Shun and the four kids went to the nearby forest to train.
"So… how do I get my unique ability?" Shun asked Bisca without waiting.
"Before that, what's your nen type?"
"Huh?" Shun looked at her cluelessly, making Bisca speechless.
'This guy… how did he even find out about Zetsu and Gyo.'
Bisca sighed and prepared a glass of water with a leaf floating in it.
Shun used his Hatsu and placed his hands on the sides of the glass. Now that Bisca had explained it, he was no longer confused about what he was using.
Hiss-!
"!"
As soon as Shun's Hatsu activated, the water in the glass cup… evaporated, while the leaf floating on top dried up and lost its life, as if its life force had been sucked out of it.
"…What did it mean again?" Though Shun asked, he was familiar with the sight in front of him.
'It's similar to the vampire fruit's ability…'
"Any result other than the documented five means you're a specialist."
"I see…"
Shun had initially thought of himself as having lower potential than the royal guards who were born with nen. But even he was surprised by his mastery over Zetsu. After pondering for a while, he came to a conclusion.
'It's the life force of the immortal demons!' Shun had recently fought… or more like bullied, two immortal demon clan members. One of them was even a demon king.
'Nen is an ability that uses aura, aka the life force. I now have the life force of immortal demons, meaning… I probably have nearly immortal life force. Much like the infinite magic power of the Fairy Heart.'
'It's just a theory but it's more plausible than any other theory I could come up with.'
'…The butterfly effect, huh? At first I just stole the Historia magic from Neinhart in Alvarez because I thought it was interesting magic. That magic made me want to create a replica of the rumored strongest swordsman, Ryuma. There was a rumor that the five elders fought him in the past and got their scars, so to meet them normally I used the marriage with Hancock to invite them to see them in person. At that marriage, Tesoro gave me the vampire fruit as a wedding gift. Using that fruit's ability, I had stored the two immortal demons' life force without giving it to anyone.'
While Shun was pondering, Aisha was getting her nen awakened by Bisca.
The method she used on Aisha was the same one used on Gon and Killua, just tapping her on the back lightly and awakening her aura nodes.
'In my eyes, Aisha probably has same potential like Gon and Killua. Maybe just a bit lower.' Shun thought as he watched Aisha calming down her nen and enveloping her body.
Normally a specialist nen user would attract a lot of attention but… everyone here had already expected it, so they just continued with their training.
'What a tough crowd.' Shun thought and tried to come up with some unique nen ability of his own, but he still had no clue.
'I could probably go with creating an ability that helps me teleport directly next to the people I want to find. An ability that creates a door maybe? But…' Shun was troubled as the moment he found out his nen talent, he started to get greedy.
'If I want to find people… I can just ask Killua to bring Nanika.'
Shun concluded and was trying to create a new ability with Hatsu.
Bisca bit her nails as she observed Shun diligently training.
'…This terrifying guy absorbs everything like a sponge.'
Shun had never trained for more than three days in a row ever since he obtained the ability to steal. So he was enjoying the rare moment of learning the complicated ability called nen.
Soon Aisha attempted the water divination and… as Shun had always imagined.
"The leaf is moving?" Aisha muttered.
She was a manipulator.
——
"What do you guys want your abilities to be?" Shun asked as he was starting to get bored after spending an entire hour training with the four brats. One was an imposter but no need to mention that.
"I'm still not sure…" Gon muttered, and Killua was the same.
"Just choose what you like doing, for example. Killua is immune to poison, so he should try to do something using that advantage." Shun started giving lectures just one hour into his official nen training.
"!"
'…Electricity!'
But his words made Killua come up with a great idea.
"As for Gon, just focus all your aura into your punch."
"…"
Bisca watched silently with veins popping up on her forehead as the rookie was trying to take her job.
"What about you? Do you have any clue?" Bisca asked.
"Not yet but… I'll just practice the basics and then come up with an ability if there is a necessary situation."
——
Three days later, in the Heavens Arena 200th floor.
"Hey! The officials, the referee! Call the cops, or the hunter association! Netero! Do something, it's the third time!"
"That bastard is rigging the matches!"
"Yeah, how can it be a coincidence that three in a row he gets default victories?!" The spectators who paid for the tickets were furious.
"We came to see the flawless victory rookie who never once got damaged until now."
"Haha. But in that sense, he is still undamaged!"
"Ah-! You're right!"
The crowd was going crazy, but Shun ignored them as he already got three out of ten victories.
Once he left the arena and reunited with the four dwarves…
"Thanks for your hard work." Killua said with a smirk.
"Thanks. Now I need just seven more." Shun thanked him shamelessly.
"…"
After walking together to their training ground, which was just the nearby hotel room, Shun asked,
"You guys want to fight?"
"Eh?" X3
"I want to be a floor master as soon as possible." Shun shrugged his shoulders.
After getting Gon and Killua to agree to give him default victories, Shun turned to Bisca and Aisha.
"Can you two sign up and get to the 200th floor and give me victories?"
"…"
'This guy… is he planning to scam his way to floor master?' Bisca was starting to understand Shun's character.
"There is also Zushi… I have to meet him soon."
"…"
"If only Kurapika and Leorio were here." Shun sighed while the group silently heard his shameless words.
