"That guy..."
The Spiders snapped their heads toward the alley entrance, their faces paling.
It was Ryker. None of them, not even Phinks or Bonolenov, had sensed his approach. He had simply appeared.
"How disappointing," Ryker chuckled, his voice echoing lightly down the brick walls. "The infamous Phantom Troupe, reduced to such despicable, cowardly tactics just to survive. Running around like rats in the gutter. It's almost pitiful."
"Unforgivable! Absolutely unforgivable!" Phinks roared, his face turning an apoplectic shade of red. Veins bulged on his neck like a raging bull as he glared at Ryker. "You killed Feitan! I'll tear you apart!"
"Phinks! Stop!" Bonolenov and Franklin yelled, stepping forward to restrain him.
Everyone understood that the man standing before them was an absolute monster. But Feitan had been Phinks' closest partner, just as Uvogin had been to Nobunaga. The grief was still raw.
For the first time in their lives, the ultimate predators had become the hunted. It was a humiliating role reversal they hadn't fully processed yet. The sheer terror and fury of watching their family get butchered one by one was driving them insane.
"We hold the cards now. If you don't want your friends to die, I suggest you follow my instructions," Shalnark stepped forward, his voice ice-cold. He held his bat-winged cellphone in one hand and a small bat-shaped antenna in the other, pointing it directly at the unconscious Leorio.
They had captured Gon, Killua, and Leorio. In the Spiders' minds, this guaranteed that Ryker wouldn't dare attack them recklessly. It was a dirty, underhanded tactic, but to ensure the survival of the Spider, they would sink to any depths.
"My demands are very simple. Destroy your left arm, and we'll release one person. An arm and a leg for another," Shalnark stated coldly.
"No! Brother Ryker, don't!" Gon yelled, having fully regained consciousness. His eyes widened in horror.
"Brother Ryker! Ignore them! If they kill us, they die too!" Killua shouted desperately. "Don't forget, I'm a Zoldyck! If you hurt me, my entire family will hunt you down! My father Silva, my grandfather Zeno—they'll chase you to the ends of the earth!"
Killua gritted his teeth. He had never imagined a day would come where he was so helpless that he had to hide behind his family's name. He had always wanted to be recognized for his own strength. But right now, he was entirely out of options. He had to play his only trump card.
Killua's threat made the Spiders' expressions shift slightly.
The Zoldyck Family was the undisputed king of the underworld. Provoking them meant invoking an endless cycle of top-tier assassinations.
"Shalnark..." Bonolenov muttered, clearly concerned.
Shalnark frowned, glancing at Killua. "Fine. I can choose not to touch the Zoldyck kid. But the other two... you're not just going to stand there and watch them die, are you? Cut off your arms, and I'll let him go."
"Do it, Brother Ryker! If I even blink, I'm not a man!" Leorio roared, his face battered but resolute.
"Heh..."
Ryker stood perfectly still, his hands in his pockets. He looked at the Phantom Troupe members the way one might watch monkeys performing in a circus. His lips were curled into a faint, mocking smile.
"What? Do you think we won't do it? If you refuse, I'll kill this kid right now!" Shalnark warned, pressing the tip of the antenna against Gon's forehead.
"I accept."
Ryker's voice cut through the tension smoothly, interrupting Shalnark's threat.
The Spiders blinked, genuinely surprised. They all knew this demand was absurd. For a fighter, crippling yourself meant surrendering your life completely to the enemy's mercy. It was a death sentence.
But with Gon and Leorio's lives on the line, it seemed Ryker had no choice.
"Shalnark! Don't be an idiot! He has cloning abilities! He can detonate his clones!" Phinks shouted, grinding his teeth.
Nobunaga and Feitan had both been killed by Ryker's explosive decoys. The fact that Ryker was standing here completely uninjured after the massive blast in Meteor City all but confirmed it.
"You hear that?! No clones!" Shalnark glared at Ryker.
"Of course. I am a man of my word. Let them go, and I'll give you both arms and a leg. How's that?" Ryker smiled casually.
That smile sent a genuine chill down the Spiders' spines.
Losing your limbs was an unimaginable horror. Even Isaac Netero would be severely compromised without his arms and legs. Yet, Ryker didn't show a hint of panic, fear, or anger. He just kept smiling that condescending, mocking smile.
It makes no sense. It's completely irrational! Shalnark thought, his mind racing.
"No! Brother Ryker! Absolutely not! Even if you do it, they won't let us go!" Leorio screamed. "Damn it! I'll kill myself first!"
Leorio tried to bite his own tongue, but Phinks brutally chopped him in the back of the neck, knocking him out cold again.
Gon and Killua watched with bloodshot eyes. If Ryker maimed himself for them, he would be crippled for life. That was a reality they absolutely refused to accept.
Thwip! Thwip!
Shalnark didn't wait any longer. He threw two bat-antennas directly at Ryker.
Ryker didn't dodge. The needles sank deep into his shoulders.
"Excellent," Shalnark breathed a massive sigh of relief.
Phinks, Franklin, and Bonolenov all mirrored his relief, sinister smiles creeping onto their faces.
