One trail of blood came from Joey's left arm—Nobunaga's katana had sliced through the limb he'd thrown up to guard.
But the second trail came from Nobunaga himself.
A tear had opened across his abdomen—cut by a scalpel.
As Nobunaga blitzed past Joey with his iaijutsu slash, he landed the blow—but Joey had twisted midair, sacrificing his arm to block the strike.
The Nen reinforced over his limb, combined with dense aura, meant even though Nobunaga severed the arm, the blade never reached Joey's torso.
Instead, Joey's right hand had revealed a scalpel as they passed each other—cutting cleanly across Nobunaga's belly.
Nobunaga had managed to defend in the nick of time, but his aura had been mostly funneled into offense, so Joey's slash left a real gash.
The wound wasn't deep, but since he was still moving at high speed, the moment he stopped, blood sprayed freely.
"No wonder you're tight with that bastard Hisoka. You're just as deranged," Nobunaga muttered. He hadn't expected Joey to go this far—giving up a whole arm just to land one cut.
In style alone, Joey was a perfect match for Hisoka.
Nobunaga turned. He was now at the corridor junction Joey had tried to retreat toward.
But he hadn't actually stepped into the open—meaning the Royal Guard posted at the armory wouldn't be able to see him.
And standing where he was placed Joey neatly between himself and Phinks.
A perfect setup to prevent escape or reinforcement calls.
Aside from taking one cut, everything had gone exactly as Nobunaga planned.
But his strategy lasted all of two seconds.
"LOOK ALIVE, CHICKEN!"
The shriek came from Joey's Withered Heart Piercer Carriage—suddenly beside Nobunaga—and exploded before he could react.
Boom!
Joey's left hand had been carrying the Withered Heart Piercer—not handing it over, but arming it.
With Golden Experience, Joey could regrow the severed arm.
But Nobunaga had taken that blast full force.
The released Piercer carried out Joey's intent to the letter.
The explosion damaged the corridor and alerted the Royal Guard nearby.
Armed soldiers were already rushing toward the blast site.
But Joey—trapped between Nobunaga and Phinks—had nowhere to run.
Not that he intended to.
Fog erupted across his En's range.
In less than two seconds, the corridor turned pitch-dark—zero visibility.
This was a countermeasure against Nobunaga.
With his five-meter En, if Joey kept his distance, Nobunaga would be effectively blind in this haze—he'd never locate him precisely.
Unless he used wide-area slashes to blindly sweep the fog.
But Joey knew the real threat wasn't Nobunaga.
It was Phinks—whose larger En could still detect him.
That, however, was also why Joey believed Nobunaga wouldn't choose a wide-area slash.
Because doing so would risk hitting Phinks as well—leaving Nobunaga vulnerable to retaliation or interference from both Joey and his own comrade.
Joey understood the Phantom Troupe weren't exactly sentimental, and Nobunaga might not hesitate to hit Phinks in a crossfire…
But even then, if Phinks absorbed part of the slash's aura, the remainder wouldn't be strong enough to threaten Joey.
A wide-area move would become a weakness.
So Nobunaga's most likely move was to open his five-meter En—enough to cover the corridor's width and height—and slowly pressure Joey toward Phinks.
But what Joey needed was a one-on-one fight.
He already knew Phinks' Hatsu: like Uvogin, he was a Reinforcement-type user.
His skill—Ripper Cyclotron—stored aura in his arm by winding it up.
The more spins, the stronger the punch.
But Phinks hadn't started rotating his arm yet, meaning he wasn't fully serious—still holding back.
Joey didn't intend to break through toward Phinks anyway.
His goal was the Royal Guard-controlled area behind Nobunaga.
Everything—the fog, the explosions—had been diversions.
His real target had always been to punch through Nobunaga and breach the Guard's defense zone.
But just as he was about to act, Joey felt something in his En.
A section of the ceiling had lifted.
A new aura had appeared there.
Luini.
The bastard had sensed the battle and warped himself here.
Meaning he hadn't been far off to begin with.
Joey only glanced up—then refocused, charging toward Nobunaga again.
Thunderclouds gathered in the mist.
Sparks crackled as bolts surged down above Nobunaga's head and in front of Phinks—
To attack Nobunaga, and block Phinks from joining.
Above Joey, the swallow darted down through the fog—diving toward Phinks.
Unlike Nobunaga's katana, which would kill the bird before contact, Phinks might actually touch it.
And the swallow carried Sheer Heart Attack, Killer Queen's First Bomb.
If it touched Phinks, he would die.
Killer Queen's right thumb was ready to detonate at any moment—
But then—two new auras burst into Joey's En range.
Who?
The thought barely formed before the swallow was struck.
Not by Phinks' fist.
By debris.
A chunk of shrapnel, dislodged during the earlier explosion, shot through the air and pierced the swallow.
