"It's over," Ronin said quietly.
Beyond dropped from the air. The look he fixed on Ronin held neither anger nor resentment—only open appreciation and genuine surprise.
Ronin's brow lifted a fraction. Whatever schemes Beyond still had left, they no longer concerned him.
In that same instant he felt the shadow clone he had prepared long ago finally release.
Not the one still sealed inside the Earth Prison Dome of Magnificent Nothingness with Machi. The one he had given to Shizuku and the others, stored inside a scroll.
He did not know what they had endured to wait until now before using it. The moment the clone appeared, their safety was guaranteed. Facing Beyond, Ronin finally felt true confidence.
Beyond sensed the change at once.
He could not tell what had shifted, yet a faint unease settled in his chest. The worse the premonition grew, the wider and more exaggerated his smile became—as though that only made the game more entertaining.
The giant Curse Eye behind him vanished. Beyond seemed to have abandoned any attempt to recover Pektaro.
"Before I came here I made the most generous estimates of your abilities," Beyond said, voice carrying clear praise. "Looking at the result, I still underestimated you."
Ronin studied him carefully. He had no idea what Beyond was truly after, but he knew better than to lower his guard.
Beyond noticed the caution and the readiness to strike. His tone shifted. "Cooperation is still possible, you know—"
"I'm no longer interested," Ronin cut in.
If Beyond had possessed overwhelming strength, Ronin would have joined him simply to survive. If Beyond had held real leverage, Ronin would have considered a partnership after proving his own power. Right now Beyond had neither. Distance was the only sensible choice.
Ronin was equally certain Beyond would not simply let him go. Leaving was only the first step. The real work—the counterattack—would come later.
Beyond's mouth curved. "That isn't for you to decide. Even if you walk away clean today, you will come looking for me eventually. Hah. I'm already looking forward to that day."
Ronin's brow twitched. The man's confidence left a bad taste. As an Enhancer he trusted his instincts. This bastard still had another card prepared. Today's meeting had likely been both a probe and the first move of a larger arrangement.
Still, he had Pektaro. The man's mind would yield useful information.
Ronin saw no reason to keep talking. He could not be certain what else Beyond had staged.
He raised a hand, bit his thumb, and activated the contract he had left behind in the ruins.
Summoning Jutsu!
A massive surge of chakra poured out. An enormous form materialized in front of him.
The giant snake he had contracted in the ruins.
The serpent locked onto Beyond the instant it appeared. Without waiting for any order its thick tail whipped sideways in a brutal sweep.
At the same moment Ronin formed the seals for a shadow clone. The clone shot straight into the snake's open mouth.
Beyond raised an arm and blocked the tail. The force still sent him flying. By the time he recovered, the shadow clone had already vanished inside the serpent.
He had never expected Ronin to summon a physical giant snake out of thin air.
The judgment formed the moment his arm met the tail. This was no Nen beast. It was a living creature that itself possessed Nen.
Blood welled along the arm that had stopped the strike—fine cutting marks left by some unusual edge. The wounds were not deep enough to show bone, yet they were enough to startle him.
Before he could counter, the snake that had just flung him away dissolved into white smoke and disappeared.
Ronin, however, remained.
In the middle of being knocked back Beyond had seen the clone enter the snake's mouth. That had to be the key.
A second later Ronin's figure simply faded and vanished.
Beyond's En exploded outward. He searched carefully. Not a trace of Ronin's presence remained anywhere nearby.
The escape method sparked a rapid series of associations.
The Curse Eye reappeared behind him. Its gaze turned north.
Beyond paused. The curse he had placed on Pektaro now registered at an extreme distance—hundreds of kilometers away.
In a single instant Ronin had carried Pektaro across that span.
"Quite the escape technique. The snake's ability? Interesting." Beyond stroked his long beard, eyes fixed on the northern horizon, already calculating something deeper.
Only then did Adlai and the doll-like girl Marionette approach.
Marionette's voice carried a mechanical quality. "Is Pektaro all right?"
"At worst he loses one life. He has backups." Beyond shrugged without concern. "And if he doesn't need to spend a life, the information he brings back will be even richer."
Marionette nodded and said nothing more.
Adlai spoke instead. "Letting Ronin leave like this means there's a high chance Xiyou will end up joining him. He knows a lot of secrets."
"Don't worry. He won't talk. And even if he does, the old man will still go. After all, I'll personally write him a letter after thirty years of silence." Beyond's smile turned confident and openly arrogant. "It won't be long now. It's already been too long."
Usame walked over as well. Beside him appeared a pink-haired woman in a kimono.
"He's strong," the woman said. "My suggestion ability seemed to have no effect on him at all."
Her name was Izumi Aya.
She was the one who had earlier taken the tool case to the ruins and collected the Chimera Ant material from Muhiel.
Kurapika's sudden outburst had been the result of the subtle influence she had planted. In her own judgment the effect had still been too weak. If she could confront Kurapika face-to-face and then send him to Ronin, she was confident she could make the younger man attack Ronin outright.