Countdown: eight hours.
"It's over." Bred made his judgment. Bankotsu had completely lost his ability to fight. "Joanna, descend."
Bankotsu sat cross-legged like an old monk in meditation. Since parting with Chrollo, he had kept his body motionless, his head tilted back as he stared at Bred and Mosquito Girl for a full twenty hours. Now his neck had gone stiff, leaving him no choice but to face their arrival with his head raised. Yet the way his nostrils pointed skyward somehow still made him look proud and pleased with himself, even though his appearance had long since become utterly haggard.
"You were stalling for time?" Bred phrased it as a question, but his tone was certain.
Bankotsu smiled. His parched throat had made his voice hoarse, giving it a strange tone. "You damn little bastard~ To think I actually fell into the hands of a weakling like you. How humiliating!"
"Twenty hours ago, you were already at the end of your rope. You relied entirely on willpower to hold on, all to keep us occupied and give Chrollo time to get farther away, right?" Bred praised him, then asked, "I admire your tenacity and your spirit, but why? Looking over your life, you never seemed like the type willing to sacrifice yourself for others. Yet now, for Chrollo..."
"Why does there have to be a reason? I do whatever I want. If I want to do it, I do it." Bankotsu interrupted Bred, teasingly adding, "If you really need a reason, then... that unlucky brat has had it too rough. I took pity on him for a moment."
With a flick of his wrist, Bred manifested Gluttony. "My target was you alone, not anyone else. And I acknowledge the enormous gap between our strength. I couldn't guarantee that I