"Nevermind, Leorio wouldn't be able to get to the 200th floor." Shun laughed.
"Sorry but I can't do that." Suddenly Bisca ruined his flawless plan with her cruel words.
"I have already fought here before, I got disqualified for missing the 90 day rule."
"…"
Shun had forgotten that this little girl had lived his whole life twice.
While Shun was a bit disappointed, a voice surprised the group.
"…Then I'll take that invitation instead."
"!"
"H-Hisoka?!" Gon and Killua seemed to have some traumatic history with the guy.
"You will?" Shun asked. He had always ignored the guy looking at him before during the Hunter Exam, but now he actually had something to gain.
"Of course~ When should we do it?" Hisoka asked as he started playing with his cards.
"Tomorrow."
"Sure~"
Suddenly the group's plan changed as they walked back to the 200th floor receptionist to fill out the form to get their match tomorrow. But to their disappointment,
"Sorry but you will have to wait for at least three days in order to set up this fight." The girl behind the counter explained.
The reason was that Hisoka was actually popular compared to the three crippled people that Shun fought. They wanted to use the time to sell the tickets and fill the stadium to the full.
"Okay. Then in three days."
"Mm~" Hisoka nodded and then filled out the form.
"See you again~" Hisoka left alone in a good mood.
"You're going to fight Hisoka?" Gon and Killua couldn't help but feel excited by this matchup, as both were untouchable monsters in their eyes.
Shun poured cold water on their excitement as he still didn't forget about his plan.
"There's still two days before his match. You guys have no fame like the three crippled guys, so just pick the fight date for tomorrow and the day after that."
Since they were already here before the receptionist, the two filled out their forms, successfully getting matched with Shun.
——
Three more days passed.
"Is this the bastard that won by default five times in a row?!"
"Yeah, but this time his opponent is that Hisoka. He's finished!"
"But isn't Hisoka famous for missing the matches sometimes?"
"Yeah but someone already confirmed that he arrived in his waiting room."
"Oh?! Then we can finally see this scammer bastard get beaten up!"
"…"
Shun had become a celebrity in the Heavens Arena for the wrong reasons.
The four dwarves became five, with Zushi included, and his teacher Wing listened to the booing toward Shun awkwardly.
"He would've won all five matches anyway but…" Gon muttered with a small smile.
"However… It does look shady, having five default wins." Killua added.
"Who do you think will win?" Suddenly Gon asked with a serious face, making the group look at him as if he asked something dumb.
"…"
——
Meanwhile Hisoka and Shun just got notified by the staff to head to the arena.
Hisoka was initially planning to fight Kastro but the moment he 'coincidentally' heard Shun wanting to find people to fight, he ditched the talks about the fight with Kastro without hesitation.
Shun wouldn't know it, but he ended up saving Kastro's life.
Step. Step.
Hisoka and Shun entered the square shaped arena after the staff gave instructions on when to enter. There were a lot of flashy fire effects all over the arena.
There were flashlights and artificial smoke. Once the smoke dispersed, a figure with a flawless record in the Heavens Arena appeared.
"The first one to arrive is Shun!" The female announcer said with excitement. Though it was unprofessional, she was excited to see two handsome men fighting it out.
"Though he has five victories on this floor, this will be his first fight where his opponent didn't run from the match in fear!" The announcer was one of the minorities among the 65000 spectators that didn't dislike Shun.
But… it irked Gon and Killua, who gave Shun free wins.
"Be careful, scammer!"
"Yeah! Hisoka is no joke!"
"…"
Aisha wanted to blow the heads off of those crowd members.
"And next, with a fiery display!"
"Hisoka appears!" With the announcement, Hisoka showed up in his usual attire, which was just a clown cosplay.
Hisoka walked to the arena while stretching his body.
Shun on the other hand had the dignity of a man with a flawless record.
"His current record is 9 wins and three losses. If he wins… he can challenge a floor master!"
"Despite his record, he never loses if he shows up to the match!"
"Hisoka! Kill that scammer!"
"Yeah, show him the real world!"
For the first time in his matches, Hisoka had the crowd on his side.
As soon as both parties stepped into the ring, the match started.
"!"
Hisoka released his sinister aura, making the crowd gulp in nervousness.
Shun did the same as he looked at the ground, still wondering what ability to use. He could tell that with restrictions and limitations, he could pretty much create any ability. But he didn't want to settle on something useless.
Hisoka made the first move as he jumped at Shun with a strong kick that was comparable to Sanji's kicks. However to everyone's shock, Shun had no plan of dodging.
'Gyo.' Shun blocked the kick to his rib with Gyo.
Despite his surprise, Hisoka continued with fierce physical attacks, feints, punches and kicks at every part of Shun's body.
Shun made sure to put extra nen in his groin just in case, even after he confirmed with Observation Haki to know beforehand where to focus his Gyo.
Smash-!
After one loud punch at Shun's face, which ended up doing zero damage, Hisoka took a jump back. Even the playful Hisoka was not sure what to do.
Swoosh-!
Then he threw his cards but…
Clang-!
As if they met thick metal, his cards fell to the ground.
"…"
The crowd that was booing Shun just a moment ago turned dead silent.
