"The lease is complete. Please return the borrowed aura within three days—overdue payments will be forcibly collected!" The Lease Devil suddenly appeared beside Ronin and issued its reminder.
Ronin frowned slightly.
This really wasn't a good time.
On the other side, Shalnark's eyes lit up, and several previously puzzling threads in his mind instantly fell into place.
But just as everything clicked for him, a figure suddenly appeared behind him.
A crisp black women's suit—pants style—paired with red-soled low-heeled leather shoes.
Those well-proportioned, slender hands—hands Ronin always couldn't help staring at whenever he saw them—were clenched into a fist, and the punch drove straight for Shalnark's back!
Milia.
Bang!
The punch landed—though it didn't strike Shalnark's back. Shalnark twisted and barely managed to raise an arm to block.
The sheer force still slammed him into the corridor wall.
"Go!"
No extra explanation. Having seized the initiative, Milia pressed in and continued attacking while shouting at Ronin.
A flicker of hesitation flashed through Ronin's eyes. Then he burst into motion with his shadow clone, calling out loudly, "Watch out for the antenna!"
As Shalnark defended against Milia's attacks, most of his attention stayed on Ronin.
That line-drawing demon that had appeared earlier was probably deliberate—meant to distract him so she could ambush him.
And when he heard Ronin shout that warning, Shalnark became certain of something else.
Back at the airship terminal, Ronin might not have noticed the policeman acting strange—he might have noticed the antenna on the policeman.
But how had he done that?
Had Shalnark's intel leaked ahead of time? Was it discovered during the Kurta massacre?
Or was it…
Those special eyes?
The woman in front of him had decent close-range ability, but not enough to truly threaten him. With Ronin's warning, the chances to stab an antenna into her were also greatly reduced.
And her appearance gave Ronin a far better chance to escape. Now the real question for Shalnark was whether he should go all-in and try to stop them.
Machi and the others hadn't shown up at the corridor entrance for a long time—meaning something unexpected had happened out on the arena floor.
Shalnark also noticed the shadow clone's hands. It looked ready to trigger some kind of ability at any moment—so the clone was clearly on guard against him in other ways too.
On top of that, Shalnark sensed faint lines of sight from outside the corridor, as if someone were watching him.
He couldn't tell who.
But one thing was clear: Ronin had prepared more than they had. The fact that he could spare people to hold off Machi and Franklin meant he'd likely known their plan in advance.
Without outside force—without more Troupe members breaking Ronin's setup—even if Shalnark went all-in now, it would be pointless.
Shalnark hesitated with the antenna in his hand.
When Ronin ran past him, Shalnark chose not to stab the antenna into his own body.
He even backed off deliberately, ending his clash with Milia.
Shalnark's retreat surprised Ronin. Ronin had expected him to enter auto mode and fight to the death.
Ronin and the shadow clone had already prepared to cast jutsu at any moment. Ronin's eyes had been locked on Shalnark's, ready to trigger genjutsu the moment Shalnark looked back.
Now that Shalnark chose to withdraw on his own, Ronin finally let out a small breath of relief.
Even if he still had trump cards, not having to use them was always better.
The shadow clone stayed behind to cover the retreat. Ronin and Milia quickly withdrew from the corridor.
"I can talk to you—will it reach the real body?" Shalnark didn't move, only spoke calmly.
But the question was filled with probing intent, and in his mind he was already calculating.
The shadow clone didn't answer.
And a minute later, it suddenly vanished.
At the same time, Machi appeared in the corridor.
"Good—you're okay," Machi said, letting out a slight sigh of relief. "Is this boy Ronin really someone who's only had Nen for a little over a month?"
Machi couldn't help doubting it.
What Ronin had shown on the ring was far beyond what she expected.
Even before that, she'd heard descriptions of Ronin's abilities from Shalnark and the others, but without seeing it herself, she'd kept some skepticism.
Now that she'd witnessed it directly, her shock was impossible to describe.
She'd seen aura users who could transmute their aura into flames before—but none of them could do something as outrageous as Ronin.
That fire that engulfed the entire ring was simply horrifying.
"How's Uvogin?" Shalnark didn't answer her question—effectively acknowledging it.
"Bad. He's definitely losing an arm. And even if he survives, whether he can fight normally again is another question. The burns are too severe!"
Machi had studied mortuary makeup, but she also understood the body's injuries and structure well. The moment Nobunaga carried Uvogin over, she'd already judged the severity of the wounds.
"First, the surveillance room. Then we go after them," Shalnark said.
He wanted to take today's ring match footage for study.
Ronin was a serious enemy.
After all, the Troupe had slaughtered the boy's entire clan—there was no way to reconcile that hatred. It could only end in mutual destruction.
Right now, they were still hunting Ronin.
But Shalnark felt that wouldn't last long.
Soon, the situation would flip.
Ronin's growth potential and the sheer strangeness of his abilities made Shalnark feel enormous pressure and threat.
They had to eliminate him early.
But when Shalnark reached the surveillance room, he discovered that the footage from Arena 227 had already been taken.
"It was that woman," Shalnark realized instantly.
He'd already seen Milia's photo, so he knew exactly who she was—Ronin's gold-level agent.
All the arena ads, posters, and even the referee and commentator's clear bias had been signaling one thing:
Milia had serious power inside Heavens Arena.
Now it turned out his judgment had been exactly right.
…
"I thought you'd leave for Molding City first," Ronin said. He had already brought Milia back to his room on the 188th floor.
This location hadn't been exposed yet.
The moment he left Arena 227, he'd already texted Adly and the mercenaries.
They didn't need to meet again. The payment would be transferred once the job was complete.
And Ronin kept their phone numbers too—if he needed them again, he could hire them at a high price.
Though paying 1.7 billion jenny for a single job of protection and deterrence… wasn't something just anyone could afford.
But to Ronin, someone capable of stalling Phantom Troupe members was absolutely worth it.
He even felt that next time, hiring them for the same price would probably be impossible.
"Oh, I forgot to remind you," Milia said as if it were nothing. "Only when I'm present can you repay early after borrowing aura through the Lease Devil. Otherwise, you can only wait until the lease reaches the threshold and the Lease Devil judges repayment is difficult—then it will forcibly collect."
Seeing Ronin's calm expression, Milia understood. "You already guessed, didn't you?"
"More or less. Mostly instinct," Ronin replied.
He'd considered it the moment he borrowed her aura—one reason he hadn't rushed to finish off Uvogin before leaving.
Same as always: compared to the risk, borrowing Milia's aura brought him greater benefit.
So even knowing this, he would still borrow Milia's aura first.
~~~
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