GUESS WHO ISN'T DEAD? THAT'S RIGHT! THIS CRAZY ASIAN! Anyways, it's great to be back at it writing stories you guys. I lost motivation for this story and I picked it back up yesterday after not touching it for a month. Life has been crazy and I haven't had a free weekend since school started back, so it's great to be back in the swing of things. Anyways, enjoy this chapter! (published February 13th, 2015)

After everyone had boarded the airship, Akumi had half expected the old man, Netero, to kick her out right there for almost killing Menchi, but a single look at him showed that he had no intention of doing so. In fact, she could almost see a glint of amusement in his eyes as he spoke with the indignant examiner.

The ride to the Split Mountain was short and calm, with most of the applicants relieved that they would be given a second chance, though a glance in Akumi's direction dampened the mood. The applicants filed out of the blimp, the breadth of space given causing Akumi's mood to lift, if only slightly. Walking through the crowds that scattered as soon as she appeared, she listened to the gossip of the various groups while waiting for Menchi to make her appearance.

"She's crazy, going after a examiner like that…"

"I was kinda rootin' for her to take that lady down…"

"... would've killed her too."

"... gotten kicked out…"

A glare sent to her from Illumi made Akumi smirk, before purposely turning her back to the assassin. Raising her right hand, she caught the pin that she knew was flying over her right shoulder.

'I don't care what you do, just don't mess up the mission'

She tucked the pin into her pocket before continuing on her way, joining the jester as they waited for instructions. While Menchi gave her instructions – something about an egg – Akumi turned her attention to the chairman Netero, who was causing tingles to dance across her skin when he glanced her way. The two studied each other carefully, gauging strengths. She had to hold back a whistle as she watched the nen flowing around Netero.

That man knows his shit.

Menchi finished her instructions, the gist of it being that Akumi had to get an egg. Looking around, she watched as most stared apprehensively down the ravine, eyeing the hunter that had just floated back up. Mostly bored, Akumi took a step forward, walking straight off the cliff. She grabbed the first web that flew by, and ran across the web to the egg sack that was nearby.

She looked upwards, watching as Gon and his friends flew past her, grabbing onto one of the lower webs. Soon people were falling left and right, placing more and more weight on the webs.

Hm, seems like the webs might break, she thought, staring at the tall cliffs surrounding the ravine. Quickly thinking, Akumi cut open her left shoulder, the blood forming a mesh net that securely held the egg. Now now, what do I do to make this more interesting? A quick glance towards the cliff showed the webs below her were fraying with all the bodies clinging to them, while her own was perfectly fine, as it only held her own weight.

"We have to wait for the updraft!" The loud yell from Gon snapped Akumi out of her thoughts and pushed her into action.

She reached up and pulled out two piercings on each of her ears, the whips grabbing onto the web that she was jumping off of. Falling down, she spotted one applicant holding onto the web for dear life and swung towards him while slicing her right hand open to form another knife. The man, sensing that someone was approaching, turned his head, only able to let out a single yelp before Akumi slit the tendons in his right hand, causing him to fall down the ravine.

She moved on to the next applicant she saw, this one in the same situation as the last except that he was trying to inch his way towards the egg sack a couple of meters away from him. A brief pass below had him suddenly in need of a right arm, and he dropped to the water below. Another fly by dropped another two applicants, three more following soon afterwards, their shouts echoing off the towering ravine walls as they fell into the raging rapids below.

By this point, others were starting to take notice of the chaos that a certain blood wielder was causing. Examinees, with a sudden desperation, started dropping left and right, preferring to risk their chances with the rapids at the bottom than face Akumi.

After knocking five more applicants from the web, Gon finally took notice of Akumi's handiwork.

"Killua," Gon shouted. "Is she going to cut us off the web too?" A moment passed as Killua studied the applicants that fell before answering.

"No, I think she's going to avoid us," he replied. Anyways, it seems like she's taking out the applicants that were struggling. None of the applicants that she's taken out seemed like they were going to pass this year anyways.

Akumi made sure to stay far away from Killua and his friends. She knew that she was already pushing her limits with Illumi's patience, and any move towards Killua would definitely cause all hell to break loose.

A sudden flutter of breeze distracted Akumi from her killing spree, and she swung up to settle herself onto a sturdy strand of web. Moments later, the breeze became a tremendous updraft that caught the bodies of the applicants, sending them flying into the air with eggs in their hands. Sparing a glance upwards, and briefly entertaining the idea of trying to shoot the applicants down, Akumi let the blood fall to the ground, leaving only the mesh bag that hung from her right shoulder.

