Beginning of the End

*clench* opening her eyes wide, she looked down at me with a dangerous look in her eyes as she let go of my foot before using both of her free hands to release a series of threads. Looking down at the spot my hand met her stomach I then realized my attack hadn't met its mark as a strong coating of aura alongside the oddly contorted abdominal muscles that locked my hand in place.

'So that's why this felt familiar…' Recalling an odd scene from the anime, I stared at my hand with eyes wide open like an owl. Tugging a bit on my hand resulted in nothing and was an exercise in futility. Instead, I released a small burst of energy as I pulled my arm back knocking her backward in the process. Rubbing my previously pinned hand, I began quickly walking to close the distance between us. From what experience I had fighting the clone, giving her space was quite hazardous and to prevent at any cost.

And as I trudged forward, I stepped into the light trickling into the building from the tiny windows littering the side of the building. Revealing my miserable form in full, my formerly custom-tailored purple clothes had been transformed into a tattered mess dyed an earthy brown from the mud and rubble it has been pelted with. Even when came to the small things I looked like a mess, missing buttons, items practically falling out of what remained of my pockets, the trails of blood coming from my nose that was more than likely broken, and my unshaven face and messy wet hair plastered on my head. A lovely sight to say the least.

"So it's you… Hisoka really is a bastard." Seemingly able to get a good look at my face for the first time, her face scrunched up a bit in disdain Before lashing her hands outward with the thin razor wires at the tips of her fingers. Causing them to rake all across my shielded face, resulting in a painful stinging sensation in my face. Due largely to the fact that creating a complete damage nullification from my formless Hatsu is cost prohibitive.

"Tss… You know, no need to take out younger anger on me, It's sort of your problem of trusting Hisoka of all people." With no small amount of snark, I continued our 'dialogue' as we began trading blows at a frenzied rate.

"I just don't see the merit of having me heal someone who is after his own head." Not stopping for a second, she continued sending attack after attack my way. With each attack designed to immobilize before critically wounding me, had it not been for my defense oriented Hatsu I would have dissembled into a collection of various bleeding limbs.

"*huff* About that, all Hisoka cares about is interesting people to fight, so yeah, he would do that." Grabbing at the loop of thread around my neck that was suspending me in mid-air, I blankly stared at her. "You know, none of these attacks are doing anything to me. And it's really annoying having to break out of these things every time." Dispelling the noose around my neck with a short explosion I bent my knees a bit as I dropped back onto the ground.

"That so." Giving a slight smirk, she snapped her fingers as another net of threads collected around my feet before immobilizing me once more.

{Scene Change}

Taking in the chaos that was happening around him with a grim expression on his face, Kurapika quickly rushed toward the frantic fighting just before him. With Melody and Killua being pushed back by two troupe members and Magenta being nowhere in sight it was unnerving. The original plan was for the straggler to be eliminated before a frontal assault on their headquarters. And the chances were looking decent, with a third of the members eliminated and his Hatsu he was prepared to deal a fatal blow to the troupe.

*Crash* launching judgment chain toward the larger of the two troupe members that was backing Killua into a corner. Having let him escape earlier was an error on his part and one that was going to be quickly corrected.

"Gon, make sure Killua is okay while I go help Melody out" Craning his head to the side as he addressed his younger friend, Kurapika dismissively flicked his hand as his chains that caught the troupe member by surprise ripped into his body. Having neared the target of his revenge, his turbulent emotions reached a peak, the scarlet eyes that lay just under the facade of contact lenses burned a vivid red. Embuing his already extremely specialized Hatsu with enough dexterity and power to easily eliminate a heavyweight like Franklin.

"Alright…" hesitantly looking at him before leaving, Gon ran toward Killua. Who was covered in the blood of his opponent, a surprised expression covering his face. The sheer brutality and swiftness of the kill being somewhat reminiscent of the incident inside the trick tower.

*whistle* Now approaching the other fight he needed to put down, Kurapika heard the reverberations echoing out from the battlefield. Throughout the cacophony, he could discern the more familiar tones of Melody's flute, though it was intermixed with the very echoey and resonant foreign sounds.

"hmm… Best to mute this all out." Recalling the effects of Melody's Hatsu but also what his master told him about auditory Hatsu's in general, Kurapika decided to enact a technique he learned during his time as a student. Using Zetsu in a special application similar to Gyo, you could focus it on a single part of your body and 'seal' it. So instead of masking your aura and presence, you could just eliminate it from a single part of your body. Yet, the dissonance between parts of your body with aura flowing through them and others shut down that function of your body. Thus, he forcibly made himself deaf, a much better alternative than shrouding one's body or ears in a thick defensive layer of aura.