They all knew how Shalnark's [Black Voice] worked. Once the antenna pierced the skin, the target became his absolute puppet. Even someone stronger than Shalnark couldn't resist the manipulation. And since Ryker hadn't dodged, it meant he had truly surrendered.
Still, they didn't dare approach him. The trauma of the suicide-bomb clones kept them at a safe distance.
Click. Beep.
Shalnark rapidly typed on his phone.
Under Shalnark's control, Ryker reached down and drew the cheap fish knife from his belt.
Then, a flash of steel.
In front of everyone's eyes, Ryker swung the knife and cleanly severed his own left arm.
Blood sprayed into the air.
This isn't a clone, Shalnark confirmed immediately. The moment the antenna pierced the skin, Shalnark's Nen connected with real flesh and blood. If it were a lightning clone, he would have sensed the volatile energy construct.
"Brother Ryker—!" Gon screamed, tears streaming down his face.
"No... no..." Killua sobbed.
"Don't worry about it. It's just an arm. Now, let one of them go," Ryker said calmly.
He glanced at his severed arm lying on the ground. The pain was immense, but it didn't even make him flinch. He possessed Netero's [Absolute Will] (Red). He could endure unimaginable torture without his mental state wavering for a single second.
Furthermore, Ryker had to actively suppress his own passive regeneration just to make the blood look convincing. To him, this was a minor flesh wound.
"Fine! Kick the arm over here first!" Shalnark ordered.
Ryker casually kicked his severed arm over to the Spiders. Shalnark nodded to Phinks, who roughly tossed the unconscious Leorio toward Ryker.
Beep. Beep.
Shalnark manipulated the phone again. Ryker raised the knife and brutally hacked off his own left leg.
More blood fountained onto the asphalt.
Ryker, now missing an arm and a leg, balanced perfectly on his remaining right leg. He stood as straight and steady as a javelin.
"BROTHER RYKER! BROTHER RYKER!!"
Gon and Killua were practically losing their minds with grief. Killua, a cold-blooded assassin who had once casually ripped out a man's heart, felt an agonizing, unfamiliar pain in his chest. His family had always taught him to abandon emotion. But watching Ryker slowly butcher himself to save them ignited a blazing inferno of rage inside him.
Phinks tossed Killua over.
"Killua! Remember your training. An assassin must remain absolutely calm. Take care of Leorio. And Gon... relax. I'm fine," Ryker smiled warmly at the silver-haired boy.
Killua stared at Ryker's smile, entirely bewildered. He couldn't sense any anger, fear, or pain radiating from Ryker. It was like staring into a perfectly calm, bottomless black lake. Even missing two limbs, the surface of that lake didn't have a single ripple.
"Just one last cut," Shalnark grinned in triumph.
Phinks and Franklin shared looks of vindictive ecstasy. They had finally cornered the monster.
Shalnark typed a final command. Ryker put the handle of the fish knife in his mouth, bit down, and swung his head, slicing through his remaining right arm.
Thud.
The arm hit the ground.
True to his word, Shalnark pushed Gon forward. Killua immediately grabbed his friend and pulled him back.
"Brother Ryker! Brother Ryker! I'm so sorry!" Gon bawled, his voice completely broken. He swore to himself that he would kill every single Spider in this alley.
"Gon," Ryker's voice was gentle, instantly silencing the boy. "Life is full of painful lessons. But we have to look forward. You got kidnapped today because you were careless. Learn from this. Don't make the same mistake twice. I promised Aunt Mito I'd look after you, didn't I?"
"Wahhhh! Brother Ryker!" Gon cried harder. In that moment, Ryker truly became family to him.
"Besides," Ryker smiled, his voice suddenly dropping an octave, losing all its warmth. "Even with only one leg left... these gutter rats still don't dare to come near me. Do you, Shalnark?"
Ryker looked at the Spiders, his mocking smile returning in full force.
"..."
Shalnark, Phinks, Franklin, and Bonolenov fell completely silent.
Ryker was right. They had the absolute advantage. The man was missing both arms and a leg. He was physically incapable of launching an attack. Yet, none of them moved a muscle. They were paralyzed by the lingering fear of a point-blank suicide explosion.
"Heh. A dying dog barking loudly," Phinks sneered nervously. "I told you you'd regret crossing us! We're not falling for your taunts! With that kind of blood loss, even a monster like you will go into shock in minutes!"
The Spiders collectively agreed to keep their distance. They would simply watch him bleed out. Like hyenas circling a wounded lion, they waited for nature to take its course.
"Oh? I guess a dog is just a dog in the end. But you're going to be very disappointed," Ryker chuckled softly. "A scratch like this... is really quite trivial."
And then, before the horrified, disbelieving eyes of the Phantom Troupe...
The bloody stumps where Ryker's arms and leg used to be began to violently writhe.
Flesh, muscle, bone, and veins exploded outward at a terrifying, visible speed. It looked like a 3D-printing process on fast-forward, as the lost limbs rapidly regenerated and reattached themselves from thin air.
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