Staring at the Magical Beast in front of him, Auren, despite wearing the Faerie's Tear, has the strong urge to act. His eyes staring at the helpless beast in front of him.
These Magical Beasts... could be the key to my journey to the Dark Continent. I'm not a researcher, but their physiology, their bodies, their strengths, weaknesses... research has to be done.
I'm also getting the urge... to test him. Should I take out Eternity after all? Draining his Aura could be beneficial...
No... that would be silly.
"Can I help you?" the man asks, trying to leave, but unable to do so as Auren stands right in front of him.
"... I might have some questions for you... Magical Beast," Auren states, the eyes of the man in front of them widening. "Is it okay if I visit you in a while?"
"... we are not welcoming any visitors," the man replies.
"Would you rather welcome... poachers?" Auren asks.
The eyes of the beast widen. "If you are visiting with peaceful intentions... I'll welcome you."
"Good... I can promise you that. I'm a Hunter and not in the habit of committing crimes. But I still need to ask you a few things. So as not to startle you, I'm just announcing my visit upfront. I'll see you soon," Auren replies, stepping aside.
"Okay," the man says, leaving, looking more confused than scared.
Auren and the others walk through the restaurant, the owner stopping them. However, Auren simply flashes his license, and the owner immediately takes them to the back.
"You must be the examiner... I welcome you," the restaurant owner, a short, chubby man, says.
"This one is in use..." the man mutters, leading Auren, Neffi, and Vanessa into another one.
As they ride it down, the girls can't help but wonder. "An elevator? How come?" Neffi asks.
"This is strange..." Vanessa comments.
"There appear to be tunnels leading out of the city. I am not sure what the purpose of those tunnels is, but I'm certain this year's exam uses them," Auren informs them.
It takes a few minutes, but finally the elevator opens, and the group enters the dark, cold tunnel far underneath the city, where hundreds of candidates are gathering.
Immediately after arriving, a certain small, green man approaches them, handing them three tags.
Auren takes a look at his badge, seeing the number 406 on it, while Neffi's displays 407 and Vanessa's 408.
"Please, make sure nothing bad happens," Beans whispers. "I can feel the atmosphere... I have a bad feeling. Though the way you are dressed, you look even more intimidating... completely covered in black suits, you look like special operations soldiers. Please make sure that you only intervene in case of emergencies, okay?"
"Don't worry, leave it to us," Auren replies confidently.
"Fine..." Beans says, nodding towards each of them. "Take care of yourselves as well. The exam will begin shortly."
He then steps into the elevator and leaves, leaving the examinees alone.
"Did we enter the damn sewers? It smells," Vanessa says, looking around.
"What can you expect from wet tunnels this deep underground?" Auren asks. "Let's move away, to the back, I already see people staring at us."
Looking around, many candidates are indeed looking towards the group, their outfits clearly making them stand out, not necessarily in a bad way, but certainly making them impossible to overlook.
As they walk through the tunnel, strong-looking candidates all around them, a short, chubby man approaches them, holding a few cans of soda. Before speaking up, though, just by looking at the group, he immediately turns pale and moves away, running directly past the group of three that came in before them.
"Not worth it... but how about... them!" he mutters slowly.
Walking through the tunnel, Auren spots Hisoka, wearing his usual Jester suit, his hair dyed red.
Whispering to the others, he says, "Don't provoke him; we are merely here to make sure nothing goes wrong."
I just need to make sure... things stay how they are... I just hope our presence is not causing what we're trying to avoid in the first place.
Standing some distance away, Auren sees Hisoka walk towards another examinee. The man pays no attention and looks to his side, walking forward. Then he clearly sees Hisoka not avoiding him, walking straight ahead and bumping into the man, making slight contact.
He could have easily avoided that...
He then turns around, draws something from his pocket, activates Ren, before moving extremely fast.
Auren pays close attention and sees him holding a card in his hand, using Shu to enhance it with his Aura. In one movement, he uses it to cut off the arms of the examinee he bumped into, grabbing them and then throwing them far away into the dark tunnel.
"This guy...!" Vanessa mutters. "He cut off that man's arms, just because they bumped into each other?"
"No... he intentionally bumped into him," Neffi correctly clarifies. "He wanted to do this...."
"Behold ❤️," Hisoka says in an amused tone.
"Now you see them, now you don't ♠️. No tricks involved ♠️."
"AArrrgghh... M... my arms!" the examinee yells in pain.
"You should be more careful ♦️."
"At least apologize when you bump into someone ♣️."
Hisoka continues, clearly amused, while a circle has formed around them, the other examinees staring in shock at what happened.
