Black flames of Amaterasu sprang into existence out of nowhere, centered on where Bonolenov stood, and in an instant spread across his body.
At the same time, two spell cards appeared in Ronin's hand one after the other.
One was Castle Gate, used to stop Phinks from activating the spell card in his hand.
The other was Relocate, aimed directly at Bonolenov.
Bonolenov had never expected Ronin to open with Amaterasu.
Even though he had already suffered through one Amaterasu attack before, he still couldn't dodge those black flames that appeared out of thin air in an instant.
The moment the flames touched his conjured armor, Bonolenov felt his heart shudder. That horrifying pain of skin being torn apart seemed burned into his soul itself, making him tremble.
But before he could make any other move, the attack spell card Relocate had already hit him.
Wrapped in both black flames and aura, Bonolenov turned into a beam of light, blasted through the roof of the shop, and vanished at high speed.
Meanwhile, Susanoo had already appeared around Ronin.
Feitan's thin sword stabbed into Susanoo's body, but it couldn't pierce through it, much less threaten Ronin, who was protected inside.
What did make Feitan's heart jolt was the moment Ronin's scarlet eyes swept toward him. A chill ran through him, and his body instinctively retreated at top speed.
But right then, more streaks of light descended outside the shop.
It was the player alliance's extermination squad.
Under the pressure of Susanoo's enormous body, the shop had already been completely crushed apart, but Feitan, who had just withdrawn, suddenly froze in place.
It wasn't because Ronin had used Amenotokotachi.
It was because the moment Feitan met his eyes, the Sharingan's genjutsu had already activated.
And as always, Ronin had gone with his favorite one: Demonic Illusion: Shackling Stakes Technique.
Massive iron stakes appeared out of nowhere and pierced through Feitan's limbs, forcing a hysterical curse out of him.
But it was useless.
Because all of that was fake. The real Feitan hadn't actually been struck yet, so his own ability naturally wouldn't activate.
Susanoo dispersed, and the cry of birds began to gather in Ronin's hand.
But at the exact same moment Susanoo vanished, another figure soundlessly appeared behind him and threw a punch straight at his head.
It was Phinks.
The moment Feitan and Bonolenov moved, he had already realized things were going badly.
But their actions had also cut off his chance to use Leave. He couldn't just let Ronin attack the other two while he escaped alone.
His instincts told him that would have been the correct move.
But he couldn't do it.
So he kept winding up his arm while looking for an opening to strike Ronin.
When the black flames appeared, Phinks immediately widened the distance between himself and Bonolenov. That not only kept him from being touched by Amaterasu, it also brought him a little closer to Ronin.
Then Susanoo appeared, and that put real pressure on him.
Especially after Feitan's full-powered thrust still failed to pierce that bizarre construct's defense. That only made Phinks even more determined to keep winding his arm and increase the power of the punch he was about to throw.
What he hadn't expected was for Feitan to suddenly freeze mid-retreat, and from the look of him, something was clearly wrong.
So Phinks had no choice but to act.
He rushed in at top speed, appearing near Susanoo, and swung his punch, intending to smash both Susanoo and Ronin inside it to pieces.
But just as his fist was about to connect, Susanoo abruptly vanished.
At the same time, Phinks' movement stopped as well, his fist mysteriously frozen in midair.
It was Amenotokotachi.
Ronin, who had already prepared Chidori and was about to strike Feitan's real body, hadn't forgotten about Phinks.
And the easiest way to stop Phinks was naturally to restrict his movement.
That might have been difficult for other people, but for Ronin, who possessed Amenotokotachi, it was absurdly easy.
With just a glance, he sealed the space occupied by Phinks' right fist.
At that moment, all of Phinks' power was concentrated in that right arm. Even without taking the hit, Ronin could feel the hair-raising sense of danger coming off it.
But it didn't matter.
Because that danger rapidly diminished the moment Phinks' arm was sealed in place.
Yet before Ronin could take the chance to attack Phinks, Feitan had already broken free of the genjutsu.
Ronin frowned slightly.
Too fast.
Something felt off, but the Chidori in his hand still shot toward Feitan's chest as he burst forward.
The attack missed.
Feitan's speed was no joke either. The instant he broke free of the illusion, he accelerated into an evasive maneuver.
But the real reason the attack failed was that Phinks had delayed Ronin for just a moment, and Feitan had broken the genjutsu even faster than Ronin had expected.
And when Ronin tried to immediately reverse course and attack again, the players who had arrived later were already pulling spell cards from their binders and firing them off without hesitation.
There were no movement-type cards among them.
Every card they used had only two purposes: restriction and seizure.
Restrict the two Troupe members so they couldn't use spell cards to escape, and strip away the spell cards and designated-slot cards from their binders.
Just as Ronin had expected, the moment he stepped in, blocked the Troupe's attacks, and made the players feel like they weren't in immediate danger, attacking the two Troupe members instantly turned into a feast—a mad scramble to divide up their spoils.
Neither Phinks nor Feitan was paying any attention to their binders.
The sense of restraint on Phinks' arm had already vanished—Ronin had released Amenotokotachi—but after being interrupted like that, all the force he had built up earlier was gone.
Worse, it hadn't been released in a strike. It had just been forcibly bottled up, leaving Phinks with an overwhelming sense of frustration.
Feitan, meanwhile, pulled half his face down into the high collar of his clothes, leaving only his narrowed eyes visible—eyes now filled with killing intent and madness.
Shalnark had once analyzed Ronin's abilities, and based on his guesses, making direct eye contact with Ronin's eyes could lead to something bad happening.
It seemed Shalnark had been right.
Eye contact could drag you into an illusion.
Fortunately, Feitan had been prepared for that, which was why he had been able to break free of the illusion so quickly.
Otherwise…
Looking at the lightning slowly fading from Ronin's hand, Feitan felt a trace of fear for the first time.
But that also meant that from this point on, in the middle of battle, his gaze couldn't rise above Ronin's nose.
Otherwise, even a momentary lapse could get him killed.
It was troublesome, but still manageable.
As for the swarm of locust-like players rushing at them for the cards in their binders, Feitan didn't take them seriously at all.
The only thing he was worried about was Bonolenov.
When that guy had been relocated away, he'd still been covered in black flames.
If they couldn't kill Ronin here, then even if Bonolenov managed to extinguish the fire, there'd be no chance for him to collect another Breath of Archangel, would there?