Chrollo's goal had never been to kill Xiyou.
From the first move the objective was capture—seize the man and strip him of his Nen ability.
Hisoka stayed out of the pursuit entirely, yet he was the single most critical piece of the plan. He had to supply two irreplaceable antennas.
The entire operation had been built around planting those antennas on Xiyou's body.
The reason Hisoka did not remain completely hidden, and instead took control of a waiter at the very beginning, was simple calculation. He had predicted that Xiyou might already possess information on the Troupe.
Even without specific intelligence, the mere possibility that the Phantom Troupe would appear in Kakin was enough to send any cautious Hunter searching the networks for known data. Once that search began, the information Ronin had previously sold would inevitably enter Xiyou's field of view—including detailed notes on Hisoka himself.
By controlling the waiter first, Hisoka deliberately broadcast two facts: antennas had to be planted by his own hand, and he had already used one on someone else.
After Xiyou was forced into the replica hotel, Hisoka met the others again and handed the two antennas over to Machi and Chrollo.
Chrollo had already prepared an ability designed to pair with Hisoka's Bungee Gum.
Xiyou had indeed remained wary of the antennas the entire time.
The one Machi concealed under In was snatched out of the air by Xiyou before it could pierce him.
What he could never have anticipated was that Machi's entire role in the assault had been pure distraction. Even that antenna had been offered deliberately for him to catch.
Had he failed to notice it, the antenna would still have served as a reliable means of restricting his movement. But Machi's real task was far simpler: leave a mark of Nen thread on Xiyou's body so Chrollo could fire the second antenna through the blowgun and drive it home.
The Guaranteed-Hit Circle Blowgun.
That was the ability Chrollo had developed specifically for dealing with Ronin.
After their previous encounter he had created a bookmark that allowed him to use two abilities at the same time. From the first moment Machi's threads touched Xiyou, those threads had already carried Chrollo's Spider Silk.
Xiyou tore the visible Nen threads away, yet the ultra-adhesive silk remained. It clung to his clothing and formed a perfect circle.
That circle was the exact trigger condition for the Guaranteed-Hit Circle Blowgun.
Even after Xiyou sensed something wrong and ripped free the antenna Machi had offered him, Chrollo still exhaled into the blowgun.
What left the tube was not a conventional dart.
It was Hisoka's second antenna.
The Guaranteed-Hit Circle Blowgun was an Emission ability layered with Transmutation. Under normal conditions it launched poisoned darts. Converting the payload into an antenna did not erase the Emission property that allowed the projectile to traverse space.
The antenna vanished from the air the instant it left the blowgun. When it reappeared it was already buried in the center of the circle on Xiyou's waist.
Nen on the antenna punched straight through Xiyou's Ken. The tip sank into flesh. In that same instant Hisoka's Bungee Gum completed its connection—carrying the target's fate.
Outside the replica hotel Hisoka never looked away from his phone screen.
The moment a new operable figure appeared, his thumb pressed down and seized control of Xiyou.
—
An off-road vehicle rolled to a stop in front of a hillside villa. The Impure World Reincarnation of the Fourth Prince pushed the door open and stepped out.
Security inside the grounds was already on full alert. The vehicle itself had forced its way through every checkpoint on the approach, yet no pursuit cars followed behind it.
Floodlights swung across the courtyard and locked onto the figure climbing from the vehicle. Every hand holding a weapon began to tremble.
It was the Fourth Prince.
Less than an hour earlier they had all received confirmed reports of his death.
Guns rose on pure reflex and leveled at the cracked, gray-skinned man standing in the light. No one dared pull the trigger.
A soft sequence of beeps sounded at the main gate as a password was entered.
Every security officer's heart climbed into his throat. The villa's lock system required password, facial recognition, and fingerprint. Makeup might fool a camera. A fingerprint could not be faked.
The electronic voice spoke clearly.
"Welcome home."
The heavy gate began to swing open.
The men stationed in the courtyard stared with eyes stretched wide, weapons shaking in their grips. One of them still possessed enough presence of mind to shout the order.
"Open fire!"
Not every gun answered, but enough rounds tore across the courtyard to riddle the Fourth Prince from head to toe.
He neither dodged nor blocked.
Bullets punched through him until he looked like a walking sieve. The longer the gunfire continued, the deeper the panic sank into the guards. The body leaking no blood at all. The feet that never stopped moving forward.
If the sheer kinetic force of the rounds had not slowed him, he would already have been among them.
When a bullet visibly exited the back of his skull and the figure still advanced without reaction, someone finally voiced the thought clawing at every mind.
"Ghost!"
The single word shattered what little discipline remained. Guns clattered to the ground. Men turned and fled toward the villa itself.
At that exact moment another silhouette appeared in the open gateway.
"Blinky. Absorb every firearm."
Shizuku's calm voice carried across the courtyard. A violent suction bloomed an instant later.
Every weapon still in a guard's hands was wrenched forward by overwhelming force. Those who refused to release their grip were dragged across the gravel along with their guns.
A few of the quicker thinkers realized the "Fourth Prince" could not be killed by bullets and swung their muzzles toward the new arrival instead. The rounds never came close. Blinky's gaping mouth simply swallowed them out of the air.
That was the final break.
Kurapika and Neon moved together. Within seconds the courtyard was littered with unconscious bodies.
Ronin and Abachi walked out of the shadows at a measured pace and followed the gradually regenerating corpse of the Fourth Prince through the open gate.
The Scarlet Eyes were stored in the underground collection vault of this hillside villa.
Tserriednich had built the room specifically for them—bank-vault steel doors, layered electronic locks, and a full complement of armed guards. Without a single Nen user among the defenders, the guards were little more than obstacles.
Even the reinforced vault itself offered no resistance once its rightful master stood in front of it. The heavy door opened without effort.