Under the moonlit sky, a bat-like figure trailed behind Ronin's group.
The pursuer made no effort to hide.
As if he was certain he could take them.
And when their car passed through an intersection, a figure suddenly dropped from above and tossed down a massive cloth bundle right over the car's position.
A young man wearing round sunglasses, dressed in beach-vacation clothes and flip-flops, landed in front of the vehicle.
The car that should've been driving normally had vanished from its original spot, leaving behind only a "candy" on the street—twisted into the shape of a liquor-filled chocolate.
The newcomer was Owl.
One of the Shadow Beasts, whose ability was "Incredible Convenient Large Bundle Cloth."
Its effect: conjure a huge wrapping cloth; anything covered by it—no matter how large—could be instantly shrunk and packed!
Most importantly, it could even pack up living beings.
Owl turned and walked toward the bundled cloth—but before he could reach it, a chain shot out from the shadows straight at him.
At that moment, a white-haired, dark-skinned young man suddenly appeared at Owl's side and slammed a heavy foot down onto the chain.
He was also a Shadow Beast member.
As his foot pressed the chain, slime seeped out over his body. The slime spread onto the chain, clearly intending to crawl along it toward the owner.
But in the next instant, the chain vanished.
At the corner of the street, Kurapika's chain reappeared in his hand, and his gaze toward the man turned hostile.
At the same time, a slender figure appeared behind Owl.
From beneath a short skirt, a long straight leg whipped through the air with a sharp whoosh, sweeping toward Owl's head.
It was Neon—who also hadn't been swallowed together with the car by the cloth.
Thud!
This time Owl reacted. He raised an arm and blocked Neon's whip kick.
But the force still drove him stumbling backward, and as he retreated, Owl caught sight of the third person—Ronin—standing not far behind him.
In other words, Owl's sudden attack hadn't threatened the three at all.
Had they already realized the bat was bait—and Owl was the real main strike?
As that thought formed, Owl conjured another enormous wrapping cloth while retreating, ready to throw it down the moment Ronin moved.
But Ronin didn't even look at him.
Ronin's eyes were locked on the ground.
In the next second, Ronin lifted his fist. The Big Bang Impact-style output flared from his hand—a pure Enhancer's brutal punch.
Ronin's figure briefly vanished from Owl's sight, and when it appeared again, the fist crashed down hard into the street.
The solid asphalt caved in, forming a deep crater.
But the person Ronin was trying to catch wasn't in the crater.
Instead, sound waves swept down from the sky.
It was the Shadow Beast member with bat wings—Bat—still circling overhead.
Glass along the street shattered under the piercing sonic wave.
But Ronin—taking the brunt—had Nen gathered in his throat as well. He released a roar, producing a shockwave that blasted back upward.
Four.
Through the Sharingan's vision, Ronin clearly identified that four Shadow Beast members were chasing them.
Which meant at most six Shadow Beasts had gone to intercept the Troupe.
What kind of allocation was that?
Did they think the Troupe were easy to bully? Or did they believe Ronin's group were soft targets they could catch, while the Troupe were hard targets they couldn't?
Two completely opposite attitudes—impossible to read.
And judging from the situation, Ronin didn't think he'd even offended the Shadow Beasts enough to justify sending four people after him.
But since they dared come…
Then none of them would leave.
Ronin's eyes swept from the flyer overhead to the one lurking underground. As for Owl and the white-haired dark-skinned guy—he left those to Kurapika and Neon.
It was time to test their training.
"Keep the guy with the cloth alive. Kill the ugly one," Ronin shouted.
Bat had already descended closer.
And a red-skinned monster had climbed out of the ground nearby—another Shadow Beast member: Worm.
Now it seemed the only one whose "animal" identity was unclear was the white-haired, dark-skinned guy—but Ronin had already seen his slime.
Likely a Transmuter.
The question was what that slime actually did.
Kurapika was careful—once the slime touched the chain, he immediately dismissed the conjured chain.
A smart defensive move.
After all, Kurapika could always conjure a new chain at any time.
Owl pushed up his sunglasses. His arm was slightly numb—the whip-kick girl's strength had exceeded his expectations.
He hadn't expected that a girl who looked so soft and delicate would be an Enhancer.
"Leech, want to switch?" Owl asked the white-haired dark-skinned man.
"OK!"
Leech's slime began to drip as he turned to size up Neon.
But his movement made Neon feel sick.
She really didn't want to face a gross slime guy, but Ronin's instruction—to capture the cloth guy—was something Kurapika was better suited for.
So fine. Slime guy it is.
With that thought, Neon reached into her pocket and produced a pen in her left hand.
She stared hard at her opponent—but the look in her eyes wasn't like she was looking at a living person.
It was like she was scanning him for which parts might be worth collecting.
Unfortunately, the answer was: none.
At least, his appearance didn't spark any desire to collect. Maybe he was "beautiful on the inside"?
Cars had piled up at the intersection, and the people inside were trembling as they watched the standoff outside.
Only when a heavy truck horn blared did the frozen confrontation "unpause" and both sides move again.
Ronin stomped the ground hard, spraying gravel. He grabbed a stone, coated it with Nen, and whipped it upward at the bat in the sky.
Worm, meanwhile, dove back underground.
But his target wasn't Ronin—who could punch asphalt into a crater.
His target was Kurapika.
An Enhancer monster was too dangerous up close—but a Conjurer?
There was no way he could escape being dragged underground and shredded.
~~~
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