"Ding."
The moment the elevator doors opened, the excitement and wonder froze on Gon's and Killua's faces.
An indescribable, bone-chilling cold shot from the soles of their feet to the tops of their heads.
The air seemed to have become a thick, foul-smelling swamp.
Every breath felt as though their lungs were filling with rotten mud, so heavy it threatened to suffocate them.
Countless invisible hands seemed to grip their bodies, their bones creaking under the unbearable strain.
"Wh... what is this...?"
Gon's pupils contracted sharply, and his legs began trembling uncontrollably.
He felt as though an enormous venomous snake had fixed its gaze on him. The fear rising from the depths of his soul left him without even the strength to move a finger.
"Nen... pressure..."
Killua clenched his teeth and forced the words through them.
The instincts he had inherited from his assassin family allowed him to read the air more keenly than Gon.
But he had never felt malice so pure, so immense, so... delighted.
Yes, delighted.
The source of this Nen pressure was neither angry nor trying to intimidate them.
He was simply radiating his own "presence," relishing it, like a peacock spreading its tail to display its gorgeous, deadly feathers.
And they were mere... insects, crushed beneath the aura those feathers emitted until they could barely breathe.
At the end of the corridor.
Hisoka leaned at an angle against the wall, toying with a playing card.
A sickly, satisfied smile hung on his clown-painted face.
He had waited three days for this moment.
The "little apple" that had caused such an earth-shattering commotion had finally emerged from seclusion.
He could sense that, although the fruit's aura was somewhat weak, its core had undergone a wondrous transformation that made his mouth water.
It had become even