Larry g his number—403. It was the same number Leorio had in the inal story. ‘Looks like the three main characters hadn’t arrived yet.’ “Thanks, Beans.” Larry gave him a small smile, casually waved, and walked forward at a rexed pace.

  Beans blinked in surprise. Only the president had ever called him that before. More importantly, out of over 400 examinees, Larry was the first and only person to thank him. Watg Larry walk away, Beans recalled somethiero had once said: "That kid is a pure one."

  On the surface, Larry appeared calm and collected, but his mind was stantly analyzing his surroundings. The underground exam venue was vast, at least five or six stories high. Rows of red light bulbs lihe walls, casting an eerie glow over the space. The air was heavy, a mix of poor ventition and the nervous tension of hundreds of didates.

  In Larry’s eyes, nearly every examinee looked on edge. A tense silence filled the room, so quiet that even a pin drop would echo. Ohing was certain—this wasn’t just a test. It was a battlefield. The diversity of didates was another remihat this was the world of Hunter x Hunter.

  Among the crowd, he spotted a woman wearing sungsses despite being in a dimly lit underground tunnel, a martial artist in his fifties still chasing his dream, and a strange-looking man with needles stig out of his head. The st one caught his attention—Illumi Zoldyck. His entire presence was uling. His face was void of emotion, and the eerie clig sounds from his movements made him seem like a wind-up doll straight out of a horror story.

  Larry decided not to pay him any more attention and instead found a quiet er to lean against the wall, casually his surroundings. He had no iion of getting involved with anyone just yet. But trouble had other pns. Diagonally across from him, a peculiar man dressed like a circus had been watg him. He had long, slicked-back red-e hair hair and strikingly sharp features. A star ainted on one cheek, a teardrop oher. His sleeveless white top was adorned with red hearts and bck club symbols, and a sash ed around his waist, emphasizing his slender figure.

  There was no mistaking him—Hisoka Morow. A madman who thrived on battle. If you got caught in his game, there were usually only two outes: either you died, or you somehow mao kill him first. He was known as "The Magi"—but among Hunter Exam applits, he had earned a far more fitting title: "The Rogue Examiner." He wasn’t here to pass the exam. He was here to hunt.

  Whenever he found a promising examinee, he would mark them as unripe—a fruit not yet ready for harvest. Instead of crushing them immediately, he would let them grow, watg them ripen into the kind of oppo he truly craved. But ohey reached their peak, ohey were at their stro, he would pluck them from the tree—a perfect kill, at their absolute best. And now, Hisoka’s gaze was locked onto Larry.

  A devious smile curled on his lips as he shuffled his deck of pying cards with dexterous fingers. Hisoka was bored. And Larry? To him, Larry was just another pything. A fresh fruit, filled with potential. A perfect distra.

  A sinister pink aura burst forth from Hisoka, crashing toward Larry like a tidal wave. In an instant, the space around him distorted. Pink and bck hues swirled, ing around him like a suffog cloud of chewing gum. The air thied, pressing down like an unsee, making it hard to breathe. The pressure was overwhelming. The killing i was suffog.

  Larry’s eyes darkened as he turoward the source. Across the room, Hisoka met his gaze, still wearing that uling, fox-like smirk. Hisoka thought he had already won. What he didn’t expect—was that this time, he had kicked a steel wall.

  "Heh, are you making fun of me?" Larry's lips curled into a faint smirk. In that instant, a massive, menag shadow loomed behind him—a beast-like presence so overwhelming that it felt suffog.

  Hisoka's golden eyes narrowed sharply. For a moment, the world around him shifted. The tuhe walls, the people—all disappeared. He found himself standing in an endless desert, surrounded by an o of golden sand.

  ROAR!!

  A t steel-pted beast materialized in front of him, its crimson eyes gleaming with raw savagery. A tyrannical aura radiated from its body, pressing down ohing in its viity. It was a king of the desert, an undisputed ruler—undeniable and absolute. Hisoka's usual -like smile faltered. His pupils first shrank, then dited as his body instinctively reacted to the crushing presence before him. His legs buckled. Without realizing it, he had already fallen to his knees. His body's natural defenses kicked in, and his aura fred wildly in an attempt to shield himself. But it was futile—his blood felt frozen, his energy sluggish, as if something was forcefully suppressing the very life inside him.

  The beast’s roar echoed in his soul, leaving an indelible mark. Every instin Hisoka's battle-hardened body screamed the same message:

  Run. Run. Run.

  But he couldn’t move. Hisoka barely mao squeeze out a word, his voice hoarse— "You…"

  Larry's cold, pierg gaze locked onto him. "Do you want to die?" The pressure from Tyranitar—Larry’s most fearsome beast—was suffog. Hisoka couldn't respond. Not because he didn’t want to. But because he physically couldn't.

  A few tense moments passed before Larry finally reined in his aura, signaling Tyranitar to withdraw its killing i. As soon as the oppressive force vanished, Hisoka gasped desperately for air, his chest heaving as if he'd just surfaced from drowning. Nobody around him uood what had just happened. Except for one person. Illumi, who had been casually tilting his head side to side with quiet 'click-click' sounds, paused for a moment. He cast a single g Hisoka—who was still trembling—and seemed to piece together what had just unfolded.

  Hisoka, now somewhat recovered, looked up at Larry. For the first time in a long while, fear flickered in his eyes. Without a word, he stood and turned autting distaween himself and Larry. He had no iion of lingering any longer.

  While Hisoka loved a good fight, he wasn’t reckless. He assessed oppos carefully, grading them in his own way. And just now, Larry had pletely shattered Hisoka’s expectations. That wasn’t a battle. It wasn’t even a fight. It was one-sided dominanething Hisoka despised, whether he was the one overwhelming his oppo or the one being overwhelmed.

  At his current level, he had no ce of winning against Larry. So he left. But as he walked away, a strahrill lingered beh his shaken expression. His pale face, still rec from the shock, was now slightly flushed. His pulse quied—not from fear this time, but from something else entirely. Anticipatioement. Hisoka’s body trembled again. Not out of terror, but out of eagerness. No matter how far ahead Larry was right now, Hisoka would catch up one day. He would train, he would grow, and one day, he would fight Larry properly. That thought alo a rush through his veins.