Razor's expression was extremely serious.
Even though he had already rated Ronin highly, he still hadn't expected the ball Ronin threw to erupt with such terrifying power.
Originally, his plan had been to let three Nen beasts move to the outside court, completely surround the field, and then use passes to search for openings and attack.
But Ronin's throw made him feel that the strength of Nen beast number 3 alone would not be enough to fully defend against it.
In that case, he only had two choices.
One was to step in and take the throw himself, turning defense into offense.
The other was to fuse his players together to form a stronger force and block the ball.
The latter would reduce his side's numbers again, which would clearly be unfavorable for the rest of the match. So Razor chose to take action himself.
Ronin was a formidable opponent.
That was Razor's evaluation of him, even though he had only caught three of Ronin's throws.
"My turn."
Razor's aura erupted completely at that moment. The dodgeball was quickly wrapped in Nen, forming a thick layer around it.
Then Razor set his stance. The instant he stepped forward, his waist twisted, driving his arm as he hurled the ball straight out.
At that moment, the dodgeball's speed was similar to the speed of Ronin's shadow clone's earlier throw. In the blink of an eye, it arrived in front of one of the shadow clones.
The Sharingan's perception allowed Ronin to clearly see the entire trajectory of the ball.
But dodging it was impossible, because the ball was simply too fast.
The shadow clone crossed both arms in front of itself, as if trying to imitate Razor and catch the ball.
But the instant the shadow clone came into contact with the dodgeball, it collapsed into a cloud of white smoke and vanished.
The dodgeball continued flying forward, but then a large hand caught it firmly and clenched it in its grip.
It was Ronin's real body.
The power of Razor's throw had already exceeded the limit of what a shadow clone could withstand.
Looks like Razor wanted to give him a warning shot too.
Ronin instantly made that judgment.
He lightly tossed the ball up in his hand, and in that brief opening, his hands completed a series of seals.
When the ball fell back into Ronin's hand, his chakra had already been injected into it. But the ball did not burst apart from the chakra. Instead, a sharp shuriken-like shape formed around its outer layer.
It was the Rasengan.
Or rather, a slightly modified Rasengan.
The dodgeball, infused with the Rasengan, was not forced to rupture. Instead, it was stabilized in the form of a dodgeball by a reinforcing force.
The moment the Rasenshuriken formed, Ronin threw the ball.
He wanted to see what choice Razor would make.
Would his real body take it head-on?
Or would he send a Nen beast in as cannon fodder?
Ronin knew very well that the instant this throw was caught, the Rasenshuriken would fully erupt.
Even though he had already controlled its power, based on his probing of the strength of Razor's Nen beasts through the previous two throws, he knew that this Rasenshuriken was more than enough to instantly kill one of Razor's Nen beasts.
And most importantly, after this attack, the ball itself would definitely burst.
According to the rules, the throw naturally wouldn't count. In other words, Razor would be able to recreate his Nen beast and continue the match.
But possession would still remain with Ronin.
As long as Ronin continued attacking like this, Razor would either have to personally block the ball, or face being worn down again and again.
But if Razor wanted to regain possession, he had to do more than block the Rasenshuriken.
He also had to keep the ball from bursting under the Rasenshuriken's attack.
Player number 3 was struck directly by the ball and exploded.
At the same time, the ball flew out and shattered in midair.
The referee blew the whistle.
There was no way to determine who had broken the ball, because before the ball made contact with player number 3, there had indeed been no visible damage. It had only broken after both sides touched it.
So the referee could only bring in a new ball and hand it back to Ronin for another serve.
A trace of gravity appeared between Razor's brows. From the condition of player number 3 and the dodgeball, he instantly understood Ronin's plan.
This was an open scheme.
A strategy that forced him to come up with a solution.
Player number 3 reformed and appeared on the court again, but Razor knew that he still wouldn't be able to withstand the next attack and would only shatter again.
However, Razor knew what he had to do.
So when Ronin threw the ball again, player number 3 voluntarily reached out to intercept it.
But the result didn't change at all.
Only this time, Razor's brows relaxed. He did not recreate player number 3 again. Instead, he chose to give up another player.
This time, he stepped forward himself. The instant the ball Ronin threw approached him, he reached out and intercepted it directly.
And Ronin clearly saw what Razor did.
He fired an aura bullet at the exact moment the ball approached, directly enclosing both the ball and the Rasenshuriken inside it.
The Rasenshuriken was instantly smothered.
The moment it was wrapped up, its connection to Ronin was cut off.
Razor immediately switched from defense to offense. Under the burst of his tremendous strength, the ball in his hand shot straight toward Ronin's real body.
But a shadow clone stepped forward and reached out to block the attack.
Bang!
The shadow clone burst apart. The ball was exposed from the aura wrapping around it, then shattered with a soft pop.
The referee blew the whistle again.
This time, possession went to Razor's side.
The spectators off the court could barely keep up. All they saw was both sides' players being consumed at incredible speed.
The flying ball was practically a missile, blasting pits into the court one after another.
When possession returned to Ronin, sweat had gathered faintly on his forehead, and his eyes were full of seriousness.
Razor was even stronger than he had expected.
The Rasenshuriken was already one of the trump cards in his hand, but using it to defeat Razor clearly wasn't realistic.
Razor's remaining players were number 2, number 6, and number 7.
Number 2 was behind Ronin, while number 6 and number 7 were close to each other. Ronin felt that those two could fuse at any moment.
And judging from their stance, they might also be capable of blocking the Rasenshuriken.
As for Ronin, he only had three shadow clones left beside him. But those three probably couldn't block Razor's attacks either, and there was no chance of getting them safely to the outer court.
Looks like he had to unleash a new ability.
Ronin had no intention of using the Mangekyō Sharingan. Instead, he took a deep breath and had a shadow clone come stand in front of him while holding the ball.
Aura gathered around Ronin's fist, then compressed.
This attack was aimed at Razor.
And the ability he used was Jajanken.
Jajanken itself was not some profound ability. Ronin could easily master even Destructive Fist, so completing this kind of charged attack wasn't difficult for him.
However, he didn't have Gon's extraordinary resolve, so if they were using the same amount of aura, the power of his charged punch might not be as strong as Gon's.
But right now, Ronin had far more Nen than Gon.
Naturally, the power of this attack rose by a geometric margin.
At that moment, Razor sensed danger.
"Hey, hey, hey—stop. I surrender." Before Ronin could unleash the attack, Razor called it off with a serious face.
This was only a match. He had no intention of getting himself heavily injured.
And he knew very well that even if he used all his strength to resist this strike, he would definitely be pushed out of bounds.
Most importantly, judging from Ronin's enormous aura reserves, Ronin absolutely did not only have one attack in him.
Ronin was already fully charged and ready to strike. The instant Razor spoke, his fist had already blasted out.
If he stopped at that moment, the one who would suffer would be him.
So, Razor—
sorry.