Shadowed Prelude: A Fateful Encounter [Phantom Troupe x Reader]

𝔠𝔥𝔞𝔭𝔱𝔢𝔯 8

☆                                                                                                                                           ☆

"Everyone.... Shut up... Chrollo is.... Trying to tell us something..." Feitan gruffed out, silencing the other arguing members with a single warning glance.

"I see, the threads have been woven, and it is leading us somewhere towards the East. Shall we go, my limbs, or shall we stay and wait for the lady to find us herself?" Chrollo tilted his head back, his analytical gaze falling upon the members of his family once again.

—

Bisky literally dragged Y/N to the core of York New City, demanding she get some well needed rest and for her to heal after her short encounter with the Ape. Bisky had already taught the woman the basics of Nen, such as Ten, Ren, and En. Specialised forms, Bisky had told the woman, would only be taught once she learnt how to enhance her katana with Nen. Or at least, to utilise Nen with the breathing style.

Y/N recently created the seven advanced forms of her newly discovered breathing style, and is in the process of mastering her newly developed breathing style. In order to do so, she must consistently use these forms when training or when engaged in battle. Bisky had decided to pull her over to Heaven Arena to rest and heal before forcing the poor woman to try out the capability and usefulness of her new breathing style. Y/N, who got no say in whatever happened during her training, sighed and allowed herself to be pulled along with her Nen Teacher's flow.

Everything was peaceful, as the two passed the luxuries sold in the markets, and the delicious aroma of native delicacies floating around them, but Y/N suddenly felt a tug. It was as if seven invisible strings were pulling her in a western direction. Y/N paled. Bisky, noticing her words coming to a halt, looked over her shoulders to take a peep at the woman's facial expression. On it, was something akin to horror, and realisation soon dawned on the youthful master's face.

"Y/N, you're not listening to me. Is it them? Do you think they are after you already? Isn't it far too soon? They only search for powerful individuals, and you've barely developed your own Hatsu. I thought you said you couldn't feel the Soulmate Bond yet as well." Bisky asked nervously.

Y/N, who was shaken from her stupor after hearing Bisky's voice whispered in a quiet voice

"Let's go quickly. I want to hide in Heaven's Arena, and I'll mask my aura using Zetsu. Help me sign up using 'Evelyn' as my name. Hopefully it'll push them off our backs."

The two, who were now aware of the possible danger lurking around the slowly darkening sky of York New City, started sprinting to Heavens Arena.

—

The Troupe, who've just learnt that their soulmate was within a close radius decided to leave them be for now and decided to let them roam free as they go around the city to see what they wanted to raid.

Chrollo, accompanied by Feitan, Phinks, and Shalnark, decided the troupe to be split into pairs, and start looking for treasures they could take back and possibly sell. Their main goal: to find some ancient runes and some historical texts that their Boss could analyse, and then discard.

"Go look for anything that you want to have. Be it jewellery, gemstones, or human organs, take whatever you want. And remember, to go wild." Chrollo announced.

The others, who had heard the command, immediately jumped out in various directions, in pursuit of finding their desire, their one and only soulmate, for the seven who had a wisteria embedded on their right wrist, and some materialistic desires for the other Spiders.

—

Bisky had finally enrolled Y/N into Heaven Arena, and the young woman already fought her way into the top hundred floors under the name 'Evelyn'.

Bisky supervised the young woman, who was relentlessly training on the nen-imbued wooden dummies that could change size Bisky had bought. Y/N's training regimen was simple. As a Breath user, there were only a few steps, with a mandatory task of maintaining Total Concentration Breathing at all times to ensure the user can switch between Offensive Breathing Style to the Recovery Breath.

Y/N's first task in her training was to use a bokuto (a wooden sword used in training), and would strike 10,000 horizontal and vertical strikes on wooden dummies. This was implemented as the first task as it was specifically designed to increase arm and leg strength as the wooden dummies started to grow larger as the number of strikes upon it increased.

This would allow Y/N to move onto the next stage. Flexibility training. The woman had Bisky push her legs and arms back to unnatural positions, and then subjected herself to Reflex Training, where the wooden dummies which had already experienced the 10,000 strikes would morph into a human form holding a bokuto and relentlessly attack Y/N to test her dodging and defensive ability.

Y/N's final stage was using Gravity Breathing to try and defeat Bisky during a spar, which generally allowed the Nen Master to point out the mishaps and weaknesses in Y/N's form. It was at this stage, where Y/N finally felt something strange.

It was as if she were being watched by a hawk. To Y/N, it almost felt like she was being hunted, whilst the hunter remained hidden and indiscernible from the masses around the building. Bisky quickly realised this as well, and the aura flared around her, signifying she w had her guard up against whichever foe would spawn. Y/N also prepared for an ambush, by discreetly pulling out her amethyst katana from her Nen Pocket Dimension, switching with her wooden bokuto.

Y/N steadied her breaths after the rigorous training she just underwent, and slowly Total Concentration Breathing was back in flow and much more relaxing to the girl as she was not using her stamina anymore. Y/N grabbed a hair tie and pulled her hair back into a bun, clipping it with a beautiful flower clip. Her eyes steeled as she felt the aura of the unknown individual increase.

It didn't take long before the intruder began an attack on the two women.

↬ Author's Note:

So I actually changed my mind and the chapter deviated a bit from what I originally planned as I had exams, so the anticipated meeting will come slightly later. This chapter is continuing on with the main character's training, as the main character is not an overly powerful protagonist like shounen stories, they have to work hard to achieve their strength (to me it just sounds more realistic and relatable :D), and it is leading up to an important phase in this novel!

Thank you for reading this chapter and see you in the next chapter fellow reader!

- Signing off yakshaa_ [2024]