With most of the variables already mapped out by Kurapika, Ronin's job was simple.
All he had to do was follow the plan and find the Third Prince.
Kurapika had clearly done more than enough groundwork. He handed Ronin a folded slip of paper carrying a precise time and location.
Ronin was genuinely curious what the hell Kurapika had been doing in that short window away. The amount of internal Kakin intelligence the man had pulled together in so little time was almost suspicious.
Third Prince Jolai had seen the news about the attempt on Tserriednich early that morning. He didn't take it seriously for a second.
Part of him even hoped the bastard had simply died under the assassin's hands the day before.
As for the so-called bounty—if Jolai ever managed to find the attacker himself, he might actually reward the man. A hundred million Jenny was pocket change. It was the kind of sum you threw at street beggars to make them leave you alone.
That figure had First Prince written all over it.
It was deliberately low. A public slap across the Fourth Prince's face, a clear message to the entire country that Tserriednich's life was only worth a hundred million Jenny.
Jolai climbed into the car already waiting for him. Today he was scheduled to attend a university celebration.
He never once considered that the moment his vehicle began to roll forward, Ronin was already in position on the roof of a nearby building.
Shadow Clone Technique again. The instant the clone formed, it activated Transformation Technique.
The clone did not jump immediately.
A massive explosion suddenly tore through the street below.
The screech of emergency brakes overlapped with the blast. Multiple figures burst out of the slowing vehicles at once.
The clone's eyes swept across them. Every single one was a Nen user.
The moment that gaze passed over the group, one man who had not entered a combat stance—still holding Ten—snapped his head upward toward the building.
Deidara's face registered in the man's vision.
The clone's expression tightened the second their eyes met. The ability was identical to the sensing-type Ronin had encountered during the attack on the Fourth Prince.
Kurapika's guess had been correct.
Kakin was deliberately training sensing-type specialists with this exact skill set.
It also confirmed that the Xiuwu Family—one of the three great underworld powers the Third Prince kept contact with—was still completely under royal control.
Of course it was.
The heads of all three of Kakin's major mafia families were second-liners: non-legitimate heirs marked from the moment of birth and forbidden from ever appearing in public for the rest of their lives.
Being allowed to live at all was already the greatest mercy the royal family extended. Real power and freedom were never part of the deal.
So… keep probing?
Ronin stood directly behind the clone. He saw everything with perfect clarity.
The clone took one sharp step forward.
That single step carried him off the edge of the roof in a controlled freefall.
The sensing-type below reacted the instant he locked onto the clone.
Unlike the previous guardian, this one did not wait. He drove a fist straight into his own heart the moment he moved.
Blood erupted from the man's mouth as the clone dropped. The injury looked even more catastrophic than the one the earlier guard had suffered under Four-Fingered Thrust. Yet the falling clone still felt a cold spike of pure danger crawl up his spine.
Danger.
The clone stopped dead in mid-air with Earth Style: Super Lightened Boulder Jutsu.
The technique allowed him to switch into a floating state at will. The instant it activated, a massive savage beast's head exploded upward from the pavement directly beneath him.
The creature opened its jaws, revealing rows of razor teeth, and bit upward with brutal force.
The clone did not move. The beast's jaws closed less than thirty centimeters below his feet.
In that same heartbeat the clone finished forming seals.
The chakra already condensed in his mouth was not released at the beast. By now the truth was obvious.
This was a Nen beast.
The same origin as the oversized hand that had tried to crush him during the previous attack.
More importantly, the cost of summoning and driving this beast into combat appeared to be the user's own life.
Last time Ronin had written it off as a pure vow-and-limitation ability. Now it was clear these systematically trained specialists had all been implanted with the same skill.
The real problem, then, sat with the actual owner of the Nen beast.
If that person was not found and removed, the next sensing-type would simply pull the same move again.
Even while that conclusion settled, the clone's attack ignored the beast completely and streaked straight toward the Third Prince's motorcade.
Wind Style: Vacuum Serial Waves.
Compressed chakra erupted from his mouth in a continuous barrage of dozens of spinning wind blades.
The B-rank technique's greatest strengths were sustained fire and exceptional cutting power.
The Nen beast that had failed to bite him reacted at once. Its bloodthirsty crimson eyes locked onto the clone for only a fraction of a second before the massive head slammed directly into the path of the wind blades.
It was trying to tank the Vacuum Serial Waves with its own body.
The clone's mind shifted gears while his hands already changed seals.
The vacuum blades carved into the enormous Nen beast one after another. Blood sprayed in thick torrents, yet not a single flicker of pain appeared on the creature's face.
Only when the final blade punched into its brain did the beast let out a reluctant roar of pure fury before shattering and vanishing completely.
The moment it disappeared, the clone's gaze snapped back to the sensing-type who had summoned it.
The man had already hemorrhaged massively. His body was withered and paper-thin as he collapsed to the ground.
Deep cutting wounds covered him from head to toe—wounds that matched every injury the wind blades had inflicted on the Nen beast.
Damage transfer.
This method truly squeezed every last drop of value out of the user before he died.
Judging by the state of the body, even without the transferred damage the man would have been dead anyway.
Against ordinary ability users, however—without needing to go all-out—this kind of summoned Nen beast could obstruct or even overwhelm Enhancement-type fighters of roughly equal aura capacity.
The cost of the damage transfer only became obvious in a situation this extreme.
Overall, the ability still sat firmly inside the framework of vows and limitations.
Interesting.
While the clone noted the details, more chakra had already finished condensing in his mouth.
The ninjutsu shifted.
Still Wind Style—but now it became Wind Style: Vacuum Great Sphere.