Phantom Troupe's Web

Chapter 45.

York New City was in havoc, led by the esteemed band of thieves, the Phantom Troupe. The leader and Web of the troupe infiltrated the auction building and had been on a murdering streak, eliminating those who dared come in their way. "My grandfather and father have been hired to come," the woman mutters softly, walking beside the ravenette; she holds her hands behind her back as her grandfather does, blue orbs a void of zero emotions. "Unless you give me direct orders not to interfere..," she begins, leading the way to the grand ballroom.

"Would you?" he stops at the doors of the ballroom, turning to face the woman he trusted the most. "Would you fight your family?" he asked her once again, wanting clarification.

The woman halts in her path, standing beside the man with her head hung low as she thinks about his question. Would she fight the people who raised her? Who mentored her to become who she was today? Was she strong enough to fight them? Was it worth it? A trillion questions ran through her mind.

She thinks back to her childhood and sees her younger self – standing in the empty, dark entrance hall of her family's estate with a sullen expression on her naive face; echoes of her grandfather's and father's voices berating her fill her ears as tears began to pool in her blue eyes. Being the eldest child of the Zoldyck family, a female no less, brought a lot of pressure and expectations to Illuki. She was shunned away by her father and grandfather who doted on her twin, training the alexithymic boy to be a great assassin and heir to the family company. Because of this, the girl vowed to train hard and prove her worth to her grandfather and father – working day and night on petty missions, building her repertoire of clientele and making wide connections for future endeavours; she would become one of the best assassins the industry would see and prove herself as a Zoldyck. It was when she completed a difficult mission in a few minutes that Zeno and Silva recognised her as a potential assassin and heir to the family business. Her grandfather took her on as his discipline, providing harsh training to the young teenager and teaching young Illuki everything he knew about Nen.

"It'd be fun to see who'd win," she smiles at the man, brushing her white hair over her shoulder and pushing the ballroom doors open. His head hangs slightly down, eyes closed as he shakes his head; a chuckle erupts from his chest as he enters the room after her, watching her figure waltz across the floor and make her way up the stage. She peers at him from over her shoulder, head tilted back in his direction with a playful smirk. "Who'd you think would win?"

Chrollo walks up the stairs of the stage and approaches where she stands in the centre of the forum. "Let me handle them. I need you to be ready for the call," he tells her with an unnoticeable smile. Illuki hums a response, rocking on the balls of her feet as her left hand held onto her right arm; her eyes darting around the empty room as the pair stood, waiting in silence.

Illuki lets out a small, inaudible hum upon feeling two familiar presences approaching the room; her father and grandfather entering the ballroom simultaneously through separate doors. "We meet again," Chrollo greets the father-son duo while his companion gives a finger wave to her family members, a bright grin on her face.

"Do you remember me?" Silva asks, his eyes darting between his eldest child and the troupe leader.

"How could I forget? You killed one of our people," Chrollo responds.

Silva admits difficulty in the order, his father and himself approaching the pair cautiously. "Dad, be careful. He steals people's abilities. We both know what Illuki is capable of," he warns Zeno, not bothering to turn to face the older man.

The Phantom Troupe leader drops down from the stage with a blank expression, staring into the soul of Zeno and Silva Zoldyck. "Iris, be prepared," he tells the woman who hums in response, shifting her weight onto a leg and crossing her arms under her chest; staring fondly at the trio.

As they slowly began to make their way to one another, the trio blitzed into the air – engaging in an exchange of blows. Silva runs up to the leader, swerving a leg to kick him but is dodged when the ravenette slightly crouches; his father jumps in, jabbing sharpened hands towards Chrollo who manages to dodge all but one that pierces his cheek – drawing blood from the cut. Chrollo is pushed back by the force of the jab, his attention turning to the current head of the Zoldycks and raising his arms to block a punch; its force returning the leader to Zeno who uses his Nen to blast the Nen master away, tarnishing his suit jacket in the process. The ravenette lets out a small gasp of surprise when he sees Silva's bulky stature in the air, ready to jump onto his head when he rolls to the left and out of the way – drawing a hidden Ben's knife, rushing and thrusting the weapon at the blonde man who quickly jumps away from him. Chrollo lets out a small sigh, eyes trained on the blonde Zoldyck who examines the cut on his forearm. The older man plucks a strand of his hair out, wrapping it around the wound and activating his Nen to restore the skin.

"You okay?" Zeno asks his son, approaching the blonde with his hands behind him.

"No problem," Silva answers.

"So you can steal other people's Nen? You must be a specialist. I would consider you a threat if you could freely use the powers you steal," Illuki's grandfather analysed and expressed, standing beside his son as they faced the notoriously, mysterious leader. "However, you must take risks to steal those abilities. A technique that strong must have its drawbacks...I would guess you must clear four or five conditions before you can steal an ability."

Illuki shivered from where she stood on the stage, rubbing her hands up and down her arms to calm the goosebumps that began forming along her skin. 'Gosh, I hate when grandpa does that...How he manages to do it, I have no idea' the female thought while shaking her head in disbelief.

"It would be difficult trying to meet those conditions while fighting us both, meaning that you won't be able to steal our abilities while we're fighting unless with the help of Illuki. His use of the poisoned knife is proof," Zeno continued his analysis, causing Chrollo to throw back his weapon and strengthen his aure – the white, subtle glow intensifying around his body.

'Hm? He's getting serious now' Illuki thought, irises darting around the room once more in search of a haven. Her eyes watch her grandfather approach the leader with matching energy, his right hand raised before the Phantom Troupe leader summoned his book of Nen abilities – Skill Hunter: Bandit's Secret. The ravenette flips through the book, opening to Owl's page and summoning a burlap cloak, holding it out to the elder.

Zeno adjusts his position, a purple ball of light appearing between his hands before transforming into a translucent, purple dragon that strikes at the suit-wearing man; Chrollo jumps to the left, dodging the onslaught however the elder lets out a victorious crackle, directing the dragon to left – hitting Chrollo in the ribcage before continuing its attacks.

Illuki raises an eyebrow, witnessing the leader avoid her grandfather's attacks. She sees him shutting his bandit book, the cloak and novel disappearing as he continues to evade Zeno's dragon. Across the room, Silva runs behind the ravenette, watching his movement to find the appropriate time to invade the one-on-one fight; his aura intensifying as Chrollo turns, becoming trapped in the mouth of the translucent dragon before the elder Zoldyck appears before him, scratching like a cat at his arms.

"Now! Do it now!!" Silva's father commands, the elder letting out maniac chuckles as his son levitates with two large, purple electrifying balls of energy in his hands; the spheres being thrown in their direction causing a large explosion to rumble the entire building.