Enced by the pliment, the hip-hop guy lit up and started talking non-stop. He went on about his training, his teiques, and how his fists were “as tough as steel.” Larry responded with a few polite nods and the occasional “uh-huh,” but his attention was more focused on their surroundings. Uhe dim glow of the cave, Larry soon noticed murals c the right-hand wall. Uhe decorative reliefs outside the ruins, these paintings were filled with eerie, uling imagery. ‘Could these murals hold the answers archaeologists have been searg for?’

  Meanwhile, the rest of the group was more ied in sging the occasional tris and relics scattered along the path. Only the man with gsses seemed to notice Larry’s focused gaze. He g the murals briefly but quickly lost i, more ed with the potential value of the artifacts around him. Larry’s fasation with the murals didn’t go unnoticed by the leather-an. With an exasperated sigh, she grabbed the hip-hop guy by the colr and pulled him away. “Quit bugging Mr. Larry already!” she scolded, throwing Larry an apologetice.

  The hip-hop guy just ughed, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. “Got it, sis.” With the distra gone, Larry returned his attention to the murals. As they pressed forward, the story depicted on the walls gradually unfolded before him, painting a far darker picture than anything found ier ruins.

  The murals depicted a time long ago when a group of explorers stumbled upon a mysterious circur altar deep within the nd. By sheer act, they discovered that sacrifig living creatures to the altar grahem immense power. This newfound power allowed them to manipute emotions, materializing them into monstrous forms made of pure Nen energy. The creatures carved into the stone were identical to the ones on the door they had entered earlier.

  As time passed, these people began hunting more and more living beings, drawing humans to the altar and expanding their influence, eventually f a kingdom. The first royal family was born from these individuals, wielding terrifying abilities to trol emotions. But as their prew, so did their greed. The nearby wildlife dwindled, f the royals to turn their gaze toward their own people.

  To their horror—and delight—they discovered that human sacrifices yielded eveer power than animals, as humaions were far richer and more plex. Thus, it became a grim tradition for each member of the royal family to perform at least one human sacrifient their rule.

  Larry’s eyes darkened as he absorbed the chilling tale. ‘In this world, hope and disaster often go hand in hand... The w of equivalent exge applies to everything,’ he thought grimly. As he studied the murals further, a disturbing pattern emerged. Every time the murals depicted a sacrifice, the altar was represented by a void—an area pletely bcked out, as if deliberately erased or damaged."Why would they remove the altar from the story?"

  The tale tinued, ig how one particur king, ed by his insatiable hunger for power, began rge-scale human sacrifices. However, his greed ultimately led to his downfall. The colossal ive energy created by his as ed him, birthing monstrous entities that ran rampant across the kingdom. The mural’s story ended abruptly here. The st se appeared hastily drawn, as if the artists were in a rush or interrupted before they could finish.

  Even without a clear ending, Larry could easily piece together what happened . The ne likely ravaged the entire kingdom, leaving nothing but devastation in their wake. Once all life was extinguished, the monsters, uo sustain themselves, eventually dissipated. With no living creatures left to feed on, the Karym Ruins—once a grand pace—became a cursed wastend, pgued by the remnants of tless souls, giving birth to the death aura that hau to this day.

  Larry stood there for a moment, deep in thought. ‘If my guess is correct, this altar might have es to the Dark ti... It reeks of something far more sihan just a relic of the past.’ A chilling realization crossed his mind. ‘What if the kingdom's obsession with art aions wasn’t just a cultural trait, but something engineered by the royal family? Did they deliberately cultivate emotional expression to increase the power they could harvest?’

  Frowning, Larry tinued examining the wall, his unease growing. Though the murals provided many answers, they left just as many questions. He turo Gardevoir, who had been silently beside him. "What do you think?" he whispered.

  Gardevoir’s serene gaze lingered on the murals before it gave a soft, knowing nod, as if sensing the remnants of deep sorrow etched within the walls. As Larry and the group passed the final mural, the narrow passage they had been following finally opened up into a vast chamber.

  Stepping through the narrow entraheir eyes wide the sight before them—an enormous cavern filled with piles of gold and silver treasures, shimmering uhe dim light. To the others, it looked like a well-earned reward after their arduous journey. But to Larry, it felt more like a carefully id trap, set by an unseeor.

  In the far er of the treasure-den room, his gaze locked onto something far more ominous—an altar, ft and smooth, covered in intricate bck patterns. It was unmistakably the same altar depicted in the murals. ‘After all these years, does it still possess the same sinister power? ‘Larry pondered, rubbing his thoughtfully. Before he could pte further, movement in his peripheral vision caught his attention.

  A swirling dark green gust, entwined with fiery red fmes, shot across the cavern—one from the left, the other from the right—both verging toward a siarget: the hip-hop guy, who had just been admiring the treasures. The sudden attack took everyone by surprise, except for Larry, who had been keeping a close wat their surroundings.

  The bination of wind and fire intensified into a devastating force, the howling wind feeding the fmes, sending them r forward with blistering speed. ‘The attackers?’ Neguro’s two bodyguards.***oo zy to think so let’s call him extra no 1.Strength: Ability: Son of the Wind – A Transformation-type ability that allows him to vert his aura into wind-based attacks. When bined with Extra no. 2, the power scales expoially.Name: Extra No. 2Strength: Ability: Son of Fire – A Transformation-type ability that allows him to vert his aura into fire-based attacks. Like No. 1, his power increases drastically when they work together.***

  Larry recalled how Transformation-type Nen users, like Killua, developed their abilities to mimiatural forces. Killua, for instance, had shaped his aura iricity, enhang his speed and using yo-yos as ons to el his attacks. Unlike Killua’s mastery execution, Neguro’s bodyguards simply exhaled their attacks directly from their mouths, remi of teiques from Naruto, blending the elements like Fire Style and Wind Style jutsu.