The appearance of the Star Mark was abrupt.
This inadvertently deepened the inexplicable unease in Neferpitou's heart.
But she quickly calmed down, realizing that the appearance of the Star Mark must be related to the upheaval in Peijin City.
Namely, the swift annihilation of the Nen-using puppet army she controlled.
"The ordinary puppet soldiers maintaining order in Peijin City have been completely wiped out, and the hundred Nen-using soldiers I subsequently dispatched were also eliminated in an instant."
Neferpitou raised her hand to gently touch her cheek but felt no tactile sensation of the Star Mark's presence.
Meeting Shaiapouf's puzzled gaze, she calmly analyzed after a brief explanation, "This mark that suddenly appeared on my face, as you mentioned, is likely transferred by a Nen user from the human faction through the destruction of the puppets. However, its specific function is still difficult to determine, meow."
The near-simultaneous occurrence of the Nen-using puppets' destruction and the Star Mark's manifestation provided her with a basic direction for speculation.
Shaiapouf glanced at the Star Mark half-covered by Neferpitou's hand and speculated, "The transfer difficulty being so low at least rules out abilities like 'forced manipulation' or 'direct damage.'"
Saying this, he crossed his arms and gazed distantly toward the direction of Peijin City.
"Moreover, the human faction has never been short of experts. Losing a hundred Nen-using soldiers is nothing; there's no need for you to panic like this."
"..."
Neferpitou's panic, of course, wasn't due to the loss of those hundred Nen-using puppets, but she didn't bother to explain this point to Shaiapouf specifically.
After roughly two seconds of silence, she shifted her gaze from Shaiapouf's composed and calm face, turning once again to look at the distant outline of Peijin City, and asked, "So what should we do now? Should we allow the humans to act freely in Peijin City?"
"Yes, ignore them for now."
Shaiapouf said with a calm expression, "After all, we cannot leave the palace, and the puppets we send can hardly play a substantial role. So, staying put is the best choice at the moment."
"What about the Selection Day?"
Neferpitou pressed immediately.
Selection Day was a crucial step for the ant colony's advance from East Gorteau to the world, and it was also the starting point for accumulating the original military strength.
Upon hearing this, Shaiapouf sneered, "Neferpitou, your worry is exactly what those human Nen users hope to see. Rest assured, nothing remains unchanged."
"You mean..."
Neferpitou understood, her eyes flickering, and said, "Change the Selection Day, meow?"
"Correct."
Shaiapouf said in a detached tone, "The King has been obsessed with Gungi lately and isn't paying much attention to the Selection. Even if we propose a postponement using bad weather as a reason, he will easily agree. And we will have more ample time to wait for the flesh eggs in the Meat Orchard to complete their incubation."
"Is that so..."
Neferpitou pressed her fingertip against her chin and nodded, "I don't mind either way, meow."
The remaining four hundred Nen-using puppets in the central court were the first batch of experimental products rushed to completion.
Even if we deploy them into Peijin City again, they won't be of much use.
But these subsequent flesh eggs that haven't hatched yet are more mature soldiers. Therefore, as long as the focus isn't on the Selection Day, we can patiently wait for the remaining 4,500 flesh eggs to fully hatch.
This would naturally alleviate the shortage of manpower, make it easier to eliminate those troublesome humans, and resume the progress of the Selection Day.
Having abandoned the task of dealing with the changes in Peijin City, Neferpitou concentrated fully on maintaining her En.
Shaiapouf didn't leave immediately either; instead, he lowered his head in deep thought.
He had just mentioned Gungi, which inevitably made him think of the woman currently playing against the King.
The King will win sooner or later; there's no need to overthink it.
Shaiapouf silently thought to himself.
—--
High in the clouds.
The Zoldyck Family's magical beast soared through the sky.
Netero and Zeno stood on the back of the magical beast.
In a moment, Zeno would use Star Rain to attack the palace, forcing the Royal Guards to react.
After that, Netero would assess the situation to split the battlefield, with the best outcome being directly knocking Neferpitou away from the palace.
Zeno stood facing the wind, hands behind his back, and suddenly asked, "Were you serious about the condition you proposed when you conceded the King?"
"Hohoh, do you think I would joke about something like that?"
Netero chuckled in response.
Zeno frowned, hesitating to speak further.
He knew Netero's temperament and style well, and understood that any attempt to persuade him would be futile.
Netero stroked his trimmed beard and said slowly, "The path of martial artists in the old days had only two outcomes: either breaking through and growing stronger in battle, or perishing and fading away in combat. The disagreement between Maha and me might not only stem from the incident with Zigg... but also because the beliefs we uphold were fundamentally different from the start."
