Leo's figure vanished into the night at the end of the street.
Hisoka slowly rose from the rubble, dusting off the dirt from his tattered clothes.
He looked in the direction where Leo had disappeared. The fire of desire, which had been briefly suppressed by the battle and had nearly burned his reason to ashes, now blazed fiercely once more in the depths of his eyes!
"Too... too enchanting!"
At this moment, his desire for battle had been completely ignited by Leo. His body trembled slightly from extreme excitement, his fingertips spasming uncontrollably.
He licked his dry lips, his voice trembling with irrepressible emotion.
"Mmm~ You now... simply leave me unable to stop myself!"
Hisoka closed his eyes and took a deep breath, as if savoring every detail of their brief clash—the power and speed of Leo's fists, that pure aesthetic of violence.
"I want... right here... right now... to fight you!"
He opened his eyes, his golden pupils contracting into dangerous slits.
"But..."
Hisoka tilted his head, a sick yet abnormally clear smile spreading across his face.
"It looks like you're about at your limit too~ It would be such a pity to kill you now!"
Hisoka had arrived at the scene long before, watching from the rooftop of a nearby building when Leo activated "Shunten" and fought against multiple opponents.
When Leo defeated the members of the Phantom Troupe with overwhelming force, Hisoka could no longer restrain himself and eagerly revealed himself to launch an attack.
But after exchanging a few blows, he keenly sensed that Leo's condition was deteriorating—his aura was becoming chaotic, his Nen fluctuations unstable, clearly side effects of some explosive ability.
Hisoka only wanted to fight Leo one-on-one at his absolute best.
The thrill of thoroughly crushing a ripe fruit and savoring its sweet juices—that was the ultimate pleasure he sought.
He turned and looked at the struggling members of the Phantom Troupe.
In the distance, amidst a pile of rubble, the heavily injured Machi helped a weak, pale-faced Nobunaga to his feet.
Pakunoda struggled to lift the heavily bleeding Shalnark from the wreckage, checking his vital signs.
When Omokage regained consciousness, he staggered to his feet, looking around only to find that Leo had long since departed.
A wave of humiliation washed over him—he had been choked unconscious by Leo and then kicked away, without even a chance for a proper fight. It was a complete disgrace!
"Damn it... how dare he look down on me!"
Because he had been choked unconscious and kicked away by Leo, he had fortuitously avoided the subsequent blast of the Super Destruction Fist, making him the least injured among the Troupe members.
Hisoka looked at Omokage, who was in relatively good shape, and revealed a satisfied smile.
"Mmm—you'll do~"
He walked towards the distant Omokage with an alluring gait, his waist swaying lightly as if he were on a catwalk.
"Your death... will soothe my excited heart~"
Hearing the voice, Omokage snapped his head around.
When he saw Hisoka approaching, his face instantly darkened.
"Even you want to kill me?"
Omokage gritted his teeth, a vicious glint flashing in his eyes.
"Just die, all of you!"
Ability activated! Three puppets instantly materialized from the shadows beside him—a muscular Uvogin, a Phinks wearing a pharaoh's headdress, and a Nobunaga gripping a sword.
These three puppets were lifelike, their eye sockets hollow, yet they exuded a portion of the aura of their originals.
Hisoka's golden eyes now resembled those of a snake locking onto its prey.
Omokage roared.
"Puppeteer!"
The puppets of Uvogin, Phinks, and Nobunaga instantly transformed into three dense masses of Nen, pouring into his body like liquid!
Puppeteer—once activated, this ability allowed him to fuse three puppets with himself, enabling him to use the Nen Abilities of the puppets.
A light of extreme excitement flickered in Hisoka's eyes as he locked onto Omokage, whose aura had skyrocketed.
"Not bad... this way... I can truly enjoy myself!"
Before the words had fully left his mouth, a playing card was already pinched between his fingers. His body transformed into a crimson blur as he charged at Omokage!
Omokage didn't retreat but advanced instead. His right fist, infused with a portion of Uvogin's power, smashed forward, the force tearing through the air!
Playing card met fist!
Clang—!
The sharp sound of metal clashing!
Hisoka's playing card was sent flying, but he used the momentum to pivot, another card in his left hand slashing towards Omokage's throat.
Omokage raised his left arm—the nascent form of Phinks's "Ryuuten" ability. His arm rotated, generating a spiral air current that deflected the playing card.
The two instantly became locked in a fierce struggle!
Omokage's attacks were wild and chaotic, a messy mix of Uvogin's brute strength, Phinks's rotation, and the rudiments of Nobunaga's sword techniques. Though uncoordinated, they were incredibly powerful.
Hisoka weaved nimbly through the onslaught. Playing cards fluttered like butterflies between his fingers, each strike cunning and lethal.
A tremor came from the distant pile of rubble.
Franklin pushed aside the stone slab pinning him down and struggled to crawl out of the wreckage. His waist was visibly sunken, clearly a serious injury.
Machi, Nobunaga, and Pakunoda could only watch helplessly from afar as Hisoka and Omokage fought their bloody battle.
