"He's gone~"
Hisoka held a joker card in front of his face, speaking with a suggestive tone.
Behind the card was an unnervingly twisted smile, enough to send chills down anyone spine.
Just hearing his tone was enough to make one uncomfortable.
'I never expected that even 'Feitan' was planted by Akira. The abilities he possesses are truly numerous~'
Hisoka pondered the words of the fake Feitan, his bewitching eyes filled with deep wariness.
If the ability was limited to mimicking just one person, that would be one thing.
But if it could mimic anyone, then this ability was truly terrifying.
Especially suited for tasks like assassination.
No one could be sure if the person beside them was actually Akira in disguise!
Hisoka words also brought the others to full awareness.
"Did he just say... he was sent by Akira?"
Shizuku suddenly asked, her large eyes filled with confusion. She still couldn't understand why it had to be Akira.
"So that's how it is?"
Chrollo lowered his gaze, sitting in a corner, his head bowed as he spoke in a heavy tone.
"While we were targeting the auction, we were already being watched by Akira."
"He even replaced Feitan. I don't know how he did it, but the disguise was flawless!"
It seemed as if their fate had been sealed from the very beginning.
Even before they arrived in Yorknew City, they were destined to face this calamity.
For the first time, Chrollo felt a sense of helplessness, the kind that comes from realizing the overwhelming gap between oneself and the enemy.
Chrollo looked up at Machi, who was still crouched beside Phinks and asked softly
"Machi, how's Phinks..."
Machi slowly stood up but didn't speak, only shaking her head.
"I see."
Chrollo wasn't surprised by this outcome.
He let out a deep sigh, his eyes filled with sorrow.
The cost of this operation had been far too great.The main attackers within the group were practically wiped out.
Uvogin, Nobunaga, Franklin, Shalnark, Feitan, and Phinks—six people in total—were dead.
Among the remaining members, it was still uncertain whether Hisoka could be considered a comrade.
The others were Shizuku, Machi, Pakunoda, and Kortopi, who were more of the support type.
The strongest was still the leader, Chrollo, but the high-end combat power was almost gone.
The only one who could be considered a main attacker among the support members was Bonolenov.
Facing Akira alone had left the Phantom Troupe severely crippled!
They were completely helpless.
At this moment, Chrollo deeply understood what Silva had said before.
They really couldn't afford to confront Akira.
At least not in their current state.
Losing half of their members in one go was no exaggeration, it could even lead to the disbandment of the Phantom Troupe.
Now, his task became even more burdensome—he had to find six new members to fill the ranks.
Leaving aside whether he could find enough people to fill the spots, even if he did they wouldn't be the same as Uvogin and the others, who had been with him for years...
****
Late at night
the members of the Troupe walked out of the abandoned building, heading in different directions.
The only thing they had in common was the dark cloud hanging over their faces, not a single smile in sight.
They had come as thirteen, but now only seven remained.
Except for Hisoka, who was thoroughly satisfied.
He was much happier now than in the original timeline, already planning how to force Chrollo to fight him.
However, after calming down, Hisoka decided to prepare a bit more.
Although many members of the Troupe had died this time, the guards around Chrollo remained unchanged.
When the Phantom Troupe wasn't on a mission, they were usually scattered across the six continents, doing as they pleased.
Among them, Feitan and Phinks were a duo who often traveled together, but even that was just "often."
Chrollo, on the other hand, almost always had two members guarding him at all times.
These guards were usually chosen from Kortopi, Shalnark, Bonolenov, and Pakunoda.
So, Hisoka plan to force a confrontation still wouldn't work, he needed to think of another approach.
Regardless, Akira had definitely done him a huge favor.
In the original timeline, Chrollo would have Kortopi replicate the auction items and Illumi would control the Ten Dons' live broadcast.
They even created fake corpses, temporarily making the mafia believe the Phantom Troupe was dead.
But now, with Akira lurking in the shadows, every second they stayed in this city was fraught with immense danger.
Naturally, they had no mind to bother with such schemes.
