"Phinks!" Franklin roared.
Phinks was trembling violently. The amount of aura condensed in his right fist felt like a miniature sun. It was so densely packed that he was beginning to lose control of it. If he kept winding his arm, the attack would be stronger, but he would lose the ability to aim it, and it might just detonate point-blank.
"SCATTER!"
Phinks screamed, finally releasing the absolute maximum limit of his Ripper Cyclotron.
In a fraction of a second, the golden sun around his fist exploded forward like a nuclear warhead. A terrifying, fan-shaped shockwave of pure kinetic energy roared down the alleyway, obliterating everything in its path.
Gon and Killua, staring down the barrel of the attack, felt their hearts stop.
The sheer, overwhelming pressure of the incoming strike triggered every single survival instinct in their bodies. The hairs on their arms stood on end. It felt as if the Grim Reaper himself was swinging his scythe directly at their necks. The attack was so incomprehensibly powerful that it shattered their understanding of what Nen could do.
The shops, the brick walls, the asphalt beneath their feet... everything caught in the path of the golden shockwave was instantly pulverized into fine dust.
BOOOOOOM!!!
An apocalyptic explosion rocked Yorknew City.
It looked as if a heavy bomber had dropped a payload directly onto the street. A massive, 300-meter crater was carved into the urban landscape. Plumes of thick dust and debris mushroomed into the night sky.
"..."
Even the Spiders were completely dumbfounded.
Uvogin was universally recognized as the Troupe's physically strongest member. But when it came to raw, absolute peak destructive power, Phinks held the crown. Because Ripper Cyclotron technically had no upper limit. As long as his arm didn't tear itself apart, he could keep winding it to generate infinite power.
Phinks collapsed to his knees, utterly exhausted. He didn't even have the energy to stand.
He swore on his life that this was the most terrifying punch he had ever thrown. His arm felt like it was fractured in a dozen places. The sheer recoil of channeling that much aura had pushed his physical body past its absolute breaking point.
If his opponent had been made of solid steel, that punch would have melted and flattened them into a pancake. Phinks firmly believed that not even Chrollo could have survived taking that hit head-on. Even if Isaac Netero, the strongest man in the world, had been standing there, Phinks felt confident this punch would have blown him away.
"He's dead! There's no way he survived that! That punch was at Netero's level!" Bonolenov gasped, staring at the crater in awe.
Even as a long-time teammate, he had never seen Phinks push himself this far.
Shalnark, however, bit his lip. His eyes were glued to the settling dust cloud. He didn't say a word. Phinks and Franklin held their breath. No one dared to celebrate until they saw Ryker's corpse.
The smoke slowly cleared.
When the Spiders finally saw the epicenter of the crater, they felt as if they had been struck by lightning.
Phinks' eyes widened to the size of saucers. His mind went entirely blank.
Standing perfectly still in the center of the devastation... was Ryker.
He was in a punching stance. His right fist was extended, completely uninjured save for a few minor scrapes on his knuckles, from which thin wisps of smoke curled into the air.
The epicenter of the explosion wasn't where Ryker had been standing. It was directly between Ryker and Phinks.
A massive, 600-meter trench had been carved out in both directions, completely splitting the city block in half. It looked exactly as if two ballistic missiles had collided in mid-air, canceling each other out and redirecting the kinetic force sideways.
As a master of martial arts, Phinks instantly realized what this meant.
Ryker hadn't blocked the attack. He had met it head-on with a punch of equal, terrifying power.
But... how is that possible?! Phinks thought, his mind spiraling into madness.
My Ripper Cyclotron is the ultimate destructive punch! It took me ages to charge it up to that level! He countered it instantly! How could he possibly generate that much power in a fraction of a second?!
It was like a drag race. Phinks had taken ten seconds to accelerate to 100 mph, but Ryker had hit 100 mph in a single millisecond. The sheer difference in mechanical skill and raw output was astronomical.
And then, Phinks noticed something even more horrifying.
Looking at the way the shockwaves had rippled through the destroyed buildings behind Ryker, Phinks recognized the pattern.
Wait... those spiral fractures... that tremor pattern...
That's Uvogin's Big Bang Impact!
Phinks was absolutely certain. Ryker had just used Uvogin's signature, super-destructive Ko punch. But how? That technique was completely unique to Uvogin! Phinks had tried to learn it himself and failed! Did this monster somehow copy it just by fighting Uvo? And worse... Ryker's version was vastly superior!
Phinks' entire worldview collapsed. His eyes grew dull and lifeless.
He had lost. And he had lost completely. He had thrown the single greatest punch of his life, a punch that burned out every drop of his stamina... and the enemy had casually swatted it away like a fly.
Lunatic. Monster. Demon.
For the first time in his fearless, blood-soaked life, Phinks felt genuine, unadulterated terror. He was afraid. This monster wasn't just a tough opponent; he was an insurmountable, despair-inducing mountain.
The other Spiders were equally paralyzed.
Phinks' ultimate, all-or-nothing strike had been completely neutralized. Ryker wasn't hurt. Hell, the three kids standing behind Ryker hadn't even felt a breeze.
Ryker had completely protected them while casually matching Phinks' nuke.
"..."
