The shadow clone suddenly turned into pure energy and rapidly returned to Ronin's body, making Ronin's eyes narrow.
But he had already guessed that Chrollo's reappearance would definitely come with abilities prepared specifically to counter him.
And the special nature of the shadow clone would naturally be part of Chrollo's calculations.
Judging from what Chrollo had done, the key to dispersing the shadow clone was probably that phone.
At this moment, Chrollo had already aimed the phone at him as well, clearly wanting to test whether he was also a clone.
That move basically exposed the method Chrollo used to detect shadow clones, but the more openly he showed it, the more troublesome Ronin felt the ability was.
It felt as though as long as the phone was pointed at something, Chrollo could immediately tell whether it was a shadow clone—and he also had the ability to directly dispel Ronin's shadow clones.
What surprised Ronin the most was that this method of dispelling his shadow clones didn't seem to consume much of Chrollo's Nen.
However, if Chrollo wanted to keep the phone manifested for a long time, the number of abilities he could use would decrease.
Unless Chrollo had already mastered his bookmark ability, his role in the upcoming battle would basically be that of a "demon-revealing mirror."
After all, no one could be certain whether Ronin would use Shadow Clone Technique again afterward.
Especially now that Chrollo had exposed his ability, Ronin could absolutely use that ability to set a trap.
As those thoughts ran through his mind, his En also detected something abnormal overhead.
Ronin's eyes quickly shifted into the Mangekyō state, and Susanoo instantly emerged around him, reaching up toward the space above his head.
Chrollo used the phone in his hand to capture Susanoo, but it couldn't make Susanoo disappear.
Meanwhile, the enormous hand Susanoo reached upward with collided directly against countless Nen bullets that had shattered through the ceiling and sprayed down from above.
It was Franklin.
And the Troupe's plan against Ronin was more or less the same as the one they had used against Saiyu before.
The difference was that Ronin had one thing that made him even harder to deal with than Saiyu: the Susanoo that formed outside his body and protected him within it.
Chrollo and the others had already discovered that during the Yorknew attack last time.
So when the Nen bullets failed to stop Susanoo's arm, Franklin had already leapt backward, dodging Susanoo's attack.
But as Franklin evaded, a large number of Nen threads wrapped around Susanoo's arm.
It was Machi.
The arm Susanoo had reached toward Franklin froze in midair, now covered in dense layers of Nen threads.
A closer look revealed that those threads had long since been connected to various points throughout the villa.
Now that the threads had gone taut, if Susanoo wanted to move, it would have to drag the entire villa along with it.
Ronin frowned slightly, because in that instant, he understood what Machi was trying to do.
They wanted to use this restriction to force him to cancel Susanoo.
After all, there was no way they didn't know he could dismiss Susanoo and condense it again at any time.
Yet they had still used this method, which meant their goal was that brief opening created at the instant he dispelled Susanoo.
Ronin's gaze shifted toward Chrollo.
At the same time, he calculated in his mind that Kortopi, Shalnark, Pakunoda, and Nobunaga had not appeared so far.
The message Abaki had sent earlier proved that the Troupe had probably split off some members as bait to lure Abaki and the others away.
So who had drawn them off?
Abaki's text had mentioned gunshots, which meant the most likely candidates were Shalnark and Pakunoda.
After all, as a combatant, Nobunaga would definitely participate in the frontal battlefield, and Kortopi's ability could create an environment suitable for the Troupe's battle plans.
Just by looking at the other ends of the Nen threads Machi had wrapped around Susanoo, Ronin could already see some clues.
He certainly didn't remember seeing this many thick pillars on the first floor when he entered the villa. Those were likely things Kortopi had copied.
Pakunoda's ability only provided significant support when she could touch someone. If she used her gun to attack from a distance, then at least to Ronin, she posed no threat whatsoever.
With the Sharingan's insight, he could easily see the bullets' trajectories and dodge them.
That meant Pakunoda had little value on the frontal battlefield.
But if Pakunoda alone was being used as bait, she probably wouldn't even be able to beat Shizuku.
As for Shalnark—
his ability was probably the real key.
The question was whether he would use it himself, whether Chrollo would use it in his place, or whether he had already handed over his antenna and was waiting to receive the result.
Thinking of that, Ronin instantly understood the Troupe's strategy.
Susanoo was an ability they had already seen.
If they wanted to create a decisive, one-hit effect during the instant Susanoo disappeared, then the best option was to use Shalnark's ability—stabbing an antenna into Ronin during that brief moment.
But among the Troupe members currently present, almost none of their abilities could realistically accomplish that.
That left only one possibility: Chrollo still had some kind of support-type ability that could quickly drive the antenna into Ronin's body.
They were using Machi and Kortopi's abilities together to force him to cancel Susanoo. Then the hidden Nobunaga would burst out and launch a surprise attack at him.
But the true killing blow would come from Chrollo.
Ronin's eyes shifted to Chrollo's hand holding Skill Hunter. It looked like he was ready to turn the page at any moment.
With that, only one question remained.
Where was Nobunaga?
And how would he appear?
After all, Ronin remembered very clearly that Shalnark had two antennas.
A feint turning into the main attack was also a real possibility.
Ronin completed a hand seal in front of his chest, while his left eye moved slightly, silently activating an ability.
And in that very instant, Susanoo's body suddenly vanished.
Machi's Nen threads collapsed and scattered.
Franklin, now standing firm, abruptly tore at his clothes. His upper garment ripped apart, fully exposing his chest.
But at this moment, there was no skin there at all—only a pitch-black opening.
In the next second, something shot out from that opening, flying toward Ronin's position at incredible speed.
Ronin's crimson eyes shifted slightly, and he instantly saw exactly what had launched out of Franklin's chest.
It was Nobunaga.
Nobunaga, gripping the hilt of his long sword, eyes tightly shut, with En spreading from his body in an instant.
Even Ronin had not expected Nobunaga to appear in this way.
But Nobunaga was not the main point.
Ronin's Sharingan moved slightly, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw the page in Chrollo's hand change.
At the same time, the phone still remained in Chrollo's other hand—
but now there was something else there too.
A bookmark.
~~~
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