"Rental complete. Please return the borrowed Nen within three days. If it's overdue, it will be forcibly collected!"
The Rental Devil suddenly appeared beside Ronin and gave its reminder without any warning.
Ronin frowned slightly.
This really wasn't a good time.
On the other side, however, the Troupe member's eyes lit up. Several doubts he hadn't been able to figure out before suddenly clicked into place.
But just as he was sorting everything out, a figure abruptly appeared behind him.
She was wearing a sharp black women's suit with tailored pants, paired with short-heeled red-soled leather shoes. Those well-proportioned, slender hands—hands that Ronin always couldn't help but glance at a few extra times—were now clenched into fists as she drove a punch straight toward the Troupe member's back!
It was Milia!
Boom!
The punch landed—but not on his back. Instead, it slammed into the arm he hastily raised while turning around to block.
The tremendous force sent him crashing into the wall of the corridor.
"Go!"
Without wasting time on explanations, Milia pressed forward to continue her attack, shouting loudly to Ronin as she did.
Ronin hesitated for a split second. Then his speed exploded as he moved together with his shadow clone, shouting at the same time, "Watch out for the antenna!"
The Troupe member kept blocking Milia's attacks, but most of his attention was focused on Ronin.
That line-shaped devil that had appeared earlier must have been deliberate—meant to distract him so they could ambush him.
And now, hearing Ronin shout that warning, he confirmed another suspicion.
Back at the airship terminal, Ronin probably hadn't noticed anything strange about the police officer himself—but rather, the antenna on him!
But how had he done it? Had his intel leaked ahead of time? Was it discovered when his clansmen were slaughtered?
Or was it because of those unusual eyes?
The woman in front of him was decent in close combat, but not enough to truly threaten him. And with Ronin's warning, the chances of him planting the antenna on her had dropped significantly.
More importantly, her appearance gave Ronin a much better chance to escape. Now, instead of chasing, he had to consider whether it was worth going all in to stop them.
Machi and the others still hadn't appeared at the entrance, which meant something had gone wrong in the arena.
He also noticed the movements of Ronin's clone—the guy looked ready to activate his ability at any moment, clearly wary of him in other ways as well.
On top of that, he could vaguely sense eyes watching him from outside the corridor.
He just couldn't tell who it was.
What he could tell was that Ronin had prepared far more than they expected. Being able to spare people to hold off Machi and Franklin meant he probably knew their plan in advance.
If no outside force—another member—broke through Ronin's setup, then even if he acted now, it would be meaningless.
The antenna in his hand wavered.
As Ronin ran past him at close range, he didn't choose to stab the antenna into his own body.
He even deliberately pulled back, ending his entanglement with Milia.
That choice surprised Ronin. He had expected the man to switch into automatic mode and fight to the death.
Ronin and his shadow clone had already been prepared to unleash ninjutsu at any moment. His eyes were locked onto the Troupe member's, ready to cast genjutsu the instant their gazes met.
Seeing the other side back off on their own, Ronin let out a subtle sigh of relief.
Even though he still had cards left to play, not having to use them was always better.
The shadow clone stayed behind to cover their retreat as Ronin and Milia quickly withdrew from the corridor.
"If I talk to you, can the real body hear it?" the Troupe member said calmly, without moving.
His words were full of probing intent, and he was calculating silently as he spoke.
The shadow clone didn't answer. One minute later, it vanished without warning.
At that moment, Machi's figure appeared in the corridor.
"Good. You're okay," Machi said, letting out a small sigh of relief. "That kid Ronin… did he really only start learning Nen a little over a month ago?"
She couldn't help but doubt it.
What Ronin had shown on the arena floor far exceeded her expectations.
Even though she'd already heard about his abilities from the others, she'd still been skeptical until she saw it with her own eyes.
Now that she had, her shock was impossible to hide.
She'd seen Nen users who could turn aura into flames—but none to such an outrageous degree.
The fire that engulfed the entire arena was downright terrifying.
"How's Uvogin?" the Troupe member asked, not answering her question—effectively confirming it.
"Very bad. One arm is definitely gone. Even if he survives, whether he'll be able to fight normally is another matter. The burns are just too severe."
Machi specialized in mortuary makeup, but she also had deep knowledge of the human body and injuries.
When Nobunaga brought Uvogin to her, she'd already made her assessment from a single look at his unconscious body.
"First, the surveillance room. Then we regroup," the Troupe member said.
He wanted to take the footage of today's arena fight for further analysis. That opponent was dangerous.
Especially since the Troupe had slaughtered his entire clan—there was no way to resolve that hatred. It was a fight to the death.
For now, they were still the ones hunting him.
But he had a feeling that wouldn't last much longer.
Ronin's growth potential and the sheer strangeness of his abilities made him feel an intense sense of pressure and threat.
They had to eliminate him as early as possible.
But when they reached the surveillance room, he discovered that all footage related to the match in Arena 227 had already been taken.
"It was that woman!" he realized instantly.
He'd already seen photos of Milia and knew she was Ronin's top agent.
The arena's advertisements, posters, and even the clear bias from referees and commentators all pointed to one thing—Milia wielded considerable influence in Heaven's Arena.
Now it seemed his judgment had been spot on.
---
"I thought you'd head to Molding City first," Ronin said after bringing Milia back to his room on the 188th floor.
This place hadn't been exposed yet.
When he left the arena on the 227th floor, he'd already sent messages to Adley and the mercenaries.
There was no need for them to meet again. Once the mission was complete, the payment would be transferred directly into their account.
Ronin had also kept their contact info—if needed, he could hire them again at a high price.
Seventeen billion Jenny for a single protection-and-deterrence job wasn't something just anyone could afford.
But in Ronin's eyes, Nen users capable of holding off members of the Phantom Troupe were absolutely worth it. In fact, he doubted he'd be able to hire them again for the same price.
"Oh, I forgot to tell you," Milia said casually, as if it were nothing important. "Only if I'm present can you return the borrowed Nen early after using Rental Devil. Otherwise, you'll have to wait until the rental period hits the critical point, when the Rental Devil determines you've exhausted your aura and forcibly collects it."
Seeing how calm Ronin looked, Milia quickly understood. "You already guessed, didn't you?"
"More or less. Mostly intuition," Ronin replied.
After borrowing Nen, he'd already considered this possibility. That was one of the reasons he hadn't finished off Uvogin and fled immediately.
As always, compared to the risk, the benefits of borrowing Milia's Nen were far greater.
So even knowing this from the start, he still would have chosen to borrow her Nen anyway.