Now that he had obtained the location of the Scarlet Eyes, the Fourth Prince was useless in Ronin's eyes.
And something useless could still bring trouble.
In that case, there was no need to worry anymore about whether killing him would trigger some ability. Dealing with him directly was the best option.
There was no helping it. No one could be sure what the Nen beast's ability was, but if the Fourth Prince was killed before the Nen beast fully formed, there was a high chance it would either disappear or transfer away.
Bang!
His fist struck something, but to Ronin, it didn't feel like the Fourth Prince's head.
Even the Sharingan's powerful insight failed to clearly capture what had happened in that instant, but the thing in front of him had indeed been replaced by the Nen beast, whose form had almost completely finished condensing.
As for the Fourth Prince, he had appeared not far off to Ronin's side.
What had happened in that instant?
Ronin wasn't entirely sure, but the tomoe in his Sharingan spun and quickly linked together into the shape of the Mangekyō.
Ame-no-Tokotachi activated directly toward the Fourth Prince's location.
As for the Nen beast that had taken his punch, half of its body had been shattered under the force of Ronin's fist. But that damage did not make it disappear. Instead, it began reforming again within a breath.
A row of chilling teeth appeared around the Nen beast's chest and abdomen.
Probably its chest and abdomen, anyway.
Because that thing looked nothing like a human. It resembled a manta ray somewhat, but from the edges of its body extended long, branch-like tissues.
And at the tips of those tissues, eyeball-like things appeared.
As Ame-no-Tokotachi completely sealed off the Fourth Prince's position, a large amount of chakra began gathering in Ronin's hand.
As the chakra spun, it formed a Giant Rasengan.
At the same time, Ronin could sense something happening inside Ame-no-Tokotachi. The chains binding the Fourth Prince were slowly tightening.
Kurapika had made his move.
He wanted to use the Chain Jail on his middle finger to directly sever the Fourth Prince.
Blood began flowing from the Fourth Prince's mouth and nose, but in that same instant, the Nen beast fully took shape.
Its branch-like tentacles, each tipped with eye-like growths, moved toward the space sealed by Ame-no-Tokotachi. Judging by its actions, this thing's first priority was not attacking, but protecting.
That made sense.
In the current situation, what the Fourth Prince needed most was protection.
Ronin felt the pressure.
His ocular power consumption began increasing, but the Giant Rasengan in his hand had already finished forming.
He did not release Ame-no-Tokotachi, because he had a suspicion.
When the Fourth Prince had faced his killing punch earlier, the ability he used had likely been related to time. Although Ronin couldn't figure out exactly what had happened in that brief instant, whether the ability was related to time or space, it would lose its effect under Ame-no-Tokotachi's seal.
So what the Giant Rasengan needed to do was smash Ame-no-Tokotachi and the Fourth Prince sealed within it together.
Although that might cause Ronin some damage as well, he considered it worth it.
After all, the Fourth Prince had always been one of the most troublesome existences in his mind.
Ronin pushed the Giant Rasengan forward.
The first thing it touched was not the space sealed by Ame-no-Tokotachi, but the Nen beast that had reached Ame-no-Tokotachi first.
The Nen beast's body shattered instantly, completely unable to withstand the Giant Rasengan's attack.
But Ronin noticed that at the same moment the Nen beast broke apart, the Giant Rasengan's size visibly shrank by a full circle.
The next second, the Giant Rasengan struck the space sealed by Ame-no-Tokotachi and began slowly pressing inward.
Under Kurapika's chains, the Fourth Prince's body had already suffered numerous ruptures. Even his arms, chest, and other areas had begun caving in.
As the Giant Rasengan approached, the chains began shattering inch by inch.
That was not caused by Ronin's attack. Kurapika had withdrawn his ability on his own.
Then the Giant Rasengan slammed into the Fourth Prince.
Just like when it had touched the Nen beast, the Fourth Prince's body rapidly disintegrated and vanished under the Giant Rasengan's attack.
But in that same instant, complex curse marks began appearing on the Fourth Prince's body.
Those were not the curse marks Ronin had left on him.
But Ronin knew that this had to be some long-prepared mechanism on the Fourth Prince finally taking effect.
Looking at the style of those curse marks, Ronin's gaze narrowed slightly, because they seemed different from the curses Beyond had left behind in the manga.
Could it be that the Fourth Prince was not Beyond's son?
As that thought appeared, Ronin also activated the backup he had prepared long ago.
Back then, he had not left only one layer of seals on the Fourth Prince. There was another layer as well—the Four Symbols Seal, prepared to counter any possible issue hidden inside the Fourth Prince's body.
Now that these curse marks had appeared, it was clearly an invasion by an external force.
At least, that was how Ronin saw it. And that perfectly matched the target the Four Symbols Seal was meant to seal.
As Ronin completed the hand seals, curse marks began surfacing on the Fourth Prince's body, which was gradually being swallowed by the Giant Rasengan.
It was the Four Symbols Seal.
As the Four Symbols Seal took effect, the curse marks on the Fourth Prince's body began to gradually fade.
But at that instant, the Nen beast's figure began condensing again—and grew even larger.
An energy-absorbing type? The corner of Ronin's mouth lifted slightly.
But before he needed to act, a suction force appeared beside him, aimed directly at the re-forming Nen beast.
It was Shizuku, who had been ready from the start.
Only, she wasn't charging in with Blinky to fight head-on. She had activated Blinky's ability.
Clearly, in Shizuku's view, that condensing Nen beast did not count as a living being. It was something that could be treated as trash and cleaned up.
Under Blinky's powerful suction, the Nen beast's enormous body began gradually stretching out and moving away from the Fourth Prince's location.
At that moment, the Four Symbols Seal had already completely dragged all of the curse marks that appeared on the Fourth Prince back into his body.
The Giant Rasengan had swallowed half of the Fourth Prince's body as well.
But even at this point, Ronin still had no intention of releasing Ame-no-Tokotachi.
Only after watching the Giant Rasengan completely devour the Fourth Prince, and only after Blinky fully sucked the Nen beast inside, did Ronin slowly close his bleeding left eye.
"Is he dead?" Shizuku asked curiously, looking at Ronin.
"We'll know once we test it." Ronin took a small bottle from his chest. Inside it was half a finger.
He had cut it from the Fourth Prince's body.
The Fourth Prince had hidden many secrets, and in Ronin's view, the simplest way to confirm whether the Fourth Prince was truly dead was to directly use Edo Tensei.
If he could reincarnate the Fourth Prince, then not only would that prove he was truly dead, but it would also let the Fourth Prince lead them directly to the Scarlet Eyes.
However, killing the Fourth Prince had always been a backup option.
That was why Ronin had gone to such lengths and spent so much energy reading the Fourth Prince's memories. It was a double layer of insurance.