17 Chapter 17: The way to the top! Part 2

Swoosh!

Cut!

Enma was in the zone.

The more he fought, the better he became.

All of his abilities were flowing together in a beautiful dance.

A punch, another punch, a feint, a dodge.

Fast, too fast to be caught.

The black sword became a speck of light in the eyes of the spectators.

Something profound awakened in the teen.

'Is this the mastery of the best ninja?'

He wasn't expecting this.

Hayabusa's analytical and tactical experience made it so that Enma's advancement in Nen use in battle went as smooth as possible.

Sho, Ryu, Ko, Ken were the most used techniques of the teen.

Slowly, fight after fight, their employment in battle started to became subconscious.

The teen didn't have to think of using them, unlike before.

Ryo demands of adjusting the Nen's percentage? Leave it to Hayabusa's perfect fighting experience, and in a couple of matches, he already had the hang of it.

Itto shura activated for a single fraction of a second and the sword, already covered with Nen, gained an incredible acceleration.

Swoosh!

Enma felt like that one time, in his previous life, when during a basketball game, he hit every 3 pointers he threw. No matter the distance, the ball entered the net every single time.

He had the same feeling while fighting. Every decision he took was the best and his form was beyond perfect.

…

Meanwhile, while the fight was happening, on the stands, Gon and Killua were watching with interest.

2 month had passed since Gon's injury, and Wing had just removed his ban on him.

In a month he was going to fight again.

The 2 kids had serious faces.

"Killua…"

"Yeah I know."

"We need to increase our training."

"…That guy…he is enjoying every single moment of it. Look, he is smiling.

We need to become stronger! He will leave us behind this way."

"…I'm sorry Killua, it's all my fault. If you had trained in these 2 months…"

"Ah! Don't worry Gon! I did it because I felt like it! We'll catch up to him in no time at all!"

"Mn!"

The duo's conversation was interrupted by the commentator.

<Waaa! What a win from Enma! I'm tearing up! That was too beautiful to see! This guy keeps surprising us!

9! This is the number of Enma's wins! Another victory and he'll reach Heaven!

Don't forget to come next time as well!>

…

Transmuters, enhancers, manipulators, he faced them all.

First a swordsman, than a guy who manipulated knives…

It didn't matter, the end result was still the same, victory.

It had to be said that most of the 176 fighters in the 200th floor were not exactly strong.

A lot of them were Nen users in training or fighters trying their luck to achieve glory.

A Kastro was rare, an Hisoka? Even rarer.

The truth was that the strongest Nen users out there didn't like to have their abilities' secrets exposed.

Hisoka was an exception, and the same could be said for Chrollo, who, by the way, was a floor master.

Hisoka was a maniac and Chrollo had so many Hatsus that nobody could possibly profile his capabilities and prepare countermeasures after watching him fight.

'Just one more, and I will be a step closer to become a floor master.

My next match is scheduled in July.

Apparently, they want to make a big show of the fight and want to pair me against another person who reached 9 wins. Still, they did not reveal the name.

So I guess training.

I was having so much fun fighting…

This time I doubt that Gon and Killua will be dealing with the infamous trio.

Gido lost again since his fight against me, and he reached 4 losses. The other 2 seemed pretty scarred by their experience with me.'

-15th of July-

The time to fight again had finally come.

The stadium was full of spectators, and everyone was in hype.

Enma learned of his opponent only few hours prior.

She was now standing opposite to him.

<Good evening everyone! Your favorite commentator, Cocco, is here once again.

Both of today's fighters reached 9! Yes, I said 9 wins! After tonight, one of them will be able to gain the chance at challenging one of the 21 floor masters.

One the right side, with 9 wins and 0 losses, our favorite dark horse, Enmaaa!

On the left side, also with 9 wins and 2 losses, the scary maid, Roberta!>

Roberta was a tall and slender woman, with black hair combed in 2 braids and a fringe. Thick round glasses covered most of her face.

She had an overall pale complexion and sported a typical Victorian age maid outfit.

Enma didn't have enough time for a proper investigation.

He was only able to verify a specific information, she had won 9 fights, lost 2, and every single time it ended with either a TKO or a retirement.

From the video recordings he could obtain, she seemed really, really good at fighting.

'She is probably an assassin, judging by the emotionless face and the strong killing intent.'

She was proficient in a strange martial art and her weapon of choice was a black umbrella with a big red ring painted on the fabric.

Her speed was so high that videos couldn't catch the full motion of the strikes she threw.

From what he could understand, she basically used her superior advantage in speed to get as much clean hits as she could.

'She has never ended the fight with a KO.

From this, I can assume that either her strikes are not that strong, or she hasn't used her full power yet.

When it comes to her Hatsu, I couldn't find anything useful at all.'

…

"Start!"

<It starts! Grab your popcorn, we are in for a good show!>

Bzzz!

"…!"

