As everyone entered the training room, an aura of tension spread around the room. Hisoka's insatiable spirit fought against Vividus' determined aura, while Hizashi watched as both hailed each other's courage.

Hizashi grinned with smug pride. "Damn, I love how close it is between you two. Now I can't tell who will win!"

"Shut up, Hizashi!" Vividus barked, "Just start the match! We don't have all day."

"Aw, don't be like that, Vivi-chan," Hisoka said, "I think we should just have fun, for old times' sake, don't you think?"

"You called it fun?" she asked, "You must be kidding! Using my vessel control wasn't worth it."

"Oh? So that is what the ability is called?" Hisoka asked. "Vessel Control...sounds excruciating. I love it!"

Hearing Hisoka moan at the end of his sentence, she felt his ren grow darker than before. As she rolled her eyes, she moved her arms while summoning water from the waterskin.

"I look forward to beating you to a pulp."

"I'd like to see you try~!"

The Jester and the Kurta woman stood on opposite sides of the bridge. Both were intensely staring at each other as they waited for Hizashi's command. Even if it was just a few seconds, it felt like an eternity.

"Alright rookies, the rules are simple." Hizashi began, "With this sparring match today, you are allowed to use your nen abilities but I'll intervene if it gets out of hand. Do I make myself clear?"

Although neither party said a word, both the Kurta and Jester nodded their heads in understanding.

Hizashi looked at the two and marvelled at how still they were. Despite their tension growing between one another, he was now even more excited to watch the results. The leader trained his Vividus under his wing, but Hisoka's reputation precedes him.

He doesn't even know which team to bet on. But he doesn't care; he just wants to watch the chaos unfold. A part of him wished he had popcorn in front of him for the show about to unfold.

"Fight!"

~.:x_X_x:.~

Hizashi wasn't sure how long had passed between the two combatants, but the fight was phenomenal. Neither of the two showed any signs of weakness. To his knowledge, they are both fairly evenly matched.

Currently, Vividus has used water to create an ice-scythe in order to fight off Hisoka's attacks. Like before, she was utilizing gyo in order to dodge Hisoka's death cards.

Meanwhile, Hisoka is in full offensive mode. Not once Hisoka held back with his brute force against Vividus, but he attacked her as if he was trying to kill her. The leader of the Elementos could see the blood-crazed expression plastered on his face. How that sinister smile is carved upward on his lips and getting off with the thrill of battle.

The chairman and Vividus weren't kidding about Hisoka's tendency when it comes to battle. He sort of feels sorry for putting Vividus in his position.

But at the same time...he doesn't.

As the battle between the two was being waged, he heard the door open. Hearing the familiar sound of the wooden geta clinking on the floor surface. Finally coming to a halt as a certain old man stood next to Hizashi.

"I see you decided to have the rookies face each other, hm?" The old man chuckled, playing with his beard.

"Of course," replied Hizashi, "when I heard the battle between Hisoka and Vividus back in the Heavens Arena days, I wanted to see what the fight was like, so I decided to put on my own show to witness the battle for myself."

"Are you now?" Netero asked. "Well, what do you think?"

Turning his attention away from the chairman, Hizashi looked back at the two fighters.

Hizashi smirked. "I must admit, I'm not be disappointed."

Netero nodded his head in understanding. Instead of leaving, the old man decided to stay and witness the battle up close. Since this is not the hunter's exam, the two fighters have a lot more flexibility in how they are fighting.

Of course, the chairman himself wanted to see how the two of them dealt with one another. It was because of their match that piqued his interest on Vividus to begin with. Furthermore, he wanted to know more about Hisoka because of his ruthless nature.

Hizashi was right; their fight was entertaining in fact.

Based on what the chairman gathered and researched about the Jester, he is indeed a transmuter. Hisoka is using his natural strength and skills in order to keep up with Vividus and his elemental fighting techniques.

Observing Hisoka's end of the battle, he could see that he had coated his deck of cards with pink nen. Vividus waved her hand and fired ice-bullets towards the Fushia haired man.

While putting away his cards, he would use his nen to expand it down to the ground as if he was stretching a rubber-like material. Hisoka was watching the objects as they were thrown in mid-air almost hitting his face.

"Wow, Vivi-chan, are you trying to kill me?" Hisoka smirked as he looked at Vividus.

"As tempting as that is, it sounds like a lot of work," Vividus said coolly, "Plus, I wouldn't like to make a mess in here since my colleagues wouldn't appreciate it."

After saying those words, Vividus watched Hisoka's smirk disappear.

"I'm offended; you think I'm that weak?"

"Never said you were," She replied, now forming a pair of ice gloves, "However, you haven't defeated me yet, so..."

She trailed off her words, giving the Jester a cheshire-like grin towards him. Mocking him, the Jester twitched in annoyance.

"Oh Vivi-chan, you always know how to rile me up." Hisoka hissed, his knuckles cracking with excitement. "I can't wait to see the look on your face when I win."

