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Chapter 133: Fishing Up a Rocket Launcher
To Ronin, battles between Enhancers were purely a comparison of stats. When one side had overwhelmingly superior numbers, technique was irrelevant.
If your physical body was stronger, your explosive Actual Aura Power (AAP) was higher, and your Potential Aura Power (PAP) was larger, then you were simply stronger and more durable.
The opponent's strategy wasn't exactly wrong, but he had ignored the most fatal factor: Ronin's aura capacity completely dwarfed his own. That was why Ronin had boldly appeared right in front of him upon identifying him as an Enhancer.
There was no need to hold back. As the man sank to his knees in agony, Ronin kicked him squarely in the chest, caving his sternum in before casually tossing him aside.
This sudden turn of events felt slow to describe, but it all happened in the blink of an eye. As the massive shield skimmed inches over the scalp of another black-suited man lunging toward Abaki, the entire theater fell dead silent. Only the heavy thud of the giant shield impaling the ground echoed through the room.
At that exact moment, Abaki opened her eyes. With a slight flick of her wrist, the hook that had vanished into space reappeared in the air amidst a ripple of distortion.
And dangling from that hook was a rocket launcher! Yes, a portable anti-tank rocket launcher!
Nobody had a clue where Abaki had fished it up from. She grabbed the line, reeled the launcher in, hoisted it onto her shoulder, and aimed it squarely at the theater entrance.
Abaki had been entirely focused on "fishing" and had no idea what had just transpired in the theater. But Norman knew. The shield hadn't just grazed the black-suited man's head; it had flown right past his own body. Judging by the man's actions, he was a friend, not a foe.
Since the situation had changed, if they cooperated with him, could they possibly get everyone out of the theater safely?
The rocket fired. The guards at the door never expected such a sight and couldn't dodge in time. Amidst the explosion, bodies were sent flying, and the sealed doors were blown wide open, revealing the clear corridor behind them and the straggling audience members who hadn't yet evacuated.
The sudden chaos left the bystanders stunned, followed by panicked screaming.
"Run!" Abaki yelled from inside.
This was her trump card. The Freak Show Troupe had sacrificed too much on their journey here. Too many people coveted the deformed performers who were just trying to make a living. They had endured far too much to reach this stage. Everyone had kept a backup plan, and Abaki was no exception.
Though the shattered doors couldn't guarantee everyone's safety, as long as Norman, the troupe leader, could escape, their Freak Show Troupe wouldn't cease to exist.
But a second later, gunfire erupted in the corridor outside the shattered doors. The lingering audience members fell screaming as a large squad of armed thugs in black suits—looking exactly like mobsters—swarmed the hallway, firing indiscriminately.
However, the slaughter didn't last long. Two more figures appeared in the corridor. The armed men in black began dropping rapidly, all taken down by those two swift silhouettes.
It was Neon and Shizuku.
When Ronin noticed the men in black appearing in the corridor, he immediately formed a cross seal, creating a Shadow Clone. The next second, his Shadow Clone remained in the theater while his real body dashed out at breakneck speed.
Since Petter wasn't in the theater, he had to be hiding outside.
The people inside the theater were shocked to see Ronin split in two. Creating such a realistic clone meant his ability belonged to Conjuration, yet as a Conjurer, he had just crushed an Enhancer head-on. There was only one explanation: his mastery was unfathomably deep!
The men in black weren't intimidated, though. They adjusted their tactics. The "Petter" dummy—which had been spreading erosion marks ever since the hook sliced it—suddenly shattered. The creeping erosion in the air vanished instantly. The enemy had cancelled their pursuit of Abaki.
Simultaneously, the men in black charged toward Ronin's clone.
But to Ronin's eyes, their movements were riddled with openings. Out of all of them, only one was a real Nen user; the rest were just ordinary people. Even if the Nen user had rigged them in advance to make their movements resemble a true user's, the core issue wasn't the puppets, but the puppeteer.
The Sharingan's terrifying visual prowess made the difference between the Nen user and his disguised pawns glaringly obvious. Simply put, the Nen user's aura was alive, while the aura on the fakes was rigid and dead!
An average person might not notice the difference, but to Ronin, it was like comparing a firefly to the moon. So, Ronin chose to burst forward with incredible speed, launching a surprise attack.
Judging from Abaki's earlier encounter, the opponent's ability triggered upon contact with a target's Nen. But that was when Abaki hit a pre-set target dummy. What if the attack landed on the user's real body?
That was the advantage of the Shadow Clone. Even if attacking the real body triggered the ability, the counter-attack would still have to trace the clone back, just like the creeping erosion did with Abaki. But his real body had already left the theater. Who knew how long it would take for that erosion to catch up to him?
The moment Ronin's clone vanished from sight, the sole Nen user hiding among the men in black realized things were going south. His goal was never to defeat Ronin's clone head-on. He intended to restrict the clone using the mysterious nature of his ability, creating an opening for his comrades to ambush the real body. Besides, Ronin—an unexpected intruder—wasn't even their primary target today.
But Ronin's sudden burst of speed caught him completely off guard.
Despite realizing early on that Ronin was incredibly strong, the current situation still left him feeling deeply insecure. The moment Ronin's clone disappeared, the man in black mimicked his comrades perfectly, coming to a halt to cautiously stand guard.
But no matter how he tried to hide, he had been exposed from the very beginning. So when Ronin's clone reappeared, a fist was already rocketing toward his body.
He had zero time to react. It was a complete, overwhelming slaughter brought on by a massive gap in power. [Cherry Blossom Impact] punched clean through his body. In that instant, Ronin's Shadow Clone used no Nen, only Chakra converted from Nen.
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