A Wanderer's Lies

"How are you matching me?!" Xavier yelled, his previous rage increasing as additional emotions like shock and desperation started to be mixed in.

"Matching you?" Isaac spoke between the snaps of his tails and the hum of the voids.

"The way I see it, you still haven't moved me from my position. You are not my match."

These words struck Xavier like bricks as he involuntary paused, his face similar to someone who'd just seen a ghost.

'Kitsune's Pall.'

Isaac thought inwardly.

[Kitsune's Pall (Lvl. 1)]

[Requirements: Transmuter]

[Description: This ability allows the user to create three tails from the shadow itself. These tails are highly durable and possess exceptional speed.]

On the surface, Kitsune's Pall was a simple second-grade hatsu. One that truly fit Isaac's 'Loser' persona.

However, that was on the surface.

'Isaac, the sucking assassin, does it again.'

Isaac didn't care about the usual cringe that would swallow him upon saying something like this.

No, instead he was focused on the familiar absorbing feeling travelling through his body, into his tail as if it were one of his limbs.

Only when the feeling was in his tail would he…release it.

-VUAM

-SNAP

Once again, the Thing inside Isaac worked through his limbs, seeking out anything with even a hint of energy or power and swallowing them whole.

Isaac barely had to do anything, simply watching as this unfolded.

Meanwhile…

[Status: Satiated]

The constant churning feeling in his stomach was gone. Not only was he not hungry, he felt like he'd just indulged in a buffet.

Having used his Partial Zombification already and feeling hungrier than ever, this felt satisfying, to say the least.

Meanwhile, Xavier's eyes seemed as though they'd pop out of his skull.

'No…'

Isaac witnessed the bald blind man wave his hand, conjuring the same void, only this time it was a 2D circle rather than a sphere.

A Portal.

Leaping through, Isaac had lost track of the man.

Even focusing for a second and using his Ki, he was unable to locate him.

With the barrage of voids ending, Isaac's tails looked around like hungry snakes, the tips of the tails turning left and right.

"Don't look at me, I don't know where he went."

Isaac blurted out upon seeing one of the tails peer at him.

-VUAM

Isaac wasn't able to see it.

Other than the slight hum that rang out upon the creation of a portal, he was completely clueless about whatever now stood behind him.

Or rather, who stood behind him.

But fortunately…

-SNAP

Isaac turned his head, only to witness Xavier, his arm seemingly coated in the void.

Isaac was able to deduce the bald man was aiming to punch him, but the attack was blocked as he acknowledged his tail wrapped around Xavier's arm.

"It's over."

Isaac mumbled, feeling the wave of Nen being consumed by his tail, being sucked out of Xavier.

Xavier could also feel this as it showed in the dwindling void that was on his arm.

"You were cocky."

A second tail slowly wrapped itself around Xavier as his Aura depleted at an even quicker pace.

"You were weak."

The third wrapped around Xavier's legs as he dropped to one knee due to fatigue.

"And for those reasons, I win."

Isaac stood over Xavier as his void disappeared, peering over the bald man, his usual goofy and mocking smirk gone, replaced with cold eyes and an expression of indifference.

He couldn't help but stare at this sight.

Despite winning, it didn't make him…happy.

He was happy like he was when he beat the Siren in the Dark Continent, or whenever he tricked Monet.

Even when he survived and left Ravenwood.

He was glad.

But not right now. He'd noticed this with Katlynn and the Golden Six too.

He was victorious, but the emotions he felt weren't what one would assume them to be.

No, it was more like…he expected this.

He knew he'd win.

"You think you're better than me?" Xavier mumbled under his breath, seeming as though he had just run a marathon.

"You think you scare me?"

Surprisingly, Xavier grumbled through his teeth as he placed one foot on the ground, slowly rising.

As he did, a limitless darkness slowly manifested from his torso, spreading.

"I am not afraid!"

-VUAM!

The void around his torso exploded as it enveloped his body. From feet to scalp, Xavier was now unrecognisable, a human-shaped void standing before Isaac.

