"Eleven of us will enter the palace through the portals Nob set up with his 4-D Apartment. That includes myself, Nob, Morel, Knuckle, Shoot, Killua, Gon, Joey, Palm, Meleoron, and Ikalgo."
Kite pointed at the map spread across the floor, calmly briefing the team.
"Chairman Netero will arrive from outside Pitou's En radius and breach a few seconds after us. Our job is to use those few seconds to lure the Royal Guards away from the King."
"Once we suddenly appear inside the palace, their instinctual response will be…"
Before anyone could finish the thought, Gon responded:
"They'll shield the King with their bodies."
Knuckle nodded, laying out a diagram showing the King at the center, with the three Royal Guards flanking him in a triangular formation—classic protective positioning.
Meleoron stepped forward:
"That's when I make my move."
"I see…" Killua rubbed his chin, seriously following the breakdown. "So who's going to go with Meleoron as the decisive attacker—Joey or Knuckle?"
"Knuckle," Kite replied without hesitation.
"While Joey's ability can silently eliminate most Chimera Ants, there's still the risk it can be resisted. The Royal Guards and the King are far beyond conventional logic. We need consistency, and Knuckle's ability—though less explosive—is more dependable when paired with Meleoron."
"Besides, Joey's Nen beast is critical to our contingency plan. I'll be taking him and Palm as a backup and tactical response team."
Nob adjusted his glasses.
"My ability can potentially result in instant kills… but against powerful Chimera Ants with unpredictable sixth senses, there are too many variables."
Nob wasn't wrong, but that wasn't the whole truth. The real reason Joey wasn't teamed with Meleoron as a frontline assassin was due to a specific limitation in their synergy.
When Joey approaches the target under Meleoron's Perfect Plan, and tries to activate Killer Queen, the Stand appears outside the bounds of Meleoron's concealment. Even for a fraction of a second, that brief reveal is enough.
The issue lies in the nature of Stands versus Nen constructs.
Against ordinary enemies, that flash of visibility—perhaps less than 0.1 seconds—would be negligible. But not against the Royal Guards.
Even a flicker is enough for Pitou or Youpi to annihilate both Joey and Meleoron on the spot.
That's the chasm between them.
The difference in aura volume, control, and strength is so massive that even a basic Nen-enhanced punch from a Royal Guard would be a death sentence.
So for Joey, this would be a suicide mission.
And Joey wasn't insane.
That responsibility fell to Knuckle.
Still, paired with Nob, Joey could serve as a wild card—and Joey was satisfied with that. After all, he hadn't revealed Killer Queen's true ability, the erasure effect, to Kite or the others yet.
No one would reasonably assume that an ability that leaves chunks of Nen-flesh behind from minor ants could actually atomize the Royal Guards or even the King.
And Joey didn't mind.
In fact, he was relieved not to be on the front line.
Unless you've faced Neferpitou head-on, you don't understand what that pressure is like. For Joey, it wasn't about letting your guard down—it was about the moment she notices you. That's when you die.
As for Nob's point about instinct and sixth sense… yes, they exist. But if every attack could be dodged through pure instinct, no sure-kill ability would work. That's why it's a gamble.
Approaching the King and the Royal Guards was a high-stakes bet:
Win, and you take everything.
Lose, and your body becomes ash.
Even though their odds were better than in the original timeline, Joey didn't care about "easy victory." He cared about not getting turned to paste.
Besides, Gold Experience was far more useful in the backline.
If someone fell, Joey might be able to save them in time.
The next part of the meeting focused on contingencies—enemy commanders like Hagya (now going by Leol) and his comrade Shirin, plus a wolf and crayfish-type Chimera Ant Nob had seen.
Two days remained until the Selection began.
Outside Peijing, civilians were arriving en masse.
Over a million people had gathered—an ocean of heads filling the plains.
Peijing's earlier silence had stirred suspicion, but the puppet soldiers easily crushed any dissent.
Morel was the only one left in Peijing, using his Smoke Troopers to harass the palace and make it seem like the team might sneak in alongside the masses.
On the eve of the Selection—
With 15 hours left until the zero hour, everyone regrouped inside Nob's 4-D Apartment.
It was time for the final review.
And time for mental preparation.
Killua raised a point again, his eyes sharp:
"If the King and all three Royal Guards are inside the Royal Hall—third floor of the central tower—then we follow the plan.
But what if they're not?"
Gon and Ikalgo both turned toward him.
"Isn't that unlikely?" Gon asked.
"Not very likely," Killua admitted, "but it's the kind of fluke that happens."
"That's contradictory," Gon frowned.
"We studied their routines carefully to choose this time for a reason," Killua explained, raising a finger.
"We calculated they'd be there—almost certainly."
Joey chimed in:
"So it's like we're waiting by the tree for the rabbit to crash into it."
"Exactly," Killua nodded.
"But in my 'previous job', that's exactly when the rabbit does something no one predicted."
"Things that never happen—happen on days like this."
He sighed:
"Before, we could always delay. Wait for the right moment.
But not this time. This is it. Once we start—there's no going back."
"And if something goes wrong…"
"A single moment of hesitation could kill us all."
____________________________________________________________________________________
For this week I will do more release depending on the power stones !
100 Power Stones = 1 chapter (in addition to the daily update)
So give stones if you want mooooar !