A tidal wave over ten meters high surged toward the palace.
This spectacle was witnessed by Morrow, who had just finished his battle, and also captured by Neferpitou through her Puppeteering vision sharing.
Facing humanity's endless stream of tactics... a strange sense of contradiction arose in Neferpitou's heart.
She found humans inherently weak and fragile, yet couldn't help but marvel at their exquisite mastery of Nen.
However, such feelings flashed by briefly before being quickly suppressed.
Before the giant wave invades the palace... I can still kill one more.
Confronted with this indiscriminate tidal wave attack that threatened both allies and enemies alike, Neferpitou naturally locked onto Grachan as her target.
Though surrounded, she had always maintained control of the overall situation.
Naturally, she had noticed Grachan materializing his surfboard and harpoon, as well as the timing of the wave's approach.
Thus, she reached a direct conclusion.
This giant wave was Grachan's ability.
Therefore, if he could create such a wave, he likely possessed the means to control it, and possibly even methods to assist his teammates within the tidal surge.
Most importantly... killing Grachan might make the giant wave disappear.
Based on this judgment, while Gon and Kite were successively injured, Neferpitou effortlessly broke free from the fishing line and chains.
"Terpsichora"
In 0.1 seconds, without employing any force application techniques, Neferpitou shot toward Grachan with unparalleled ferocity under Terpsichora's control.
Now, she had completed the final piece of her combat prowess.
In terms of offensive capability alone, she was even more threatening than the King at this moment.
At the very least, she had mastered the qualities expected of a top-tier expert.
Her spear-like form arrived before Grachan in an instant.
Fast as lightning.
But the presence of Nen aura could never be completely concealed.
Grachan could barely sense her approaching in a straight line, yet... before launching her attack, Neferpitou hadn't leaked the slightest aura fluctuation or any intent within it, leaving Grachan only able to grasp the "straight line" information in that fleeting moment.
Beyond that, what he faced was a death-filled attack that seemed capable of striking from any angle.
These angles directly constructed a towering wall.
And Neferpitou's head perched atop this wall, looking down with cat-like playfulness at him, this powerless weakling who couldn't fight back.
The conclusion was that in the extremely brief moment when Neferpitou reached Grachan and suddenly thrust her right palm forward... there wasn't enough time for Grachan to obtain any information, and even if he did, he lacked sufficient time to process it.
Relying solely on his own reflexes, he couldn't possibly see Neferpitou's attack clearly at all.
Did Morel and Kite endure this kind of hopeless assault for so long...?
Facing the deathly pressure brought by Neferpitou, Grachan felt despair, unable to comprehend how his two teammates had held out for so long.
In the intense battle, he seemed to have not yet realized Neferpitou's transformation in offensive capability.
Thump!
Neferpitou's palm easily pierced through Grachan's chest, as simple as stabbing through tofu. The gap in offensive and defensive capabilities was an insurmountable mountain for the Extermination Team.
Neferpitou didn't spare Grachan another glance.
As she withdrew her arm, amidst the splattering blood, fragments of his heart could faintly be seen.
Grachan's face stiffened, the surfboard and harpoon he had just conjured dissipating into particles of light without serving any purpose.
Thump.
Grachan's body tilted and collapsed, hitting the ground heavily.
A torrent of blood gushed from the gaping hole in his chest.
Neferpitou's attack was imbued with powerful Nen, which expanded the wound with surging force as it pierced through his chest.
Despite such severe injuries, Grachan clung stubbornly to his last breath.
A faint glimmer remained in his eyes.
Just... hold on... for another second or two...
His cheek pressed against the ground, his eyelids drooped weakly, then trembled and slowly lifted again.
At that moment, a massive wave surged into the palace.
The murky tide rushed in like a thousand charging soldiers, its powerful currents carrying rubble and shards of glass, instantly engulfing everything inside the palace.
Everyone was swept into the water in an instant.
The timing of this wave was crucial, as it immediately disrupted the encirclement formed by the puppet soldiers.
Morel's body floated in the water as he looked toward Grachan's corpse and Neferpitou, veins bulging on his neck and forehead.