Isaac leapt back, increasing the Nen he put in his abdomen so that the Thing retreated from his tails.

'His emotions are too raw, and it's fueling his Nen.'

Isaac watched the figure from afar, admiring the sight.

To think Nen was capable of something like this.

'I don't know why I'm surprised.'

Isaac smirked once again.

"You know, Xavier, I should be thanking you."

Isaac yelled to the beast but was given no reply.

Instead, the figure raised its head, its arms dangling off his shoulder as Isaac could feel a vacuum pulling in everything around it.

The dust, then the fallen leaves, soon the small bushes and finally, the powerful suction threatened to pull the large trees from their roots.

"Nen Vows are really something, huh? It's the reason you've become so powerful after all."

Isaac snapped his tail around a few trees as his feet left the ground. He watched as everything disappeared upon touching the human void, rejecting the same fate.

"Like all things, I wanted that power. And like all things, I wanted to scam my way there. But I was mistaken."

One of the trees Isaac was holding onto snapped from the stem, shooting toward Xavier and disappearing inside him despite its size.

"You can't scam Nen. Nen came from you. It was you. Scamming it would be like tricking yourself. It's not possible."

'I found this out the hard way. The first time I made a Nen Vow without even knowing it.'

[The Paragon (Lvl. MAX)

Nen Type: Specialisation

Description: This Nen ability can enable the user to use every Nen type with 100% Efficiency.

Cost: Progressive Blindness.]

Isaac was glad upon seeing this. After all, he could simply heal this.

But he quickly found out that wasn't the case.

[Cost: Progressive Blindness.]

[Description: The longer you use this Technique, the more your Scarlet Eyes will wither and soon disappear permanently.]

It knew.

It knew Isaac was immortal and could heal. Or more specifically, Isaac knew.

"It's why, for once, I had to face the problem head-on. No scams. No tricks. No deceit."

As Isaac said this, his free tail began to move. It moved closer and closer to Isaac, soon reaching his face as it wrapped around his head.

"And since I'm not a pussy…"

Isaac yelled. The vacuum had become so loud as crashes and booms could be heard due to the destruction, meaning Isaac had to try his best not to be drowned out.

Not that Xavier was in the right mind to hear him.

Soon, Isaac's head became completely wrapped in his tail.

'A Kitsune.'

***

"A mythological fox known for its cunning and deceitful nature."

Isaac and Merlin sat in their dormitory room as they placed down a book with a fox depicted on it.

"Yes, I'm familiar. I came across it during my research on mythology while searching for more information on this world's Merlin."

Merlin replied as she sat on the desk. However, Merlin paused as she stared for a second.

Isaac, who knew her quite well at this point, could tell she'd just realised something, continuing in an attempt to beat her to the punch.

"My true hatsu. A hidden trick. Not just one trick, either. That's what makes it so great."

Merlin smiled with Isaac as the boy pointed his thumb to himself.

"A trickter hiding his freakish skills with a Pall. That is Kitsune's Pall."

***

[Kitsune's Pall, 1st Tail: The Freak]

[Requirements: Specialisation]

The tail wrapped around Isaac's head suddenly unravelled, revealing a dark mask with even darker mist exuding off it and wrinkles engraved on it.

If the two horns that protruded from both sides of the forehead weren't enough, its wide grin that went from ear to ear, fashioning sharp teeth, was enough to give a demonic nature to it.

Additionally, due to the sun finally setting, one could see the gaps where the eyes were, two bright blood-crimson lights peering from within the darkness as what was once Isaac, now…something else, stood under the moon.

[Description: You will Adapt]

[Guage: 100%]

[Cost: In the event that your Gauge reaches zero, all your Nen shall vanish.]

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Next chapter title: Ego

NNext chapter title: Superiority

NNNext chapter title: Come after me

So...am I forgiven for the atrocity that was yesterday's cliffhanger?

Either way, you have no choice but to gimme your...

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