BREAK IN (2)

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The assault begins. Palm stands poised on the left in her flowing robe, eyes sharp. Knuckle crouches low in the foreground, mouth open in a fierce expression as motion lines swirl around him. Gon leaps forward with determination, while Morel grips his massive pipe weapon and scans the area. Killua, in his beanie and jacket, stands ready nearby. A large SFX symbol marks the sudden clash. Below, a row of intense close-up panels captures the group's focused faces: Morel's stern glare, Knuckle's wide-eyed tension, Shoot's headband-framed resolve, Killua's surprised look, and Gon's serious profile. A speech bubble declares the final warning: 'One minute's warning.' The page is labeled 'BREAK IN! ASSAULT!' at top and 'CLASH! DETERMINATION! CONCLUSION!' at bottom.

Inside a cluttered room filled with scattered papers, bottles, and boxes, Morel stands near the doorway holding his pipe weapon across his shoulders. He addresses the group: 'I'll let you all know one minute before we move out, so everybody stay close to the exit.' Knuckle remains crouched in the center, while Gon and Killua stand nearby watching him. Palm faces away with arms behind her back. A large narration box states: 'TENSION SWELLS AS THE SECONDS TICK AWAY...' Another speech bubble adds: 'Until then, everybody stay alert and wait for my word.' The page displays the Hunter x Hunter logo and the chapter title '#262: BREAK IN (2)'.

Meleoron leans in close and explains the timing of his ability. "While your 'God's Accomplice' isn't active, you can just relax and leave everything to me. You don't have to hold on until you're at your absolute limit. You should pace yourself and concentrate on making sure you breathe sensibly." Killua listens carefully as Meleoron continues, "Ten seconds before I need to breathe, I give a shoulder-tap, right? And then when I stop my breathing again, I give another shoulder-tap at the same time!" Killua nods, "I know. Meleoron, about your ability..." The curly-haired man seated nearby suggests, "You should calm down and have a smoke..." Killua hunches forward, visibly tense, sweat drops flying as he counts the seconds. The group discusses the plan further. "But I don't want to take any unnecessary risks, you know?" one says. "Possibly... But the boss is going to send up a smoke screen the moment we break in there, so it'll be fine, you know?" another replies. Killua's eyes widen as he realizes, "It's incredibly easy to track someone based on the scent of cigarette smoke. They'd be able to get us during the very first breath, I have to take. If you underestimate their sense of smell, it'll all be over in a flash." In the final panel the curly-haired man stares intensely, declaring, "I don't want to do something I'll end up regretting."

A man with glasses stands with a pointer, reporting, "I don't think anything particularly notable can have happened. Pitou stayed in that position, Yupi went inside, and Poufu went back to chatting that stuff in the air." The floating figure adds, "The three of them gathered above the main gate having some kind of discussion. The Guards have moved a little." Killua and the black-haired boy stand watching the scene. "I don't care if it's at the last second, we need the information," the boy says. "Yeah. I'll inform you if they move around again." In the next section the group sits on the floor with playing cards and cups. "Well, it's 100% that the Guards and the King will be close by," the small character in the pom-pom hat states. Killua replies, "Well, not 'completely'... I guess the chances of the 'Guards not being in the palace' are pretty much zero at this point, then." The black-haired boy grows agitated, shouting, "You can think that way, that's fine, but you've got to take other possibilities into account!!! What other possibilities are there!!! Honestly...!!! If the King's there, his attendants are always going to be right there beside him! You only say that because you don't fully understand their loyalty!! I'm telling you, it's 100%!! You shouldn't go that far! If you don't consider every last possibility, you'll be caught off guard and won't be able to move if something unexpected happens!" The others react with shock, one covering his face while another protests, "Honestly... Oh, come on, that's completely unrealistic!! Well, this could happen, or that could happen, you know."

