HxH: Ryomen... Satoru?

The location for the third phase of the exam was a towering stone structure. Cold and rigid, the building bore the marks of wind and rain, as though it had stood in the forest for countless years.

At the very top of the tower was a wide platform. Large stone slabs were seamlessly fitted together, leaving no visible way down.

There were no doors. No windows. No sign of any entrance or exit.

The airship hovered above the platform, and after the examinees disembarked, Cyr followed them out as well.

"This is the site of your third exam. Your task is simple: find a way down within the time limit."

The white-haired boy stood at the airship's door, speaking through a small megaphone as he explained the rules.

"Sounds easy, doesn't it? Well…" He smiled, drawing out the last syllable as if he were about to reveal some secret twist.

The examinees tensed, waiting for the catch.

Then—

"It actually is pretty easy. Good luck!"

Ignoring their stunned expressions, Cyr added casually, "Oh, and by the way, once you pass this phase, you'll get to enjoy a little vacation."

He lowered the megaphone, turned around, and boarded the airship without another word.

The candidates watched the ship fly off, then immediately got to work examining the stone slabs.

Some, believing themselves clever, decided to take what they thought was a shortcut—climbing down by hand.

However, halfway down, a flock of large, strange-looking birds came swooping in from the distance.

By the time the climbers noticed, it was too late.

Unable to go up or down, they were snatched up midair and carried away like prey.

Strangely enough, the birds ignored the candidates still standing on the platform, never once getting close.

"…Looks like the way down really is on the platform," Kurapika murmured, pressing a hand against the stone.

The moment the first examinee triggered a mechanism and fell through, the rest quickly followed, each discovering a different way inside.

Meanwhile, the airship that had supposedly left was still hovering nearby.

And the people who had supposedly left… were already inside the tower.

Inside the control room sat Lippo, a bounty hunter with an odd hairstyle and a pair of orange sunglasses. He was also the warden of this place—Trap Tower Prison.

And the one in charge of this phase of the exam.

Dozens of monitors surrounded him, each displaying different parts of the tower.

Faces of examinees flickered across the screens, their every move visible from this room.

The tower contained multiple passageways, each filled with different traps.

Some examinees found themselves alone, while others had teammates—but those teammates weren't always allies.

Hisoka was among the loners.

The red-haired man now stood in a standoff against a scar-faced prisoner.

"…He looks familiar."

Cyr casually pulled up a chair, sitting next to Lippo as he stared at the screen with mild curiosity.

"…He was an examiner last year," Lippo said between bites of a chocolate biscuit.

Meaning he had been part of Cyr's exam.

Only a year had passed, and this kid already forgot?

"Oh? A former examiner turned prisoner?" Cyr started clapping slowly.

He wasn't sure what had happened, but it was definitely worth celebrating.

"That guy volunteered," Lippo explained. "He heard Hisoka was taking the exam again, so he came here to get revenge."

Of course, that wasn't the whole story.

He wasn't just after Hisoka.

He also wanted revenge on the white-haired boy sitting right beside him.

After all, both of them had completely humiliated him last year.

Lippo and Houshi had only a passing acquaintance. They weren't close, nor did Lippo have any intention of talking him out of his plan. Instead, he even cooperated by placing him in Hisoka's path.

"You're only after Hisoka?" Cyr asked with a smirk.

Logically, he should've been on Hutoshi's revenge list as well.

Lippo simply smiled and said nothing. The only sound in the room was the crunch of his biscuit.

On the screen, the standoff continued—until Houshi exposed everything himself.

"I've trained relentlessly for a whole year. I'm much stronger than before. First, I'll kill you. Then, I'll take care of that white-haired brat," Houshi declared, his voice filled with hatred and confidence.

He knew that brat had become an examiner this year.

He also knew there was a good chance the guy was watching him right now.

But he didn't care.

No, he wanted them to hear it.

He needed them to know the rage he had bottled up over the past year.

The humiliation of being crushed under a kid's foot.

The burning resentment of being dismissed as nothing by Hisoka.

That was the fuel that had driven him to train day and night.

"Is that so? Well then, let's see how much you've improved."

Hisoka tilted his head, intrigued, standing completely still as he waited to be impressed.

That same attitude—utterly disregarding him, as if he weren't even a threat.

Fury twisted Houshi's expression as he unsheathed his weapons. "Behold! The ultimate technique I've mastered through a year of relentless training—Infinite Four-Blade Style!"

Crrrunch.

Cyr took a bite of the biscuit he'd swiped from Lippo.

And suddenly, he remembered.

That unlucky guy—the one whose head he had once stepped on.

"A year ago, wasn't this guy using a dual-blade style? Now he's up to four…"

He shook his head. "Don't tell me he thinks more blades automatically make him stronger."

His face practically screamed, This guy's hopeless.

A true master could break through a thousand techniques with just one blade.

The flashier the moves, the weaker they usually were.

Unless someone had the talent, the memory, and the sheer processing power to learn countless techniques while maintaining mastery—

More variety just meant less proficiency.

"He's lost his way," Lippo commented. "Blinded by vengeance. He's too far gone now. Nothing will get through to him."

A full year had passed, and yet—

"You've become even more boring."

Hisoka casually snatched one of Houshi's blades, twirling it in his fingers.

And in the next instant—

He flawlessly replicated the Infinite Four-Blade Style that Houshi had spent a year perfecting.

"Looks like not all fruit gets sweeter with time."

"There are also those that rot, just like you," Hisoka remarked, utterly disinterested.

As Houshi's face twisted in shock and devastation, Hisoka ended his life.

It was precisely because of these rotten fruits that the ones growing sweeter and more exquisite stood out as truly precious.

"Hmm~ hmm~ hmm~"

The red-haired man licked his lips with his tongue, a smirk curling at the edges, and continued forward.

Cyr took a sip of his soda.

"Hisoka will definitely be the first to clear this stage," he stated calmly.

"The strength gap between those two and the rest of the candidates is just too big. They could easily be examiners themselves," Lippo said, pointing at the screen displaying the red-haired man, then at the one showing the nail-covered guy.

That was why things had turned out this way—

Hisoka breezed through the stage, securing first place.

The nail-covered guy followed as the second.

And the bald ninja took third.

"Have you decided on the next stage's test?" Lippo casually asked the boy beside him.

The examiner for the fourth phase—

The youngest one-star bounty hunter in the Hunter Association.

The infamous Bounty Demon who had made a name for himself over the past year.

"Hmm… I guess so," Cyr blinked lazily, his tone perfunctory.

From what little he could recall of the original story, there was supposed to be a phase where contestants stole each other's number badges.

Since no examiner had used that format yet—

He might as well go with it.

Why bother coming up with something new?

"Just keep an eye on the candidates' attitudes," Lippo advised.

After all, Cyr looked too young. Some of the examinees might not take him seriously.

He had no idea what had already transpired in the earlier stages.

If he had, he wouldn't have given that warning.

°°°

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