Zeno fell silent for a long moment after hearing this.
"Times are different now."
He sighed softly.
Netero, however, seemed either unable to grasp the true meaning of his words or intentionally misinterpreted them.
"Indeed."
The aged martial artist replied thus, his gaze still fixed on the distance.
Zeno looked at him and added, "I don't think Morrow will take the condition you proposed seriously."
"Hoh..."
Netero also couldn't help but sigh softly, saying, "That is indeed a problem."
—--
Due to Morrow's intervention after the regression, Netero arrived ahead of schedule, and the entire operation plan was moved forward accordingly.
This meant that if they attacked the palace early, they wouldn't witness the incident where the King severed his own arm.
On the other hand, without Morrow's solo intrusion into the palace, Shaiapouf wouldn't have refined his Nen ability.
And the Nen-using puppets within the palace would most likely not become assets for the Royal Guards.
This would invisibly reduce the combat pressure for the Extermination Team when storming the palace.
All the circumstances that occurred before the regression would lead to entirely different outcomes due to different choices.
Morrow's primary reason for advocating an early attack was to increase the margin for error.
Now that he no longer had regression opportunities, the energy of the fourth Tree Ring was fixed at 96%.
To handle potential variables and resolve this incident as perfectly as possible, he pushed the Extermination Team to launch the final assault ahead of schedule.
This way, even if issues such as operational failures or unresolved Death Thresholds arose, there would still be sufficient time to address emergencies. For instance, resetting a new Death Threshold.
Thus, from the day he backtracked to defeat Hisoka, he had invested substantial funds and leveraged his connections to help collect objects imbued with Post-Mortem Nen.
This preparation might not necessarily come into play, but since it could be arranged conveniently, an extra layer of insurance was always good.
Once all preparations were complete, Morrow would only consider one thing while awaiting the decisive battle.
That was to preserve his condition as much as possible.
In the previous timeline's full-scale assault, he had indeed successively eliminated Shaiapouf and Neferpitou.
But before formally entering the fray, his condition had already suffered some depletion.
Although he could recover part of his potential aura through leveling up, that only restored his aura amount, it couldn't alleviate mental fatigue.
It was only due to his strong willpower that he could maintain his performance throughout high-intensity combat.
Yet a taut rope inevitably risks snapping at any moment.
Now, Morrow intended to face the King in optimal condition, so he avoided unnecessary actions as much as possible.
The time for the full-scale assault soon arrived.
In the sky, black clouds hung low like a giant palm, nearly touching the palace spires.
A cold wind howled, whipping up clouds of dust and sand.
In the thick air, a hint of murderous intent seemed to be brewing.
To reach the palace from Peijin City, one had to cross a bridge spanning the distant moat, then traverse several kilometers of desolate land before arriving near the palace.
Morrow walked alone across that bridge, striding through the wind and sand toward the palace.
His presence quickly drew the attention of Neferpitou and Shaiapouf atop the palace's tower-like structure.
Upon clearly seeing Morrow's features, the En composed of red aura enveloping the palace suddenly wavered slightly.
This phenomenon corresponded to an emotional fluctuation.
It's him!
Neferpitou stiffened unnaturally, her red beast-like eyes revealing vigilance and gravity.
Not only because she sensed a faint, inexplicable familiarity from Morrow's aura, but also because she deeply feared his long-range attack methods.
This made it exceedingly difficult for her to suppress the urge to strike first and seize the initiative.
"Neferpitou, calm down."
Shaiapouf also saw the aura soaring like flames over the desolate land, his face tightening slightly, though his reaction wasn't as intense as Neferpitou's.
Even without Shaiapouf's reminder, Neferpitou could swiftly control her emotional fluctuations and quickly calm down.
This was to better handle the upcoming situation, ensuring she could fulfill her duties as a Royal Guard to the utmost.
However, while calming down, Neferpitou decisively retracted her En, adopting a stance ready for instant activation.
Such behavior could be considered the utmost respect toward Morrow.
Seeing her retract her En and glancing at the powerful aura Morrow was emitting, Shaiapouf said nothing.
The wind direction is just right.
Observing the dust and sand sweeping toward Morrow, he flew toward the central courtyard's sky while quietly releasing waves of fine scale powder from beneath him.
With their attention focused on Morrow, neither Neferpitou nor Shaiapouf noticed the giant hornets continuously flying into the palace from their blind spots.
These giant hornets' mission remained to locate the King's precise position as quickly as possible. Even if the King detected him in the end and instantly eliminated him... as long as he could catch a single glimpse of the King, the mission would be considered accomplished.
On the desolate land outside the palace.
