บท 12: Game, Tower, Battle
"It looks like a diamond," said Gon.
The remaining participants boarded the airship, and the chairman decided to give them a ride to the next exam destination. The trio sat by the window, looking out at the city's shimmering lights. It was then that Gon decided to ask about Killua's parents.
"Killua?" Gon.
"Yes."
"Have you got parents?" Gon asks.
"Yes, of course," Killua said.
"What do they do?" Gon asks.
"They are assassins." Killua.
"Both of them?" Gon said, not caring that they were assassins; Jett didn't either; he already had suspicions. Killua seemed happy at Gon's response.
"You got me going. That's the first time someone's listened to me seriously and asked me about it afterward," Killua said.
"Why? it's true, isn't it?" Gon asks.
"You're strange. I can never tell if you're serious or if you're joking. That's what gives you your charm," Killua said. Before Gon could ask anything else, Jett interrupted and joked.
"Oh, It gives him charm, huh? I wonder what you could mean by that, Killua. Sounds like someone has a crush." Jett teases.
"You! It is not like that, you idiot. I just meant," Killua said, his face red. He couldn't say anything after because Jett had burst out laughing.
"What do you mean, Jett? What does he want to crush?" Gon asked, not hearing Jett well on the other side of Killua; he stared blankly as if thinking about something while looking at both Killua and Jett laughing together. For some reason unknown to Jett or Killua, Gon had gotten up and sat between them. Jett and Killua hadn't thought about it much and had subconsciously moved to the side to let Gon sit. Settling down, Jett was the one who asked the next question.
"So why did you decide to take the hunter exam? Being an assassin sounds cool," Jett said.
"I'm not telling you how much pressure my family puts on me...but I don't like the idea of others deciding what I'll do with my life." Jett could understand; it may be the same for everyone. They have things they want to do, and when people tell them they should do another thing, the emotion of living their own life becomes intense. Of course, others like to be told what to do.
Jett could see that he was joking about catching his family. While he may say that he doesn't like them, Jett also knows that he will kill anyone who threatens them, at least some of them. That was his impression of Killua at that moment.
Suddenly, a powerful momentum rushed at them from their left, and all three turned left at the same time. Realizing something, Jett just as fast turned to his right, just in time to see the old man walking up to them.
'Oh, this kid is good. He's the one who awakened his nen. He's going to be a good hunter, although he still needs a bit more training,' the chairman inwardly thought.
"Old man, you're fast for your old age," Killua said, not liking that someone got the better of him.
"You think? I was walking without haste." Said the chairman. Jett snickered at Killua.
"What do you want? You have nothing to do until the finals." Killua.
"I was looking for someone to play. This is your first participation in the trials. Do you like it?" the chairman asks.
"It was fun, no written exams, for instance." answers the simple-minded Gon.
"I like it; each of the tests had a purpose. One gave us a life lesson, the other tested our mental fortitude, and another our sense of the unknown and wonder. Based on how things are going, I'm guessing the next test will either test our strength or our morals, right?" Jett said with a smile on his face.
"You're a smart kid," said the chairman, not denying or admitting it. Jett had a head on his shoulders. However, most of his references came from anime. Most anime develops a similar plot, all of which is done to establish the main character.
"Me, I'm disappointed. I thought the trials would be harder." Killua said, not caring about what Jett said.
"Will we finally have fun during the next tests?" Killua.
"Well...you'll see." Said the chairman.
"Let's go," Killua said putting his hand over Gon's shoulder. Jett didn't move. He knew the old man wanted something, and just like he thought, before they could leave, the chairman spoke.
"Wait. Don't you want to play with me? If you win. I'll give you the title of a hunter." the chairman said, tempting them to join.
All three of them ended up playing against the chairman. Killua gave up after a few rounds, and Jett felt killing intent coming from him after he left. Jett had a smile on his face while watching Killua leave; he could guess what he was thinking. If he wanted to kill this old man, he would need to get a lot stronger because right now, he couldn't even scratch him. Jett had attempted a few things, he wasn't serious about taking the ball, he only wanted to test a few moves and see how fast he was after using flash step compared to the chairman.
Gon did not want to give up after he found out that the chairman wasn't using a leg and a hand. Jett, mentally tired, soundlessly drifted into a dreamless sleep at the side. The following day, in the morning, everyone in the airship woke up to being told they were ready to land. At a distance, everyone could see a tall pillar that touched the clouds. Not soon after, everyone landed on the tower.
