( Eagle shrieks )
♪
Komugi: Th-thank you very much, dear leader.
King: Why didn’t you call for help?!
Look here and here!
There’s blood all over you!
( Komugi crying )
King: What is this creature?
And me, what do I want to do with her?
♪
( Singing in Japanese )
( Birds chirping )
Narrator: One day remains before the sorting,
and the capital city peijing wakes to a quiet morning.
( Wood creaking )
( Ikalgo groans ) Eh?
( Floor creaks )
Gon: Hey! Good morning.
Ikalgo: Up already? It’s kinda early.
Killua: 19 hours ’til midnight on sorting day.
Gon: We make our move tonight.
Killua: Right. Let’s do one final check.
( Map beeping )
Once we’re in, gon and I will head
up the central stairway to the throne room.
( Gon grunts )
Killua: Ikalgo will take the northeast elevator
to the basement to search for palm.
If you find her, escape without us.
Ikalgo: You got it.
Killua: If the king and his three royal guards
are in the throne room together when we get there,
then we proceed with the plan.
But if they’re not there,
then i’m sure it’s gonna be a problem.
Gon: You’re really hung up on that, aren’t you?
Ikalgo: Yeah, what are the chances?
It’s pretty unlikely.
Killua: It is, but you’ve gotta admit
unlikely things happen all the time.
Ikalgo: Isn’t that kind of a contradiction?
Killua: We did a bunch of research
on the enemy’s behavior
and used it to decide when to attack.
When you think you know exactly where and when
you can expect someone to be, more often than not,
that’s when the unexpected happens.
It was pretty common in my old job.
Plan all you want, but the unexpected
will always find a way trip you up.
It was easy to guarantee success in that line of work.
I could just wait for the right moment.
We don’t have that luxury.
As soon as we make a move, there’s no turning back.
Hesitate for one second, and it can mean death.
We need to plan for every scenario
and decide what we would do.
♪
They might not be in the throne room,
but if they’re still in the palace, it’s okay.
Pitou’s en is enough to cover the palace,
the surrounding courtyards, and then some,
so as soon as we enter, we need to see
if we can sense that creepy aura anywhere close by.
That’ll tell us whether or not they’re there.
Then we just follow that aura to where it feels the most dense.
They’ll be right at its center.
But the question is what to do if we don’t sense pitou’s aura,
because then it means they’re not in the palace,
or it could mean they are in the palace,
but they’re not using en.
Ikalgo: Would there be a situation
where they’d be in the palace,
but not use their en to guard the king?
Gon: Yeah, like with Mr. Knov,
that time when he infiltrated the palace.
Ikalgo: Oh!
Killua: Right.
That’s what I can’t figure out.
According to Colt, knov saw a guy named pouf’s aura.
The royal guard never leaves the king’s side,
so if pouf was there, i’m positive the other two
were in the palace with the king, too.
But then why did pitou stop using the puppets,
leave security to pouf,
and clear the stage for knov to easily break in?
Probably because of how pitou’s ability seems to work.
Gon: Well, then we should ask Colt himself.
Killua: Yeah.
Colt: I’d guess pitou was giving someone medical attention.
Killua: What?
Colt: I did tell you that pitou was the one
who repaired kite, didn’t I?
In hindsight, I don’t believe pitou used en during that time.
Healing must require a great deal of concentration.
I assume that whenever healing someone,
pitou’s unable to use en or the puppets.
Killua: Now it all makes sense.
Someone got hurt and needed healing.
It was probably the king or maybe one of the guards.
That’s why the en and the puppets disappeared.
Ikalgo: Wait. Hold on.
As strong as those monsters are,
who would have had the skills to injure them?
Gon: Good question.
Killua: An internal dispute?
Gon: Maybe the king injured one of the royal guards
for some reason?
Ikalgo: No. No, that’s impossible.
Pitou would have to put the king in extreme danger
by removing the en so that they could heal somebody else,
and that’s never gonna happen.
I’m sure of it.
Killua: Then the one who was injured...
( Gon gasps ) Was the king!
♪
Morel: I see. It does make sense.
But I guess the bigger question now
is who was it that injured the king?
The royal guard would never harm him,
and you could rule out the underlings, too.
They’d never so much as put a scratch on him.
Gon: You’re right, and that’s why we’re pretty sure...
Morel: He injured himself?!
Wait. How could that have happened?
Gon: We don’t know what’s going on here yet,
but it’s all we’ve got.
- ( Ikalgo grunts ) - Killua: Mm-hmm.
Morel: I’ll admit it.
I didn’t question our sudden stroke of luck too much,
but that chance wouldn’t have been possible
under normal circumstances.
Are they starting to lose control?
Not good.