His heart was filled with boundless rage.
Yet he had to suppress it.
Just as he now had to hold his breath underwater...
Though his emotions were on the verge of overwhelming him, as an experienced Nen user, Morel managed to reclaim his rationality at the last moment.
To secure victory in this battle, all they needed to do now was retreat into Hide and Seek.
That's right.
They had already won.
Even if it was a pyrrhic victory...
Gritting his teeth against the fury, Morel immediately directed his Deep Purple to assist his teammates in retreating.
Neferpitou noticed their intent to avoid combat.
Waiting for the "toxin" to take effect? No... They must be waiting for this doll.
As the thought crossed her mind, Neferpitou glanced sideways at the counting A.P.R.
She knew nothing about this ability.
But if she inferred based on the "counting phenomenon," it must be related to "time."
Then, considering the humans' sudden shift from fearless aggression to determined evasion, it was almost certain... they believed that once the doll's countdown reached its end, they would secure victory.
Unlike Youpi, who had fallen for this move initially without any clue, Neferpitou, as a fellow Royal Guard, could easily deduce the nature of A.P.R.
But unfortunately, even if Neferpitou guessed the outcome, she couldn't remove this A.P.R. left behind through death.
Currently, there were only two ways to dispel A.P.R.
One was a Nen exorcism ability powerful enough to remove Post-Mortem Nen; the other was to wait until A.P.R. completed its effect, after which it would vanish on its own.
Neferpitou lacked the ability to exorcise Post-Mortem Nen, so she could only wait for the latter outcome.
Though she could sense an ominous aura of danger from it, it didn't affect her mindset in the slightest, nor did it evoke even a trace of urgency or impatience.
Thinking you can retreat in the chaos... How naive.
Neferpitou's eyes glowed with a fierce crimson light.
"Terpsichora."
A deep red phantom manifested behind Neferpitou, with hazy dotted lines connecting to every joint in her body.
This ability granted her strength and speed beyond normal limits.
But fundamentally, it remained closely tied to "automatic manipulation."
In other words, as long as the puppet emerging from the phantom remained unaffected by the underwater environment, it could manipulate Neferpitou's body to completely ignore the surrounding water pressure and resistance.
And indeed, that was exactly what happened.
Guided by the Nen strings, Neferpitou shot forward like a black torpedo, heading straight for the severely injured Kite and Gon.
According to her combat philosophy, she would always prioritize eliminating the most threatening opponent first.
But with the "time limit factor" now in play, she couldn't rigidly adhere to this approach.
For her now, the goal was simple: kill as many humans as possible before the water receded from the palace.
Morel was the first to notice that Neferpitou's movements completely defied the underwater environment, and his heart sank.
There's no time!
Watching Neferpitou attempt to exploit this moment to attack Kite and Gon, Morel grew frantic.
At this critical juncture, a swirling waterspout erupted from the depths.
It was Grachan, mustering his last ounce of strength, conjuring his surfboard once more and using his ability to create a vortex to disrupt Neferpitou.
Although Terpsichora allowed Neferpitou to maintain nearly land-like explosive power underwater, the powerful water currents still posed an obstacle.
Those brief two seconds of delay were enough for Morel's Deep Purple soldiers to evacuate Kite and Gon from the scene.
However, the swirling waterspout quickly dissipated.
Along with it vanished Grachan's surfboard, and his life.
Meanwhile, battered by the fierce battle, sections of the palace's main walls were on the verge of collapsing under the weight of the accumulated water.
At that moment, over a dozen Deep Purple soldiers moved behind Morel and the others, directly attacking the critically weakened walls.
The next instant, large sections of the walls crumbled and collapsed, forming gaping holes.
The massive volume of water that Grachan had guided into the first floor now found even larger outlets, surging violently outward.
Morel and his companions were swept out of the palace by the rushing current.
This was the escape route Morel had prearranged.
That was why he had gathered his teammates in one location, ensuring they were positioned opposite Neferpitou.
But the true reason the plan succeeded so smoothly lay in the powerful currents Grachan had created with his final breath.
