Part 53: The X Other X Arm

SECCO RASVIN

The train didn't fail me to get annoyed by its noise. Every second of waiting in my seat towards our destination made my ears ached repeatedly. This isn't the best transportation, compared to other vehicles I rode, but this is the only way towards the Republic of East Gorteau, which we'll be starting our plan of infiltration against the Chimera Ants.

According to the information given by Knuckle and Shoot, and Palm's masters, the Chimera Ant Queen finally took the birth of the King, and killed his very own mother during the process. Then, he flew away to find a place to start his invasion along with his Royal Guards.

I didn't expect for these monsters to have so much high intelligence. Is it because of the human genes of their past life that got attached to their body?

Speaking of this kind of information, Grenno gave me a special mission to find the Chimera Ant Wynn which had the same genes as Pisacco.

Even though he insisted me to stay with me since I couldn't control my arm at all, he's still respecting my decision of finishing this goal by myself. I started to feel bad about myself thinking that he is just trying to use me in the future.

Gon also met up with Kite, whom he wanted to rescue so much since the day we met. But it seems like he wasn't himself anymore when he arrived. Even though I didn't meet him before, I'm sure that those actions he showed to Gon in the previous days didn't come from a human at all.

"Ahem."

As I was spacing out with my never-ending worries about what's gonna happen during my mission, I heard someone trying to catch my attention.

I went back to reality and turned my head towards the hallway of the train. I raised my head a little high to see a large well-built man in front of me, wearing a pair of glasses, keeping us from seeing his eyes. If I'm correct, based on his appearance, this might be Morel, master of Knuckle and Shoot. I couldn't be able to meet them before, since they were busy preparing for the infiltration.

"You're Secco, right?" He said with his deep voice that could scare any kid when they hear it. "Grenno's student."

"Y-Yes." I stuttered in my words, couldn't be able to talk properly as his strong aura made my body hair stood on their own, and sweats started to drop from my cheeks. I didn't think that this man would be so intimidating.

"He said that you have a distorted arm... which you couldn't control." He followed after my reply. Every word he spits sends chills down my spine.

"Y-Yes..." I answered, scared, and embarrassed at the same time. Hearing and reminding me that I still can't control my arm really hurt my whole identity. It feels like I'm useless and a burden to anyone, especially to my friends.

"If you let it loose during the fight, all will fail and everything will be in chaos. Try to control it." He said as he is still wearing his poker face.

"O-Okay..." The only thing I said since I couldn't be able to react properly because of his aura. I didn't know that the top pro Hunters, especially when it's someone by Chairman Netero's side, would be this scary.

After my answer, he gave me a short smile on his face and turned around to go back on his seat. I widened my eyes at his expression since I didn't expect him to be that soft. Sometimes, the cover didn't match the book.

***

At last, the day of the infiltration came and we all started to come up with a plan to enter further into the Republic of East Gorteau. Soon, the selection will start and every town and village under the country will be in chaos.

After finding a deserted village to settle, we started talking about our plans to deal with our enemy, one of the Royal Guards named Neferpitou. I never seen our opponent before, but based on Gon and Killua's reaction to that name, it looks like he's the worst living creature they've ever seen in their entire life. And he's also the one who is controlling the body of Kite. I understand why Gon was really mad about it.

Killua suggested his plan that we should start a commotion to distract the Chimera Ants. But since there is a Manipulator in their group, which is Neferpitou, he said that we should take over who's controlled and cause panic to the citizens.

We all agreed to his plan, but he suddenly brought up that Gon shouldn't do it and must go on hiding, since our goal was to defeat that Royal Guard. The other hesitated, but later accepted since he had a point.

Killua and I started to move out of our separate ways to execute our plan. When we were about to leave, I felt my heart ached at the situation we're in. Somehow, Gon is not himself anymore. It's like his heart was full of anger towards that Neferpitou guy, as well as Killua and this isn't the first time I've noticed that. It looks like this infiltration is very important to them.

I ended up in a gigantic wood filled with tall trees that could reach the moon above me. It's been hours since I've started walking away from my friends, and every time I took a step, I'm doubting this strategy. But I know that Killua isn't going to provide a plan if he knew it won't work in the end.

I continued to let myself get lost in my thoughts when suddenly, a strong and powerful Aura enveloped my surroundings. I immediately grabbed my bandage to get ready for a fight. My heart started to beat faster and my sweats dripped from my head.

At any time, these people could charge towards and attacked me with their blows. I didn't move a single muscle in my body and just switched my vision from left to right, trying to catch any movements from the trees.

After a minute of waiting, they finally sprinted forward and attempted to land a hit towards me. But fortunately, I enhanced my bandage's durability and strength at the same time that they'd attacked. I took a peek at the two attackers which are both Chimera Ants; one was a dog, and one was a bee.

I quickly jumped into the air to dodge their attacks on both sides and threw my bandage towards their body. The dog man evaded my attack, and only caught the bee in my bandage' range.

The bee tried to get free from it in many ways but to no avail. My bandages aren't ordinary, after all. No one can get away from it nor tear it apart. As my capture tried to resist its strength, I tightened the grip to keep him suffocated until his death.

He started choking in his position, couldn't be able to get away as my bandage attempted to crush his whole body up to his heart. But suddenly, I sensed a small release of Aura coming from my back, causing me to let go of my captive and created a defensive pose.

The dog man from behind struck a powerful punch with great force on my back, making me fly into the air and towards one of the trees. I successfully used my technique 'Silk Armour' to avoid further injuries on my back before he launched his blow, but the intense pain took all of my air inside and caused my brain to ache.

They both stood up in their own position, didn't move an inch towards me. I started to stand up, preparing my bandage on my hands, even though the pain I received earlier still echoed all over my body.