The Troupe's long-awaited reunion had ended up costing them half their members, leaving them a crippled spider.
It was a crushing defeat.
The world's mafia fared even worse. At least the Phantom Troupe had the auction items as their spoils.
The mafia not only lost their goods but also suffered heavy casualties.
They had spent a fortune hiring the Zoldyck family, but not a single target was killed.
Instead, their leaders—the Ten Dons—were assassinated.
It could be said that both sides in Yorknew City had lost this time, with only one winner.
That winner was Akira and Kurapika.
This operation had etched one name deeply into the memory of every Troupe member—Akira.
****
In the following days, the world mafia continued to search for traces of the Phantom Troupe, but they seemed to have vanished into thin air.
No one could find out where they had gone, as if they deliberately didn't want to be exposed.
People thought they were afraid of retaliation from the underworld, but only a few who knew the truth understood.
The Phantom Troupe was hiding from Akira.
The Troupe, frightened by Akira various actions, were unaware that Akira had no interest in them anymore.
All the experience that needed to be harvested had been harvested.
Only Chrollo strength was still somewhat decent, so he left him to Kurapika.
He was heading to the long-awaited Kurta Clan ruins!
****
Kurta Region
Here, the mountains were layered, and the trees were lush, forming vast forests. The famous Kurta Clan used to reside here.
But that was old history.
After all, the Kurta Clan had been wiped out.
After Akira successfully helped Kurapika with his revenge, Kurapika was extremely grateful for Akira assistance.
He immediately led Akira to the ruins where he once lived.
It wasn't that he didn't trust Akira.
He was mainly worried that without his guidance, Akira would have a hard time finding their former residence.
"Swish, swish, swish..."
"We should be almost there. I remember it's around here."
Kurapika moved swiftly through the trees, his voice tinged with excitement.
This time, bringing Akira to visit also allowed him to return and pay respects to his deceased clansmen.
He wanted to tell them that his grand plan for revenge was halfway complete.
He would have to thank Akira for helping him achieve this success.
Unlike Kurapika, who was exerting himself by running, Akira was still lying on his mount, Arcanine.
At this moment, it was just like the time when he went with Hisoka to find Menchi.
So similar.
Lying on Arcanine, Akira just like last time, was wondering if there would be any Pokemon at the Kurta Clan ruins.
If there were, what kind of Pokemon would they be?
This time, the guess was even harder than the one about Menchi.
For a moment, Akira couldn't quite figure out what kind of Pokemon the Kurta Clan could possibly nurture.
Before long, Kurapika stopped in front of a large tree and didn't proceed any further.
"Have we finally arrived?"
Akira dismounted from his Arcanine and surveyed the surroundings.
Weren't they still in the middle of the forest?
There was no sign of any clearing or houses.
"The entrance is right here."
Kurapika walked forward, where there was a large tree and a rock about half the size of a person next to it.
The rock was covered in moss and had some fine cracks, clearly weathered by time.
Kurapika then walked straight toward the gap between the tree and the rock, where the space was just enough to fit a person.
Seeing Kurapika inexplicably heading toward the corner, Akira was momentarily stunned before suddenly remembering something.
"Could it be…"
Suddenly, Kurapika seemed to touch something and a layer of white ripples appeared around his body out of thin air.
In an instant, Kurapika figure disappeared, as if swallowed up.
Seeing this, Akira imitated Kurapika actions and walked toward the same spot.
A moment later, Akira felt a slight dizziness and then he found himself in another place.
If he had to describe it, it felt similar to Gardevoir using Teleport.
Kurapika, who stood in front of Akira, softly explained.
"The reason our Kurta Clan has been able to remain hidden for so long, undetected by outsiders, is because we don't directly live in the mountains."
"Instead, we reside in a hidden realm."
Hearing this, Akira thought to himself that it was exactly as he had suspected.
The opening lines of "Hunter x Hunter" are....
Monsters, rare beasts, treasures, secret treasures, demon realms, hidden realms... The magic of the word "unknown"...
