Even though Hisoka's name didn't appear opposite Ronin's on that huge poster until October 1, the matchup between the "Fire God" and the "Magician" still set all of Heavens Arena buzzing.
The massive arena on the 223rd floor was already completely full half an hour before the match even began.
The giant screen hanging above the ring also displayed the live betting odds.
This time, the announcer didn't favor either side. He worked the crowd seriously and energetically, introducing both Ronin's and Hisoka's backgrounds to everyone watching.
Even though this was Hisoka's first fight above the 200th floor, he had already made a huge impression in his earlier match against Kastro.
His strength, his striking personality, and all of those traits had already helped him build a decent fanbase under Milia's promotional push.
The hype around this match had already reached the level of a Floor Master challenge.
When the referee announced the fighters' entrance, the crowd completely erupted.
Ronin loved this kind of deafening applause, this feeling of being the center of everyone's attention.
If he hadn't cared about applause and admiration, then before transmigrating, he never would have streamed, made videos, or gone to conventions in cosplay.
In a way, transmigration had helped him fulfill a dream.
A dream of becoming a superstar.
Sure, it wasn't exactly the kind of star he had imagined. He was now a fighting star, not an entertainment star, but a star was still a star—and one with an enormous audience.
Hisoka, on the other hand, had no feelings about the stage itself.
His full attention was fixed on Ronin.
Ronin's abilities were strange and unpredictable, and his growth was visible to the naked eye. Even just from looking at him now, Hisoka could tell Ronin was stronger than the last time they met in Semetari.
And that very strength made every cell in Hisoka's body tremble with excitement.
"Want to make this a death match?" Hisoka wanted Ronin to bring out everything he had.
Not like last time, when Ronin held back and fought him almost entirely through close-range combat.
"Forget it. I'm not especially interested in killing you," Ronin said, refusing.
He was telling the truth.
Hisoka was definitely a freak, but he also had a strange kind of charm. Ronin didn't feel like the two of them had reached the point of being life-and-death enemies.
Still, that answer sounded a little harsh to Hisoka's ears.
It almost made it sound like Ronin could kill him whenever he wanted.
Strong, confident, mature. What a perfect fruit.
Hisoka licked his lips.
He didn't keep pressing the death-match issue. Once the fight really started, then life and death would depend on fate anyway. If either of them managed to survive all the way to the ten-point TKO rule, then that would just mean they were lucky.
Seeing that neither fighter had further objections, the referee immediately declared the match officially underway.
The moment the whistle blew, Ronin instantly leapt backward to widen the gap between himself and Hisoka, while his hands formed seals in front of him.
Fire Style: Great Fire Annihilation!
In an instant, a sea of flames exploded from Ronin's mouth and swept toward Hisoka.
The crowd behind Hisoka started to panic, because before the flames even reached them, the heat had already slammed into their faces.
But then the arena floor behind Hisoka was suddenly ripped upward and hurled straight into the fire, charging toward Ronin.
Clearly, Hisoka had done his homework. He was a little surprised that Ronin opened with the same lethal move that had nearly destroyed Uvogin, but he still dealt with it with practiced ease.
The flames shattered the slabs in an instant, but more and more stone plates were torn up as Hisoka shot his Nen into the ground and yanked them over.
At that moment, Hisoka looked more like Spider-Man than anything else.
Bungee Gum was like spider silk in his hands. Some of the stone slabs were dragged in to block the flames, while others were sent flying upright toward Ronin.
For a moment, fire and stone existed side by side across the ring.
But hidden within that chaos, one figure cut straight through the flames and appeared behind Hisoka.
It was Ronin, already in Lightning Release Chakra Mode.
Four-Finger Nukite drove straight toward Hisoka's abdomen.
But then Hisoka's raised leg struck Ronin's elbow at a speed that completely exceeded Ronin's expectations, knocking the Four-Finger Nukite off course.
Ronin's attack stabbed into empty air.
And the two of them passed by each other in the exchange, opening up Ronin's side.
A playing card shot from Hisoka's hand and struck Ronin in the waist.
But in the next second, the "Ronin" who got hit burst into a cloud of white smoke and disappeared.
Hisoka's heart skipped.
A ball of water immediately dropped over his head.
At the same time, another Ronin appeared exactly where the Lightning Chakra Mode shadow clone had dispersed. The moment the clone popped, he had already arrived.
His eyes locked onto Hisoka's, while his hands formed Water Style: Water Prison Jutsu.
It was the technique Ronin had wanted to try ever since his encounter with Illumi.
And as for how he got here so fast, there was already a kunai wrapped in a talisman inscribed with "Ninja Love Sword" sitting where the shadow clone had burst apart.
That was a Flying Thunder God marker.
Hisoka's eyes met those strange three-tomoe Sharingan eyes.
And that simple eye contact was enough to make everything around him change.
He was no longer standing in the ring, but in a bizarre, unfamiliar space.
Massive iron spikes plunged through his limbs, and intense pain burst from all four of them.
But Hisoka didn't even frown.
Because he knew something was wrong.
He had clearly seen Ronin try to trap him in some strange water technique, so there was no way giant spikes were suddenly piercing his body.
That meant everything he was experiencing now was an illusion.
Even if that pain felt exactly like real metal skewering his flesh, it still wasn't real.
But by the time Hisoka broke free from Demonic Illusion: Shackling Stakes, he found that he had already been trapped inside the Water Prison.
Those eyes are bad news.
Hisoka held his breath and struggled, trying to break out from inside the Water Prison, but all he saw outside it was Ronin stabilizing the prison with one hand while reaching toward his waist with the other, pulling out shuriken and tossing them all around the ring.
And every place those shuriken flew toward had strands of Hisoka's Nen attached to it.
Those were all pieces of Bungee Gum he had already planted around the ring before being trapped.
At that moment, with a tiny twitch of Hisoka's fingers inside the prison, the stretched Nen suddenly tightened, yanking attached chunks of stone floor and debris toward the Water Prison at high speed.
But in the next instant, every stretched strand was sliced apart by the shuriken, leaving the launched debris unable to hit the Water Prison with any real precision.
And after struggling for a moment, Hisoka realized that breaking the Water Prison from the inside was almost impossible.
Still, Ronin also noticed that Hisoka showed no sign of panic inside the prison.
Which meant only one thing.
He still had a trump card.