Chapter 46: The Final Battle Approaches
“Yes, they’re all dead. Uvogin, Nobunaga, and Shalnark were all killed by this man.”
Machi pulled out a file on Su Xiao, though it only contained his photo and recent activities.
“Feitan was also killed by him. He was the one who spotted us at the auction earlier. After he fought Feitan, Feitan died.”
Franklin clenched his fists. He had only found Feitan’s headless corpse.
“What about Shizuku? How did she die?”
“Not sure. When we were fleeing, she was suddenly snatched away by a chain. Whether she’s alive or dead is still unknown.”
Machi spoke.
“Unknown?”
Phinks sat up with a growl. He wasn’t angry at Machi, but he had too much pent-up rage with nowhere to go. Since the Troupe’s founding, they had never suffered such heavy losses.
“Phinks, calm down.”
Pakunoda, the busty older woman, spoke. Her open collar revealed large patches of fair skin.
Though Pakunoda wasn’t the strongest in the Troupe, her ability was irreplaceable, more important than the combat members.
“I’m calm. When will the boss be back?”
“Soon.”
“The boss is already back.”
Hisoka, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, spoke. As his words faded, the Troupe leader, Chrollo Lucilfer, walked into the church.
Though Chrollo was the leader of a band of thieves, he wasn’t the rough, burly man one might imagine. Instead, he was a handsome young man.
“Boss.”
“Boss, about this matter…”
The Troupe members crowded around, showing Chrollo’s central role in the group.
“I already know what happened.”
Chrollo found a large rock to sit on, and the other Troupe members listened quietly.
“There’s no need to worry about those auction items anymore. From now on, our goal is to kill this man. But before that, take a look at this. It’s a prophecy ability I just stole, and these are the resulting prophecy poems.”
Chrollo pulled out a piece of paper with several lines of prophecy poetry.
The threat of the Red Moon is no longer fatal.
The Blazing Sun has passed away.
A comrade holding a broken blade falls on the red rock.
In the month of Frost Moon (November, representing Uvogin), never answer the phone (the phone represents Shalnark).
The chain man takes away your important month.
Lying before the merciless hunter, dying.
The messenger of purgatory arrives.
Darkness will shroud this place.
The madly laughing clown stands in the darkness, facing off against the hunter.
Even with the clown’s help, where will you, with your broken limbs, go?
…
The prophecy poem ended there. Several Troupe members looked confused after reading it. They could understand the first few lines, but the later ones left them baffled.
If anyone in the Troupe represented the clown, it should be Hisoka. Everyone’s eyes turned to him. Did the prophecy mean Hisoka would become the Troupe’s savior?
Hisoka was a bit stunned. His goal was to fight the Troupe leader; that was the very reason he had joined the Troupe.
“From the prophecy’s meaning, the hunter must be Bai Ye from the Ten Dons’ faction. As for the broken limbs, that probably refers to the Troupe members’ casualties.”
“Boss, why not give prophecies to all of us?”
Machi’s suggestion was met with unanimous agreement, but giving a prophecy required detailed personal information, and some Troupe members had forgotten details like their birthdates.
A diary appeared in Chrollo’s hand. This was his Nen ability, a Specialist type: Bandit’s Secret. Under certain conditions, he could steal others’ Nen abilities, and the victim could no longer use Nen. For Nen users who pursued power, having their ability stolen was worse than death.
Over ten minutes later, Chrollo gave prophecies to the few Troupe members who could provide their personal information.
“Not looking good. I’ll have a choice to make soon. If I choose wrong, I’ll die.”
Phinks grinned. He could accept any outcome, including death.
“Mine isn’t good either. I’m doomed. I’ll be killed by that hunter.”
Kortopi, whose face was hidden by his hair, sighed bitterly.
Most Troupe members had shared their prophecy results. Only one person present hadn’t spoken: Hisoka, who was holding the prophecy poem. He couldn’t resist the urge to get a prophecy for himself, and the result wasn’t good.
“What’s wrong?”
Phinks squinted. He had never trusted Hisoka, and his instincts told him this man was unreliable.
“Nothing.”
Hisoka’s expression was calm, but his eyes were subtly scanning the surroundings.
“Hand it over.”
Phinks gestured for Hisoka to hand over the prophecy poem.
“It’ll scare you. Even I was startled.”
Hisoka handed the prophecy poem to Phinks. After reading it, Phinks’s expression changed drastically.
“Boss, look at this…”
Phinks handed the prophecy poem to the Troupe leader, scrutinizing Hisoka as if seeing him for the first time.
Hisoka’s prophecy poem roughly meant that he was the clown, and he had two choices: save the Troupe or save himself. The final lines had him saving the Troupe at the cost of his own life.
Was that really the case? Would Hisoka really be that loyal? For this Transmutation-type double-crosser, of course not. The prophecy poem had been altered by Hisoka’s Nen ability, “Texture Surprise.”
Texture Surprise: Allows the user to turn their aura into a skin with various textures. By adding imagination to their aura, they can reproduce any texture, but it can only mimic things as thin as paper.
Hisoka had covered the paper of the prophecy poem with a layer of Texture Surprise. What everyone saw was a prophecy Hisoka had fabricated on the spot.
The real prophecy poem stated that Hisoka had colluded with Kurapika, was discovered by the Troupe, hunted down, and eventually expelled.
“Everyone, have you considered that this savior might be a fake?”
A female voice suddenly rang out. The Troupe members looked toward the depths of the church, where a blue-haired girl sat in the shadows, twirling her braid with her hand.
“You’re here.”
Leader Chrollo seemed to already know the newcomer.
“I’ve been here for a while. Everything is set. We can make our move.”
Hearing the blue-haired girl’s words, Leader Chrollo’s hand, holding Hisoka’s prophecy poem, erupted with surging Nen energy.
Seeing this, Hisoka’s pupils contracted. He stomped hard on the ground and crashed through the church wall with a boom.
At the same moment, the “Texture Surprise” ability on the paper was dispelled, revealing the true content.
In an instant, the violent Nen energy shredded the paper, but Leader Chrollo had already seen the contents clearly.
“Kill Hisoka.”
The moment Chrollo gave the order, all the Troupe members surged toward Hisoka.
Bang!
The sound of a sniper rifle rang out. Moments later, a fierce battle erupted. With the blue-haired girl’s clever interference, Hisoka, who had once been part of the Troupe, became a rat scurrying through the streets.
…
Yorkshin City, Food Street.
At a small food stall, a man and a dog were savoring the unique snacks of the Hunter World. A stunningly beautiful girl stood nearby.
“Rose, any news from the Ten Dons?”
“They’ve contacted me a few times, inviting you to ‘visit’ them.”
“Visit, huh. Ignore those cowards. What about the auction?”
“It will reopen at nine tonight.”
“Is that so?”
Su Xiao chewed his food. If he wasn’t mistaken, tonight might be the showdown with the Troupe. Once the Troupe was eliminated, the auction could proceed smoothly until September 10th. In other words, tonight was the final battle.
“Chrollo Lucilfer… a tough opponent.”
Su Xiao reached for a special pastry nearby, but Bubu Wang also wanted that piece and bit his hand.
“Let go. That’s a salty pastry. Eating it will make you shed fur.”
Bubu Wang remained unmoved, with an expression that said, “I want to eat it.”
“You idiot, don’t bite my hand. Do you want me to feed you some Yin Beast corpse?”
Bubu Wang let go, staring at him with a resentful look, as if to say, “Master, you’re so unfair. Why do you have to poke out my eyes when we’re just playing around?”