Hunter x Hunter: War of the Anime Worlds

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A snow-white-haired woman with an impassive face strolled along a silent street.

A murderous chill radiated from her, freezing every car and stretch of pavement she passed.

In the oppressive, ruined district her presence became a striking sight—like a stroke of pure white brushed onto a pitch-black ink painting, a jarring but beautiful contrast.

Suddenly she halted and looked down the road.

In the dim light a tiny red glow appeared—the burning tip of a cigarette held between someone's lips.

A man in a black trench coat stepped out of the gloom and walked toward her.

Both instantly registered each other's presence.

"Woman … where are you headed?"

He stopped twenty meters away, staring at her coldly.

The white-haired woman swung an arm; a bitter wind erupted, sweeping ice crystals and snow across the street and sending the temperature plummeting.

"You seem different. You're a captain from the Hunter × Hunter world, aren't you?" she said, voice flat, expression unruffled.

"Something like that," Xiang Nan replied, dragging on his cigarette.

"You've saved me the trouble of hunting you down. Not running—very brave, but very stupid."

"You look capable, and far too sure of yourself," the woman went on. "Not like those two little humans just now—so weak it was nauseating."

Xiang Nan narrowed his eyes and flicked the cigarette butt away.

"Thanks for the compliment. But this is my first run in the Reincarnation Dimension. Even if it's only a placement match, my teammates were killed—I can't pretend nothing happened. Otherwise Hunter players wouldn't have any credibility, would they?"

"Hunter? …Keep dreaming, rookie. Your era is over."

"I don't think so."

"Heh."

She wiped the corner of her mouth and sneered. "You think you can stop me?"

Pop!—Xiang Nan vanished before the cigarette butt hit the ground.

Unfazed, the woman saw a scalpel flash half a meter from her forehead—frozen in mid-air by the cold swirling around her.

Crack-crack-crack!

A hail of scalpels came from every angle, yet each froze and dropped before reaching her.

She still didn't bother to lift a finger. Even Xiang Nan—blurring round her at impossible speed—was ignored.

"Useless. We may both be in a placement match, but you and I don't start on the same tier at all … you're nothing but a weak human."

"And weakness," she added, "is original sin."

She raised one finger; scores of needle-sharp icicles formed overhead and shot out like arrows, while her freezing aura spread and claimed the entire street.

Dashing between the bullet-swift icicles, Xiang Nan studied her.

She spoke of "humans" with disdain, and her eyes were a pure, unsettling yellow.

Some other species? he wondered.

Her ice ability was vicious—the frost now blanketed nearly a hundred meters, the cold gnawing into bone. Even Nen's defenses helped only a little; his limbs had begun to stiffen, and his black coat was furred with white crystals, slowing him.

"You talk big," she said, an arrogant smile widening, "but you're nothing special."

Four icicles hovered over his head, then with no visible cue fused with the swirling chill and became a small-mountain-sized block of ice that buried the spot where he'd stood. Yet no body lay inside.

Thud-thud-thud. Scalpels still flew, freezing and falling uselessly. The harassment annoyed her.

With Zetsu Xiang Nan had erased his presence; she couldn't pin him down. As he weighed the fight he confirmed:

1. She had no teammates nearby—only her mattered.

2. She knew little about Nen combat.

3. Her ice, though fierce, had flaws: the ice itself was brittle; the real danger was the elemental chill, which drained Nen quickly if you tried to block it head-on.

"And the most fatal point …"

He had no scalpels left.

Whoosh! A pebble shot from his fingers. It froze and dropped at her feet. In that instant Xiang Nan—white with frost—materialized at her flank and struck with a knife-hand blow.

Time seemed to crawl. Satisfaction lit her face—Finally he has to come in close; only close-quarters can hurt me.

"Die!"

As his arm entered her freezing aura half of it turned to ice—yet it never stopped. A massive ice shield burst from her body, but his strike speared through it and smashed into her.

"Ah!"

A shrill scream split the night, blood spraying as Xiang Nan smiled.

She was wounded.

A sudden blizzard whited-out the street; when the snow cleared only a bright pool of blood remained—she'd fled.

Xiang Nan licked the blood from his gloved hand. "Diagnosis complete. Cause of death … acute myocardial infarction."

With those words the chill blanketing the street collapsed.

The woman, who had staggered only a short way, toppled, eyes bulging, veins standing out, wracked by pain.

"You seem to know something about Hunters," he murmured, "but not enough. Those two players you killed—my teammates—were weak. That gave you the illusion Hunters aren't dangerous."

"A Hunter hunts: identify the prey, study it, then—one perfect kill. Your notion of battle is far too shallow."

"Even a heart attack won't knock you out … definitely not a normal human."

She still clung to consciousness, hearing his slow footsteps and devil-soft whispers.

Xiang Nan had probed with Zetsu, En, Ten, and Gyo—things those dead players could never manage. Energy is energy; under rules it can cancel other energy. Ice is a natural element; Nen is life energy: pour out enough Nen and you counter it.

She looked terrifying, but he'd noted each time a scalpel froze it was a little closer—proof her range was contracting. She never attacked first; she relied on her ability, not skill.

The pebble drew off her focus; he struck while her chill invaded his body, cranking Emission to max to dull the harm. Even weakened by Nen dispersion, raw physical strength—cultivated in the Hunter world—could hit with several tons of force. Her ice never reached absurd extremes like freezing air itself, so her defenses shattered.

"Conclusion: in your world ordinary fighters are nowhere near Hunter level—you suffered an information gap."

He bent, seized her white hair, and yanked her up. Her eyes rolled, drool dripped, pain twisted her face.

His blood-soaked glove plunged into her chest.

"I didn't come to your battlefield to hunt you—you came to mine and killed my people."

"Heh … Don't be afraid. I won't let you die too quickly. We still have time. Let's savor it."

With that sinister smile he cradled her limp, bleeding body, crimson soaking the silent street.

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