Majtani slunk back to his side of the terrace in disgrace.
Fight? Fight my ass!
He was just a con artist—how could he possibly beat that freakishly strong kid who looked human on the outside but was probably raised by chimpanzees!
Seeing Majtani return with his tail between his legs, one of the prisoners with his face covered showed obvious disdain.
"I told you long ago, your little tricks are completely useless."
Majtani snapped angrily, "Then you go! You fight that brat!"
The man froze, his gaze landing on Kisho. His brows furrowed slightly, and he backed down.
"That kid…"
Before he could finish, a man in his thirties walked out from the depths of the dark passageway. He wasn't particularly well-built.
He glanced indifferently at the prisoners beside him and, without saying a word, slowly stepped onto the central stone platform.
Majtani turned back. "Hey—"
"Let him go."
The first prisoner who had stepped out earlier stopped him from continuing.
"Out of all of us, he's probably the only one who can kill that kid."
Kisho looked at the man walking toward him.
His features weren't fierce, and with his unimposing build, he didn't seem that hard to deal with.
But the moment their eyes met, a deep chill rose from the bottom of the heart.
Kisho frowned slightly.
This man felt completely different from Majtani.
Johness the Dissector— a serial killer whose hands were stained with the blood of more than fifty people. His weapon of choice was a dagger, and he specialized in flaying as much of his victim's skin as possible before they died.
Even though he didn't have a dagger now, the extremely long, razor-sharp nails he kept were probably just as usable.
"So, what's the format?"
He looked at Kisho and asked calmly, not saying anything extra just because his opponent was a child.
Or perhaps, to him, the target's identity didn't matter. As long as he could experience the thrill of killing and torment, that was enough.
Kisho said, "Anything's fine. You decide."
Johness smiled. "Then the same rules as the last match."
"Until death."
Kisho nodded. "Sure."
Johness stared at Kisho. His shoulders trembled uncontrollably as he let out low, bloodthirsty chuckles.
"It's been so long… I haven't been this happy in a long time."
He slowly lifted his head. Then he charged straight at Kisho.
Kisho, however, stood where he was, hands in his pockets, completely motionless.
On the terrace, Tonpa's face was filled with terror.
He looked at Amos. "Hey! Did your friend get scared stupid? Why isn't he moving at all?!"
Amos didn't even lift his eyelids, nor did he bother responding.
Tonpa looked back at the stone platform.
In the next instant, his already small pupils shrank to pinpoints.
On the central stone platform, Johness hadn't managed to reach Kisho.
He stopped about one meter in front of him, as if blocked by an invisible wall, completely restrained in place.
He stood there blankly, eyes wide as he stared at Kisho, veins bulging as though they were about to burst.
One second. Two seconds…
Kisho tilted his head and smiled at him.
Right in front of him, Johness slowly collapsed.
Blood flowed from his eyes, nose, ears, and mouth. His grayish-white skin was dyed red by ruptured blood vessels.
"What—?!"
"How is that possible?!"
"That kid… he didn't even touch Johness!"
Shocked cries erupted from the three prisoners on the other side.
The last prisoner who hadn't stepped up swallowed hard as he looked at Kisho standing on the platform.
With a quiet gulp, he silently chose to forfeit.
A reduced sentence was great, but compared to that, his life was far more precious.
The other two saw his choice but said nothing.
"Stage cleared."
Above the terrace where Kisho and the others stood, the display screen showed a massive "4:1," and Lippo's voice came through the broadcast system:
"Congratulations to the four of you for passing this stage. Please proceed through the passage into the rest room and spend the thirty hours consumed during the first round."
With a rumble, a stone door opened in the wall. A passage extended from the central stone platform, connecting to the room beyond the stone door.
Kisho turned around and waved at Amos and the others walking toward him, smiling.
"I'm done. Pretty fast, right?"
C·L smiled. "Excellent."
He paused, revealing a gentle smile. "Your scene with Majtani was quite entertaining as well."
Amos: "…"
He rolled his eyes subtly and slung an arm over Kisho's shoulder.
"You… used that move to kill this guy, didn't you?"
"Yeah. Nen pressure."
Kisho glanced faintly at Johness's corpse before looking away.
"For scum like him, a death like that—shattered to pieces—is pretty fitting."
Meanwhile, Tonpa remained on the terrace, staring at Kisho with a fearful expression, not daring to come closer.
Who would've thought this kid was this terrifying? He didn't even need to touch someone to kill them!
He hadn't forgotten that he'd made them waste a full thirty hours. What if this kid suddenly decided to settle the score…
Large beads of cold sweat rolled down his forehead. Just as he was hesitating, he heard Kisho's cheerful voice.
"Mr. Tonpa, what's wrong?"
Kisho looked at him and smiled.
"If you don't come over, I'll have to come drag you myself!"
Tonpa: "…"
...
Inside the rest room, Kisho stretched comfortably. Like he was back in his own home, he walked over to the refrigerator without hesitation, opened it, and delightedly found his favorite cola inside.
He took one for himself, tossed another to Amos, then looked at the remaining two.
"There are drinks here. Want some?"
C·L walked over and sat down on the sofa.
"Is there beer?" he asked.
"I'll check— yep, there is~"
Kisho found a bottle and tossed it to him.
C·L raised a hand and caught it.
On the other side, Tonpa sat tightly pressed against the closed stone door, not daring to move even a little farther inside. He looked utterly pitiful.
"What's he imagining in his head?"
Kisho took a sip of cola and asked Amos.
"Who knows?"
Amos rummaged through the cabinet beneath the TV.
"Forget about him. I found something good—let's play a game!"
Kisho quickly walked over and plopped down beside Amos.
"Nice!"
He took the controller Amos handed him and said, "Tsk, I bet even after clearing this stage, we'll just be stuck waiting at the bottom of the tower. Since we're waiting either way, we might as well wait in this room."
Kisho grinned.
"Air conditioning, sofa, drinks, game console! Isn't this perfect?"
Amos clicked his tongue.
He raised his hand and lightly smacked Kisho on the head.
"If we don't have enough time left to pass because of this, I'm holding you responsible!"
Kisho: "Hehe~"
The TV screen lit up.
"Hurry, hurry! It's starting, it's starting!"
In the corner, Tonpa looked at this group of people who seemed completely out of sync with him and felt like crying without tears.
Today, once again, was a world where only Tonpa got hurt.
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