A massive hole appeared in the ceiling of the second underground level.
Chunks of stone and dust came crashing down, pelting Jobhan below and leaving him covered in gray.
But he no longer had the mind to wipe the dust from his head and face.
He couldn't figure out how this little spider he had always looked down on had managed to escape from the cage he had so carefully prepared.
The boy who fell from the ceiling landed in front of Jobhan, one knee touching the ground to absorb the force of the fall, then bared his teeth at him in a grin.
A vast surge of Nen erupted from his body.
Faced with a situation far beyond what he had imagined, Jobhan was so shocked his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
He let out a low, fearful cry:
"This is impossible… this is impossible! How could my Nen formation fail?!"
Jobhan raised his hand, his fingertip trembling as he pointed at Kisho:
"—How did you get out?!"
Kisho curled his lips into a smile.
Smile though he did, his eyes were filled with killing intent, sharp as frost.
"Why should I tell you how I got out."
Before the words had even finished, his figure vanished from where he stood.
"Die, you scum—!"
"Bang—!"
Jobhan didn't even have time to realize what had happened before his body was sent flying by a single punch from Kisho, smashing hard into the glass wall behind him. With a crash, spiderweb-like cracks instantly spread across the solid glass.
The boy looked down from above at Jobhan, who slid down the wall to the floor, spitting blood and unable to stand from the pain, then stepped toward him one step at a time.
In the boy's hand, a blazing mass of Nen fire burned fiercely.
"No… you can't kill me!" Jobhan cried out with difficulty, but his words failed to stop the boy's advance.
Even his lips were trembling.
"I'll give you anything you want! Money! Status! Even—"
"I want nothing." Kisho cut him off coldly.
The boy bent down, grabbed Jobhan by the collar, and slammed his face hard against the cracked glass. The shattered, razor-sharp shards split his skin open, and blood dripped down drop by drop.
"Do you see the people inside who were eaten by your Nen beasts?"
Kisho leaned close to Jobhan's ear and spoke softly, his voice like a demon from hell.
"Why don't you guess what they want most right now?"
The boy paused briefly, then continued.
"What I want right now, just like them, is your life."
Jobhan screamed:
"If you dare kill me, aren't you afraid of retaliation from the mafia all over the world?!"
Kisho let out a disdainful snort.
Retaliation from the mafia?
The spiders who thrived on chaos would be delighted if every mafia organization turned their guns on the Troupe. If Uvogin were here, he'd probably say,
"There's such a good thing?"
Unable to bribe or threaten the boy, Jobhan fell into despair.
He saw the boy slowly raise his hand, Nen fire suddenly igniting on his fist.
He struggled violently, but couldn't break free from Kisho's grip on his collar, and could only watch as the boy's fist grew larger and larger in his vision.
The fear of death enveloped his entire body.
One second, two seconds—
Kisho's fist did not come down.
Because Chrollo walked up to the glass, curled his fingers, and lightly tapped on the glass wall, smiling at the boy beyond it.
"Kisho."
Kisho fell silent for a few seconds, then slowly loosened his grip.
Jobhan instantly collapsed to the ground.
Only at this moment did the mafia boss finally escape the shadow of death. Using the last of his strength, he struggled to crawl up, turned around, and fled in panic.
Just as Jobhan reached the exit, pulled the door open, and was about to run out, Kisho raised his hand and swung it—
A wind blade howled through the air and slammed into the back of Jobhan's knee, sending him crashing heavily to the ground, where he passed out.
Kisho withdrew his gaze from Jobhan and gestured to the few people behind the glass. After they retreated several meters away, he raised his hand.
"Boom—"
Empowered by the badge, a fist reinforced with "Hard" struck an entire half-meter-thick glass wall. Shards exploded outward like bullets, and the incredibly sturdy glass wall shattered with a thunderous crash.
The spiders behind the wall strolled over from the other side, the flying glass fragments not even disturbing the corners of their clothes.
"You little brat!"
After coming out from behind the glass wall, Shalnark charged straight at Kisho and grabbed his face hard.
"You just disappear whenever you feel like it, and you don't even give us a heads-up!"
Kisho: "…"
He slapped Shalnark's hand away in disgust.
"How can I just tell you my trump card!"
"Quit whining!" Shalnark clearly wasn't done with him, kneading his cheeks like dough.
"I thought you'd been eaten clean by those big-headed fish."
Only after Kisho's face had been kneaded red did Shalnark finally let go, satisfied.
Kisho shot him an annoyed glare.
While the two of them were roughhousing, Chrollo had already walked over to Jobhan.
"Leader."
Kisho called out. After a moment of silence, he still asked the question weighing on his mind.
"Why didn't you let me kill him?"
Chrollo gave Kisho a gentle smile.
He had no intention of answering the question, instead casually materializing Skill Hunter in his hand.
Looking down at Jobhan on the ground, he mused.
"Even though the owner is already unconscious, the Nen fish haven't disappeared."
He continued speaking to himself.
"—Which means this is a Nen ability that can be maintained continuously, but must be actively canceled, or meet certain conditions for cancellation."
"After opening a passage connected to the outside—"
Chrollo glanced at the door Jobhan had opened, then looked behind him.
"The Nen fish disappeared, so these Nen fish should only be able to exist in a sealed space."
Kisho: "…"
Feitan walked to Kisho's side and looked at Chrollo with a speechless expression.
"The boss's researching again."
Speechless, but clearly used to it—someone often slipped into his own world like this, as if disconnected.
"Kisho." Chrollo finished his contemplation and gave an order.
"Go close the door."
As he spoke, he placed Skill Hunter under Jobhan's hand.
"Although I can't let you kill him, but—"
After Kisho silently walked over and closed the door, Chrollo stood up.
Skill Hunter in his hand flipped to a certain page, and a snow-white Nen fish slowly materialized in midair.
He gazed at Kisho with pitch-black eyes, then said gently:
"But I believe this result will also satisfy you."
Kisho was slightly startled.
Jobhan woke up at some point, and then saw what should have been his Nen fish leisurely swimming toward him.
Jobhan's eyes widened abruptly.
Then he was dragged into the endless hell of terror.
"Ah… aaaaahhh!!"
...
After the silver bone fish had devoured Jobhan's hands and feet, Chrollo closed the Nen book in his hands.
—He quite liked this Nen ability, so he couldn't really let the original owner be bitten to death.
"Yes, that's right. Pay the full fifty million Jenny upfront, monthly payments afterward. The patient's condition is special and he has suicidal tendencies, so extra careful supervision is required."
"If the patient dies, the remaining funds will be returned to the account."
Shalnark, who was handling the cleanup, said a few things to someone on the other end of the phone, then hung up and gave Chrollo an all-set gesture.
"Boss, it's all arranged."
On the other side, Kisho also stood up.
He withdrew the hand he had been pressing against Jobhan's wounds to stop the bleeding—though he really didn't want to waste Nen on this kind of scum, if the man died just like that, it would be letting him off too easily.
His Nen could only heal injuries; it couldn't regrow lost limbs.
Staring at Jobhan, who had been frightened into unconsciousness, Kisho spoke coldly, his gaze just as cold.
"Live on like this, in hell."
With the dust finally settled, Kisho let out a breath and withdrew his gaze.
Suddenly, as if he'd thought of something, he raised his hand toward Chrollo and grinned.
"Leader, do you need healing services?"
Well, you could say it was repayment for the leader lending him a hand—but repayment aside, payment was definitely still required~