Yorknew City. Kailan Grand Hotel (Temporary Base).
Kurapika and the others were waiting anxiously.
Suddenly, a figure materialized in front of them in a flash of lightning. It was Ryker.
"Brother Ryker!" Kurapika and the bodyguards exclaimed, a collective wave of relief washing over them.
But as Kurapika's eyes dropped to Ryker's hands, he froze entirely.
Ryker was casually holding two severed heads by their hair.
Spider #4: Shalnark.
Spider #7: Franklin.
"Kurapika..." Ryker tossed the two heads onto the floor, where they rolled to a stop at the Kurta survivor's feet.
Kurapika's eyes instantly burned with the scarlet hue of his clan. Tears welled up and spilled over his cheeks. The sole purpose of his existence had been to exact vengeance upon the monsters who had slaughtered his family. Seeing the architects of that massacre face absolute justice filled his heart with a profound, overwhelming gratitude.
None of this would have been possible without Ryker. Ryker had given him the closure he so desperately craved.
Dalzollene, Baise, and the other bodyguards were completely dumbfounded. Having previously clashed with the Spiders during the auction, they knew exactly how terrifying these two men were.
"T-Those are the heads of the Phantom Troupe's heavy hitters!" Dalzollene stuttered, his knees trembling. "It's barely been an hour! The Captain wiped them out?!"
"This is insane... truly unbelievable..."
"Badass... he's a living god."
Ryker ignored the praise. He instructed Dalzollene to take the heads to the Dark Web brokers and claim the bounties. Even if it wasn't much compared to his recent 300 billion Jenny extortion, A-class bounties were still a solid chunk of change.
With the chores handled, Ryker sat down on a plush sofa, pulled out his phone, and booted up a game.
To be precise, he was playing with Machi, Shizuku, and Kortopi.
[Zenless Zone Zero] was a world he had meticulously constructed using memories from his past life.
The mechanics of the [Gaming Console] ability were absolute: any target with a lower total aura output than Ryker could be trapped inside the game. If they died in the game, they suffered ego death in reality. To escape, they had to either beat the game or wait for the console's battery to die.
Since the battery was powered by Ryker's aura reserves... escaping via a dead battery was functionally impossible. Even if there were three hundred Spiders trapped inside, they couldn't drain his aura pool.
As for beating the game?
Sorry. As the owner of the console, Ryker was the Game Master. He could dynamically adjust the difficulty, spawn rates, and boss stats on the fly. It was less of a "game" and more of a digital torture chamber.
For Ryker, it was a fun little city-builder/tower-defense minigame viewed from a top-down, god-like perspective. For the three Spiders trapped inside, it was a literal apocalyptic nightmare.
Tick. Tock.
Hours passed.
Ryker found immense amusement in watching the pixelated avatars of the Spiders frantically running around New Eridu, desperately trying to survive his custom-tailored hell.
Finally, the clock struck midnight.
His [Continuous Lucky Star] trait refreshed.
"Oh my... look at the time. Time to farm some loot," Ryker chuckled evilly from his spot on the sofa.
Inside the Game World: Zenless Zone Zero.
The three Spiders were physically and mentally exhausted. Their armor was cracked, and they were covered in bleeding, painful wounds.
This world was absolutely terrifying.
"Pant... pant..." Machi breathed heavily, leaning against a neon-lit wall. Her fingers were slick with her own blood.
Shizuku and Kortopi looked even worse. They had just barely managed to defeat the Dead End Butcher. The first phase had been a nightmare, but when the boss entered its second phase and mutated, it had pushed them to the absolute brink of death. Without their Nen abilities, they were forced to rely purely on basic physical stats and the unfamiliar weapons provided by the game.
"What the hell is this place? Why are these monsters so bizarre?" Kortopi asked, his messy hair singed and his ragged clothes torn to shreds.
"This is a Nen dimension... a pocket reality. It's terrifying," Machi said, her eyes constantly scanning the shadows. "And the worst part is, we haven't even seen the Game Master yet."
Suddenly.
RUMBLE! RUMBLE!
The neon streets began to violently shake.
[I will not be defeated!] a cold, mechanical voice boomed from the sky.
To the Spiders' absolute horror, a new, massive boss materialized at the end of the street: the Unknown Complex Ethereal.
Without giving them a single second to heal or strategize, the massive, mechanical monstrosity immediately launched a devastating barrage of attacks.
If an actual Zenless Zone Zero player had been watching, they would have thrown their controller in a fit of rage. Spawning two major story bosses back-to-back without allowing the players to return to the hub or use healing items was blatantly unfair game design.
But in this world, Ryker was the dev. He set the rules. And his rule was simple: a boss rush meat-grinder until they died.
"Alright, that's enough gaming for today. Time for bed," Ryker muttered in the real world, turning off his phone screen after queuing up a few more bosses.
The Next Morning.
[DING! Your Game Console has killed Player: Kortopi.]
[Auto-plundering...]
[Acquired: {Conjuration Talent} (Gold), {Gallery Fake: Divine Left Hand, Demonic Right Hand} (Double Gold).]
[DING! Synergy Detected: You possess {Conjuration Talent} (Gold) + (Double Purple). Merging with new trait...]
[Upgraded: Your trait has evolved to {Conjuration Grandmaster} (Red)!]
[DING! Your {Conjured Chanting} (Purple) has been upgraded to (Gold)!]
A mechanical symphony woke Ryker up.
A massive surge of Conjuration knowledge flooded his mind, instantly elevating his understanding of matter creation to the absolute pinnacle of human potential.
[Trait: Gallery Fake (Double Gold)]
[Effect: By touching an object with your left hand, you can conjure a perfect replica with your right hand. The replica functions as an En tracker. Replicas vanish after 24 hours. Living things can be copied, but the copies will be lifeless corpses. Stolen/copied Nen abilities cannot be replicated onto the objects.]
