Kurapika had made his move.
From the moment he began fighting Machi, he had gauged her mastery of Nen, as well as her strength.
That was why he had never entertained the slightest thought of killing her.
The Steal Chain on his index finger served as bait, concealing the Middle Finger Chain Jail slipping beneath the soil.
The two chains moved together, overlapping, then separated where they touched the ground. The Steal Chain on his index finger seemed to creep toward Machi under the effects of "In," but its path actually concealed the Middle Finger Chain Jail hidden beneath it completely.
The entire process required tremendous patience, because the Chain Jail on his middle finger could not move too quickly underground. That would arouse Machi's suspicions.
But it could not move too slowly either, because Machi had begun thinking of retreating after Uvogin died.
Qiao Lun's intervention, summoning Toad, had delayed Machi's escape, giving Kurapika the chance to get his chain close to her.
Now, as it suddenly erupted from underground, it carried Kurapika's conviction that he would succeed.
Despite remaining on full alert, Machi had never expected this sudden change-an attack erupting less than two meters away from her.
Nen threads shot from her fingers, attempting to stop the chain from approaching.
Kurapika had seen Machi precisely thread her Nen through the chain links, so naturally, he would not give her that opportunity.
The hurtling Binding Chain began to shake erratically as it advanced. The Nen threads struck the chain but failed to pierce its links.
Still, the force carried by the Nen threads shifted the chain's trajectory slightly. Unable to wrap directly around Machi's waist, it instead wound around the right wrist from which she was releasing her Nen threads.
But that was already enough for Kurapika.
The Binding Chain on his middle finger was a weapon specifically designed for the Phantom Troupe. As long as it bound them, it could forcibly put a Troupe member into a state of "Zetsu."
Of course, creating such a targeted ability required paying a sufficient price.
That price was that if Kurapika ever bound someone who was not a Phantom Troupe member with his middle finger's Binding Chain, he would die on the spot.
But Machi, whom Kurapika was fighting now, was a genuine Phantom Troupe member.
So as the chain wound upward, Machi felt all the aura at the places it touched retreat into her body.
Machi's heart tightened, and she instantly understood exactly what had happened.
She jerked the fingers of her left hand, snapping every Nen thread connected to them. But as they broke, new Nen threads shot out and wrapped around her right arm!
Machi's decisiveness caught Kurapika off guard. The Nen threads around her right arm abruptly tightened.
Before the chain could reach the threads, they had already severed Machi's arm, sending it falling toward the ground.
But Qiao Lun saw clearly that after severing her arm, Machi's Nen threads kept moving, wrapping around the severed limb.
From the look of it, Machi clearly did not intend to abandon her right arm. She was using its severance to escape being fully bound by the chain.
After all, with Machi's ability, she only needed to take the severed arm with her, and she could quickly stitch it back on with her Nen threads.
It was quite a clever plan.
But neither Qiao Lun nor Kurapika was a fool.
Kurapika was only briefly surprised by Machi's actions. A moment later, the chain wrapped around her arm tightened.
At that moment, Machi's expression finally changed.
But before she could do anything, a giant wolf had already lunged at the spot where the Nen threads and chain were struggling against each other, slamming a paw down on Machi's severed arm.
The arm, already mangled beyond recognition by the chain and Nen threads, was smashed into a puddle of pulp on the ground under the Black Divine Dogs' powerful blow.
"No!" Machi screamed, but it was already too late.
Just as Qiao Lun was preparing to press his advantage, however, he suddenly heard a warning howl from the White Divine Dogs.
The White Divine Dogs had an astonishing sense of smell. A warning howl now could mean only one thing: someone was approaching their position at tremendous speed.
Members of the Phantom Troupe!
Two short howls rang out, indicating that two people were coming.
Should I keep fighting?
Repeated use of the Ten Shadows Cursed Technique, especially summoning Round Deer, had consumed a considerable amount of Qiao Lun's cursed energy.
He did not know exactly who was approaching, but the chances of joining forces with Kurapika to finish off all two and a half Troupe members were extremely slim.
Yet abandoning the pursuit of Machi like this, allowing her to bring back information about him and Kurapika, was not a good choice either.
Qiao Lun made his decision in an instant.
Machi had to die, and she had to die before the Troupe members arrived.
That left him only one chance. If he could not kill Machi in a single strike, he would have to prepare to face the Troupe's frenzied retaliation afterward.
"Interesting." A smile curled Qiao Lun's lips.
With the Ten Shadows Technique, Qiao Lun could simply turn himself into a suicide bomber if necessary. However many came, they would all have to die with him, so he had nothing to fear.
Toad disappeared, and Nue reappeared, grabbing Qiao Lun and taking to the air. He did not look as though he was preparing to continue attacking Machi. Instead, as the Divine Dogs lunging at her vanished as well, his actions looked very much like those of someone frightened and preparing to flee.
Combined with the giant wolf's howls, the same thought arose in both Machi's and Kurapika's minds.
Something unexpected had happened!
And this unexpected development favored Machi.
There was only one possibility: more Troupe members were approaching, and there were quite a few of them.
Kurapika felt reluctant to give up.
With just a few more minutes, even without Qiao Lun's help, he was absolutely confident he could finish Machi off here in the wilderness.
But now, he had to consider withdrawing for the time being.
Because his fight with Machi and his observations of Uvogin had both made one thing clear to him.
He was confident he could defeat any single member of the Phantom Troupe in a one-on-one fight, but against two, he would certainly lose.
So he, too, had to leave as soon as possible.
Unlike Kurapika, Machi formed a new idea in response to Qiao Lun's actions.
The man who killed Uvogin could rely on his mobility to leave, but what about the chain user?
He was a threat as well. That chain seemed to be a product of Conjuration specifically created to target Troupe members.
If
she could not eliminate him here, there was no telling how much trouble he would stir up in the future.
So what Machi needed to do now was keep track of the chain-wielding brat while waiting for reinforcements.
But both Machi and Kurapika were wrong.
When Nue had climbed over a hundred meters into the air, Qiao Lun dismissed it.
As Nue vanished, he began falling toward the ground from high above. But as he fell, Qiao Lun held his right hand underneath, with his index and little fingers raised, his middle and ring fingers bent downward and pressed together, and his thumb naturally tucked beneath them. He curled his left hand into a claw and laid it over the back of his right hand, enclosing its upper half.
Under the moonlight, the shadow formed by his hands fell toward the ground in the shape of a giant elephant's head.