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Chapter 102: Decisive Shizuku
While Ronin kept his main focus on the butler, he never took his eyes off Shizuku's battle.
Spence's ability was clearly created from a hybrid of Conjuration and Transmutation, fortified by Vows and Limitations that fundamentally altered its rules. Whenever his racket struck anything flying over the court or anything he threw himself, the object would transform into a tennis ball right before impact.
Then, once launched over the net, it would revert to its true form.
It was a highly troublesome ability. Judging by the floating numbers above Shizuku's head, there were undoubtedly hidden rules in play. The scoring system matched standard tennis, but the penalty for losing remained completely unknown.
With that established, the umpire's chair became even more suspicious. If someone managed to sit in it and become the "umpire," would they seize a tactical advantage?
However, playing into the enemy's hands by engaging with their mechanics was foolish. It was better to attack Spence directly from outside the court and ignore his rules entirely!
Coming to a decision, Ronin stepped forward, preparing to charge at Spence's position.
But at that exact moment, the butler threw a punch!
Simultaneously, a bizarrely shaped silhouette materialized out of thin air right behind Ronin. The entity resembled one of those inflatable wacky waving tube men often seen outside grand openings. Except this inflatable man was bringing its massive fist crashing down on Ronin's head!
An Emission ability?
Ronin hadn't forgotten the butler for a second. In fact, his forward step had been a deliberate bait to draw out an attack. Consequently, as the balloon man's fist descended, Ronin simply raised his own fist to meet it.
Bam!
The sheer destructive power behind the balloon man's punch surprised Ronin slightly. But what surprised him more was that the moment their strikes collided, the balloon man's arm simply detonated!
The construct was packed with compressed Nen. Upon explosion, the aura exploded outward like a barrage of cactus spines, shredding the immediate area. Ronin, naturally, bore the brunt of the blast.
Susanoo materialized instantly, encasing Ronin in its protective ribs. Ignoring the storm of Nen spikes entirely, a massive skeletal hand lunged forward to grab the butler. Simultaneously, the sheer size of the ethereal avatar shattered the hallway ceiling upon manifestation.
What the hell is that thing?! the butler thought frantically, already backpedaling to retreat.
But in that brief moment, his gaze locked with the eyes of the man sheltered inside the Susanoo.
From just that simple eye contact, the butler felt his entire reality warp. His surroundings shifted violently. The harsh cawing of crows filled his ears as pitch-black feathers, omens of misfortune, drifted down from the sky. Looking up, the ceiling was gone, replaced only by a murder of circling crows.
This hallucination didn't last long, shattering into pieces just a second later as the butler violently coughed up a mouthful of blood.
When his consciousness returned to reality, he immediately realized he was firmly crushed within the grip of the crimson skeletal hand.
Following Ronin's silent command, Susanoo violently clenched its fist. Blood erupted in a gruesome spray. The butler didn't even have the chance to let out a sound before he was forcefully squeezed until he exploded in a shower of gore.
With the obstacle removed, Ronin casually shifted his gaze back to Spence.
Spence had just swatted the returned grenade back toward Shizuku. But this time, before the explosive could even reach her, it detonated right above the net.
Simultaneously, Spence noticed the drastic shift outside his court. The butler's instant death had completely shattered his expectations.
In Spence's mental script, so long as he remained within this estate and coordinated with the butler, they were utterly invincible. But now, his partner had been killed instantly, leaving him in a two-on-one scenario. Furthermore, he hadn't anticipated that Shizuku's ability would counter his own so perfectly.
Under normal circumstances, once the butler assumed the role of umpire, Shizuku's method of inhaling and spitting back the 'balls' would have been ruled a foul, costing her points. According to the rules, as long as he maintained a two-point lead over her, she would lose the match.
Upon defeat, her Nen would be temporarily confiscated, turning her into a powerless doll at his mercy.
But with the umpire dead, Shizuku's blatant cheating went unpunished.
Left with no other options, Spence drew another grenade and pressed the attack. He pulled the pin. The delay fuse was set to five seconds—a specific timing he had meticulously chosen.
As long as he transformed it into a tennis ball right before detonation, the explosive would go off before Shizuku could suck it away. His calculations were sound, but Ronin's Susanoo violently intruded onto the court, extending a massive hand to snatch him up.
Spence had just watched the butler get crushed to a pulp by this exact monstrous entity. He now faced two choices.
The first was to retreat. But stepping outside the court's boundaries would instantly deactivate his ability, leaving him completely defenseless against his attacker's overwhelming might. It was glaringly obvious now that this intruder was entirely out of his league!
The second choice was to swing his racket and attempt to transform the giant hand into a tennis ball to deflect it.
Without hesitating, Spence hurled the live grenade toward Shizuku, then raised his racket to smash the incoming skeletal hand.
Whoosh! The racket swung through empty air.
The Susanoo that had been inches from his face abruptly vanished. Instead, a grenade materialized right next to him.
It was the very grenade he had just thrown. And the one who had sent it back was none other than Shizuku.
Spence's actions were far too predictable. The moment he tossed the explosive, Shizuku had lunged forward, raising [Blinky]. With a verbal command, the vacuum's suction triggered before the blast, swallowing the grenade whole. Taking another step toward the ruined net, she immediately regurgitated it right back at Spence.
The explosive launched from the vacuum the exact moment Ronin dispelled his Susanoo.
Caught completely off guard by the sudden switch, Spence frantically condensed his Nen to defend himself, but the blast still blew him away.
Ronin didn't press the attack, because Shizuku had already vaulted over the net, her vacuum raised high above her head.
The explosion hadn't killed Spence instantly, but half his body had been reduced to a mangled, bloody mess. Seeing Shizuku looming over him, instinct took over, and he opened his mouth to beg for mercy.
He didn't want to die!
But one look into Shizuku's emotionless eyes told him that begging was useless.
"Kill me, and your father dies!"
Squish!
Without a flicker of hesitation, [Blinky] slammed down accurately onto Spence's head before he could finish his threat.
Squish! Crunch!
Blood splattered everywhere as Spence's head caved in entirely.
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