The process was exactly the same as before—right up until the moment of drawing a card.
But this time, the result was different.
"Diamonds Four. I win. Now it's my turn."
Hisoka licked his lips.
"Your turn my ass!" Tri-Eye snarled.
Even as Hisoka made his declaration, Tri-Eye had no intention of sticking to the rules. The instant Hisoka spoke, Tri-Eye brandished his scimitars again and rushed forward, sending two wind blades slicing toward Hisoka.
"Idiot! Die!"
Hisoka showed no surprise at Tri-Eye's betrayal. As Tri-Eye barreled closer, Hisoka flicked his wrist, flinging every card in his hand at him. With aura infused, the cards were as rigid as steel.
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
They collided with the scimitars, sounding like metal on metal.
Just then, Hisoka's voice rang out.
"Then I'll begin."
Tri-Eye paid no heed to those words—until the ground itself seemed to shift. A tangle of crimson lines appeared in his field of vision, each one connected to shards of cards lying at their far ends. Then more lines emerged—a second, a third, a fourth—eventually dozens of them, forming a dense, crisscrossing web all around him.
"Bungee Gum."
Hisoka snapped his fingers. The red lines jerked taut, snapping back like elastic bands suddenly released from both ends.
Splurch!
Fierce momentum hurtled the card fragments straight into Tri-Eye's body before he could react. Even then, the lines kept pulling, burying the shards deeper into his flesh.
Splurt—!
More shards pierced him as the elastic threads bound Tri-Eye on the spot. He couldn't move a muscle; both scimitars clattered to the ground. His face turned a blotchy blue as breathing and even heartbeat became agonizingly difficult.
Hisoka stepped forward, picked up Tri-Eye's blades, and turned them over in his hands.
"A Nen tool? Looks decent. Now let me show you what you should have done when I gave you the chance."
Raising one blade, he swung it down hard across Tri-Eye's neck.
Splurch!
Tri-Eye's head went flying.
......
..
.
Largin, witnessing this from across the battlefield, grew furious.
"That idiot!" he thought, cursing under his breath.
True, Hisoka was a twisted deviant, but the way Tri-Eye had simply kept attacking without noticing a thing was ridiculous. Hisoka didn't just let Tri-Eye wound him for no reason—during the "shuffling" and card draws, as well as while bleeding, he'd been quietly setting a trap on the ground, manipulating the scattered card fragments with Bungee Gum. By the time the third card was drawn, the trap was complete. Regardless of what card Hisoka pulled, Tri-Eye was doomed.
Ron, unlike Largin, understood that Hisoka could have killed Tri-Eye outright in a head-on fight without taking such injuries. But that was Hisoka's style. He found joy in fighting this way.
With Tri-Eye gone, the Herd had five members left. The swordsman remained locked in a standoff with Silva. The petite girl battling Zeno was nearing her limit.
Boom!
A dragon-headed aura slammed into the petite girl, biting her brutally. The blow punched right through her. In the blink of an eye, she aged before everyone's eyes, changing from a sweet-faced girl into a shrivelled old woman.
Yet her aura surged rather than diminished.
Zeno narrowed his eyes, then shifted into a defensive stance. She looked more powerful, but he could tell she was a spent arrow—this final burst of strength wouldn't last. By defending, he could conserve his own aura and let her burn out. The woman lashed out wildly, but Zeno stood firm, refusing to budge, and her attacks did nothing.
Ron glanced that way, recalling Biscuit's dramatic transformation and noticing how similarly drastic this change was—from a cute girl to an elderly woman. Then he shifted focus back to the middle-aged clown he'd been clashing with.
The clown was panting hard. "How can this guy have so much aura left?"
Ron maintained Natsu's fight with Largin while also trading Emission bullets with him. Meanwhile, the clown felt his own aura draining fast. Ron, however, seemed to have plenty left.
"Monster!" the clown spat in frustration. He gritted his teeth. "I have no choice but to use that!"
Continuing their projectile duel, six special bullets appeared around him, each of a different element: flame, ice, lightning, explosion, corrosion, and wind. They floated at his side, then slowly merged into one swirling mass of destructive aura. The air crackled with an ominous power.
Ron's gaze turned serious.
"That aura… The attack's going to be massive. Reminds me a bit of the Third Hokage's multi-element barrage back in the shinobi world. I can't just take this head-on."
The clown glared at Ron, barking an order:
"Largin!"
Immediately understanding, Largin allowed a direct punch from Natsu so he could break away and head for Ron. Ron realized what they intended.
"They want to force me to use that position-swapping again. Fine, let's see."
"Slap!"
Natsu clapped his hands.
"Position Swap!"
In a flash, Natsu and Largin switched places once more. The clown's lesser bullets landed around Ron, sealing off his escape. Then—
"Die!"
The fused, monstrous bullet roared forth under the clown's command, careening straight at Ron.
Ron issued a thought:
"Sasuke!"
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