"You are here at the shrewdness tower. It's here that the third trial round shall take place. Concerning the trial itself, here are the jury's orders within a 72-hour time period. You'll need to get to the bottom of this tower—alive, of course." said the strange green creature. The trio and the other two, Kurapika and Leorio, watched as an idiot tried to climb down the tower only to be eaten by monsters.
"I guess we should look for a way..." Gon and Killua were turning after they heard Jett speak, but Jett was gone when they made the complete turn.
Jett was sliding down a dark tunnel. He hadn't even taken a step and already found himself in trouble, but at least he had found a way to enter the tower. It didn't take long for Jett to reach the end of the tunnel. He fell from a hole in the ceiling. Some torches lightly illuminated the space so Jett could see the floor as it came closer. Jett adjusted his posture to perform a roll as he touched the floor.
He had landed on a long corridor illuminated by the torches separated evenly on each side of the wall. Although there was light, shadows still lingered, clinging to the walls. The corridor was silent; Jett could only hear his steps as he started walking. Outside the top of the tower, Gon, Killua, and the other two were trying to find Jett.
"Did you see what happened?" Leorio.
"No, I only heard him talk, but he was gone as soon as I turned around." Kurapika.
"Hey, look, there are fewer people." Pointed out Killua.
"Maybe Jett disappeared the same way; let's go look around, guys." Gon.
On the other hand, Jett had started walking, his footsteps echoing in the empty stone corridor. As he passed each torch, the draft he created moved the flames, making the shadows dance. He had been walking for five minutes and found stairs leading down to another floor. This floor was also the same, with torches on both sides. He thought the corridor was the same. Jett picked up the pace to get to the other end.
As his pace quickened, the flames danced more vividly. As Jett was about to pass the mid-section of the corridor, he felt a cutting sensation on his neck. Luckily, he wasn't going too fast and was able to jump back at the last minute.
He touched his neck feeling a wet sensation, in the light of the fire blood could be seen on his hand. Jett focuses his vision in front of him. He wasn't able to see anything, yet something had cut his neck.
'Maybe…'
Thinking of something, Jett quickly gathered nen into his eyes using gyo. Jett had realized the importance of using Gyo when fighting a Nen user. One of the advanced nen techniques (IN) was a way to conceal your nen from an aura user; the only way to counter it was Gyo. Still, Jett was wondering why would someone use (IN) against him, he didn't think he showed his aura or did anything that would reveal he knew nen to anyone in this tower.
"You've got good reflexes. My string would've cut your head off if you had just taken another step." Came a voice from the darkness.
"Who's there!?" Jett asks.
"Still, it's unexpected that a boy as young as you knows nen. Do you perhaps have a master?" Jett said nothing. He was watching his surroundings with vigilance.
"Don't want to talk, huh? That's fine too I like to make people scream, today is my lucky day. I haven't had anyone to torture ever since I was put in this prison." The voice said.
"A prison, so you're a prisoner, and this tower is a prison?" Jett asks.
"Hehe, you don't need to wonder. I'll capture you and make you scream, although I would have preferred a woman, but it has been so long that you will do," said the voice.
"Sick!" Jett spat.
A black vertical string came flying at Jett like a laser, the stone corridor was rectangular so the string seemed to be attached to the ceiling and the floor. Jett jumped to the side; the string was neither fast nor slow, so Jett didn't have trouble getting out of the way. He was trying to figure out where the one controlling the string was; if he could knock him out, he could get it over with; as he was thinking, two strings came flying at him this time. This time, the strings cross in the middle, forming a cross shape. Following, three strings came flying at him; the first two were the same as before. The third string was placed vertically to the left, as Jett jumped the string grace his arm cutting him slightly. The attack came again but this time it was only two strings, the third one was gone. Jett narrows his eyes at this.
"I get it; this is your Hatsu, isn't it? I can figure out how it works by watching how you send your strings. I'm guessing you need a rectangular structure to activate it. As for your strings, I'm guessing that they will keep adding up until they form a grid. There was something else, just then when the third string cut me, and the attack came again one was gone. I'm assuming that if I dodge, another string will be added, but if I get cut, one string will banish. If I allow myself to get cut, the string will stay the same, but with more wounds, I will eventually die from blood loss; if I do dodge, the strings will multiply infinitely until I can't dodge. I got to give you a point for ingenuity." said Jett, sure of his conjecture.