They did not intervene.
Not because they didn't want to, but because they couldn't—each was severely injured, finding it difficult even to stand straight.
Pakunoda bit her lip and whispered.
"That idiot Omokage... still trying to show off at a time like this..."
Machi didn't speak, simply using her Nen threads to roughly treat the most serious wounds on Nobunaga and Shalnark.
Her gaze occasionally flickered towards the battle between Hisoka and Omokage, her expression complex.
Franklin walked over to them and said in a low voice,
"Let's wait for the Leader to return first."
No one objected.
At the same time, three blocks away from the Xililike Auction House.
Leo sprinted at full speed, quickly putting distance between himself and the combat zone.
The moment the "Shunten" ability ended completely, an intense wave of weakness washed over him like a tidal wave!
"Ugh..."
He grunted, nearly collapsing to his knees.
Every muscle in his body ached as if about to tear, every bone protesting.
His limbs felt heavy and powerless, as if filled with lead.
His vision began to blur, a buzzing filled his ears, and even breathing became laborious.
Leo leaned against a nearby wall, gasping for breath, cold sweat soaking through his tattered clothes.
"It seems... I overestimated my current limits."
He smiled bitterly, feeling the almost depleted Nen within him and his overburdened body.
"The strain from enhancing my ability... exceeded my expectations."
After resting for a moment, once his breathing had steadied slightly and his vision cleared, Leo continued on his way.
His pace was much slower than before, each step feeling like he was treading on cotton.
At that moment, a warm sensation came from the tattoo on the back of his hand.
[Rank: Level 44 (2%) → (36%)]
Leo was taken aback. Someone had actually died. He wondered which unlucky member of the Phantom Troupe had perished under his Super Destruction Fist.
He then crossed a block. From the alley ahead, a familiar voice suddenly called out.
"Master, over here!"
Sophia ran out from the shadows, her face etched with worry.
She looked Leo up and down, taking in his disheveled state, and her eyes instantly reddened.
"Master, are you alright?"
Leo waved a hand, forcing a smile.
"I'm fine, just exhausted."
Only then did Sophia let out a sigh of relief, though the worry in her eyes didn't completely fade.
She spoke quickly, "Master, I caught that Morex."
Leo raised an eyebrow.
Sophia continued to explain.
"I saw him trying to escape. I noticed he was badly injured, so I followed him. When he let his guard down, I ambushed him. He's unconscious now. I've got him stashed in a corner up ahead."
Leo was somewhat surprised.
He had thought Morex had successfully escaped—that cunning fellow had quietly retreated during the chaos of the battle and then vanished completely amidst the confusion of the Super Destruction Fist explosion.
He hadn't expected Sophia to intercept him.
"Good work. Well done."
Leo patted Sophia's shoulder, this time his smile was much more genuine.
"Bring him. We're leaving on the airship immediately."
The two made their way deeper into the alley.
Morex was tied up securely by Sophia, a cloth gag stuffed in his mouth, completely unconscious.
He had multiple wounds, the most severe being a deep, bone-exposing slash on his left shoulder—likely left by Nobunaga.
Sophia easily hoisted Morex up, while Leo followed behind.
Though his body was weak, he didn't need to be supported.
They took back alleys to avoid the main streets, arriving at a small airport on the outskirts of Chirok City half an hour later.
The Hunter Association's private airship had been waiting for some time.
Once on board, Leo nearly collapsed into a seat. Sophia locked Morex in an isolation chamber before returning to the passenger cabin.
The airship's engines started, and it slowly ascended.
Through the porthole, the night view of Chirok City below was visible—the area around the Xililike Auction House was still brightly lit, but a faint haze of dust could be seen hanging over that district.
As Sophia disinfected and bandaged the wound on Leo's arm, she asked softly,
"Master, the Phantom Troupe..."
"They've been dealt a heavy blow."
Leo closed his eyes.
"They shouldn't be able to find us for a while."
Leo smiled and said no more.
The airship pierced through the clouds, heading in the direction of the Hunter Association headquarters.
The tattoo on the back of his hand glowed faintly in the dim cabin light.
Tonight's battle, though only one had been killed, yielded far more than that.
Facing the Phantom Troupe head-on, clashing with Hisoka, pushing past his limits in a desperate situation—these experiences were more precious than mere Life Energy.
Leo closed his eyes and began to meditate, focusing on recovery.
Meanwhile, in a place unknown to him, amidst the ruins of Chirok City, Hisoka had just snapped Omokage's neck.
He stood beside Omokage's corpse, licked the blood from his fingers, and looked up at the night sky.
The airship had long since vanished above the clouds.
"You got away~"
Hisoka chuckled lightly, an even more fervent light sparkling in his eyes.
"But it's fine... I'll wait for you~"
"I'll wait until the day you're fully ripe... and then, pluck you with my own hands."
His laughter echoed through the ruins, eerie and delighted.
And at that moment, Chrollo also returned to the auction house. Seeing the cackling Hisoka and the Troupe members in the nearby ruins, his eyes instantly turned ice-cold!