"You smell familiar." The dog-man said out of the blue, as he sniffed towards my direction.

"What?" I raised my eyebrow, baffled because of his words. A mix of confusion and curiosity filled my mind that I forgot that they're enemies that I'll be facing.

"Your arm." He answered my question while pointing at my distorted arm. My eyes widened out because of his sudden actions. I tried to cover and hide it from their sight, but it looks like it's too late now.

Why did he point at my arm? Does he know that it's cursed? But how? It's completely hidden. And what does he mean that I smell familiar? Multiple questions formed in my mind.

"What about it?" I asked him with a cold expression in my face. Of course, I mustn't let my guard down in front of them, but I'm curious about what he knows about my arm.

"It has the same smell as Manisty." He answered with a poker face like he wasn't leaking any information at all.

"Manisty?" I tried to go further to what he was about to say, but I have a feeling that all of this wasn't true at all.

Could this be a bait to lure me into their trap? Part of me wanted to believe what he was saying since it's a step forward in knowing about my arm, but part of me was doubting it. He's an enemy, after all.

"She's a—"

Before he can tell any new information about what he knew about my arm, I was suddenly faced with a corpse. The dog man that was alive earlier, became pale and blue. His eyes were lifeless and his body became wrinkled and slim.

I gasped as I couldn't be able to know what happened to my opponent. It's like his life was being sucked out of him, and he was unaware of it. After a minute of watching him struggling to breathe, his body finally fell down on the ground, with no sign of life.

"Tch. He's really noisy." The bee spoke out of the blue, as he crossed his skinny arms on his chest, looking at the dead body of his comrade. "Manisty already said that no one should tell any information to the enemy. Yet he didn't listen."

My whole body was shaking as I heard what he said, couldn't believe that he had no care about his friend.

"He's your comrade!" I shouted at him as my eyebrows are finally met each other and my head was boiling, wishing to treat him badly.

He didn't. He didn't care about his friend at all. And the fact that he saved him from my bandage, only to be betrayed, really broke my heart for him. I know that the dog-man was an enemy, but even though that's our place, he didn't deserve to die like that.

"He's leaking information." The bee tried to defend himself. "Even your side doesn't want that, right?"

"But killing him isn't the way!" I answered back, trying to stop my anger at him. Any minute now, my arm should be growing and turning into a monster, and I couldn't help but hope that it will happen, even though I know it's dangerous. But somehow, I couldn't feel anything from it, just like what happened to me in the Greed Island.

"We're not the same as all of you, humans. We don't forgive or forget. A sin is a sin." This is his answer and started to prepare his battle pose.

Because of the hatred, I feel around me, I decided to use one of my special techniques. I tried to be alert around my surroundings as I concentrated on performing one of my techniques. I can feel every edge of my bandage turned into sharp saw blades and their strength increased enough to sliced through anything.

Suddenly, I can sense him struck at my position using his stingy hands. But I dodged it and sprinted on the left to avoid any attacks coming from him.

And at the same time, I threw one of my bandages towards his direction. Not the same as before, he dodged it by ducking his head to the ground, causing the trees behind him to be cut off instead.

He took this opportunity to strike a blow from under me, sticking a wicked smile on his face, claiming the victory. But what he didn't know... is that he fell into my trap.

As he reached for me using his hands, I prepared the other bandage from my left hand and swung it towards his direction.

"Who said I have only one bandage?" I said, still filled with anger.

Then, in an instant, I saw his body being cut in half in just one single second. His house blood rushed like it came from a sprinkler and spread everywhere, including my clothes. Soon, it fell from the ground with a quiet thud.

His head is still moving and tried to speak, but I couldn't hear any word coming from his head. I walked forward towards him and stepped on his head, stopping him from saying anything.

After several minutes of waiting, his head finally became lifeless and the whole environment surrounding me became quiet. I stared at the moon shining brightly above me, as it gave light to the dark woods.

The long silence calmed me down and made me forget about the anger that I felt earlier. Somehow, my mind is at peace, with no opponents coming to strike me.

Satisfied with my brain's current status, I started walking through the deep dark woods, continuing the infiltration plan, while thinking about the new information I've got.

Manisty... who is she?

***

NARRATION

The rain didn't stop pouring from the sky as the dark cloud enveloped the whole city of Cantaran, making the citizens feel like they've been under a dark spell.

In a beerhouse as lonely as the sky, she couldn't be able to stay calm and walked back and forth in her position. The nail of her thumb was stuck between her teeth, couldn't be able to get it off because of her anxiety.

After half an hour of this unusual routine coming from her, the building's only door from the outside finally opened, as no one didn't touch it since the bad weather came in.

She turned her head around, with her purple hair bounced along with her motions. She stared at the boy that was standing on the doorway, his clothes, backpack, and hair became wet in the rain. His breathing became unusual like anytime soon, he will run out of air.

"Archi!" With her eyebrows separated from each other, she rushed towards the kid's side, trying to assist him. Then, she turned around to the workers around her, who was also worried as her. "Bring a towel and a glass of water!"

The subordinates followed her orders with no complaints and quickly ran towards the kitchen.

Archi, who was still breathing for air, felt an intense pain in his head. He couldn't think properly, and all of his senses are slowly fading away. He raised his head to look at his master, Java, who was worriedly looking at him.

He can only see the blurry vision of her face, but he knew that it was her. Everything around him wasn't clear, and everyone's faces were hidden. He can hear their yells and shouts at him, but it echoed too much in his brain that he couldn't be able to understand what they were saying.

Then, after struggling to bring back his senses, he finally closed both of his eyes, couldn't be able to take the blurry vision and the echoing voices. And all he saw was complete darkness.