Chapter 6: Prisoners X Potential
"Welcome Examinees, my name is Lippo, the Examiner for the Third Phase of the Hunter Exam," Lippo's slimy voice erupted in the room. "For this Exam, the Hunter Committee has hired my prisoners to help evaluate and test your skill as potential Hunters. Meet the Gourmet Brothers, they are currently serving nine consecutive life sentences for their horrific dietary habits."
"Enough with the chit chat!" The taller one screamed as excessive drool spat from his foaming mouth. "Let me carve them up!"
Lippo ignored their demands and continued, "In this phase, the rules will be done by fighting as duos. It will be decided amongst the four of you how a victor is crowned. Good luck."
"Death!" The Gourmet Brothers shouted simultaneously.
'Is death the only solution? I can't think of anything to gain from their lives' Sinbad pondered. He nudged Yama. "Have you killed anyone before?"
"Yeah, it's no big deal," Yama answered truthfully. She twirled the sleek metal spear. "You?"
Sinbad nodded. "Okay, we accept."
The metal gate that separated the room into two halves, divided down the middle and retreated into the walls. Now with the gate gone, Sinbad and Yama shared the same space with the Gourmet Brothers. As soon as the gate opened, the Gourmet Brothers rushed through.
At the same time, Yama gripped her spear and stomped forward, flexing her muscles and then threw the spear at blinding speeds. Even Sinbad had a difficult time tracking the spear as it pierced the chest of the smaller brother and tore through the opposite side. The spear penetrated the brick wall and remained stuck.
The small bald Gourmet Brother reached his free hand at the gaping hole in his chest, noticing his missing heart. The taller brother screamed in horror as the bald man crashed face first into the ground.
"You handle the other one," said Yama, casually.
'Pretty and strong,' Sinbad thought.
The taller brother's attention snapped onto Sinbad, tried to run away but he was still chained to his brother.
Sinbad and Yama walked toward the frightful man. Sinbad unsheathed his blade and walked in front of Yama. The prisoner fell to knees and forfeited his life to Sinbad.
Without hesitation or remorse, Sinbad cut the man's head off.
A section of the wall behind the dead Gourmet Brothers crumpled in the size of a door. The two awkwardly walked to the opening and found more descending stairs. This time there wasn't much space, if they outstretched their arms they would feel the walls around them. It was a cramped tunnel.
After Yama retrieved her spear, Sinbad took the lead and they awkwardly began walking down the stairs.
"I want to be a Sea Beast Hunter," Yama said, using the end of her spear to help balance herself. "I come from a family of Beast Hunters but I want to hunt a specific sea creature."
"That sounds fun," Sinbad replied. "Which sea creature?"
"Sirens."
"Are they difficult to Hunt?" Sinbad inquired.
"Yes, they're singing can create illusions and manipulate the emotions of anybody who listens to their hypnotizing voices," Yama answered. "So, I need a Hunter License to join or start a team to hunt them down."
The tunnel of descending stairs ended as they stepped down onto a narrow hallway. After ten steps, just like the beginning, the hallway split into right or left.
"What is your intuition saying?" Yama teased.
Sinbad scratched the back of his head. "It's saying it doesn't matter which way. You pick."
"Okay, let's go right."
The two turned right and continued down the hallway till it ended, forcing them to turn left. They continued down the subsequent hallway. Their environment changed into a bigger space and the floor beneath them ended. The only walkable space in front of them was platforms that could only fit one of them and below that was an endless pit.
Once again, Sinbad knelt to allow Yama to climb onto his back. He carried her in the same position and then Sinbad leapt onto the first platform directly in front of them.
Yama sneakily shot a glance at Sinbad. "Why do you want to be a Hunter?"
"I want the freedom to explore the world," Sinbad replied, jumping onto the next platform next to him. His eyes scanned the tens of possible platforms to stand on till the other side, formulating his path and then started jumping from platform to platform. "A Hunters License removes those restrictions."
"Yeah yeah," Yama waved her hands. "But, what kind of Hunter?"
