Chapter 117: The Troupe Assembles
The Phantom Troupe had lost a member. And a founding member at that.
Although one of a combat member's purposes was essentially "to die when necessary, creating conditions for the others," a senseless, unexplained death of this kind was not something the Troupe members would easily accept.
So when the news came through Franklin's call — "Feitan is dead" — every person who received it reacted the same way at first: disbelief, you're joking, what are you talking about.
But after Franklin's long silence on the other end of the line, every reachable member responded differently, yet every single one said the same thing: they were coming immediately.
Among them, the strongest reaction came from Phinks — who had run into an unexpected situation before and changed his schedule, ultimately missing the original arrival time. He was the member with the closest relationship to Feitan in the entire Troupe, and would even use the nickname "Fei" for him.
Of course, that nickname would never be used again.
...Though maybe not necessarily.
"...Notify everyone on-site. Operation temporarily suspended. Those already there are not to explore Castlevania freely. Further instructions when I arrive."
The undisputed central mind of the Phantom Troupe, No. 0, Chrollo Lucilfer, received the news, left exactly that one instruction, and immediately hung up.
That said, honestly, the mood within the current Phantom Troupe was quite different from the future timeline in the original story when Uvogin was killed by Kurapika.
Uvogin's death had a very specific revenge target — "the chain bastard," meaning Kurapika. And the Troupe had a standing rule: if someone killed a Troupe member, that person had two choices. Join the Troupe and take the dead member's number, or be hunted down by the full group.
But that rule hadn't actually operated quite so absolutely.
Hisoka had actively joined by killing the previous No. 4. His intentions were impure and even his tattoo was fake, but that's a separate matter. The relevant case was three years ago, when Silva Zoldyck killed No. 8 under the terms of an accepted assassination contract. The Troupe never avenged it.
Partly because the Phantom Troupe — merely an A-rank criminal organization — simply had no way to shake the Zoldyck family, whose depth and strength far exceeded anything they could have prepared for.
Partly because the No. 8 who died was not a founding member, and hadn't formed the same deep bonds with the Troupe's core.
Put both factors together, and the matter quietly died. They ended up sheepishly recruiting a new member and turning the page.
In the current situation, though, under the operation Ross had run, Feitan's death actually resembled an "accident" more than anything — someone who had trespassed into a dangerous Secret Realm ruins area and simply died there because they weren't strong enough.
In terms of a specific revenge target, the three on-site had already effectively achieved revenge. Genbu's body was dust. What they were sitting with now was mostly regret and confusion.
Machi and Franklin regretted not stopping the advance. Nobunaga regretted his own pride, his decision to separate from Feitan over something stupid. And the confusion came from not knowing who was actually to blame.
The stone creature that had already turned to dust? The entire Castlevania?
The three of them kept glancing between Feitan's pile of bones — which could only be described as a pile — and no one spoke for a long time.
However, their act of carrying out all of Feitan's remains as they left Castlevania's territory satisfied the activation condition for one particular permission.
The "Secret Realm Reset" permission, usable once per natural day. This reset function, which normally only applied to Secret Realm stages, could in this case also be applied to True Castlevania.
In principle: as long as any outsider remained inside the Secret Realm, the permission couldn't be triggered. Once the area was clear, it was available once per day, no accumulation, resetting at midnight. Additionally, using the permission on True Castlevania meant the private Secret Realm version would temporarily become unavailable.
But that was fine. His focus recently had been on grinding through Tower of Druaga anyway, and using the reset here to handle whatever the Troupe's next offensive might look like was clearly the higher priority.
Ross used it without hesitation.
A wave of magical energy washed through the area. The Clock Tower's top level — burned and disfigured by Rising Sun — began fully restoring itself. The BOSS configuration permissions for the Grand Cemetery and the Clock Tower were reset as well, and in the configurable BOSS list, the previously greyed-out portraits of Skeleton Warrior and Four Saint Beasts: Genbu lit up again.
In other words, Genbu — which had cost a whole Feitan to destroy — had been revived.
A pure waste of a death, from where the Troupe was standing.
Though not exactly a waste. From a certain angle, Feitan's death had actually strengthened Castlevania's BOSS lineup.
Their caution in withdrawing, however, had left Ross with nothing to do for the moment. His permissions only extended within Castlevania's boundaries. Once they were outside, he had no reach.
Setting that aside: although Feitan was a founding member, his role was interrogation and combat. His particular ability set wasn't especially irreplaceable — there were plenty of members who could fill that slot on capability alone.
Feitan's death would deal a serious blow to morale. But it wouldn't genuinely cripple the Troupe.
Looking at it this way, the most valuable and genuinely painful targets would actually be: Machi, with her extraordinary intuition and Nen thread suturing; Shizuku, who could store large quantities of items and destroy evidence; Pakunoda, who could read others' memories; and Kortopi, who could perfectly copy objects.
As for the leader Chrollo — nothing more needed to be said. He had established a rule that "there is no need to prioritize the leader's life," but in reality he greatly underestimated his own standing and pull within the Troupe. A spider without a head might technically keep walking, but it would be on a death countdown from that moment.
Without Chrollo, the Troupe simply didn't function. No one could fill his position.
Ross tried putting himself in Chrollo's position. If he were the leader: would he ignore everything and charge directly into Castlevania to tear the place apart from the inside? Or would he step back and temporarily leave this dangerous ground that had already cost them so much?
After thinking it through, Ross concluded he would choose the latter. He just didn't know what the real Chrollo would actually do.
As time passed, Kortopi and the wandering knight — who had originally intended to come anyway — arrived one after another. Then Phinks, his face showing grief. Over the three days following, Bonolenov, Shizuku, Uvogin, and Hisoka arrived in turn.
Until, finally, Chrollo arrived in person, accompanied by Pakunoda.
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