Chapter 212: Extracting the Coordinates
The Fourth Prince had been kidnapped.
Countless witnesses had watched the Earth Dragon ascend into the sky, carrying the Prince's limo into the clouds. The event had ignited a firestorm of panic and speculation across the Kakin Empire.
The Royal Capital's security forces had spent a month on high alert, only for their targets to achieve a total success right under their noses. Public complaints were flooding the government offices, but the authorities had no time for PR—saving the Fourth Prince was the only priority.
"The appearance of a Dragon in Kakin was meant to be a divine omen of prosperity, yet it has been twisted by these villains into an engine of terror—"
On the news, the announcer's voice was high-pitched and frantic. The state media was already trying to frame the biological construct as a "stolen national treasure."
"They're certainly making a spectacle of it," Kurapika noted, looking at the blindfolded Prince tied to a chair in their warehouse hideout.
"I'm ready," Ronin said, stepping in front of Tserriednich. "But fair warning: the moment I probe his mind, if he survives, his Nen nodes will likely be forced open. Given his talent, that could be a disaster. I need to set a few more countermeasures first."
"Do what you have to do," Kurapika said, stepping back to give him room.
Kurapika had already tried the diplomatic route. It had failed. Tserriednich had simply smiled behind his blindfold, a silent, arrogant wall. He seemed convinced that telling them anything would result in his death, while silence might buy him time for the "Double Protection" to find him.
But the Prince's logic was primitive.
In the world of Nen and Jutsu, words were irrelevant. Ronin just needed the memory.
Ronin knew Tserriednich's potential was monstrous. But he was more concerned about a different variable: Beyond Netero. If the Fourth Prince truly was Beyond's illegitimate seed, the man might have left a hidden safeguard—a "Trap" designed to trigger if the Prince's mind was breached.
Ronin had to move with surgical speed.
First, he applied a receptor-seal to Tserriednich's skin. It was a barrier designed to sever all external "Nen links"—effectively cutting off any remote support or tracking from Beyond.
Next, he applied the Four Symbols Seal to Tserriednich's core. This was meant to bottle up the Prince's own aura, preventing an accidental awakening during the interrogation.
Under this double-seal, the Prince appeared to be in a state of absolute Zetsu. His life energy was locked away, both from the outside world and from his own consciousness.
Tserriednich could feel his breath hitch. He knew the intruders wanted the eyes.
Since the day he had acquired the first pair of Scarlet Eyes, he had received cryptic messages regarding "survivors." He didn't know the source, but he had known the "Red-Eyed Devils" would come for him eventually.
He had prepared. He had hidden the collection in a place where no man, guard, or thief could ever find it. He was prepared to die with the secret, taking the ultimate art to the grave.
Will I die? the Prince wondered. If he felt any regret, it was only that he hadn't yet found a way to personally flay his "brother," First Prince Benjamin.
Ronin placed his hand on the Prince's forehead.
This is a gamble, Ronin thought. Mind Reading is a form of 'Baptism.'
The Mind Reading Jutsu required Chakra to permeate the target's neural pathways. Even if that energy was converted, it carried the properties of life force. To the target's body, it would feel like a Nen attack—a shock that would force the 精孔 (Shōkō / Nen Pores) to fly open.
Against a commoner, this wouldn't matter. But Tserriednich was a freak of nature who possessed a Guardian Spirit Beast before he even knew what aura was.
Ronin had to find the coordinates before the Beast fully manifested.
"Begin."
Chakra flooded into Tserriednich's brain.
Kurapika gripped his Middle Finger Chain, the links shimmering with In as they coiled around the chair. He stood ready to crush the target if the beast appeared too early.
Inside Tserriednich's mind, the seals began to vibrate.
The Prince's aura was fighting back. It was a primal, subconscious resistance. The "Internal Battery" Ronin had tried to bottle was starting to leak.
The Prince's body began to shake.
Kurapika's expression was ice. Ronin's forehead was beaded with sweat as he navigated the labyrinth of the Prince's twisted psyche.
Neon watched from the side, a handkerchief in her hand, her eyes darting between Ronin and the Prince. Shizuku gripped Blinky, ready to use it as a club at the first sign of an ethereal limb. Abaki held her rod tight, her feet shifted into a retreat-ready stance.
Faint, glowing characters began to appear on Tserriednich's skin—the physical manifestation of the sealing formula.
But the ink was fading. The internal pressure of the Prince's potential was simply too high.
Suddenly, Ronin's eyes snapped open. "FOUND IT!"
He had retrieved the image. He saw the location. That crazy bastard hid them there?
Ronin yanked his hand back.
The removal of his hand acted like pulling a plug from a dam. The aura Tserriednich had been building in his subconscious erupted toward the point of contact.
SHATTER!
The sealing marks on the Prince's skin disintegrated.
In that same instant, a grotesque, distorted silhouette began to manifest in the air beside him. A long, serpentine neck with a human face and a mouth full of needles.
The Guardian Spirit Beast.
But it was only half-formed.
The Four Symbols Seal Ronin had placed as the "Secondary Layer" kicked in. The black ink flared with a harsh blue light, yanking the erupting aura back into the Prince's body.
The manifestation stalled. The Beast flickered and went translucent.
Ronin didn't wait for a second attempt. He retracted his palm and clenched it into a fist.
Before the Prince could fully wake or the Beast could solidify, Ronin delivered a reinforced strike straight to Tserriednich's temple.
THUD!
The Prince's head snapped back. He went limp instantly, his consciousness—and the Beast—vanishing into the dark.
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