The reason Ronin acted so decisively came down to two things: his intuition, and the existence of the Yin Seal and the Strength of a Hundred Technique.
One allowed him to truly sense danger the moment that "Nen thread" attached itself to his body.
The other gave him the confidence that even if he severed his own arm and cut open his abdomen, he could quickly recover.
After an antenna appeared on his severed left hand as it flew away, Ronin completely understood Chrollo's plan.
He hadn't thrown the left hand too far, because he still had another thought in mind.
If his judgment turned out to be wrong, he could still pick the hand back up and quickly reattach it.
Now, his judgment hadn't been wrong. But since the severed hand hadn't been destroyed either, Ronin simply walked over and picked it up before Chrollo launched another attack.
After Chrollo switched abilities, the "Nen thread" that had connected the severed hand to the piece of flesh from Ronin's abdomen vanished as well.
So when Ronin picked up the hand, he only had to pry open its fingers for that chunk of flesh to fall away.
During that time, the three monkeys appeared in front of Chrollo again.
And to Ronin's slight surprise, Shalnark's figure also appeared at the edge of the ruins nearby.
This guy, who had already used up two antennas, had finally decided to step forward.
But at this point, Kortopi atop the stone pillar and Machi wrapped inside the Earth Prison Dome had both fallen silent.
"You people have no chance of winning," Ronin said as he pressed his wrist against the severed area. At the same time, the Strength of a Hundred Technique on his body activated rapidly.
Flesh connected to flesh. His absurd healing ability began taking effect, and the torn tissue started joining back together and recovering at a speed that was almost impossible to understand.
Chrollo watched Ronin's movements, and his expression grew darker.
Severing one of Ronin's hands should have broken the pattern where Ronin always had to bring both hands together in front of him to form special seals before using abilities.
According to Chrollo's judgment, once that was broken, many of Ronin's abilities could only be activated by jumping up and pressing his feet together.
But that method would definitely have limits. Feet could never perform the same variety of seal changes as hands.
So Chrollo hadn't been too disappointed earlier when all that continuous burst of abilities had only managed to sever Ronin's left hand.
But now, watching Ronin quickly reattach the severed hand, it was equivalent to all of his earlier effort becoming meaningless.
As for the aura cost of that healing method, Chrollo didn't think it mattered much.
Because starting earlier, he had already noticed that Ronin had used some unknown method to keep his aura in an extremely abundant state. No matter how much aura he consumed, it seemed to be replenished quickly.
Chrollo had wondered whether Ronin had borrowed aura again, but he couldn't find Milia anywhere nearby.
That meant it could only be a new ability Ronin had developed during this period.
A monster.
That was Chrollo's evaluation of Ronin right now.
At the same time, doubt finally appeared in his heart.
If they kept fighting, could he really still win?
From the very beginning, Chrollo had never been one hundred percent confident about today's battle.
But after stealing Saiyu's ability, he had believed his odds of victory were above eighty percent.
Now, though, perhaps his chances were only twenty percent.
Maybe even lower.
Then should he retreat?
That question surfaced in Chrollo's mind.
If he retreated now, then even if he left Nobunaga, Franklin, Kortopi, and Machi behind, there was still a chance he could rise again someday.
But could he really rise again?
Chrollo's heart wavered.
It was the first time he had wavered since Lisnos's incident.
Chrollo closed his eyes.
Two seconds later, he opened them again, and all the hesitation and wavering in his gaze had vanished.
"Is the Fourth Prince of Kakin, Tserriednich, really dead?" Chrollo didn't attack immediately.
There was a searching look in his eyes.
"Is there something you want to ask?" Ronin keenly sensed the change in Chrollo.
There had still been unwillingness in his eyes before.
But now, what Ronin saw in them was calm acceptance, along with a hint of inquiry.
"You came into contact with Sheila in Meteor City. You should know the goal behind the Troupe's actions, right?" Chrollo did not answer right away. Instead, he said that.
Ronin nodded. "To reform Meteor City, and to make sure evil people never dared approach Meteor City again."
Chrollo froze for a moment. Then a bitter smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
"Right. She really did tell you everything. I thought your answer would be that we were doing it to avenge Lisnos."
"You're not that narrow-minded. Revenge should only be something you dealt with along the way," Ronin said, giving his understanding of Chrollo.
Chrollo nodded. "Yes. That's how I see it too. But now, that may be the only thing I can know for sure has already been accomplished."
"The Fourth Prince is dead," Ronin gave his answer, and at the same time understood what Chrollo meant.
It seemed Chrollo already knew he could no longer win.
"If there's something you want to know, I suppose you can ask him directly." Right after saying the Fourth Prince was dead, Ronin offered another option.
Chrollo's gaze sharpened.
He already understood what Ronin meant.
Was Ronin telling him to go down there and ask the Fourth Prince himself?
How confident.
But just as that thought crossed his mind, behind him, from behind the door of the only vault still standing among the ruins, someone walked out.
It was a person covered in cracked, shattered lines all over his body, yet still able to move freely.
And the instant that person appeared, Chrollo abruptly turned to look at him.
It was the Fourth Prince of Kakin, Tserriednich.
Didn't Ronin say he was dead?
That thought had only just appeared in Chrollo's mind when he suddenly realized that there wasn't the slightest trace of life on Tserriednich's body.
In fact, there wasn't even the presence of a living person.
"A corpse!" Chrollo's brow twitched.
The one who answered him wasn't Ronin, but Tserriednich.
"Yeah, I'm dead. If you've got something to ask, hurry up."
His tone carried a trace of impatience, and the way he looked toward Ronin was filled with hatred and unwillingness.
When Chrollo heard that emotionally charged response, he froze slightly.
He was starting to lose track of what kind of trick Ronin was playing.
Was toying with him that entertaining?
That thought crossed his mind, but he still asked the question he had long prepared.
"The kidnapping case in Meteor City. You were the one behind it, weren't you?"
"Who remembers such ancient, trivial nonsense?" Tserriednich looked speechless. "Probably."
Chrollo stared closely at Tserriednich.
He ignored the prince's indifferent tone and slowly said:
"Lisnos was killed by you, wasn't he?"
When Tserriednich heard the name Lisnos, his expression finally changed.
But in the next second, after remembering his current state, he stopped caring again and merely asked in confusion:
"How do you know that? It should've been nine years ago, right? I remember cleaning that up pretty well."