Then Shun finally broke the silence.
"You… are quite skilled with your fighting style."
"Huh?" Hisoka asked, no longer smiling.
"But none of your attacks are notably strong."
"…"
"He isn't wrong, but those are more than enough to beat most hunters!" Bisca spoke, earning nods from the other dwarves.
"…Do you want to forfeit?" Shun asked with a smile.
"!"
Hisoka was remembering the emotion had long been forgotten, the feeling of being frustrated in a fight.
Hisoka intended to use his cards as a melee weapon this time.
However, now it was Shun's turn to attack.
"…Spiteful Fool." Shun chanted a weird word and mixed his nen, essentially using Hatsu, and finally created his unique nen ability.
"!!"
The nen users could see a figure forming next to Shun. It was… a skeleton wearing a long dark hooded robe.
"Is that… a grim reaper?!" Gon shouted in shock. Even he knew the lores about this peculiar character.
"No, it seems a bit different." Killua muttered as he observed the skeleton.
"But he finally created his own ability. Specialist type nen abilities are always a sight to see…" Bisca commented.
What Shun created as his own nen ability was a grim reaper, but a bit different. After all, this skeleton that was about the same height as him didn't carry its signature scythe from the lores. Instead, it carried a notebook and pen.
'Because I envisioned this ability, I can tell what it can do.' Shun thought before snitching to the Spiteful Fool.
"Listen. This guy just punched and kicked me a total of 36 times."
"…"
Everyone watched in confusion, wondering what Shun was talking about.
Among the 65,000 people gathered here to watch their fight, without a doubt Hisoka was the most intrigued and amused here.
Hisoka didn't try to interrupt and instead just watched the peculiar exchange between Shun and the grim reaper.
"36?! That. Is. Unforgivable." The grim reaper, aka Spiteful Fool, spoke like a robot from the previous generation.
"As. A. Payback. His. Soul. Must. Be. Punished!" Dark sinister nen came out of the Spiteful Fool as he noted down the number of attacks Shun endured, then…
"Cough-!" Hisoka coughed as steam came out of his nose and mouth.
"It's… cold?" Hisoka muttered in shock as he suddenly felt chills as if he was naked on a snowy mountain.
"Until. You. Forgive. Him. He. Will. No. Longer. Be. Able. To. Heal. Himself. By. Any. Means." The skeleton tore off the notebook page that it was using to note down Hisoka's sin and the punishment. He presented the page for Hisoka to see. On it was written…
[17 punches and 19 kicks equal: Curse Absolute Death. The criminal Will no longer be able to heal himself under any circumstances. Any injury the cursed target receives will worsen with time instead of getting healed. The cursed target will take ticking damage of 3% of his full health every 30 seconds until the target dies. The only way to get the curse undone is to ask for forgiveness from Shun.]
'Hmm, this does sound like what I envisioned but… the price for using this curse is a bit too much.' Shun felt his heart sink at this ridiculous price.
The price was… five years of Shun's life.
Meanwhile… Hisoka trembled, not in fear but from the cold. In the giant stadium, he alone shivered in the freezing air.
"Haa-!" Putting his arms together before his mouth, Hisoka tried to blow hot breath, but only cold breath came out.
"Kah-!"
As thirty seconds passed, Hisoka took damage. If Hisoka's total health was about 1000 HP, he was taking damage of 30 every thirty seconds. Though it didn't sound like much, the curse would last until the target died.
'This curse took five years of my life. I'd be pissed if it didn't make sure to kill the target.'
"…You want to forfeit?" Shun asked, as he didn't really have much hatred for the guy.
"…Not yet." But Hisoka smiled like the pervert he was.
"I see." Shun muttered and then punched the skeleton that was still next to him, confusing the spectators again. The poor skeleton was pushed a few steps back but didn't receive any damage. It just stared at Shun in confusion.
"…I was just testing if friendly fire was on."
"I. See." The skeleton nodded as if it understood.
'I was testing whether this creature would get damaged but… nen is really interesting.' Shun smiled, which caused goosebumps on the viewers.
Shun could send the skeleton away to wherever it came from, but if he wanted to cancel the curse he needed it to be present. So he let it remain. But Hisoka didn't seem to be giving up, instead he rushed at him for a fight despite trembling intensely.
Swoosh-!
Hisoka used his card like a knife and sliced at Shun, but Shun dodged his attack and stole his card instead. Then…
Swoosh-!
He slashed it down at Hisoka's right arm and cut it off.
"Kah-!" Hisoka coughed up blood as the cold became even more intense. His own blood splattering on his body worsened the cold by many times.
Despite Hisoka falling to the floor without moving, a peculiar attack flew toward Shun's eyes. It was two cards, each aiming at Shun's eyes.
'What a nasty attack.' Shun thought before catching the two cards, but they still insisted on connecting to his eyes.
'Did he glue his weird nen ability to my eyes?'
"Are you seeing this?" Shun snitched to the skeleton once more.
"Yes. That. Is. Unforgivable." The skeleton said and wrote in its notebook again. Then the pink nen connecting to Shun's eyes got destroyed without a trace.