Well, lets go look at the damage I made.

Akumi munched on the egg as she walked around the blimp, ignoring the fact that she probably should have eaten it an hour ago. Hmm, she thought to himself. An entire night to do whatever I want. What will I do? Looking down, she realized that there was no more egg left, and finding that she was still hungry, Akumi turned towards the cafeteria, the idea of real food for the first time since before the exam making her willing to murder everyone in the air- not that she wouldn't have in the first place.

The cafeteria was buzzing with activity as the remaining applicants ate their meals or talked with one another. Ignoring the gazes that clung to her back, Akumi started grabbing anything that she recognized. A quick scan of the cafeteria revealed Hisoka and Illumi sitting in one of the corner booths, with plenty of room for her to sit.

"I'm not interrupting your alone time with each other, am I?" she asked, her voice the exact opposite of her appearance, which was still covered in blood from the previous stages.

"No." Hisoka replied, shuffling his deck of cards around. "But it is rather off-putting when the person sitting next to me is covered in blood."

"Well it's not like you haven't been in the same position," Akumi said in between bites of food. "And if I hadn't cut down as many people as I did, someone's brother might have fallen down the ravine."

"Click clack clack clack."

"Sure Illumi, a kid without nen would have definitely survived that fall."

"Technically, the fall wasn't supposed to kill you," Hisoka said, staring intently at his card tower he had begun to build.

"Hm, I don't really remember them saying that."

"Well, you were a bit preoccupied with staring down the chairman and glaring death at that gourmet hunter."

Finding no good reply for that, Akumi resumed her eating, occasionally blowing down Hisoka's card tower. After the third time, he gave up and, sending a glare at Akumi, dealt out five cards to both her and Illumi.

"Seeing as you find my cards so entertaining, let's play a few rounds of poker."

Once the game had begun, a deadly calm fell upon the trio. All three sat silently, attempting to discern telltale signs of a fib in each other's faces. Akumi's face turned cold and calculating, switching between gazing intently at the cards and having a stare off with either Illumi or Hisoka, the later of which simply wiggling his eyebrows and shooting a grin at the blood manipulator. Illumi's face stayed as it usually did. A rock would have been more expressive.

After thirty minutes, Akumi knew something was up. Counting cards was not the most polite thing to do – not that she cared about propriety in the first place – but she knew something was up. Hisoka suddenly threw his cards down, the five cards causing her eyes to nearly pop out of her face.

"What the fuck, there's no way that's possible." Akumi stared down at the cards in disbelief. How the fuck had that happened?

"Counting cards are we?" The grin on Hisoka's face turned towards her, issuing a personal challenge again her pride.

"We both know that all three of us are counting, Clown Face, and the fact that you happened to grab all four aces and a king is complete bullshit."

"But Akumi, don't you trust me?"

A small snort of disbelief came from her. "I trust you about as much as I trust Pin Head to not kill me if I harm his brother. I'm done with this. You two keep on playing."

The magician in question chuckled, before dealing out the next hand to Illumi. Akumi leaned back in her seat, turning her attention from the card game to the other applicants. Killua seemed to still be with the group he had joined with at the swamp, where they all munched on food. Others were scattered about, talking in small groups of three or four. The ninja sat in a group with the animal poacher and sniper, and was currently boasting about his training days.

"That ninja is annoying," she stated, eyes trailing back to the card game.

"There's a chance he might be interesting in the future, though," Hisoka replied, throwing the makeshift chips into a pile.

"Before you get him, I wanna have some fun with him." A smirk appeared on her face. "I wanna see if he can keep up that sort of talking when I start cracking his fingers."

"Click clack click click."

Nen began to pool about Illumi's head. 'The green boy is able to hear us. Let's move somewhere else.'

Without a word, the trio gathered the cards and walked out, immediately turning towards one of the many storage rooms within the airship. Opening the door, Akumi found two people that were sleeping in the corner, heads braced against the wall. Leaning over them, a red blade appeared, pressed against the neck of the one on the right. His eyes snapped open, immediately going to the sharp object that was pressed against his throat.

"Wakey wakey."

"You always make a mess, Akumi."

"Not like you haven't dealt with it before during one of our missions, Illumi."

"Just clean it up."

The trio stood at the entrance of the room, staring down at the floor where a large puddle of red resided, taking up over half of the sitting space. Illumi had removed his needles after she had killed the two applicants, and was currently polishing the yellow heads.

