Chapter 113: You've Got Rising Sun, I've Got the Fire Ring
The Phantom Troupe is classified as an A-rank criminal organization by the Hunter Association, but that rating is based on their collective combat capability as a coordinated unit. In terms of individual power, the spread between members is actually fairly wide.
Feitan is genuinely among the Troupe's top combat fighters and holds the title of fastest in the group without any challenge.
But the Phantom Troupe has a somewhat nuanced problem: the overwhelming majority of its members are entirely self-taught.
Self-taught Nen users who have made it to this level could be called prodigiously talented without a hint of exaggeration. But ability development built without systematic instruction — earned almost entirely through combat — sometimes fits the person with perfect precision, and sometimes produces a result that works against their natural talent.
Take Uvogin — a pure Enhancement type who developed a plain and completely unpretentious right straight punch, 『Super Destruction Punch』, that was exactly right for him. That is the most honest and most appropriate kind of ability development for someone following raw instinct.
And then there is Feitan — undeniably the fastest in the Troupe — who developed a counterattack-type wide-area destruction technique that only activates after he has worked himself into extreme fury and absorbed massive damage.
『Rising Sun』: converts Nen into a scorching fireball. The more severe the injuries sustained before activation and the greater the rage, the higher the sustained heat output of the burning fireball and the wider its effective range.
And because this technique causes indiscriminate damage to himself as well, Feitan developed a dedicated full-body Nen tool with fire-immunity properties, and nothing else: 『Pain Packer: The Unforgivable』.
In a certain sense, the scenario that maximizes this technique's effectiveness is a relatively enclosed indoor space. The target also needs to be something that can be finished on first contact, with a movement speed that is not too high.
The first-contact kill condition exists to ensure that everyone who witnesses this technique, other than fellow Troupe members, does not walk away. The movement speed condition exists to ensure that once Feitan activates it, the target cannot quickly escape.
Although Feitan himself can move freely while the technique is active, the fireball he sends up is fixed in place. It does not move with him.
So in a certain sense, the topmost room of the Clock Tower right now was the ideal activation environment for 『Rising Sun』.
Enclosed. High-ceilinged. No way out.
Genbu could submerge into rock, but Feitan had released the technique with the intent to melt the entire room.
Which meant: during the second hit of the earlier two-hit combination — the tail lance — Feitan had actually let it connect on purpose, without making any targeted defense.
More injury. Higher temperature.
And as the enormous fireball like a miniature sun took shape, the stone making up the Clock Tower's topmost room visibly began turning red and melting. The rock's properties had been temporarily altered to a high-temperature semi-molten state, which meant Genbu's ability to submerge into the stone was temporarily unusable. Not that it mattered.
At this moment, Feitan was staring fixedly at Genbu, still crouched before him. The emotion in his eyes had shifted rapidly from the initial contempt to shock and flat disbelief.
Because in his expectation, Genbu should have been melting and shrieking like the surrounding rock. Instead it was holding his gaze with complete composure, entirely unbothered by the flame, and the corner of its mouth was carrying a faint smirk that was the exact copy of the one Feitan himself had worn moments ago. (Ross had turned on the camera mapped to the Power Glove.)
"How... how can this be possible!?"
Other than his own Troupe members, Feitan had never once seen anyone stand this comfortably inside his blazing sun.
And yet Genbu had done it. Or more precisely: Ross had made it happen.
As the replacement BOSS configured for this area, Genbu's strength far outstripped the Skeleton Warrior — a creature that wore the BOSS label but was functionally just an oversized elite enemy. His physical constitution was naturally sufficient to support an additional character template.
Ross's choice was, again, Gilgamesh. Because Gilgamesh carried one specific item that was made for exactly this situation.
The Golden Armor was not equipped. Under Rising Sun conditions it would be purely negative: absorbing a lethal hit while leaving only 1 HP was essentially voluntary death.
The Hero's Shield would also be useless. Feitan's Rising Sun was not a projectile-type Nen blast. It was a wide-area fixed turret. A shield did nothing against it.
What actually allowed Genbu to stand before Feitan with complete ease was a sapphire ring slotted onto one of Genbu's large fingers, effectively expanded to bracelet size.
[Sapphire Ring: Grade A Nen tool, accessory. From Tower of Druaga. Acquisition condition: "On the 54th floor, in the second column from the top, ninth block from the left, maintain a downward-forward movement state while passing through (god's-eye view map)."
Sapphire Fire Ring
A magic ring enchanted with the highest level "Flame Protection" enchantment. Provides complete immunity to damage from "Red Flames" and "Blue Flames." Even when incoming damage exceeds the ring's defensive limit, it significantly reduces damage from both flame types at the cost of continuous durability loss.]
True to Tower of Druaga's consistent approach with its treasures, the Sapphire Ring's immunity covered exactly two flame types: Red Flames and Blue Flames.
That was it. Color only. Not type.
Lighter, Nen ability, anything else — as long as it fell within the red-to-blue spectrum, the ring blocked it.
In other words: if Feitan's sun happened to be purple, green, or any other color, the Sapphire Ring would have done absolutely nothing.
And Genbu's appearance — perfectly at ease, as if sitting in a sauna — inflicted more psychological damage on Feitan than any physical wound could.
Having your signature technique completely ignored like that would shake anyone.
But Feitan was no fool. In that moment, he finally recognized something that had seemed slightly off all along but that he had dismissed every single time it surfaced.
The targeted monster harassment. The severing of his umbrella-rapier. The lure of the coin bags. The precisely predicted two-hit combination.
Stack all of those together, and the conclusion was unavoidable:
He had been set up.
"Bingo."
Watching the unmistakably complex spread of emotions across Feitan's eyes through the screen, Ross picked up the 2P controller that had been materialized back on training day 40 and spoke into its built-in microphone.
Feitan's pupils went still. Because Ross's act of speaking through Genbu's mouth made him truly understand: this BOSS, and the Skeleton Warrior before it, and in fact the entire Castlevania operating behind everything — all of it had someone running it.
But it was already far too late.
Genbu, deflecting Rising Sun's assault with effortless ease through the Sapphire Ring, raised both hands toward Feitan. The next instant, its fingers, arms, skull, tail, and every other body part launched out as if loaded with small propulsion charges:
Explosive Rock Barrage.
Genbu's body converted directly into rock buckshot, sealing off every escape route Feitan had.
And as a fire-immunity suit designed to provide complete protection against Rising Sun's erosion, Pain Packer: The Unforgivable had absolutely no defensive capability against physical impacts. On top of that, his Nen was being entirely consumed as fuel for the fireball overhead — which meant he had nothing left to reinforce his body or execute any explosive burst of speed.
The result: the fire-immunity suit was punched through by rock shrapnel firing from every direction simultaneously. The near-perfect flame protection it had been providing collapsed instantly.
The blazing heat of Rising Sun began acting on its own caster.
"AAAAAAH!!!!!"
A piercing scream echoed across Castlevania's skies.