Leorio's devastating blunder sent the mood of the entire group of examinees plummeting.
Fifty hours.
That was nearly all the time they had left.
"I... I..."
Leorio slumped on the ground, his face deathly pale, unable to get out a single complete sentence.
Angry, resentful, contemptuous looks came at him from every direction.
He had let everyone down.
"Ugh, an unbeatable opponent isn't half as scary as an idiot teammate."
Luo Ye leaned against the wall and shook his head helplessly.
The urge to snark was burning fiercely inside him.
Well, now the fun's gotten out of hand. I could've just sat back and enjoyed the show, but now we've fast-forwarded straight into a race against death. Hey, genius, let me just say-thanks a lot.
The prisoners opposite them burst into unrestrained laughter.
"Hahahaha! Nicely done, Liru!"
"You bunch of idiots! Even if you win the last match, you'll never get out of this tower before the deadline!"
Despair hung like dark clouds over every examinee's heart.
Two to two.
It was time for the deciding match.
But even if they won, what good would it do?
There wasn't enough time anymore.
"Who's next? Last one!"
A man with the fiercest eyes of all the prisoners stepped forward. He had remained silent until now.
He was their leader, Band, a serial killer with more than a hundred lives on his hands.
The examinees' side was deathly silent.
No one had any desire to fight anymore.
Just then, a figure walked unhurriedly onto the platform.
It was Killua.
His hands were tucked into his pockets. Beneath his short silver hair, his catlike eyes held not a trace of nervousness, only cold composure.
"Oho, here comes the professional."
Luo Ye's eyes lit up.
Now this is interesting. A desperate amateur on one side, a professional assassin on the other. This isn't a match anymore. It's a one-sided slaughter show.
"Kid, you don't look afraid to die."
Band looked at Killua with a cruel smile.
"I've killed more people than you've eaten meals. My favorite sound is brats like you screaming before they die."
Killua ignored his taunts.
He merely tilted his head, looking at the man as though he were garbage.
"You talk too much."
"What did you say?"
Band's expression instantly darkened.
"I said..."
Killua's voice sounded like a whisper from hell.
"You can die now."
The instant the words left his mouth, his figure vanished.
No, he hadn't vanished.
He was fast.
Too fast for the naked eye to follow.
Band saw a blur, then felt a chill pierce straight through his heart.
He stiffly lowered his head.
A pale, almost delicate hand had punched through his chest.
That hand held a warm heart that was still beating.
Thud.
Killua casually tossed the heart onto the ground, as though discarding an apple core.
Band's body slowly collapsed like a heap of sludge.
His eyes were wide open. Even in death, he never understood what had happened.
An instant kill.
One strike, one death.
The entire arena fell into a silence more absolute than any before it.
The examinees stared at Killua, their eyes filled with fear and awe.
The remaining prisoners trembled in terror, barely able to stay on their feet.
"Fifth match: victory to the examinees."
The cold mechanical voice broke the suffocating silence.
"Three to two. The examinees have passed this stage."
The stone door ahead slowly rose.
Killua walked past the corpse without expression, as though he had merely stepped on an ant.
He approached Leorio, who was still slumped on the ground, and gave him a kick.
"Let's go, idiot."
Gon and Kurapika snapped out of their shock as well and hurried after him.
Luo Ye stretched and patted Little Black, who had frozen in fright on his shoulder.
"See that, Little Black? That's what you call efficiency."
"Professional work should be left to professionals. What Leorio does is called making trouble."
He followed the group in high spirits.
Though time was running short, that clean, decisive performance had made the trip worthwhile for him.
The entertainment just kept getting better.
The group walked silently through the dim passage, the atmosphere oppressive.
They had won, but no one could smile.
Leorio's mistake and Killua's cruelty weighed like two mountains on everyone's hearts.
The road ahead was still long.
And they were running out of time.
Before you continue