Chapter 119: The Post-Mortem Nen Beast Is Still Hard at Work
"Why are they leaving?"
Watching the Phantom Troupe — now with a full complement — inexplicably choose not to enter Castlevania but instead start breaking down camp and preparing to withdraw, Ross was genuinely confused.
He had no idea it was because of his periodic... his watching habits that had inadvertently revealed a small piece of information, letting the other side confirm there was a person behind Castlevania and that the person was almost certainly human, which led to the tactical retreat.
Feitan's death had made Chrollo feel the pain of losing a companion for the first time in a long while. But Chrollo was undeniably the most rational person in the entire group, without exception.
Based on combat feedback from Nobunaga and the others, Castlevania's monsters weren't especially powerful in raw terms. The real danger was the "rules" and "mechanics" — exactly the kind of information warfare that mattered most in Nen-user combat.
Chrollo didn't want to spend his own people's lives acquiring intelligence. That meant using other people's lives instead.
And even wanting revenge for Feitan required knowing who exactly to take revenge against.
Chrollo had enormous confidence in his members' collective strength — fighting every criminal organization in the world simultaneously, as long as they moved together, didn't concern him. But having already lost one important companion, the part of his character shaped by growing up on Meteor City — that place of the abandoned — surfaced anyway. The extreme caution that place had instilled.
Even the smallest possible chance of something going wrong, Chrollo would go to any lengths to eliminate.
...Though that didn't stop Ross from wanting to give it one more try.
He genuinely couldn't affect anything outside Castlevania's boundaries. But as long as Old Drac was away, Creator Authority let him do whatever he wanted within True Castlevania's rules.
Which included making certain area BOSSes leave their designated posts and wander around the stage map they were responsible for.
A faint landing sound caught the attention of the Troupe members who were packing up their gear. When they instinctively looked toward the source, every one of them went still.
"Fei!?"
Phinks had the strongest reaction by far. The moment he made out the figure standing on the broken ruins, he had dropped everything in his hands almost immediately and was running toward the familiar silhouette in enormous strides.
The half-face hidden behind a wide collar. Those narrow eyes that made everyone look like they owed him money. The short frame nobody was allowed to mock, though the owner had privately mocked it himself more times than he could count.
Who else could it be but Feitan?
"Phinks. Stop."
Chrollo's voice came from behind. Phinks stopped almost on instinct and turned.
"Leader!?"
"That is not Feitan."
As if someone had pushed a blade into the same wound again, the leader closed his eyes involuntarily, then opened them. When he did, his gaze had visibly gone cold.
"That is only a Nen beast wearing Feitan's form. Not the real Feitan."
After hearing that unexpected explanation, everyone present concentrated their Nen into their eyes and used Gyo to look at "Feitan." And exactly as the leader had said: "Feitan's" entire body was composed of Nen, not the cycling or wrapping Nen circulation pattern of an actual living Nen user.
But just as all these complicated emotions were surging through everyone present at once, "Feitan" spoke.
"Leader. You're wrong."
Feitan's unmistakably familiar voice made virtually every Phantom Troupe member present flinch involuntarily. Hisoka was unmoved.
It wasn't just that the way of speaking was exactly how Feitan always sounded. What was more unsettling was that this "Feitan" — the Feitan who had trusted every one of the leader's instructions without question — had contradicted the leader so directly and plainly.
It gave them the feeling this really might be Feitan. And yet something about it seemed slightly different.
"I am indeed dead. But right now... I've been reborn as a member of Castlevania."
Post-mortem Nen.
The moment Feitan said those words, a term to define his current state surfaced immediately in Chrollo's mind.
But even assuming Feitan's powerful attachment had kept his Nen from dispersing after death and had actually made it stronger, giving rise to a Nen beast form nearly equivalent to resurrection — was this "Fei"... still Feitan?
Bang.
A loud crash pulled everyone's attention over. Uvogin had punched through the rock beside him.
"I don't understand any of that complicated stuff. I'll just treat it as Feitan coming back from the dead."
Uvogin stepped forward past the crowd, eyes locked hard on Feitan in the distance.
"What are you doing right now? Are you actually quitting the spider?"
Then something that mildly surprised the others: the one calling himself Feitan had his brow ease open, and showed something almost unprecedented — some kind of... smile?
Feitan took a light step down, landed on the ground, and walked toward his old companions.
"Quit? From the moment I died, I no longer belonged to the Troupe."
"Which means the rule against killing within the team no longer applies to me."
Feitan's sharp gaze swept across everyone present, landing first on Nobunaga, whose expression was still complicated.
"Sorry about that, Nobunaga."
Everyone was stunned. Feitan had voluntarily apologized.
He definitely isn't the real Feitan.
"...What is it? Why are you suddenly saying that?"
But unlike the others' reaction, Nobunaga — who had watched with his own eyes as a translucent phantom crawled out of Feitan's corpse — seemed to understand that the Post-Mortem Nen Beast in front of him was the real Feitan, not some counterfeit.
"Nothing special. It's just that I suddenly feel like some things are easier to say after you've died once."
The understated answer made Nobunaga grip his sword hilt harder. Veins stood up on his hand.
Probably only Nobunaga in that entire group understood exactly why Feitan had apologized so abruptly. And precisely because of that, his chest hurt even more.
Feitan's gaze shifted to Phinks.
"You're definitely not him. You're not. Fei would never say that..."
Phinks muttered it over and over, as if in a self-induced trance. His expression had something indescribably broken in it.
Feitan let out a brief dismissive sound. Said nothing.
Then, something none of them expected: Feitan's gaze passed over the entire group and finally landed on Hisoka.
"Huh? Me?"
Feeling Feitan's completely undisguised hostile stare, Hisoka made the classic expression — finger pointing at himself, face showing what looked like genuine confusion.
"Hisoka."
"I never liked you."
"And the leader has been far too lenient with you."
"I want to see exactly what gives you the right to receive that leniency."
The resurrected Feitan had issued a direct challenge to Hisoka.
And on the other side of the screen, Ross — who had given Feitan the freedom to act — was simultaneously dialing the Sky Arena's room service line.
"Hello~~ one crate of caramel popcorn, one crate of chocolate balls, and one crate of iced cola. Thank you."