"Then let's continue the battle, shall we?"

When that moment came, Hisoka and Vividus advanced towards each other. Both fighters threw punches into the air, and as they collided, the fight began once again.

As their attacks exchanged, the battle became fiercer and more intense. As both parties fought intensely, neither wished to lose. At some point, the training room had a few craters and damaged walls.

However, regardless of the damage being made, no one wanted to lose.

Watching the two fight made Netero want to take part. But regrettably, he knew that he couldn't because he didn't want to meddle with this. He believed that would destroy their fighting spirit.

Netero, of course, didn't want to ruin it for them. He believed that sparring was helpful in making them understand one another.

Netero thought Vividus would win the battle due to the damage inflicted on Hisoka by Vividus. Hisoka was struggling backwards under the assault, and sloppy movements became evident as he continued to take hits.

He trapped many ice bullets with his nen ability: sending them back towards Vividus. But before any damage could be caused, the ice bullets liquified back into droplets of water. As this happened, Hisoka frowned a bit.

The chairman laughed a bit when he noticed a slight smirk tugging at her lips.

"My, what did you put the poor girl through when you were training her?" Netero asked, raising his eyebrow at the Elementos leader.

"Put her through the same training regime you put me through when you were training me," Hizashi replied.

"So, hell?" He asked with a cocky grin.

"Exactly."

The moment Hizashi had finished speaking those words, both the chairman and the leader of the Elementos stared at Hisoka being flown into a wall.

'Ouch'

Slowly raising his head, Hisoka looked up towards Vividus, who was slowly walking towards him. By the expression on his face, Netero could tell the rookie was experiencing all kinds of emotions right now.

When the old man thought, he saw the look of annoyance and defeat. It would be replaced with pleasure and anticipation. The chairman is not sure why he feels as he does. Yet, from what he can tell:

Hisoka is getting off from this battle.

"Vivi-chan! This fight is making me crazy right now!" Hisoka moans as he stands up from his spot. "I absolutely love how well you've honed your skills, you're driving me insane!"

The platinum blonde stared blankly at the Jester. Based on the way she reacts, Vividus is doing her best not to react to the Jester's words. If his suspicions were correct, he may have seen a slight blush appearing across her cheeks.

"I-Idiot!" Vividus yelled, "Now is not the time to be saying such useless things!"

"I'm just saying the truth, though!" chimed the man.

"Hisoka, focus!" She hissed.

Turning her water back into a scythe, she swung her weapon around as she charged toward Hisoka. Every time she was about to land a blow, though, Hisoka was able to deflect it with a card in his hand.

Netero was starting to notice that Vividus' attacks were becoming more inconsistent. Every time Hisoka made a comment about her, Vividus's expression started to become increasingly irritated.

But as she became more agitated, her attacks became less unpredictable and more sloppy. Vividus was racing; she lost focus and started attacking him with blunt force without planning.

As Hisoka was beginning to realize this, the two audience members saw a victorious smile spread across his cheeks. He was no longer using his arts, instead, he was able to swiftly deflect the scythe away with his hands.

He immediately saw a pink strand of nen attached to her blade as he touched the smooth part of her blade. With shock in her eyes, Vividus cursed under her breath and tried to pull away in time and form the water back into liquid form.

But it was too late.

Before she could do anything else, Vividus felt the ice-made weapon being forced into Hisoka's hand. As he held it in the air, he took a big swing and threw it behind him. The weapon now embeds into the wall.

As the platinum blonde began to fall backwards, Hisoka rushed towards Vividus and snatched her in his arms. The battle ended with Vividus being dipped backwards by Hisoka. Their faces were only inches apart.

Netero found the most amusing thing about everything was how Hisoka ended the battle with a tango move.

The old man let out a wholehearted laugh and looked up towards Hizashi, who seemed to like what had just happened. Netero himself felt it's quite gratifying to see that the battle ended in such an entertaining way.

Nevertheless, the results were clear as day:

Vividus has lost the battle.

[Author's Note]

HI. I'M STILL HERE
MY GOODNESS: 3.6K VIEWS?! Thank you all so much for the read and for staying with me up to this point! I love you all!

I'll be honest, I've been having a hard time writing this chapter due to writer's block. At the current moment I have this issue where I have all of these amazing ideas on how the middle of the arc is gonna go and how to end it: BUT, I'm having a moment where it's hard to start it up...RIP.
That's why it took a while to upload.

Another reason why it's also been taking a bit was that I was working on an art piece for this story's arc. It's posted on my AO3 and Wattpad account if you would like to check it out!
Also, I was thinking of making an Instagram account for artwork, chapter previews, and updates...would you all like that?

Anyway, I'm going to do my best and get better with updates. Once again I am so sorry for the delay ;_;

I hope all of you are staying safe during this pandemic. I appreciate you all!
-NezuVIX