Boom!
Three fire dragons blasted straight through the shattered window, pulverizing what little glass remained. Instead of dissipating after bursting out of the room, they suddenly changed direction and chased after Nobunaga, who was plummeting through the air.
But the assault only lasted for a little over ten meters.
The fire dragons collapsed, leaving behind nothing but scorching heat lingering in the air.
Mid-fall, Nobunaga unfastened his belt and wrapped it around the hilt of his sword. Without caring that his open clothes exposed blue underwear decorated with a cartoon elephant, he suddenly flexed his arm and hurled the blade with all his strength.
The sword pierced straight into the wall. The long white cloth belt snapped taut, and under the reinforcement of his En, it didn't tear. Instead, it yanked Nobunaga's entire body violently toward the wall.
Meanwhile, inside the room, an antenna silently crept toward Ronin and stabbed into his lower back.
Ronin turned around. His pitch-black eyes locked onto Shalnark's face—expressionless, impossible to read.
But before Shalnark could press the button on his phone to take control, there was a loud pop—
Ronin exploded into a puff of white smoke and vanished.
Shalnark froze, phone still in his hand.
In the next instant, he leaped backward, retreating from the room that was still radiating heat.
A second antenna appeared in his hand, and he was ready to stab it into himself at a moment's notice.
Only after his first antenna clattered to the floor—without triggering any follow-up attack, without sensing any lingering presence—did Shalnark frown and cautiously move closer to the room again.
At that moment, chaotic footsteps echoed down the hallway. Someone was approaching.
Shalnark swept his gaze across the room. The only person he saw was Nobunaga climbing back in through the window.
Ronin was nowhere to be found.
Shalnark shook his head at Nobunaga and turned to leave quickly.
Nobunaga was stunned. Shalnark failed? That seemed impossible.
With that thought, he hurried after him.
---
At the exact moment Ronin's antenna-pierced body burst into smoke, the real Ronin—on the 188th floor—snapped his eyes open while maintaining Ten.
Sweat ran down his chin and dripped onto the floor.
His mind was flooded with everything his shadow clone had just experienced in Room 2333.
He didn't release Ten. At his current level, Ronin could maintain it for seven minutes—though that was with only half his aura remaining after creating the clone.
Milia's method of calculating aura reminded him strongly of Knuckle's system in the manga.
Using that framework, Ronin estimated that maintaining Ten cost him about 10 aura points per second.
If half his total aura could sustain Ten for seven minutes, then his total aura pool came out to around 8,400 points.
Milia's estimate had been pretty accurate.
But this calculation also revealed something else: Ronin's aura output and efficiency were extremely rough and unrefined.
According to Knuckle's explanation, during combat preparation, aura consumption was only about 1 point per second.
Once actual combat began—and techniques like Ryu, Ten, and Gyo came into play—that consumption multiplied dramatically, landing somewhere between 6 and 10 points per second.
Six points per second was what elite users with near-perfect aura control could manage.
Ten points per second, on the other hand, was what someone like Ronin—whose aura control was still crude—would burn through.
On paper, the difference was only four points per second.
But over time, that gap added up fast.
So for Ronin, it wasn't just about increasing his total aura anymore. He also needed to continuously refine his control.
The clone's dispersal had been fully expected.
After all, it was a "gift" he'd deliberately left behind in Room 2333 for the Phantom Troupe.
During the fight, the clone had also tested the real-world power of Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet, a B-rank ninjutsu. It was a shame it hadn't killed Nobunaga—but forcing him into such an embarrassing state was more than enough for Ronin.
The real problem was how massive the chakra cost was.
A shadow clone split his chakra evenly. Even though the clone had already existed for a while, just fully casting Great Fireball Jutsu and Fire Dragon Flame Bullet had nearly drained it dry.
That alone showed how terrifyingly expensive B-rank techniques were.
Ronin estimated that even at full strength, he could only unleash ninjutsu of that level three or four times at most.
"This is the downside of not having a tailed beast," Ronin thought with a sigh.
That led him to another thought—could a tailed beast be artificially created?
The idea surfaced briefly, but he quickly realized how difficult it would be. It would almost certainly involve extreme vows and restrictions.
For now, he shelved the idea.
At this stage, his priorities were clear: strengthen his fundamentals, increase his aura pool, and develop his own finishing techniques.
When the seven minutes were up, Ronin—drenched in sweat—collapsed flat onto the floor.
After resting and recovering for a bit, he didn't immediately create another shadow clone. Instead, Milia called him to ask if something had gone wrong.
Ronin gave a brief explanation and hung up.
From here on out, Milia probably knew better than him how to handle things.
The attack in the 200th-floor residential area caused a significant stir throughout Heaven's Arena.
Everyone knew fighters pulled dirty tricks behind the scenes, but incidents this loud and destructive were rare.
Before long, the victim's identity was exposed.
It was Ronin—the ultra-hot rising star everyone had been talking about lately.
Not long after stepping off the ring, Uvogin received the same news.
He looked at Nobunaga with open disdain. "If someone's gonna make a move, can't they at least do it cleanly? You didn't kill him, and you caused this huge mess. That's just embarrassing."
Nobunaga was already furious about being ambushed. Getting mocked like this only darkened his expression further.
"Ronin's growth rate is insane," he said stiffly. "Don't be surprised if you end up wiping out in the ring yourself."
The words sounded weak even to his own ears.
Shalnark, meanwhile, had been thinking nonstop ever since they left.
Now he finally spoke up. "The target we attacked was probably a clone—a construct mainly created through Conjuration."
"Transmuted flames and a conjured clone," Nobunaga said. "For a Specialist, that's pretty unusual."
"True," Shalnark agreed. "But that clone has an obvious weakness. Once it's hit, it immediately disperses."
His antenna attack barely did any damage on its own—it was mostly just a prerequisite for activating his ability.
And yet even that was enough to make Ronin explode into smoke.
That made Shalnark seriously question the clone's durability.
Combined with the fact that the clone fought entirely at long range, it made sense. Once someone closed the distance, it was extremely easy to destroy.
All in all, it was a highly practical support-type Nen ability, clearly shaped by vows and restrictions.
It fit Ronin perfectly—endless escape methods, disguises, and misdirection.
He'd just added some solid offensive tools on top of that.