Walking through the blood to stand in the center of it, Akumi cut open her right hand and placed it against the ground. The nen in her blood mixed with the blood on the ground, until the puddle glowed with the burgundy aura. Now able to control the blood, she formed it into a bubble measuring half a meter in diameter.

"I'll be back once I dispose of this." Looking down, she realized that she was coated with blood and, after a pause, added it to the bloody ball with a wave of her hand.

After the door closed behind her, Hisoka waited a moment before beginning to speak.

"So she can only control blood with her nen in it?"

"Yes," Illumi replied, taking a seat on the ground. "She's good for cleaning up messy crime scenes, but I rarely had use for it." The yellow pins were good at making clean kills, and very rarely did they actually cause blood to flow.

"So how long has she been with you?"

"Five years." Seeing the raised eyebrow that Hisoka was giving him, Illumi continued on. "Killed her parents at fourteen, killed her master a year later, and decided to show up at our house when she was sixteen."

"Five years? What made her stick with you that long?"

"She was looking for adventure, and knew that she had to be stronger in order to find it. So she trained with us."

"I find it rather difficult to believe that your father and grandfather would just let a stranger join the ranks of the family."

"She doesn't know much about us." That in itself was true. His father had been very careful when giving missions to Akumi, only ever allowing her to partner with Illumi so that she knew little of the other family members' capabilities, and even then, she was only sent out on missions that demanded significant violence and little in the way of subtle politics.

Somewhere around a year ago, Illumi had noticed a difference in her, though at first he wasn't sure what it was. It was only until she started actively participating in Killua's training sessions that he realized what it was. She was hiding something, while at the same time learning as much as she could about the family. And she had finally put all that knowledge to use by pushing Killua past the tipping point.

He supposed that he should have counted himself lucky that it had taken four years to realize how little trust the family had in her. Sure, she knew Kalluto's nen, and Illumi's to an extent, but she knew nothing of his father's or grandfather's nen. All the girl knew about his mother was that she specialized in poisons, and she didn't even know that Alluka existed. That would be bad. Very bad.

Illumi knew that after the hunter exams, with Killua in tow, things would change within the Zoldyck household. He didn't believe that his father would kill her, as Zeno prefered her alive, but there was the question of whether or not she would still be allowed to stay with them after the exam. The hindrances that she could bring to Killua's training would most likely outweigh the benefits of allowing her to remain among them. And Illumi had a feeling that she would be leaving soon.

Turning the corner, Akumi finally found an exit sign that pointed the way to the outside. Carrying around a giant ball of blood was not the most entertaining thing in the world, but she knew that putting it anywhere else would just lead to some lecture from Illumi that she didn't want to hear.

"I come from a family of assassins."

Pausing, Akumi lowered the ball of blood to the ground and morphed its shape and consistency into a solid cube. Taking a seat on it, she looked out from the corner to see Green boy and Killua talking.

Hm, seems like he's talking about the family. Leaning forward, she listened to the Zoldyck heir as he talked about what he wanted to do.

"I want to catch them as a bounty hunter and turn them in."

Akumi had to hold back a snort of disbelief as she heard him say that. That boy doesn't even know what he's getting himself into. Not only was he nowhere close to beating his older brother, much less his parents, he didn't even know that nen existed. He wouldn't even last a minute in a fight against his father.

Continuing to listen to Killua, Akumi was barely able to keep her seat solid, she was so amused by the delusions that the boy had over his family. Leaning forward just a little too much, her right arm brushed against the green plant that she sat behind. Immediately, Killua paused in the conversations, eyes zeroing in on the plant. But Akumi had already vanished, and the only thing that he had been able to see was the flash of a shiny red object before they were both gone.

Before he could get up and attempt to follow the shadow, Issac Netero appeared down the corridor, mischief in his eyes.

Beans walked into the room, balancing a tray of tea in one hand and reading an email on his phone with the other. Sitting down on the sofa, he glanced around at the examiners before grabbing one of the cups of tea. No one had touched the food and any person that was observing the group would see the tensed positions and cautious air that surrounded them.

None of them had missed the killing intent that had been released moments before and they were all now concentrating on the aura that was walking through the halls. They all tensed as they felt the aura stop, resting at an intersection.

"Who do you think it is?" Beans asked, breaking the tension that was in the room.

Menchi scoffed, before leaning forward to take a cup of tea. "Is that really a question? It's that nen user, the one that threw my knife back at me."

