Killer in Hunter x Hunter

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***

Huxell.

Here we come to the crux of perhaps the most difficult assignment we've ever been asked to do. It may even be harder than Meteor City. It's supposed to be an exciting moment, but I don't care.

Right now, like a goddamn action film, me and the guys are outside the Association's headquarters. We're lined up in a row, and about fifty metres away from us, near the entrance to the skyscraper, are the hunters who accepted our challenge and came out to fight. Although they had no choice in any case. We silently watch and study them, choosing the moment to act, and they do the same.

Bloody hell, it's like an action film! At least as much pathos.

Eight. There are eight Zodiacs against us. If I understand correctly, they are: Rat, Dragon, Snake, Rabbit, Rooster, Sheep, Tiger, Horse. And that's not counting a few other ordinary hunters standing side by side with them.

The atmosphere is tense, though I doubt if any of us care in the slightest. We don't have a problem with that sort of thing. I don't give a damn about it, anyway... it was. At a certain point, rummaging through my pocket, I noticed that I was starting to run out of cigarettes. There's only two packs left, so I really hope the fight doesn't last long.

Finally, our opponents began to act up. One of them addressed us, and it was a big old man, who, as far as I understood, was the zodiac, namely the Dragon.

- You bunch of criminals who dare to go against the Association! Who the hell do you think you are?! - he spoke without fear and with pride in his voice. With his appearance and manner of speech he gave the impression of an old, strong and experienced warrior, for whom the honour of the Association is everything. At least it seemed so to me. - If you want to save your lives, then surrender right now.

Everyone was silent as they waited for the answer Alan was supposed to give, but he just kept silent. Leaning over a little I looked at his face and saw that it was expressing a smirk. It was a mocking smirk directed at every hunter standing in front of him. Even though I couldn't see his face completely, it was clear that in addition to the sneer, he was also expressing disgust. Zodiacs were disgusting to him.

- Are you deaf? - A slight irritation could be heard in Dragon's voice. - I told you to...

Before the old man could finish, John made a sudden movement with his hand and threw something at him. I could barely make out that it was one of the steel balls he'd shown us yesterday. It smashed into the old man with such a thud that he barely stood on his feet, and the first few floors of the building behind him had their windows shattered by the shockwave. After that, the ball went back towards John.

All the hunters were shocked by this, while Alan seemed to enjoy it. A smile appeared on his face, after which he burst into light laughter.

- Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, bravo John! That's what I call initiative! I'm sick of listening to this old man's nonsense too. It's time to take action.

This time Alan seems to be in the mood to go straight into battle, although he usually prefers to give his opponents a chance.

All the hunters got into their fighting stances and prepared to attack. I was about to take countermeasures when suddenly there were only two enemies left in front of me, and all the others disappeared, including my comrades.

...What? What just happened?

Just a second ago, I was standing with everyone else and preparing to start a fight, when suddenly there were only two enemies left and my comrades disappeared. What does that mean? Isn't this an illusion? Are they really...

No, I've realised! No one really disappeared. It's me, along with those two hunters, who've travelled to another place. That's right, I didn't realise my surroundings had changed. I'm in a completely different part of town now.

I wonder who did this? Someone from the enemy? Although... I don't really give a shit. It's better this way.

And so, I find myself in the middle of a rather wide and empty street, and a couple of dozen metres away from me stand two hunters. It's a girl, which is the rooster zodiac, and next to her stands a regular hunter. It's a tall and burly man that wears dark glasses and is also armed with a huge smoking pipe. Also a smoker, like me?

All right, let's see what they can do.

- And so, gentlemen, here we are, alone with you. I'm not going to beat around the bush, so I'll just say surrender.

The hunters looked at me in surprise.

- What?' the girl asked.

- What they heard. I suggest you surrender at once and then you will die quickly. I'm not a fan of torturing people.

In fact, I just don't want to fight. Not out of fear or anything like that. I just don't feel like it. And when I don't want to do something, I can't do it as efficiently as possible, because then I won't enjoy it.

The hunters didn't seem to want to heed my words and prepared to attack. That's a pity. I'll have to work my arse off and kill them after all.

I was about to attack first when I saw a pigeon flying towards me at a great speed. It was an ordinary pigeon, but its behaviour was abnormal, and in addition, the speed of flight was just frantic for an ordinary pigeon. It wasn't a problem to dodge it, which I did, turning the bird into a bloody mess with a single blow.

As I looked around, I noticed that there were a lot of pigeons, and some other birds. They were all standing on the roofs of nearby buildings and looking at one point - at me. This is definitely not normal. Someone is controlling them, and that someone is definitely this woman. She represents the rooster zodiac, and she dresses accordingly, so it's no wonder her ability is bird-related. She can control them, and maybe more.

The next thing I knew, a dozen more birds were swooping down on me. Their speed was almost comparable to bullets, which, combined with their number and the fact that they were attacking from different directions, could cause some problems.

