Hunter x Hunter : Germain Joins The Hunt

Saiyu paused once again, realizing he had gained a new level of understanding about Chairman Netero.

And strangely enough, he wasn't surprised. This was precisely the kind of thing the Chairman would do.

Truly, he was Isaac Netero.

At the same time, as he looked at the tall man before him, a similar feeling arose within him.

Truly, he was Beyond Netero.

Beyond lifted his head and looked out toward the horizon, focusing on the clouds that either curled or stretched across the sky. Slowly, he raised three fingers.

"Next, there are only three things I need you all to do."

"The first thing: the Black Whale No. 1 has already been secretly completed. I need the Kakin Empire to commit more to this venture involving the Dark Continent and be fully prepared."

"The second thing: I will use Germain, Ging, and Biscuit as bargaining chips to negotiate with the old man to lift my chains."

"Of course, the likelihood of success for the second task is low, so I need you to complete the third task."

"The third thing: I want Pariston and his Hunter Association team to get to work, assigning tasks that will take at least a year or more to complete. These tasks will target the Zodiacs, sending them as far away as possible."

A sinister smile crept across Beyond's face.

He recalled what Ging said that day and remembered the calm expression on Germain's face.

"Will they always be one step ahead of me? Heh… it doesn't matter if those two brats get ahead of me. In the Dark Continent, the true winner is the one who survives until the end."

Saiyu's expression shifted multiple times as he listened to Beyond's orders.

He could already feel the suffocating tension of the storm that was set to come in the months ahead.

---

Late Night, September 14 – Somewhere in the Kakin Empire

Chrollo stood in front of two thick, white candles. He remained silent for a long while before opening his closed eyes.

A dry, jarring voice came from the shadows in the corner of the room.

"Aren't you going to bring them back?"

Illumi, with his long black hair, stepped into the flickering candlelight, one hand on his hip.

"They don't care where they're buried," Chrollo said, referring to Uvogin and Nobunaga. "Besides, the conditions don't allow for it."

"True." Illumi's eyes, devoid of emotion, widened like a dead goldfish. In a robotic tone, he replied, "Especially with that relentless ghost."

Illumi was talking about Hisoka.

It had been exactly one month since the battle on the train on August 14. The train had crashed into the station and exploded, allowing Saiyu to slip away in the chaos.

Chrollo and Illumi were relentlessly pursued by Hisoka.

Hisoka didn't attack them directly. Instead, he followed them from a distance, occasionally launching surprise attacks to remind them of his presence. He would strike once and then vanish without a trace.

To him, it was like a long hunting game that he thoroughly enjoyed, displaying remarkable patience.

To deal with this threat, Chrollo and Illumi tried various strategies.

Once, Illumi even purposely stayed away from Chrollo for over a week, hiding in the shadows and using Chrollo as bait.

But Hisoka didn't fall for it.

Chrollo and Illumi couldn't completely shake off Hisoka's pursuit, nor could they capture him, resulting in a prolonged stalemate.

"Hisoka wants me to find Shalnark, Pakunoda, and Machi," Chrollo said. "Or he wants me to reveal their whereabouts so he can kill them."

Hisoka's actions were similar to what Germain had done—destroying all of Chrollo's support.

Chrollo once said that what mattered most wasn't the "leader" or the "members," but the "Phantom Troupe" as a whole.

If the "leader" died, a new leader would be chosen. If members died, new ones would be recruited. The most important thing was ensuring the survival of the "Phantom Troupe."

However, now that Phinks, Kortopi, Bonolenov, Franklin, Feitan, Uvogin, and Nobunaga had all died one by one, this belief was hard to maintain.

Not just anyone could replace those members. Those words seemed more like an idealistic concept, not practical reality.

No matter how indifferent Chrollo's words were, in this situation, he couldn't lie to himself.

He wasn't as cold-hearted as he believed; he couldn't treat them all as mere tools.

He had built the "Phantom Troupe" with his own hands and now had to watch it slowly fall apart.

If Chrollo was not someone with extraordinary willpower, he would have mentally collapsed by now.

He was under immense pressure, especially knowing that Germain and Hisoka would probably not stop until they had taken everything from him and the "Phantom Troupe"…

How did things reach this point?

Even Chrollo couldn't retrace the steps that led to this outcome.

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