Phantom Troupe's Web

Chapter 30.

Standing inside the waiting room, Illuki stared up at the mini television that hung in the centre of the room with four monitors; the stadium was filled to the brim with viewers displayed on the screen as the commentator for the match announced the basic background information of the fight before each fighter entered the stadium while being introduced to the crowd. The lights dimmed slightly, flashing onto either end where the female and the challenger entered from, walking up to the platform stage where the referee stood waiting for them; both competitors flaunted confident smirks.

"You're the floor master?" the challenger, a man named Viscob, scoffed in disbelief. He stood tall, around Hisoka's height and wore similar clothing to Illuki's comrade Shalnark, only in blue and with long sleeves. "You've got to be kidding me," he had expected someone like the infamous Hisoka of the 200th floor to be the person he challenged, not a petite girl with incompatible fighting clothes. Despite his clear disappointment, he shrugs and rolls his shoulders back, stretching his arms forward and crackling his knuckles intimately. "Prepare to lose," he taunts, activating his aura.

Illuki chuckles, covering her smile with the back of her hand while the crowd cheers for her; she offers a sweet closed-eye smile, her hands linked behind her back as she rocks on the balls of her feet. "You're quite the jokester~! You'd make a great clown!" she giggles through her insult, activating her aura that glowed white around her petite body, ignoring the scowl on Viscob's face.

The referee on the stage timidly eyes the opponents before slamming his hand down in the space between them, blowing his whistle to indicate the start of the brawl.

Viscob is the first to attack, jumping into the air and lunging at the female head-on with his fist. He smirks crazily, thinking he'd get the first hit and point of the match as his body falls closer to the ground, though when he moves his fist to hit her head, it fades through; her afterimage dissipating in front of him. His eyes spark wide open in shock, freezing when he feels a presence behind him but before he can wake up from his initial surprise and turn to block the attack, Illuki punches his back, sending him flying forwards. The male can stop the momentum of the punch with his feet, steading himself as he turns and glares at the calm woman.

"And Illuki is the first to get a clean hit!" the commentator yells into the microphone, the crowd cheering for the female who discreetly smirks at her scowling opponent. Trying once more, the pair exchange a few punches and kicks though only one is injured during the exchange before Illuki is backflipping away from his attacks with just a scratch on her upper arm. "Viscob has managed to scratch the Yin-Yang Witch!" the man scoffs, smirking as he shows off his weapon of choice; a spear with a sharp blade that caused the scratch, and an extendable staff. "Viscob is first to draw a weapon! Will he be able to land a clean hit?! What will Illuki do now?!" the commentator asked the crowd.

'Geez, these guys need to shut up' Illuki rolled her eyes, watching her opponent swing the spear around him, demonstrating his skills to the female who stared indifferently at him. The stare enrages him, the male lets a loud battle cry and runs ahead, attacking her without a thought. She dodges the challenger's swings and jabs easily by flipping around the stage, before twisting on her hands and pushing herself upwards to stand on her feet and stabilising herself on the ground. 'I thought this would've been fun' she sighed, glancing at the scoreboard that showed the points and timer; 2-1 with him leading and 3 minutes remaining. Glancing back at the challenger, she scoffs upon noticing him huffing and puffing in exhaustion while she is composed and barely injured.

"Ne~ ne~ Viscob-kun~!" Illuki calls out to the male, catching his attention easily. "Why do you want my floor?" she asked curiously, tilting her head to the side while her hands linked habitually behind her back. She leaned slightly forward towards the man, somewhat unintentionally taunting him with her composure.

"I-I heard the floor master of the 245th floor...W-was r-really strong," Viscob despite scowling, answered his opponent's question while panting, recovering his energy. "I don't see it. All you've done so far is dodge my advances. Why won't you attack me?!" he yelled at the woman who stood up straight.

Her tinted lips curled into a pleased, cruel smirk as her feet sat in the third position. "Hm, you're no fun," she said before snapping her fingers, the ground around them glowed white through the cracks of the tiles, blindly her opponent as decomposed skeletons rose from portals on the ground.

"There it is! The Yin-Yang Witch has summoned her dead army!" the commentator announced, screaming with the crowd that cheered at the sight of the Nen ability, chanting Illuki's nickname with passion.

Viscob blinked the light away, adjusting back to the normal light and gasping at the sight of the bony figures that either reached out for his limbs or swung at him with their rusting swords and axes. His breathing rapidly staggers as he defends himself, though the sheer amount of skeletons that surrounded him had him screaming in horror. "H-how?!" he yells, swaying his spear in every direction while Illuki merely watches him struggle with a pleased grin.

"Every time I dodged your attack, I placed a portal and covered it with Zetsu," Illuki began with her arms crossed under her chest, watching with a smirk at his struggle to fend off the accumulating skeletons. "My dead army is infinite, so there's no chance of you killing them. Let's end this, shall we? I'm already bored," she giggles, skipping back a bit, turning to face the aghast challenger and closing her eyes momentarily.

A glowing red summoning circle appeared beneath her shoes, an air breezing her long hair out as two transparent red wolves appeared on either side of the female who opened her eyes to reveal scarlet orbs; she smirked and pointed a finger at Vicob, the summoning circle disappearing. The wolves howled, skeletons backing off as the transparent hounds pounced onto the male and clawed at his face and body, almost dismembering the challenger if their master hadn't stopped them and had them disappear along with her dead army. Laying on the ground in front of her was a barely living Viscob in a pool of his blood. The venue was silent before the announcer stuttered out the winner.

"V-Viscob is unconscious! T-the w-winner is the Yin-Yang Witch, Illuki!" Illuki stared down at her opponent for a second, clicking her tongue in disappointment before turning on her heel and exiting the stadium.