I was able to dodge the first seven without any problems, but the last three still got me. One hit me in the shoulder, one in the back, and one in the leg. The strength of my body was enough to take it without any problems, but the pigeons just smashed their heads on impact and fell to the ground. But it didn't go without a trace for me. These things left shallow wounds where they collided with my body. Nothing serious, but considering how much they could do to me... I'd have to be careful.

At this time, I turned my attention back to my enemies and noticed that the man standing next to the girl had disappeared. Shit, I let my guard down!

After dodging a couple more birds, I turned around and saw that the hunter was already two metres away from me. He swung his huge pipe and was about to strike. Ha, useless, it's too slow for me! Even before his blow reached its target I struck back. Everything would have been fine, but the moment I did, the hunter dissipated into a pile of smoke.

What? Smoke? Damn, this was a setup!

Unfortunately, my realisation came too late, and as I was about to turn around, I felt a powerful kick to my legs, causing me to drop the cigarette from my mouth and collapse to the pavement.

Damn, that hurt!

But there was no time to be distracted by the pain. When I lifted my head a little, I saw the hunter, already apparently a real hunter, swing his pipe and strike at once. It was close, but I was able to dodge, and he ended up hitting the asphalt so that it turned into a pile of rocks within a couple of metres. If I hadn't been in time, my head would have burst like a watermelon. He's clearly not trying to hold back.

The hunter was about to strike again, but this time I was ahead of him, kicking him so hard that he flew back a few metres. But even after that, I couldn't breathe easy. Nearly a hundred birds took to the air from the nearest rooftops and began to dive downwards. Not good. Too damn bad. If I got hit by all that stuff, there was a good chance I'd turn into a sieve.

Damn, I'm so sick of this. I'm in no mood for a fight, but it looks like I'm gonna have to do it. I'm forced to use my ability.

The birds flew fast, but not enough to stop me. I took a lighter out of one pocket and a packet of cigarettes out of the other, then pulled one out and lit it. Now that's much better.

The smoke of a thousand cigarettes.

As soon as I took my first puff, a huge amount of dark, almost black smoke came out of the cigarette. In just a few moments it had grown to enough to protect me from the enemy's attack, forming like a large shield. All the birds that were attacking me flew through this shield, but as soon as they did, they immediately fell to the ground dead.

- Damn you! - the girl cursed softly. - What the hell is that?!

I only smirked in response.

She tried to send more of her birds again, but my defence was too good for her. All the birds sent out dropped dead as soon as they flew through the smoke.

Great, I have a defence against her, now I have to remember about the second hunter, who came at me from the side, but didn't get close enough. Ha, how naive. I sent a cloud of my smoke at him. He tried to run away from it, but was eventually caught up. The smoke immediately enveloped him, placing him in a sort of cocoon, which I pulled back after a couple of seconds. To my surprise there was no body inside. Instead, a small cloud of white smoke evaporated from there.

Ha, now I get it! Our powers are a bit similar. Using his pipe, he's able to create smoke puppets that can take on his appearance. But then where is the original?

I started looking around and noticed that I was already surrounded by a large number of these smoke puppets. They had all taken on the appearance of their master and were about to attack. You can't expect much from them, the main danger is the master, who is unknown where he is. He's looking for my weaknesses? Well, let him try.

The puppets attacked. There were about fifty of them, and they were attacking from all sides, but my shield was protecting me without any problems, and at the same time I was sending clouds of smoke into the attack. The dolls collided with my smoke, and even though they are made up of the same smoke, they couldn't do anything about it. When they collided, they just dissipated. Apparently my smoke is stronger.

One by one, the puppets disappeared, but the original never appeared. Maybe he's up to something. There were only a few puppets left, and meanwhile a new bunch of birds were sent to me. They were still bloody dark, blocking any view. But that's okay, I just need to put a shield in the right place.

There were only two puppets left, and they were attacking head-on, that is, where I had a clear view and no smoke. My intuition tells me that the enemy is very close, which means that the original is one of them! One I immediately destroyed with smoke, so the last one is the real one! I was about to punch the last one, but as soon as I did, he disappeared.

What?! That's a fake? But... but I felt it...

My surprise was unrivalled, but it was immediately replaced by a sharp pain. I felt a blow to my head from behind. A terribly painful blow to the head. My cigarette flew out, blood came out of my nose and mouth, and there was a loud ringing in my head. Eventually my legs gave out and I collapsed to the ground.

How...? What... what... what just happened...? My eyes blurred, but I can still see my opponent standing over me. And he's definitely real.

I think I understand. Yes, that's right... then... then I saw a large number of birds flying towards me. They were in a dense flock, but I didn't think much of it. But now I understand. Then... that hunter was hiding in that flock. The birds were very tightly packed together, so when they flew into the smoke they died, but the hunter survived because the smoke didn't get to him.

He--he fooled me.

***

What--what am I doing? I'm fighting,but why? I guess it's just because it's the right thing to do. Yeah... that's the way it's always been. I've always done things because it's the right thing to do. I've always done what other people say. I just did it, and I didn't care about anything else.

Always... I was always going with the flow in my life. I didn't care or care about anything. I didn't care about anything. And that was fine with me.

I mean, I-- I mean, I--

I don't enjoy it.