The Phantom Troupe Makes a Move, Leo Intervenes

(Three chapters again today. Thank you all for your support and encouragement!)

The moment Leo made up his mind—

"Boom—!!!"

The ornate doors of the Xilirike Auction House exploded like fragile paper, splinters and chunks of stone spraying out like a torrential downpour.

A figure was blasted backward from the swirling smoke, spinning sharply through the air three times before barely landing. His shoes gouged two deep furrows into the stone-paved road.

It was Mores.

His left hand tightly gripped an ancient book with a yellowed cover and dark gold patterns along its edges. He raised his right hand and wiped the blood trailing from the corner of his mouth with the back of it.

As the smoke gradually dispersed, four figures slowly emerged from the auction house ruins, moonlight outlining their hard, cold silhouettes—the Phantom Troupe.

Chrollo, at their head, wore no expression. His unfathomable eyes rested calmly on Mores as though he were looking at a corpse.

"Hand over that book."

Chrollo's voice was terrifyingly steady.

"I can let you die quickly."

Mores let out a hoarse laugh, his laughter echoing with a hint of madness.

"Ha ha ha... You bunch of wet-behind-the-ears brats, don't get too full of yourselves! You want my life? It won't be that easy—!!"

The instant the final word fell, an astonishing amount of aura erupted from Mores's entire body!

Deep purple waves of aura spread outward from him.

Chrollo said nothing more. He merely raised his right index finger slightly.

A signal.

Franklin's massive body was the first to step forward. His modified hands emerged from his wide sleeves—at the ends of all ten fingers were pitch-black gun barrels.

Nobunaga's hand was already resting on the hilt of the sword at his waist, his gaze as sharp as an eagle's.

Machi's face remained expressionless, but nearly invisible aura threads had already wound around her slender fingers.

Bonolenov began swaying his body rhythmically, faint music drifting from the gaps in his bandages.

The aura of all four erupted at once. Four differently colored waves of aura slammed viciously into Mores's purple aura, and the air seemed to freeze for an instant—

Then the battle exploded!

Nobunaga moved first.

"Quick-Draw Slash."

His blade flashed like a crescent moon.

Mores retreated rapidly, spinning the ancient book in his left hand as he spread the five fingers of his right. Five purple-black aura bullets shot out.

"Too slow."

Machi's icy voice came from the side.

At some point, several transparent aura threads had already wrapped around Mores's right arm and abruptly tightened!

Deep grooves were carved into his muscles. The aura bullets were forced off course, blasting into the wall of a distant building and blowing open a massive hole.

Bonolenov's body began to spin, his bandages unfurling like petals—Battle Dance!

His speed suddenly surged. He transformed into a white whirlwind circling the battlefield, the conjured spear in his hand stabbing at Mores's vital points from every tricky angle.

Franklin did not move. He merely slowly raised his arms, his ten fingers aimed at Mores in the center of the battlefield.

Click.

A faint mechanical sound.

All ten fingers detached at the roots, revealing pitch-black firing ports.

The next second—

Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat—!!!

That was not gunfire. It was the roar of a metal storm!

Countless aura bullets condensed to the utmost limit poured from Franklin's Two-Handed Machine Gun. Every shot was powerful enough to punch through steel plating, and now attacks like that erupted at a rate of dozens per second!

The aura bullets tore through the air with piercing shrieks, blasting a series of craters into the ground as they rushed straight at Mores!

Gritting his teeth, Mores condensed his deep purple aura into a protective layer covering his entire body—Ken.

The aura bullets crashed against the barrier, exploding in blinding flashes. Every shot made the aura shield shudder violently, cracks spreading across it like a spiderweb.

"He won't last much longer."

Chrollo made the judgment calmly.

Beside him, Pakunoda, Shirvam, and Omokage stood silently watching, as though the fierce battle before them were nothing more than a play.

Yet a nearly imperceptible ripple passed through Chrollo's deathly still eyes.

His gaze passed over the battlefield and landed on the rooftop of a building across the street from the auction house.

There seemed to have been a shadow there just now.

Leo stood at the edge of the rooftop, the night wind lifting his black hair from his forehead.

The battle below was fully visible to him—Mores was struggling under the siege of four opponents.

Every slash from Nobunaga's sword came closer to a vital point; Machi's aura threads had already wrapped around Mores's left leg; within Bonolenov's whirlwind, the cold gleam of his spear flickered like a venomous snake's tongue.

"About time."

Leo murmured to himself, then leaped down.

His figure traced a graceful arc beneath the full moon. His black trench coat snapped in the wind as he fell, like a black arrow fired toward the center of the storm. Without using any technique to slow his descent, he simply dropped straight down—

Boom!

His feet crashed heavily onto the ground, shattering the stone pavement in a radiating pattern.

Leo slowly straightened, both hands tucked into his coat pockets, and walked unhurriedly toward the auction house entrance.

One step.

His aura began to stir, like the first stone thrown into a still lake.

Two steps.

The ripples intensified, and the air began to tremble.

Three steps.

A powerful, overwhelming aura pressure spread outward from Leo like a tangible shockwave!

It was not a wild eruption like Mores's, but a deep, heavy oppression that made one's heart tremble as though facing an abyss.

Both sides in the midst of battle noticed this unfamiliar aura pressure almost at the same time.

Leo stopped twenty meters from the battlefield and revealed a gentle smile.

