Undoubtedly, the news of Allen's sudden change of plan to remain at Heavens Arena, Hisoka's unexpected reappearance, and their scheduled match two days later spread through the entire facility like a hurricane.
By the time the fight was half an hour from starting, the stands were packed. Not only were there countless fighters from the 200th floor, but also many Floor Masters who were currently plotting their conspiratorial ambush.
In their eyes, both Hisoka, who frequently vanished and reappeared, and Allen, who had risen rapidly in a short time, possessed exceptionally formidable strength, potentially exceeding the average power level of a Floor Master.
Therefore, whether it was to gather intelligence on an opponent's ability or to observe the habits and thought processes of both combatants during a match, this fight was considered must-see viewing.
Just as Allen was sitting quietly in the contestant lounge, waiting to be called, Illumi slipped silently past the two staff members outside and entered the room. He gently placed a slip of paper covered in names on the table.
"What is this?" Allen asked, sounding unsure.
"This is the list of Floor Masters confirmed to be involved in the ambush plan, so far," Illumi replied without hesitation.
"Oh, eighteen of them? Looks like I've really stirred up a hornet's nest," Allen said, scanning the list with a sarcastic smile on his face.
In his opinion, any Floor Master participating in this scheme was, in reality, a weakling lacking confidence in their own strength, at least psychologically.
The truly confident powerhouses would never sacrifice their arrogance and dignity to engage in such despicable, underhanded tactics.
"Do you need me to investigate their abilities for you? It's free. Since Hisoka has already paid," Illumi continued, his expression unchanged.
It must be said that as the eldest son of the Zoldyck family, he performed his assassin work with remarkable professionalism and dedication.
But Allen merely smiled and refused. "No need, thank you. This time, I don't plan to waste time stealing their abilities. Instead, I'll use a simple, swift, bloody, and brutal massacre to send a clear signal to everyone: here is the consequence of trying to play outside the rules with me."
"You plan to take on all eighteen of them simultaneously, alone?"
Illumi, in a rare break from his usual coldness, narrowed his eyes as if he were looking at a deranged lunatic.
"That's right. To be precise, it's me and my animal companion. Trust me, when it comes to fast killing, I might be better at it than your entire Zoldyck family combined."
With that, Allen casually tore the paper into shreds and tossed it into the wastebasket. He then turned and left the contestant lounge, striding quickly toward the arena.
Watching his receding figure, Illumi unconsciously narrowed his eyes and muttered to himself, "Better at it than our entire Zoldyck family combined? If that isn't bravado, then he must be hiding some unknown trump card. Is it that red dragon that can steal others' Nen abilities…?"
On the other side, Allen emerged from the long, dark contestant tunnel and once again stood upon the 200th floor fighting ring.
This time, however, he didn't listen to the fervent shouts of the audience and fans. Instead, he quickly utilized the Hunter ability, "Track Humanoids," locking onto several Floor Masters in the stands who were focusing on him, firmly imprinting their appearances in his mind.
All eighteen participants actually showed up, without a single one missing! Do they intend to use this opportunity to further observe my abilities?
Meanwhile, Hisoka slowly walked over from the opposite side of the ring, brimming with uncontrollable excitement. He grinned and spoke, "Finally… I stand before you once again. You know? Since our last separation, every time I close my eyes, the image of your final punch is in my mind. So powerful! So brutal! Like a dangerous beast that has been provoked!"
"Sorry, but I don't want to be on your mind all day, especially not in such a creepy way," Allen said, spreading his hands in mild exasperation.
To be honest, if he didn't know that the clown-dressed man before him was simply enjoying the thrill of intense combat, he would deliberately aim a severe blow at a certain sensitive area during the fight—a complete "fatal strike"—just to see if Hisoka would dare to speak so many "suggestive words" next time.
"Hee-hee-hee~ Don't be so heartless. You must know that the red thread of our destiny is now tightly interwoven. And after my failure last time, I've developed a new strategy just for you. As a side note, your ability that can freeze a person's lungs, it must have a distance limit and require a certain amount of time to activate, right?" Hisoka probed, a deep meaning in his tone.
"Hmm, you guessed correctly. The extreme control range for that ability is the maximum radius of my En," Allen replied candidly, giving a positive answer without any prevarication.
However, he did not tell Hisoka that his En had now reached a radius of two hundred and sixty meters.
This meant that if he stood in the center of a small stadium, he could envelop almost the entire venue, including the surrounding audience seating.
If he were to reduce the precision of the detection and disregard the speed of Aura consumption, he could, in principle, expand it by another factor of two.
"I see! In other words, as long as my attack frequency is fast and fierce enough, you won't be able to activate that ability."
With that, Hisoka immediately crouched into a battle stance, and the Aura around his body instantly erupted.
The referee, seeing this, quickly shouted to announce the start of the match.
The moment the final word left his mouth, Allen instantly enveloped his entire body in Ken, rapidly converting his Emission-type Nen into a terrifying propulsive force, and shot forward at supersonic speed.
Boom!
Following a huge roar, his entire body tore through a white shockwave. He wound up his fist, preparing to deliver a massive surprise to his opponent.
But just as the strike was about to land, Hisoka immediately activated Bungee Gum, using its stickiness and elasticity to instantly and perfectly evade the blow.
But that wasn't the end of it!
As he flew through the air, he suddenly activated Bungee Gum on his feet, anchoring the ends to the other side of the ring. He then used the elasticity generated by the stretching and retraction as extra acceleration, laughing maniacally as he launched the first punch of the match.
Thud!
Allen took the hit squarely, using Kenand Ryu. His legs ploughed two deep furrows into the ring floor as he spoke with a look of surprise, "Using stickiness to change your point of force in mid-air, and using elasticity to increase your movement speed, flexibility, and attack power. You've truly given me quite the surprise."
"Hahahaha! Well, do you like it?"
Hisoka laughed as he continuously traversed the arena, utilizing his ability to its absolute peak.
Sometimes he would even stick several strands of Bungee Gum onto the surface of his arms and fists, significantly enhancing his charge-up by using the pull-back as a form of powerful rebound, making his attacks even more menacing.
Simultaneously, the angles and motions of his attacks became extremely deceptive, completely devoid of any discernible pattern, capable of changing in the very next second.
If his previous fighting style was that of a Magician who achieved his goals by deceiving his opponents, he was now like a highly skilled Dancer who, using the two mediums of stickiness and elasticity, continually performed all sorts of highly difficult and visually stunning battle dances.
There was no doubt that this was a true genius, a madman born for combat.