The spinach never reached Usame's mouth.
A streak of lightning intercepted it mid-air and reduced the green mass to blackened ash before it could touch his tongue.
Usame had no time to spit the cinders out. Ronin was already on him, body wreathed in crackling light, two fingers driving straight for the heart.
A giant Curse Eye bloomed into existence behind Usame.
In the next heartbeat Usame vanished and Beyond stood in his place.
Ronin's thrusting hand slammed into the fist Beyond had already thrown. The collision detonated with a thunderous roar.
"So the curse can do that too?"
Shock flickered through Ronin. His fingers failed to pierce Beyond's fist. The man's other fist was already swelling in his vision.
Susanoo erupted around him in an instant, shoving Beyond back while one massive skeletal hand lunged for the reappearing Usame.
At the same moment Ronin finally saw the interior of the vault.
The ornate cabinets stood empty. Every pair of Scarlet Eyes and Pairo's head—items he had glimpsed before Kurapika entered—were gone.
His earlier suspicion had been correct. Someone on Beyond's team possessed a spatial ability and had already entered the vault.
It was not Usame.
Susanoo's free hand ignored Beyond and clamped onto the vault itself. The instant Beyond's next strike landed against the armor, the skeletal construct answered with raw force and tore the entire roof free.
Morning light flooded the chamber. Jewels and gold scattered unnoticed. A short figure was already sprinting out of a side tunnel, framed perfectly in Ronin's vision.
He knew the man.
Pektaro—animal features, bubble hat.
The moment their eyes met, Pektaro tightened the backpack strapped to his body. The pack looked small, yet it had swallowed every Scarlet Eye in the vault. That alone proved it was no ordinary container.
A sharp crack reached Ronin's ears.
Peripheral vision caught the section of Susanoo struck by Beyond. Hairline fractures were spreading.
This man was a monster.
A simple punch already approached the power of Franklin's full-life detonation. And the ability Beyond had displayed was clearly not pure Enhancement.
In other words, like Ronin himself, Beyond belonged to the Specialist category with a strong lean toward the upper three types.
A stabbing pain lanced through Ronin's eyes. Forcing Susanoo was already taxing the ocular power past its limit.
This was not the moment to measure Beyond's strength. Recovering the Scarlet Eyes came first.
Susanoo's hand swung hard. Inside the armor Ronin's own hands completed a fresh set of seals.
Chakra gathered in his throat.
Fire Style: Great Fire Annihilation!
A torrent of flame erupted from his mouth and expanded in a violent wave, swallowing everything within several dozen meters.
Two gaps tore open in the fire an instant later.
One was forced open by pure Nen—Beyond. The other was pushed aside by the sudden rise of bubbles around Pektaro.
Ronin gave the short man no further chance. The Mangekyō spun, ignoring the damage, and Amenotokotachi locked onto Pektaro's ankles.
Pektaro's body still twisted, yet his feet stayed rooted.
In that same fraction of a second Susanoo's hand smashed through the protective bubbles and closed around him.
The giant Curse Eye appeared once more.
This time the swap failed.
Amenotokotachi had already sealed the space.
Beyond's expression finally shifted. His calm vanished; he disappeared from his original position.
Too late.
From the beginning Ronin had known how to answer spatial techniques—with space of his own.
Amenotokotachi had never been aimed only at restraining Pektaro. It had also been prepared against the exact moment a Curse Eye tried to trade places with Beyond the same way it had with Usame.
Pektaro's animal-like face had shown no panic at first. When the Curse Eye formed behind him, a trace of mockery even appeared.
That mockery froze solid.
Susanoo's hand crushed down. The pressure was enormous, yet it stopped short of killing him. Instead the construct ripped him from the ground and swung its arm as if to hurl him straight at Ronin.
The moment Pektaro left the earth, the ankle seal broke.
Beyond reappeared.
Not elsewhere—directly inside the open palm of Susanoo.
The crushing force meant nothing to him. Stronger Nen flared. Both hands braced and forced the skeletal fingers apart.
Ronin's attention never shifted to Beyond.
From the instant he ordered Susanoo to lift Pektaro he had already prepared the next move.
Whether Beyond chose to swap again or simply charged, the answer was ready.
Susanoo had never intended to throw Pektaro at all.
A fresh large cloth tore free from Ronin's pocket. He launched himself straight toward Beyond's position.
Beyond was fast. The Sharingan was faster.
No matter which choice the man made, the cloth would claim a prize—either Beyond himself or the Pektaro who took his place.
Beyond chose.
The cloth dropped over the newly swapped Pektaro. The short man offered no resistance. The fabric sealed shut and shrank in mid-air until it was no larger than a candy wrapper when it struck the ground.
Susanoo shattered.
Ronin bent, snatched the cloth containing Pektaro, and kicked it into his pocket without a second glance.