Morrow gradually slowed his pace, yet the aura around him steadily intensified.
As his aura surged, it took on a faint reddish glow, with strands of Post-Mortem Nen's black energy flickering like arcs of electricity within it.
Guided by his will, the turbulent energy converged rapidly toward his right hand, like countless rivers flowing into the sea.
In an instant, a Nen bullet took shape, its radiance contained within.
Immediately after, a fluorescent green light bloomed from the depths of the Nen bullet, instantly swallowing all other colors.
It was the unique hue of the "Deceptive Shooting Star."
And an undisguised declaration of war, openly revealed to the enemy.
Watching Morrow approach step by step, the energy in his hand continuously building, Neferpitou atop the palace tower could no longer hold back.
She remembered all too well the splitting nature of Morrow's long-range attack.
To avoid repeating past mistakes, she had to prepare to intercept it directly with her body before the attack split.
In stark contrast to Neferpitou's apprehension, Shaiapouf remained calm, calculating how long it would take for his scale powder to drift with the wind and anticipating Neferpitou's next move.
His conclusion was... even if Neferpitou acted, it wouldn't affect his tactic of using the wind and sand as cover to hypnotize Morrow with his scale powder.
In his view, unless Morrow held his breath in advance, the success rate of this plan was extremely high.
So not only did he not stop Neferpitou, he instead hoped she would distract Morrow as much as possible.
As the two Royal Guards watched intently, Morrow raised his hand and launched the Deceptive Shooting Star.
At this sight, Neferpitou's pupils abruptly contracted.
If she used her ability... she was certain she could easily intercept it now!
"Terpsichora!"
The moment the clownesque puppeteer appeared, Neferpitou shattered the tower roof beneath her feet.
Boom!
Debris flew and dust billowed.
Neferpitou's figure shot through the air like a twisted arrow, piercing straight toward the Deceptive Shooting Star flying through the sky.
This time, her speed was even faster, her aura held no hesitation, only absolute confidence in her own ability.
Yet what happened in the next instant... made her pupils tremble in disbelief.
In the extreme sensation of her ultra-high-speed flight, she actually saw Morrow on the ground suddenly accelerate as well, the clownesque puppeteer of "Terpsichora" manifesting around him too.
That's... my ability?!
In that instant, the shock of having her perception violently shattered, along with her earlier unease about the Star Mark, tore her "calm" completely apart.
She even wondered if she was hallucinating.
The only thing certain was the ominous premonition growing wildly in her heart.
And it made her realize in a flash, Morrow's target was the King inside the palace!
Should I use Doctor Blythe's Limitation to stop abruptly? But if I fail to block this attack...
Panic, hesitation, apprehension, shock... a flood of emotions surged over her, and Neferpitou's confidence, overflowing from the very source of her ability, completely dimmed at this moment.
As for Morrow, the instigator, already enhanced by Terpsichora's speed, he streaked toward the palace ahead like a red lightning bolt.
Though Shaiapouf was also shocked by the fact that Morrow could use "Terpsichora," it didn't affect his resolve to maintain his tactical plan. Because the scale powder was indeed moving toward Morrow's vicinity under the cover of the wind and sand.
He was confident that Morrow would fall for it, while also using the scale powder's reading ability to further confirm the results.
This was what they called an "ability-first-kill," wasn't it?
Shaiapouf was brimming with confidence.
Hmm?
But in the next blink, Shaiapouf froze slightly.
Spiritual Message had given no feedback at all?
In his astonishment, a gleam of Nen suddenly reflected in his eyes.
A curved aura was rushing toward him at an astonishing speed.
An attack? No... It's something like En, but incredibly fast!
Just as Shaiapouf realized this, the thin, tentacle-like aura had already enveloped him.
He sensed no threat from this aura.
So, just as he categorized it as "En," a golden chain materialized out of thin air, firmly binding his body.
What!?
Shaiapouf's pupils contracted sharply.
He realized the tactical plan had failed, and then he saw Morrow ignoring him, sweeping past the courtyard and heading straight for the palace at the center.
His target is the King!
For the first time, Shaiapouf's face twisted with fury.
As Royal Guards, both Neferpitou and Shaiapouf had allowed a human to openly breach their defenses, directly threatening the King inside the palace.
This outcome represented a "dereliction of duty," and the ability Morrow had displayed in their brief encounter naturally inflicted an indescribable mental shock on the two Royal Guards.
The consequence was that, after the initial impact, an immense, invisible pressure weighed down on their psyches.
This was exactly the result Morrow wanted.
To the best of his ability before confronting the King, he used "mind games" to secure some combat advantages for his teammates.
-------------------
Bonus chapter @1400powerstones