The Phantom Troupe Suffered Heavy Losses, Leo Escaped Unscathed

Leo's figure vanished into the night at the end of the street.

Hisoka slowly rose from the rubble and dusted off the dirt on his tattered coat hem.

He looked in the direction Leo had disappeared, and the flame of desire that had briefly been suppressed by the battle now blazed fiercely in his eyes once more, nearly burning away his reason!

"Too... too captivating!"

His desire to fight had been completely stirred by Leo. His body trembled faintly with extreme excitement, and his fingertips spasmed uncontrollably.

He licked his dry lips, his voice shaking with barely restrained tremors.

"Mmm~ The way you are now... I simply can't get enough of you!"

Hisoka closed his eyes and took a deep breath, as though savoring every detail of that brief exchange—the strength and speed of Leo's fists, that pure aesthetic of violence.

"I want to... right here... right now... fight you!"

He opened his eyes, his golden pupils narrowing into dangerous slits.

"But..."

Hisoka tilted his head, a deranged yet exceptionally clear-headed smile appearing on his face.

"It looks like you're nearly at your limit too~ If I kill you now, that would be such a waste!"

Back when Leo had activated "Instant" and faced many opponents alone, Hisoka had already arrived at the scene and watched from the rooftop of a nearby building.

When Leo overwhelmed the Phantom Troupe members, Hisoka could no longer restrain himself and eagerly revealed himself to attack.

But after exchanging only a few moves, he keenly sensed that Leo was already in poor condition—his breathing had begun to grow erratic, and his aura fluctuations were unstable. It was clearly the backlash of some sort of explosive ability.

Hisoka only wanted to fight Leo one-on-one when Leo was at his absolute best.

The pleasure of completely crushing a ripe fruit and tasting its sweet juice was the ultimate sensation he pursued.

He turned and looked at the Phantom Troupe members struggling to get back on their feet.

Amid the distant rubble, the battered Machi helped the pale, weak Nobunaga up.

Pakunoda laboriously pulled Bonolenov, who was still bleeding profusely, out of the ruins and checked his vital signs.

When Omokage regained consciousness, he staggered to his feet and looked around, only to find that Leo had long since left.

A wave of humiliation surged through him—Leo had choked him unconscious, then kicked him away. He had not even gotten the chance to fight him head-on. It was utterly disgraceful!

"Damn it... How dare he look down on me!"

Because Leo had choked him unconscious before kicking him away, he had conveniently avoided the subsequent blast from Super Destruction Punch. Among the Phantom Troupe, he was the least injured.

Hisoka looked at the relatively healthy Omokage and revealed a satisfied smile.

"Mmm—You'll do~"

He walked toward Omokage in the distance with an alluring gait, his waist swaying lightly as if he were strutting down a runway.

"Your death... will soothe my excited heart~"

Hearing the voice, Omokage abruptly turned his head.

The instant he saw Hisoka walking toward him, his face darkened.

"You want to kill me too?"

Omokage gritted his teeth, a vicious glint flashing through his eyes.

"Then all of you can die!"

His ability activated! Three dolls instantly emerged from the shadows beside him—Uvogin, his muscles bulging; Phinks, wearing a pharaoh's headdress; and Nobunaga, gripping a sword.

The three dolls were lifelike. Their eye sockets were hollow, yet they gave off traces of the aura of their originals.

Hisoka's golden eyes were now like those of a venomous snake that had spotted its prey.

Omokage roared.

"Doll Catcher!"

The dolls of Uvogin, Phinks, and Nobunaga instantly transformed into three dense masses of aura that poured into his body like liquid!

Doll Catcher—once activated, this ability merged three dolls with Omokage himself, allowing him to use the dolls' Nen abilities.

Hisoka's eyes flashed with intense excitement as he fixed his gaze on Omokage, whose aura had surged dramatically.

"Not bad... This... is how I can truly enjoy myself!"

Before his words had even faded, a playing card was already clamped between his fingers. His body became a crimson afterimage as he charged at Omokage!

Rather than retreating, Omokage advanced. His right fist, infused with part of Uvogin's strength, smashed forward with a thunderous blow, its force tearing through the air!

The playing card collided with his fist!

Clang—!

The piercing sound of metal striking metal rang out!

Hisoka's playing card was knocked away, but he smoothly twisted aside, and another card in his left hand slashed toward Omokage's throat.

Omokage raised his left arm—it was the rudimentary form of Phinks's ability, "Ripper Cyclotron." His arm spun, stirring up a spiraling airflow that knocked the card aside.

The two instantly became entangled in combat!

Omokage's attacks were savage and chaotic. He mixed Uvogin's immense strength, Phinks's rotations, and the rudimentary form of Nobunaga's swordsmanship. Though not coordinated enough, their power was astonishing.

Hisoka, meanwhile, weaved nimbly through the barrage. Playing cards fluttered between his fingers like butterflies, every attack tricky and lethal.

A tremor came from the distant pile of rubble.

Franklin pushed away the stones crushing him and struggled out of the ruins. His waist was sunken inward, and he was clearly badly injured.