'Six months of my life this time? I would never dare to use this greedy skeleton if I didn't have the vampire fruit…' Shun thought as Hisoka fell unconscious without moving, just when his health was dropping below five percent.
Shun spoke to the skeleton.
"I forgive him. Cancel the curse."
"Yes."
This time there wasn't a price. The skeleton was dispersed by Shun's order.
"T-The winner is Shun!!" The referee announced awkwardly, as he didn't even have an opportunity to give points to each party. There weren't any clashes in this fight, just Shun blocking and then knocking him out with a weird ability. To make it worse, regular people without nen couldn't even see the skeleton.
"Call an ambulance, but not for me." Shun said and left the arena.
Seeing Shun walk off under the confused spectators eyes…
"H-Hey! Isn't this guy crazy strong?!"
"Yeah! He's the next floor master for sure!"
"The five clowns that avoided fighting him were actually geniuses!!"
The crowd instantly switched their opinion on Shun as the booing turned into cheers.
Meanwhile Shun's attention was fixed on something else.
'…Isn't that Machi?' Shun found a pink haired woman staring at the unconscious Hisoka in shock, then turning to his side.
——
"Shun! Nice one!" As usual, Gon smiled widely as he gave Shun a thumbs up.
"Thanks." Shun met the group, then noticed Zushi and Wing.
"You two, can you get to the 200th floor and give me default wins?"
"…"
Shun was as direct and shameless as always. He only got one deal from Zushi, because Wing rejected the request.
Suddenly Killua asked,
"That skeleton can remove nen too? Isn't that too strong?"
"Yes but there is a price for using him."
"!"
"As expected… what's the price?" Bisca asked with a serious face.
"For that curse, it's five years of my life. As for removing the nen, six months."
"!!"
Despite not being close, even Wing and Zushi seemed to be concerned at this ridiculous price.
"You… are not allowed to use that skeleton again!" Bisca spoke with an angry face.
"…"
"Yeah, you are strong without any ability!" Gon seemed to be angry too.
"You could've won without using that skeleton. Why did you decide on such a costly method?" Killua asked.
Shun felt unusually warm by their concern.
"…I will just create a new ability later."
Only Aisha knew that Shun had an ability to steal life force, so she wasn't worried at all.
The group silently headed to the hotel room for a meeting about the fight. Shun broke the deep silence as he felt it was his responsibility.
"Bisky."
"Hmm?"
"Can you ask the chairman if I'm allowed to go to the dark continent?"
"!"
To Shun's shock, Bisky acted violently as she punched Shun on the head.
Bonk-!
"This brat! If you want to die that bad, I'll do it now."
"…"
Bisky even had tears forming in her eyes, as Shun was acting too careless about his own life.
Shun was speechless.
'…Didn't we meet only a week ago?'
——
Next day came. Shun informed the receptionist that he was ready to fight anytime, but everyone declined to fight him.
'Tsk. I have to wait for Zushi to rise from floor 120. Where do I find three others?' Shun wondered before heading to Hisoka's hospital room. Because Hisoka lost four times at floor 200, he lost everything. Even his private room, now he had to start from the beginning.
Creak-!
When Shun entered the room without notice, a pink haired woman was stitching Hisoka's hands that got cut off yesterday.
"!"
Once done with her job, the pink haired woman turned to look at Shun.
"Is he alive?" Shun asked as if he was familiar with her.
"…"
Machi didn't reply, so Hisoka did.
"I am. That skeleton… has a really bad taste~" Hisoka smiled as he still felt the cold when he closed his eyes.
"The curse becomes worse depending on the grudge between me and the target." Shun explained without hiding anything.
"I see…"
"But thanks to you, I found out that I could make up what the targets have done to me to increase or decrease the severity of the curse."
"…"
Suddenly Shun turned to Machi.
"Hey, you look quite strong."
"Huh?"
"I'll pay you, so can you get to the 200th floor and then give me a default win?"
"…"
Machi was speechless. She had done a small research on Shun after he won yesterday and found out that Shun had five default victories.
'So he won them like this?'
"I'll pay you 300 million. How about it?"
"…Deal."
Machi surprisingly accepted the offer.
"Do you have strong friends? I need 2 more wins."
"…No."
"Give me your bank details."
Creak-!
Once Shun left, Machi muttered,
"Monsters do exist, huh?"
Hisoka nodded.
"How magnificent~"
——
Just like that, Shun went back and used Aisha's gambling money to pay Machi.
To Shun's shock, she reached the 200th floor in just two days, as if she was in a hurry for something. Then she gave Shun a default win and left without a word.
Next day, Shun got a win from Zushi.
"Now, only two left." Shun muttered and looked at Wing and Bisky, making the two feel somewhat guilty.
"It's 11th of August today. Only twenty days left." Killua reminded Shun of the date when they had to reunite.
"Is Kurapika busy?" Shun wanted to call him over. If he helped him, Shun wouldn't mind helping him kill the spiders.
"…Yeah, he said he is working under a family called Nostrade as a bodyguard." Gon informed.
"Leorio… nevermind, even if he agrees to come, he'd be stuck at floor 100."
"…"
Shun was badmouthing his friends to his friends.
Seeing his frustration and his teacher Bisky feeling a bit guilty about being banned from Heavens Arena, Wing stepped up.