However, nobody dares to speak up loudly. A few people stare at the suffering man on the ground, while Auren looks towards the elevator, seeing a set of cameras.
He'll survive... I'm sure they'll pick him up sneakily; there are always quite a few Hunters around. I'd probably recognize a lot of them from two years ago... but still....
Is this what you like to see... Netero? Though selfish, though insane... with Pariston at the helm, something like this would never pass....
That guy looks average, but he could have become a strong Nen user. Even so, nobody deserves to be attacked just like that, especially not as part of a contest. His potential and future were forever snuffed out, just because of the whims of a madman.
Allowing Nen users to not only kill in an exam, massacring candidates and even examiners left and right... but then willingly letting them participate again. They are essentially encouraging and validating this behavior.
I understand the dangers of the exam, and I agree that it needs to be like that... to a certain extent... but letting a Nen user like that participate and slaughter non-Nen users... they never had a chance. This has nothing to do with testing... all that's tested is the examinees' luck.
"So this is what you meant, Auren..." Vanessa mutters, clenching her fists. "I see... reforms are indeed necessary."
"Hey, calm down, your Aura...!" Auren whispers, but it's too late. Vanessa's almost perfectly disguised Aura clearly flickers. Trying to adjust it, Vanessa instinctively uses Zetsu, cutting off her Aura entirely.
You... clutz!
Walking away, despite having his back turned to the group, Hisoka suddenly stops.
Slowly, he looks back, turning just his head around, his mouth forming a devious smile.
"What... what does he want now?!"
"Let's go back... we need to avoid him."
The group scatters, with everyone trying to put some distance between themselves and Hisoka.
Hisoka suddenly sprints forward, arriving in front of the group as if he had teleported.
"An interesting technique... you had me fooled there... but your control... needs improvement ❤️," he says, smiling at Vanessa, before looking at Neffi.
"Yours seems to be much better... but now that I look at you really closely... it's still not quite flawless ♦️."
He then stares at Auren. "But yours... ♣️ simply incredible. I'd never have guessed.... How beautiful... or perhaps... there is nothing to hide in the first place ♠️? Why are you hiding yourselves in those stuffy armors and masking your faces with those tasteless helmets...?"
"How about you show me... your faces ❤️?"
Without warning, Hisoka makes a quick movement, stretching out his hands and aiming for their faces.
No choic...
However, before Auren or Neffi can react, Vanessa's entire Aura explodes violently, surprising Auren and obviously Hisoka with her quick reaction.
Without warning, she punches forward at the gobsmacked Hisoka, striking him in the gut with her left hand and causing him to fly away, then adding another punch with her right, using Emission, catapulting Hisoka further away with such force that he crashes into the walls of the tunnel, the old stone cracking around him as a violent dull sound echoes around them. Not bouncing off, but now pressed into the stone, Hisoka pushes his body out and falls onto the ground, landing on his right knee.
Auren notices that he skillfully shifted his Aura to his back right before impact, avoiding taking too much damage from the collision.
Well... this could have gone better.
"I..." Vanessa mutters, her face pale. "I am... so—sorry."
"I blame you for losing your cool and getting emotional after you saw what happened. You need to control yourself better," Auren replies. "However, as for punching him... good job. You reacted quicker than I did. Like I told you... screw the exam, our own safety is above all."
It was partially my fault... I just taught them the technique. As Hisoka said... both of them are not quite there yet. This is as much my own fault as hers. How could I think she could get on a level where she'd be able to deceive the likes of Hisoka? Hisoka is probably the hardest person to deceive in the first place....
"Yeah... what a creep," Neffi agrees, her body shaking in disgust.
"He...heheheheh," Hisoka snickers madly as he gets up, blood running out of his mouth. "This exam... how interesting. I'll make sure to return the favor later down the line. ❤️ I think... I am in love. ❤️"
"He...heheheheh!" he laughs manically as he walks away from the scene.
"Did you see that?! That guy in the suit is super strong!"
"It could be a girl as well..."
"Ha, as if! Did you see the strength with which he punched him? That guy's probably a sure pass this year. Man, we really need to step up our game with those two monsters around."
"Vanessa," Auren says. "During the exam, you're staying with me."
"Of course I am... why are you saying that?" Vanessa wonders.
"If she doesn't realize it, don't tell her," Neffi says, smiling weakly. "I admire you sometimes. I really do."
Indeed... it's best she doesn't know a crazed, maniac serial killer has just taken an interest in her.
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A/N: Always thankful for Power Stones, Comments, and Reviews. Thank you for reading!
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