The impact triggered Sheer Heart Attack—but only destroyed the stone.
The bird, hit dead-on, turned back into a coin and dropped to the floor.
Cautious bastard.
Joey muttered internally—then dove into Nobunaga's En.
But now the swallow's bomb was spent.
Killer Queen's right hand was free to target anew.
At the same time, Withered Heart Piercer's Carriage reappeared beside Nobunaga.
His katana slashed it immediately—but it exploded again without hesitation.
And through the descending thunder, Joey's scalpel swung toward Nobunaga's neck.
The blade had been protected by aura the whole time—
Even the explosion didn't damage it.
And being metal, it drew the lightning toward it—
Channeling the shock through the katana and into Nobunaga.
The surge paralyzed him—just for a moment.
But that moment was lethal.
Joey's scalpel kissed his skin.
Reinforced with Shu, the scalpel was absurdly sharp.
Even with Ken hardened around his neck, Nobunaga's skin gave way with a sharp graaak—
But just that fraction of resistance triggered his counter.
Aura flared around his body—blades of En honed to kill.
An Emission-type technique, aimed not at Joey's hand—but his neck.
The message was clear:
If Joey pushed in even an inch more, he'd be torn apart.
The scalpel didn't slice deep enough to decapitate.
So Joey had only one option—
Withdraw the blade, dodge the aura, and break through the blockade.
Again, they passed each other.
But this time—only one of them bled.
A cut ran across Nobunaga's neck. Shallow, but it was there.
In this exchange, the upper hand was Joey's.
"LOOK ALIVE, CHICKEN!"
Withered Heart Piercer's Carriage launched a third time.
Nobunaga had no time to look back—he slashed the construct again.
Da-da-da-da!
Footsteps rang from the end of the corridor.
The Royal Guard had arrived.
The fog was thinning—rain began falling inside the corridor, dispelling it entirely.
"Hands in the air!"
The Guard raised their rifles at Nobunaga and Phinks.
Joey was nowhere in sight—only Phinks, using En, had any idea where he might be.
What a pain.
The thought echoed in both Phinks and Nobunaga's minds.
"Where'd he go?" Nobunaga growled.
The wounds on his abdomen and neck were humiliating.
"He slipped toward the warehouse," Phinks replied, noting Nobunaga's state.
"I sense Feitan and Franklin approaching."
"Good."
Nobunaga nodded and turned toward the guards.
He sensed no Nen users among them.
Frustrated, he disappeared from his spot—charging straight at the soldiers, ignoring their shouts.
Well-trained, the guards opened fire immediately.
But Nobunaga was already among them.
Still wearing that dead-eyed stare, his katana danced.
He didn't care that Joey had orchestrated all this.
He wasn't going to hold back.
They were just guards. He'd cut them down.
In the ceiling cavity nearby, Luini trembled.
Nobunaga's outburst made him realize the terrifying gulf between them.
But he had no time for reflection.
A bird burst through his warped-space gateway, diving into the ceiling nook.
Only when it crossed over did Luini see it.
His hand jerked up, dagger stabbing toward it—
But the bird was faster.
It dodged, then crashed into him.
It happened too fast.
Too fast for Luini to grasp.
He heard the click of a pen being pressed—
And then, the warped ceiling space was empty.
A bird. A wisp of ash.
Luini was gone.
The warped space vanished instantly.
As if nothing had ever happened.
Far away, Phinks frowned.
Two auras had vanished at the same time.
One human.
One small animal.
The human had to be the guy from the Ai family who showed himself earlier.
The animal—one of Joey's birds.
They'd made contact, then both disappeared.
Phinks couldn't be sure what happened.
The moment they touched, the pocket space vanished.
Maybe Luini shut it himself upon contact.
Maybe Joey had other plans all along.
Was he trying to reach the Ai family?
Or did the bird's ability force Luini's disappearance?
Phinks thought back to how he had instinctively used debris to kill one of the birds earlier.
He had a theory now.
Those birds carried something special.
An ability.
But it didn't quite add up.
Joey's power seemed based on controlling the atmosphere, creating weather effects, and commanding small animals or insects.
The animals turned into other objects after death—likely conjured entities.
But it wasn't clear if Joey himself created them.
He felt more like an Emission-type user than a Conjurer capable of such constructs.
The difference was huge.
Even for a genius, combining those categories was nearly impossible.
Given his link to Hisoka, Phinks now leaned toward a different conclusion:
Someone else was creating the animals for Joey.
Someone hiding in the background, monitoring and exploring the Black Whale.
Joey's constant use of an earpiece backed this up—he was receiving intel remotely.
While Phinks was still piecing it together, Franklin and Feitan arrived.
The three gathered.
Phinks shared everything—Joey's abilities, his suspicions, his conclusions.
Meanwhile, Nobunaga had finished butchering the guards—
And was already in pursuit, heading toward the warehouse.
(End of Chapter)