"…I'll do it."
"Really? Then I'll pay you."
"Ah, don't worry about money." Wing said, expecting Shun to insist despite really having no intention to get money from him. But…
"Really? Thanks."
"…"
"Now only one win."
Despite default victories counting on this floor, beating the same person more than once only counted as one victory.
After deep consideration, Shun came to a solution.
"Bisky, can you call the chairman to send a hunter?"
"…"
——
A week later, Shun had completed the challenge of ten victories on the 200th floor. He was now eligible to challenge a floor master.
The hunter that Netero sent was Menchi, the gourmet hunter. She smoothly went up to the 200th floor and gave a default win to Shun after Shun gave her some SHFC.
Out of the ten victories, Shun had only fought Hisoka. The other nine were flawless victories but no one dared to call him a scammer.
With subtle hints from Shun, Gon and Killua had achieved their future strengths much earlier.
On the other hand, Aisha was silent lately as if she was planning something sinister.
Poor Zushi was forced to get to the 200th floor by Shun despite deciding to rise slowly initially. Now he had already lost twice to other people. Including the loss to Shun, he already lost three times. One more loss and he would have to start from zero again.
As for Wing, he didn't fight ever again after giving the default win to Shun.
——
"But… floor masters, huh? How strong are they?" Gon asked as they were heading towards the 200th floor receptionist to ask how to challenge the floor masters.
"Well, the battle maniac Hisoka didn't bother challenging them, so they must be frauds." Killua spoke facts, and Shun agreed with his words.
"Some were pretty strong but some are not so much." Bisky spoke mysteriously, hinting at her old age.
"I see. Then I'll just challenge whoever's available."
When the group arrived at the receptionist, Shun was shocked to find out who the floor masters were…
'Chrollo Lucilfer?! Silver Zoldyck?! Is Heavens Arena actually a much bigger stage than I was giving it credit for?'
"What's wrong?" The group noticed Shun's expression and came over to look at the names.
"Dad?!" Killua ended up in the same shock as Shun.
Most of the names they didn't recognize, but the ones they recognized were all big names.
"…Put me against anyone available." Shun told the receptionist.
"Yes!" She was relieved, because she was initially nervous that Shun might start asking for specific names such as Chrollo and Silver, which the group was looking at.
Swoosh-!
"!"
Suddenly Shun called the greedy skeleton.
"You… I told you not to use it ever again." Bisky released her nen too as if she was about to fight the skeleton.
"Calm down, asking questions is free." Shun said before adding, "Probably."
"…"
"How much do I have to pay to curse the people here?" Shun asked as he showed the skeleton the names.
"Depends. On. The. Target. Strength. And. The. Distance. From. You." The Spiteful Fool spoke like a robot as always.
"Chrollo. Lucilfer. Fifty. Years."
"Silver. Zoldyck. Fifty. Years."
"Velina. Ja. Twenty. Years."
"Okay, that's enough." Shun stopped the skeleton as he didn't care about the others.
"Depending. On. The. Sin. They. Committed. Against. You. The. Price. Can. Be. Waived."
"I see. Then how about Hitogami?"
"!"
Crash-!
The moment Shun asked about the shady guy, the Spiteful Fool's nen surged up as the aura even began to affect the terrain. The floor and the roof started shattering.
"Hey! What kind of freak is Hitogami?" Bisky asked in shock as the reaction from the greedy skeleton was much more intense this time.
After nearly half a minute, the skeleton's nen calmed down.
"Found. Him. Five. Hundred. Years."
"!!"
"…That's the guy I'm planning to hunt."
Shun said, as even he was surprised by this news.
'…Is this really this easy? The steep price is probably affected by the distance, probably going back to the Mushoku world would lower it considerably. Also putting his sins would give me some discounts.' Shun was already planning to send curses toward him, though he wouldn't be able to see him.
'I'll ask Rudeus to remove the mind protection artifact for one night and inform me about how the curse is affecting that guy.'
"Heh." Shun smirked, making the others nervous.
"!"
Bonk-!
Shun's plan was interrupted by a storm of attacks aimed at him by his allies.
——
It had been almost a week since Shun asked to be put against any available floor master, but no one was willing to fight against him.
"It's a normal reaction." Bisky commented.
"No sane person would fight against a crazy guy that curses their enemies."
"…"
"I agree." Killua was as rational as always, ever since the needle got removed.
"Even if your potential enemies had the confidence to kill you, nen strengthens after death…"
"Eh?" Gon and Killua were hearing it for the first time.
"Now imagine, even if they manage to beat you, the curse strengthened by your death will kill them without a doubt. Even if they didn't kill you, they think if you lose you will curse them after waking up."
"…"
Bisky's theory made a lot of sense.
"But not many of them even have the confidence in beating you."
"Haha, you really created a nice defensive ability."
"…"
Bisky laughed, making the group turn silent.
The group silently trained for another two hours before something broke the silence.
"Sono chi no sadame~" It was Shun's ringtone.
"…"
"Hello." Shun picked up the call.
[Ah, Mr. Shun. We found a floor master willing to fight you.]
"!"
The group was shocked but relieved, as somehow Shun's goal became the group's goal.