Incredible, Ryker thought, genuinely impressed.
Even a physically weak, non-combatant Spider like Kortopi possessed an incredibly broken ability. The utility of Gallery Fake for theft, misdirection, and tracking was unmatched in the Hunter world.
But the real prize was the evolution of his base Conjuration talent to the Red tier.
Ryker smiled comfortably, stretching his arms. He checked the game log.
Inside the digital world, Machi and Shizuku were still alive, but they were battered and broken. Behind them lay the digital corpses of several bosses. And among those bosses... lay the real corpse of Kortopi.
In the previous boss fight, knowing he was the weakest link, Kortopi had sacrificed himself to create an opening for the two girls to survive.
His sacrifice bought them a few more hours of life. And it bought Ryker a Red trait.
Inside the game, Machi was desperately using basic first-aid to stitch up a massive gash on Shizuku's leg. Her face was ashen. Shizuku, usually calm and detached, looked terrified.
"We can't keep doing this, Shizuku. We have to find a way out," Machi whispered.
The endless waves of bosses were meant to break their spirits.
BZZZT.
Suddenly, the neon sky glitched. The air pressure in the digital city plummeted, making it hard to breathe. A primal, suffocating fear gripped the two women.
A figure slowly materialized in the air above them.
Machi's pupils dilated. Shizuku stumbled backward, her face completely drained of color.
It was Sosuke Aizen. He wore the white haori of a Soul Reaper Captain, his brown hair perfectly swept back, a gentle, condescending smile playing on his lips.
"You..." Machi gritted her teeth, her voice trembling with rage. "We'll give you anything you want! Just let us go!"
She knew they couldn't win. Kortopi's death would be meaningless if they died here too.
"Oh? Anything?" Aizen floated down, his smile widening.
Machi stepped in front of Shizuku protectively. "I will pay any price you ask. Just let Shizuku leave!"
She was the older sister figure of the Troupe. It was her duty to protect the younger members.
"I'm afraid you don't have a choice in the matter," Aizen said smoothly. "I want your absolute loyalty."
The women froze.
Loyalty? Machi was absolutely loyal to Chrollo. Shizuku was completely devoted to the Spider. Betraying the Troupe was a fate worse than death.
"Then you might as well kill us," Machi said, her voice turning cold and resolute.
"Wait!" Shizuku gripped Machi's arm. "Maybe we can negotiate! Whatever Ryker is paying you... the Phantom Troupe can pay double!"
Aizen's smile grew into a full, genuine laugh.
"Is that so?"
Right before their eyes, Aizen's appearance began to shift. The swept-back hair, the glasses, the white haori... all of it melted away like an illusion.
Machi and Shizuku's jaws dropped. Their eyes widened until they felt like they would tear.
Standing in front of them wasn't Sosuke Aizen.
It was Ryker.
"H-How...? You're the monster!" Machi gasped, a profound, soul-crushing dread washing over her.
From the very beginning... they had already lost. They had fled across the continent to find a savior in Meteor City, only to beg the enemy to save them. The Troupe had been reduced to clowns performing in Ryker's circus.
It was utterly terrifying.
It's over, Machi realized.
In a final act of desperate defiance, Machi conjured several razor-sharp Nen threads from her fingertips, aiming them directly at her own neck and Shizuku's.
She chose suicide. She refused to be humiliated and tortured by this demon any longer.
But just as the threads were about to pierce their skin...
CLINK.
An invisible, impenetrable wall of force (Danku) materialized between the threads and their throats.
Ryker stepped forward, casually catching the lethal threads between his index and middle fingers.
"A very impressive ability," Ryker smiled, his eyes gleaming. "Don't worry. I'm not going to kill you. I'm going to open up a whole new world for you."
Ryker flicked his finger against Machi's forehead.
BAM!
The sheer force sent Machi flying backward, her vision going completely black as a notification popped up in Ryker's mind.
[DING! Player Machi has been defeated in the Game Console. Please choose her fate: Execute or Subjugate?]
"Subjugate," Ryker commanded.
Instantly, Machi's eyes snapped open. For a split second, they were completely hollow and dead, resembling a reprogrammed NPC. Then, clarity returned to her gaze, but the fundamental structure of her mind had been irrevocably altered.
[DING! You have defeated Phantom Troupe Member: Machi Komacine.]
[Initiating 10% Random Plunder...]
[Failed.]
[DING! {Continuous Lucky Star} activated. Forced Drop Target: {Nen Stitches} (Double Gold).]
Ryker absorbed the intricate medical and Transmutation knowledge of Machi's signature healing ability.
[Trait: Nen Stitches (Double Gold)]
[Effect: Transmute aura into microscopic threads capable of perfectly reattaching severed limbs, muscles, nerves, and blood vessels with 100% functionality.]
It was the perfect support ability. While Ryker already had absolute regeneration for himself, [Nen Stitches] allowed him to instantly heal others.
Ryker raised his hand. A flurry of glowing, ethereal threads shot out, wrapping around Machi. In seconds, every cut, bruise, and broken bone on her body was perfectly stitched and healed. Her stamina was instantly restored to maximum.
"You... what did you do to me?!" Machi gasped, scrambling to her feet. She felt an overwhelming, instinctual urge to obey the man standing in front of her. It violated everything she believed in, yet it felt entirely natural.
"NPCs shouldn't speak to the GM with that tone," Ryker smiled, his eyes flashing with absolute authority.
Machi's body moved on its own.
Her expression shifted from anger to absolute, fanatical devotion. She dropped to one knee, bowing her head in perfect submission.
"Yes... Master."
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