As Conrad turned to leave the arena floor, the noise of footsteps multiplied behind him.
Staff from Heaven's Arena rushed in, stretchers and medical equipment in hand, surrounding Anisa as they began tending to her wounds.
Propped slightly on one elbow while a medic examined the damage to her back,
Anisa watched Conrad's figure.
Before he could step beyond the line to leave the arena, she spoke.
"Why, were you not intending to kill while fighting?"
Conrad stopped.
For a brief moment, the arena noise seemed to fade.
He turned his head just enough to look back at her.
What he felt surprised even himself.
Sadness.
Not because she was injured; this world was full of wounded people, and her injuries would heal.
No, what saddened him was her question.
Her assumption was that killing intent was the default, that a fight only held meaning if death hovered over it.
As Conrad continued to live in the world of Hunter x Hunter, he began to notice something profound.
On Earth, violence was distant for most people.
Here, it was ordinary even for most of the people.
People looked human, spoke human languages, and laughed and dreamed like humans, but the world itself was harsher.
Everyday life carried the constant presence of death.
Killing to live, living while expecting to be killed.
"I need to change my mindset about the people here."
"Earth has its pretty fucked-up places, but this world and the mindset of these people are much harsher and more unforgiving than people from Earth."
Survival of the fittest wasn't a philosophy here; it was just the way the people lived.
Who knows, maybe it was the same on Earth, but Conrad did not experience such things back on Earth.
Yeah, it was true he was an orphan, but his situation was not rare, and despite being an orphan, other than some minor problems and bullying, he did not have problems, and when he became an adult, he lived like all other people.
He fought one or two times in high school and had some bill and monetary problems, but that was the extent of his problems.
Compared to people who lived in Hunter x Hunter, it seems like what he had gone through and lived was nothing, which also made him who he is and shaped his thought process and perspective on many other things in life.
Conrad turned fully toward her.
"I could have, but we're here, in this arena. I have no personal problem with you other than you being my opponent."
"There's no reason for me to attack with the intent to kill. And no reason for me to want you dead."
Anisa stared at him, confusion flashing across her face.
Before she could respond, Conrad continued, his tone firm but not cruel.
"Lady," he said, cutting her off.
"You're just my opponent. Nothing more."
He paused, then added,
"I'm not looking for anything more here right now. And I'm not looking for forced relationships either. Me being stronger than you isn't a reason for admiration."
The words landed harder than the blow that had ended the fight.
Anisa's eyes widened slightly.
Heat rushed to her face.
She clenched her jaw as Conrad turned away again, walking toward the exit without another glance.
As he disappeared down the corridor, Anisa lay back against the floor, the medics working around her.
"Tch…" she muttered, irritation burning in her chest.
"He's so full of himself…"
Yet even as she said it, the truth gnawed at her.
Before she had spoken, before he had answered, she had been about to ask something else.
His room number.
His floor.
Not out of love.
Curiosity was the most important reason for her wish to ask him more.
The kind born when someone completely dismantles your worldview without raising their voice.
She closed her eyes, letting out a slow breath as the pain settled in.
"Arrogant..."
And yet…
"He didn't look at me like prey," she thought. "Or like a woman."
He had looked at her like a problem already solved.
That realization hurt more than the injury.
Above the arena, Conrad walked through corridors of Heaven's Arena, hands in his pockets.
Conrad returned to his room not long after the battle.
He walked to the table and carefully placed the three orbs side by side.
"At the last second… the hole I opened on Anisa was White Death."
He replayed the moment in his mind with clarity.
He had not needed Aura Blast.
He had not needed Sensing Pulse either.
The battle had already been decided long before the referee announced it.
While Anisa had been focused on his movements, his footwork, his feints, and the pressure he applied at close range
Conrad had already acted.
One of the orbs had been sent high into the air, far beyond the immediate space of the arena.
A blind angle no ordinary fighter would account for in the middle of combat.
When the time came, Anisa stood still.
Two seconds.
That was all.
Two seconds were enough.
If it was a real battle, that would be the end of her, and that would be it.