Chapter 219: The Face of Truth
Ronin did not enter the vault first. He stepped aside, clearing the path for the boy behind him.
Through the memories he had ripped from the Fourth Prince's mind, Ronin had already seen the centerpiece of the collection: Pairo's head.
Ronin had no personal connection to Pairo; his predecessor had known the boy, but it was a distant acquaintance at best.
But for Kurapika, it was everything.
Pairo had been his closest friend, the boy who had sacrificed his own eyesight to save Kurapika's life. It was because of that debt that Kurapika had fought so hard to leave the village—to find a cure for his friend's eyes.
Neither of them could have known that their parting would be the last time they spoke in the world of the living.
Kurapika looked at Ronin's solemn expression and realized what was waiting inside.
During his years of hunting, he had heard rumors of the "severed head" containing the most beautiful Scarlet Eyes in existence. He had always known, deep in his gut, whose face those eyes belonged to.
Without a word, Kurapika gave Ronin a final nod and walked into the vault.
Ronin exhaled a long, heavy breath. He signaled to Shizuku and the others to hold the perimeter outside the heavy steel doors.
Time slowed to a crawl. Suddenly, the silence of the mountain was broken by the distant, wailing cry of police sirens. The Royal Army was closing in.
Shizuku, Neon, and Abaki exchanged a look. They chose to move toward the villa's courtyard to handle the arriving security, leaving the vault area to Ronin and Kurapika.
As they moved to intercept the sirens, they failed to notice that several gazes were already fixed on them from the dark forest surrounding the estate.
"Leave the girls to me," Pakunoda said, her voice steady and resolute.
The remaining seven members of the Phantom Troupe had arrived.
After successfully subduing Saiyu, the Spider had received a high-level data dump regarding the raid on the Fourth Prince's villa.
Chrollo Lucilfer was intensely curious about their benefactor. Pakunoda had already extracted the name from Saiyu's shattered mind: Beyond Netero.
Beyond had been orchestrating Kakin's moves for a decade, obsessed with the Dark Continent.
Chrollo realized that Beyond was playing a multi-dimensional game. He was testing the Troupe, Ronin's team, and the Zodiacs against one another, acting as the ultimate curator of strength. Whoever survived this three-way slaughter would likely be the "tools" Beyond chose for his voyage.
"Are you sure you can handle them alone?" Chrollo asked, looking at Pakunoda.
She wasn't a combat specialist. While the girls in Ronin's team didn't look like powerhouses, Chrollo knew appearances were a lie in this world.
"I just need to keep them occupied," Pakunoda said, a look of grim finality in her eyes. "The real battle is with Ronin. If you can end him, the rest of them won't matter."
"My ability is useless in a brawl with a monster like that. Let me do the job I'm built for."
She moved into the shadows, prepared to die if it meant buying her brothers enough time to cut the head off the Kurta serpent.
In the courtyard, gunfire erupted.
Shizuku used Blinky as a shield, the heavy machine tooting as it deflected bullets.
Abaki's eyes darted around, pinpointing the sniper's trajectory. Neon lunged forward, her fountain pen ready to ink a fresh curse.
Wait, Abaki thought, pausing mid-stride. This feels like a pull-away.
She sensed that the gunfire was a lure, designed to draw them away from the vault entrance.
But seeing Shizuku and Neon already charging into the treeline, she had no choice but to follow. She pulled out her phone and sent a rapid-fire text to Ronin.
Focus on your end. We've got this.
She gripped her rod. Ronin was the one person she didn't worry about. If someone was coming for him, they were the ones in danger.
Inside the villa, Ronin felt his phone vibrate.
He checked the screen: a warning from Abaki.
He didn't hesitate. He pulled a scroll from his back and unfurled it. With a surge of Chakra, he released a pre-stored Shadow Clone.
The clone materialized and headed toward the basement stairs to reinforce the vault entrance. He expanded his En, his aura washing over the corridors.
But a second later, the clone began to shake.
Ronin felt the feedback of a systemic instability. Before the clone could take another step, it disintegrated into white smoke right there on the stairs.
Ronin's main body tensed. What the hell?
Standing at the top of the stairwell was a man in a long black coat. He held a leather-bound book in one hand and a smartphone in the other, the camera lens pointed directly at the stairs.
Chrollo Lucilfer.
The Spider's Head looked down, his expression calm and analytical.
"So, that's the trick," Chrollo murmured.
If there was one ability the Troupe feared, it was Ronin's clones. They were perfect duplicates—untrackable, durable, and lethal. They turned every fight into a numbers game Ronin always won.
To beat Ronin, Chrollo knew he had to solve the "Clone Problem."
The page currently open in Skill Hunter contained a highly specialized utility Hatsu: [The Face of Truth].
The ability was originally developed by an otaku Nen user who was tired of being deceived by cosmetic surgery and digital filters. It was a joke ability—until Chrollo stole it.
Under the lens of the "Truth" camera, any construct made of aura that mimicked a human form would be forcibly reverted to its base state.
For a Nen construct, that meant turning back into raw aura.
For Ronin's Shadow Clone—a biological construct made of Chakra—it meant total molecular destabilization.
Ronin watched his clone vanish, realizing that the game had changed. Chrollo had found the "Delete" button for his most versatile Jutsu.
"Show yourself, Ronin," Chrollo said, his voice echoing through the basement. "Let's see if your real body can survive the light."
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