Although the ambush being detected by Moses was an unexpected development, Saiyu had quickly devised a new plan and put it into action while dodging Moses's attacks and running his mouth.
Not only had Saiyu prepared an offensive strategy for Moses, but he had also readied a defensive measure to withstand Moses's initial assault.
[Nyoi Bo]
The corners of Saiyu's grinning mouth narrowed a little, and a golden staff with two round ends like balls was conjured in his hand.
He possessed two Nen Abilities: one was the three Nen monkeys, and the other was this Nyoi Bo.
The Nyoi Bo's ability was to freely extend, shorten, thicken, or thin itself.
However, Saiyu didn't channel his aura into activating the Nyoi Bo's shape-shifting ability. Instead, he simply held it horizontally to block the trajectory of Moses's black sword.
It wasn't that he didn't want to use Nyoi Bo's ability, but he needed to focus more of his Aura on the three Nen monkeys to ensure the success of his tactical plan.
In the blink of an eye, Moses grasped the entirety of Saiyu's tactical arrangement.
From behind, three monkeys attacked, and from the front, it was obvious that Saiyu just wanted to focus on defense to minimize risk.
When a normal person encounters this situation, they will probably stop attacking and try to find a way to counter the opponent's tactics.
After all, no one knew what abilities the three Nen monkeys possessed, and no Nen User would willingly take on such an unknown risk.
But Moses knew.
Speech, hearing, vision-
It tends to be a functional deprivation of ability, but is not lethal in any sense.
In other words, Moses didn't need to worry about the three Nen monkeys causing him any real harm.
In this case, he had to seize this opportunity to attack.
What if Saiyu was relying on the Nyoi Bo for defense?
The distribution of aura between the three Nen Beasts and the Nyoi Bo meant that Saiyu's offensive and defensive capabilities would be significantly weakened.
Moses's rapid thinking processed all this information in an instant, and he made his decision just as quickly.
This is the essential combat quality for a top-tier Nen User.
Moses didn't flinch at all. He ignored the attacks of the three Nen monkeys behind him. With the black sword in his hand filled with Aura, he slashed forward towards Saiyu.
'Is this guy crazy...'
Seeing Moses's decision, Saiyu's expression shifted.
Under normal circumstances, no Nen User would act so recklessly without first gathering intelligence.
The problem is-
'You're not an Enhancer!'
Saiyu was shaken. But although he was deeply surprised, he could only brace himself with the Nyoi Bo and retreat.
This response can be said to be an unreserved implementation of the intention to block Moses's strike with the lowest risk.
In his view, as long as he could block this one strike...
His three Nen monkeys could deprive Moses of his speech, hearing, and vision in one fell swoop, thus laying the foundation for his victory.
However-
When the black sword came down on the Nyoi Bo, the expected clash didn't happen.
Under Saiyu's astonished gaze, the Nyoi Bo, which was supposed to be his first line of defense, was cleanly severed by the black sword.
Ssssh-
With the Nyoi Bo broken, the black sword cut from top to bottom, slicing through the large 'monkey' kanji symbol on Saiyu's chest.
But just as the pitch-black sharp sword was about to cut through the middle of the 'monkey' kanji symbol, the sword disappeared out of thin air.
Because Moses had activated his Shadow Shift at the precise moment his black sword struck Saiyu, he instantly swapped places with his shadow clone, which was rushing toward the temple at the mountaintop.
The shadow clone that was swapped in didn't possess the ability to materialize the black sword, which is why the sword seemingly vanished into thin air.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
At the same time, the shadow clone that had just been swapped in was attacked by the three Nen monkeys.
However, the shadow clone didn't suffer significant damage from the attacks and remained intact.
This outcome was exactly as Moses had initially predicted...
Although he could rely on the limited information from the original work to understand the basics of Saiyu's Nen Abilities, the original work never depicted Saiyu's combat scenarios in detail. Therefore, Moses could only use this information to delve deeper into Saiyu's Nen Abilities.
He was certain that the three Nen monkeys' abilities were functionally oriented, meaning they likely lacked lethal force.
This was an unavoidable aspect of the Nen System's Vows and Limitations.
Another basis for this deduction was Saiyu's conjured Nyoi Bo.
Precisely because the three functionally oriented Nen monkeys lacked killing power, Saiyu needed the Nyoi Bo to compensate for this weakness.
With this reasoning, even if the shadow clone hadn't been swapped in at the last moment, Moses wouldn't have had much to worry about.
After all, the Nyoi Bo, the only thing that could cause real damage to him, had been used by Saiyu for defense...
This was the fundamental reason Moses dared to take such a risk and push forward.
Moreover, the shadow clone didn't disintegrate from the attacks of the three Nen monkeys, giving Moses the opportunity to return and launch a second wave of attacks.
However, Moses chose not to do so.
This was because the three Nen monkeys activated their abilities upon successfully landing their attacks.
The shadow clone that was hit instantly lost its ability to speak, see, and hear.
What Moses didn't expect was...
This curse-like ability also directly affected him.
Without hesitation, after losing his vision and other senses, Moses controlled the shadow clone to retreat from the encirclement formed by the three Nen monkeys and Saiyu.
However, Saiyu had no intention of pursuing the shadow clone. He glanced down at the torn 'monkey' kanji symbol on his chest and the gruesome sword wound, his brow slowly furrowing.
"What a madman."
Taking a deep breath, Saiyu's eyes turned cold.
"Forget it... He's lost his hearing and vision. The advantage is mine now."
Saiyu's gaze shifted toward the temple at the mountain's peak.
He had a rough understanding of Moses's abilities, and his three Nen monkeys could directly deprive Moses of his senses regardless of whether they were attacking his Nen Clone or the real body.
Strictly speaking, his abilities were a natural counter to Nen Clone Abilities.
This was the foundation of his tactical design. He didn't have to worry at all that Moses would use Nen Clones and exchange places with them to evade attacks.
What he hadn't anticipated was that Moses would make such an uncharacteristic decision without knowing the specifics of the Nen monkeys' abilities.
'If it weren't for that-'
'I wouldn't have taken this slash, and if I hadn't decisively defended and retreated, the consequences would have been unimaginable.'
'But thankfully, the monkeys' abilities had activated. Now, I just needed to wrap things up quickly.'
Saiyu leisurely tended to his wounds, as if victory was already assured.
After all-
He couldn't see the black tendrils spreading from the wound on his chest.