Phantom Troupe's Web

Chapter 64.

Illuki sits by Fraklin's feet, her knees pulled up and a magazine rests in her lap; she lazily skims the material and softly hums to herself when someone calls her name. Her head rises to see Shalnark approaching her with a candle, his eyes staring at where Shizuku and Kortopi had been playing chess beside her.

"Do you have a moment?" he asks.

She raises an eyebrow at his request but nods. She closes the magazine and slides it off her lap, pushing herself to stand up; she brushes off the dust from her butt and stretches her arms, her eyes drifting towards the miniature memorial the troupe had created for their fallen member, Pakunoda. A sorrowful smile appears on the woman's pale face and a sigh leaves her lips as she turns her back to the memorial.

"I want to play the game," Shalnark states to the three members he gathered. He stands beside the console Feitan and Phinks had stolen, the device hooked up to a computer that displays various codes.

"Play the game?" Kortopi repeats with a questioning tone.

The blonde man hums. "Yes. Would you like to join me? Once we get home, there's nothing for us to do," he explains his thinking.

"You really want to clear this game?" Shizuku questions, glancing over at Illuki who had been silent the entire time.

"Actually, clearing it isn't my goal."

Illuki smiles, shifting on her feet and tilts her head at him. "Why not!" the ends of her lips curl into a smirk, recalling her conversation with their missing leader and the psychotic magician. "Might as well see what's so grand about this game~"

"Alright, I'll go first," Shalnark tells the trio, reaching out and placing his hands on either side of the console and activating his Ren. His body flashes white before disappearing from the real world, transporting him into Greed Island; the other three wait a few minutes before taking turns entering the game.

•••

Inside, the four troupe members wake through the town of Mesadora once settling inside. Illuki stands next to her blonde comrade, inspecting the digital map he held over his shoulder before he closes it. He turns to Kortopi and Shizuku, grinning as usual.

"Okay, I have most of the information we need,' he tells them, walking over to a ledge where he could sit down.

"Then can you tell us what you found?" the bespectacled woman asks.

The blonde nods. "Alright. I'll start with number one: I tried a hundred different people in this city and they all gave the same response when faced with an unusual question. This is typical behaviour for in-game characters. Number two: Book," he summons the binder that floats, pulling out a card - a replica made by Kortopi in his other hand. "This card is real. This one is a copy Kortopi made. Kortopi's card didn't transform. I believe that means the game's program didn't recognise Kortopi's card."

Illuki's eyes widen slightly, her mouth hanging slightly agape at the revelation. "Shizuku's vacuum works here but won't work on items with special abilities. The game's likely to be programmed so Nen couldn't be used to collect cards," she adds, glancing at Shalnark who nods in agreement.

"That's right. However, the above three points indicate another possibility. This game isn't taking place in a virtual world. It's based somewhere in the real world," the happy-go-lucky male reveals.

"What do you mean?"

"If the players actually entered the game, their spirits detach from their bodies and enter the console, leaving their bodies behind. Sending them physically into the game would be unnecessary and separating spirit from body should require more than standing before a console and using Hatsu," Shalnark explains, smiling at the trio from where he sat on the ledge. "It's more logical that players are actually warped elsewhere. Thus, Greed Island isn't a real game; it's a trap that sends players who use Hatsu here, to this island."

"That makes sense, but what does it mean?" the bespectacled woman asks again.

Illuki and Shalnark smile. "Do you remember the reward for clearing this game?" the Web asked the pair, the one-eyed teenager answering her inquiry tonelessly.

"You can select three item cards from your specified slots to take back to the real world," they answer, holding up three fingers.

"Right. That means these items can be used outside the island. If this game takes place in the real world, it should be possible to remove the treasure without clearing the game," Shalnark tells them, making his floating binder disappear and standing up from the ledge. "At the moment, we only know about a few items. It would be ideal to learn about all of the cards. So our first objective is the spell card Eye of God."

"We should find Phinks and Feitan," Illuki comments afterwards, her arms crossed in front of her chest and her weight shifted onto one leg. She smiles, tilting her head to the side; her long dichromatic hair flowing behind her in its ponytail.

Somewhere else, Phinks and Feitan stand over a body; the brute holding a useless map. The two make a deal to split up from each other before meeting up back in Mesadora after a week, a race to see who could kill the most players after stealing their cards.

•••

Illuki travels around Greed Island with Shalnark, Kortopi and Shizuku, hoping to either find their objective card or bump into Feitan or Phinks on the way. Luckily, the four of them were able to locate the duo in Mesadora where Shalnark caught them up with his discovery. The group stood in the town square, discussing their next course of action when the Web of the troupe decided that temporarily returning to the real world would be their best choice; in truth, she needed to recruit a new member to replace the betraying Hisoka. Shalnark agreed with her decisions and the group decided to leave the game.

Back in the real world, they were greeted by Franklin; Illuki smiled at his welcoming presence. "Shalnark, catch him up. I have errands to run," she tells the man who nods, allowing the dichromatic-haired woman to leave the hideout.