"How many do you think she killed?" Beans asked after taking a sip. He had to hide a grimace as he swallowed it. He forgot to add sugar.

"Not near as many as previously," Satotz said, back hunched as he continued to observe the aura that was still located at the intersection. "I know she took out at least one navigator before the exam even began. And then she had to have taken out at least half a dozen in the swamp with number 44."

"They're a dangerous combination, her and that jester," said Buhara. "She took out another dozen or so at Split Mountain."

Beans thought for a moment before pulling out a laptop. Starting it up, he slid his hunter card out of his pocket and opened up the Hunter Association website. "What number was she again? I know it's normally frowned upon, but we can look her up."

"Number 63," Satotz said, getting up to look at the computer. Menchi and Buhara both got up to join him, before sitting back down as Beans displayed the laptop screen on the television.

"Akumi Chisio. 21 years old. Born in Creah, a town on the outskirts of Kakin. Parents died in a fire when she was 14 and then she disappeared for 7 years until signing up for this hunter exam."

"Fire," Buhara mumbled to himself, staring at the single document about the applicant.

"Most likely killed them herself then," Menchi said, reaching for a cookie. "But why at such a young age? Did she know nen at that point?"

"Beans," Satotz said, standing up from his seat. "Find out other information about Akumi if you can. We don't have any concrete reason for kicking her out, but I want to find out as much about her as possible."

After dumping the blood off the airship, Akumi decided that now was the best time to do some training. Taking one of Illumi's needles, she plunged it into her neck, watching as the landscape passed below her.

After she had drained the two needles she had in her back pocket, she sat down and began meditating, the aura around her for once having a smooth flow to it. She glanced at the time before closing her eyes. I'll go four hours before going to check on Illumi and Hisoka. She let a smirk appear on her face for a moment. I'll let them have their alone time.

Three hours and twenty seven minutes later, thirty three minutes too early, Akumi was snapped out of her trance by the loud laughter of a bald ninja near the door that she was leaning against. Not annoyed enough to attack the ninja, she opted to continue sitting in front of the door, until she realized that the voice wasn't going away. That bastard's going to pay for making me get up. Hoisting herself up from the ground, she peeked through the window, slightly surprised to find that he was in fact down the hall and around a corner from her location.

How loud is this guy talking? Unsure whether to be impressed or annoyed at the power of his voice, Akumi opened the door, carefully closing it behind her before walking towards the source. Before turning the corner, she formed a single throwing dagger in her right hand, aiming for the brain stem located at the back of the ninja's neck.

"Well Hanzo," the man beside him seemed to be struggling to think of something to say, obviously internally debating whether or not to tell his companion to politely fuck off. "that's all very interesting."

The dagger was about to leave her hand when the ninja, Hanzo, suddenly turned around, eyes narrowed as he tried to find the source of his intuition's warning. His eyes finally settled on the small piece of silver that was shining in the moonlight, before following the shadow of a silhouette to form the image of a body.

Opening his mouth to comment, his attention went from the mysterious figure to behind him, where he was just barely able to discern the thump of something hitting the ground. Pausing his movements for a moment, he turned towards the source of the sound. The sound of bodies hitting the floor was distinct, and both he and Akumi instantly recognized it. Seconds later, he could smell the coppery scent of blood. Gereta, noticing that it was actually silent for once – Hanzo had been talking for an hour straight – turned the same direction that Hanzo was facing.

"Something wrong?" Gereta asked, noticing the tensed posture that his companion had.

"Two people were just killed." Hanzo's demeanor had changed completely, going from a happy, talkative, slightly annoying guy, to a cold, silent statue. He had gone from a friend to a predator in seconds.

"Killed! Wh-"

"We're leaving." Leaving no room for arguments, Hanzo turned the opposite way and began walking quickly. He stayed out of things like this.

He didn't notice that there was no longer someone standing in the shadows.

As soon as the bodies had hit the floor, Akumi had slipped silently away, taking an alternate route to the source. Pausing at the corner of the corridor, she saw the pool of blood that was slowly flowing down the hall. She peeked her head around the corner, and upon seeing the mess of white hair that she knew belonged to Killua, she let a knowing smirk cross her face. That kid finally cracked, she thought, staring thoughtfully at the bloody puddle.

She cut her finger open and placed it in the puddle, waiting patiently as the nen spread up the red stream to the bodies. The nen flowed into the bodies, spreading through each vein and artery. Once the body had been completely engulfed by her nen, she concentrated, focusing on the blood vessels that were around the eyes. Her own blood barely took up any concentration, but damn, controlling two complete bodies was hard.

