Omokage waited quietly inside the church.
He knew Ronin would come.
He had placed the bait in the most obvious spot. As long as Ronin investigated along the Nobunaga doll's trail, he would inevitably discover the church's location.
And then Doll Pairo would become Ronin's death warrant.
Based on what he'd learned from Uvogin, even if Ronin knew the church was a trap, he would still jump in because Scarlet Eyes were involved.
Especially when the "bait" was a Kurta fitted with Scarlet Eyes.
The only thing that surprised Omokage a little was how Ronin had managed to take Nobunaga's head so quickly.
Everything happened in an instant—from the moment the doll was attacked to the moment the head vanished. The dolls assigned to monitor Nobunaga in secret hadn't been able to relay anything useful.
If only he could find Nobunaga's head—even without the eyes, it would do.
But based on his sense, when his dolls reached the spot where Nobunaga's head disappeared, all they found was scorched ground.
Clearly, Ronin had burned the head immediately after taking the eyes.
A text message arrived on Omokage's phone.
It was from Isri: the members were already moving toward Molding City.
This operation would include not only the people who'd been fooling around with Uvogin earlier, but also the boss—Chrollo—Pakunoda, who was always by Chrollo's side, and Isri, Troupe member No. 8.
In other words, in two days there would be eight Troupe members in Molding City—
No, subtract Uvogin, the useless cripple writhing in burn pain, and it was still at least seven members ready to surround and kill Ronin.
Omokage frowned slightly.
Ronin… don't disappoint me.
The car stopped less than a kilometer from the church. Ronin didn't get out. From inside the car, he took out the crystal ball and activated Telescope Technique.
Following the faint "signature" he'd felt from Omokage's Nen, he poured chakra into the crystal ball. The image stabilized quickly and slid toward the church.
When the church came into view, the boy sitting upright on its rooftop became clear.
"Pairo!" Kurapika recognized him instantly.
That was his best friend—the companion he would have died for.
Kurapika couldn't believe he was seeing him again, alive and intact, sitting atop the church.
His mind went blank of everything else. He shoved the door open and bolted toward the church.
That was Pairo!
He'd only taken a few steps before someone grabbed him hard.
"Kurapika, calm down! Pairo is dead—I saw it with my own eyes. The Phantom Troupe cut off his head!" Ronin shouted, forcing the brutal truth into Kurapika's ears.
"But…" Kurapika's eyes were blazing scarlet.
Yet before he could finish, tears betrayed him and fell first. Then he sank into a crouch.
Because he already knew.
The one on the rooftop wasn't Pairo.
It was a doll Omokage had created using Pairo as the template—and Omokage had fitted that doll with Scarlet Eyes.
Damn it!
Thud!
Kurapika slammed his fist into the ground. Blood dampened the earth, but he barely seemed to feel it.
When he looked up at Ronin again, only one thing remained in his gaze:
A plea.
Ronin sighed and patted Kurapika's shoulder. "Leave it to me."
Back in the car, Ronin reactivated the Telescope Technique. The image shifted away from the obvious rooftop bait and into the church interior.
Omokage's figure came into sharp focus in the crystal ball.
He had no idea someone was watching him from afar. He was still busy working on his dolls.
Ronin zoomed out. Following that special sense for Nen, one doll after another—hidden throughout the church—appeared in the crystal ball's view.
The Third Hokage's surveillance jutsu was even more useful than Ronin had expected.
"Best case, we draw him out of the church," Kurapika muttered as he counted the dolls. He could already feel how troublesome this was.
Ronin felt the same.
Omokage had prepared more than twenty dolls inside the church.
And many of them were faces Ronin recognized.
Machi. Uvogin. Phinks. Franklin.
Almost all Troupe members.
Even if these dolls couldn't display half the original's combat strength, Omokage also had the ability to fuse dolls.
Still—if they were all concentrated inside the church, Ronin did think of a suitable ninjutsu combo.
He stopped observing, dispelled Telescope Technique, and began adjusting his condition. Once he felt perfect, he formed a cross-shaped seal and cast Shadow Clone.
Then he entered Zetsu to speed up recovery.
When he opened his eyes again, he moved toward the church together with his shadow clone.
The car was left behind with only a worried Kurapika… and Neon, who was happily eating and waiting for death like it was none of her business.
B-rank Earth Style: Light-Weight Rock Technique wasn't enough to let someone fly, but Ōnoki's improved A-rank version—Ultralight-Weight Rock Technique—could.
Ronin tested it briefly, but the chakra cost was simply too high.
It wasn't suitable for the fight ahead.
Besides, Omokage had pulled his dolls inward; there were relatively few dolls outside the church now.
When Ronin was still more than a hundred meters away, he stopped and climbed a large tree.
The shadow clone mirrored him.
The two stood not far apart. Their intent aligned, and both began forming seals rapidly.
But the real body was faster—again forming 44 seals to maximize the jutsu's power.
The technique Ronin chose this time was Earth Style: Sticky Earth Drop.
As massive chakra gathered and the seals completed, a rift opened in the space above the church!
An enormous amount of clay crashed down like a sudden deluge.
The first to be hit was Pairo, sitting in plain sight on the rooftop.
Ronin didn't care.
Because at the same time, while the clay spread to cover the entire church structure, the shadow clone released its prepared jutsu.
A small fireball shot from its mouth and struck the ground in front of the church.
Then—boom—the condensed chakra detonated, and that tiny flame instantly expanded into a roaring blaze.
Fire spread and engulfed the entire front of the church.
Fire Style: Ash Pile Burning!
The clay falling from above rapidly hardened under the scorching heat. Between the high temperature and the impact of the clay, the church area rang with constant bang bang bang explosions.
Figures leapt out from the church's upper levels—dolls bursting through windows.
But the moment they escaped, they were splashed with clay and scorched by the flames below.
By the time they hit the ground, those dolls shattered into pieces.
~~~
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