Sinbad jumped onto another platform, currently standing almost halfway to the other side. "Any kind of Hunter, to go to places most people are afraid of going to or eating really good food. That Dream Egg was–"
"It was to die for!" Yama interrupted.
"Right," Sinbad agreed, jumping onto the platform diagonal from him. But as soon as he put weight on the platform, it rumbled and then fell. Calmly, Sinbad bent his knees and jumped onto the platform closest to him.
As soon as his feet touched the smooth glasslike platform, he leapt from platform to platform in a straight line. Every platform he touched shook and then fell till he reached the opposite side. Sinbad laughed while Yama screamed in distress the whole way there.
Sinbad helped Yama onto the ground with a joyous smile. "Calm down, I had everything under control."
"It's still terrifying," Yama snapped and then she smiled, accepting Sinbad's helping hand to get her standing.
"Shall we continue or do you need a minute?" Sinbad teased.
Yama yanked on her right wrist, pulling on Sinbad's arm. "Let's go."
Sinbad yelped. "Hey, carrying you puts a lot of strain on my joints."
"Are you calling me heavy?" Yama asked in a serious tone, retrieving her silver staff.
Sinbad shook her head, not daring to say another word.
"Good," Yama smiled as she waved her hand for Sinbad to follow. "Shall we?"
They walked straight along the only available pathway which led into a makeshift building, red burning candlesticks of green fire were lined on the walls. By the far wall, a staircase wrapped upward. Hidden in the shadows, a man sat on the stairs.
The man rose from his seat and stepped out into the flickering green light. He had two large scars across both sides of his face, a black fur vest and gray shorts, and wielded two curved daggers.
"You're not who I'm looking for," said the man.
Sinbad clapped, happily. "Good! We are only looking for the exit. So, if you don't mind, we will just go on ahead."
"I can't let you do that!" The man replied as he rapidly threw both daggers at them, in the air they spun like spinning saws. To avoid collision and confusion, Sinbad moved in Yama's direction and they dodged the spinning projectiles. The man pulled out another set of daggers of the same design and threw those at Sinbad and Yama.
They continued to move left and Sinbad tracked the first set of spinning daggers which miraculously returned back into the man's hands. As the man did that, Sinbad sensed something as he smiled.
'This is Nen! He is controlling the daggers with his own Aura!' He thought as the two approaching daggers deviated and flew parallel to each other, one at the height of their torso and the other flew toward their knee caps. Still getting accustomed to using his own Nen, Sinbad unleashed a large amount of his own while unsheathing his sword, coating it in his aura. Unbeknownst to him, using an advanced technique as it were ordinary to will your weapon to be stronger.
He cut the chain of the handcuffs and swiftly cut down the approaching daggers. His overflowing Nen turned golden but then quickly shrank to envelop around him and his blade, going from Ren to Ten.
Yama didn't know anything about Nen nor was her Aura Nodes open but she still felt a hot pressure against her skin like heated needles pressing against her.
However, the failed instructor who was seeking revenge against Hisoka felt indescribable fear. He understood it to be impossible for a teen to have so much Nen. The terror, confusion, and unfairness of someone with the same flesh and blood being born with such an advantage to other mortals, the man ceased his pursuit and froze.
Sinbad didn't hesitate to kick off the ground and cut the man's head off. Moving with serious intentions with Ten for the first time made it difficult for Sinbad to adjust his strength correctly, so he shot and crashed into the opposite wall.
Yama, who didn't have the ability to perceive the man, appeared as if he teleported to the opposite side of the room.
Knocking the dirt and debris off him, Sinbad sheathed his sword. "Let's climb the stairs, I sense the end is near."
Yama quickly followed and marched up the stairs next to Sinbad. "Why didn't you cut the handcuff from the beginning?"
Yes, Sinbad had the necessary strength to cut the chains even without using Nen from the beginning but ultimately decided against it. Since the moment Yama fell into his arms, Sinbad knew this woman had the potential to make a great Vessel for his HouseHold. Surviving and fighting together, Sinbad couldn't have come up with a better bonding experience for the two of them.
"I didn't trust you before and I thought it was a requirement for us to remain chained together," answered Sinbad, delivering a half truth.
