章 4: Chapter 4: The Phantom Troupe

After commanding the guests of the auction house to hand over their things, anger and rage began to surface among the crowd due to being threatened, and with death at either outcome.

"What bull shit are you spouting!?... Do you really expect us to listen to a bunch of rambunctious brats!?": rich guy 1

"Yeah!... Who the hell do you think you are, to command us to hand over our valuables?... Do you know who you're talking to!?": rich guy 2

Just as the two men spoke up, Feitan made his move as he disappeared, and when he reappeared, he was on the other side of the room while both the rich men had grasped at their necks in a futile attempt to stop the blood from escaping their bodies, but the both of them soon fell to the ground dead.

"As I said… Hand over your stuff, as there won't be any quick deaths like that if you don't": chrollo

When the group of rich folk had noticed what happened, they all began to shake in fear, but they still refused to move.

"Hais… Feitan, make a more brutal example": chrollo

"Sure thing": feitan

Feitan once again disappeared, but when he reappeared he was standing over a woman as he began to slash and stab her as her screams began to ring in the ears of the others, and only after a minute of agonizing screaming did the screaming cease as Feitan appeared back on the stage covered in blood.

"Great work, Feitan": chrollo

"No problem, boss": feitan

As Chrollo praised Feitan, Soren was a bit shocked at how brutal Feitan was in that last example. Before this auction heist, Chrollo and the rest of the group had gone over the list of guests as well as gone over their businesses, and although he knew that the woman was a disgusting human being who had run a slave battle ring and had gotten off to the sight of two slaves tearing each other apart just to survive, watching her be stabbed more than a thousand times, turning the front half of her body into a soupy paste of flesh, blood, and organs before finally dying due to Feitan no longer supplying vitality to the woman with his Nen, it was still quite gross.

"W-We gotta get out of here and contact the authorities!": rich woman 1

"I can't die here!... My son will drive my business into the ground!": rich man 3

"I'm still a virgin!... I can't die yet!": rich woman 2

"Bull shit!... I slept with you last week, you lying skank!": rich man 4

All sorts of shouts and cries for help began to rise from the crowd as they all ran for the exit doors trying to push through them, but the chain that locked them together didn't budge, sending a lot of people falling back on their ass.

"Hais… I guess we will go the messy way… Feitan, Nobunaga, Soren… Let's get to work": chrollo

Everyone nodded as they all began walking forward towards the big crowd of people that were still trying to escape. Nobunaga was wielding a katana that he found in the storage room, most likely to be auctioned off at the auction taking place that night, but never got the chance as it was taken by the Phantom Troupe. Both Soren and Feitan were equipped with daggered they held in reverse grip as all three of them began cutting through the crowd as tons of screams were heard while those who had yet to be stabbed and slashed were begging for any god that may exist to send them help and get them out of that place, but god wouldn't answer, as the punishment for their sins was being dished out. Chrollo stood on stage as he watched his group tear through the crowd, but he quickly got board and grabbed hold of an ax from the 'incase of fire' box and began walking towards the crowd of people who hoped to hide while the others were occupied with the other guests, but their hopes were shattered as Chrollo sent a single ax swing cleaving into a woman's intestines as her screams alerted the other hiding guests, but it was too late, as Chrollo began chopping away at the appendages of the others before they had the chance to run again.

'Damn, Chrollo is brutal… But is what I'm doing any different?': soren

Soren looked over as Chrollo began chopping away at the screaming guests as their voices would strain every time Chrollo hacked away at their body parts until they ceased their screaming. Soren himself was holding a woman by her mouth and nose as she squirmed to break free, but nothing worked as it was like she was being held in a vice, the tears in her eyes begging Soren to let her go, but it was all futile as the life left her eyes dying from suffocation.

