The capsule's effect only lasted two hours.
And now, that time had clearly run out.
As Killua, Gon, and Maro breathed, seawater rushed into their noses, sending out streams of bubbles. Yet, their faces showed no signs of pain—only peaceful expressions, completely immersed in their respective hallucinations.
If this continued, it wouldn't be long before they simply drowned—completely unaware, doing nothing to resist.
Cyr was starting to understand how those standing corpses had died.
Most likely, they had encountered a similar situation.
Without hesitation, Cyr shattered every conch shell emitting that eerie, dreamlike melody. Grabbing the three of them, he vanished on the spot.
He surfaced just in time—before they could drown.
"What happened to them?" Sora, waiting above the water, leaned in to check.
"…They drank too much water." Cyr sneered, then punched each of them squarely in the stomach.
"Gwah—!"
Caught completely off guard, the three curled up like shrimp, violently coughing up seawater.
Now out of the depths—combined with the sharp physical pain—their bodies finally jolted awake.
The first thing Killua said upon opening his eyes—
"Oh. You're not dead?"
Cyr, expressionless, smacked him over the head.
"Even if you died, I still wouldn't."
"Ow, ow, ow—!" Killua clutched his head, wincing.
"Why'd you hit me? …Wait, hold on. How did we get back up here?"
He scanned their surroundings in confusion.
The last thing he remembered…
They had been at the bottom of the ocean.
They had run into some massive monster.
And then—some arrogant bastard had gotten his ass handed to him, coughing up blood like he was on the verge of death.
And after that…?
"What happened? How did we even get out?"
"Sir defeated the monster! Then he rescued us!" Maro suddenly declared with absolute conviction.
He knew what had happened.
Killua, Gon, and himself—they had been utterly overpowered. Completely helpless. Just when it seemed like they were about to be torn apart—
The whole time, their leader had been standing off to the side, merely watching.
But when he finally made a move—
It took just one strike to kill the monster.
As expected of him. Absolutely unstoppable!
"I feel like… that's not what happened…" Gon murmured slowly, trying to recall.
"It was all an illusion." Cyr interrupted, his voice calm. "You guys nearly drowned when the effect of the capsule wore off. That's why I pulled you out."
"…We just dragged him down again, huh." Maro lowered his head in guilt.
Killua & Gon: …
They wanted to argue.
But technically, he wasn't wrong.
"Tch. So it was just a damn hallucination." Killua clicked his tongue, clearly unimpressed.
"But, now that I think about it…" Gon frowned, noticing something odd. "It sounds like we all had the same hallucination."
"Yeah. A giant octopus with a bunch of freaky tentacles." Killua added immediately.
"Same here." Maro nodded.
"Me too. Why is that?" Gon rubbed his chin in thought.
"…Because we actually did see it before." Cyr's voice was even.
"There was an octopus lying on the statue earlier. It swam away when it noticed us."
"In the hallucination, it was just magnified and enhanced…" he murmured, thoughtful.
It made sense.
They had encountered that octopus just moments before.
And since they expected there to be some kind of monster in the ruins—
Their hallucinations simply created one that fit their expectations.
"So it was just based on what we had already seen, huh?" Gon nodded in understanding.
"Are we going back down?" Cyr asked offhandedly.
"Of course. We haven't found anything yet." Gon and Killua answered without hesitation.
"Alright, then." Cyr nodded.
At that moment, Killua glanced down—
And saw his own reflection in the water.
His face was unnaturally pale—so much so that it had a faint, sickly grayish tint.
His eyes were dull and lifeless, and his whole demeanor made him look like someone still recovering from a serious illness.
Realizing the state he was in, Killua suddenly felt an overwhelming wave of exhaustion.
And then...
A sharp, searing pain radiated from every part of his skin exposed to sunlight.
"…Something's wrong with me." Killua reached an immediate conclusion.
This was just like—no, exactly like—some kind of strange ability effect…
"Hmm… Probably some kind of aftereffect. Don't worry, it'll wear off in twenty-four hours."
The culprit, Cyr, casually covered his mouth, as if to physically restrain himself from laughing out loud.
He had imposed a restriction on himself—his five drawn tarot cards had to be used all at once for them to take effect. And since each person needed at least two cards, he had given himself three: [Upright Moon], [Upright High Priestess], and [Reversed Ace of Cups].
As for Killua?
Cyr had so graciously bestowed upon him [Reversed Sun] and [Reversed Ace of Wands].
Otherwise, the Moon and High Priestess cards wouldn't have activated properly.
Killua should at least be grateful that Cyr's Schrödinger's conscience had prevented him from using three reversed cards on him.
If he had…
Then Killua would have suffered the effects of a 175% power boost across all three cards—way worse than this.
But since only two cards were applied, there was no stacking effect—just the normal effects of each.
And why had he chosen Killua?
…Because destiny.
They were brothers in arms. If Cyr was suffering, of course, he had to drag his good buddy down with him.
And if Killua was the one suffering?
…Then their brotherhood could be temporarily revoked.
——
Killua stared at the white-haired boy standing in front of him.
There were so many things he wanted to say.
For example—
Who wouldn't immediately know that this is your fault?
You even know the exact duration of the effect.
And you're literally about to laugh!
You think just covering your mouth is enough to hide it?!
You're completely exposed!
——
"So, how do you feel?" Cyr asked, far too curious.
He was genuinely interested in hearing firsthand what it felt like to be hit with Reversed Sun and Reversed Ace of Wands.
"…Tired. And being in sunlight hurts." Killua muttered, raising an arm.
Pale. Completely unblemished.
But beneath the surface, it felt like his skin was burning under the sun's rays.
Luckily, thanks to his intense pain tolerance training since childhood, it was still manageable. Nothing he couldn't handle.
"Hmm… Fear of sunlight. Energy drain." Cyr nodded thoughtfully.
Fear of sunlight was obviously from Reversed Sun.
The exhaustion? That was from Reversed Ace of Wands, which made people sluggish.
He had already expected this outcome—
But there was just something so satisfying about hearing an unlucky victim describe their own misfortune.
The card effects were written down, sure—
But nothing beat a firsthand testimony from the sufferer himself.
And as for Cyr's own Reversed Ace of Cups?
That one stripped away all emotion.
For the next twenty-four hours, he would be incapable of feeling anything.
…Though, honestly, before and after the effect, he didn't really feel much of a difference.
——
"So, are you still going?" Cyr asked, openly grinning now.
That expression—so smug, so entertained—completely clashed with the [emotionless] debuff that was supposedly active on him.
Killua was silent for a moment.
On one hand—his body felt unbearably heavy.
His mind was wrapped in a haze of exhaustion, whispering at him to just lie down and stop moving.
Logic and emotions were completely at odds—pulling him in opposite directions.
But then—
"I'm going."
Killua's glare was murderous—as if he wanted to devour Cyr whole.
"Alright then. Let's go." Cyr signaled for Maro to activate the equipment.
The group activated their tools—
And once again, they plunged beneath the waves.
°°°
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