An Unexpected Turn! Hisoka Appeared!

Watching Pakunoda a short distance away, Leo stepped forward with his right foot.

Spiderweb cracks spread in every direction from the spot where his foot landed. The entire street trembled beneath that single step.

The next instant, he appeared before Pakunoda, his right palm driving toward her head.

Pakunoda did not even have time to pull the trigger.

"Not a chance!"

Machi's Nen threads descended like an inescapable net as she struggled up from the ground.

But the threads, sharp enough to slice through steel, screeched against Leo's skin, scattering sparks through the night.

Although they inflicted no real damage, they successfully disrupted the rhythm of his attack.

Pakunoda closed her eyes, preparing for death.

But the impact she expected never came.

Bang!

A dull thud came from the side.

Pakunoda opened her eyes and found Leo's palm strike blocked-by a suddenly materialized bone shield covered in spikes.

It was Bonolenov!

At some point, he had gotten back up. He used the last of his Nen Aura to unleash Battle Cantata: Bone Shield, placing himself in front of Pakunoda.

Cracks covered the shield. The force of Leo's palm passed through it, shaking Bonolenov so violently that blood spilled from his mouth and nose, his arms trembling uncontrollably.

"Go..."

Bonolenov barely managed to force out the word.

"No!"

Pakunoda tried to push him away, but Machi rushed up from behind, wrapped Nen threads around her waist, and dragged her backward.

Just then-

"Cough... don't underestimate us!"

Nobunaga crawled out of the rubble. He was covered in blood, his left arm hanging limp, but his right hand still tightly gripped a broken section of his blade.

Nobunaga poured every last bit of his Nen Aura into the broken blade, which glowed with a faint but pure white light.

"Iaido: Crescent Moon!"

A crescent-shaped blade of energy slashed through the air, heading straight for Leo's back.

Nobunaga had abandoned all defense and exhausted his strength for this strike. The blade energy was condensed almost into solid form, its shriek through the air piercing and harsh.

A pincer attack!

The red light in Leo's eyes blazed.

Pivoting on his left foot, he spun like a top. His right palm shifted from pressing to pushing, shoving Bonolenov and his shield toward the incoming blade energy. At the same time, his left fist shot out, overtaking it despite moving second, dark red energy gathering over his knuckles as he met the blade energy head-on.

Boom! Boom!

Two explosions erupted almost simultaneously.

Bonolenov was hurled away, his bone shield shattering completely.

The shock wave from the collision between blade energy and fist power leveled the surrounding ruined walls, sending stones shooting through the air like rain.

Dust surged skyward, blotting out the moonlight.

When the dust thinned a little, the battlefield was a wreck.

Machi had pulled Pakunoda clear. Both had suffered varying degrees of injury from the impact and could barely remain standing.

Bonolenov lay nearby, his breathing faint.

Nobunaga knelt on one knee, propping himself up with his broken sword and panting heavily. He clearly had no strength left to fight.

And Leo-

He stood in the center of the battlefield, his right sleeve torn apart. A wound deep enough to expose bone ran across his forearm, and blood dripped down his arm, pooling at his feet.

But the wound was healing at a speed visible to the naked eye. Flesh writhed and knitted together, and skin grew back over it.

The accelerated regeneration granted by "Instant" was taking effect.

"That was... some impressive teamwork."

Leo studied the wound on his arm, already more than halfway healed, with approval in his voice.

"You almost damaged the bone."

Machi's heart sank.

An attack like that, combining the strength of three people, had only inflicted this much damage?

And he was recovering at an astonishing speed?

What kind of monster was he?!

"Not much time left."

Leo glanced at the black markings slowly fading on his arm-one and a half minutes remained.

He had to end this fight.

His gaze shifted to Mores. His original target had quietly retreated during the melee and was already near the edge of the auction house ruins, clearly hoping to escape.

"You're not getting away."

Leo was about to give chase when an astonishing wave of bloodlust suddenly surged from afar.

It was so intense, so pure, that it almost seemed to freeze the air.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk~ What an intense little scene~"

A sultry voice brimming with delight rang out, its pitch rising and falling strangely, as though reciting some bloody poem.

"It really... gets my blood pumping. I just can't resist joining in~"

Everyone turned toward the voice.

A figure slowly emerged from the shadows at the edge of the street, swaying his hips as he walked with graceful yet unsettling steps.