An oppressive, suffocating dread blanketed the alley. For the Spiders, who had burned cities and slaughtered thousands without ever feeling fear, this was a brand-new, horrifying emotion.
"Run! Get out of here!"
Shalnark's voice suddenly shattered the silence.
"This guy isn't human! I finally understand why Danchou told us we had no chance! Run! Run and never look back!"
Shalnark's desperate screams snapped the others out of their trance. They had thought Ryker was just a raid boss they could team up to beat. Now they realized he wasn't a boss at all. He was the game's developer. He was a GM with god-mode turned on.
"I'll cover you! Phinks! Bonolenov! Go!"
Franklin roared, stepping in front of the others. His massive body acted as a meat shield. He raised both hands, and to everyone's shock, he unhinged his jaw, revealing a massive, cannon-like barrel hidden in his throat.
A torrential barrage of Nen bullets and heavy explosive rounds erupted from Franklin's hands and mouth, blanketing the area in suppression fire.
"Run!" Shalnark yelled, violently shoving the exhausted Phinks and Bonolenov away from the battlefield.
"Shalnark! Franklin!" Phinks roared in agony as he was tossed backward. He wanted to stay and fight, but his arm was completely useless. Bonolenov didn't hesitate; he grabbed Phinks and bolted.
This was the most pathetic moment in the history of the Phantom Troupe. The spiders, the undisputed apex predators of the underworld, were fleeing like beaten dogs.
Shalnark, however, didn't run.
His expression had completely changed. The panic and terror were gone, replaced by an eerie, robotic calmness.
A dense, golden aura erupted around his body. His hair spiked up, and his eyes lost their pupils, glowing with a hollow, terrifying light. He looked exactly like a Super Saiyan.
[Autopilot]
Shalnark had taken one of his bat-antennas and stabbed himself in the leg.
His ability, [Black Voice], had two functions. The first was controlling others. The second was controlling himself. By going into Autopilot, Shalnark relinquished total control of his conscious mind, allowing his body to fight purely on instinct. It temporarily granted him a massive, explosive boost in aura and physical strength, turning him into a highly-tuned, unfeeling combat machine.
Shalnark hated using this ability because he couldn't remember anything that happened while it was active, and the muscle pain afterward was excruciating. But he had no other choice.
"I didn't want to use this," Shalnark's voice sounded hollow and layered, as if a machine was speaking through his vocal cords. "But you are definitely worth it."
"Tsk, tsk, tsk... A very impressive ability," Ryker smiled, observing the transformation. "Surrendering total control of the self. The hardest thing for a human to do is let go of their ego and let their instincts take the wheel. It's quite fascinating."
Ryker opened his System interface. He only had two uses of [Continuous Lucky Star] left for the day. He could only guarantee two premium trait drops today. Letting two Spiders escape didn't matter to him; he'd just hunt them tomorrow.
Right now, he was very interested in the two standing in front of him.
[Target: Shalnark]
[Traits: {Enhancement Talent} (Gold), {Black Voice: Fate Manipulation} (Gold), {Black Voice: Autopilot} (Double Gold), {Data Analysis} (Purple), {Hacker} (Gold).]
[Target: Franklin]
[Traits: {Emission Talent} (Gold), {Double Machine Gun} (Gold), {Peacemaker} (Purple), {Self-Sacrifice} (Purple).]
Franklin's traits were solid, purely focused on heavy firepower and suppression. But Shalnark's traits were a goldmine. The [Autopilot] (Double Gold) trait caught Ryker's eye immediately.
Operating purely on instinct without the delay of conscious thought...
"Basically... you just gave yourself Ultra Instinct," Ryker chuckled.
Ryker vanished.
Shalnark, currently operating on pure, hyper-accelerated combat instinct, vanished a microsecond later.
BAM!
The two clashed in the center of the crater. Fists met.
To Shalnark's credit, his Autopilot instincts allowed him to perfectly block Ryker's initial strike. But while their speed and instincts were matched, their physical stats were not.
Shalnark's knuckles instantly cracked and bled upon hitting Ryker's iron-hard skin. But because he was in Autopilot, he felt no pain. He didn't hesitate. He immediately launched a ferocious, high-speed counterattack, dragging Ryker into a brutal, close-quarters brawl.
"DIE!" Franklin roared, swiveling his guns to aim at Gon, Killua, and Leorio.
If he couldn't hit Ryker, he would kill the hostages.
But suddenly, to Franklin's absolute horror... another Ryker appeared right in front of him.
What the hell?! Shalnark's robotic mind registered the anomaly, but he was completely pinned down by the first Ryker and couldn't break away to help.
[Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu]
Ryker didn't need an army. He just needed three bodies. One to fight Shalnark, one to guard the kids, and one to deal with Franklin.
Franklin fired a massive explosive round from his mouth. But to Ryker's clone, the projectile moved in slow motion.
The clone slipped past the barrage effortlessly, grabbed Franklin by the face, and slammed his massive head directly into the concrete.
CRUNCH!
Without letting go, the clone sprinted forward, dragging Franklin's face through the rubble and asphalt for a hundred meters like a human plow.
BOOM!
The explosive round Franklin had been about to fire detonated entirely inside his own mouth.
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