Phantom Troupe's Web

Chapter 11.

With the score between the prisoners and the applicants being even, leaving the Zoldyck siblings to win either one of their matches, the female glances over at her brother from where she sat at the edge of the cut-off hallway. "You or me?" she asks, referring to who would go next for the 1-on-1 fight.

"Guess I'm off," Killua spoke casually, making a deadpanned face when Leorio exclaimed out in surprise. "What's that supposed to mean?" he asked the older male who pulled on his hair, crying in frustration about how he needed to win his fight with the previous convict. "Gon...This guy is pissing me off!" the white-haired assassin yells at his friend, pointing at the man. "Don't give up before we even know what the contest is. Well, if it's something like mental math, I'm surrendering," he pouts.

Illuki chuckles at him, standing up from her spot on the ground and approaching where he and the others stood. "Everyone has a weakness," she assured the child, patting his head which he uncharacteristically accepted. Her attention then turns to the other side, emerald eyes narrowing as the next hooded figure approached the light, removing the sack and revealing a well-built man with scruffy blonde hair and blue eyes.

"That guy..," Leorio started, recognising the convict.

"You know him?" Gon asked his friend, everyone turning to the older man who hesitated to speak further.

"We should take the loss. Killua! Don't fight him," the suit-wearing man advised without glancing the child's way, maintaining an eye on the convict. "Johness the Dissector. The worst mass murder in Zuban's history," Leorio identifies the prisoner when Killua questioned him, sweating with fear in his eyes. "He chose his victims randomly. It was a famous case...146 people, young and old, men and women, met brutal deaths by his hands. The victims had one thing in common. He murdered all of them with his bare hands. He was known for his iron grip, the power in his fingers," his voice was just above a whisper as he educated the group of examinees.

Iris hums in recollection. "Oh~ He's that guy," she said with a carefree tone, ignoring the horrified looks Leorio and Tonpa gave her. 'Kil should be able to handle him. It would be disappointing if he couldn't.' she thought as she returns her gaze to Johness.

"It's been so long since I touched human flesh," the rough blonde said from across the room, crushing part of the wall he had dug out when approaching the edge.

"You don't have to face that psychotic killer. There's always next year," Leorio reminded however Killua dismissed the warnings and began walking over to the forum, ignoring the older man's calls of his name.

"We should let him go. He could have a plan," Kurapika tells him.

"How are we settling this contest?" standing in front of each other, Killua speaks casually with his hands tucked away in the pockets of his shorts.

"Contest? I believe you're confused. This will be a one-sided massacre. I have no interest in the exam or any offer of amnesty. I just want to hear you scream," Johness replied, staring down at the boy.

"Really? Okay. Then the loser is the one who dies," Killua finalised.

From where she stood on Gon's right side, her arms crossed as she observed the movements of her younger brother and silently judged his work as his sister and a previous assassin of high calibre. It was fast, removing the mass murderer's heart cleanly without splattering a lot of blood. A small inaudible to the naked ear 'huh' leaves the female's rosy lips, nodding to herself in approval. 'He's improved' the chime that indicated a win interrupts her thoughts.

"Who is he?" the suit-wearing applicant thought out loud, shocked by the events that happened moments ago.

Turning in his direction, Gon spoke. "Oh right, you guys don't know. Killua comes from an elite family of assassins," he informs as his friend returned.

"That just leaves me then," the applicants glanced over to their side, a figure appearing from the shadows as the other had. A giggle escapes from them, their handcuffs unlocking and falling with a thud, the sound of their feet approaching the edge as they took off the hood from their head. There before them, stood a young-looking woman with pitch-black straight hair and mauve eyes, her cracked lips curled into a cruel smirk, flaunting confidence. Iris yawns, walking down the pathway to the forum with her arms stretching above her head, an innocent smile appearing on her pale face as she stood in front of her opponent. "I propose a deathmatch. No weapons permitted," the black-haired woman declares, smirking as she feels her familiar slither against her neck. Agreeing to the conditions, the former assassin reaches down and pulls the dagger out from the garter around her thigh, tossing it gently to the side.

"And your snake? Does it not count as a weapon?" Illuki questions, spotting the black reptile that slithered onto its owner's arm to reveal itself. The convict doesn't respond, admiring the way her familiar strikes at the applicant who refused to move from her spot, smirking at the petite woman.

The prisoner hums, allowing the snake to crawl over her arm and shoulders, keeping an eye on the reptile. "I'm surprised you noticed. This is Esmeralda, she's my familiar," she says, admiring the dark scales of the snake. "I conjured her when I was a little witchling. It'll only be a matter of time before we'll be free to kill again," she sighed contently at the mere thought of the chaos she would cause with Esmeralda. "But for now, you will have to do," she smirks.

"Hm?" the first strike from her familiar barely caused any harm to the former assassin, though with how confident the prisoner was with her familiar's attack she had a feeling it was a poisonous species that the witch had conjured to be her familiar. "Pity," Illuki muttered, allowing her Nen to be activated, the hues of her eyes changing colours as she stared down the black-haired woman in front of her with a pout. "It takes a lot more than poison to kill me," she says, irises glowing green.

The convict stares wide-eyed at the sudden change of colours, stuttering as she scrambles to run away from the magenta-haired woman who menacing glared at the witch. "N-no! W-wait! I-i can't die like this! No! I sur–" the prisoner's voice cuts off, their body turned into stone. Approaching the statue, Iris hums as she makes eye contact with the rest of the prisoners that stared at her, petrified. "I suppose...I win?" she giggled evilly, tilting he head to the side.