(Three chapters again today. Thank you all for your support and encouragement!)
The instant Leo made up his mind-
BOOM!!!
The carved doors of the Xilirike Auction House burst apart like flimsy paper, spraying splinters and rubble like a torrential downpour.
A figure shot backward out of the roiling dust, spinning three times in midair before barely managing to land. His soles gouged two deep furrows through the paved street.
It was Mores.
His left hand clutched an ancient book with a yellowed cover and dark gold patterns inlaid along its edges. Raising his right hand, he wiped the blood trickling from the corner of his mouth with its back.
As the dust slowly cleared, four figures emerged from the auction house's ruins. Moonlight outlined their hard, cold silhouettes-the Phantom Troupe.
At their head, Chrollo wore no expression. His unfathomable eyes regarded Mores calmly, as though he were looking at a corpse.
"Hand over that book."
Chrollo's voice was terrifyingly steady.
"I can give you a quick death."
Mores let out a hoarse laugh, a trace of madness echoing through it.
"Hahaha... You brats are barely out of diapers. Don't get cocky! You want my life? It won't be that easy!!"
The instant his final word fell, a tremendous surge of Nen aura erupted from Mores's entire body!
Waves of deep purple aura spread outward from him.
Chrollo said nothing more. He merely raised his right index finger slightly.
A signal.
Franklin's massive frame took the first step forward. His modified hands emerged from his loose sleeves-each of his ten fingertips ended in a dark gun muzzle.
Nobunaga's hand was already resting on the sword hilt at his waist, his gaze sharp as a hawk's.
Machi remained expressionless, but almost invisible Nen threads were already coiled around her slender fingers.
Bonolenov began swaying rhythmically, faint strains of music drifting through the gaps in his bandages.
All four unleashed their Nen aura at once. Four differently colored waves slammed 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 sharply, turning the ancient book in his left hand. He spread the fingers of his right hand, firing five purple-black Nen bullets.
"Too slow."
Machi's icy voice came from the side.
At some point, several transparent Nen threads had wound around Mores's right arm. They abruptly tightened!
Deep grooves sank into his muscles, forcing the Nen bullets off course. They struck the wall of a distant building and blasted a massive hole through it.
Bonolenov began spinning, his bandages unfurling like petals-Battle Dance!
His speed surged. He became a white whirlwind circling the battlefield, thrusting his conjured spear at Mores's vital points from every treacherous angle.
Franklin did not move. He merely raised his arms slowly, aiming all ten fingers at Mores in the center of the battle.
Click.
A faint mechanical sound.
All ten fingers detached at their bases, revealing dark firing ports.
The next second-
RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!
That was no gunfire. It was the roar of a storm of metal!
Countless Nen bullets, condensed to the utmost, poured from Franklin's Two-Handed Machine Gun. Every shot could punch through a steel plate, and now they were firing at a rate of dozens per second!
The Nen bullets tore through the air with piercing shrieks, blasting a chain of craters into the ground as they hurtled toward Mores!
Mores gritted his teeth. Deep purple Nen aura gathered before him, forming a protective barrier around his entire body-Ken.
The Nen bullets hammered into the barrier, bursting into dazzling flashes. Every shot made it shudder violently, cracks spreading like a spiderweb.
"He won't last much longer."
Chrollo made his assessment calmly.
Beside him, Pakunoda, Shirvam, and Omokage watched in silence, as though the fierce battle before them were merely a play.
Yet an almost imperceptible flicker passed through Chrollo's deathly still eyes.
His gaze traveled beyond the battlefield to the rooftop of a building across the street from the auction house.
A shadow seemed to have been there a moment ago.
Leo stood at the edge of the rooftop, the night wind lifting the black hair above his forehead.
He could see the entire battle below-Mores was struggling desperately under the four fighters' combined assault.
Every swing of Nobunaga's sword drew closer to a vital point; Machi's Nen threads had already ensnared Mores's left leg; within Bonolenov's whirlwind, the spear's cold gleam flickered like a viper's tongue.
"It's about time."
Leo murmured to himself, then leaped down.
His figure traced a graceful arc beneath the full moon. His black coat snapped in the air as he fell, like a black arrow fired into the heart of a storm. Without using any technique to cushion his landing, he dropped straight down-
BOOM!
His feet slammed into the ground, shattering the paving stones in a radiating pattern.
Leo slowly straightened. With both hands in his coat pockets, he walked toward the auction house's entrance at an unhurried pace.
One step.
His Nen aura began to stir, like the first pebble dropped into a still lake.
Two steps.
The ripples intensified, and the air began to tremble.
Three steps.
Powerful, overwhelming Nen pressure spread outward from Leo like a tangible wave!
It was nothing like Mores's violent outburst. This pressure was deep and heavy, as unnerving as an abyss.
Both sides sensed the unfamiliar Nen pressure almost simultaneously.
Leo stopped twenty meters from the battlefield and gave them a gentle smile.
"Sorry, but I can't let you kill Mores."
He pointed at Mores, who was covered in wounds 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?"
