Heaven's Empress ||COMPLETE||

|16| Challenge ... Declined?

|Third Person POV|

The crowd was in an uproar. After the might Zel had displayed earlier, none of the other applicants dared to as much as breath too loudly in fear of her strength and vicious brutality. Yet this man - a newcomer they had never seen before - calls back this deity of death for a challenge?

Chrollo stepped forwards.

"Hisoka, are you sure about this?"

Amusement glittered in Hisoka's amber eyes. He wasn't serious about it at all, but he did want to know why the 'Empress' was masquerading as one of the ordinary floor masters. After all, the difference in power between the Empress and the others was one of the earth and the sky. Extremely vast!

"I am." The jester's lips pronounced clearly.

The crowd jeered silently, while shaking their heads at his stupidity.

Zel hesitated. While she could fight and lose to him intentionally, thus getting him closer to fight against her as the 'Empress', once Silva finds out that she let someone win, things would get ugly. On the other hand, who knows if Hisoka might be stronger than he let on - if Zel underestimates him and only fights with 40% of her strength, there might even be a chance that she would lose her life!

Face with this terrorizing decision, she flickered her gaze towards Illumi, whose facial features betrayed nothing as he shook his head slightly. Zel sighed, then thought of a bullshit excuse. Just as she was about to verbally assail her way out, she noticed the lack of a badge on Hisoka's chest.

"I'm sorry sir." She forced out in an amicable voice. Doing her best to not claw Hisoka's eyes out for being a persistent little fuck. "You haven't payed the fees. It is too late to do so this month, please come back next month. I assure you, I will also be there."

With that, Zel gave a quick nod to the mistress of ceremonies - the red lady - and scampered off.

As soon as Zel had vanished, chatter started up inside the Heaven's Battlefield. What had just happened? The audience all knew that no one actually gave a shit about the rules , and that while killing wasn't encouraged, everyone did it. So, after this floor master's vicious behavior earlier, why had she bothered sparing this idiotic challenger?

They didn't know Hisoka's reasons for challenging Zel, but they didn't need to. Her actions caused a huge stir amongst the attendees that night. A rumor quickly started to swirl around Heaven's Arena. A rumor that the floor master of 232 was in a relationship with someone called Hisoka!

However, a card that slit that floor master's throat that turned up a few days later soon disproved that rumor.

But, before then...

|::|

Dawn had broken over the horizon, but due to the number of skyscrapers in the city, most people wouldn't notice it for a few more hours.

In a desolate wooden shack far from the edge of the city, atop a dangerously steep cliff, there sat a woman enveloped in a blood-red cloak. Her stark and bright white hair fluttered gently in the breeze while she stared out the broken and tattered window with misty violet eyes.

A man approached her. He placed a hand on her shoulder, seemingly concerned.

Zel tilted her head back to look at Illumi. She scoffed.

"You're leaving today, aren't you?"

She felt him squeeze her shoulders, then he was gone.

And she was alone again. The Empress, all by her lonesome, in her empty castle.