After finishing his explanation, only silence followed. The guy in the darkness had wide eyes; his trick had never been figured out so quickly. He was a criminal with over a hundred kills, including Nen users. It wasn't until he tried to kill his one hundred and one that he was captured by the one that controls the tower. A short guy with a mohawk inside a monitoring room was also surprised. He was the one who captured this guy; it had taken hours of struggle to capture him finally. It wasn't easy to figure out the trick behind the guy's Hatzu. He had dodged the string multiple times, thinking they would cut him, which did happen. After being cut and verily dodged, he realized a string would disappear if he got cut. It was too bad he had figured it out too late; the many strings already made it hard for him to dodge. He wasn't counting the time it took to figure out the second part of the guy's trick.
'This is one scary kid.' thought the guy in the shadows and the mohawk guy simultaneously.
"But will you figure out the second part of the trick?" thought the mohawk guy.
"Scary, even if you know there is nothing you can do. Either you keep getting cut and bleed to death or dodge, and the strings keep adding up," said the voice.
He was right; Jett was buying time; he hadn't even figured out where the guy was hiding. Jett didn't know how long it had been; maybe one day, he had been trying to catch the guy, but he always seemed to be one step ahead of him. He could only hear his voice and steps but never his figure. Jett had to perform several flash steps to cover the distance of the corridor which he calculated was 40 meters, which would almost equal half a football field, the tower was that big. As he went down each corridor was the same size.
He tried to catch up to the guy in front of him each time, but no matter how hard he tried or how many flash steps he performed, he couldn't get close. He was now covered in wounds; he had allowed himself to be cut, not to be overwhelmed by the razor-sharp strings. At best he had let ten strings manifest, the length of the corridor may have been long but not its width. Ten strings were enough to allow dodging any more, and he would be a goner.
"It's only a matter of time before you fall, boy. If you keep letting yourself get cut to keep the strings at ten, you will soon bleed out," the voice said.
"Just wait. I'll figure out this trick of yours, and you'll pay double what you made me bleed," said Jett.
He couldn't figure it out; each sound would come from the front after the person spoke or ran. Jett would try to catch up, performing a flash step each time to take the lead. But this guy always seems a step ahead of him. Each time he came to the end of the corridor a set of stairs would appear which would lead him to the next corridor. Thinking that he could catch him at the turning point of the stairs since one had to slow down to turn, Jett would jump down. He tried multiple times, but each time was the same. He was getting frustrated.
Jett had tried other things to see if he could figure out the trick to this guy's Hatzu. One of the things he tried was turning off all the torches. Thinking they had something to do with his Hatzu, which had only made him get cut multiple times. The second thing he tried was putting all the torches in the middle, making the light illuminate the walls and the ceiling, making everything brighter. He did this this time because he thought the Hatzu had something to do with the shadows.
He was in one of the corridors again; he knew it wasn't a trick that bent time and space. He had left a mark along with a bit of nen in the wall, but after going down five times a set of stairs, the mark never appeared. He didn't want to go down another set of stairs, but he couldn't stay in the corridor forever. He had to figure out the trick quickly, or he would bleed to death.
"Damn it!" Jett shouted.
"...it." came his voice.
"I...it appears finally, your scream. That's what I wanted to hear." said the voice, somewhat flustered, which didn't escape Jett's notice.
"More, scream more." said the guy, sending his attack again.
Jett stood still, different scenarios running through his mind. Finally, one of the scenarios he was thinking about matched his situation. A joyful smile appeared as if he had finally gotten his favorite dessert.
"So that's how it is, you bastard. You're clever." Jett said, finally figuring it out.
"Stalling won't help boy, you're trying to buy time, you know you're going to die." the voice said.
"Oh, I figured it out. It was also stupid of me to fall for such a simple trick. Misdirection, isn't it? When I first entered these corridors, I fell from the ceiling. At that time, torches were in front of me while only darkness was behind me. It is human nature to go to the more well-lit area, ignoring the darkness behind me." Jett explains his reasoning.