Gon and Killua stand together, staring intently as a long-haired man with sunglasses raises a hand to his chin. "A woman," he says. "One possibility is..." The man continues, arms crossed, "Trying to conceive children! That has to be it. One of the King's goals is reproduction, right? I was wondering what the King could be doing inside that palace..." A small figure in a knit hat peeks from behind a post. The long-haired man suddenly reacts with shock, "Ah!" as a woman in a patterned hat looks on. He reasons, "That delivery of women...it could well have been for the King's own benefit... In that case, there's always the possibility that the King could have ordered the Guards away from his private bedroom." The scene cuts to a dramatic full-page image of Palm lying back amid swirling black energy and motion lines, her expression tense as she reaches upward. "...AND THE KING ...?!!" the narration reads, followed by the large text "PALM..."

The group continues their tense discussion. "If we'd burst in on a scene like that with no warning, we would have frozen on the spot..." someone notes. "It's a good thing we thought of that before the break-in..." Gon looks worried while the knit-hatted figure stands nearby. "No...no matter what Palm's situation may be... I bet Gon doesn't even get it," a voice says. Killua replies firmly, "You see? There's no such thing as overthinking the situation." The knit-hatted figure adds, "Yes... I still get the feeling we're missing something." Gon insists, "I'm sure there are plenty more possibilities we've failed to consider!" The conversation shifts as someone warns, "No matter what the situation, you've got to stay concentrated on Pitou!" Another character notes, "You've got this straight, right? We leave Palm to sort out her own problems!" Gon reacts with surprise, "Hm?!" while Killua looks on. The knit-hatted figure questions, "Why did the King injure himself...?" The long-haired man wonders about a third party. Gon clenches his fist, troubled, as narration boxes read, "But I feel like the answer's right there...!" "This feeling... It's so unclear." "Aside from the question of whether there's a woman, I'm also wondering if there's some kind of third party." "Something's still bothering me..."

Gon and Killua sit facing a man with a ponytail while another figure stands nearby. The ponytail man questions Gon about his earlier statement. "Just a minute ago you were saying that there are always plenty of possibilities we haven't considered." Killua adds, "Aren't you just contradicting yourself, though?" The ponytail man continues, "But we did decide that there didn't seem to be any other possibility. Yes..." Gon replies, "Wait up a minute... That's just a theory you came up with, right?" The discussion shifts as the ponytail man notes, "But it's still bothering me. I understand that." A close-up shows the man with sunglasses listening. "Based on that logic, there could be any number of reasons why Pitou removed his 'En', and we just haven't thought of them." Gon answers "Yup." The sunglasses man asks, "Do you really think it's worth thinking about that at this point?" while another voice states, "We're moving in in three minutes." A panel shows the long-haired man asking, "When would the King injure himself of his own accord?" The sunglasses man responds, "Hmm... Then let's think." In the final panels the long-haired man says, "...he couldn't forgive himself..." and Gon reacts with shock, "When..."

Under a starry night sky a muscular wolf-like humanoid stands on a rooftop overlooking a domed building. The wolf character notes, "Thanks to the rain, the smell vanishes at this point... Tch..." A diagram labeled "THE INTRUDER'S ROUTE..." shows a path through the building with question marks. The wolf thinks, "...WENT LIKE SO...!" Inside the building the wolf observes, "...But in the end, he didn't go up there, but instead headed outside..." Another panel shows the wolf on stairs thinking, "He stopped here to keep watch on the second floor." A large close-up of the wolf's face concludes, "No... He could have used some kind of technique... Did something happen to make him give up? Or had he already completed his objective?"

A stern man with slicked-back hair issues orders: "Make sure you let everyone else in the palace know that. If you guys set foot on the second floor, the King won't hold back - he'll kill you." The winged, muscular figure replies, "Ah... I should let you know..." Nearby, a wolf-like subordinate answers, "Yes sir," with a small salute. Narration questions the evidence: "THE SHOES AND THE SCENT, COULD JUST BE A TRICK!! HE COULD HAVE FLOATED INTO THE AIR AND HEADED FOR THE SECOND FLOOR...!! ...WINGS!! WHAT, IF THE INTRUDER HAD THE POWER TO FLY THROUGH THE AIR?" In a lower panel the spiky-haired character reacts with surprise as narration states Pitou is monitoring the area with En and would have detected any intrusion on the second floor. An eye glances sideways. On the grand staircase the winged man and wolf-like figure stand together; the spiky-haired man below them says, "Yupi-dono..."

