Chapter 201: Selecting the Target
Tserriednich knew something was wrong. His security detail was light—missing a significant number of its primary members. When he questioned the survivors about the previous night's events, they stammered and offered vague, conflicting accounts that led nowhere.
He had survived assassination attempts before.
But an event of this scale—a massive disruption that left him completely in the dark as the primary target—was a first. He felt a critical piece of the puzzle was missing, a detail his mind was struggling to catch.
Stacks of newspapers were brought to his private chambers, and the television remained tuned to the news cycle.
He scoured everything, from the sanitized official reports to the lurid tabloids. His persistence was driven by a sudden, inexplicable surge of urgency. His heart beat with an irregular, frantic rhythm. Instinct told him that if he failed to act now, he would face a catastrophe unlike anything the Empire had seen.
Finally, a sensationalist report from a minor tabloid caught his eye.
"According to an anonymous source present at the cafe, the hotel's security force was dismantled by a single young man with a long blonde ponytail."
"The assailant possessed superhuman attributes; bullets failed to track him, and even high-yield grenade blasts couldn't scratch him. He neutralized every armed guard with his bare hands before vanishing into the alleyways, leaving no trail for the authorities to follow."
One man.
Immune to bullets. Unfazed by explosions.
Does a human being truly possess that level of power? Tserriednich wondered, his natural skepticism fighting against his intuition.
But what if the report was accurate?
Comparing the tabloid to the official broadcasts, he spotted the inconsistencies. The state media used vague terms like "organized terrorist cell," yet their "Most Wanted" list contained only a single face.
It was highly probable that a single individual had indeed decimated his elite guard.
Is he even human?
Tserriednich had traveled abroad. He knew about the world outside Kakin; he knew of Heavens Arena.
But even the champions of the Arena were supposed to die if a bullet passed through their brain.
How did he do it? I need that information. I need that power.
After a long silence, Tserriednich dialed a secure number.
Shortly after, the Fourth Prince departed his palace. He didn't head to his hotel; he went to a secluded location in the city's underbelly.
He was meeting a long-term business associate. A man who handled the Prince's "distasteful" business and ensured his private coffers remained full.
The current head of the Hei-Ly Family, one of Kakin's three Great Mafia syndicates: Don Drew.
If anyone knew whether the world truly held "supermen" capable of slaughtering armies, it would be a man like Drew.
While Tserriednich sought answers from the underworld, Ronin regrouped with Kurapika.
"It's hard to judge where Tserriednich is hiding his 'collection' now," Kurapika analyzed, having been briefed on the previous night's failure. "But if you want to confirm the nature of the Royal Guard, I have a specific target for you."
"Who?" Ronin asked.
The Kakin Royal Family's defensive posture wasn't as tight as Ronin had expected. Many of the Princes seemed to treat the assassination attempt as a distant, irrelevant news story.
While Ronin had plenty of targets, Kurapika's specific choice suggested he had uncovered a secondary motive.
"The Third Prince, Zhang Lei," Kurapika said. "He shares a nearly identical background and resource pool with Tserriednich. He's the most likely to be assigned a similar tier of Nen protection."
"Shouldn't we test a minor Prince with no influence?" Ronin questioned the logic. "That would prove if the guards are a universal safety measure provided by King Nasubi."
"True," Kurapika nodded. "But that would be the standard scenario."
"Meaning?"
"Based on your description of the guards at the hotel, their abilities were perfectly complementary. Detection paired with extraction. It feels... manufactured. Systematic," Kurapika's expression grew grave.
Ronin paused, catching the thread. He hadn't considered that angle.
Even for a superpower like Kakin, training Nen users to follow a rigid, pre-defined Hatsu curriculum was a massive waste of individual potential. It was the logic of an assembly line applied to the supernatural.
Then, a term surfaced in Ronin's mind.
"The Untouchables," Ronin blurted out.
"Exactly. That's where the inspiration comes from," Kurapika confirmed. "If a rebel like the Second Prince can turn the Dispossessed into specialized anti-Royal weapons, then King Nasubi—with the full weight of the Empire's resources—could easily create a standardized 'Safety Unit' for his heirs."
Ronin had to admit the logic was sound.
"By testing the Third Prince, we confirm the pattern. If his guards have the same Hatsu as Tserriednich's, then we know Kakin has industrialized Nen training and that the King holds the leash on every Prince's security."
"And if the abilities are different?" Ronin asked.
"Then we move to a 'control' target. The Eighth Prince, Sale-sale."
"He has zero talent and spends his days in debauchery. If he is protected by high-tier Nen specialists, it confirms the King is artificially preserving the Princes for a specific reason. Probably for the 'Ceremony' you mentioned."
"We have to be careful," Kurapika warned. "I suspect the specialists we've seen are just the 'Active' layer of protection. There may be a 'Passive' layer hidden in the shadows that only triggers if a Prince is actually about to die."
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