The silence in Floor Master Suite 2101 didn't fade.
Plaster exploded from the ceiling above the central foyer, showering the glass coffee table in heavy white dust. Simultaneously, the reinforced concrete floor beneath the west window buckled upward, grinding like crushed teeth as a massive, skinless arm clad in torn cloth clawed its way into the room.
Worm surged up from the sub-flooring, his swollen, jawless head dripping subterranean mud. Before the dust hit the floor, three other entry points ruptured at once: the steel ventilation duct tore open as Bat dropped upside down with leather wings folded tight; the east service wall collapsed inward as Toad's bloated, rubbery bulk smashed through the drywall; and Centipede burst from the main corridor, dozens of chitinous legs scraping against the marble floor.
Behind them, Porcupine, Rabid Dog, Leech, and Mosquito filtered through the dust, sealing the doorway and the ruined perimeter.
They didn't speak. They moved with the silent, filthy coordination of vermin raised in the same cellar.
Chrollo Lucilfer didn't flinch. He sat on the low leather sofa, his high-necked black coat unbuttoned to reveal the dense, white surgical dressings binding his ribs and shoulder. His face was pale, his aura flickering in a low, tight Ten that barely extended past his skin. The recoil from his semifinal match with Yuzuki had left his core raw, his aura channels feeling like cracked glass whenever he attempted to push beyond.
Beside him, Machi's fingers were already moving.
Before the first piece of falling plaster hit the floor, long, invisible strands of aura-infused thread shot from her fingertips, anchoring into the four corners of the room, the doorframe, and the central chandelier. With a subtle flick of her wrists, she converted the open living area into a dense, three-dimensional web of taut, razor-sharp filament.
Centipede lunged first, his segmented torso whipping forward to strike Chrollo. His lead legs caught Machi's invisible threads, and the tension dragged him sideways, slicing clean through three of his chitinous joints before he realized he had hit a wall.
"Upper vents clear, lower maintenance shaft compromised," Shalnark called out from the far corner, his portable terminal glowing blue as he tapped the keypad with lightning speed. "They've killed the floor relays, but I've overridden the local security loop. I have eyes on all seven corridor feeds."
"Number and vector," Chrollo commanded softly. His voice was calm, though every breath pulled against the heavy hematomas across his chest.
"Eight inside," Shalnark replied. "No secondary wave in the hall. They brought their entire unit."
"Then we don't need to leave the room," Machi muttered, her posture lowering as three more threads spun from her left hand, bracing the sagging ceiling where Toad's weight was threatening to cave in the joists.
A shadow dropped from above. Bat uncurled his wings mid-air and plunged through the dust toward Pakunoda. At the same instant, Rabid Dog darted low beneath him, his jaw unhinging as he attacked from the opposite angle.
Pakunoda didn't retreat. She drew her six-shot revolver with a swift, mechanical motion, but Rabid Dog was already beneath her sightline. His teeth, elongated, yellowed, and dripping with viscous saliva sank deep into her right calf before she could clear her holster.
She brought the heavy butt of her revolver down hard against Rabid Dog's skull, fracturing his cheekbone and forcing him to release his grip.
"Pakunoda!" Shizuku called out, raising Blinky over her shoulder.
"Stay back," Pakunoda rasped, stepping back onto her left leg. Her right calf was turning a dull, bruised purple. "Neurotoxin. My foot's already numb."
"Keep your distance from the small one," Machi warned, her eyes tracking Mosquito as she hovered near the ceiling, her needle-like proboscis glistening with dark fluid.
From the floor, Worm dived back into the concrete, his thick body melting through the solid slab. A second later, the floor directly beneath Chrollo's sofa buckled.
Opening Skill Hunter, selecting a page, and sustaining a complex combination required an aura output Chrollo's damaged body simply could not support without risking internal hemorrhage. Instead, he leaned his weight slightly to the left, allowing the sofa to tilt as Worm's massive hand burst upward through the leather.