The wolf-like character recalls, "A rainy day!! About a week ago today! Was there any point when Pitou-dono was not using his 'En'?!" The slicked-back haired man answers, "It was terrible, the King ripped off his own arm..." and asks, "You mean you didn't know?" On the stairs the winged man and wolf-like figure continue their exchange; the wolf asks, "What is it?" and the winged man replies, "Yeah?!" A large panel shows the winged man explaining, "Although while Pitou was healing the arm, Pouf was performing the En in his place." Narration boxes emphasize: "THE ISSUE IS THE INTRUDER'S OBJECTIVE!! AND ALSO, WHETHER THE INTRUDER IS STILL HIDDEN SOMEWHERE IN THE AREA!! THOSE TWO POINTS!! THE INTRUDER FELT THAT AURA, AND GAVE UP ON PROCEEDING UP THE STAIRS...! THAT MUCH MAKES SENSE." The wolf-like character thinks, "No... I won't do that. SHOULD I LET YUPI KNOW ABOUT THIS...?" while the winged man wonders aloud, "What's that? How would I know something like that? Isn't it the same as Pitou's?"

A muscular man sits up and yawns loudly, thinking that if he must report the intruder he should go directly to Pitou or Pouf, preferably Pouf. He reasons that even if the brute reported the situation, the other two would see no need to mention his name. Close-up panels show intense eyes as the man continues his internal debate: the matter will end with no reward for him, and if he does not act the intruder will say the guards were scared and ran when they saw Pouf's En. He decides he needs to determine the intruder's objective and answer any irritating questions. He considers hinting at things to force the guards to exert themselves without ever learning the truth about him. The wolf-like guard Wolfen suddenly reacts with "Tch." to an irritating noise echoing around his skull, realizing it is the intruder's mobile phone again and shouting "AN IDEA!! I HAVE..."

In a grand hallway a woman in a revealing outfit points accusingly while declaring that the woman must have been one of them and that the two must have teleported away together. A man in pinstripes stands further down the corridor. According to Leor the intruder has the ability of teleportation and took excellent advantage of the guards' watch. The wolf-like guard Wolfen thinks that he just has to make sure Leor plays along with this story. In the lower panels the pinstripe man asks what that is while another figure notes they have worked out what the objective must have been. Wolfen internally calls it all a lie and declares it a plot to blow up the palace, raising his clawed hand with a fierce expression.

In a tense corridor, a man in a pinstripe suit holds up a fragment of cord while a woman reacts in shock. "Who...?!" she exclaims. "It's a fragment of a special cord, part of a timing device. Whilst searching for the woman, I happened to come across this," the man reports. "We must tell the Guards at once -" he urges. Nearby, another suited figure retorts, "You can report to them after you've actually found this bomb, can't you?" and adds, "Don't get ahead of yourself." A small "!?" reaction floats above. The central figure, a sweating man in a pinstripe suit, clutches his head in panic: "Me?!" and stammers "M-". In smaller panels, he internally debates: "I'm sure they must have been thinking 'If we're going to blow up the palace, we have to make sure the King will be there at the time.' Just put yourself in the enemy's shoes and think about this logically. What if I took too long and the bomb exploded??" "What are you saying?? I can't..." A wolf-like Chimera Ant raises a finger and declares, "When all the humans have gathered together! In other words, immediately after the tournament opens!" and asks, "And when would that time be?" The suited man reflects, "I HAVE EXPERIENCED THAT SAME THING MANY TIMES, STANDING BY THE GENERALS' SIDES..." as another voice confirms "Indeed" and continues, "The King wouldn't want his puppeteer to be the only one to witness this grand view... It's only natural that the enemy would think that way. When the King is looking down over the five million people he has in his power!!"