Roberta teleported, and Enma reacted just in time to throw a kick at her face, only to see an afterimage dissolving in front of his eyes.

The teen instantly found her, and the 2 proceeded to clash again.

Suddenly Roberta opened the umbrella.

Bzzz!

Swoosh!

Somehow, Roberta had materialized behind him and had kicked toward his back.

Enma bent backwards so much that he almost touched the ground.

What followed was a stomp by the girl, which Enma still managed to dodge.

Huge cracks appeared on the floor and a cloud of dirt was raised.

Enma took few steps back.

'Her moves are strange, and that umbrella is really annoying. She is also a lot faster than the average fighter, but if this is the best she can do, I …'

"Clean hit! 1 point to Roberta!"

"What?? She didn't hit me!"

Enma was confused, and gazed at the referee.

The referee looked calmly back at him and explained.

"I've seen the hit, I know it didn't do much damage, but it happened, and it was neither parried nor blocked! So it's a clean hit in my books."

'…! She hit me? Did I miss it? Maybe the cloud of dust covered the referee eyes...

No! The referees are Nen users themselves, even if weak.

She came close, I admit that, but… I didn't feel anything touching me.

Was I under an illusion? Maybe she disturbed my senses just before the stomp came...'

Enma activated Gyo.

Nothing.

Other than on her body, no Nen was there to be seen.

A little feral grin bloomed on Roberta's sickly face.

Bzzz!

Again, she was really fast, and the strange fighting style didn't make it easy to predict were the strikes were going to land.

This time, Enma made sure to keep his attention high, and only focused on maintaining the distance.

The umbrella really bothered him.

Every time he would come close to enter complete focus, she would disrupt him with the object.

It was a big umbrella, and when opened, it completely covered her body. That, coupled with echo rhythm, the same movement technique that Killua used, and it was difficult to pinpoint her exact location.

Another kick came out of nowhere, but Enma evaded thanks to Spider-sense.

'Fiuu, nothing there, this time…'

"Clean hit! 1 point Roberta!"

"What? What the hell are you talking about? There was no contact whatsoever!"

"Admonition to Enma! Do not discuss my decisions again, or you'll be disqualified!"

"Tsk!"

<Arara!? What is going on? Enma got admonished for talking back to the referee! In the mean time, Roberta is leading 2-0!>

'There is something amiss here. I'm sure she didn't even came close to touch me this time.

What could it be?

Is it her Hatsu?

Is this how everyone lost against her? I need to discover how it works, fast.'

...

"Clean hit! 1 point to Roberta! That is 7-0"

<Oh my God! This is the first time we saw Enma in such a crisis!>

'Shit! I can't go on like this! I'll be eliminated this way. I need to attack.'

Abruptly, the situation reversed, Enma became far more aggressive, and started to unleash elaborate combos.

Every time he thought he was about to gain an advantage, Roberta started using the umbrella to defend.

'So annoying! It's like a giant shield! I could destroy it given enough time, but I bet she would use the chance to attack, and I would mysteriously lose points again.

She is not an enhancer, her hits don't hurt, and the umbrella is not tough. I would also exclude emitter and transmuter.

That leaves conjurer, manipulator or specialist.

Conjurer?

The umbrella…!!'

A look of understanding came on Enma's face.

'Ok, it's probably the umbrella.

But that doesn't explain what the hell she is doing.

Maybe it has a property that, when she hit someone, it bypass that person's pain receptors so that he/she doesn't feel it.

This way, she could hit without one noticing.'

Roberta, on the other hand, was enjoying the despair on Enma's face.

"Heh! You'll never win!"

She said while opening the umbrella and resting it on her shoulder.

'Bitch!'

In a gust of wind she was in front of Enma.

'I'll let her hit me, and focus on catching her.'

Barbara stabbed her hand forward and it pierced Enma's shoulder.

'Itto shura!'

The teen opposed no resistance to the move, but reacted as fast as lightening, grabbing her right hand with his left.

While she was momentairly immobilized, a rotating palm strike made its way on her chest.

The poor girl didn't expect that, and was blasted away.

'Take that!'

<Amazing! That was a nasty hit to Enma's shoulder, but he reacted fast, and reciprocated with a palm move to the poor girl's chest! What a pervert!>

"Clean hit! 1 point to Barbara!"

Enma waited few seconds, but the referee's announcement in his favor didn't come.

<What's going on? The referee didn't assign points to Enma! Is there something we didn't see?>

'What the hell? Is the referee fucking blind? That were a critical hit and a down right there, ergo three point for me!

Wait a minute!!

The referee…

…no way!'

"HEhe… It's too late now. HAhaah"

Barbara was now laughing and coughing maniacally.

'She is a manipulator! Not a conjurer! The umbrella was only there to throw me off…

Was it before the fight?

During the fight?

When did she cast her manipulation on him?

Whatever, it doesn't matter.

I have no more time.

I can't win…'