The human-faced Spirit was still trapped in the flames. The scorching heat had weakened its aura so much that even its struggles were faint and powerless.
The four newly arrived attackers, after losing sight of Nina and the others as their targets, all began converging toward Ron. Like the human-faced Spirit, these newcomers were also one of its kind. Their aura was of the same type, and their level of strength was no weaker.
Ron swept his gaze around them. "Four..."
To be honest, the situation before him made little sense. This was not his first time encountering Spirit, nor was it the first contract he had accepted to deal with them. In the previous city, he had even been given the chance to face one alone. Even after hearing the truth about them from the Witch of Sound, he had not thought the circumstances would be any different. This was a factional struggle. One side would inevitably win, the other side would lose. Both sides could not coexist. By that reasoning, this city should have been the same. Claude and the other members of the Church could not possibly have allowed the Spirit to roam freely.
But now four of them had come directly to him. Counting the human-faced Spirit, that made five. And the Church's people? It was as if they had vanished. There were only five or six Spirits in the entire city. Could the remaining one or two really tie down all the Church members?
Impossible. The Church would never sit back and allow every Spirit to target him.
"Has something happened in this city?" Ron's eyes flickered with unease.
Inside the ark's core, Nina and the other five were gathered. Some sat in chairs, some leaned against the walls, but none looked in good spirits. The sudden appearance of attackers had made them realize that even though their strength had grown compared to before, it was still not enough. Worse, they had been unable to help Ron.
"Ponzu, can your bees still maintain contact?" Machi asked.
"Yes," Ponzu nodded. "Captain opened a small door leading to the outside. I can connect to my bees out there through it." As she spoke, she materialized her Honeybee Radar. The screen showed the outside situation: one green dot, five red ones.
"Big brother definitely has it under control," Nina said. "If he didn't, he would have come inside already. He never does things without confidence."
Misty slammed her fist against the wall. "I'm still too weak. Otherwise, I could help big brother more."
The others all felt much the same, but Misty felt it the most keenly. Nina, Shizuku, Ponzu, and Elita were all support-oriented fighters, while Misty alone specialized in direct combat. Machi had joined later and had far more life experience and was accustomed to the harshness of reality. However, Misty was more "pure" in her thinking, so she took this to heart.
The four attackers only spared the human-faced Spirit a glance before fixing their eyes entirely on Ron. The next instant, they moved. One figure rushed at him with incredible speed. But before it reached him—
"Rashomon, Susano'o!"
Uchiha Sasuke's form appeared in front of Ron. Dark red light enveloped his body.
Bang!
The two collided. Sasuke staggered back two steps, but his opponent was thrown back over ten. His defense had withstood the attack.
At the same time, Natsu rose high into the air. Flames burned in both hands, then merged into one.
"Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!"
A golden fireball plunged downward, striking an attacker and exploding on impact, transforming the area into a sea of fire.
Ron conjured three Nen bullets.
"Flame Nen Bullet! Lightning Nen Bullet! Frost Nen Bullet!"
The bullets fused—not a two-element fusion as before, but three at once, their power far surpassing the previous attempts. It was like in the world of Naruto: two elements created a Kekkei Genkai, while three created a Kekkei Tōta. Dust Release was the archetype, capable of erasing its targets completely. The effect was similar to Killer Queen's bombs. Aside from extremely rare exceptions, no other Kekkei Genkai compared to Dust Release.
Boom!
The fusion bullet fell. One attacker retreated quickly, unwilling to be struck.
"Lampent, Oil Mist!"
A haze of smog spread out, cloaking the area.
Ron's figure vanished. He had slipped into Sumas's space.
The situation had gone far beyond his expectations. The human-faced Spirit had already been weakened and was about to be finished, but then four more appeared, and he had no intelligence on them. Forcing a fight under such conditions went against his principles. He had no particular reason to kill these Spirit's, unlike his encounter with Oster. With another option available, he would always choose it.
Leaving his Nen beasts outside, Ron entered Sumas's space with his real body, watching the situation from within and weighing his choices. This was the most ideal course of action—and it was also why he had ordered Nina and the others back to base. If he had intended from the start to fight to the end against the Spirits, he would never have pulled them back. Even if not fighting directly, their support abilities could still have influenced the battle.
"Captain."
Nina and the others rushed up as soon as he appeared. Ron pulled out a laptop. On the screen, footage taken by Chii's city surveillance was displayed, multiple feeds fused into one, giving a clear view of the situation outside.
"Sumas, give me the ingredients," Ron ordered.
At once, Sumas transferred a large amount of food supplies over.