𝐀 𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐃 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄 | kny x hxh

Chapter 24: Gon's Trial

...

"Sorry to keep you all waiting. I've drawn out the brackets."

The other examiners in the room glanced at the sheet in the chairman's hands.

"What?"

"Is this.."

"Chairman.."

"Are you serious?"

From the baffled comments, the old man simply laughed, "Of course I'm serious!"

"With that look on his face, he's serious," Satotz muttered, earning a gasp from Menchi.

"Really? That's a serious look?"

...

"Now everyone, for the Final Phase. All fifteen of you will have a one-on-one tournament."

This declaration earned a collective gasp from the contestants.

"Does that mean the only one who wins the last round will become a Hunter?" Leorio muttered.

"No. You only need one win to qualify," Netero explained, "The winner will qualify. And the ones who lose will advance to the next round. Which means, the top position signifies disqualification. Do you understand now?"

"In short, there will only be one person who will fail the exam," Hanzo concluded.

"Precisely."

The tension in the room only seemed to grow as Netero walked over to the board.

"Now, then! Here's the bracket!"

The contestants eagerly watched the curtain fall, revealing the order in which the one-on-one battles would be taking place. Tanjiro noticed something strange about the rankings, none of the demon slayers would face the other unless they lost twice.

Gon vs Hanzo

The first battle would take place between these two. Then, whoever lost would take on Kanao. Instinctively, Tanjiro glanced at her, only to see her with the same smile playing on her face. Genya looked over at Tanjiro and gave him a reassuring nod.

Don't worry, she'll be fine.

"It took me a while to come up with this," Netero sighed, "Anyway, I allowed each of you to have at least two chances to win your rounds."

"That's true, but for numbers 294 (Hanzo) and 405 (Gon), they have seven chances." Pokkle muttered confusedly.

"What is the reason for this bias?" Bodoro questioned, causing all eyes to land on the chairman.

"Hm. I knew you would ask that. The bracket is based on how well you performed during the last exams. Simply put, those who performed exceptionally well will have more chances."

His answer caused a collective and confused sigh, then whispered complaints began to erupt in the room.

"I can't accept that kind of reason," Killua argued, "Can you tell us what the scores of our performance were?"

"Hm," Netero hummed as though in thought.

"NO!!"

The other participants in the room visibly jumped from the old man's outburst.

"HUH? Why not?!"

"YEAH WHAT THE HELL WHITE BEARD?" Inosuke shouted, clearly offended at being placed after Kanao and the other contestants. The chairman simply laughed.