Hunter x Hunter: War of the Anime Worlds

"Captain, I've found someone."

Xiang Nan's three-man squad had split their duties: one searched the smaller buildings, one probed hidden corners, and the third inspected every car along the street.

At this point the only living people left inside the combat zone were themselves and the King of Fighters players.

If you ran into a living person now … that person had to be the target.

Moments later a teammate reported in.

Just as Xiang Nan had guessed, an enemy player was hiding in the trunk of a private car, continuously changing vehicles throughout the battle to stay alive.

Xiang Nan had made his own discovery as well.

Standing beside a pond, he stared at the glass-smooth surface. He knew the last KOF player was underwater. Compared with dry land, this little pool was an excellent hiding place—easy to overlook, hard to check. At the first hint of danger the target could simply hold his breath beneath the water and disappear.

But no one can hold their breath forever.

Xiang Nan was in no hurry; he just waited for the other side to run out of air.

"Hmm? Something's wrong …"

Beishi suddenly spoke up in the squad channel.

"What is it?"

"That guy Batu hasn't said anything for a long time … Batu, are you there?"

Batu was the cautious member of their team, the one who had chosen to stay put and wait for the mission to finish instead of taking part in the fighting. During earlier skirmishes he had occasionally joined the chatter, but now he'd been silent for quite a while.

No reply.

As players, their system screens were always up so they could call out at any time and keep track of the battlefield. If someone went radio-silent, there was only one explanation:

He was dead.

There shouldn't have been any other threats left—police forces had already withdrawn—so Xiang Nan's expression hardened. He flicked a scalpel at the pond. The blade hit the water; bubbles burst to the surface, followed by a cloud of blood. Seconds later a corpse floated up.

"Stay sharp! Intruders from another battlefield may have regained their 'freedom' and slipped into ours," Xiang Nan warned.

Beishi and the other teammate fell silent.

Intruders from another world?

"Why? Why would they attack us?" the teammate asked.

Their mission was to wreck the King of Fighters world and harvest resources; their principal opponents were KOF players. Logically, invaders from different worlds should have no conflict with one another. Fighting at random carried unknown risks and zero benefit. There was no reason.

"There is no 'why' … it's just survival of the fittest," Xiang Nan answered coldly.

[System message: Ding! Attention, player squad. All enemy players eliminated. The designated area has been lifted!]

The notification echoed in Xiang Nan's mind.

"Captain … Captain … I think I just saw her …"

The teammate who had killed the other KOF player typed a line in the channel.

Her?

The only "her" he could mean was the person who had murdered their comrade.

"Run!" Xiang Nan replied.

"I—"

The teammate seemed to want to say more, but after typing a single character he went silent.

Xiang Nan's eyelid twitches. He told Beishi, "Meet up, now!"

If a comrade couldn't answer, either he was already fighting the intruder—or he was dead.

Too fast!

Xiang Nan sprinted toward Beishi's position. Two minutes later they met, both moving toward each other. Beishi looked panic-stricken, eyes wide.

They had called the missing teammate repeatedly; no answer. Most likely he was dead. Killed the instant he saw the assailant?

Their squad was down to two.

"Let's get out of here," Beishi urged. The battlefield lock had been lifted; they had no reason to stay. Anyone who could one-shot a Nen user was not someone they could handle.

"She's not an NPC. She's an intruder from another world," Xiang Nan said, unfazed. He gazed toward a distant high-rise that had been ablaze moments ago; the flames were out now, and a skin of frost coated the ruined façade.

His hunch had been right from the start. The adjacent zone held other invaders—and once they finished their own objectives, they set their sights here. Placement match or not, this was still the Reincarnation Dimension: a gathering of worlds where conflict was inevitable. Its essence was a food chain of the strong preying on the weak. Players represented their home worlds; killing a rival world's player boosted your own world's prestige and weakened the other's strength.

Those selected for placement matches were rising stars of their respective worlds. Their deaths meant their worlds bled future talent. Everyone here was low-level, fresh out of the "rookie phase", yet differences between worlds made their power gaps enormous.

"Come on!" Beishi tugged Xiang Nan's sleeve, anxious.

"You go."

Xiang Nan's eyes stayed on the distant street corner.

"Huh?" Beishi froze.

"The squad cannot be wiped out. Someone has to survive to clear the mission. If something happens to me, go to ground. Even if the army sweeps South Town, keep your head down and you won't be found. After forty-eight hours you'll return safely to the main world."

With that, Xiang Nan started walking.

"Are you crazy? What are you trying to do?!" Beishi shouted. He'd realized the enemy was the intruder from the neighboring battlefield—and a terrifying one at that. The lock was gone; they were free to leave. There was no need to confront such a powerhouse.

"This is a game spanning all dimensions. She knows exactly what she's doing—showing off, declaring herself the sole 'ruler' of this placement match. Sometimes you can't back down, or our Hunter world's name will be trampled. Anyone who spills Hunter blood must pay."

"You're insane," Beishi muttered, teeth clenched. He understood Xiang Nan's point: fighting for the honor of all Hunter players. But they had zero intel on the enemy's strength or numbers. Self-preservation should come first.

"Go."

Xiang Nan's voice was calm. He glanced back. "A Hunter's blood … is never shed in vain."

Beishi stood rooted to the spot.

Under the night sky, the man lit a cigarette, cold eyes steady as he stepped into the darkness.

Running away had never been the answer.

Facing the threat head-on—that was.

~~~

Patreon(.)com/Bleam

— Currently You can Read 120 Chapters Ahead of Others!