Chapter 122: Texture Surprise
Ronin's gaze swept across the ring, scanning for any lingering threads of aura connected to Hisoka.
With his Three-Tomoe Sharingan active and layered with Gyo, Ronin was confident that no trace of Hisoka's Nen could escape his notice. He was certain that if Hisoka wanted to break the Water Prison, he would have to attempt an external disruption.
The shuriken severed every physical and aura connection to the floor, Ronin analyzed. So, where is the counter-attack coming from?
A sudden, sharp movement caught his eye.
The Referee.
The official's body lurched forward, stumbling uncontrollably toward the Water Prison.
In Ronin's vision, the referee was clean. There were no pink threads of Bungee Gum attached to his clothes, nor was there any detectable aura signature on his person.
How is he moving him?
Ronin didn't pause to ponder. He thrust a fist toward the staggering official.
BOOM!
The massive wind pressure from the punch blasted the referee backward, clear of the water sphere. In that brief moment of high-speed displacement, the Sharingan finally pierced the veil.
As the referee tumbled, a hidden layer of aura flickered on his back. It was a secondary shroud of Nen, meticulously crafted to mimic the texture and appearance of the man's suit and skin—a perfect camouflage that had masked the underlying Bungee Gum from Ronin's initial scan.
Texture Surprise.
Ronin reached the conclusion instantly.
Back at the Cemetery Building, Hisoka had used this ability to hide his bruised knuckles. Ronin had noted it then but hadn't realized the depth of its deception. It wasn't just a cosmetic skin; it was a high-level concealment that bypassed the standard detection of Gyo.
While In makes aura invisible, it can still be "seen" by focusing aura in the eyes. But Texture Surprise changes the visual properties of the aura itself to match the environment. To a Sharingan user, it was like looking at a perfectly rendered 3D hologram.
Hisoka's control over the referee was crude—he wasn't a Manipulator, after all. He was simply using the gum as a leash to yank the man around.
But why? To what end?
Then, Ronin saw it.
Through the Sharingan's insight, he noticed the dozens of pebbles and stone fragments scattered across the ring. Every single one was now vibrating.
When Ronin had blasted the referee back with wind pressure, the shockwave had rolled the stones across the floor, drawing out the nearly invisible pink threads of Bungee Gum that had been attached to them since the start of the match.
The trap was sprung.
With a flick of Hisoka's fingers from inside the prison, the gum contracted. Dozens of high-velocity stones shot toward the Water Prison from every direction, creating a converging storm of projectiles.
Ronin was the center of the crossfire.
Susanoo.
The red skeletal ribcage flared into existence, shielding Ronin as the stones hammered against the aura-construct. Several stones managed to pierce through the liquid wall of the Water Prison, disrupting its surface tension and allowing Hisoka to burst free.
Hisoka landed and immediately retreated, moving with a jagged, unpredictable rhythm.
Ronin noticed that with every step and every hand-plant on the floor, Hisoka was leaving behind droplets of pink aura.
Bungee Gum.
By detaching his aura from his body, Hisoka was turning the entire ring into a minefield of sticky traps. While detached aura normally loses potency quickly, in the heat of a close-quarters brawl, it served as an elite method of harassment.
Ronin's left eye flared. Amenotokotachi: Celestial Stasis.
He didn't target Hisoka's whole body this time. He targeted a thin, vertical plane of space directly in the path of Hisoka's retreat.
Simultaneously, the Susanoo's massive skeletal hand lunged forward.
Debris launched by Hisoka struck the Susanoo's arm, but it was like throwing pebbles at a tank.
Hisoka, focused on the giant red hand, didn't see the trap Ronin had set in the air. As he blurred backward, his arm passed through the "stasis zone."
Squelch!
Blood sprayed into the air. Hisoka didn't see an attack, but his arm felt like it had been dragged through a stationary laser cutter.
"What happened?"
The thought flashed through Hisoka's mind as he skidded to a halt. He ignored the pain and threw a punch at the incoming Susanoo hand.
CRACK!
Hisoka's arm buckled. The bone snapped like a dry twig. Even at full power, he could only stall the skeletal hand, not overcome its raw mass.
Hisoka didn't panic. In his free hand, a black silk magician's cloth appeared.
He tossed the cloth into the air toward the "empty" space where his arm had been cut. The cloth hit the invisible stasis zone and draped over it, revealing a flat, razor-thin "spatial blade" that Ronin had frozen in mid-air.
The "Spatial Blade" vanished as Ronin deactivated the eye, and the cloth fell into Hisoka's hand. He whipped it over his mangled, broken arm.
A second later, a miracle occurred.
Hisoka pulled the cloth away, and his arm looked perfectly fine—no blood, no bone protruding, no scars.
The stadium, which had fallen into a stunned silence the moment the Susanoo appeared, erupted into a deafening roar. The crowd screamed in disbelief as the Magician performed his greatest trick yet.
Ronin didn't join in the applause. He stood cold and calculating.
His mastery over Amenotokotachi was deepening. He had moved from freezing whole targets to freezing localized space to create invisible environmental hazards.
The only issue was precision. He had intended to sever the limb completely; he had only managed a deep laceration.
I need more practice. Spatial manipulation is my absolute checkmate.
Hisoka, for his part, showed no fear. If anything, the pain and the mystery of Ronin's power were making him drunk with excitement.
Even if he was being suppressed at every turn, this was the "game" he lived for.
Ronin... you're an even more delicious fruit than Chrollo.
But how do I win?
Hisoka felt a "happy dilemma." Ronin had too many abilities—water, fire, gravity, spatial locks, and the red avatar. It was impossible to predict the next move.
Against such an opponent, Hisoka realized his current level might not be enough to secure a win.
But that realization only made the Magician smile wider.
☆☆☆
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