I’m starting to think that something’s going to go wrong.
( Siren blares )
Announcer: We will now begin moving to the palace.
Citizens of sector a-1, assemble in Diego Plaza at once.
Citizens of the other sectors
should prepare to move out next.
♪
Knuckle: Well, here they come.
Shoot: It looks like their march has begun at last.
Ten hours until midnight, when the sorting starts.
Menthuthuyoupi: In just 25 hours,
tomorrow afternoon at 3:00,
five million humans will fill the palace grounds.
Any change in the capital?
Neferpitou: Mm, I thought it was just one skilled enemy,
but there’s a bunch of ’em meow.
Shaiapouf: It seems that they have backup.
Menthuthuyoupi: They may try to use the celebration
as a cover so they can get as close as possible.
Neferpitou: So the biggest risk will be during the sorting.
Shaiapouf: Yes, since the king himself
will be actively participating in the sorting.
And because of that,
our greatest concern is that the king
may somehow be spirited away beyond our reach.
Let’s just say that one of them
has the ability to teleport objects.
Let’s further assume that they use that ability
to isolate and teleport the king somewhere far away,
so at least one of us must stay close by the king’s side
and guard him throughout the entire sorting.
Menthuthuyoupi: He would never allow us to do that.
The king’s been irritated enough with us
because of how close we’ve been covering him as it is.
Shaiapouf: Then we guard him secretly without his knowledge.
The only problem with that is that we need someone
close enough to monitor his surroundings
while he carries out his role in the sorting...
Someone whose size won’t draw attention
and who won’t get distracted by an amusing task.
Very well, then.
Clearly the best choice we have is me.
It is a mantle which I will be quite proud to bear.
Neferpitou: Hmm?
Shaiapouf: Is something wrong?
Neferpitou: Meow all of the enemy presences
have completely disappeared...
And I can’t sense
any residual aura from them whatsoever.
They must be using zetsu to hide amongst the marching humans.
♪
Meleoron: Hey. What’s up?
Knuckle: There are so many people.
Looks like they had about a hundred per building.
They all must have been packed inside.
Shoot: Then if we all conceal our presences,
they’ll be forced to assume that we’re hiding
somewhere among the citizens.
Do you think there’s any chance
they’ll decide to cancel the march altogether?
Meleoron: No. No way.
That would mean delaying or even canceling
the entire celebration, which would imply
the king had accepted defeat and compromised.
The royal guard’s not gonna let that happen,
so the celebration is gonna begin as scheduled
tomorrow at 3:00 P.M. sharp,
and there’s not a damn thing we can do to stop it.
( Neferpitou sighs )
Once the humans started to move,
my puppets couldn’t tell them apart anymore.
Well, what do you think?
Should I recall them right meow?
Shaiapouf: No. Giving the enemy free rein
would be simply ridiculous.
A better strategy
would be to have the puppets join the soldiers
that are guiding the citizens as a deterrent.
( Neferpitou groans )
Knuckle: Hey.
Morel: It’s just like we thought.
The nen puppets have joined the march.
In another hour, those sectors will be completely deserted.
There are six entrances to the hole
that lead straight to the palace.
We’ll have to avoid the front entrances
due to heightened security
and wait by a, b, and c behind the palace.
Shoot: Once we’re inside
and able to gain access to the rooms,
the only available exit will lead us
directly through the inside of the palace.
Knuckle: So what? Are you getting scared?
Shoot: That’s absurd.
I just don’t want to be caught off guard, okay?
Waiting by the entrances for the right moment
involves quite a lot of risk.
But if we were to enter the rooms too early,
we wouldn’t be able to exit until midnight.
Meleoron: If that’s the case, we won’t be able
to get our hands on any useful new information.
We’d just be flying blind and hoping for the best.
Shoot: Oh, and we can’t use our cell phones
anywhere near the palace,
since the ants can pick up on the signal.
Sitting in that room for hours
is just about the most dangerous thing that we could do.
If the situation changed, we would have no way of knowing.
Knuckle: But you were the one who said it would be too risky
for us to wait outside the palace.
Shoot: Yes.
Meleoron: Based on what i’ve seen,
you shouldn’t take their security net too lightly.
- Knov: I’ll handle it. - Meleoron: Huh?
♪
Knov: I’m the only one among us
who can enter and exit these rooms whenever I please.
I’ll keep you all informed.
For now, you should rest here.
Morel: You sure you’ll be okay?
Knov: I’m just keeping watch.
I can’t imagine that’ll be a problem.
I’ll be close, but right outside of pitou’s en range, so...
Morel: Hmm.
Still, be as careful as possible.
Pitou doesn’t use a standard circular en.
It changes shape like an amoeba, extending its range.
