Phinks poured everything into Ryu the instant Neon's pen touched him. Aura flooded the impact point in a dense surge. The pen couldn't pierce through. Instead Phinks twisted, swinging a heavy fist straight at her face while his other hand still gripped Abachi's fishing line.
The line snapped with a sharp twang. Phinks knew the attacker had deliberately cut it rather than let him yank them off-balance. That told him the newcomer wasn't all that strong.
His punch still missed. Neon felt a sudden powerful suction yank her sideways at the last second—her clothes tightening as the force dragged her clear of the fist.
Shizuku.
The brief opening let Shizuku catch her breath after Abachi and Neon's combined pressure. She didn't waste it trying to counterattack. Instead she used Blinky's suction one more time to help Neon slip Phinks's follow-up, then immediately shut the vacuum off. She could only safely pull on Neon's clothes. Keep sucking and Neon would end up fighting Phinks naked. That was a mental image Shizuku had zero interest in dealing with.
Neon was still rattled, but Phinks wasn't about to let the opening slip. He stepped in and snapped a kick at her. He wasn't limited to fists.
Neon crossed her arms, aura flaring thick over them. Pain exploded up her forearms as the kick sent her flying. Before Phinks could follow with the heavy punch he'd been winding up, Shizuku was already there. Blinky came down like a hammer aimed at his skull.
At the same moment another hook appeared on Neon's clothes. The line went taut and yanked her sideways through the air, clear of the punch.
Phinks's fist hit empty space again. He flowed with the miss, twisting at the waist and firing the fist he'd kept chambered at his side. The motion was smooth, practiced. The punch landed clean on the side of Blinky's toothless mouth.
Shizuku released the vacuum with one hand. Blinky vanished instantly. Phinks's fist swept through empty air right in front of her face. A heartbeat later Blinky reappeared in her grip, mouth already wide. She drove it forward and clamped the teeth onto Phinks's arm.
He tried to flood the limb with aura, but it was too late. Blood sprayed as Phinks ripped himself backward, putting distance between them. He hadn't expected the vacuum to pull that kind of trick.
From the moment Neon got dragged away, Phinks had clocked Blinky's ability—pure suction. He'd been bracing for another big pull the entire time he attacked Shizuku. Instead she'd canceled the manifestation and resummoned it in the same breath. Costly in aura, sure, but the payoff was obvious.
Phinks glanced at the wound on his arm. He could already guess what came next. They were probably planning to use Blinky's suction to rip the blood straight out of him through the tear. Not a bad plan, honestly. The gash was ugly—ripped open when the teeth caught flesh on his last-second retreat. Stopping the bleeding wouldn't be simple.
Shizuku stared at him, voice flat. "Blinky. Suck every last drop of his blood."
The vacuum's mouth yawned open. A violent pull erupted from it, latching onto Phinks no matter how fast he backpedaled. Blood streamed from the wound in a steady line, arcing through the air straight into Blinky's waiting jaws.
Phinks's only real option was to clamp a hand over the gash and charge. If he took Shizuku out, the suction would stop. He exploded forward—
—and a figure wrapped in aura slammed down right beside Shizuku. The aura dispersed. Kurapika stood there, fresh from finishing Lev.
One glance told him everything he needed. The chain on his middle finger launched before his feet had fully settled, whipping toward Phinks in a silver blur.
Phinks had to stop his charge and dodge. The hook reappeared at the same time, this one aimed straight at his mouth. Everything moved too fast. He let go of the wound, snatched the line the way he had before, and stopped the hook inches from his face.
Blood immediately gushed from his arm again.
He clamped the wound shut. The chain was already coming back around. The pink-haired girl was closing in with that damn pen. Phinks felt a flash of pure irritation. Between Shizuku, Kurapika, and Abachi, he was completely pinned down.
Neon didn't press forward. She popped the cap off her pen, aura flowing into it. Two lines of bloody text wrote themselves in the air in front of her.
"Under sunlight the hooked body will slowly wither, becoming an art piece fit for collection."
"I like this prophecy," Neon said, eyes on the glowing words. She never called her ability a curse. Only a prophecy. A corpse drained of blood and hung up like a caught fish definitely had collector value.
Phinks didn't understand the red text, but a cold spike of dread hit him the second he saw it.
The hook materialized right in front of his face again.
Did these people not have to reload? The line had just snapped when he discarded it. Even the last time there'd been a delay. Why nothing now?
Because the rod wasn't a conjured object at all.
Of course.
The way the hook just appeared screamed Emission. Emission and Conjuration were opposites. Anyone wasting time training Conjuration when their talent was Emission was throwing their potential away.
He'd misread the ability from the start.
The hook slipped past his guard and buried itself in his cheek.