"Oh? Tell him I agree."
[Please wait, he said he will only fight under one condition.]
"Huh?"
[The condition is that Mr. Shun must sign a contract that he wouldn't use his curse on him. Before, during or after the fight, regardless of the result.]
"…"
"Well, that is a somewhat reasonable demand." Bisky nodded, with everyone else agreeing.
"Okay, I accept." Shun accepted and ended the call.
Thus the group began another trip to the receptionist, where Shun signed a contract and scheduled the fight in three days. As Shun's fame had risen, the Heavens Arena higher ups wanted to advertise and fill the whole stadium.
——
"Velina Ja?" Killua muttered as he looked at the poster, where Shun and his opponent stood on each side.
Shun's opponent was a man of 170cm, not very tall but not too short either. He had short hair and a rugged but clean face free of beard.
What caught their attention was the guy's clothing. He wore armor, specifically segmented plate armor and a helmet on top. Under his armor he wore a loose bright red tunic.
His eyes were narrowed and locked onto Shun's frame. Despite never meeting before, the poster gave the feeling of the guy staring at his opponents.
"No matter how he looks, as a floor master he can't be weak." Bisky reminded her group of students.
"Yeah, but also he can't be stronger than Hisoka." Gon spoke, but Killua refuted strongly,
"But this time Shun can't use the curse."
"You're right…"
——
Three days passed by fast.
The floor master arena was very different from the ones Shun fought before. It resembled an ancient colosseum stadium. An easy explanation would be that it was a smaller version of the Grand Magic Games arena.
"He is about to become a floor master, huh? I have to quickly win ten matches~" Hisoka still didn't learn his lesson as he spoke from the VIP stands.
"You never learn." From the seat next to him, Machi commented.
The two still had some time before their group's gathering.
Hisoka in fact was already at the 200th floor despite losing to Shun. He dropped to the start of the Heavens Arena but rose to the peak easily. He even had a fight planned with Gon in a few days.
Soon, with dramatic fire and smoke effects, the fighters entered one by one.
"Does that guy think he's a soldier from the previous generation?" Machi muttered as Velina Ja entered first.
He was a guy wearing armor and a helmet, while holding a javelin in his right hand and a stout shield in his left hand.
"Are those conjured weapons?"
"Probably. He looks decent~"
On the other hand, Shun appeared with a white t-shirt, short pants, and slippers.
But his fame was even higher than the floor master's, as the crowd that once hated him became his fans.
"Shun! Curse that bastard!"
"Yeah! Curse him with cancer this time!"
"No, STD!!"
"…"
Even Shun couldn't keep a straight face at these ridiculous chants.
When both parties entered the ring, the match officially started.
Without any dramatic speech, Velina Ja threw the javelin at Shun.
But Shun hadn't been training for nothing. He used Gyo on his chest, which was the target of the javelin, and blocked the attack with his own body.
The crowd went wilder with this exchange.
"We came to see this!!"
"Hurry up, now curse him!"
'Did I create some cultists with the Hisoka fight?' Shun was speechless.
"Ah-! Everyone, sorry to disappoint but this fight was organised with contracts that the fighter Shun wouldn't use his curse before, during or after the fight!" The female announcer declared, surprising the crowd.
The javelin that was blocked fell to the ground, but soon it disappeared and reappeared in Velina's hands.
'So it's a weapon created by nen…' Shun realized before wondering what new ability to create.
'I will create only two or three abilities at max. After all, creating too many abilities isn't good for the user, according to Bisky.'
Clang-!
Meanwhile Velina didn't wait. Since the two didn't know each other, there wasn't much talking in this fight. He threw the javelin again in the same motion, but this time Shun was pushed back a little as his skin even turned a bit red.
"Huh?"
Clang-!
Clang-!
Clang-!
On the fifth throw, Shun's chest even shed blood, despite being guarded with Gyo.
"So this is your ability." Shun muttered as he admitted it was a great ability.
"Yes. My javelin doubles its damage each time it makes contact with the same target."
The nen that enveloped his javelin this time was much stronger. It resembled as if Ko was applied to it, but it was just a regular throw from his side.
This time Shun decided to show the result of his training.
Shun shielded himself with Ko this time, which was a combination of Ten, Ren, Gyo and Zetsu.
Clang-!
Once again, the sound of metals colliding echoed in the arena.
"People underestimate the power of doubling." Velina spoke as the javelin materialized in his hand, now having double the strength it had in the previous throw.
"Suppose you had a thousand jenny in your pocket."
"Huh?"
"You only need ten doubles to reach a million." Velina declared before throwing his seventh javelin at Shun's chest.
There was no more clang- sound of metals colliding. Instead…
Drip-!
It made Shun bleed this time.
Once again the javelin reappeared in his hand.
The sinister nen releasing from the javelin shook the entire stadium as if there was an earthquake.
"Bastard! Fight back, stop messing around!!" Bisky and her students were about to have a stroke from frustration.
"Y-Yeah! Just curse him!"
"We'll tell no one!"
Shun sighed and this time met the javelin with a Ko punch instead of his chest.
Crash-!
After an intense clash, both javelin and Shun were safely separated before the javelin reappeared.
