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Chapter 122: Hisoka's Defeat
The brief pause was immediately followed by a far more furious assault.
Susanoo raised its massive hand, bringing it crashing down toward Hisoka. Safely encased within the giant ribs, Ronin formed a rapid sequence of hand seals.
He unleashed the Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu. A volley of searing fireballs erupted from the skeletal armor, raining down to systematically incinerate every hidden patch of Nen Hisoka had left on the ground.
With every move Hisoka made, the magician's cloth in his hand preceded him, probing the space he intended to step into.
This created massive openings in his previously fluid footwork. However, from his seemingly healed hand—camouflaged by Texture Surprise—he constantly fired off fresh threads of aura onto the ground. In moments of crisis, these elastic threads would slingshot Hisoka's body into rapid, explosive evasion.
Susanoo's attacks were terrifyingly powerful. In a direct confrontation, Hisoka's abilities simply couldn't block them flawlessly.
But its attack speed wasn't overwhelmingly fast, which gave Hisoka the possibility of dragging out the fight.
However, this possibility became stretched thin once the Phoenix Flower Jutsu joined the battle.
A hit from the high-temperature flames might not instantly deal lethal damage to Hisoka, but striking the deployed Nen threads rapidly incinerated them.
Without Bungee Gum to grant him explosive bursts of speed, Susanoo's relentless strikes became the greatest threat.
The referee's whistle blew repeatedly.
When both of Hisoka's arms finally hung completely limp at his sides, his body soaked through with sweat and blood, the referee blew the final whistle.
T.K.O.
Susanoo's onslaught had already allowed Ronin to score a clean 10 points against Hisoka.
During the process, Hisoka had attempted a desperate, do-or-die counterattack against the shielded Ronin.
Twisting and binding his aura, he had secured a massive cluster of rubble, reinforcing it heavily with Shu. Stretching Bungee Gum to its absolute limit provided this strike with a terrifying, explosive payload.
Ultimately, it slammed into Susanoo. It caused spiderweb cracks to spread across the crimson armor, but it failed to pierce through in a single blow and threaten Ronin inside.
Still, the fact that Hisoka had managed to damage Susanoo at all exceeded Ronin's expectations.
Part of it was due to the fact that his Susanoo was still in its initial stage. On the other hand, the chakra he was outputting wasn't at its maximum. To sustain a prolonged battle, he had deliberately scaled back his chakra usage.
This caused Susanoo's size and defensive power to shrink. If he had unleashed it with full power, Hisoka's fully charged burst likely wouldn't have caused a single crack.
Regardless, Hisoka's charged strike was the absolute strongest attack he could currently muster.
Furthermore, even Hisoka could tell that Ronin, protected within the armor, had gone easy on him. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been given the opportunity to charge the attack.
It could be said that from the moment Susanoo appeared, unless Hisoka could exhaust Ronin to death, he was destined to lose.
Susanoo's consumption was massive, but Ronin's vast Potential Aura Power was more than enough to sustain him through defeating Hisoka.
As the referee's whistle echoed, a fine layer of sweat covered Ronin's forehead, and even his eyes felt fatigued, but his overall condition was vastly superior to Hisoka's.
Hisoka simply collapsed flat onto the arena floor. His golden eyes gleaming brightly at the ceiling above, his breathing was heavy, yet his entire being vibrated with abnormal excitement.
He had lost.
But he was convinced by his defeat; his current offensive power truly couldn't break Ronin's defense. However, if there was a next time, he would definitely find a way to break through.
He just needed to become stronger. Even stronger!
"You can wait a bit. Once I handle a few things, I can help heal the injuries on your arms. I really don't want to fight a cripple next time," Ronin said, actively approaching Hisoka.
Susanoo had already vanished, but Ronin's eyes remained in the Mangekyou state.
From the very beginning, he knew the most crucial part of this battle wasn't defeating Hisoka, but the potential assassination attempt from the Zoldyck family that would follow his victory.
He was fully prepared. The moment a critical situation arose, he would immediately activate the Flying Thunder God Jutsu and leave.
Hisoka didn't stand on ceremony. He sat up from the floor. "You're very strong. I made a lot of preparations for today, but looking at it now, I still don't have as many tricks as you."
"You were preparing, and so was I," Ronin smiled faintly.
He had taken this fight with Hisoka very seriously. Hisoka was incredibly strong; he had known this from the start. His on-the-fly tactical adaptations were especially brilliant. Masking his aura with Texture Surprise had even bypassed the Sharingan's insight.
If Hisoka's attacks hadn't failed to break Susanoo's defense, this battle probably would have forced Ronin to reveal more of his trump cards.
Hisoka smiled slightly. "I will challenge you again. I hope you'll still accept when the time comes."
"Though I'd love to say you won't have a chance, because while you get stronger, my progress will only be faster, and the gap between us will widen as time goes on," Ronin declared, his tone unapologetic and exceedingly arrogant. "But next time, I'll still accept your challenge. I just hope you can bring me some surprises then."
"What an arrogant guy!" Hisoka remarked, but if Ronin's growth rate remained as it was now, he didn't feel Ronin was wrong.
But he wouldn't give up easily either.
Especially since this battle hadn't been without its rewards. His own abilities could still become stronger.
Ronin didn't reply. Instead, he looked up toward the spectator stands.
Through his Sharingan, he saw a machine slowly flying toward him. It was a device roughly the size of a bee.
If one didn't observe carefully, it would be difficult to realize this tiny object was entirely mechanical, and it was constantly, tentatively inching closer to his position.
Crucially, there was no Nen on it. It was purely a machine.
As for Ronin's perception of "slowly," it wasn't that the object's flight speed was actually slow; it just appeared that way under his powerful dynamic vision.
The image of a chubby figure surfaced in Ronin's mind.
The Zoldyck family's second son, Milluki Zoldyck. The guy who was an expert in computers, games, and bomb-making.
Before the bee could get too close, it abruptly detonated above the arena, the sudden flash of fire instantly drawing the crowd's attention.
At that exact moment, a short figure appeared like a ghost directly behind Ronin, thrusting a shriveled, skeletal hand straight toward the center of his back!
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