Moisture clung to my skin like a cold, heavy weight as we plunged deeper into the subterranean gloom.
Footsteps echoed off the damp stone walls, a chaotic rhythm of hundreds of boots beating against the earth.
Satotz, the examiner, led the pack with a bizarre, mechanical stride that seemed to require zero effort.
Desperate applicants struggled to match his relentless pace, their breathing already turning ragged in the oxygen-deprived air.
Running was a trivial task for me.
My immortal heart beat with a slow, mechanical precision that never faltered, never quickened.
Beside me, Hannah kept a steady pace, her jaw clenched as she focused on the back of the examiner.
On her other side, Nannah skipped, humming a discordant, childish tune that drew irritated glares from the exhausted runners around us.
She was a creature of pure chaos, a ticking time bomb I had no intention of defusing unless it got in my way.
Up ahead, a flash of silver hair caught my eye.
Killua Zoldyck was gliding effortlessly through the crowd on a bright yellow skateboard, his hands shoved deep into his pockets.
He looked relaxed, almost bored, a stark contrast to the sweating adults collapsing around him.
This boy was my gateway to Nanika, the wish-granting entity hidden deep within the Zoldyck estate.
To steal that power, I needed to get close to him, to dissect his psychology and find the cracks in his armor.
Stepping up my pace, I parted the crowd of runners with effortless grace, matching Killua's speed within seconds.
Hannah tried to keep up, but I left her behind without a second thought.
Her presence was a minor variable; right now, the boy was my priority.
Sliding into step beside him, I kept my movements perfectly fluid, showing no signs of exertion.
"Nice skateboard," I said, my voice smooth and conversational.
Killua glanced sideways, his blue eyes narrowing instantly with an assassin's sharp suspicion.
He didn't speak, merely assessing me with a cold, analytical gaze that belied his young age.
"You're not allowed to use skateboards!" a loud, breathless voice bellowed from behind us.
Leorio was panting heavily, his face flushed red as he struggled to keep pace, his suit jacket flapping wildly.
"Examiner only told us to follow him," I pointed out, not bothering to look back at the screaming man. "He never specified the method."
Killua smirked, a flash of childish arrogance breaking through his guarded exterior. "Exactly. It's an endurance test, not a rule-following contest. Besides, who are you to lecture anyone?"
He was looking at me now, trying to read my posture, my breathing, my intent.
My body was a perfectly calibrated machine, showing none of the typical signs of stress or effort.
Thanks to the poison adaptation from earlier, my biology had adapted further, completely eliminating lactic acid buildup.
Just a fellow applicant, I thought, but aloud I said, "I'm Riley. And I appreciate efficiency."
Silence stretched between us for a moment, filled only by the clicking of his skateboard wheels on the uneven stone.
I let the quiet linger, allowing him to grow accustomed to my presence before I began to probe.
"I've heard interesting rumors about Kukuroo Mountain," I remarked casually, as if discussing the weather.
Killua's entire body went rigid.
Every transition was subtle to a normal eye, but to me, the sudden tension in his shoulders and the slight hitch in his breath were as loud as a siren.
"It's just a mountain," Killua muttered, his voice dropping an octave, losing all of its childish warmth.
"Perhaps," I said, keeping my tone light. "But people say the family living there keeps some very... unusual secrets. Things that don't belong in this world. Things that can grant any desire, for a price."
Cold dread suddenly flooded Killua's veins.
His assassin instincts, trained through years of brutal torture and mental conditioning, began to scream at him.
He looked at me, and for a terrifying second, he didn't see a human being.
Instead of a human, he saw a void.
A suffocating, dead presence seemed to radiate from me, heavy and cold, pressing down on his chest like a physical weight.
It was the exact same feeling he got whenever his older brother, Illumi, stood behind him.
Such absolute, controlling darkness made his blood run cold and his muscles lock up in sheer terror.
Phantom needles seemed to prick at his scalp, urging him to run, to flee, to put as much distance between himself and this monster as possible.
"Who are you?" Killua whispered, his hand drifting toward his pocket where his deadly jo-jos rested.
His voice was no longer that of a twelve-year-old boy; it was the sharp, lethal tone of an active killer.
"Just Riley," I replied, my expression remaining perfectly pleasant, completely unaffected by his hostility.
"If you try anything," Killua warned, his eyes flashing with a dangerous, predatory light, "I'll kill you before you can even blink."
I almost laughed.
Death was a joke to me.
If he killed me, I would simply adapt, copy his techniques, and rise again as an even greater monster.
But there was no need to rush things.
I needed him alive and cooperative, or at least useful enough to guide me to my ultimate target.
No desire to fight you, Killua, I thought, but I spoke it aloud with a calm smile. "We are both here to pass. Nothing more. But keep in mind... some secrets are too powerful to remain hidden forever."
His eyes widened slightly at the mention of his name, the panic in his chest flaring higher.
We ran in silence after that, the gap between us slowly widening as I deliberately let him drift ahead.
With that, I slowed my pace slightly, letting him seek refuge in the crowd.
He didn't look back, but I could see the rigid tension in his spine, the way his shoulders remained hunched as if waiting for a strike from behind.
Fear was a highly effective tool, far more reliable than trust or affection.
As I drifted back, I took a moment to assess the rest of the runners.
Tonpa was far behind, still recovering from the poison adaptation that had terrified him so deeply.
Further back, Hisoka was watching me, a twisted, hungry smile playing on his lips.
Hisoka was dangerous, but he was a simple creature driven by basic desires.
He wanted a good fight.
I wanted the world.
Our paths would inevitably cross, but he was not my concern right now.
My concern was the physical state of my companions.
Hannah was struggling now, her chest heaving as she forced her legs to move.
"Riley..." she gasped, her voice barely audible over the roaring echo of the crowd. "I... I can't keep this up much longer."
"Then stop," I said coldly, not looking at her. "And fail. The choice is yours."
She flinched, a flash of deep hurt in her eyes, but she forced herself to keep running.
Her weakness was frustrating, but she was still a useful asset for now.
Nannah, however, was having the time of her life.
She was spinning, jumping, and laughing with a manic energy that bordered on complete insanity.
"Look at them fall!" she squealed, leaping over a collapsed applicant who was clutching his chest. "So weak! So pathetic!"
Her chaotic behavior was drawing attention, but she didn't care.
A wild card like her was bound to cause trouble sooner or later.
Suddenly, the stone floor beneath Nannah's feet gave a sharp, metallic click.
Such a tiny sound was almost completely lost in the heavy thudding of hundreds of boots.
But to my highly tuned senses, it was as loud as a gunshot.
A pressure plate.
Time seemed to slow down.
Directly beneath Nannah's feet, a massive section of the stone floor split open.
Heavy stone trapdoors swung downward with terrifying speed, revealing a dark, yawning abyss below.
From the depths of the pit, the horrific sound of grinding metal echoed upward.
Dozens of giant, spinning steel blades, slick with the blood of previous victims, whirred in the darkness.
Nannah lost her footing instantly, her manic laughter turning into a brief, startled gasp as gravity took hold.
She began to fall, her hands clawing futilely at the empty air as she plunged into the darkness.
Hannah screamed, her face contorting in pure terror as she lunged forward in a desperate, suicidal attempt to grab her sister's hand.
"Nannah!"
I stood perfectly still, my feet firmly planted on the solid stone at the edge of the pit.
My eyes locked onto Nannah as she tumbled backward into the mechanical nightmare.
Never did I reach out.
Nothing changed in my expression as a massive trapdoor swung open beneath Nannah, plunging her into a pit of spinning steel blades as I watched with a completely blank expression.