"He is just some sneaky little stalker. Do we really need to care so much?"
The red-haired young man sat perched atop a pile of fresh corpses, swinging his legs slightly. He spared a lazy glance toward the Peeling Crusher, who had finally trudged into the area. Absuo Relis, the new number four, spoke with a voice entirely devoid of concern, letting his words echo against the damp concrete.
In the freezing depths of the underground parking garage, the air smelled heavily of iron and exhaust. Every member of the Phantom Troupe had gathered.
A few paces away, the little white-haired girl, Yonger Hakel, number twelve, clutched a plastic Sweepers action figure in her small hands. She was locked in an intense, completely one-sided conversation about the toy with Paknoda, number nine, and Machi, number three. The two older women stood by, offering quiet nods and patient attention as Yonger babbled on.
Near a concrete pillar, Franklin, number seven, sat alone with his eyes closed, his breathing slow and steady in deep meditation.
Shalnark, number six, wore his usual sunny, disarming smile. He leaned against a rusted car husk, chatting effortlessly with Phinks, number five, and Feitan, number two. Feitan stood silently, barely reaching a meter and a half in height, his dark turtleneck pulled up high enough to conceal everything below his narrow eyes.
Across the garage, Nobunaga, number one, sat cross-legged on the cold floor, methodically wiping his samurai blade with a piece of cloth. The rasp of fabric against steel underscored his casual, ongoing bickering with Uvogin, number eleven, who towered beside him.
Amidst it all, the Spider leader, number zero, Chrollo Lucilfer, sat atop a heavy metal treasure cart. A thick book rested in his lap. He slowly turned a page, his dark eyes entirely absorbed in the text, completely deaf to the noise of his subordinates.
The newly arrived Bonolenov Ndongo, number ten, settled into the periphery, leaving Absuo to continue his dismissive complaints.
"It is not about whether we care, Absuo!" Uvogin suddenly barked, spinning away from his argument with Nobunaga. Built like a human grizzly bear, his massive muscles visibly coiled under his skin. His eyes burned with a terrifying, wild intensity. "Why do you think you even got an invitation to join the Troupe? Because the previous number four got killed! And not just him. Number twelve too, killed twice in a row! Damn it, what do they think we are? Some third-rate band of thieves they can pick off whenever they feel like it? They are asking for death!"
Absuo looked down at the giant, his expression turning cold. "If three people got killed in a row, does not that just make them idiots who deserved what they got?"
"What did you say?" Uvogin roared. His eyes widened, showing too much white. His muscles tensed so hard his veins bulged, and pure aura surged around his body, distorting the air like waves of intense summer heat.
Refusing to back down, Absuo stood up on the uneven pile of bodies, looking down at the hulking man. "I suggest you do not go looking for death."
"Okay, if you two want to fight, take it outside."
A shadow fell over them as Franklin stepped in. Equally huge and imposing in his own right, Franklin pressed one massive, scarred hand against Uvogin's chest, shoving the powerhouse back a step. He raised his other hand, pointing a thick finger directly at Absuo. "The Troupe does not kill its own. Since that is a rule we do not break, I suggest you stop running your mouth."
"It does not matter how many people died before," Feitan interrupted. His voice was muffled through his collar, flat, raspy, and devoid of warmth. "But now that we have crossed paths with them again, that guy, or those guys, whoever keeps showing up... As long as they dare to reveal themselves, and while everyone is here this time, we just kill them. End it. So they stop being annoying."
Phinks adjusted the collar of the sportswear that made him look like a common street gangster. He let out a harsh laugh. "After all, if someone dies in the future, replacing members is a pain. There are not always qualified candidates back in Meteor City just waiting to join us."
"Huh?" Shalnark suddenly blinked, his smile faltering. He looked around the damp garage. Nobunaga, Machi, and the others were no longer there.
He spun back toward the group. Feitan, Phinks, Franklin, and Uvogin were disappearing one by one, their bodies fading into thin air. Shalnark looked down at his own arms, watching in mild surprise as his hands vanished entirely. Within seconds, it felt as though he had been reduced to nothing but a pair of floating eyes.
Only then did Chrollo pull his attention away from his reading. He slowly closed his book and raised his head, his gaze sweeping the seemingly empty room.
"Linka."
The first person to reappear was the little white-haired girl, Yonger. As her form materialized, a nearly transparent, scaly lizard-like creature could be seen clinging tightly to her shoulder. She pouted, crossing her arms. "It is your fault for making such a fuss, Uvogin! Everyone knows Linka hates it when people argue."
One by one, Machi, Paknoda, Uvogin, Nobunaga, Shalnark, and Phinks faded back into existence. The remaining ten members materialized in their exact previous positions. Clinging to the shoulder of every single member was an identical, nearly invisible lizard.
Yonger reached up, grabbed the cold, translucent reptile off her shoulder, and dropped it gently onto the concrete. The other lizards immediately jumped down from the rest of the Troupe and scurried toward the center of the room. A dozen of them collided in a writhing pile, their forms blurring and melting together rapidly until they grew into the shape of a single, exceptionally pale young man.
Yonger grinned at the trembling figure. "Linka is a coward to begin with. He gets scared, panics, and breaks into pieces. It is hilarious."
Franklin reached out, his huge hand covering the top of Yonger's white hair. He squeezed gently, a silent, comforting signal for her to show the boy some mercy.
