"Then will you still come with me to Molding City?" Ronin changed the subject and asked instead.
"I never said I was going to Molding City with you in the first place." Milia spread her hands. "I only said we could continue working together. If you ever want to lease aura again, you're welcome to come to me. And if you really can control one of the mafia Ten Dons, I don't mind working with you and giving you technical and professional support—but Heavens Arena is my home base."
Ronin blinked. "I see. Fine."
Even if Milia hadn't shown up in that corridor, Ronin still had ways to make it out alive.
But the fact that she did show up—that was a debt he owed.
Whether Milia did it to squeeze more profit out of him or not, after fighting side by side like that, their relationship had clearly grown closer.
At this point, Ronin genuinely regarded Milia as a trustworthy friend.
…
"Shame. If that kid had made a move in the corridor, I could've made two billion jenny."
The speaker was a young man with a bowl cut.
His name was Mascher. He was a partner of the mercenary group—and unlike the support crew who'd been firing earlier, Mascher had serious combat ability.
Of course, his price was equally steep.
He had come along because the mercenary group had a job to do anyway, and he figured he might as well earn some extra on the side.
He hadn't expected Ronin to be so shrewd—offering a high price while also setting conditions.
There were different rates for killing versus intimidation.
Killing: 2 billion.
Intimidation: 200 million.
And Ronin had even provided advance intel on Shalnark's ability. Mascher had been interested in the two billion.
But after getting information from Muherr, he chose not to go for the kill—taking the 200 million instead.
Still, seeing the 200 million hit his account, Mascher was satisfied.
The "Muherr" he mentioned was the mercenary leader—the "elf-eared" man who had sniped Machi.
"Adly, I sent you the referral fee. Next time, raise the price," Muherr said coolly.
"You didn't bring Golem. This price is fine," Adly—wearing an inverted-V hairstyle—shrugged. "And we didn't even need to kill them. Just stall them for a bit."
"That's only if there's no follow-up." Muherr glared at Adly. "What if those mad dogs come after us?"
"Well, alright. I get it." Adly thought it over. It wasn't his money anyway—whatever Boss Ronin wanted.
But… is Heavens Arena really that profitable? Adly wondered.
As he thought it, a business card appeared in his hand.
On it was a single line of text:
Heavens Arena Gold-Level Agent: Milia.
…
After talking with Ronin, Milia left his room. Only then did Ronin start dealing with his own condition.
Opening the Eight Gates and using the Primary Lotus had left him with accumulated injuries.
But for an Enhancer, these were minor. A few days of rest would heal them completely.
And since he didn't plan to stay at Heavens Arena, on the third day after the fight, Ronin returned the Lease Devil—after it had extracted enough aura for repayment—back to Milia, then quietly left Heavens Arena.
As he left, the sensation caused by his battle with Uvogin was being loudly promoted across the arena by Milia.
Killua, who had just cleared the 190th floor, also saw the overwhelming wave of promotion.
Holding a poster with Ronin's bright smile printed on it, Killua clicked his tongue.
Show-off.
He tossed the poster into the trash and packed his things—mostly candy, especially chocolate balls.
He was ready to leave the place he'd stayed for two years.
According to that bastard Illumi, everything above the 200th floor still wasn't something he should challenge yet.
He didn't know why, but he still had to return to Kukuroo Mountain with that annoying guy.
What awaited him next was probably real assassination training.
Nothing to look forward to—boring.
Too bad he couldn't challenge Ronin again.
But the next time they met, he would be stronger.
And then he would challenge him again.
…
At a large medical facility on the 150th floor of Heavens Arena, Uvogin had awakened.
His body was wrapped in bandages. One arm had already been amputated. The extensive burns would take a long time to recover.
More importantly, after waking up, he developed an extreme aversion to fire.
Even a tiny spark could make the crippled man leap out of bed in blind rage, ignoring his injuries.
"I got some intel," Shalnark said, dragging a network cable into the room so he could watch Uvogin while searching information online.
"About Ronin?" Machi stood near the window, idly turning an apple in her hand.
Nobunaga and Franklin weren't in the room—they'd gone to smoke. They didn't want Uvogin to go berserk over a cigarette ember.
But the moment Machi said "Ronin," Uvogin on the bed reflexively sat up, killing intent surging in his eyes.
"No." Shalnark shot Machi a look and continued, "I found a possible way to get Uvogin back to normal on a Hunter intel site."
"Regrow an arm?" Machi asked skeptically.
"Yeah." Shalnark nodded. "Hard to verify if it's true, but we can try it—better than doing nothing."
"What method?" This time it was Uvogin who asked.
"Have you heard of Greed Island?" Shalnark said slowly.
But before Uvogin could answer, Shalnark's phone rang.
The caller was Chrollo.
"Send me Ronin's information," Chrollo said bluntly.
"Understood." Shalnark replied just as concisely. He understood what Chrollo meant—Ronin had fully drawn the boss's attention now.
And that made sense.
That level of ability would be an excellent theft target.
Too bad they'd still been chasing that other lead earlier. Otherwise, even if Ronin had been prepared, he likely wouldn't have escaped the Spider's net.
Next time. Next time, we'll definitely catch him, Shalnark thought.
He packaged and organized Ronin's information and sent it to Chrollo. He also had a few videos—recorded by audience members—and organized those too, though those would have to be reviewed in person later.
…
The battles at Heavens Arena made Ronin realize a misunderstanding he'd had.
He'd been treating a technique's "rank" as equal to its "power."
But in reality, rank only represented how difficult a jutsu was to learn—not necessarily its actual destructive power.
~~~
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