Moonlight outlined his slender figure. The star and teardrop makeup on his face stood out in the darkness, and his red hair flared like fire.

Hisoka!

Hisoka's golden eyes shone with extreme excitement, like those of a venomous snake that had spotted its prey, fixed unwaveringly on Leo and his powerful aura.

He extended his scarlet tongue and slowly licked the corner of his mouth, as though savoring the blood and fighting spirit hanging in the air.

There was a sick elegance to the gesture that sent chills down the spine.

Leo raised an eyebrow, his heart jolting.

Hisoka?!

Even he had suddenly shown up... would any more freaks come crawling out next?

Hisoka's smile grew even more sinister. Several playing cards had appeared between his fingers.

Nen Aura flowed over them, giving their surfaces a dangerous metallic sheen and making them hum faintly.

"Come~ Let's..."

He stepped forward, his hips swaying lightly.

"...have some fun~"

Before his words had finished-

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Three sharp whistles tore through the deathly still air!

The Nen-infused playing cards became three silver streaks, flying toward Leo in a triangular formation. One targeted his throat, while the other two blocked his escape routes to either side.

Leo remained expressionless. An instant before the cards struck, his right hand flashed up, fingers spread-all three cards landed securely in his palm, as though stopped by an invisible wall.

He closed his hand, crushing the cards in his palm.

Hisoka blurred.

He advanced like a phantom, flickering from left to right at incredible speed and leaving several afterimages behind him.

When he came within three meters of Leo, another playing card appeared in his hand. Its edge gleamed coldly in the moonlight as it traced a lethal arc straight toward Leo's throat!

Instead of retreating, Leo advanced, stepping half a pace forward with his left foot and firing his right fist at Hisoka's face like a cannonball!

Hisoka bent backward to the limit, his body nearly parallel to the ground, narrowly avoiding the punch.

The wind from the fist brushed his nose, lifting several strands of red hair.

Using the momentum, he raised his right foot in a tricky upward kick, toes pointed straight at Leo's jaw!

Leo's left hand darted out like lightning, precisely catching Hisoka's incoming right ankle.

His fingers tightened like an iron clamp. With a powerful yank, he dragged Hisoka toward him while raising his right fist to hammer his upper body!

Hisoka reacted extremely quickly. The instant he was pulled closer, he crossed both hands before his chest.

A pink, elastic membrane of Nen instantly covered his arms-Bungee Gum!

Leo's fist slammed squarely into Hisoka's chest!

Bang!

With a dull thud, his fist sank into the elastic Nen membrane. Its force was absorbed, dispersed, and reduced by at least half.

But the remaining power was still tremendous. Hisoka flew backward as though struck by a sledgehammer!

He adjusted his posture in midair and performed an elegant backflip. After landing on both feet, he slid backward three meters, his soles screeching against the ground.

Leo used Gyo to inspect his right fist and clearly saw a layer of pink Nen stuck to it like chewing gum.

He knew Hisoka's tactics very well.

Bungee Gum possessed both elasticity and stickiness. Hisoka intended to suddenly contract the Nen attached to Leo's fist at a crucial moment, disrupting his rhythm or creating an opening for a sneak attack.

The muscles in Leo's right arm bulged. Dark red Nen Aura erupted over his fist, and he tore it away with force-

Rrrip!

The attached Nen was forcibly torn off, dissolving into pink motes of light beneath Hisoka's astonished gaze.

Hisoka steadied himself. Seeing Leo's response, he narrowed his eyes and gave an even more excited smile.

"Oh dear~ You caught on~"

He licked his lips, the battle lust in his golden eyes burning even hotter.

Leo thought to himself.

Time's running out. I can't keep dragging this out. I have to finish this quickly!

If Chrollo returned now, Leo would be certain to die once his aura ran dry.

Without further hesitation, he charged toward Hisoka twenty meters away, moving so fast that he left a string of afterimages behind him!

At the same time, he drew his right fist back, the muscles in his arm pulled taut as steel cables, veins bulging beneath his skin.

Nen Aura surged madly into his fist, compressing, then compressing again-the glow shifted from white to blazing white, and finally to an almost blinding gold!

A sphere of light nearly thirty centimeters in diameter formed before Leo's right fist. Energy spun and collided wildly within it, producing a deep, thunderous hum!

