Chapter 120: What, Just Leaving Like That!? Come and Go as You Please...
Ross wasn't controlling Feitan. Everything Feitan did was driven by his own will. Fully autonomous deployment.
With his soul imprisoned by Castlevania, Feitan had completely crossed over to the Castlevania faction. As long as Dracula lived and Castlevania stood, the Castlevania mark on him would not fade.
Beyond the basic knowledge instilled by Castlevania and the priority execution codes implanted on the soul side, however, his memories and cognition remained intact.
Feitan didn't even know that the one who had summoned him was actually sitting on the other side of the ocean, in a Sky Arena floor-200 rest room, crunching on popcorn and drinking cola. He had no idea it was Ross, not Count Dracula.
His apparently changed personality was actually closer to a kind of post-death enlightenment — shedding some of the pointless commitments from his living days, while also losing a great many of his former restraints.
Things he had only been able to fantasize about before but could never actually act on — he could now do without a second thought.
It wasn't just Feitan, either. Occasionally, others had also wondered: if it ever really came down to a fight to the death, who would actually be the strongest fighter in the group?
Unfortunately, as long as Chrollo was there, that kind of thing would never happen. So they had settled for a somewhat inconclusive and not very meaningful internal arm-wrestling ranking.
Feitan ranked fifth. Above him: Franklin, Hisoka, Phinks, and Uvogin.
Feitan still maintained positive feelings toward his Troupe companions — as long as they hadn't invaded his BOSS battle territory. The moment that happened, Feitan under the Castlevania faction would execute his base code: eliminate invaders.
The short, narrow-eyed figure appeared to have escaped the spider's web. In reality he had simply thrown himself into another semi-permanent soul prison.
Of course, Feitan himself felt none of this right now. He was simply following his newly-freed instincts.
Among those instincts, the highest priority was to act against Hisoka — the one person whose existence he found most disagreeable.
It wasn't just Hisoka's character and behavior that Feitan found repulsive. There was also the fact that the leader consistently let Hisoka get away with things — a fact that had produced something Feitan wouldn't even admit to himself: jealousy.
The leader was still extremely important to Feitan. But for some reason, things he would absolutely never have said in front of the leader while alive now came out without effort.
This convenience of being able to blame everything on the whole dying-and-returning situation was something Feitan was still getting used to, yet it came with a strange excitement — the weightlessness of not being accountable for any of it.
As for Feitan challenging Hisoka to a fight, Ross was genuinely surprised, but had no intention of stepping in. If he died, one reset would bring him back.
He just mused that Hisoka managing to earn the dislike of nearly everyone around him was a special talent in its own right.
So — would Hisoka accept?
A dexterous flick of the fingers, and a playing card appeared in his palm. Hisoka pressed the card lightly against his mouth and delivered an answer that was surprising in the moment yet entirely in character.
"I decline~~~"
Completely unmoved by Feitan's provocation, Hisoka — whom everyone else saw as a pure warmonger — declined without hesitation.
Hisoka was indeed a battle addict, but he had his own preferences.
Feitan in his eyes was a fully-ripened poisoned apple. Eating it would produce no value and would poison him in the process.
Hisoka's primary goal in joining the Troupe had never changed from the beginning: find the opportunity to have a decisive battle with Chrollo.
Accepting Feitan's duel invitation would inevitably let everyone present see his combat patterns more clearly, giving them more to study. That would be significantly disadvantageous for a future battle with Chrollo.
As for what the other Troupe members thought of him? That wasn't something Hisoka cared about. Just as he genuinely didn't care who had saved Kastro.
In his view, Kastro — who had lost to him twice — was already completely dead. If someone hadn't brought him back, Hisoka would probably have forgotten him entirely within about three days.
"Coward."
Feitan was displeased. But against Hisoka's choice, he was powerless.
As long as Hisoka refused to step into Castlevania's territory, there was nothing Feitan could do to him.
"Fine. A coward will always be a coward. You don't deserve the leader's leniency."
Confirming that Hisoka genuinely wasn't going to respond, Feitan dropped it and turned his gaze to the others.
"Anyway. If you want to pass through the Grand Cemetery, you'll have to get through me first. That's my responsibility."
"But if you do come..."
Feitan paused. Then spoke with unusual seriousness.
"Then come with the resolve to kill me, or be killed by me."
Whether it was imagined or real, after finishing those words, Feitan's attachment to his living-world relationships seemed to drop sharply and suddenly.
The gaze toward Hisoka became: the irritating one I never got to finish while alive. The gaze toward Phinks became: the best companion I had while alive. Even the gaze toward Chrollo became: the leader I respected most while alive.
This emotional shift showed in movement too. Without giving anyone else a chance to speak, Feitan gave a single backward leap — light as air — and sprinted back the way he had come. He left behind a group of former companions standing in silence, their feelings too layered for words.
"Leader. Is the plan unchanged?"
Uvogin — the one who seemed brash but always followed his instincts to say what others wouldn't — was the first to break the quiet.
"Mm."
Chrollo's mind had been running at full speed since Feitan first appeared. Rather than answer immediately, he fell into brief thought and then looked to Nobunaga.
"Nobunaga. You're certain the monster you encountered in that area was a skeleton warrior — armed with sword and shield, wearing armor?"
"Completely certain."
Nobunaga answered without the slightest hesitation.
But at that moment, Phinks spoke with unusual gravity.
"Leader."
Chrollo didn't respond immediately. He simply raised his eyes and met Phinks's gaze directly.
"At least... at least let me personally see Fei off."
Phinks's eyes held a resolve that left no room for argument.
Knowing that nothing he could say at this point would make any real difference, Chrollo reached into his pocket and produced a silver coin stamped with the spider emblem.
This was the Troupe's coin rule — established to prevent genuine conflict from breaking out whenever disagreements arose.
Ding. The coin arced into the air, landed on the back of Chrollo's hand in full view of everyone, and was immediately covered by his other hand.
"Heads!"
Phinks declared without hesitation.
"Tails."
Chrollo gently lifted his palm.
"Wait, it worked!?"
On the other side of the screen, when Ross saw the Phantom Troupe — which had been preparing to withdraw — split off a group led by Phinks and step back into Castlevania's territory, he immediately bolted to the bathroom to thoroughly wash his hands, scrubbing the popcorn oil off his fingertips, then sprinted back out, seized his controller, and sat down squarely in front of the TV.
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