Cipher was furious.
The fury originated from Law, but he didn't mind venting it on others first.
Just moments ago at the entrance, he had encountered four men and torn them to pieces.
While burning with rage, he had no mind to peel skin, especially not from men.
However, facing these three women, he didn't mind restraining his anger to peel off their smooth skin.
'Loli, mature woman, aloof beauty...!'
Ellie, though an adult, was mercilessly categorized as a loli by Cipher due to her heavily childlike features.
His gaze slowly swept over Ellie, Salin, and Stargie, a dazzling light bursting from his inverted triangular eyes.
Facing Cipher's undisguised wolf-like stare, Ellie couldn't help but shudder, showing a disgusted expression.
Salin calmly released her Nen, covering her body with aura using Ken. Stargie looked coldly at Cipher.
The three reacted differently, but Cipher preferred Ellie's disgusted expression. Only with that would there be more pleasure during the torture later.
"Good, good, good!"
Cipher muttered to himself three times in a row. The anger from being struck by Law finally subsided a little.
Without any warning, he suddenly moved.
It was still the characteristic teleportation of an Emitter, which was also his Nen Ability, named [Shadowless].
Despite being an Emitter, he chose the path of close combat, likely leaning more towards his own interests and hobbies.
Cipher's figure vanished from his spot, not even leaving a shadow, heading straight for Ellie.
'Start with the loli, then the aloof beauty, then the mature woman.'
The moment he saw these three women, Cipher had already decided the order.
Cipher's speed was extreme. He arrived in front of Ellie in an instant. Ellie couldn't track his movement at all and couldn't react in time.
But she didn't need to react, because there was 'someone' who would react for her: the human puppet, Goldie.
Nourished by Nen over many years, Goldie had an almost animal-like sensitivity to Nen. So, the moment Cipher moved, Goldie positioned himself in front of Ellie.
"Tch."
Seeing the puppet obstructing him, Cipher snorted coldly. His clawing motion didn't stop, intending to tear the puppet apart directly.
But Goldie swiftly raised its arms, blocking Cipher's claw attack head-on, successfully defending.
With one strike unsuccessful, Cipher was decisive. He returned to his original spot instantly, giving Salin, who was preparing to assist, any opportunity.
He retreated to his original position, frowning slightly.
'Seemed troublesome.'
Thinking this, he grew even more excited.
'This made it more interesting. Art that could be completed easily was utterly worthless.'
"Hah."
Cipher let out a breath and moved again.
His target, however, shifted to Salin.
He teleported again, but midway, his body suddenly became visible.
"Resistance? No, it's wind...!"
A look of surprise flashed across Cipher's face as he looked at the calm Salin. He saw her Nen extending from her body, forming a wind wall that remained stationary yet flowed incessantly.
It was this wind wall that, although not harming him, forced him to stop.
At that moment, a sharp sound of a string instrument was heard.
Cipher felt all his hair stand on end. In that instant, his arm felt cold. Unseen, his entire arm had been severed.
'Directly breaking through the Ken defense and severing the arm?'
Cipher thought, 'This is bad!'
Gritting his teeth against the pain, he broke free from the wind wall's restraint and rapidly retreated backwards, leaving a trail of blood.
Stargie sat poised, holding a black harp with silver strings. Her eyes, devoid of emotional fluctuation, fixed on Cipher.
A black-and-white Aura rippled around her, and a wind rose out of nowhere, blowing her black hair.
'This woman...!'
Cipher clutched his continuously bleeding severed arm, not daring to act rashly anymore. He could only watch Stargie with shock and uncertainty.
Whether it was the puppet or Salin, Cipher didn't feel the slightest threat. Only this aloof beauty, at this moment, made him feel pressure.
He was like an insect stuck on a spider's web.
Tap, tap...
Frequent footsteps came from the stairwell. The remaining Mafia members were running down, including the Nostrade's group of four.
They exited the stairwell entrance and saw Cipher. Everyone's face changed. Then, they noticed Cipher's missing right arm and felt astonished.
Salin and Ellie looked at the Mafia members running down, wondering where Law was now and what he was doing.
The arrival of the Mafia members, in a way, eased the tension in the room.
Melody and Dalzollene instinctively looked at Stargie. This woman made them feel dangerous.
"A harp."
Melody's gaze lowered, falling on the black harp with silver strings.
Inside the room, Cipher didn't dare to attack easily anymore. Ellie and Salin maintained a defensive posture.
But Stargie didn't understand the meaning of courtesy.
The moment Cipher attacked Ellie, Stargie had decided to kill him. Her beautiful hand touched the strings, plucking them with full killing intent.
Instantly, the room resonated with the cadenced sound of the harp. Black-and-white Nen attached to the sound, transforming into blades, swords, spears, and halberds, covering the sky and earth as they shot towards Cipher.
Hearing that sound, Melody let out a low moan, covered her ears with her hands, and a deep, bone-chilling fear appeared in her eyes. The memory she least wanted to touch was dredged up by this harp sound.
'The Dark Sonata...?'
Cipher watched the Nen that had taken form from the sound, his face drastically changing. He was forced to retreat rapidly.
Stargie moved both hands, her expression cool and detached, plucking out an endless stream of harp sounds.
The formed blades, swords, spears, and halberds chased and collided with each other in the air, thereby increasing their speed.
Seeing he couldn't escape, Cipher could only roar angrily, curl his body up, and mobilize all his Manifested Aura to gather in front of him, attempting to withstand the damage head-on.
The next second, he felt a chill all over his body. His thoughts cut off like a power outage, sinking into endless darkness.
Stargie's harp sounds mercilessly cut Cipher's body into over a hundred pieces.
The Spider lost its sixth leg.
After dealing with Cipher, Stargie slowly stood up, withdrew the black-and-white Aura around her, and also dismissed the harp materialized by her Nen.
"Well done!"
Seeing Stargie kill that disgusting man, Ellie immediately clapped and cheered.
Stargie, however, showed no reaction, as if she had just crushed a bug.
Salin silently watched Stargie, thinking she was strong and ruthless enough.
In contrast, the group of Mafia members stared dumbfounded at the scene.
First, a one-armed man with astonishing strength appeared on the top floor. Now, a beautiful woman with astonishing strength appeared on the ground floor.
…
North Route.
A violent explosion sounded, blasting a huge crater in a large patch of grassland.
Zeno extricated himself from the explosive shockwave, looked at the area destroyed by Bonolenov, and raised an eyebrow.
'A move fusing Emission and Transmutation, quite similar to myself.'
Zeno thought lightly, then looked ahead at the slightly panting Bonolenov.
From the corner of his eye, he saw Chrollo and Silva engaged in a fierce battle.
'That man is not simple. If Silva doesn't go all out, he probably can't secure a victory. So... the turning point is how long it takes me to resolve this person,' Zeno pondered.