Swept outside the palace, Morel pushed aside his grief and, with the aid of his Deep Purple soldiers, quickly freed himself from the water's influence.
He then led the group swiftly toward the nearby Hide and Seek portal.
Morel knew that Knov and the others were closely monitoring the battle and would surely provide timely support, opening the portal at the right moment.
Even if the situation changed, Morel was prepared to cover their retreat alone.
However, a heavy pressure suddenly bore down from behind.
Morel, who had deliberately positioned himself at the rear of the group, instinctively glanced back. His gaze swept past the Nen-using puppets also washed out by the current, settling on the eastern open balcony on the second floor.
There stood Neferpitou, already positioned on the balcony. The opponent must have used their ability to dart up to the second floor when the wall collapsed and the water surged out, then waited there to ambush them...
Morel's expression shifted.
But Neferpitou gave him no time to react further. Under the effect of her Terpsichora ability, she leaped up as silently as a cat, yet with astonishing speed.
It was like a black-and-red lightning bolt tearing through the curtain of rain.
In the blink of an eye, she was already striking at Morel's vital points.
It's over...
Morel's vision blurred as rain pelted his eyes.
At that moment, all he could think was that if he died, his Deep Purple would dissipate.
And if Deep Purple dissipated, Gon and Kite, who were currently immobilized, would fall from its grasp.
In that scenario, even if the other team members quickly caught Gon and Kite, they would undoubtedly miss the final chance to retreat.
So, protect the area above the neck at all costs.
That way, even if struck, he wouldn't die instantly.
Morel's mind held no thought of evasion.
Because it was simply impossible.
He could only barely raise his arms to shield his vital points above the neck.
If his pipe hadn't been destroyed, he could have protected more areas...
As Morel thought this, he suddenly felt that this less-than-"one-second" moment was unbearably long.
So long that, despite having prepared himself for severe injury, his body still hadn't felt the impact of the attack.
So long that he even had time to reminisce about many past events.
Is this what people call the flashback before death? Time really does seem to slow down...
Morel thought to himself.
But the truth wasn't that time had slowed down.
Neferpitou's attack simply hadn't landed on him.
It was just that all his focus had been on surviving one or two more seconds, and due to his extreme concentration, he hadn't heard the sound of the energy collision.
But the other members of the Extermination Team running ahead of him had heard it.
The sound of the Nen-impact collision pierced through the heavy rain, carrying far into the distance.
Then, everyone saw Morrow descending from the sky, stomping Neferpitou's outstretched arm straight into the ground with one foot.
Neferpitou, who had been mid-air, instantly plummeted downward, crashing heavily into the muddy ground.
At the point where his foot met her arm, energy fluctuations resembling red-hot iron still lingered, not yet fully dissipated.
The actual situation was that Morrow had arrived by riding his Shooting Star.
But the homing Shooting Star had struck Neferpitou's arm first as she lunged at Morel.
Before the Shooting Star's energy could explode, Morrow descended at extreme speed, forcibly stomping both the impending explosive energy and Neferpitou's arm into the ground.
That's why everyone heard the Nen collision first, then witnessed the scene before them.
"You!?"
Neferpitou sharply lifted her mud-covered face, her pupils contracting abruptly the moment she recognized Morrow.
She didn't even have time to process the sudden paralyzing reaction coursing through her body, instead growing alarmed about Shaiapouf's situation.
If this human could intervene here, that meant... had he already killed Shaiapouf!?
How was that possible...
Forget combat power; given the nature of Shaiapouf's abilities, there was no way he could be taken down so easily! A ripple of shock surged through Neferpitou's heart.
The members of the Extermination Team quickly realized the same thing upon seeing Morrow's timely arrival.
Meanwhile, Morel finally reacted belatedly to Neferpitou's exclamation of "It's you," swiftly lowering his hand.
Immediately after, he witnessed Morrow stomping Neferpitou into the muddy ground in a dramatic rescue.
"Morrow..."
Seeing this scene, the pent-up fury in Morel's chest seemed to have found its sole outlet.
Because his reaction mirrored that of his teammates; in that instant, they all clearly understood one thing.
The other Royal Guard had already been eliminated by Morrow!