His sword tip turned toward Leo.
"Do you know who we are?"
Mores also roared in fury.
"Another fool with a death wish! You want to kill me? Then come on! Let's see how many people want to steal from me today!"
Leo smiled without answering.
Then Nen aura erupted from his entire body.
If his earlier Nen pressure had been a wave, this was a volcanic eruption!
Blood-red Nen aura surged into the sky. Wherever its waves swept past, loose stones on the ground began to rise slowly, defying gravity.
Franklin reacted first. The giant, a veteran of countless battles, keenly sensed the threat-a deadly threat.
"Take out this nuisance first!"
His modified hands rose again.
RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!
The storm of metal swept across the battlefield a second time, but its target was no longer Mores.
It was Leo.
Countless Nen bullets tore through the air, forming a deadly barrage that instantly engulfed Leo's position!
Explosions thundered without pause. Dust and fire shot skyward, and the entire street trembled.
Nobunaga grinned. "Idiot. Taking Franklin's attack head-on-"
His laughter cut off abruptly.
The dust cleared.
Leo stood exactly where he had been, without having moved a single step.
His clothes fluttered slightly in the explosions' aftermath, but there wasn't a scratch on him. Not even the hem of his coat had been damaged.
He raised a hand and lightly brushed some invisible dust from his shoulder, then gave Franklin an even brighter smile.
"Put some muscle into it. I can take it."
Leo had remained completely unscathed under Franklin's concentrated Nen fire thanks entirely to his rapid use of Flow. With extraordinary powers of observation and reflexes, he adjusted the defensive aura at each point struck by a Nen bullet to precisely the amount needed to withstand it.
Franklin's pupils abruptly contracted.
That's impossible.
Every Nen bullet from my Two-Handed Machine Gun can punch through an armored vehicle. Under fire that dense, even a top Enhancement Type fighter should be wounded. But this man-
"Again!"
Franklin roared. The firing ports of his ten fingers began spinning rapidly, increasing his rate of fire once more!
This time, he held nothing back. Every Nen bullet targeted Leo's head, heart, joints, and other vital points. The barrage grew so dense it nearly formed a wall of light!
Leo moved.
He walked toward Franklin.
Step by step, slowly and steadily.
Nen bullets struck the invisible barrier before him, bursting into flares of fire, but his pace did not falter in the slightest.
He was like someone strolling through a storm, perfectly at ease.
Twenty meters.
Ten meters.
Nobunaga finally snapped out of his shock.
"Arrogant bastard!"
With a furious roar, he lunged forward. His sword traced a cold arc beneath the moonlight-"Iaido slash!"
The strike was swift as lightning. Wherever the blade passed, the air screamed as it was torn apart.
Nobunaga was certain this strike would cut Leo in two.
Leo did not even look at him.
He simply reached out with his right hand-and the instant the blade was about to touch his forehead, he caught it firmly between his thumb and index finger.
CLANG!
The crisp ring of metal striking metal.
Nobunaga's all-out slash stopped in midair, held by just two fingers.
"Wha..."
Nobunaga's eyes widened. Gripping his sword with both hands, every muscle bulging, he tried to pull the blade free or force it down.
But the blade did not budge 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's brow furrowed for the first time.
His gaze locked onto Leo as his mind rapidly analyzed everything that had just happened-taking Franklin's Nen bullets head-on without a scratch, catching Nobunaga's full-force slash with two fingers...
"Omokage. Shirvam."
Chrollo's voice remained calm, but anyone who knew him could hear the gravity beneath it.
"You two, join in. This has dragged on long enough. Finish it quickly."
Omokage raised an eyebrow, an intrigued smile spreading across his face.
"Interesting. Very interesting. A puppet like this... would be wonderful."
Two puppets slowly emerged from the shadows beside him. They looked different, but both had empty eye sockets.
Shirvam nodded silently, conjuring a long, serrated blade in his hand.
The two charged simultaneously, rushing Leo from the left and right!
Watching them approach, Leo finally stopped holding back.
His right hand abruptly tightened around Nobunaga's blade-
CRACK!
With a sharp snap, the sword that had accompanied Nobunaga for years was crushed by Leo's two fingers!
The fragments reflected the moonlight as they scattered through the air like falling stars.
Before Nobunaga could react, Leo's left hand had clenched into a fist and slammed into his face!
There was no complex technique, no flashy ability-just a punch of the purest, most brutal force.
"Pfft-!"
Nobunaga spat out a mouthful of blood mixed with teeth. As though struck head-on by a battering ram, he flew more than ten meters backward and slammed into the wall of a shop across the street, sending rubble and dust billowing into the air.
Dead silence.
Franklin stopped firing his Nen bullets.
Machi and Bonolenov halted their attacks as well.
Even the gravely wounded Mores, still gasping for breath, stared wide-eyed.
Omokage and Shirvam stopped abruptly halfway through their charge.
Everyone-including Chrollo and Pakunoda watching from a distance-was stunned by that simple, brutal blow.
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