With a single, concise movement, Chrollo drove a short, aura-reinforced dagger straight down through the back of Worm's wrist, pinning the hand into the splintered sofa frame.
Worm roared, trying to drag Chrollo down into the concrete.
"Shizuku," Chrollo said calmly, holding the dagger handle perfectly still.
She stepped forward, aiming Blinky's open, fanged spout at the hole around Worm's wrist.
"Blinky, vacuum the dirt," she commanded flatly.
Blinky didn't pull Worm. Living beings were incompatible with its conditions. Instead, it vacuumed the loose concrete, soil, and crushed rebar surrounding Worm's arm, stripping away his subterranean foothold and leaving his massive limb wedged helplessly in open air.
From the doorway, Leech stepped forward, his bloated abdomen quivering as he ripped open his own shirt, revealing dark, gelatinous egg sacs embedded in his flesh.
"You're already dead, Spiders!" Leech cackled, tearing several egg sacs from his chest and hurling them toward Pakunoda.
Shizuku swung Blinky sideways in a smooth arc.
"Blinky, vacuum the sacs."
The non-living egg sacs were sucked out of the air in a single, roaring vortex, disappearing down Blinky's throat before they could touch Pakunoda's skin. Leech's laughter died instantly.
Porcupine advanced from the side, his hair expanding into thousands of rigid, needle-sharp quills that absorbed the force of Machi's threads without cutting. He moved like a living pincushion, forcing Machi to expend precious aura keeping her lines taut while Porcupine systematically swept her perimeter.
Toad slammed his rubbery weight against the east wall again, dropping a heavy cloud of concrete dust that blinded the centre of the room. Through the haze, Rabid Dog lunged a second time, his wild movements forcing Chrollo to twist his torso sharply.
The sudden torque tore open the wound along Chrollo's side. Warm blood spread beneath his coat, and a sharp breath escaped as the movement pulled across his battered ribs.
"Boss!" Shalnark called out, his hand hovering over his antenna.
"Stay on the controls," Chrollo commanded, pressing his left hand over his bleeding flank.
'At full strength, a single displacement marker and one clean opening would end this,' Chrollo thought, feeling the raw emptiness in his aura channels. 'This fight would be over in ten seconds.'
He didn't dwell on the limitation. He adapted.
Pakunoda moved through Machi's thread lane.
"What did you see?" she asked softly.
She brushed one hand across Chrollo's shoulder and caught Machi's wrist with the other. Their immediate memories of the attack surfaced at once, joining everything Pakunoda had witnessed herself. Rabid Dog's poison, Porcupine's quill density, and the behaviour of Leech's released organisms.
She loaded four Memory Bombs into her six-shot revolver.
"Receiving!" Pakunoda called out, raising her arm.
She fired four shots in rapid succession. The aura-bullets struck Chrollo, Machi, Shalnark, and Shizuku across the forehead. The impacts rocked them, but the information followed immediately, discharging the same working tactical map into their neural pathways.
The effect was instantaneous. Their previously separate, defensive reactions unified into a single, flawless machine.
Machi didn't look at Porcupine anymore. Knowing his quill density from Pakunoda's memory, she relaxed the tension on her front threads, allowing Porcupine to step forward into what he thought was an opening. Directly into a cross-hatched loop that Shalnark had just baited using a redirected security feed override.
Shizuku didn't wait for Leech to throw another wave of projectiles. Armed with the exact knowledge of his attack range, she positioned Blinky at the precise angle to vacuum debris and control the line of engagement.
Chrollo stood straight, his expression serene despite the fresh crimson staining his coat. He looked through the settling dust at the eight Shadow Beasts, who were still moving under the foolish assumption that they had trapped five wounded prey items in a standard room.
"They think they entered an ordinary room," Chrollo said softly, his voice echoing through the thread-laced ruin.
Machi pulled her fingers taut, the invisible web humming with lethal tension.
"They don't realize," Chrollo added, his dark eyes locking onto Worm's trapped wrist, "that they stepped into the Spider's house."
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