The surrounding air distorted under the gathering energy, refracting the light into strange halos.

Hisoka's expression changed. He keenly sensed the terrifying power of this blow.

He pushed off and darted sideways, lightly tapping the ground with his toes and using Bungee Gum's elasticity to instantly put another five meters between them.

But Leo's target was not Hisoka.

His gaze passed over Hisoka and locked onto the ground beneath his feet.

Hisoka instantly understood Leo's intention-an area attack!

His own reactions and mobility were incredibly fast, making a straight-line attack difficult to land.

Only an area attack had a chance of catching him off guard and injuring him.

"Super Destruction Punch-!"

Leo roared. As his fist swung forward, the golden sphere crashed toward the ground beneath Hisoka like a meteor!

The instant his fist touched the ground, time seemed to freeze.

Then-

Everything shattered.

BOOOOOM-!!!!!!

A crater over thirty meters across and seven meters deep formed instantly around the point of impact!

The shock wave expanded outward in a sphere. Everywhere it passed, streetlights were uprooted, benches shattered, trees in the landscaped strips snapped in half, and parked cars were tossed up like toys, breaking apart in midair!

Although Hisoka reacted incredibly quickly, releasing the Nen attached to his soles at the last moment and using Bungee Gum to pull himself toward a distant streetlight still standing, he was half a beat too slow.

The edge of the shock wave caught him. As though struck by an invisible giant hammer, he was hurled sideways, crashing through two walls before coming to a stop.

Machi, Nobunaga, Franklin, Pakunoda, Omokage, Bonolenov, and the others nearby were all caught in the blast.

Already badly wounded, they were like leaves in a gale. The explosion sent them flying more than ten meters, slamming them into various obstacles.

The glass curtain wall at the front of the Xilirike Auction House shattered completely under the impact, its fragments raining down in a storm!

The main structure shook violently, and several enormous cracks opened along its outer walls.

The ground trembled as though a small earthquake had struck.

Dust billowed upward like a mushroom cloud, reaching seven or eight meters high as it slowly rose, blotting out the moon and stars.

The entire block fell into an eerie silence, broken only by the clatter of falling stones and the faint groaning of damaged buildings in the distance.

As the dust gradually dispersed, Leo knelt on one knee at the bottom of the crater, gasping for breath. Sweat mixed with blood dripped from his forehead.

That blow had exhausted what little Nen Aura he had left.

Super Destruction Punch was already an extremely draining move. Forcing it out when "Instant" was about to end had all but emptied him.

He struggled to stand. His hands and feet trembled slightly from exhaustion, and his vision was somewhat blurred.

By the time he staggered out of the crater and stepped onto the shattered ground at its rim, "Instant" had less than thirty seconds remaining.

Leo looked around.

In the distance, Hisoka slowly struggled up from the ruins. His flamboyant clothes were badly torn, and dust and blood stained the star and teardrop makeup on his face. Yet his golden eyes remained bright, even more excited than before-the eyes of someone who had discovered rare prey.

Farther away, the Phantom Troupe members lay scattered among the ruins. Machi was trying to help Nobunaga up, Pakunoda was crawling toward the unconscious Omokage and Bonolenov, and Franklin was embedded in a wall, his fate unknown.

As for Mores-

He was long gone.

The crafty bastard had taken advantage of the chaos and explosion to flee the scene entirely.

Leo drew a deep breath, suppressing the weakness and searing pain within his body.

He wanted nothing more than to kill these Spiders on the spot, but there wasn't enough time, and Hisoka was still interfering.

If Chrollo returned now, he would be in danger. Once his ability ended, he would be a lamb to the slaughter.

Time was running out. He had to leave immediately.

He turned to look at the struggling members of the Phantom Troupe, his voice hoarse but clear as it carried down the deathly silent street.

"You're not even worthy of dying by my hand."

He paused, then spoke each word distinctly.

"From now on, wherever I appear, you're not allowed to show your faces."

The night wind stirred his tattered hem and lifted the sweat-soaked black hair from his forehead.

"Because that place-"

Leo turned and strode in the direction Mores had fled.

"-is a Spider Exclusion Zone."

As his words faded, his figure vanished into the darkness at the end of the street.

He left behind a devastated battlefield and a group of grievously wounded Spiders.

And, in the distance, the red-haired clown's ever more excited smile.