'Damn, Soren is quite brutal… Suffocation is one of the most brutal ways to kill someone, as they feel their lungs beg for oxygen as the pressure tightens around them, and after being deprived of fresh air, you pass out to conserve any form of oxygen left and if your body doesn't get any, you will die': chrollo

Soren then snapped the dead woman's neck to make sure there was no possible chance of her getting back up before he began chasing after other fleeing guests, and after an hour, all the guests were dead, while Chrollo had everyone gather all the wallets, purses, and jewelry off the dead bodies of the guests, and after gathering all of the money and jewelry from the corpses, Chrollo and the rest of the group left the auction house, but not before leaving their mark of a spider with 12 legs using some black spray paint. Everyone left without worrying about leaving anything that could be used to identify them, as everyone who grew up in the slums of Meteor City don't have any identification records, almost as if they had never existed in the first place, and that was a reason why these rich folk can get away with turning them into slaves or just outright killing them.

"Looks like we got quite the haul… How do we plan on spending it?": soren

In total, the group gathered 131 bank cards that upon use would net them around 65 million jenny, and the jewelry once sold could net anywhere between 1.1 to 3.2 million jenny. As for all of the auctioned items, they would have to be auctioned to uncover their real worth, and it was also unknown what some idiot would pay for an antique if some random bull shit was added as a background.

"Well, we can always improve our own standing with our strength, but there are still kids that suffer at the hands of poverty… They don't have food, they don't have shelter, they don't have protection from those who wish them harm… I want to get those people help, and this will be us doing our part, and giving them a chance… After this, it's up to them to help themselves, just like we did": chrollo

Soren thought about Chrollo's words, as he wondered if Chrollo had gone through a change in personality, as Chrollo was always described as a man with no feelings of pity or remorse, as he cared for nothing, the only thing that Chrollo cared for were his team members, but aside from that, he never showed any care unless he was trying to achieve a goal like he did with Neon so that he could steal her Nen ability.

"By the way… If there are any antique books in the haul, I wish to read them": chrollo

Soon, everyone made it back to the hideout, while Chrollo took a few books to his room, while all of the other things were looked through and divided among the group. Over the course of the next couple of days, all of the money from the bank cards had been withdrawn and used to provide support for the impoverished communities, buying both food and clothes, while the Troupe members also bought some clothes for themselves. Chrollo went with a simple black suit with a white button up shirt that he left unbuttoned down to the chest, he looked like a mob boss with how he dressed, a pair of black dress pants and a pair of black dress shoes. Soren wore a button up white shirt with a white bowtie and a pair of maroon dress pants and a similar pair of black dress shoes, while he also had a black cloak that he kept draped over his shoulders. Nobunaga and Machi wore similar outfits as they were both inspired by ninja's, but Nobunaga's outfit was more samurai based, while Machi wore a Kunoichi's attire. This left Feitan to buy a long black trench coat that he wore at all times over his casual pair of black pants and black shirt with a pair of black boots, but instead of having his face covered with worn out bandages, he bought a black bandana.

"Hey, how about we all get a tattoo of our symbol to signify our familial bond in this group": chrollo

"I'm down for that": soren

After Soren agreed, one by one everyone else agreed to get tattoos on their bodies to represent their affiliation with the Phantom Troupe. Chrollo got his tattoo on his right shoulder with the number 0 on the abdomen of the twelve legged spider, Soren got his tattoo placed over his left shoulder blade with the number 1 on the abdomen of the spider, Nobunaga got his tattoo placed on the right side of his chest with the number 2, while Feitan got his tattoo around the base of the left side of his neck with the number 3, leaving Machi to get the tattoo last, and she had her tattoo placed right underneath her left breast that had yet to start filling in due to her age, and her spider was marked as number 4. After everyone had received a tattoo, it became imperative that they should look for the remaining members that would make up the Troupe, and in the following 6 months, more and more members would begin to take up the remaining spots of the Phantom Troupe. There was Omokage, the 5th member, Phinks Magcub, the 6th member, Shalnark, the 7th member, Franklin Bordeau, the 8th member, Sebastian, the 9th member, Pakunoda, the 10th member, Bonolenov Ndongo, the 11th member, and finally, Uvogin, the 12th member of the Phantom Troupe.

