone just blew up the F*cking Moon!]

Okay, he couldn’t do that.