Leaving aside the first four, the last two—demon realms and hidden realms—have hardly ever appeared.
Earlier, when Akira saw Kurapika suddenly disappear, those two words immediately came to mind.
Sure enough, Kurapika said this was a hidden realm.
This also explained why the Kurta Clan had been able to remain hidden for so long.
After all, the Scarlet Eyes are one of the Seven Great Treasures of the World.
No matter how deep in the mountains they hid, they would eventually be found.
Only by living in a hidden realm with such a concealed entrance could they remain undiscovered.
If not for someone accidentally stumbling in, the Kurta Clan location might never have been discovered.
At the same time, a new nurturing bar appeared in Akira mind.
This didn't come as a surprise to Akira, but he was more curious about what kind of Pokemon it would be.
"Akira, let me show you around."
Kurapika led Akira further inside.
Here, there were trees everywhere, and the Kurta Clan houses were built between the trees.
The architectural style of the Kurta Clan was quite unique—not like ordinary houses such as bungalows or cabins.
Instead, they were semi-circular structures resembling yurts, adorned with strange patterns.
One thing that puzzled Akira was that everything here looked peculiar.
Whether it was the trees, the grass, or even their houses, all of them had patterns resembling circles.
It looked very much like the patterns on Devil Fruits in the world of "One Piece".
"Kurapika, why are there circular patterns everywhere here?"
Akira, puzzled, asked Kurapika a native of the place but even he didn't know the reason.
As far as he could remember, the surroundings had always been like this.
As they approached the residential area, Akira also noticed some remnants of the past.
Many houses had been damaged, either with large holes or completely collapsed.
Just from these traces, it was evident that a great battle had once taken place here.
After visiting the place where he once lived, Kurapika came to a special location.
It was special because it was filled with small mounds.
Clearly, this was a graveyard.
Each mound represented a deceased clan member.
The absence of tombstones led Akira to guess that even Kurapika couldn't distinguish which body belonged to whom.
The Kurta Clan consisted of 128 people.
That was quite a number.
Moreover, from the manga by Togashi, it seemed that many Kurta Clan members had their heads severed while they were still alive.
The countless wounds on their bodies were even more gruesome.
Everything was done to ensure the successful acquisition of the Scarlet Eyes.
Without heads and with the clan members wearing the same attire, the scene was extremely chaotic.
Kurapika couldn't easily identify which body belonged to whom.
He only knew that all his clan members had died...
Even under the observation of "Gyo" Akira saw many eerie Death Auras floating above the graveyard.
It should be said that these Death Auras were relatively few.
In front of the numerous mounds, there was a larger stone tablet.
It was engraved with lines of peculiar characters.
At least Akira could tell it wasn't the common language of the six continents.
It was probably the Kurta Clan own script.
The words on it likely belonged to a prayer.
Kurapika stood quietly in front of the large stone tablet, his pair of Scarlet Eyes quietly appearing, and he began to chant slowly.
"The sun in the sky, the green trees on the earth,
Our bodies were born from the earth,
Our souls come from the heavens,
The sunlight and the moon illuminate our limbs,
...
May we share their sorrow,
Please forever praise the people of the Kurta Clan,
Let us bear witness with our red Scarlet Eyes."
Kurapika was mourning his deceased clan members, and his emotions seemed to take on a tangible form at this moment.
A gentle breeze, coming from nowhere, brushed past Kurapika and swept over the continuous mounds.
It mingled with the Death Auras that resembled dark clouds.
The echoes lingered for a long time.
Half of the great vengeance had been achieved, and he would continue to strive to ensure the perpetrators received their due punishment.
Miraculously, although Kurapika didn't understand how to dispel Aura, under the influence of this emotional prayer, the sky full of Death Auras dissipated significantly.
The pitch-black Death Auras were slowly fading, and although many still remained, the reduction was visible to the naked eye.
It seemed that perhaps after Kurapika dealt with the remaining Phantom Troupe, even more Death Auras would be removed.
------------------------------
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