In Allen's future plans, the abilities of three members of the Phantom Troupe were absolutely essential.
Kortopi's Gallery Fake was naturally one of them.
The other two were Shizuku's vacuum cleaner, Blinky, which can suck away any non-living object, and the armor from Feitan's composite Nen ability, Pain Packer, which offers 100% defense against fire damage.
The former is essentially a negative debuff gobbler. No matter what kind of negative effect is placed on him in a dungeon instance, he can simply suck it out with Blinky.
The latter, needless to say, would definitely save a lot of effort when clearing Molten Core and Onyxia's Lair. Wearing it would likely grant maximum Fire Resistance, allowing him to stand and "tank and spank" Ragnaros or Onyxia's Deep Breath attack without losing much health.
As for the abilities of the other Troupe members, it would be great to get them if the opportunity arose, but it wasn't strictly necessary.
With an insider like Hisoka involved, as long as the Troupe members could be split up, keeping no more than four members acting together, hunting down the spiders wouldn't be too difficult a task for Allen.
After all, not all members of the Phantom Troupe are proficient in combat. Nearly a third of them, like Shizuku, Kortopi, and Pakunoda, are responsible for support and logistics. Moreover, Machi was once injured by a surprise attack from Gon and Killua, who had just learned Nen, during a power outage at the Yorknew City hotel.
Based on the level of Nen ability they displayed, they might not even be able to withstand a fully enhanced Thorium Arrow.
Therefore, Allen was practically certain of success for this hunt.
The current conflict with the Heavens Arena Floor Masters was merely a warm-up, allowing him to adapt more quickly to Nen battles without any restraints.
And so, over the next two weeks, he quickly accumulated ten victories, winning a match every two to three days. He then specifically challenged the Floor Master of the 232nd floor—Barros.
Standing on the ring on the 200th floor of Heavens Arena, Allen stared at his opponent and teased with a playful tone, "I truly didn't expect you to choose to fight instead of running away."
"The reason I'm fighting is something a person like you wouldn't understand!" Barros responded with a cold expression.
"You're right. I truly cannot understand how you can preach about 'honor' and 'dignity' while simultaneously engaging in underhanded schemes behind the scenes," Allen scoffed, chuckling lightly.
Hearing this, Barros's face flickered slightly, but he quickly adopted a casual demeanor: "I don't know what you're talking about!"
"Refusing to admit it? It doesn't matter. In fact, I don't need you to admit anything. Today's battle will be a declaration of war I deliver to you Floor Masters, a challenge composed of blood and death. One last question: are you prepared to gamble all your Nen to fight me?" Allen asked meaningfully.
But Barros had clearly learned from the unfortunate fates of those previously devoured. He closed his mouth and remained silent, trying to avoid the precondition required to activate the absorption ability.
From the start, he had no intention of fighting to the death. He was merely going to put on a show to defend the Floor Master's dignity and honor, and then immediately surrender if the situation turned sour.
But just as he believed he had succeeded, Allen suddenly bit his finger, inserted it into the Red Dragon's mouth, and coldly declared, "The Contract is established!"
"What?!!!"
Barros's expression immediately became utterly panicked. He couldn't figure out why the contract was still established even though he hadn't responded.
"I imagine you're wondering why the contract is still binding even though you didn't reply, correct? The answer is simple. The precondition I set when designing the ability was that the party being questioned must give a clear negative answer within twenty seconds of me speaking that phrase. Otherwise, it is regarded as a tacit acceptance." Allen explained carelessly.
It must be said that his design was exceptionally clever, even having anticipated the reaction of most people when faced with a similar situation.
And this 232nd Floor Master was the first victim, but he certainly wouldn't be the last.
"Bastard! How dare you, you insidious and cunning brat, scheme against me?" Barros roared furiously.
From the twisted, hateful expression on his face, it was clear that this time, his anger was genuine and overwhelming.
The moment the contract was signed, he lost the option to surrender or concede. He had to use all his strength to fight for his life; otherwise, even if he survived, he would lose his Nen ability.
In that case, dying in battle would be a quicker and more honorable end.
"Scheme? No, no, no. I'm merely returning exactly what you were attempting to do to me. Come on, let me see the courage and spirit of a Floor Master. Ability Activation: Execution Cross!"
As the final word left his mouth, a massive silver cross suddenly descended from the sky, erecting itself in the exact center of the ring.
The referee on the side, seeing this, immediately raised both hands and shouted, "Match Start!"
"Execution Cross?!" Caution immediately flashed in Barros's eyes.
This ability was originally used in a match a few days ago by another novice who had just ascended to the 200th floor. It worked by conjuring nails and inserting them into four designated spots on the opponent's limbs, thereby robbing the enemy of movement and forcibly binding them to the cross.
The person bound to the cross would not die, no matter how severe the injury they sustained, but they would clearly feel intense pain and would not fall unconscious.
Simply put, the person who created this ability was an outright sadist who enjoyed torturing and abusing opponents in battle until their spirit completely broke before killing them.
Noticing his opponent's reaction, Allen immediately smiled and reassured him, "Relax, don't be so nervous. I'm not a sadist, so I made some interesting modifications to this ability. Now, it's less of a torture device and more of an execution platform. Furthermore, in today's battle, I will only use this single ability to prove just how weak and short-sighted you Heavens Arena Floor Masters truly are."
"Only using this one ability? You're becoming increasingly arrogant!"
Barros immediately activated his own ability—the Undying Reaper.
Instantly, a monstrous figure, wielding a huge scythe and draped in a black robe, descended from above, emanating an intense, ominous aura.
Without hesitation, Allen immediately turned his head, avoiding eye contact with the monster created by Nen.
He had learned from battle footage that once someone made eye contact with this so-called "Reaper," Barros could use his Manipulation Nen to directly possess the target's body with the Reaper, randomly seizing control of a specific limb or internal organ.
If the opponent was unlucky and a vital organ like the heart was controlled, the Reaper could instantly force it to stop beating, resulting in the opponent's immediate death.
Of course, even controlling one arm or one leg had severe consequences, causing the bizarre spectacle of the victim striking themselves while also disrupting overall coordination. It was an exceptionally formidable Nen ability.
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You can read the ahead chapter on Patr if you're interested: p-atre-on.c-om/Overgod [Just remove the hyphen to access normally]