Anisa watched Conrad for a second longer after the signal to begin was given.
Conrad immediately started moving, stepping back and slightly to the left, keeping his distance.
He circled just enough to avoid being an easy target.
He waited.
Anisa noticed.
A small smirk formed on her face.
"So, you're an observer."
She tilted her head slightly.
"Not a dumb fighter like the others. You have no idea how others are like. It is astonishing to see that those people were able to learn "Nen in the first place."
Conrad did not answer.
He kept moving, eyes fixed on her hands, her shoulders, and her stance.
Conrad made it a habit that when a fight starts, he will try as much as he can to not answer any words of the enemy.
As a self-proclaimed nen sage himself, he knew that there must be a nen user with conditions like
"After a battle starts and I decide on an enemy, I will ask them one or two questions."
"If they answer willingly in one minute, they will be 30% weaker against me from now on."
Or something like that.
Anisa understood that Conrad was not a talker; she let out a cold breath and nodded as she closed her eyes for a half second as she made a forward motion with her hands.
In an instant, something formed in her right hand.
A dagger.
It was short and slim.
At the same time, in her left hand, a black revolver appeared.
It resembled an old-fashioned colt.
Conrad reacted immediately.
"Black Ring—State of Calm."
The familiar sensation spread through him.
He analyzed.
"A dagger. Red in color. Similar to Ben's knife," he thought. "And a black revolver."
"She's a conjurer; she conjured these two weapons. I am not sure if she conjured the bullets with the revolver, but it is logical to expect that each of these two weapons has special effects that can be used..."
He continued moving.
"These two could also be connected. They're not independent abilities. One is likely a condition for the other."
"Or, these two conjured weapons may work together and increase the power of each other, or one of them needs to hit before the other one works.
Before he could go further, Anisa moved.
She stepped forward sharply and then burst into motion, closing the distance in a straight line.
Her dagger flashed as she slashed toward his upper body without hesitation.
She was aiming to kill Conrad, and from her actions and behavior, it was not hard to see that she was a Nen user that had experience killing people.
Conrad leaned back and stepped aside, the blade passing just in front of his chest.
He pivoted and avoided a second slash, then a third.
Her movements were clean, and she was like a danger with that blade.
"I wonder how many hours she put into practice using that dagger."
She wasn't wasting energy.
Conrad saw an opening and countered.
He spun and launched a kick toward her ribs, putting weight behind it but holding back just enough to avoid overcommitting and taking her down.
Conrad already sees that despite being a great fighter and nen user, he is one or two levels above Anisa; if he uses all of his nen abilities and nen application and directly attacks, he could take her out without much of a problem.
Of course, that was high thought, and most fighters with some talent thought the same.
The kick of Conrad was not strong.
So, Anisa blocked it.
She raised her forearm and absorbed the impact, sliding two steps back but staying balanced.
Conrad landed lightly and moved away again.
Anisa did not chase immediately.
Instead, she adjusted her grip on the revolver.
Conrad's eyes flicked to the gun.
Something was off.
"I don't see bullets," he realized.
The revolver looked real, but it wasn't loaded in a conventional way.
"That means the dagger is the key," he thought. "The gun probably can't function unless certain conditions are met."
Anisa suddenly raised the revolver and pulled the trigger.
Click.
No shot.
Conrad did not relax.
She smiled slightly.
Then she lunged again.
While she lunged, she thought.
"He clearly attacked..."
"Why the bullet is not formed..."
"When I get attacked by an enemy with the intent of harming me greatly, a bullet should be formed..."
"Why..."
Despite the fact that she was thinking all of these things, her face did not show what she was thinking at all.
This time, her movements were faster.
Her dagger aimed low, then high, forcing Conrad to retreat another step.
He blocked one slash with his forearm, coating it briefly with aura, and twisted away from the next.
"Something is wrong with her; she is feeling some sort of doubt."
"I am not sure of the reason, but it seems like her ability does not work as intended."
Conrad focused on her aura.
It was stable.
Most of it gathered around the dagger.
The revolver, on the other hand, felt incomplete.
As they separated again, Conrad noticed a faint red shimmer along the edge of her dagger.
It wasn't constant.
"Accumulation," he thought. "Or marking."
He glanced at his own body.
Anisa stopped and pointed the dagger at him.
"You're careful," she said. "That's annoying."
She raised the revolver again, aiming directly at his chest.
"This part comes later," she added calmly.
Conrad narrowed his eyes slightly.
"So the gun is the finisher," he thought. "And the dagger prepares it."
He adjusted his stance, lowering his center of gravity.