"Before? So, you trust me now?" Yama asked, skeptically.
Sinbad stopped walking to look her in the eyes. "Yes, I do."
Yama gave him a gentle push and continued walking. "Don't forget we could be enemies in the upcoming phases."
Sinbad followed in her footsteps. "Yes, ma'am."
They reached the top of the winding stairs and what greeted them was a brick wall which quickly fell to the floor, opening up a path to step through. They walked into a round room which had a dozen other closed "doors" leading from different paths.
"First to pass the Third Phase, Sinbad, number eleven. Time elapsed, an hour and forty-two minutes." A voice rang overhead. "Second to pass the Third Phase, Yama, number 105. Time elapsed, an hour and forty-two minutes."
"Nice!" They both said simultaneously and high-fived each other.
Sinbad found the nearest wall and slumped against it.
Yama twirled with her spear and then slammed it down in front of her. "Oh I missed doing that. How old are you?"
"Fourteen," yawned Sinbad as he closed his eyes.
And just like that Yama's opinions and views of the man, no boy to be more accurate shattered. Her left eye twitched. "You're a child."
'Child? She looks between eighteen and twenty.' Sinbad thought as he opened one eye to look at her. "How old are you? Twenty-nine?"
Yama threatened him with the sharp spearhead. "Twenty-nine! I'm sixteen!"
"We are both children then," replied Sinbad, throwing up his hands.
"Whatever," Yama stormed to the opposite side of the circular room and sat on the floor.
After another two hours of waiting, the next person arrived. A tall slender but athletic build with facepaint entered the room and sat by Sinbad. He pulled out a deck of cards and began shuffling.
The hairs on Sinbad's body stood in anxiety of being in proximity of the clown-faced man. All he was doing was shuffling cards but he felt Hisoka's murderous intent suffocating him. He controlled himself to not show any visible reaction or disturbance so instead, he challenged the man.
"Hey, what's your name?" Sinbad asked the clown.
He continued breaking the deck into three parts and stacking them into different orders. His lips parted into a smile. "Hisoka, it's a pleasure to meet you."
"Sinbad and the pleasure is all mine," responded Sinbad.
"Oh my," Hisoka said in response to Sinbad's flattery. He finished shuffling the cards by threading two halves of the deck of cards in between each other with both of his thumbs. Hisoka held the shuffled deck in front of Sinbad. "Would you like to pick a card to decide your fortune?"
"I've already seen my inevitable fate," Sinbad said as he didn't hesitate to pick the top card. In the Kingdom of Magi, Sinbad was exposed to familiar games of leisure like playing cards, poker, chess, and his favorite Gungi. He was aware of suits and colors but didn't know their symbolic meaning.
"And what is that?" Hisoka replied.
Sinbad revealed his card. Red king of diamonds.
Hisoka's eyes widened in ecstasy and thought. 'I can't wait to fight and kill him. Sinbad, you truly are a diamond.'
"Shall we test mine?" Hisoka replied, following Sinbad's confidence and selected the top card. The ace of spades. "Wonderful."
"Is that the right outcome you were looking for?" Sinbad asked with interest.
"Absolutely," replied Hisoka with a wink. After retrieving Sinbad's king of diamond card back, he got up and walked to the other side of the circular room, forming a triangle with the other two applicants in the room.
Intensely, Hisoka stared at Sinbad as he called to the blue haired woman if she wanted to get her fortune told but she denied and cussed at him. He desperately needed to put space between the two because the time wasn't right for them to fight to the death and he needed to remind himself of patience. Sinbad had the potential to be his greatest challenge.
And Sinbad understood deeply that their fates would be intertwined down the line.
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A/N: Hello Readers! I hope you are enjoying the story so far!
I know you are excited to see Sinbad's Nen Ability but we will get there. Can anyone try and guess what it would be? Any huge Magi fans?!
Any predictions on the Hunter Exam? I can't wait for you guys to read fourth phase?!
And of course, we will get to the goat Gilgamesh.
Thanks for reading and I hope you continue to support the story! Leave and comments or questions you have and I will see if I can provide an answer! :)