Max Elephant!
It was a massive energy drain among the Ten Shadows Technique's summons, and a heavy frontline combat Shikigami.
Megumi Fushiguro could summon Max Elephant in midair because he had Domain Expansion: Chimera Shadow Garden.
Qiao Lun did not, so to execute this attack from above, he could only have Nue carry him high into the air, then summon it through his shadow.
His enormous reserves of Cursed Energy and superb control over it made the Max Elephant he summoned weigh over five tons.
Machi was the first to notice something wrong.
A whistling sound came from high above. Although she had concluded that Qiao Lun had been trying to escape earlier, Machi still maintained a basic level of vigilance.
After all, when he had fought Uvogin earlier, he had made that strange bird unleash a lightning-type attack.
Now that he was returning to the battlefield, he was probably hoping to end the fight quickly or abduct her.
But his plans were destined to fail.
Since she was on her guard, Machi, who had already intended to hold her ground and wait for the others, had also strung Nen threads overhead.
If Qiao Lun dared to return on that bird, she might not be able to capture him, but she was confident she could ensure the bird never made it back.
Yet when Machi looked up, all the composure she had maintained shattered.
What filled her vision was not the giant bird wreathed in lightning, but the pink belly of an enormous elephant!
Why was there an elephant in the sky?
Snap!
Like the taut strings of Machi's heart, her Nen threads could not withstand the giant elephant. The instant contact occurred, they all snapped.
"No!"
Machi raised her hand and tugged on her Nen threads, pulling herself to one side in an attempt to escape the area where Max Elephant would land.
But she was too slow!
Boom!
The snapping Nen threads had bought her barely any time. Amid an earth-shaking roar, Max Elephant slammed down onto Machi's position.
Max Elephant began to disappear. Qiao Lun leaped off its back, and when he landed on the ruined ground, all he saw was less than a third of Machi's upper body.
That fragment of her corpse was what her desperate use of Nen threads had preserved at the final critical moment.
The remaining two-thirds had long since become a puddle of pulp mixed with clothing.
Her breathing had ceased. Only copious blood spilled from her mouth and nose.
Machi's head tilted slightly to one side. Her eyes, opened so wide they seemed about to bulge out of their sockets, remained fixed on Qiao Lun, but there was no longer any light in them.
The shadow on the ground swallowed not only Max Elephant, but the remaining portion of Machi's corpse as well.
As the dust settled, only deathly silence remained across the wilderness.
Kurapika stared at Qiao Lun in shock. Such an inhuman attack and way of handling things had shaken him considerably.
"Let's get out of here. I don't want to keep fighting." As Qiao Lun spoke, the enormous Nue sprang from his shadow.
After swinging himself onto its back, Qiao Lun held out his hand to Kurapika.
A more complicated look entered Kurapika's eyes, but he still took Qiao Lun's hand.
Once Kurapika was on its back, Nue spread its wings and skimmed swiftly over the ground into the distance. Only after flying several hundred meters did it abruptly begin climbing.
The moment Max Elephant struck the ground, Feitan and Nobunaga both stopped running.
They turned toward the explosive roar, a trace of worry appearing in both their eyes, then turned and accelerated together.
But when they reached the enormous crater Max Elephant had left, all they could see was half of Machi's corpse, crushed to pulp.
And from the look of it, that had only been left behind because it could not be taken away.
"Damn it!" Feitan's eyes were slightly red, and his voice held endless coldness.
Machi and Uvogin had probably both been killed, and their bodies had even been taken away.
They could infer as much from the traces of battle nearby.
"There were probably two attackers. One could hide in shadows and summon Nen beasts. The other seems to have used chains as a weapon." Nobunaga carefully examined the traces of battle.
He found not only giant wolf paw prints, but also marks left by chains on the ground.
"They probably left on that big bird." Feitan looked up at the sky, but he could not find so much as a dark silhouette in the night.
"No matter who they are, I'll find them and kill them!" An unprecedented sharpness blazed in Nobunaga's dead-fish eyes.
Although he always bickered with Uvogin in the Phantom Troupe, he considered Uvogin the person he got along with best!
The two had fought side by side more times than they could count. Uvogin was a companion he could trust with his life.
Now that Uvogin had disappeared and Machi had died horribly, Nobunaga had already sentenced whoever had done this to death.
Although their deaths were partly due to their own inferior skills, Nobunaga would find neither peace of mind nor satisfaction until he killed their opponents.
Feitan's thoughts differed somewhat from Nobunaga's.
Although Machi and Uvogin had grown up with him, the traces of battle suggested that they had been defeated head-on in a two-on-two fight.
In that case, it was hard to blame their opponents.
Judging by the combat strength and nature of the abilities their opponents had displayed, recruiting them into the Phantom Troupe according to the leader's original plan was not out of the question, if possible.
Of course, that was only if they really were strong and their ideals did not conflict with the Phantom Troupe's. Only then would he give them a chance to live.
"Let's head back first!" the rational Feitan said.
Qiao Lun's high mobility meant that continuing the pursuit would leave them running around like headless chickens.
They were better off reporting what had happened here to the leader before deciding their next move.
After returning to the city, Qiao Lun had Nue land on the rooftop of a building.
Looking down from there, they could see the cityscape still brilliantly lit beneath the night sky.
"You killed two members of the Phantom Troupe. They won't let you off easily," Kurapika said as he gazed at the night view.
"I know." Qiao Lun looked unconcerned. "Even if I hadn't killed them, someone in the Phantom Troupe already had their eye on me, so it makes no difference whether I killed them or not."
"Who exactly are you?" Kurapika looked seriously at Qiao Lun.
He could not quite figure Qiao Lun out.
The man had powerful abilities, and his actions carried an air of utter disregard for consequences.
Qiao Lun sounded a little helpless. "I already introduced myself. Qiao Lun, a tourist. Getting dragged into this today was a complete accident."
He was not lying.
Even now, he could not explain exactly how he had crossed over. He had simply ended up here somehow.
Naturally, Kurapika did not believe Qiao Lun's explanation, but he did not press him further.
"What are you planning to do next, then? Are you going to keep going after the Phantom Troupe?" Kurapika felt conflicted.
He actually wanted to take revenge with his own hands.
But in today's battle, he had played only a supporting role.
Still, he knew that the Phantom Troupe would never let Qiao Lun off easily now, so the two of them could be considered on the same side.
"Yes." Qiao Lun looked certain.
After he had killed two Phantom Troupe members in succession, the intelligence networks in this world would give the Phantom Troupe countless ways to find him.
So hiding was not the best choice. Since he had offended them, the best approach was to use the Phantom Troupe as a stepping stone and wipe them out.