People who had been keeping tabs on the Troupe's trio watched their names fade out in their card books.
That only meant two things: either they'd left the game, or they were dead.
The first option was impossible.
Someone had already bragged about stealing a [Leave] card straight from their hands during the earlier attacks. So there was only one real possibility left.
Those three had all been killed by Kurapika's team.
Just like that, the most feared group in the game shifted from the three unhinged killers to Ronin's crew—the ones Battera had hired.
Their attitude suddenly mattered a lot.
Nikens was turning the same question over in his head. Standing right beside him was Genthru, the man who was supposed to be hiding in a safe zone.
Genthru hadn't expected things to flip this fast.
His original plan had been simple: let the three killers stir up chaos, quietly pocket every specified card the organization had collected, then burn everything down and build a fresh crew to start clearing the game all over again.
That plan was dead now. Unless something changed, he'd have to give those cards back to the remaining members later.
The thought stung.
What worried him more was that Ronin's sudden, overwhelming presence might turn them into the main force clearing Greed Island. If that happened, Genthru's real priority became figuring out how to play nice while looking for the perfect moment to plant his bombs on them.
Right now, the first step was making contact and feeling out what Ronin's team actually planned to do.
The Bomb Devil's scheme was already in motion, but the name still didn't carry enough weight yet. Approaching them under the excuse of hunting the "Bomb Devil" who killed players for cards might work without raising too many red flags.
Still, it would be smarter to earn a little trust first. Safer that way.
Nikens wasn't the only one thinking about reaching out. Plenty of others were considering the same move. But just as many quietly backed off, unwilling to risk contact until they knew exactly where Ronin's group stood and how they operated.
In the end, only seven players—including Nikens and Genthru—used [Accompany] to go meet them.
While Ronin's team handled the aftermath inside the game, three people gathered in a small house outside it.
Hisoka, Machi, and Nobunaga stood around a game console, the only working link to Greed Island. On the screen, the avatars for Phinks, Feitan, and Lev had all gone dark.
Anyone who'd played the game knew exactly what that meant.
The three of them had died inside.
They'd arrived at the address Feitan's group left behind three days ago. None of them had been in any rush to enter the game, and Hisoka had just picked up a fresh lead on a pair of Scarlet Eyes. So they'd decided to wait it out here. According to the last message from Feitan, the three should've been able to heal Lev and exit the game within a few days.
No one expected everything to go wrong this fast.
Hisoka's first guess for who could've pulled it off was Ronin.
Inside the game, nothing should've been strong enough to threaten those three. Collecting spell cards to trade for Angel's Breath wasn't supposed to be dangerous, even if they'd been loud about it. Even Ronin probably couldn't have taken all three out at once.
Machi's face was tight. She hated this helpless feeling—the same cold weight she'd felt the first time she saw Sarasa's body.
Hisoka shook his head.
"Whether Ronin went into the game after them or they ran into someone else strong in there, us going in now won't accomplish anything. We'd just risk blowing our cover and walking straight into trouble."
He let out a slow breath. "And if it really was Ronin who went after them… Feitan probably knew the odds when he picked that fight."
Nobunaga slammed his fist into the wall. "Goddamn it!"
The Troupe had never felt this pathetic before. But ever since they crossed paths with Ronin, "pathetic" had started feeling like their new normal.
"We're just supposed to sit here and do nothing?" Nobunaga growled. "Still no word from the Boss?"
Hisoka shook his head again. With Ronin clearly holding the advantage right now, he wasn't sure what move they even had left. The only thing that might still slow Ronin down was collecting Scarlet Eyes.
Machi stood up, her expression blank. "I'm going back to Meteor City."
Chasing more Scarlet Eyes felt pointless now. Better to return home, wait for Ronin to come knocking, or wait for Chrollo to call them for one last stand.
Because that's what it would be. A last stand.
Machi had a feeling the Troupe might actually be finished this time.
She wasn't scared of the end. She just hated that they still hadn't found the people who killed Sarasa.
Hisoka opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He couldn't think of a single good reason to stop her.
Nobunaga followed her toward the door. "You staying?"
Hisoka shook his head. "I'll grab that pair of Scarlet Eyes first. Then I'll head back to Meteor City myself. Don't worry about me."
Nobunaga didn't push. He just felt that same heavy, oppressive silence pressing down on all of them.
Ronin had become a sword hanging over the entire Troupe. No one knew when it would fall, or who it would cut next.
Hisoka packed up the console and left the empty room without another word.
Inside the game, Ronin met Genthru for the first time.
He didn't let anything show on his face. He simply helped Kurapika guide the seven players into the hotel lounge like everything was normal.
Ronin already knew exactly why they'd come.
They wanted to figure out how his team planned to clear the game, how the rewards would be split, and whether they were going to start "firing" players on Battera's behalf.