"This is the ninth throw, equalling five hundred thousand jenny. Do you dare to clash with it?" Velina muttered before throwing the javelin.
"Dodge!!" Bisky shouted from the crowd, as this current situation was ridiculous. Though Velina was stronger than they thought…
'If this bastard just dodges it, it would never get to this point!'
But Shun didn't dodge. He met it with a Ko punch again.
RIP-!
"!"
However this time, after clashing for only about a second, the javelin tore through Shun's fist and only stopped after nearly tearing off Shun's right arm.
"Aaghhh-!"
The crowd screamed in shock at the gory sight in front of them.
The javelin was pierced through Shun's arm until it reached his elbow.
While everyone was frustrated by his madness, Shun had finally decided on the nen ability to create.
'I guess it's about time.'
Shun smirked as he could already imagine the outcome.
Meanwhile the crowd finally realized the 'truth' behind Shun's actions.
"Wait!! Could it be?"
"N-No, it must be!!"
The spectators were seated, circling around the two fighters. Meaning there were thousands of people sitting behind Shun.
"He didn't dodge because he was shielding us?!"
"Hurry up! Get out of your seats!"
"Get away from his back, or I'll kill you!" Some viewers even started threatening others with a gun.
"…"
A crazy rumor started to circulate in the stadium.
The thousands of people that sat behind Shun evacuated.
——
Meanwhile on the ring.
"…Forfeit. This throw equals one million jenny." Velina declared, but Shun had no intention of forfeiting. Velina didn't suddenly turn into a saint that wanted to spare Shun's life, but he was just scared of the potential curse once Shun died.
"Then… die!" Velina threw the javelin, worth a million jenny, shaking the entire stadium. This time Shun didn't dodge either.
Right when the javelin was about to pierce through him…
Snap-!
The strong ones in the crowd heard a peculiar sound.
What followed soon after was a gory and ruthless sound.
RIP-!
The javelin pierced its target's chest, sending him flying into the now empty spectators' seats. If the people didn't believe the crazy rumor and evacuate, thousands would have died from the stray damage of the javelin worth a million jenny.
The attack didn't stop there. It broke through the wall until it went outside, which was the city.
"…"
"W-Without a doubt, with this the winner has been decided!!" The announcer finally came back to her senses.
"T-The winner is…" The announcer struggled with her words as she shouldn't be biased, but the fighter she was rooting for got defeated. At least she believed so…
"…I guess it's a decent ability. I can't create too complicated an ability, after all that greedy skeleton takes up too much storage in my memory." Shun muttered on the ring, on the place where Velina once stood.
"!!"
"W-W-What's happening?! The one who is remaining in the ring is… challenger Shun?!" The announcer couldn't believe her eyes.
"He has a new ability already…" Machi muttered as she was one of the strong ones that could see what happened.
"An ability to switch places with people, how fascinating~"
"There must be a few restrictions…" Machi muttered before realizing,
"The ones inside his En!"
"Correct~" Hisoka the pervert smiled with delight.
Meanwhile Shun already started to leave the stage without waiting for anything, but…
"W-Wait! There is an award ceremony after." The referee stopped Shun.
'Well, not like anyone bothers to attend it.'
The floor masters were strange people after all.
As expected Shun ignored them and walked away. The viewers couldn't force him to stay either because… Shun was injured and was bleeding.
"A new floor master has been born!!"
"Oohh-!!"
The announcer and crowd went crazy. The cheers were unprecedented, mostly because they were gamblers that went all in after Shun started taking damage. The true fanatics believed that Shun fought like that to increase the odds for his true fans.
If Shun knew what kind of crazy rumors circulated around his name, he would be scared.
——
"It's hundred million." Machi muttered as she connected Shun's hand that was about to fall off.
"Thanks." Shun met with Machi and Hisoka who were waiting for him outside and got treated.
'…I forgot that I can't use my own regeneration, since I was trying to pass as a regular guy in this world.' Shun sighed.
"Hisoka!" Soon enough Gon and the others came and called out in surprise.
"Yo!" Hisoka greeted Gon like he was some energetic shonen manga protagonist.
Meanwhile, Bisky came and tried to scold Shun for his careless fighting style but…
Slap-!
Shun slapped Bisky's hand away.
"!"
The atmosphere suddenly became serious. But…
"I'm a floor master now, treat me with respect." Shun smirked.
"…"
——
After getting treated, Shun and his group went to the receptionist and were led to Shun's floor, which was the 234th floor.
"Oh~ so this is what floor masters receive." Hisoka commented as he observed the luxurious penthouse which was the entire 234th floor.
The receptionist woman was explaining things around while other staff swiftly took away Velina's belongings in a box. Different staff cleaned the floor swiftly.
Winner takes it all.
That was the rule of Heavens Arena. Shun took everything Velina had while Velina, stabbed by his own javelin and now a corpse, ended up in a street outside. Looking through the window below, the group could see police and an ambulance taking away the corpse.
"A Massive, Ultra-Luxury Penthouse Suite.
The Floor Master receives a giant, private penthouse suite located on their designated floor. This room is the size of a mega-mansion.
It features top-tier luxury furniture, massive viewing windows overlooking the city, and private training facilities.
