Within the silent forest, where the plants slept and small animals had long since fled, Neferpitou—now temporarily surpassing even Meruem in raw stats—unleashed her entire soul into a relentless assault on Hisoka.
"Screee!"
Propelled by Terpsichora, Pitou moved with a feline grace and explosive power that defied logic, her movements a chaotic, three-dimensional blur of lethal intent.
"Kaa!"
She had reached a velocity that even Killua in his Godspeed form could not have tracked. She attacked with the single-minded focus of a predator whose only purpose was to pulverize the enemy of her King.
"Aaaaagh!!"
"Kuku... fast, very fast. ♦"
Despite her ferocious speed, Pitou's strikes failed to connect, missing Hisoka by the thinnest of margins. For a man who spent his days parrying Gon's supernatural power, Killua's lightning speed, and the refined mastery of Netero and Bisky, Pitou was almost easy to handle. She had less power than Gon and lacked the technical precision that usually accompanied such speed.
(She's a little bit worked up, isn't she? ♣ Her Hatsu reminds me of Gon's, but her movement is closer to Killua's. ♦)
The "thin margin" wasn't a choice on Hisoka's part; Pitou was genuinely powerful. A normal opponent's concentration would have shattered under the weight of her onslaught. Yet Hisoka's warped psyche remained unshaken. He possessed such absolute confidence that he could afford to lose himself in idle thought even as death lunged at his throat.
Judging that he had observed enough of Pitou's capabilities, Hisoka shifted his focus to the offensive. Suddenly, the storm of claws stopped. The two stood at a distance.
"Hm? Giving up so soon? The fun was just beginning. ♠"
Hisoka felt his excitement dip as he sensed Pitou's lingering fear. If this was all she had, then she was a disappointment. He activated the Bungee Gum he had secretly attached to her during their previous exchanges.
"Ah—?!"
"No escape. Go ahead and struggle. ♦"
Pitou was yanked off balance toward him. Hisoka swung a reinforced card at her neck, but she twisted in mid-air with a non-human flexibility, evading the lethal blow. However, her counter-swipe managed to graze Hisoka's cheek, drawing a thin line of red.
"Fshhhh!"
"Heh. So you can do it if you try. ♥"
Because Hisoka had committed to an attack, Pitou had found the fractional opening needed for a counter. Realizing her instincts were her best weapon, Pitou braced herself, ignoring the fact that her own life force was being "burst" by her ability.
(She's a beast at heart, so her attacks are just linear bursts of speed and power... but she's perfectly fine with countering based on my rhythm. ♦ If I just wait, she'll eventually burn herself out, but that would be a bit boring. ♠)
Hisoka retracted his Bungee Gum and instead spread it among the surrounding trees like a massive web.
"Let's turn up the heat. Try to keep up. ♥"
"Shaaa!"
Hisoka began the "Hunt" that had once defeated Chrollo, using his gum for traps and high-speed mobility. It seemed Pitou's fate was sealed.
(...I'm surprised. Her learning ability is higher than I thought. ♦)
Against Hisoka's varied arsenal of feints, rhythm shifts, and ranged volleys, Pitou continued to resist. While she took several hits early on, she began to evade more frequently as the fight progressed. Even with her mind surrendered to her fighting instincts, her subconscious retained the memories of the thousands of Gungi matches she had observed between Meruem and Komugi.
The combat genius that had remained a dormant bud due to a lack of worthy opponents was now blooming with explosive force.
"Shi!"
"Hah! ♥"
Hisoka's card sliced Pitou's shoulder; in return, her claws grazed his own. Hisoka still held the advantage in total damage, but Pitou was now accepting collateral damage in ways a wild animal never would—her attacks were starting to land.
Hisoka grinned, his expression turning malevolent. Pitou had grown into the strongest opponent of his life. To celebrate her evolution, he conjured his Panic Card.
Hisoka's body suddenly became fixed in mid-air, a seemingly defenseless target. Pitou lunged with her fastest piercing strike.
"...I see. So the skeleton behind you wasn't just for a power boost. ♣"
Hisoka sharpened his Gyo. He saw invisible threads of Nen stretching from Terpsichora, hidden by In. It was a level of manipulation that surpassed even Machi's. These threads had bound Hisoka, forcing him to bleed from the constriction.
"But unfortunately, the moment you strike is when you're most off-guard. ♥"
Hisoka used Bungee Gum to deflect Pitou's strike just enough to turn a fatal heart-piercing blow into a deep gouge in his side.
"Ah..."
In the same motion, Hisoka's Panic Card—the Jack of Diamonds—sliced halfway through Pitou's neck. Her invisible threads snapped, and she collapsed to her knees, blood spraying from the wound.
"That was quite enjoyable. Bye-bye. ♠"
Hisoka aimed at her neck once more, ready to finish the job with a card shrouded in high-density aura. But the card cut only empty air. Hisoka sensed a shift and leaped back.
"Aah... ugh..."
Even with his Gyo at its limit, Hisoka couldn't understand what was happening. Before his eyes, the skeleton behind Pitou transformed into a grotesque, nurse-like entity. It crudely stitched her neck closed and injected a shimmering, mysterious fluid into her veins.
"Hmm. So you still had another gear. ♥"
The nurse transformed back into the Black Prima Donna, its mouthless jaw hanging open as it began to dance. The blood loss, which should have been fatal, now served as a catalyst, pushing Pitou's physical form even further into the realm of the monstrous. With her remaining sanity erased by the drug, Neferpitou rose as a creature that could no longer be called an insect.
"AAAAAAAAGH!!!"