In a vast empty hall with checkered floors and pillars, large signs read "PLEASURE !!!" and "But an indescribable sense of..." alongside "It's not at all sexual ...". The wolf-like Chimera Ant continues speaking: "will be only too eager to offer you his thanks if you accomplish something like this for the King. Even Pouf-dono, who at the moment takes less than no interest in you..." A suited man replies, "That's true... that's very true..." and later "Hm... looks like the coward has managed to regain his composure." The wolf-like figure adds, "If I can just follow the intruder's trail using my sense of smell, it should be a simple task to find the bomb before then. We have over half a day until the opening of the tournament." The suited man suggests, "If you report this to the Guards and bring the bomb itself with you at the same time, their impression of you is sure to be favourable!" He continues, "Well, I'll just do what I can to keep him satisfied. You can leave that to me. If you could deal with arranging somebody to disarm the bomb once we find it... I'll contact you as soon as I find the bomb. It shouldn't take more than about two or three hours. I'll have to find a way to repay you for this at some other time." A background figure stands near an archway as the conversation concludes with the suited man walking away.

A massive black panel dominates the top of the page, showing the fierce profile of a wolf-like humanoid with bared fangs. The creature declares, "I'M GOING TO START BUILDING IT UP, SLOWLY BUT SURELY... THE POSITION OF A SHADOW 'KING'!!!" In a speech bubble beside its head it continues, "MY NOSE IS THE ONLY MEANS THEY HAVE OF TRACKING THE INTRUDER'S PATH!! THEY HAVE NO WAY TO VERIFY WHAT I TELL THEM...!" Below, three smaller panels show a dimly lit interior and a starry night sky. Characters react to the wolf's words: "When he couldn't forgive himself, huh...?" and "That sounds about right..." The largest lower panel depicts a tense discussion among several figures. A tall man with long hair and a cigarette holder gestures while speaking. A boy in a robe stands with arms crossed, replying "True..." Nearby, Gon, Killua, Palm, and other allies listen intently. The long-haired man continues, "He would have to be less of a brutal tyrant, and more like a proud statesman." Another voice adds, "But if we consider the King's personality based on that..." At the bottom, a close-up shows a character wearing sunglasses as narration reads, "If we think of him as the type of person who welcomes pain in order to protect his own pride..."

A dramatic full-page close-up shows a young man in a tattered hat and torn clothing, eyes wide with intensity against a background of swirling speed lines and a distant domed palace. He declares, "...are impossible to sway from their own wishes!!" and adds in another bubble, "In my personal experience, guys like that..." The lower half of the page splits into three panels. On the left, Killua's face appears in profile, fist clenched, with a text box stating "MORAU REALLY SEEMS TO HAVE LATCHED ON TO MY REASONING..." The center panel shows a close-up of a one-eyed character. On the right, two speech bubbles read, "And as long as the leader remains steadfast, the Royal Guards will stand with him!" and "We have to go in there under the assumption that we can only prevail through force!!"

A pair of hands clench tightly against a black background as narration considers the King's self-inflicted injury and the possible existence of a third party. The text continues that the real answer may be so unexpected it could derail the entire plan, and that the group may still be thinking along the wrong lines. In a narrow panel, Killua's eyes widen with urgency while he mutters there is no time. Nearby, Gon sits with a determined expression as a voice states it is time. The largest panel shows Morel, long hair flowing and sunglasses in place, pipe resting on his shoulder, declaring they will move out in one minute.

Morel stands before an open swirling portal, pipe raised, and calls for everyone to get ready. Scattered around the room, Gon, Killua, and several other fighters adjust their stances and clothing. One figure tosses aside a piece of fabric while another adjusts a hat. Morel then announces he will count down the last ten seconds. In the lower panel he stands in the doorway, pipe to his lips, and wishes everyone good luck as the portal swirls behind him.

About two minutes prior to Morau's battle-cry, chaos fills the air. A close-up reveals a fierce man with wild hair, dark sunglasses, and a long beard baring his teeth as he shouts, "Prepare yourselves !!!" The panel cuts to a vast black sky where a monstrous bird soars high above the Republic of East Goruto. From this steed, two men leap down through the air, their silhouettes descending toward the cloud layer far below.