Machi, Nobunaga, and Pakunoda could only watch helplessly as Hisoka and Omokage fought viciously in the distance.

They did not intervene.

It was not that they did not want to—they could not. Every one of them was badly hurt, and even standing upright was difficult.

Pakunoda gritted her teeth and spoke in a low voice.

"That idiot Omokage... Still trying to show off at a time like this..."

Machi said nothing. She merely used Nen threads to roughly treat the most severe wounds on Nobunaga and Bonolenov.

Her gaze occasionally flicked toward the battle between Hisoka and Omokage, her expression complicated.

Franklin walked over to them and said in a deep voice.

"Wait for the leader to return first."

No one objected.

At the same time, three blocks away from Xilirike Auction House.

Leo sprinted at top speed, quickly putting distance between himself and the battlefield.

The instant the "Instant" ability ended completely, an overwhelming wave of weakness washed over him!

"Urgh..."

He groaned and nearly collapsed to his knees.

Every muscle in his body ached as though it were tearing apart, and every bone protested.

His limbs were heavy and powerless, as if filled with lead.

His vision began to blur, his ears buzzed, and even breathing became difficult.

Leo braced himself against the wall beside him and gasped for breath, cold sweat soaking his damaged clothes.

"Looks like... I still overestimated my current limits."

He smiled bitterly as he felt the nearly depleted aura within him and his physically overburdened body.

"The burden brought by the ability's improvement... exceeded my expectations."

After resting for a moment, waiting until his breathing had steadied somewhat and his vision had cleared again, Leo continued on his way.

His pace was much slower than before, and every step felt as though he were walking on cotton.

At that moment, the tattoo on the back of his hand gave off a warm sensation.

[Level: 44 (2%) → (36%)]

Leo was immediately surprised. Someone had actually died. He wondered which unlucky Phantom Troupe member had died beneath his Super Destruction Punch.

He then crossed a street, and a familiar voice suddenly called out from the alley ahead.

"Master, over here!"

Sophia ran out of the shadows, her face filled with worry.

She looked Leo over from head to toe, taking in his disheveled state, and her eyes instantly reddened.

"Master, are you all right?"

Leo waved his hand and forced out a smile.

"I'm fine. Just exhausted."

Only then did Sophia let out a breath of relief, though the concern in her eyes did not completely fade.

She quickly said, "Master, I caught that Mores."

Leo raised an eyebrow.

Sophia continued explaining.

"I saw him while he was running away. I noticed he was badly injured, so I followed him the whole way. When he let his guard down, I ambushed him. He's unconscious now. I left him in the corner up ahead."

Leo was somewhat surprised.

He had thought Mores had successfully escaped—the sly man had quietly retreated during the melee, then completely vanished amid the chaos caused by the Super Destruction Punch explosion.

He had not expected Sophia to intercept him.

"Not bad. Well done."

Leo patted Sophia on the shoulder, and this time, his smile was far more genuine.

"Bring him with us. We'll leave by airship immediately."

The two made their way deeper into the alley.

Sophia had tied Mores up securely, stuffed a cloth into his mouth, and left him unconscious.

He had wounds all over his body. The worst was a slash across his left shoulder, deep enough to expose bone—it had likely been left by Nobunaga.

Sophia easily picked Mores up while Leo followed behind her.

Though his body was weak, he was not yet at the point of needing support.

They took backstreets to avoid the main roads and arrived at a small airport on the outskirts of Kirok City half an hour later.

The Hunter Association's dedicated airship had been waiting for some time.

After boarding, Leo practically collapsed into a seat. Sophia locked Mores inside an isolation compartment, then returned to the passenger cabin.

The airship's engines started, and it slowly rose into the air.

Through the window, they could see Kirok City's nightscape below—the area around Xilirike Auction House was still brightly lit, but faint smoke and dust could be seen filling that neighborhood.

As Sophia disinfected and bandaged the wound on Leo's arm, she asked softly.

"Master, the Phantom Troupe..."

"They were dealt a heavy blow."

Leo closed his eyes.

"They shouldn't be able to find us anytime soon."

Leo smiled but said nothing else.

The airship passed through the clouds, flying toward Hunter Association headquarters.

The tattoo on the back of his hand glowed faintly in the dim cabin.

Though he had only killed one person in tonight's battle, he had gained far more than that.

Facing the Phantom Troupe head-on, clashing with Hisoka, breaking through his own limits in desperate circumstances—those experiences were more precious than mere life energy.

Leo closed his eyes and began to regulate his breathing to recover.

And somewhere beyond his knowledge, amid the ruins of Kirok City, Hisoka had just twisted 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, an even fiercer light gleaming in his eyes.

"But that's all right... I'll wait for you~"

"I'll wait until the day you are fully ripe... Then I'll pluck you myself."

His laughter echoed through the ruins, eerie and delighted.

At that moment, Chrollo also returned to the auction house. When he saw the laughing Hisoka and the Phantom Troupe members amid the nearby rubble, his eyes instantly turned incomparably cold!