I had already fallen into your trap as I walked to the next corridor. That was the first misdirection. The second misdirection you made had to do with sound. The attack came from in front of me, already making me think you were in front of me the whole time. When you spoke, your voice also came from the same direction, assuring me that you were in front of me. That wasn't the case; you were projecting your voice, creating an echo at the other end while, in reality, you were behind me, following me the whole time. Clever, any average person would have died already." Jett explained the entire situation; he slowly started walking back.
"Haha...I thought you were smart at the start; it turns out you're just another idiot kid," said the voice, trying to sound sure of himself. Jett could already see it.
"Are you sure about that?" Jett's voice came from the other side of the corridor. He had also projected his voice forward. He realized a specific tone and octave between frequencies was needed to project his voice. As for how he knew the exact frequency, he had already done it once when he shouted; all he had to do was recreate it.
The man who was hiding could see Jett walking back slowly. He was trying to quickly think of something that could trick this kid, and he was sure that his trick would not be figured out. As he watched Jett walk, he was slowly backing away. He stumbled a little on the first step, making him look back, and as he turned, he saw Jett vanish with that strange, fast technique. In the blink of an eye, Jett was already halfway across.
The man attacked Jett again with his strings, but Jett was using his flash step to move quickly. He had only been halfway down the corridor, so three flash steps were all it took to reach the beginning of the corridor.
"I got you, you bastard," Jett said.
In a panic, the man started running back to the top corridor. He used his Nen to enhance himself and ran faster. Jett didn't fall behind. He was also a Nen user, plus he knew Flash Step. The man was fast and bigger than Jett. He was covering more space, but Jett wasn't falling behind. He was right on his tail. As the man reached the stairs to the next corridor, he launched another attack at Jett.
"Strange, why did you wait to attack only after you reached the stairs? It couldn't be that that is also part of your Hatzu. Don't tell me you can't be in the area of effect of your own Hatzu, it being inside the corridor's rectangular structure, could it?" Jett said mockingly.
"What are you a freaking monster. That wasn't enough information to form any idea about my Hatzu, " the guy amazed at Jett's insight. Jett could already see the man. He was wearing a striped jumpsuit. He had a small afro, and from what Jett could see from the side of his face, he had a short, messy beard.
"Oh I was right, I was just guessing," Jett said jokingly. The man continued to run past the stairs into the next corridor.
"Enough of this; I said I would make you pay, and since you tried to kill me," Jett said darkly. Enhancing his legs with Nen, Jett flashes steps right before the guy. The guy slid into a complete stop a few feet away from Jett. Jett could finally see his face. I was body and malnourished, yet there was a crazed look in his eyes.
"Don't think I'm easy pickings because I can't use my Hatzu." said the guy.
Jett didn't give him time to say anything else or get ready to attack; he was angry and frustrated and wanted to let out some steam. An explosion of Ren enveloped Jett, and in another flash, he was at the guy's side. Gathering nen in both his hands, Jett said.
"This is a One Punch man original, straight from Genos, be honored. Machine gun blows!" screaming the last part, Jett started punching, getting faster and faster. The air began to pick up, all the torches started to go out, and Jett didn't stop. The guy was trying to protect himself with his own nen, using the advanced nen technique (Ken). That didn't help; Jett wasn't proficient in advanced techniques but started using (Ko). (Ko) made his punches even more potent, increasing his Nen output. Jett got even faster. Soon enough, Jett broke through the guy's defenses.
"I give, please stop!" the guy screams, trying to plead for his life. Jett didn't listen; he didn't know if this guy was a killer or how many people he killed, but the fact was that he did feel that he was trying to kill him, and he didn't hold back.
Jett kept going, the force of his punches getting stronger. With each punch, he sank the guy into the wall, making a bowl, and cracks spread to the sides. Jett felt the guy's bones crack, and then sounds of breaking were heard. It wasn't until he felt a wet feeling that he stopped. His fist was covered in blood; he was panting hard and out of breath.
"Told you I would make you pay for making me bleed. Bastard." Jett said, spitting at the guy. He wasn't sure if he would encounter anyone else on his way to the bottom, but he rested briefly before he started to go down again. He was on guard the whole time; in the end, it turned out that no one else came after him. The last corridor was more narrow; at the end was a stone door, and as Jett got closer, it opened. On the other side, he found three people: Hisoka, Hanzo, and the guy with the needles in his head.
"Third round. Fourth to arrive. Number 405 Jett. Time used: 15 hours and 8 minutes." said a voice from a speaker.
"So I'm number four then?" Jett asks rhetorically.
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