"I'm sorry, but you can't kill Mores."

He pointed at Mores, who was already wounded in several places and breathing erratically.

"He's my prey."

The air froze for an instant.

Nobunaga was the first to react, his eyes widening in disbelief.

"Huh? Say that again?"

The tip of his sword turned toward Leo.

"Do you know who we are?"

Mores also roared furiously.

"Another fool who doesn't know his place! You want to kill me? Then come on! I'd like to see how many people want to steal things from me today!"

Leo only smiled without speaking.

Then the aura around his body exploded.

If his aura pressure from before had been a shockwave, then this was a volcanic eruption!

Blood-red aura shot into the sky. Wherever its waves passed, the broken stones on the ground slowly began to float, defying gravity.

Franklin was the first to react. The big man, who had lived through countless battles, keenly sensed the threat—a deadly threat.

"Take care of this nuisance first!"

His modified hands rose again.

Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat—!!!

The metal storm swept through the battlefield for a second time, but this time, its target was not Mores.

It was Leo.

Countless aura bullets ripped through the air, forming a deadly barrage that instantly covered Leo's position completely!

Explosions rang out without end. Smoke and flames soared into the sky, and the entire street shook.

Nobunaga grinned. "Idiot, daring to take Franklin's attack head-on—"

His laughter abruptly stopped.

The smoke cleared.

Leo stood where he was, without having moved even a single step.

His clothes fluttered slightly in the aftermath of the explosions, but his body—had not a single wound. Not even the corner of his clothes had been damaged.

He raised a hand, lightly dusted off invisible dirt from his shoulder, then gave Franklin an even brighter smile.

"Put some force into it. I can take it."

The reason Leo could remain completely unscathed under Franklin's concentrated aura-bullet fire was his rapid use of Flow. With exceptional observation and reaction speed, he adjusted the amount of defensive aura needed at each point struck by the bullets.

Franklin's pupils suddenly contracted.

That was impossible.

Every aura bullet from his Two-Handed Machine Gun was enough to pierce an armored vehicle. Under such dense bombardment, even a top Enhancer should have been injured. Yet this man—

"Again!"

Franklin roared. The gun barrels on his ten fingers began spinning at high speed, and the firing rate of the aura bullets rose once more!

This time, he held nothing back. Every aura bullet targeted Leo's head, heart, joints, and other vital areas. The barrage was so dense that it nearly formed a wall of light!

Leo moved.

He walked toward Franklin.

One step at a time, slow and steady.

The aura bullets struck the invisible barrier before him, bursting into balls of flame, but his advance was not hindered in the slightest.

Like a pedestrian strolling through a storm, calm and unhurried.

Twenty meters.

Ten meters.

Nobunaga finally snapped out of his shock.

"Arrogant!"

With an angry roar, he shot forward in a single stride. His sword carved a cold arc beneath the moonlight—"Quick-Draw Slash!"

The slash was as fast as lightning. The air shrieked as it was torn apart by the blade.

Nobunaga was certain that this strike would cut him in two.

Leo did not even look at Nobunaga.

He merely extended his right hand—and just as the blade was about to touch his forehead, he firmly caught it between his thumb and index finger.

Clang!

A crisp metallic ring.

Nobunaga's full-force slash was stopped in midair by two fingers.

"Wha..."

Nobunaga's eyes widened. Gripping the sword with both hands, every muscle in his body bulged as he tried to pull the blade free or force it downward.

But the blade did not move at all between Leo's fingers, as though it had been cast into solid steel.

Leo finally glanced at Nobunaga, a trace of pity in his eyes.

"Too weak."

In the distance, Chrollo frowned for the first time.

His eyes remained locked on Leo as his mind rapidly analyzed everything that had just happened—taking Franklin's aura bullets head-on without injury, catching Nobunaga's full-force strike with two fingers...

"Omokage, Shirvam."

Chrollo's voice remained calm, but those who knew him could hear the gravity in it.

"You two go as well. This has dragged on too long. End it quickly."

Omokage raised an eyebrow, an intrigued smile appearing on his face.

"Interesting, very interesting. A puppet like this... would be wonderful."

From the shadows at his side, two puppets with different appearances slowly emerged, both with nothing but hollow sockets for eyes.

Shirvam nodded silently, conjuring a long serrated blade in his hand.

The two charged out at the same time, attacking Leo from the left and right!

Watching the two approach, Leo finally stopped holding back.

His right hand, which was gripping Nobunaga's blade, suddenly exerted force—

Crack!

With a crisp snap, the sword that had accompanied Nobunaga for years was crushed apart between Leo's two fingers!

The blade fragments reflected the moonlight in the air like scattered stars.

Before Nobunaga could react, Leo's left hand had already clenched into a fist and smashed into his face!

There was no complicated technique, no flashy ability—just the purest, most violent punch.

"Puh—!"

Nobunaga spat out a mouthful of blood mixed with teeth. As though he had been struck head-on by a battering ram, he flew backward more than ten meters and slammed heavily into the wall of a shop across the street, sending rocks and dust exploding into the air.

Dead silence.

Franklin's aura-bullet barrage stopped.

Machi and Bonolenov also halted their attacks.

Even the severely wounded, gasping Mores stared with his eyes wide open.

Omokage and Shirvam were forcibly brought to a stop halfway through their charge.

Everyone—including Chrollo and Pakunoda, watching from afar—was stunned by that simple, brutal strike.