She let the blood vessels near the eyes pop, allowing the blood to flow down their face. Next, she switched her concentration to a single body, forcing the muscles in the lungs to push the air outwards, creating a low moaning sound.

The effect was immediate. Killua jumped in the air, spinning to face the moaning body that was supposed to be dead because goddammit, you don't live through getting your throat ripped out. Before the shock could give way to horror, he turned back around at the sound of footsteps walking towards him.

Akumi had allowed some of the blood to splash onto her clothes, making her look just as bloody as Killua felt. Her face was lit up by a massive grin and had he not experienced it himself, he would have thought that she had killed the two examinees hers-

The sensation of something grabbing his ankle stopped his thought process before he could finish. Reacting on instinct, he kicked backwards, before moving his leg to the side to dislocate the arm socket. A hard tug forward created a sick ripping sound as he wrenched the arm off the body.

Akumi watched the scene, intently concentrating though she didn't show it. Getting the hand to grab Killua hadn't been as hard as making the corpse moan, but making all the fingers move together wasn't easy. And knowing that he would try to get the hand off of him, she had quickly gotten the blood to cut the major ligaments, making it easier to detach the limb.

The mad grin on her face had calmed down to a knowing smirk and, turning around she walked back the way she came, letting the blood drip onto the floor. Pausing before rounding the corner, she turned around and stared at Killua, who was still staring shell-shocked at her.

"Embrace it."

Akumi stared down the side of the tower, trying to guess if she would survive the fall or not. Screams interrupted her thought process and, turning to the right, she watched as an examinee was carried off by a flying beast. She continued to watch, amused when she saw the beast take a bite out of his shoulder. A second passed, and then she could hear the scream that had come from the applicant. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Killua stiffen. He looked like he was dead on his feet, though when the green boy, Gon talked to him, he put on a fake front.

Don't try that, Killua, it'll only make things worse in the long run.

"That guy was eaten!" Yes, thank you Mr. Ninja for stating the obvious. Ignoring the long speech that she knew was coming from his mouth, she peered over the edge. Hmm, maybe I could make it. But would those birds come and eat me? Grabbing an unfortunate examinee, she threw him over the edge, watching as he fell. Right before he hit the ground, a bird came flying out of nowhere, plucking him from his free fall. Ignoring the incredulous looks of everyone around her, she walked away from the edge, thinking of another way to get down while pacing.

Hmmm, so I can't fall down unless I want hundreds of those birds attacking me. Where else cou- Her foot went through on of the tiles and, looking down, she saw that it led to a room below. Lifting her foot out, she tapped the tile again, where it stayed firmly stuck. So we get in through trap doors. Looking up, she realized that several people had disappeared already including Hisoka and Hanzo.

She walked towards Illumi, and upon getting his attention, pushed down at a tile to her right. He immediately got the idea and, within moments, was subtly pushing down tiles with her.

'What happened to Killua?'

The nen flowed in front of her face, causing her to pause for a moment in her tapping.

"I gave him a spook last night. Seemed to affect him pretty badly." Seeing Illumi's questioning look, she elaborated. "He killed two examinees and I thought it would be fun for the corpses to grab his ankle while talking to me."

Without a word, Illumi shoved her forward, and the next moment, she was falling down one of the tiles into a room before.

"AHH! Who was that!?" Oh, hell no.

Akumi turned around, trying to keep her temper in check.

"So you're my partner for the third phase!"

No Akumi, you can't stab him. No stabby stab. No.

A few seconds passed as she reassessed her position.

Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck fuck you Illumi. You fucking knew this was going to happ- She stared down at the bracelet that he had just snapped onto her arm: 71:25

That little fucker, Illumi, had pushed her into a room with Hanzo.

Hehe, next chapter is going to be fun. Yes! We have reached Trick Tower! In case any of you guys need your memories jogged for this phase, applicants must reach the bottom of this tower within 3 days. I'm hoping that this can be done in a single chapter so we can move onto Zevil island, but we'll have to see as I'm frankly clueless as to how I'm gonna do this phase except for a few scenes. Just know that there will be much comic relief. Unless I just feel stabby that day... then we'll see.

Anyways... how are all my lovelies? I have to thank everyone here for sticking with me even though I disappeared off the earth for a while there. I sure as heck know that this next chapter won't take as long to publish as this one. Don't forget to review, favorite, and follow, and thank you to those that already have!

Stay fabulous.