In the dim, endless tunnel of the first phase of the Hunter Exam, a young boy with unnervingly quiet eyes joins the crowd. His name is Kuro, age fourteen. He possesses a natural talent for observation and a hidden Nen ability he keeps locked away in his heart.
When he teams up with Gon, Killua, Kurapika, and Leorio, his deadpan humor clashes with Leorio while his precise advice impresses Kurapika. On Zevil Island, a split-second metallic gleam on his hands catches Killua's eye—a secret the youn
Hunter x Hunter: Liquid Steel - The Trap on the Disposal Floor, the Shattered Shield
The Sky Arena at midnight was eerily silent, as if the daytime frenzy had been a lie.
A corridor near the waiting room. Photos of past fighters lined the walls, floating up in the dim glow of the emergency lights. Gon sat slumped against the wall, while Killua stood with his hands shoved in his pockets.
" Is Kuro gonna be okay?"
Gon's voice was much quieter than usual. He couldn't get the image of Kuro in that passageway out of his head. That rigid back after that man, Varec, had whispered something to him. The coldness of the hand shaken off.
" No way he's okay. He was totally seeing red."
Killua leaned his back against the wall and looked up at the ceiling. His silver hair reflected the cold fluorescent light.
" He's in no shape to fight properly tomorrow. Even if it's a trap, he's gonna charge right in."
" ...Why?! Why does Kuro try to go off alone?!"
Gon clenched his fists on his knees. His spiky, deep-green hair trembled.
" That guy doesn't know how to rely on others. He's probably been living all alone, clinging to nothing but revenge."
Killua's voice held a cold understanding possessed only by someone raised as an assassin.
" That's... really lonely."
Gon looked up. It was that exact moment.
Killua's pupils narrowed vertically, like a cat's.
" --Behind us."
Faster than they could turn around, cold hands touched the napes of their necks. Aura of Nen swelled in an instant, and Gon's consciousness was reaped before he could even make a sound. Killua showed a flicker of resistance, but the opponent's presence concealment was too perfect; his reaction was delayed.
Their vision went dark.
------
How much time had passed?
The first thing Gon felt was the smell of rusted iron and a cold sensation digging into his wrists. He opened his eyes.
A dimly lit space. The floor was covered in dust, the wall paint was peeling, and countless steel beams hung exposed from the ceiling. An abandoned floor—the 241st floor, a decommissioned sector.
The two of them were tied back-to-back to a rusted steel pillar suspended from a beam. When Gon struggled, the ropes creaked. A cloth was stuffed in his mouth, preventing him from making a sound.
(*Kuro...!*)
Gon desperately tried to shout through the cloth. Only muffled sounds leaked out. The ropes bit into his skin. But Gon kept struggling. More than fear, the image of Kuro's back as he left alone in that passageway scorched his heart more than anger.
Killua quietly opened his eyes. His blue eyes coldly scanned the surroundings. First, he checked the rope material, analyzed the knots, then probed the quality of the Nen imbued in the ropes.
(*Fine Nen fixation treatment... A mechanism that tightens the more you move. Doing this against an assassin, huh.*)
Killua's mouth twisted slightly. Using muscle relaxation techniques honed in his assassin training, he loosened the ropes by a few millimeters. However, at that moment, the ropes automatically tightened, and he nearly lost sensation in his wrists.
(*No good. I can't get out alone.*)
Killua immediately stopped resisting and steadied his breathing. Conserve energy. Wait for a change in the situation. That was the best he could do right now.
Gon was still struggling. Tears welled up in his eyes. Whether it was anger, sadness, or anxiety—he didn't even know himself, he just kept trying to call Kuro's name.
------
In a room at the Duram Inn, Kuro leaned against the wall.
The lights were off. The streetlights of Lubrica filtering through the window cast his profile in a pale glow. His black eyes were fixed on a single point, unmoving.
Varec's voice played on repeat deep in his ears.
"That old man, y'know, he was cryin' and callin' your name right up to the end."
"'Kuro... Kuro...' he went. Cryin' with a real nice voice, he was."
The clicking sound of a ring. A twisted grin. The sword scar on the left cheek. Greasy, disheveled iron-gray hair. Muddy gray eyes.
All of it was seared into his mind.
Just then, a faint rustle of paper sliding came from under the door.
Kuro's gaze shifted.
A single envelope had been slipped onto the floor.
He stood up and picked it up. When he opened the seal, several strands of silver hair spilled out. Killua's hair. And a single rough sketch—a route to the 241st floor, the abandoned floor. Handwritten scrawl.
His hands trembled.
This is a trap. His mind understood that perfectly. An obvious trap to lure him to the abandoned floor, using Gon and Killua as hostages.
(*If I go alone, I'll die.*)
A cold analysis sounded a warning in his head. The difference in combat power was clear. Varec was an Enhancer; the destructive power of that single blow could shatter defenses equivalent to titanium alloy. He wasn't an opponent he could beat in a head-on fight.
(*But.*)
Kuro clenched the envelope.
Without taking any luggage, without taking any weapons, he left the room.
The corridor was freezing. Ignoring the elevator, he headed for the emergency stairs. One step, two steps, he took them three at a time, running up.
His footsteps echoed in the emergency stairwell. Two hundred forty-one floors. He ran up them all at once.
