Feitan dropped into a defensive stance. Ronin's punch slammed straight into his raised arms, driving the smaller man backward and carving long skid marks across the ground. Numbness shot up Feitan's limbs.
The temperature overhead had equalized. The scorching flames and the extreme cold of the Ice Moon had canceled each other out in a mutual destruction. The air was still freezing, but as more fire rained down from the sky the worst of the frostbite risk faded. A little wind and frost wasn't going to threaten a Nen user.
Since the bastard liked heat so much, Feitan decided to give him more of it.
Rage still hadn't cooled. If anything, getting blasted backward had only made it boil hotter. A fresh surge of aura exploded off Feitan's body.
Ronin wasn't about to let him finish whatever he was planning.
Amenotokotachi locked the space around Feitan's head, freezing him in place. At the same instant Amaterasu ignited right beside him and spread across his body in a heartbeat.
Feitan's manifested suit had already shifted back to blazing red. The black flames chewed at it but couldn't break through right away—they just kept burning the aura pouring out of the clothing. That was enough. The massive amount of aura Feitan had released became perfect fuel for the black fire.
Ronin blurred forward again, but this time he didn't attack with his own fists. Susanoo erupted around him in a rush of crimson chakra. The massive skeletal hand reached out and seized Feitan, who was now slowly being swallowed by Amaterasu.
Feitan's head couldn't move, but his instincts made him claw toward it anyway. The moment his hands hit the locked space he realized it was solid as iron—nothing could get through. That single desperate motion told Ronin his left eye's pupil power was draining fast, but it didn't matter. Susanoo's giant hand already had Feitan in its grip.
Amenotokotachi released. The skeletal hand yanked Feitan skyward and then smashed him back down into the earth like the Hulk swinging Loki by the ankle. The flames hadn't pierced the fireproof suit, but the brutal impacts made Feitan cough up blood.
Rage and injury peaked at the same time, yet Feitan had no more surprises left to spring. A thin trickle of blood ran from Ronin's left eye, but it was nothing serious. Susanoo dissolved. Feitan, still wrapped in the red suit and now engulfed in black flames, plummeted back to the ground.
High above, the Ice Moon finally collapsed under the relentless heat and vanished. The forest fell quiet again. Thawing trees dripped water onto the scorched earth. No more insect or bird calls echoed through the woods—everything had probably frozen solid in that instant of killing cold.
Ronin stepped forward and looked down at the figure still encased in the manifested suit.
"You lost, trash."
Simple words, but they hit harder than the punches. Feitan tried to push himself up and failed. The suit covered his whole body but did nothing to heal him. It only made him look unharmed on the outside. In reality he'd already been badly injured before the suit even appeared—partly because he'd deliberately taken the hits hoping to trigger a stronger version of his ability.
Now the Ice Moon had failed to kill Ronin, the blazing sun never got the chance to manifest, and Susanoo's slams had left him feeling like every bone in his body was broken. Just like Ronin said—he'd lost. Lost his most confident one-on-one fight while getting completely dominated the entire time.
Chrollo's arrangement had probably been the smart call after all. Too bad Feitan could never bring himself to walk away from a direct challenge. His ability had never cared whether it caught allies in the crossfire, so a one-on-one with Ronin had always been inevitable. Losing here meant that even if he survived, the next time they met he'd lose again. Kurapika and Hisoka had already figured out how fast Ronin was growing—faster than any of them.
Feitan narrowed his eyes and stared up at the sky through the black flames. Nice weather, at least.
He didn't give Ronin the chance to land any more taunts. The fireproof suit shattered and dissolved in an instant. The moment it vanished, Amaterasu crashed down onto Feitan's exposed body.
So this was the burning agony Lev had felt. Feitan almost wished he could see Ronin roasted alive by the same flames.
"Hot enough for you?" Ronin's voice cut through the crackling fire. "Throat burning so bad you can't breathe? Go on—try to run. Use that precious ability of yours to get out of this. What's the matter? Can't move anymore?"
The mocking words kept coming, irritating and infuriating right up to the end.
"You really deserve to die!" Feitan's final hoarse scream tore from his throat.
The searing black flames erased him completely from the world. Not even ash remained on the ground.
Ronin opened his hand. A few scraps of flesh and blood rested in his palm—ripped from Feitan's chest during an earlier grab. Not for revenge. Just in case he ever got the chance to use Edo Tensei and bring the narrow-eyed bastard back as a tool.
He dropped the pieces into a prepared bottle, shook it once, then flexed his shoulders and glanced at the spot where Feitan had vanished. He shook his head slightly. A waste. He'd been hoping the taunts would leave Feitan with enough obsession to trigger post-mortem Nen. Apparently not. Feitan had chosen to give up at the very end—probably decided he could never beat Ronin anyway.
"Book."
Ronin pulled a [Magnetic] card from the conjured book and activated it, locking onto Shizuku. Aura wrapped around him and he shot into the sky like a comet, streaking toward the distant fight.
While Ronin had been finishing Feitan, Shizuku had already engaged Phinks. The moment she landed she summoned Blinky, but Phinks's kick still connected solidly with the vacuum's crossbar. The impact shoved Shizuku back several steps, yet her expression never changed. She used Blinky like a shield, blocking and deflecting Phinks's furious barrage without a single wasted motion.
Then a fishhook appeared out of nowhere right in front of Phinks and whipped toward his throat. His eyes narrowed. He stopped mid-step, snatched the line behind the hook, and yanked it aside just before it could tear into his neck.
Neon materialized behind him in the same instant, her aura-wrapped pen driving straight for the small of his back.