In those past 6 months, Chrollo awakened everyone's Nen and had everyone training together to create their own Hatsu, while whenever they needed money they would find a high class target spot and make a hit. Chrollo's Nen ability was known as Skill Hunter, he told everyone that he could effectively steal anyone's Nen ability as long as he knows the name of the ability, what it does, and as long as you place your hand on the cover of his Nen book. Upon hearing about such a vicious ability, everyone became a bit wary to let Chrollo know the name of their abilities when they make them in the future, but Chrollo told them he would never steal their abilities. Nobunaga's Nen ability was known as the gilded samurai, and he could summon armor made of Nen that would protect him from all sorts of attacks.

Feitan's abilities were known as Pain Packer and Rising Sun, he turned damage he had taken into a form of protection that he used to protect himself from the power of his own attack known as Rising Sun that transmutes his Nen into heat. Machi always wanted to heal her friends that are now like family to her, so her Nen manifested into medical threads that she could use to reattach lost limbs to almost 100% working condition, and she can also use these threads control her opponent like a puppet as well as use the threads like an invisible blade. Omokage was a weird guy, he always had a fascination with dolls, so he made his Nen ability create Soul Dolls, and they were just creepy to say the least, he tested the ability on Soren and asked him to think about anyone, and the first person who came to mind was Machi, and then a creepy doll appeared that was a carbon copy of Machi, making her freak out.

Everyone else had their own unique Nen abilities, but none more unique than Sebastian, he was a conjure who conjured a whip that was accompanied by a tight leather outfit with a ball gag, needless to say, Sebastian was rescued from a sex ring operation that traumatized him to his bones, as old men forced themselves on him while sometimes they would bind him and whip him. When Soren was asked about his ability, he just said it was a strength multiplying ability, and Phinks was happy that he could relate to someone else in the group. After everyone had obtained their own Hatsu, they all spent their time on training it to perfection while every heist they made brought more and more attention to themselves that even Hunters were dispatched to take care of them, but each group that came for them were all taken care of, bringing their name closer to the top of the criminal ranking list. Over the course of the next 5 years, Soren spent most of his time working on his physical side, as he could only open 2 out of the 9 limiters without causing damage to his body, and even with two limiters open, he could only fight for about 3 hours before his Nen began to go wild due to how exhausted his control was. Finally, in 1991, Soren felt that he would progress faster in other parts of the world and decided to go out and explore.

'I think it's about time I go explore the world a bit': soren

Soren walked around the hideout for a bit, and after finding Chrollo reading an old tattered book, and upon entering his room, Chrollo spoke up without looking up from his book.

"What's up?": chrollo

"Nothing much… I just came to tell you I would be leaving for a few years": soren

When Chrollo heard this he put down the book and looked towards Soren while asking.

"Oh, okay… Why do you feel the need to tell me?": chrollo

Soren could hear the uncaring tone in Chrollo's voice, but being around Chrollo for almost 6 years, Soren could tell that he really did care, but all the things they have done and been through desensitized him to the point everything he says sounds so monotone and robotic, almost as if he has no feeling at all.

"Just thought I'd let you know, in case you happened to go looking for me and not find me": soren

"I see… Thank you for telling me?...": chrollo

Chrollo didn't know how to respond, so he did the best he could before picking his book back up and reading where he left off, while Soren just rolled his eyes and left the room only to be stopped by Machi, who was standing behind him.

"You're going somewhere?... Can I come with you?": machi

Machi had grown to become more open with the Troupe, but still took a cold stance when talking with them, however, when Machi would talk with Soren, that cold exterior would melt, and a beautiful personality would bloom. Everyone knew that Machi had a crush on Soren, but unless they wanted to be pulling needles out of their bodies, everyone kept quiet, and this became a rule after Uvogin tried to tease Machi because he felt with the toughness of his body, as well as his Nen enhancement that he was invincible, but Machi's Nen thread easily cut through his defense as Uvogin was then disciplined for his shenanigans.

"I am going somewhere… Where I'm going, not even I know as I'll just go wherever the wind takes me with no real goal, so you might get bored following me, but in the end, it's up to you": soren

<[What will happen on this trip, will Machi join Soren on his journey? Will love blossom as the two of them grow closer alone?]>