All the while, his master's voice echoed in his head. The voice of Gold Heinen.
*'A disciple's loneliness is the master's failure.'*
The old man always said that, ruffling Kuro's hair messily. They were big hands. Warm hands.
*'Kuro, don't shoulder everything alone. Rely on someone. That will turn your weakness into strength.'*
Kuro's feet stopped for a moment.
(*But I—couldn't protect my master.*)
The freezing cold floor of the laboratory. The smell of blood. Gold's body, collapsed limply. That night, Kuro didn't make it in time.
(*So, this time for sure—*)
He started running again. His breathing was ragged. His heartbeat pounded noisily deep in his ears.
He stood before the iron door. The 241st floor. The entrance to the abandoned floor.
Kuro took one deep breath.
And then, he kicked it down.
------
The smell of rust and dust hit his nose heavily.
In the center of the dim space, Gon and Killua were tied up. Both had cloths stuffed in their mouths, unable to speak. Gon continued to struggle, his wrists bloodied by the ropes, while Killua gritted his teeth and looked this way.
Beside them stood Varec.
" Heehee, you came. Gold's disciple, huh."
Varec clicked his ring. He slowly turned to face Kuro.
The calmness vanished from Kuro's vision.
(*Protect—this time for sure.*)
His body moved before his thoughts.
Metallic Skin. Liquid silver metal ran across the skin of his entire body, raising its hardness to a level equivalent to titanium alloy. He kicked off the floor and closed in on Varec head-on.
" Yeah, those eyes are good. Gold had eyes like that at the end, too."
Varec's right arm took on a glow. Graviton Fist. An Enhancer ability that condenses aura to its limit, increasing the density of the fist.
The first blow.
It landed on Kuro's right arm.
A sickening crack of shattering bone echoed through the floor. The Metallic Skin was pulverized like glass. Kuro's body was slammed against the wall and tumbled to the floor.
He stood up.
His right arm hung limply.
The second blow.
It aimed for his left shoulder. Kuro tried to dodge, but Varec's fist speed exceeded his expectations. The impact shattered his collarbone, and sensation vanished from his left arm.
The third blow.
A fist buried itself into his side, snapping several ribs at once. Blood gushed from his mouth. He collapsed onto the floor, dust billowing up.
" Ugh, a...!"
Even so, Kuro tried to stand. The pain of broken ribs stabbing into his internal organs. The taste of blood spread through his mouth. His vision blurred.
" You're still standing? That's some guts, ain't it."
Varec slowly approached and stomped on the stomach of Kuro, who was crawling on the floor.
" Gold was stubborn right to the end, too, y'know. Cryin' and callin' your name, his disciple, and still tryin' to fight."
A thudding sound of his stomach being trampled.
More blood spilled from Kuro's mouth.
Killua burned that sight into his blue eyes. They were the eyes of cold, ruthless analysis, devoid of emotion. But the force with which he clenched his back teeth was intensifying.
Gon, letting out voiceless screams, shook his body so hard the ropes bit into him. The skin on his wrists peeled away, blood dripping. Still, he couldn't stop.
" That makes two now, huh."
Varec lifted his foot off Kuro and slowly turned to face Gon. Aura gathered in his right fist, its glow intensifying.
Those words overlapped perfectly with the memory from three years ago inside Kuro.
The freezing cold floor of the laboratory. A pool of blood. His master's lying body. Back then, too, Kuro had just watched. He hadn't made it in time. Couldn't protect him. He never wanted to feel that way again—and yet, the same thing was about to happen.
(*Stop it.*)
Kuro put his hands on the floor. Every time his broken ribs moved, intense pain shot through him, and his vision whited out. Even so, his hands gripped the floor.
(*Stop it...*)
A single tear fell onto the dusty floor. Kuro didn't realize he was crying. Only the impulse to stop Varec, who was about to kill Gon right before his eyes, drove his entire body.
(*STOP IT!!!*)
A voiceless scream. Kuro dragged his broken body centimeter by centimeter, got one knee under him, and stood up.
Varec raised his fist, aiming at Gon.
" Game State Interface—"
Kuro's bloodstained lips spun the words.
" All categories, reset to zero. Allocate 80% or more to Manipulation."
In that instant.
Every cell in his body seared all at once.
The Vow activated. The penalty for allocating and using 80% or more in a single category—one hour of intense pain.
" Gah, aaaaaaaahhh!!!"
Kuro's vision went pure white. A burning sensation, as if lava were flowing through the blood vessels of his entire body. A scorching pain ran through to the marrow of his bones.
His knees nearly buckled.
Even so, he pressed both hands against the floor and refused to fall.
In front of him, Varec stopped moving.
" ...What is this aura?"
Pure Manipulation aura overflowed from Kuro's entire body. A sharpened wave of Nen, incomparable to the time he used Metallic Skin.
But the pain nearly made him lose consciousness. His vision flickered on and off.
(*Keep... conscious...*)
Kuro gritted his teeth. His back teeth creaked. The taste of blood grew stronger.
Whether the activation would complete, or his consciousness would cut out.
On that boundary, only Kuro's eyes glared at Varec, harboring a burning darkness.
Novelia is an AI-powered platform to read original light novels and fan fiction, create your own in just a few taps, and chat with the characters. New, illustrated episodes arrive daily — free to start.