"Heh. A perfect practice target for the real Gon. ♥"
Pitou's speed was now approaching the realm of the 100-Type Guanyin. Her raw strength rivaled Gon's Full Borrowed Muscle Power, and her eerie silence made her a superior version of Killua.
Hisoka fought back with everything he had. He didn't just turn his aura into gum; he changed its shape like an amoeba, using the web he had built in the forest to achieve unpredictable maneuvers. He parried the unavoidable and used aura blades sharp enough to cut Gon to bypass Pitou's defenses.
The duel was a stalemate between the strongest of humanity and the supreme evolution of the ants. But slowly, Hisoka's movements began to falter. He was taking more damage.
(Troublesome. Somehow, I'm being affected by her ability. ♣)
Thanks to his training with Gon and the others, Hisoka had the stamina and aura to keep going. But Pitou's presence was disrupting the high-level technique he needed to counter her physical stats. Even Hisoka found himself at a disadvantage.
However, Hisoka knew that the "Max Level" of his beloved Gon was even higher than this. He didn't doubt his victory for a single second.
Hisoka allowed himself to be blasted back, using the elasticity of his Bungee Gum to absorb the shock. He fanned out his Panic Cards and pulled five specific cards from the deck. Normally, the cards were random, but he bypassed the restriction with a Vow: in exchange for these five cards, every card in his next five decks would be the weakest numbers possible.
Accepting the "Weakest Deck" penalty, Hisoka revealed his hand: the Jack, Queen, King, and Ace of Spades, plus the JOKER.
"A Royal Straight Flush... and a special version with a Joker. ♥"
The discarded cards vanished. The chosen five stuck to his torso in a pentagram pattern.
"The look is a bit much, but this is my true trump card. ♠"
Hisoka's aura surged in quality and quantity. Pitou launched a desperate charge, putting her entire life into a blow meant to shatter Hisoka's body. The skeleton behind her began to sing a sub-sonic melody—a debuff that tore at the human mind—while Pitou struck with the speed of a Guanyin and the power of a Freecss.
Her hand, capable of shredding steel like paper, touched Hisoka's aura. In an instant, her limb was reduced to a bloody rag.
"The Spades are for slicing. ♠ When boosted by the strongest hand, my aura shreds anything it touches without question. ♥"
Pitou tried every angle, every trick to reach him. But as she drew closer, the density and power of the slicing aura increased, mincing her attempts before they could connect. Her threads and her songs were automatically torn apart. Hisoka stood perfectly still, completely neutralizing the Queen who had previously held the upper hand.
"Slicing Dance. In this state, I can't use Bungee Gum... except for this hand. ♦"
Focused solely on killing Hisoka, Pitou failed to see the hidden Bungee Gum. It snapped onto her and yanked her toward him.
"SHAAAAAA!"
"Bye-bye. ♥"
Her balance broken and her debuffs shredded, Pitou was helpless. Hisoka's card flickered. Her head was severed from her shoulders.
"...Checkmate, I suppose?"
Knowing that some insects can move even after decapitation, Hisoka watched the body warily. The headless corpse began to twitch violently. The cracked, grotesque skeleton of Terpsichora let out a silent roar.
"I thought so! ♪ Let's keep playing! ♥"
Pitou's body stood up like a puppet, cradling its own severed head. Her Hatsu—Terpsichora—had been completed by her death. Fueled by post-mortem Nen, it prepared for a final, desperate struggle. A burst of aura gouged the earth, and Pitou's presence vanished with a precision that even Hisoka couldn't track.
"Come from wherever you like. If I mince you into pieces, surely you'll stop. ♠"
Hisoka waited, his Slicing Dance active. Only someone hard enough to ignore the slicing effect could touch him now. He waited for her to arrive, curious to see how she would try to reach him.
But when the dust cleared, Neferpitou was gone.
"...?"
In a rare moment of genuine shock, Hisoka blinked. He found a trail of blood leading deep into the forest.
The trail led straight toward Gon and Meruem.
"...What's this? After I bullied you so much? ♣"
Hisoka deactivated his Slicing Dance. He looked down, his body trembling.
"Leaving me behind is so lonely... but I see how it is. ♠"
By ignoring Hisoka to rush toward Gon, Pitou had proven that the one she feared and obsessed over most—the one she couldn't die without stopping—was not the clown.
"I was going all out... and yet, she thinks Gon is the bigger threat?! Is that what this means?!"
The fact that the strongest monster he had ever faced was obsessed with his favorite person was a massive revelation for Hisoka.
"I can't stay here! Wait for me, Gon!! I'm coming to see you in your finest hour!! ♥"
Using Bungee Gum on his feet to bounce through the forest at high speed, Hisoka sprinted after Pitou, intending to overtake her.
"Hold on until I get there, King! I'm going to burn the image of Gon's evolution into my eyes this time!! ♥"
Round two between Pitou and Hisoka had become a race against time.
***
Author's Note: Royal Straight Flush Effects
♠ Spades (Slicing Dance): Adds a slicing effect to the aura itself. Cannot be used with Bungee Gum.
♥ Hearts (Lover's Cradle): Drastically increases aura pool and strengthens Bungee Gum. If he wraps an opponent, he can even restrain someone in the "Muscle Savings" state.
♣ Clubs (Invisible Man): An advanced In that cannot be detected by Gyo. He can use Ren or Ko without being noticed.
♦ Diamonds (Sparkler): Allows him to fire aura from any part of his body. Effectively a superior version of Franklin's ability.
The Penalty: To pull specific cards from the Panic Deck, Hisoka must "use up" a deck composed entirely of the number "2" in a subsequent battle. Since he can only manifest two decks at peak condition, he effectively can't go "all out" again until he clears the penalty—meaning he can't fight Gon at full strength yet.