Hunter x Hunter: War of the Anime Worlds

Xiang Nan had only just reached the hotel lobby when—

Boom!

A skyscraper in the distance suddenly exploded.

Every window on one of the upper floors blew out, spewing blinding flames and black smoke.

Panic instantly spread through the hotel.

Because night had already fallen, the burning glare in the sky looked even more dazzling.

"So it's begun already?"

Xiang Nan narrowed his eyes.

The timing was too perfect; this didn't feel like an accident.

Most likely, hostilities between player teams had just kicked off.

Since the KOF storyline was underway, the odds were high that his squad was not the only group of outsiders here—and players from other worlds would be clashing with KOF natives as well.

He withdrew his gaze and strolled out the front doors.

His calm bearing stood in stark contrast to the frantic crowd around him.

Beishi (team channel): "I'm heading to the roof."

Even though the system had sealed and fenced off the combat zone, a high vantage point would let him see unfolding events first.

Another teammate: "There's a shopping mall inside the zone, close by. I'll infiltrate that place and blend in as a shopper… There'll be a crowd; even if the enemy searches, they won't ID me right away."

Beishi: "Seventeen, stay here at the hotel with me. We'll keep eyes on the enemy and share anything we spot."

This mission actually required nothing more than surviving forty-eight hours; they didn't have to fight at all.

Just like Xiang Nan and Manman's third trial: if the attackers failed to drive them out in time, the enemy lost.

Compared with the more seasoned Xiang Nan and Beishi, the other two clearly planned to lie low for a bit. A cautious approach—understandable, and relatively safe.

But Xiang Nan had no intention of turtling.

He had already gauged this placement match's difficulty: with his strength, he should be able to handle it.

Stepping outside the Hunter world, every move we make advertises our home server, he told himself. If we struggle in our very first placement, what happens later? I'll end up like Orban and Pigeon—helpless.

Finishing a lap around the hotel, he faced the crowd staring at the blast site, silently pulled out a cigarette, lit it, and took a drag.

"Looks like Beishi was the only one who really heard what I said," he exhaled.

At its core, the reincarnation arena was world-against-world.

A player was no longer a lone individual but a flag-bearer for an entire dimension.

Every action, every tactic had to be weighed carefully.

The name "Hunter × Hunter" has to ring through the multiverse, he thought. If we're shoved into the weakling tier right out of the gate, every Hunter player—veteran or newbie—will pay the price.

A name flashed through his mind: Mai, the player who had once carried the Hunter world to the very front of the multiverse rankings. Even now, Hunter players still enjoyed the prestige Mai had earned.

Beishi (rooftop): "Incoming—no attempt at stealth. Three sedans on the road directly ahead, about a hundred meters from the hotel."

He had the system map open. Other than the hotel, only that shopping mall offered cover; everything else was wide open.

"We never expected the enemy to arrive this fast," Beishi continued. "We're boxed in by the terrain… The hotel and the mall are the most obvious public sites; they'll search these first."

"Three cars… so the system's thrown quite a few at us. Seventeen, what now?"

Xiang Nan made no reply.

From where he stood he soon saw the three black sedans race up and halt in the hotel's forecourt.

Doors opened; players in mismatched outfits climbed out. A quick count—more than a dozen.

Boom!

The earlier skyscraper erupted again—another floor's windows blew out—but this time white frost billowed outward, rapidly coating the facade with ice, dazzling under the city lights.

"Ice element?" Xiang Nan squinted. Which universe's power is that? Which group's players?

The newcomers also glanced at the frozen tower, but their focus soon returned to the hotel entrance—where one man in a black trench coat calmly smoked, utterly unfazed.

Enemy player!

The KOF squad's expressions changed. They hadn't expected the target to greet them openly instead of hiding.

"Seems someone can't wait to get started," Xiang Nan murmured, flicking away his cigarette.

He removed his glasses with a graceful motion and slipped them into an inner pocket.

"Shall we begin?"

He flashed a row of white teeth—and was answered by a roar of gunfire.

Dozens of muzzles sprayed bullets at him.

Glass shattered; bullets ripped the lobby to pieces.

Xiang Nan whipped up his coat—the fabric instantly hardened like a shield, blocking the hail of lead. Spent casings piled at his feet.

On the roof, Beishi stared, dumbfounded: Seventeen had launched into a frontal brawl with zero subterfuge.

Nearly a minute of sustained fire ended. The KOF players gaped in horror: even canonical fighters took damage from bullets, yet this man had shrugged everything off with just a coat.

Xiang Nan softened the coat again, letting it hang loose—Nen technique, Shu, channeling aura into an object to strengthen it. The trench coat itself was already a military-grade model from the Republic of Padokea.

Lowering his shoulders, he eyed the frozen enemy line.

"KOF boasts countless fighting styles," he called out coldly. "What, spent your ammo and ran out of moves?"

The man with slicked-back hair at their front tossed aside his machine gun, drew a pistol, and swallowed hard.

"Wh-who… which world are you from?"

As KOF natives they had hoped for weak opponents; a low-tier universe would have been perfect. Clearly, fate disagreed. Surviving a point-blank barrage unscathed meant they'd run into a monster.

"Listen up—your pre-death introduction," Xiang Nan said softly.

"I am… a New User. You may call me… a Hunter."

The moment the words left his lips, he vanished.

Before the KOF players could squeeze their triggers again, he was inside their formation.

Both hands came up, each gripping a scalpel.

He began to dance.

Silver blades and swirling coat-tails tore through the crowd like a storm.

Pfft-pfft-pfft—

In barely two seconds it was over.

Frozen in their last poses, the players stood motionless—until thin crimson lines appeared on every throat. Blood fountained; bodies crashed down.

More than a dozen KOF players—dead to the last.

Bathed in their spray, Xiang Nan's icy gaze swept the corpses.

Boot soles sticking to blood and dust, he knelt beside Slick-Back, plucked a tiny earpiece from the man's ear, and held it to his lips.

Smiling pleasantly, he spoke to whoever was on the other end:

"Dear friend… aren't you going to come welcome me?"

Crack.

Something slammed on the far side; the signal went dead.

…

At that same moment, several hundred meters away in a van, another player ripped off his earpiece as though it burned him and crushed it underfoot, face white and heart pounding.

"What happened?" his companion asked, frowning.

"It's… Hunters."

"Hunters?"

"Our assigned intruders are Hunters!"

"Meaning…?"

"Hunter × Hunter!!!" he screamed, voice shaking with dread.

~~~

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