Registering for a ring match at Heaven's Arena requires neither payment nor paperwork. One only needs to leave their name and indicate whether they have combat experience.
Kisho thought for a moment. Instead of using Noah's name, he wrote down his own on the registration form.
Although there were many people on the first floor, the queue moved just as quickly. Before long, Kisho received his number: 2496.
Under the guidance of the staff, he arrived at the massive arena on the first floor.
The arena on the first floor was frighteningly large. There were sixteen ten-meter-square rings, and fighters were battling on every single one of them.
"Blow him up!"
"Come on! Get up!"
"Damn it, damn it, damn it! My money!"
...
A sea of spectators surrounded the rings below. Cheers and curses intertwined, as if the noise could lift the entire dome off the building.
After staying there for only a few minutes, Kisho already felt his heart tense up to the point of twitching.
Sitting in the spectator area, his gaze fixed on the enormous ring while the blood in his entire body began to boil.
—Although it was true he had been forced to come here to fight underground matches, Kisho also understood that, at least for now, there truly was no battlefield more suitable for him than this place.
If he was going to fight, then he would win beautifully!
—For money, and also for the Hunter license! Yeah!
Just as he silently made this decision in his heart, a loud announcement echoed through the arena.
"Contestant number 2496, please proceed to ring B-4. Repeat, contestant number 2496, please proceed to ring B-4!"
Kisho took a deep breath and stood up.
His first match in the ring was about to begin.
...
One minute later, Kisho stood on the ring platform, staring at the opponent in front of him.
It was a man who looked to be in his thirties, with bandages wrapped around his arms.
He had no intention of speaking. Instead, he simply sized Kisho up with sharp eyes, showing no sign of underestimating him.
Even now, standing on the ring, Kisho still felt a faint sense of unreality.
A patient with ALS who had spent ten years lying in bed could actually stand in a ring and fight one day. Ha.
Kisho raised his hand and lightly patted his face, forcing his wandering mind to refocus.
Although his heart was still extremely nervous, excitement also surged through him.
"In the matches on the first floor, your level will be judged according to victory or defeat. Within three minutes, both contestants should do their best to defeat the opponent." The referee raised his hand high. "Ready—begin!"
The instant the referee gave the command, in Kisho's field of vision his opponent's figure rapidly closed the distance.
His speed wasn't fast. It was slow enough for Kisho to see clearly.
However, Kisho's body had grown accustomed to fighting with the amplification of Nen abilities. Without Nen, his movements felt slightly stiff, and he hadn't yet adapted to fighting without even being able to use the basic technique of "Ten."
Still, if he simply defended instead of taking the initiative to attack, there wouldn't be much of a problem.
Coincidentally, he also wanted to gauge this opponent's level.
The ring wasn't very large. By the time Kisho finished thinking briefly, his opponent had already reached him and thrown a punch—
Kisho didn't dodge, nor did he need to.
He slowly raised his hand and blocked the punch. Since he hadn't reserved much strength, the blow pushed him back half a step—fortunately, the opponent's power wasn't great either, and the place that was hit only felt slightly numb.
Kisho's eyes darkened.
If he still had "Ten" covering his body, that punch wouldn't even have made him feel pain.
On the contrary, his opponent's arm would probably have fractured instantly.
The strengthening effect Nen has on the body truly reaches a terrifying degree. Nen users and ordinary people could almost be considered two completely different species.
Kisho thought to himself.
Seeing the man land a blow while Kisho didn't counterattack, the audience immediately assumed Kisho had been suppressed. Cheers erupted above the ring.
"Keep going, keep going! One punch and smash that kid's skull!"
"Charge! Beat that kid until he cries!"
The man with bandaged arms adjusted his stance and breathing. Seizing the advantage, he chased after Kisho and attacked again.
Kisho intended to use this first match to adjust his somewhat stiff body. Thus, facing the storm-like barrage of attacks, he kept dodging the whole time, only raising his arms to block when he absolutely couldn't avoid a strike.
His opponent was clearly angered by Kisho's constant evasive style. With a low shout, he twisted his body and swung his left hand like a hammer toward Kisho.
After dodging, Kisho's pupils shrank—
Careless!
That man's left hand was only a feint. After the false move, his right fist shot straight toward Kisho's face—
"Bang—!"
With no way to avoid it, Kisho could only throw a punch to meet it head-on. After the loud impact, he saw the man in front of him clutching his arm and collapsing to the ground in pain.
Kisho froze. Only after everything happened did he slowly lower his head and look at his own fist.
Across from him, the man who had lost the ability to fight was carried away by medical staff summoned by the referee.
Kisho heard the medics whispering quietly.
"This hand is basically ruined..."
"Looks like a comminuted fracture. Unless there's an exceptionally good doctor..."
"Forget the hand. If his internal organs aren't damaged, that's already a good result!"
"But judging by this situation, it doesn't look optimistic..."
Kisho stood there stunned, silent.
That person—his opponent—was just an ordinary man.
Only now did he realize that this was merely a ring match. It wasn't a life-or-death battle.
All this time, the people he had faced were ruthless criminals with countless lives stained on their hands, or mafia fighters capable of using Nen.
When fighting people like them, Kisho had never felt any burden. To them, death was simply a part of everyday life. Fighting to the death was as ordinary as eating or sleeping.
But this person was just an ordinary man. Yet because of a single punch from him, that man's future might now be rewritten into a tragedy.
"Contestant 2496, you may advance to the 40th floor."
The referee wrote a few words on a slip of paper and handed it to Kisho. Seeing Kisho staring blankly, he called again.
"Contestant 2496? Contestant 2496!"
"Ah? Thank you..."
Kisho accepted the slip of paper, jumped down from the ring, and slowly walked toward the stairs.
Even without Nen abilities, he could now take the life of an ordinary person whenever he wished...
Kisho lowered his head and slowly walked forward along the corridor.
In his previous life, there were times he had thought that if he possessed the power to kill anyone he glared at, how wonderful that would be.
Then in the next second he would feel fortunate that he didn't actually have such an ability.
Otherwise, wouldn't it mean that every time he was in a bad mood, countless people would die?
The greater the power one possesses, the greater the responsibility they must bear. Otherwise, they must at least have enough strength to restrain or support their own mind.
Otherwise it would be like his current state—there was no joy in being able to casually control the fate of others, only a deep fear that "he was no longer himself."
He silently stood in front of the elevator. The attendant inside opened the door for him and began introducing information about Heaven's Arena.
But he didn't hear a single word she said.
For some reason, he suddenly remembered what Ging had told him half a year ago when they met on Whale Island.
"An uncontrolled Nen ability will only bring disaster."
Thinking of that, Kisho asked himself silently in his heart—
Would his Nen ability become a "disaster"?