Chapter 202: The Summoned Nen Beast
With Kurapika accounting for nearly every variable, Ronin's job was simple: follow the script and find the Third Prince.
Kurapika had done his homework well. He handed Ronin a slip of paper with a precise time and location. Ronin was genuinely impressed—he wondered exactly how Kurapika had navigated Kakin's information blackout to gather such granular data on the royal schedule.
Third Prince Zhang Lei had seen the news of Tserriednich's assassination attempt early that morning. He hadn't taken it seriously. If anything, he was disappointed the "assassin" hadn't finished the job.
As for the 100 million Jenny bounty? Zhang Lei viewed it as a direct insult to the Fourth Prince. Offering such a paltry sum for the head of a Royal Prince was essentially King Nasubi telling the world that Tserriednich's life was worth pocket change.
Zhang Lei stepped into his armored luxury sedan. Today, he was scheduled to attend a university anniversary gala.
He had no idea that as his car slowly pulled away from the curb, Ronin was already in position on a nearby rooftop.
Ronin formed a seal: Shadow Clone Jutsu.
The clone used Transformation Jutsu to adopt the Deidara persona and waited. He didn't jump immediately. First, a thunderous explosion rocked the street below—a distraction Ronin had set up to stop the convoy.
As tires screeched and the convoy ground to a halt, several figures blurred out of the escort vehicles.
The Shadow Clone scanned the group. Every single one was a Nen user.
As the clone's gaze swept over them, one of the guards—who wasn't in a combat stance but was maintaining a steady, wide-radius Ten—snapped his head up. His eyes locked onto the "Deidara" figure on the roof.
The clone's expression grew serious. Same ability.
The guard possessed the exact same "Detection through Observation" Hatsu as the one protecting Tserriednich.
This confirmed Kurapika's hypothesis: the Kakin Empire had standardized its royal security. It also implied that the Xi-Yu Family, the Mafia syndicate associated with the Third Prince, was just as much under the King's thumb as the others.
The "Underworld Emperors" of Kakin were all "Tier-2" royals—illegitimate children marked at birth with scars and forbidden from ever appearing in public. To be allowed to live was the King's "mercy"; to serve as his shadow-enforcers was their only purpose.
Do I keep probing? Ronin wondered, standing behind his clone.
The Shadow Clone took a step off the ledge. It was a simple movement, but it sent him plummeting toward the street like a stone.
The guard below reacted instantly.
Unlike the guard Ronin encountered at the hotel, this man didn't wait to be hit. He drove a reinforced fist directly into his own chest, striking his heart.
As the clone fell, the guard coughed up a massive fountain of blood.
The damage he inflicted on himself was catastrophic—far worse than the Nukite Ronin had used on the previous guard. But as the blood hit the air, Ronin felt a spike of danger that made his skin crawl.
High-tier threat detected.
The clone halted his descent mid-air using the Ultralight-Weight Rock Technique.
Below him, a colossal, spectral beast head—resembling a demonic hound with rows of jagged, crystalline teeth—erupted from the pavement. It lunged upward, its maw wide enough to swallow a car, snapping at the clone.
The clone hung suspended in the air. The beast's jaws snapped shut exactly thirty centimeters below his boots.
In that heartbeat, the clone completed a seal.
He didn't fire at the beast. He had realized the truth: This wasn't a biological monster. It was a Nen Beast.
It shared the same "flavor" of aura as the giant hand that had attacked him at the hotel. More importantly, the cost of summoning this entity was the user's own life force.
So that's the trick, Ronin realized. Standardized Hatsu: Life-Sacrifice Summoning.
The previous guard's "Absolute Defense" had been a Vow. This guard's Hatsu was an "Offensive Interception." By burning his life, he could manifest a guardian of incredible power to erase any threat to the Prince.
The key to ending the Hatsu was the summoner.
The clone ignored the snapping beast and aimed his next attack directly at Zhang Lei's car.
Wind Style: Vacuum Serial Waves!
He exhaled a massive volume of compressed air, which split into dozens of high-frequency, rotating wind blades that shredded the air as they raced toward the convoy.
This B-Rank jutsu was designed for multi-target destruction.
The Nen Beast, unable to reach the clone in the sky, reacted to the threat against its secondary target. The demonic hound turned its head, its blood-red eyes glowing with a predatory light, and leaped into the path of the wind blades.
It intended to act as a human—or rather, a beastly—shield.
Squelch! Squelch!
The wind blades struck the Nen Beast. Blood sprayed in every direction as the ethereal flesh was torn apart. Yet, the beast showed no pain. It simply absorbed the impact until a final, massive wind blade sliced through its skull.
The beast let out a final, silent roar and dissolved into black smoke.
At that exact moment, the guard who had summoned it suffered a massive internal rupture. Blood erupted from every pore of his body. He shriveled into a desiccated husk, falling to the ground like a crumpled piece of paper.
Damage transfer?
It was a total-extraction contract. The guard's life was the fuel, and any damage the beast sustained was reflected back onto the host until the fuel was spent.
It was a perfect suicide-squad mechanic. In a standard trade, this ability could neutralize an Emitter or Enhancer of much higher rank.
But against a ninja who could fly and spam long-range AoE, the cost-benefit was disastrous for the Empire.
The clone watched the guard die with a mix of pity and fascination. Kakin's 'Conditions and Vows' are as brutal as they are efficient.
Chakra gathered in the clone's throat again.
He didn't switch elements. He stuck with Wind, but he upped the scale.
Wind Style: Giant Vacuum Blast!
☆☆☆
-> 30 Advanced chapters Now Available on Patreon!!
-> https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Inkshaper
(Just remove the hyphen (-) to access patreon normally)
If you like this novel please consider leaving a review that's help the story a lot Thank you