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Chapter 120: Water Style: Water Prison Jutsu
Though Hisoka's name didn't appear opposite Ronin's on the massive posters until October 1st, the clash between the "Fire God" and the "Magician" had already sent Heaven's Arena into a frenzy of speculation.
A full thirty minutes before the match began, every single seat in the grand arena on the 223rd floor was completely packed. Real-time betting odds flashed across the massive screens suspended above the ring. This time, the announcer didn't play favorites, pouring all his energy into hyping up the crowd and rattling off stats for both fighters.
Although this was Hisoka's first time fighting past the 200th floor, his match against Kastro had been a spectacular display. Thanks to his overwhelming strength, eccentric personality, and Milia's aggressive marketing, Hisoka had already cultivated a substantial fanbase. The anticipation for this bout rivaled even the Floor Master challenge matches.
The stadium practically shook when the referee called them out.
Ronin basked in the deafening cheers and the thrill of being the center of attention. If he didn't care for applause and the limelight, he wouldn't have spent his previous life streaming, making videos, and doing cosplay at conventions. Transmigration had, in a twisted way, fulfilled his dream. A dream of becoming a massive superstar. Even if it was as a combat sports star, it was still stardom, and the audience was enormous.
Hisoka, on the other hand, couldn't have cared less about the stage. His entire focus was locked onto Ronin.
Ronin's abilities were impossibly bizarre, and his growth rate was visibly staggering. Even just looking at him, Hisoka could feel that Ronin was vastly stronger than he had been back at the Cemetery Building. But that very strength sent tremors of ecstatic anticipation through every cell in Hisoka's body.
"Shall we make this a death match?" Hisoka wanted to force Ronin to unleash his full potential, instead of holding back his arsenal and relying solely on close-quarters combat like last time.
"Let's not. I'm not particularly interested in killing you," Ronin outright refused.
He meant every word. Although Hisoka was a certified freak, he possessed a strange charisma, and Ronin didn't consider them mortal enemies.
But to Hisoka, the words felt like needles. It sounded as though Ronin believed he could kill him at any moment.
Powerful, confident, mature... a perfectly ripe fruit! Hisoka licked his lips.
He didn't push the death match issue. Once the fight started, life and death would be left to fate anyway. If either of them actually survived until a TKO at ten points, they'd just count their blessings.
Seeing that neither had any further objections, the referee blew the whistle and shouted for the match to begin.
The instant the whistle shrieked, Ronin dashed backward to create distance while his hands blurred through a rapid series of hand signs.
Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame!
A monstrous inferno erupted from Ronin's mouth, surging across the ring to engulf Hisoka.
The audience sitting behind Hisoka cried out in panic; the flames hadn't even reached them, but the sheer radiant heat was already blistering their skin.
Suddenly, massive chunks of the arena floor were violently ripped upward, forming a barricade against the incoming fire while Hisoka vaulted directly toward Ronin. Clearly, Hisoka had done his homework. While surprised that Ronin had opened with the same lethal technique that had maimed Uvogin, Hisoka countered it effortlessly.
The flames instantly shattered the stone slabs, but Hisoka used his Nen to yank even more debris upward from the floor. For a split second, he looked like a deranged Spider-Man.
Bungee Gum acted as his webbing, pulling up floor tiles—some to block the fire, others to hurl straight at Ronin.
For a moment, the ring was a chaotic storm of fire and flying stone. But within that inferno, a silhouette bolted through the flames and materialized right behind Hisoka. It was Ronin, fully cloaked in his Lightning Release Chakra Mode.
Hell Stab: Four-Finger Nukite shot straight toward Hisoka's abdomen.
But a knee lashed upward with speed that exceeded Ronin's expectations, slamming hard into his elbow and throwing the strike off course. The Hell Stab pierced empty air. The clash left Ronin's flank wide open.
Hisoka flicked a spinning playing card, burying it directly into Ronin's side.
A split second later, the struck Ronin exploded in a cloud of white smoke. Hisoka's heart skipped a beat. A massive sphere of water was already crashing down over his head!
The real Ronin materialized exactly where the Shadow Clone had vanished, his hands locked in the seals for the Water Style: Water Prison Jutsu, his eyes burning into Hisoka's.
It was the very jutsu he had wanted to test against Illumi. As for how he had teleported there so quickly? Right where the Shadow Clone had dispersed lay a kunai wrapped in a talisman bearing the Flying Thunder God Formula marked with the words "Ninja Love Sword"!
Hisoka's gaze locked onto those eerie, three-tomoe Sharingan eyes.
In that single moment of eye contact, the world around Hisoka contorted. He was no longer standing in the arena, but trapped in an alien, crimson space. Massive iron spikes drove through his limbs, sending agonizing waves of pain through his body.
Yet, Hisoka didn't even flinch. He instantly realized something was wrong. He had clearly seen Ronin trying to trap him in water—so why were spikes suddenly piercing his flesh? Everything he was experiencing had to be an illusion! Even if the pain felt as real as iron tearing through bone, it was fake!
But the moment Hisoka shattered the Demonic Illusion: Shackling Stakes Technique, he snapped back to reality—only to find himself thoroughly trapped inside the water prison!
Those eyes are dangerous. Hisoka held his breath and struggled, trying to rip his way out of the sphere. Outside the water, Ronin maintained the prison with one hand while using his free hand to draw shuriken, hurling them in every direction.
The shuriken flew toward every location where Hisoka had planted his Nen. Before being caught, Hisoka had covertly attached strands of Bungee Gum to the floor all around the arena. As Hisoka twitched his fingers inside the prison, the elastic Nen violently contracted, ripping up floorboards and rocks to hurl at the water sphere.
But Ronin's shuriken sliced through the taut strands before they could hit, ensuring none of the debris reached their target.
After a brief struggle, Hisoka realized it was nearly impossible to break the water prison from the inside.
Ronin, however, noticed something else. Trapped inside the suffocating sphere, Hisoka didn't look panicked in the slightest.
He still had a backup plan!
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