Noticing this, Gon quickly sat up. "What happened!?"

Next to him, Leorio breathed a sigh of relief. "You're awake. Thank goodness you weren't too injured."

Gon looked around. They were in another corridor, this time an undamaged one. "Where's the collapse?"

"Just in the other hallway." Leorio answered. "After some of the debris knocked you out, I used my Emitter Nen ability to quickly launch us into the next hallway, just before the rubble could bury you." He sighed in relief. "It was a close one."

Gon felt fine. His head didn't hurt and he was just as energetic as before. "How long-"

"Don't worry." Leorio said. "You were only asleep for a few minutes. I used the healing magic I learned here to heal you. So we still have time."

Gon rushed to his feet. "That collapse means that the SIA know we're here! We need to hurry now!"

"Yeah, let's get going." Leorio sighed again. "I hope Erza and Kurapika, where ever he is, are okay too. They also need to hurry."

"Then let's go!" Gon said, running off.

And so, now on the clock, the Hunters set out in order to complete the final stretch of their mission.

Kurapika quickly began to aim his swords before his enemy could make the first move. But he was too late. The man grabbed hold of the edge of his cloak and flicked it up.

And then... darkness.

Kurapika was still awake. But he couldn't see a thing. Taken aback by this, he wasn't able to stop the kick that came to his side.

Kurapika quickly grounded his feet to avoid being flung away. Gritting his teeth at the pain, the "lights" came on again. The man was there again, his clock falling back down his feet.

Kurapika quickly recovered. He ran forward with his swords and the man fully expected an attack.

But instead, at the very last second, Kurapika threw away his swords and instead, clutched the man's two hands.

The man struggled to get away. He then smirked. "You think I actually need to touch my cloak to activate my ability?"

Then, darkness again. Kurapiak was still surprised by this, but wasn't completely unprepared. He maintained his grip.

However, with a violent twist, his opponent broke away and Kurapika found himself lost again.

He has to be close by, Kurapika thought. Suddenly, Kurapika felt an energy. And it was a very familiar one. Where had he felt it before?

Right! From his Archive! Kurapika was sensing magic energy. Well, this special energy that SIA used, that was almost like magic.

And it was heading right towards him.

In no time, Kurapika grasped another hand in the darkness. And he held on tight. Then, with his sword in the other hand, he slashed forward. He heard the sound of a body hitting the ground.

The lights turned on again. His opponent was on the ground. Slowly, he got to his feet. That hit hadn't been strong enough to take him down. "You little..."

But successful or not, Kurapika now had all the information he needed. Of course. Like aura, this energy was something that could be sensed. After training with Nen for so long, Kurapika's senses had improved.

He didn't need to be able to see in order to fight. And he had a plan.

Once his opponent had gotten to his feet, darkness enveloped the hall again, just as Kurapika had expected.

Now was the time. Kurapika activated his Ren and projected it towards his eyes. He activated Giyo.

It worked. The Nen technique that works so well in seeing aura, did wonders when it came to this energy. Kurapika could almost see the grayish outlines of his opponent's energy. And that was all he needed.

Your only advantage is your darkness. From there, you have to rely on your hand to hand combat skills, Kurapika thought. Which are very predictable. And once your opponent can overcome your advantage...

You're done for.

Kurapika "saw" his opponent head towards him, the common attack pattern. He quickly evaded the attack and took out his swords. Dodging the next few attacks gave Kurapika the opportunity to learn where his opponent was and where he was attacking from. And when he finally got a proper image of where his opponent actually was...

The lights turned back on. But this time, not by will. The scene that appeared instead was Kurapika standing his ground firmly with his swords.

As for his opponent, his cloak was shredded to piece, every fabric piece falling to the ground taking away his ability

"If you wanted to win this..." Kurapika began. "Maybe you shouldn't have made it so obvious that your cloak controls your powers."

Kurapiak could almost feel the anger from his opponent. He sighed. "I'm going to guess that this isn't your only ability."

The grin slowly came on his opponent's face. "... how did you figure?"

"Because someone so high in a guild's rankings wouldn't have such a weak power. You must have a backup." Kurapika said.

The sounds started as a snicker, but then it grew to very loud laughs coming from his opponent. "You should've turned back when you had the chance."

Suddenly, Kurapika could feel the man's energy multiplying. He had to shield himself with his arms to withstand the immense power he was feeling.

When it was over, the man was there, with waves of energy emitting from his hands, looking like they could cause a lot of damage.

"This is your last chance. I can destroy this place with one blast if I wanted to." The man snickered. "You can turn back now. Maybe then you can escape with your teammates. Why put them in danger in order to steal my toys?"

There was that word again. How little this man thought about his treasure collection, which meant everything to Kurapika. Kurapika sighed.

"I'm not stealing..."

