Chapter 8

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After his lovely game with Netero, Kalen found himself a room and attempted to sleep until the airship reached it's destination, landing on top of a high tower. He was woken up by Bean's voice telling everyone that they had arrived. He sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, yawning. He'd only actually slept for an hour or two but it was better than nothing.

A few moments later everyone had exited the ship and was now standing on top of the tower, confused.

"Good morning everyone", Bean said, "The tower we are now standing on is called the Trick Tower and it is where the third phase of the Hunter Exam will be taking place. To pass this phase of the Exam, you must reach the base of the tower alive within the seventy-two hour time limit.".

Oh damn, if the time limit was that long then it probably wouldn't be as simple as just climbing down the side of the tower. He had the feeling somebody would try anyways. He was right because about three minutes later he heard a scream and saw someone being eating by an ugly bird-monster.

So he concluded that the only way to reach the bottom the tower was through the tower's interior. He noticed a few of the other examinees tapping the tiles on the roof and decided to do the same.

After a short while he found a tile that moved slightly. So he jumped on it and found himself in a candle-lit room. The room didn't appear to have any doors so Kalen slid his hand across the walls for a bit before feeling some text etched into the wall. He turned and picked up one of the candles, holding it up to the engravings. He then read quietly,


"You were warned at the beginning of this Exam that if you had bad luck you shouldn't continue. Clearly if you made it this far you didn't listen. This path contains the following, serial killers, mass murders and fierce prisoners.  If you understand the risks and wish to continue, press the green button on your wristband and proceed through the door that will open. If you do not wish to continue anymore, please wait in this room until the seventy-two hours are over."


Haha, he'd be fine. He fit into a few of those categories himself. He quickly pressed the green button and exited the room.

He walked down the long dark corridor until he reached another door. Ugh, probably a puzzle. He picked up another candle and held it up to read the text on the wall. It read,

"This is not a puzzle. Prove that you are worthy of continuing and make a crippling sacrifice. If the sacrifice is deemed worthy then you will be allowed to proceed."

Hm, not a puzzle. He supposed that the "crippling sacrifice" had to be something that would possibly handicap himself. Kalen thought for a bit before deciding that giving up a fair amount of his blood should work. He pulled out a knife from his belt and cut across his right wrist a few times. Fourteen times to be exact.

After letting a fair amount of blood flow out, the door finally opened letting him pass. It wasn't too bad. He felt a bit lightheaded but he'd probably be alright unless he over exerted himself too much.

Over the next two hours or so Kalen encounter several other puzzles that he completed with ease. He was getting quite bored. He walked a bit longer and he found an entrance to a room. Finally, something new.

Kalen entered the room calmly, fidgeting with his sleeve a bit, since some of the blood from earlier had gotten on it. He ignored the slight lightheaded-ness tugging at is head.

The sound of several handcuffs unbuckling was heard before a about twenty prisoners came out, spreading across the room in different places.

"I see our examinee has arrived. Now I shall explain the rules and then you may begin.", a voice from the intercom said mischievously, "Both parties will have two hours to kill each other and whichever completely dies first loses. However, if neither party perishes within the time limit, both will be eliminated immediately. If the prisoners win then they will all be freed, if the examinee wins then he will move on. Are we clear?"

"Yes sir.", all the prisoners said simultaneously.

"And you?", the voice asked.

"Of course.", Kalen responded.

"I suppose I should introduce our examinee to you all.", the announcer giggled creepily, "Kalen Takahashi, our 69th examinee. And Kalen dear, you opponents are all mass murders so if you'd like to back out now it would be recommended.".

"No, I'm good.", he replied calmly.

"Okay, then allow us to begin. Three, two, one and begin!" the announcer says.

One prisoner charged in first. He raised his fist and attempted to land a hit on Kalen. Kalen activates his Nen on himself and doges quickly.

"You're pretty good for a child aren't you? Well, I'm about to show you who's better.", the prisoner says, activating his Nen.

The prisoner began launching explosions towards the black haired teen at an extremely fast pace, but still not being able to land a hit as Kalen had dodged every single one.

As he was readying his Nen, Kalen felt a few more of the prisoners activate their Nen as well. He paused for a second before being forced to dodge several attacks at once. Almost none of the attacks reached their target, but the ones that did hurt quite a bit.

He winced, but it wasn't anything he wasn't used to. He continued dodging since he couldn't activate his Nen on the rest of the prisoners yet without pausing for a moment. So Kalen decided to kill the first prisoner, since he already had control of his blood from their conversation earlier. Then he could use his dead body and kill everyone else.

Kalen curled in his fingers, forcing the blood around the prisoners organs to tighten around and kill him. This causes him to get hit a few times, but it wasn't too bad. He then uses the prisoner's body as a puppet, controlling it as if it was his own. He activates the prisoners Nen, using a bit of his own, and releases explosions at the other prisoner's.

They don't all die immediately, but he takes their seconds of shock to use his Nen and gain control of their blood. He quickly crushes all their hearts, killing all of them.

"Examinee number 69 wins, he will be moving on to the next room.", a shaky voice announced through the intercom.

"Hm, it took me seven minutes. Aiyaa, I could have finished so much faster if I had just activated my Nen at the start.", Kalen mumbled, sighing.

He exited the room and was immediately hit by a wave of nausea, he flinched slightly but it wasn't too bad so he just ignored it.

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