Chapter 39: Shalnark's Choice
"Rental Complete. Please return the borrowed Nen within three days. If overdue, forced collection will initiate!"
The Rental Demon appeared abruptly beside Ronin, delivering its contractual reminder.
Ronin frowned slightly.
This timing isn't great.
Meanwhile, Shalnark's eyes lit up. He had finally pieced together the puzzle of Ronin's fluctuating power.
But just as he connected the dots, a figure appeared behind him.
Dressed in a sharp black pantsuit with red-soled heels, Miria launched an attack. Her elegant, slender hand—the one Ronin often admired—was clenched into a fist, aiming straight for Shalnark's heart.
Bam!
The punch connected, but Shalnark managed to turn at the last second, blocking the strike with his forearm.
The force slammed him into the tunnel wall.
"Go!"
Without wasting time explaining, Miria seized the initiative, pressing her attack against Shalnark while shouting at Ronin.
Ronin hesitated for a split second, then sprinted forward with his Shadow Clone. "Watch out for the antenna!" he yelled back.
Shalnark, defending against Miria's flurry of blows, kept his eyes fixed on Ronin.
The sudden appearance of the cartoon demon was clearly a distraction meant to cover the ambush.
Hearing Ronin's warning confirmed his suspicion: This kid really did spot the antenna on the policeman at the airport.
How? Was my intel leaked? Did he learn about my ability during the Kurta massacre?
Or... is it those eyes?
The woman fighting him was skilled, but not enough to threaten his life. However, with Ronin warning her, Shalnark's chance of successfully planting an antenna on her dropped significantly.
Furthermore, her intervention gave Ronin the perfect escape route. Shalnark now had to decide whether to gamble everything on an interception.
Machi and the others still hadn't appeared at the tunnel entrance, meaning something unexpected had happened in the arena.
Shalnark also noticed Ronin's clone keeping its hands ready to weave signs, clearly prepared to counterattack.
More concerning was the sensation of being watched from outside the tunnel.
He couldn't pinpoint who it was, but the feeling of being in someone's crosshairs was palpable.
Ronin prepared more thoroughly than we did, Shalnark realized. Splitting our forces to block Machi and Franklin means he anticipated our plan.
Without backup, fighting here is meaningless.
Shalnark hesitated, the antenna hovering in his hand.
As Ronin ran past him, Shalnark chose not to stab the antenna into his own body. He didn't activate Autopilot.
Instead, he actively disengaged from Miria, creating distance and ending the skirmish.
His retreat surprised Ronin. He had fully expected Shalnark to go berserk.
Ronin and his clone were ready to unleash fire jutsu, and his eyes were locked on Shalnark's, ready to cast Genjutsu the moment they made eye contact.
Seeing Shalnark back down was a relief. Even with countermeasures, fighting an Autopilot Manipulator was risky.
Leaving the Shadow Clone behind as a rearguard, Ronin and Miria sprinted out of the tunnel.
"If I talk to you, will the message reach the main body?" Shalnark asked calmly, staring at the clone.
His tone was probing, his mind calculating.
The Shadow Clone didn't answer. One minute later, it vanished into a puff of smoke.
Just then, Machi appeared in the tunnel.
"Good, you're okay," Machi sighed with relief. "Is that kid really a rookie who just awakened Nen a month ago?"
She was skeptical.
Ronin's performance in the arena exceeded her wildest predictions. Even with prior intel from Shalnark, seeing it firsthand was shocking.
She had seen Transmuters create fire before, but nothing on the scale of engulfing an entire arena. That was terrifying.
"How's Uvogin?" Shalnark asked, ignoring her question. His silence was answer enough.
"Bad. Very bad. He's definitely losing an arm. Even if he survives, I don't know if he'll ever fight normally again. The burns are severe," Machi reported grimly.
Though her specialty was stitching corpses, her knowledge of anatomy and injury was expert level. When Nobunaga brought Uvogin to her, she assessed the damage instantly.
"Head to the security room first, then we regroup," Shalnark decided.
He needed the footage of today's fight. Ronin was a formidable enemy.
Especially since the Troupe had wiped out his clan, this feud was unresolvable. It was kill or be killed.
Right now, they were the hunters.
But Shalnark had a sinking feeling that soon, the roles would reverse.
Ronin's growth potential and bizarre abilities were a massive threat.
We need to eliminate him early.
However, when Shalnark arrived at the security room, he found that all footage related to the 227th floor match had already been confiscated.
"That woman!" Shalnark realized instantly.
He had seen Miria's photo. She was Ronin's Golden Agent. The biased commentary, the massive ad campaign—it all pointed to her influence within Heavens Arena.
His assessment was correct. Miria had scrubbed the evidence.
"I thought you would head straight for Mordin City," Ronin said, relaxing in his hidden room on the 188th floor.
This safehouse was still compromised.
Upon leaving the 227th floor, Ronin had texted Usamen and the mercenaries.
No debriefing was needed. The payment would be transferred to their accounts.
He also saved Usamen's number. Hiring him again might cost a fortune—1.7 Billion Jenny for one protection gig was steep—but Usamen was worth every penny for stalling the Phantom Troupe.
Though Ronin suspected he wouldn't get that price again.
"Oh, I forgot to mention," Miria said casually, as if talking about the weather. "You can only return the rented aura early if I am present. Otherwise, you have to wait until the deadline or until the Demon decides you're broke and forcibly extracts it."
"You guessed that already, didn't you?" seeing Ronin's calm expression, Miria smiled.
"Pretty much. Mostly intuition," Ronin admitted.
He had considered this when renting the aura. It was one of the reasons he didn't stay to finish off Uvogin.
If he had killed Uvogin and then had to deal with the Rental Demon draining him dry in front of Shalnark, he would have been dead.
As always, the risk was calculated against the reward. Miria's rental aura gave him the power to survive Uvogin, so he accepted her terms, even the hidden strings attached.
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