Hunters X and X Heroes

Fighting X Smarter

"I hope Kurapika's fever doesn't break..."

Rukei hoped so too. Leorio managed to convince her that he would be able to handle it, but she was still really worried over the blonde. So, like Gon- Wait, what?

Killua looked up suddenly, "Wait, did you just say what I think you said?"

"Kurapika shouldn't fight the Troupe anymore," Gon explained his previous words with a hint of sadness in his tone, "I thought of something when Kurapika told me about his powers. If he'd just wanted revenge, he would have chosen different abilities. If he'd only wanted to kill them, he wouldn't have gone through the trouble of chaining their hearts."

"Maybe if he only had one target," Killua corrected, believing it to be different, "But Kurapika's dealing with the entire Troupe," the boy pointed out, "Even if he captures one, he can't kill them right away. And he needs to extract information about the other members. Personally, I think his powers were meant specifically for revenge."

Rukei remixed the cube in her hands again as she spoke. "I still hope it's as Gon says though. I've had enough of watching people fight for revenge," the cube was solved again and the colors jumbled amongst each other once more. She felt similar. "It's far more difficult to protect people from themselves."

"Shichi. Wistle. Solriss." Rukei tensed as Killua called out the names, "They all have to do with you're talking about, right?"

The smaller squares flew left and right in between her hands as she answered curtly, "Essentially."

Gon wanted to know just as much as Killua did. "You keep bringing up things but we really have no idea what you're saying. What happened, Rukei?"

"A lot happened," the girl replied simply, but the simple words tinged with melancholy said quite a bit.

The white-haired boy sighed as he saw that she obviously wasn't too willing to go about the history, "Could you at least tell us who Wistle and Solriss are?" He saw a moment of hesitation at the stop of clicking and clacking and he grabbed at it, "It may tell us a little more on the reviving Zakuya."

This convinced her, though she took a couple moments of silence just to continue jumbling and re-solving. "Okay."

Gon and Killua shared a look, one of them having a very accomplished expression across his face, before turning back to the girl.

"Solriss is the one who created Zyphon."

Rukei glanced over her wrist. There wasn't much of a scar left from Elaine's claws, but there was a very light pink line running across it still visible.

"He was the head scientist of every Zyphon project," she clarified, remembering that she had hardly ever seen him outside of the lab or without a clipboard. He never took the white coat off either. "He's the Zakuya's genius. He started the Zyphon project at the age of sixteen. He had completed eight successful projects by the time he was twenty-three. My project was still underway at that time."

"Wait," the white-haired boy broke in, realizing something that had been off since the first time Rukei had told them about her blood and subject number, "He's completed eight projects? There are only eight complete subjects, right?"

The brunette nodded, not quite sure what the boy was trying to get it. "You're correct."

Gon however caught on to what Killua was saying as the boy continued talking, "Doesn't that mean that every Zyphon experiment done by Solriss has a 100% rate of success?"

The brunette paused for a moment. She hadn't explained it to them yet. Because while she wanted to hate Solriss, she couldn't. "Yes. He is guaranteed success in every Zyphon experiment. Subject 9 would be a success too, had he the time. It's because of his blood."