That’s exactly what kite ran into.
Knov: Yeah, he probably did that deliberately.
It’s a true fighter’s instinct
to want a real sense of how strong his opponent is.
Knov: And his instinct led him to underestimate them.
That was his downfall.
Morel: That en can extend out to two kilometers.
Make sure you stay out of range.
( Knov chuckles ) Don’t worry.
Not a single one of you can strike fear in me like they do.
I won’t take any risks...
Ever again.
( Officer on microphone ) We will now head to the palace.
Any person who leaves their line will be shot on sight!
Move out!
King: Pitou...
You knew that komugi was being attacked, did you not?
Neferpitou: Yes. I was monitoring the area with en.
However, I saw no threat to you, sire, so I ignored it.
King: From this point on, you’ll keep an eye on komugi as well
and deal with any threats at once.
Neferpitou: Yes, as you wish.
♪
Knov: Tens of thousands of people
are marching in a line, heading toward the king...
Just like ants.
No, lemmings.
A march of death.
It will be dark before much longer.
About time for me to call morel and the others.
( Gasps )
Wait a second. What is that?
Wing scales?
The breeze...
It’s carrying the scales of his wings
towards the citizens.
That means...
I thought so.
Every one of them looks completely vacant, dazed.
Those scales must have a hypnotic effect.
Soldier: Stay in line as you advance!
Soldier #2: Do not leave this line!
Soldier #3: Once you’re in position,
wait for orders, and don’t move!
Knov: Simple orders repeated on a loop
while tanks roll in the background
can easily seep into a mind
exhausted from hours of marching,
the perfect recipe for hypnotic suggestion.
Once the sorting begins
and the blood starts to flow,
they will continue to stand in place,
obedient ’til the end, when it’s their turn.
( Knuckle snoring )
Morel: Hypnosis? I see.
As long as they’re hypnotized,
the citizens won’t try to run,
but this works out for us.
- Meleoron: Huh? - Morel: We won’t have to worry
about the whole crowd flying into a total panic
if the battle starts to get out of control.
Meleoron: Ah.
Morel: So there won’t be a massive stampede of people
falling all over each other to escape.
This is a really big deal.
Knuckle: And assuming that over half of the people
will be in place at midnight
waiting for the sorting process to get started,
I would have expected a stampede
to leave tens of thousands of casualties.
Morel: That’s the biggest thing we were worried about.
Now we can fight all we want.
Shoot: Six hours to go.
Morel: Everyone’s here.
Gon: Have you guys heard from palm yet?
Morel: No.
Gon: I see.
Morel: We’ll wait ’til half an hour before go time.
I just wish we knew what was inside of there.
That could change things.
( Gon grunts )
( Shoot thinking ) They both look so calm,
killua in particular.
He shows none of the vulnerability
he displayed when we fought.
It’s like he’s overflowing with confidence.
But I can’t help but wonder,
why is it that, now and then, he seems so sad?
No. I can’t worry about others right now.
Out of everyone here,
i’m the one suffering from the most anxiety.
The fate of humanity rests on my shoulders.
Knuckle: Colt is a good guy.
Meleoron and ikalgo, they both have good hearts.
It doesn’t matter if they’re humans or ants.
Everyone has a heart.
That has to be true.
Let’s hope the king has one, too.
Even so, some of them are going to have to die.
It’s us or them.
Gon: It’s almost time, kite.
I promise, no matter what it takes,
i’ll get you back to the way you used to be...
By defeating that ant.
Killua: He’s fired up.
I’ll focus on providing support
so that no one else can interfere in his battle,
using my new move, godspeed.
Morel: I feel so tired.
All these battles are taking their toll.
On a scale of one to 100,
i’m about a 40.
No, 35.
Can’t cry about it now.
With knov out, i’m the only one left.
I’d hoped to fight at full strength,
but it’s much easier to accept my fate this way.
I’ll focus on playing the decoy
and drawing my target away from the king.
Knov: I’m sorry, morel, everyone,
( shudders ) But i--
I can’t face them again.
I’ll go check on the palace.
( Meleoron inhales )
So two minutes is about the longest
I can hold my breath.
Given how tense i’ll be,
my limit will probably be half that at best.
It’s fine.
A minute is more than enough time.
Ikalgo: Tomorrow at midnight,
I will be reborn.
I couldn’t have dreamed of this life a few days ago.
Thank you for that, killua.
I promise to carry out my mission for you.
Tomorrow...
Will be my birthday.
King: I am king...
But who am I, really?
I wonder, for what reason was I born?
Morel: Our time’s up.
Let’s go!
♪
Gon: Palm.
Narrator: Ten minutes remain until they enter the palace.
♪
( Singing in Japanese )