The Magician's Musician

Phase 5

Eve's p.o.v.

When we entered the building we were greeted by Netero and the other examiners of the hunters exam. I stood beside Killua as we all listened to what Netero had to say. He explained that for the final phase of the exam we would be competing in a one on one tournament as a man wheeled a board covered by a sheet over to Netero. When he uncovered the board we were all confused but Leorio was the first one to speak.

"Hold on a second. So only the last one standing passes?"

"No. You only need one win to pass this phase." Netero explained and I glanced at Gon and Leorio as they voiced their confusion.

"See It's the winners who will drop away and the losers who will advance to the next round. Which means the person who finishes at the top, will not pass. Make sense to everyone?" He explained and I nodded understanding it for the most part.

After that I began to blankly listen to everything uninterested until Netero revealed the bracket lineup. As I looked at it Netero began answering the confused questions he got. From the looks of it I wouldn't be fighting until Leorio and whoever lost in his fight would be my opponent.

"Impressive yes? You see under this format every competitor has at least wo chances to win a round." Netero explained and Pokkle spoke up.

"Yeah but some people get five chance to win like 294 and 405."

"Couldn't you have used a more balanced bracket?" Bodoro asked and we all looked at Netero for his answer.

"Now that's a fair question. This bracket was carefully assembled based off of each of your individual performances throughout the exam. To put it simply, those whose performances were rated highly will have the most chances to win." He explained and I noticed Killua looked confused

"I'm not convinced. Could you explain exactly how you scored our performances?" Killua asked and I waited patiently for the rejection I knew he would get. I didn't expect a crazy outburst from Netero as he shouted no and went on to explain how our scores are classified but he did tell us about the criteria they used. After that I began to lose interest but caught the annoyed look on Killua's face from the chairman's response. Smiling softly I ruffled his hair and he swatted my hand away sticking his tongue out at me. Laughing a little, I lightly hit his arm and returned my attention to Netero.

"The rules of the battle are quite simple. Weapons are allowed, cheating is forbidden, and if your opponent admits defeat, you win. However, if you kill your opponent you will be disqualified without hesitation. And if that happens the exam ends and the remaining applicants pass." He explained and I frowned hearing I'd be disqualified if I killed. On the other hand my opponent should be pretty entertaining so I'd like to keep them alive for later.

With that the final phase began and it was a match against Hanzo and Gon. When the match began Gon took off putting some distance between the two which would've been a good decision if Hanzo hadn't caught up to him quickly. I watched as Hanzo landed a chop to the back of Gon's neck sending him to the ground in pain. The hit was obviously hard enough to daze Gon because he didn't get up even as Hanzo sat him up and straightened out his back harshly. Sighing, I crossed my arms watching the fight feeling the tension in the air as everyone watched in silence. Hanzo began telling Gon to give up as he held him and I smiled a little hearing Gon's refusal and knew then and there that he wouldn't give in so easily. Unfortunately for him that led Hanzo to smack him in the head again making him delirious once more.

"Think hard about it. Surrender now and you'll have another chance. But being stubborn isn't gonna get you anywhere. So just give up."

"That's never gonna happen!" Gon shouted and was soon on the ground from another hit by Hanzo. I could tell Hanzo would do whatever was necessary to make Gon surrender and since Gon was so stubborn, I knew he wouldn't give in. We all watched as Gon struggled to stand back up only to be knocked back down by a punch to the stomach.