The man looked in confusion as Kurapika put his head down and put his hand to his face. When he was done, he looked up.

His eyes were scarlet red. Triggered by will and ready to use.

"I'm taking back what's mine."

His opponent was shocked but quickly regained his composure. He made the connection. And smirked.

"Oh, so those pretty little eyes belong to you? They're mostly junk if you ask me. I'm waiting for some idiot to come along, who will pay good money for them."

That was the fatal mistake he made. The glare Kurapika shot him pierced his soul. Suddenly, the man began to feel actual fear.

Kurapika's chain appeared on his hands. He held them up dangerously, as if they were ready to slice open anything.

"You could have lost this easily..." Kurapika began. "Yes, I left my friends in order to achieve my own goals. But I would rather make those questionable choices than leave the eyes of my clan in the hands of scum like you."

Slowly, the chain of his pinkie finger unravelled. "I'm going to do everything to make sure my choices do not hurt my friends. I'll end this quickly. But..."

"Prepare to feel a world of pain."

The man tried to shake his fear away. He had power. He could win this. Reassuring himself with that, the man shot his blasts of power.

But this was nothing. After fighting in the dark, this was child's play for Kurapika. He easily dodged all of the blasts.

Finally, when he was at the perfect angle, Kurapika got ready to strike.

"Judgement Chain..." Kurapika aimed the small chain at the man's chest. His enemy let out a gasp of pain.

"What... did you do to me?!"

Kurapika slowly walked forward. "I have chained your heart. You now have to obey any rule I set for you."

Now, Kurapika was face to face with his opponent. "Now..."

"I forbid you to use any form of magic or power that you have. If you ever break this rule..."

"You die."

The man couldn't believe what he was hearing. He chuckled nervously. "You can't be serious about that. Who can do that? You're bluffing, you definitely are."

Kurapika's Scarlet Eyes turned to ice. "Do you care to test that theory?"

Seeing how serious his eyes were, the man quickly shook his head, certain he could die at any moment. "No, no, I lose, okay? Take whatever you want, just... leave me alone!"

"I will..." Kurapika said. He then used Emperor Time to enhance his fist.

With a loud smack, Kurapiak punched his opponent in the face with all his might. The man fell to the floor in crippling pain.

"This is for insulting the Kurta. I told you you'll feel pain." With that Kurapika got up. He looked at the path ahead of him. He needed to hurry.

He started off into a run. He was almost there. Almost.

And finally, he approached a little room. He entered.

He was surrounded by trinkets, some of clear worth. But Kurapika ignored all of that. He kept on walking through the room until...

There they were. Seated on a pedestal, there was a glass jar. And through it, were gleaming eyes.

Slowly and delicately, Kurapika picked up the jar. This was it. He had finished what he had come to do. He had won.

Closely looking at the eyes, Kurapika gave out a small gasp.

Yes, they were scarlet. But they were also pale. These were eyes that weren't used to getting angry, not used to turning that magnificent scarlet hue.

These were eyes that saw so little, yet could see so much. Kurapika automatically knew who's eyes these were.

"Pairo..." Kurapika said in barely a whisper.

Kurapika was vaguely aware of a tear rolling down his eye, thinking about his old friend, standing here, holding the only piece of him he'd ever have.

But maybe he was also happy. Maybe the fact that when this was over, he'd have new friends waiting, ready to forgive him for his mistakes, was enough to make him feel a little joy, despite everything he had lost.

"Kurapika... did you have fun? I want you to have a journey such that you can answer 'yes' from the bottom of your heart."

Pairo... I don't know the answer yet. But I think in the future.... I'll be close to getting there. I hope that's enough for now.

And so, feeling a little more complete than he had been when he arrived, Kurapika walked out of that room, out of the past, and into the future.

Where was Kurapika? Yes, she had enough trust in him, but she couldn't help but worry.

Suddenly, a huge blast made her jump back. The pile of rubble! She ran towards it.

It had been demolished, leaving a pathway open. When the smoke cleared, she saw who had destroyed it.

Kurapika. Erza almost sighed in relief. But something made her stop short.

His eyes were scarlet.

What had happened!? Erza began to imagine all the things that could have gone wrong. This couldn't happen now!

Kurapika saw the expression on Erza's face. "Erza..."

"Don't worry, I'm okay."

Erza's shock turned to confusion.

"I just needed to activate them in order to use my Nen to break the rubble. I'm fine." Kurapika said without hesitation.

When the smoke cleared more, Erza could see that in Kurapika's hands, was a small jar containing two eyes. Kurapika had gotten what he had come for. He was fine.

"Are you sure?" Erza carefully asked.

Immediately, Kurapika's eyes began to return to normal. A small smile appeared on his face.

"Yes, I'm sure."

He was sure.