"Hm, Killua's point is valid," Kite acknowledged with a nod.
"Even if the Royal Guards aren't in the Throne Room, as long as they're inside the palace, the operation can proceed. Pitou's En is vast enough to cover not only the entire palace but the surrounding courtyard—and then some."
Killua continued the analysis:
"In other words, our plan is to storm the palace and use the presence of that wicked aura to confirm if Pitou and the others are present.
Once we feel that malicious Nen, we follow it to its source—and we'll find them."
Nob picked up from there:
"The problem is, what if we don't sense Pitou's aura?
If they're not in the palace… or worse, they're in the palace but not using En, we'll be left stumbling around in the dark."
"Is that even possible?" Killua asked. "Would Pitou really deactivate their En while in the palace with the King?"
"It's possible," Nob confirmed.
"That's exactly what happened when Andre and I infiltrated. Pitou's En vanished without warning."
"That's what bothers me the most," Killua frowned. "I still can't figure out why."
Joey thought aloud:
"Maybe it has something to do with Pitou's ability. What if something happened inside the palace that forced Pitou to withdraw their En?"
"But what kind of reason could that be?" Killua pressed.
"If we can't answer that, then the very first challenge we face during the assault… might be that we can't even find the King."
Joey already had a theory.
There was only one event that could force Pitou to deactivate En: the King being injured.
And if the King was injured… then it probably meant that just like in the manga, he had already encountered Komugi, and begun his Gungi matches with her.
In that process, the King—frustrated—had torn off his own arm.
This would force Pitou to activate their healing Nen ability: Doctor Blythe (Toy Repairer).
That's the only time Pitou would ever deactivate their En.
But Nob's description introduced a wrinkle Joey couldn't ignore.
When Nob entered the central stairwell, what he sensed was Pouf's Nen—not Pitou's.
He encountered Pitou only as she descended, preparing to re-expand her En.
Which meant: Pitou had already completed the King's treatment far quicker than in the manga.
But then why hadn't she reactivated her En immediately after healing him?
Why only when descending the stairs?
Joey frowned.
Could Pitou's ability have changed?
Was it no longer Toy Repairer?
If so, what Nen ability had she used to heal the King?
Or was there another reason she returned to the Throne Room without casting En again?
These inconsistencies swirled in his mind.
Before the theorizing spiraled further, Kite put a hard stop to it:
"No matter the reason, even if Pitou's En really does vanish, we proceed with the plan.
At midnight—zero hours, zero minutes, zero seconds—we invade the palace.
The Throne Room remains our top priority. That's where the King is most likely to be.
From there, we'll rely on Ikalgo and Palm to track and confirm any remaining enemies."
Ikalgo had already obtained a new corpse to puppeteer—none other than Flutter's body.
Joey had restored the corpse using Gold Experience; otherwise, with the brain destroyed, not even Ikalgo's Living Dead Dolls could make use of it or its ability.
Now, with Flutter's corpse as his vessel, Ikalgo could use the Satellite Dragonflies through Super Eyeball to monitor the entire palace.
Then Palm could use her Black Whale to track and lock on to specific enemies.
Kite's plan was tight. It made use of all available intel and options.
Because, no matter how much they theorized, once the clock struck midnight—they had to attack.
Joey himself couldn't remember for certain whether the King was actually in the Throne Room at that time.
What he did remember was Chairman Netero and Zeno Zoldyck descending from the sky.
Zeno would release his Dragon Dive, bombarding the palace and inadvertently wounding Komugi.
As long as they launched the infiltration on time, they'd find their respective targets.
With that part of the plan clear, Joey turned his thoughts to something else—something more troubling.
Without Gon's transformation… could they really defeat Neferpitou?
The answer wasn't comforting.
All Joey could do now was trust in his allies, stabilize his Nen, and prepare for the moment.
With ten hours remaining, the loudspeakers in Peijing came alive.
The civilians—divided and corralled into zones throughout the city—were ordered to begin their approach to the Royal Palace.
Floods of people hit the streets.
Pushing wheelchairs, holding babies, every type of person imaginable began to move in a slow, orderly wave.
At this pace, by 3:00 PM tomorrow, over five million people would be gathered at the palace gates.
The team didn't remain cooped up inside 4-D Apartment the whole time—because the Nen dimension couldn't relay information from the outside world.
Someone always had to stay outside and monitor external intel.
But as more and more citizens converged on the palace, the surrounding districts emptied out.
Which made going outside increasingly dangerous.
The city's Puppet Soldiers were actively patrolling.
If anyone got spotted, it could expose 4-D Apartment's existence—and that couldn't be risked.
Worse, any meaningful intel would require getting close to the palace.
And Pitou's En wasn't a perfect sphere.
It fluctuated erratically—some arms of it reached over 2,000 meters, while others only stretched 1,000.
And it was constantly shifting.
Kite himself had once deliberately triggered Pitou's En, out of pride and curiosity—to test himself.
He underestimated her. And paid the price with his life.
Now, to avoid detection while still gathering intel, the burden fell entirely on Nob.
If anyone was going to risk being spotted, it had to be him—because he was the only one who could immediately escape using his portals.
The rest waited within the apartment dimension, silent, still, focused.
Nob didn't disappoint.
Steeled by his will as a top-class Hunter, he moved in and out of the 4-D space with precision.
Every few hours, he returned with new information.
Thanks to his efforts, the others inside could finally breathe easy… and focus on getting into their best possible shape.
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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 !