Chrollo's calm, dark eyes swept over his gathered crew. His voice was quiet, yet it easily cut through the tension. "We are thieves. We will definitely take what we came to steal. After we get the items from tomorrow's exhibition, nothing else matters much. Move freely."
"Hehe!" Uvogin slammed his massive fists together, the impact echoing like a gunshot. "Actually, making some noise outside will just make it easier to grab stuff from the exhibition hall!"
Nobunaga sheathed his sword with a sharp click. "What if the guy following you gets scared off by the noise?"
"Anyone who dares to kill Spiders will not scare that easily," Feitan said coldly, his narrow eyes gleaming. "I just hope they will not break under my interrogation methods."
"That is the spirit!" Yonger threw both her hands up in the air, cheering brightly. "Spiders are a whole! Everyone lives in harmony and works together. That is what is best!"
Standing in the center of the room, the pale Linka nodded silently, still rubbing his arms as if trying to warm himself.
"It seems like this extra target might be the one you have never been able to find. There is a reason you could not locate them." Liam turned his head toward his companion, but he only saw the wavering, fading shadow of Silva's Nen clone. He let out a long groan, running a hand through his hair. "Holy crap, how many duplicates does this guy actually have?"
"Invisibility..." Kurapika murmured, his brow furrowed in deep concentration. He stared at the mapped locations of the Spider members he had tracked over the past few days, coordinates divined through his Revelations. "What is certain is that I have never seen the Spider leader. The other person I have not seen clearly has a Nen ability that conceals their physical body. I have actually encountered this person, but I only saw them while they were invisible. I did not consciously realize it at the time, but my subconscious mind and my Nen had already recorded their presence. That must be why I can still divine their location."
Shizuku pushed her glasses up her nose, tilting her head in thought. "What about Chrollo? He can steal other people's Nen abilities, right? Maybe it was just Chrollo using a stolen invisibility ability to hide."
"No," Liam said, his voice firm. "There are strict restrictions on using stolen abilities. Besides, if it were Chrollo doing it, he would definitely appear in the divination as himself."
"Oh! Right!" Shizuku's face lit up with a sudden burst of understanding.
"An invisibility ability. No wonder even an expert like Silva has been searching for so long with no luck," Liam muttered quietly to himself.
The group continued down the busy street toward the charity exhibition, blending into the crowd. Liam, however, slowed his pace, letting the others pull ahead before he abruptly turned and slipped into a narrow, shadowed side alley.
The air grew still, the noise of the city immediately fading behind him.
Three figures stood motionless in the gloom, completely blocking the path forward.
In the center stood a tall blonde woman in a plunging suit. There was no need to ask who she was. That was the Specialist who could pluck memories straight from a person's mind: Pakunoda. Flanking her on either side were her two guards. The tall one in the relaxed sportswear was Phinks. The short one was Feitan.
"Omogake," Feitan said. He stared fixedly at Liam, who stood alone in the alleyway. With a sharp flick of his sleeve, a long, incredibly thin needle-like blade extended into his grip with a metallic snick. "Does that name sound familiar to you?"
Liam tilted his head, pretending to think for a moment. "I think I heard it somewhere."
"What about Kortopi?" Phinks asked, his muscles shifting under his jacket.
"And Bambie," Pakunoda added, her voice smooth but laced with venom.
Liam smiled easily and slipped his hands deep into his pockets. Beneath his feet, a dense sphere of aura quietly released, sinking into the pavement. Jade phased seamlessly through his shadow, vanishing into the cold ground without a sound.
At the exact same time, Liam looked up and said playfully, " Pakunoda, big sister, I have wanted to meet you for a long, long time."
Pakunoda offered a tight, dangerous smile. "Oh? Seems my little brother has not seen many women in his life."
"See you in the next life!"
The shout came from above. An iron fist the size of a cooking pot plummeted from the sky, blocking out the sliver of sunlight. Uvogin dropped like a human missile, the wind roaring around him, his strike aimed straight to crush Liam's skull into the concrete.
Instantly, the alley erupted into chaos. A chainsaw buzzed to life from the shadows, tearing through the air toward Uvogin's descending arm. A brilliant, blinding blade of light slashed upward, aiming right for the chainsaw twisting toward the giant.
A massive skeletal hand, formed entirely of dense, suffocating aura, materialized in the narrow space and caught the sword light mid-swing.
In that exact moment of violent distraction, the ground behind Pakunoda rippled. Jade emerged in total silence. She spread her wide, flowing sleeves outward, sweeping the heavy fabric over Pakunoda like a falling net.
Feitan and Phinks reacted with terrifying, almost instantaneous speed. Phinks lunged, his fist connecting squarely with Jade's face. The sheer force of the blow shattered half of her head into pieces. Feitan reached out simultaneously, his fingers clamping onto Pakunoda's arm, trying to violently yank her back to safety.
But Feitan's expression twisted. Pakunoda whirled around, her eyes wide with sudden, helpless shock. The very last thing she saw was the enormous sleeve of the flowing robe growing closer and closer, stretching impossibly wide until every bit of light was obscured by the drowsy, inescapable darkness within.
With a single sweep of Universe in the Sleeve, Pakunoda vanished completely from where she stood, leaving Feitan clutching empty air.
Across the alley, standing amidst the wreckage and settling dust, Liam looked at the empty space and smiled. "I lied, sister. You are the last person I wanted to see."