Best of all: The suite, along with all room service, fine dining, and living expenses inside the arena, is 100% free for life."
The receptionist explained while looking at a written script.
"That's very unprofessional of you~" Hisoka complained for reasons unknown.
"I'm sorry… but new floor masters appear very rarely. Maybe once a decade. And I'm new here…" The woman rubbed the back of her head as she made excuses.
"When is the battle tournament between floor masters?" Shun asked what he was curious about, but…
"It's held once every two years. From now… it's in 11 months and 7 days."
"I see…"
"From now we will practice on this floor." Shun declared.
'But… why are those two even here?' Shun wondered as he looked at Hisoka and Machi.
"…It's 100 million." Machi said with a straight face.
"Aisha."
"Yes!"
Aisha chatted Machi up and paid her. Before she was about to leave, Shun gave her a note.
"What is this?"
"My number and autograph."
"…"
Right when Machi was about to throw the paper away,
"Just call me if you need to curse someone. I'll give you a discount."
"!"
Though momentarily surprised, Machi nodded and pocketed it. Even she had to admit that the curse was dangerous yet useful.
Machi used the elevator and left.
Soon the staff were done with cleaning Velina's belongings and left with salutations. They were the kind of people that gambled on Shun today.
Once all outsiders left…
"So how much do we have?" Shun asked.
"We made 27 billion and 300 million." Aisha informed.
"We made around 9 billion." Killua informed. While he and Gon had a joint bank account, Shun and Aisha had one.
Lastly Bisky spoke.
"Hehe, I made about 13 billion."
Those degenerates were obviously worried about Shun, but half the reason they were about to have a stroke in the spectator seats was because they went all in on Shun winning the fight today.
——
Now that Shun's goal was completed, it was Gon's turn. His fight with Hisoka was in a few days. Once everyone fell asleep, Shun returned to the Mushoku world.
It was nighttime, and everyone was already sleeping.
Shun swiftly woke Orsted and Rudeus up.
The three gathered around a table at Rudeus's house.
"Did something happen?" Rudeus asked with a serious face.
"Yes. I have found a way to damage that shady guy."
"!!"
The two's faces turned serious.
Next second, Shun called the greedy skeleton.
"!"
"…What is this?" Orsted asked. Though the two couldn't see it, Orsted could feel that something sinister had appeared next to them.
"It's my new ability." Shun waved off the other questions and instead focused on cursing the bastard.
"Listen. This guy named Hitogami…" For the next five minutes, Shun snitched about all the messed up things Hitogami had done to him.
The Spiteful Fool's skeleton face turned serious. Though he had no face and Shun couldn't tell, he liked to think that way.
"That. Is. Unforgivable. Absolute. Death." The skeleton was about to use the same curse that ignores everything and kills the target with the chill of the underworld.
'Ho? Only hundred years?' Despite having enough life force from the two immortal demons, Shun loved the discount that he got from the distance being covered a bit and Hitogami's sins.
"Can we curse him with cancer and STD too?"
"…"
Orsted and Rudeus listened quietly to this crazy talk Shun was having with an entity they couldn't see.
'I got this idea from the crazy crowd earlier. Might as well use it.'
Shun paid a total of three hundred years from Moore's life force.
'If I added their life force to mine, this greedy guy might've started asking me for thousands of years of life.' Shun found a small loophole and sent the curse.
"All right, that's enough for today." Shun said and sent the skeleton away.
'…Today?!' Orsted and Rudeus couldn't believe what they were hearing.
"Uhm… did you curse Hitogami?" Rudeus asked. Though he couldn't see, he got the basic understanding of what they were gathered for.
"Yes. I called you because I have something I need you to do." Shun told Rudeus.
Next moment, Rudeus was stripped of his artifact that blocked mental type attacks. Which meant now if he slept, he'd probably meet Hitogami.
"All right, now go to sleep."
"…"
Though feeling awkward, Rudeus nodded and lay down on the ground of their house's kitchen. After all, their bedroom was occupied.
A minute passed… five minutes… half an hour.
"Sorry… but I can't sleep." Rudeus said with an awkward laugh.
'How am I supposed to sleep when two of the strongest people are watching me sleep?!'
"…Should I knock him out?" Orsted offered.
"Sounds good." Shun nodded.
"W-Wait—!" Before he could protest, Orsted knocked him out. Rudeus couldn't even tell where he was punched.
Then…
"!"
"Kah-!"
Only after ten seconds, Rudeus woke up with a strong movement as if he had a nightmare.
"What happened?" Shun asked with a giggle, as if he was a high school girl asking about her friends' love story.
"Hitogami is a faceless bastard but… It looked like his face was pale and he was in pain." Rudeus began his story.
"He said that Shun-san and Orsted-san are fooling everyone. And that the world is doomed if he dies. Then suddenly he screamed with pain. Then he tried to beat me up. I woke up after that…"
"Pfft—!" Shun couldn't hold back his laughter. Even Orsted had a small smile on his face.
"…"
——
[Heh.]
[Hahaha~]
[…]
"What's this noise?" Roxy woke up due to the noise from the kitchen and took a peek.
"!"
What she saw shocked her.
Three adult men were gathered at 3am in their kitchen, and they were giggling.