Chapter Text
The Palace Invasion had gone as smooth as possible so far. The royal guards had all been separated from the King, who would never achieve victory against Netero. The same blinding explosion puts the King, who now knows his name is Meruem, into a near death state. Pouf and Youpi rush to his aid, and gives their bodies for the king. Just as he is reborn, Pitou and Gon are off to Peijin to meet a man who can't be healed, but neither of them know that yet.
Pouf makes the same lying phone call claiming Komugi is safe, and Pitou believes her comrade, because why shouldn't she? All Pouf believes is that he has killed two birds with one stone. After receiving that call, Pitou could have simply attacked and killed Gon right then and there, but something holds her back. She feels obligated to show honor to his request, or at least attempt to. As they enter, it is immediately obvious that nothing can be done. The same tragic scene plays out, where Pitou tells Gon the harsh reality of what has happened to Kite.
Nothing has changed so far, Pitou begins healing her arm, and Gon still holds onto some desperate hope she will heal Kite next. The next words shatter that tiny bit of hope, "I'm sorry to say this, but I must kill you. For the king." Pitou could have attacked him without warning, yet she simply gets into a fighting stance, waiting for him to make the first move. This would be her biggest mistake. Gon, in a state of complete rage, makes a nen contract where he obtains unbelievable power in exchange for everything he ever will be. Pitou realizes that something is terribly wrong, watching her opponent, who, just seconds ago was completely broken down and defenseless, become a threat so terrible he might threaten the king.
"Terpsichora, Exceed your limits, and dance!" She lunges at Gon, who disappears in an instant. Despite Pitou being Gon's main and only target, she falsely believes he is off to kill the king. Desperately leaving the cellar and Kite's body behind, she enters the main room, where Gon, now a fully grown man, is waiting. "Come, I don't want to destroy this place." As she walks with him, she begins to think, 'This power could only be obtained by sacrificing all of his nen potential, as long as I stall him, he will never reach the king.' This is the simple thought that changes everything. As she walks outside the castle with him, she decides to not attack him in the back, and instead walk with him slowly to whatever location he has in mind. As Pitou walks towards certain death, she thinks 'I will never be able to beat him in battle, all I have to do is ensure that his transformation will run out before he can meet the king, wasting his time is all I can do.' The thought still disturbs her, realizing her life is about to come to an end. It shakes her up a bit, but she knows that her death will benefit the king. This monster will never reach him.
Eventually Gon and Pitou have walked far enough away from the castle, and Gon is satisfied the castle won't be destroyed by their battle. Now surrounded by woods, he turns around to PItou, slightly surprised she hasn't attempted a backstab. "This is far enough, fight me." Pitou doesn't make the first move, content with stalling for time. She then sees Gon with a slight look of pity on his face, as if he knows what he's about to do, and feels just a tiny bit sad for her. 'If she won't make the first move, then I will.' The muscles in his legs bulge, and he rushes forward with an inhuman speed, and Pitou is just barely able to realize the flash of color heading towards her body is Gon's right leg, and with no time to block, takes a full powered kick to the stomach. She didn't even have time to move more nen in order to lessen the impact. It immediately sent her flying through multiple tree trunks, and completely knocked the air out of her. As she was flying, she thought, 'I was right, this battle is completely one sided. I never had a chance.'
Eventually, after breaking through multiple trees deeper into the forest, she ungracefully rolled to a stop on her stomach, still trying to get some air back into her lungs. Breathing heavily, she spit out blue blood, immediately knowing that simple kick had done internal damage. She had just gotten on all fours to try and stand back up, when she felt his presence and a bright yellow light directly behind her. She frantically turned her head around, already knowing what she was about to see, the panic clearly written on her face. Gon stood there, charging up a devastatingly powerful jajanken, once again looking down at her with a semblance of pity. He chanted, "Rock, Paper, Scissor. ROCK." Pitou's body, for the first time, refused to listen to her, no matter how much she wanted to leap out of the way, the lack of oxygen made that impossible. She did the next best thing, and just as Gon's rock was coming down on her head, she moved her left arm to block it. Pitou's body was extremely durable, but even so, the attack was truly powerful. As it connected with her forearm, the full power of Gon's attack was unleashed, and a blinding light shined as she was mercilessly blown back, already flying through the trees once more. The attack was so incredible that despite her arm taking the brunt of the attack, it still managed to damage the rest of her body. She finally landed once more, with her face in the dirt. She didn't even need to check her left arm to know that it had been obliterated, from the shoulder to the elbow it was burnt and badly damaged, and from the elbow to the fingers was completely missing. She could only be thankful that it wasn't her face that had taken that attack. Blue blood was leaking out of what was left of her left arm, and she was still coughing up blood as well. She once again struggled to get up, this time it was even harder with only one functional arm. As she finally got her face out of the dirt, and was able to rest on her knees, she saw Gon's terrifying figure slowly emerge from the woods. It was painfully clear to Pitou now that he was toying with her. With his ungodly speed and strength, he could have been on top of her before she hit the ground, yet here he was slowly walking out of the woods. Or maybe he was holding back out of pity, either way, it didn't matter. Death itself was walking towards her. And even though she was supposed to be a fearless royal guard, the panic and fear was clear on her face. Then he stopped as he entered the clearing, stood still, and began charging up his jajanken. 'Why is he charging it up when he's still so far away, can he move after he's charged it up?' Pitou thought to herself. She didn't realize that he was planning on using paper, his emitter technique. He had charged it up for long enough, and once again he chanted, "Rock, paper, Scissor. PAPER." This time he moved his hands forward and unleashed a massive ball of light that headed towards Pitou at a unbelievable speed. Pitou had just managed to get up while Gon's paper was heading towards her. The attack hit her center mass, and caused massive damage to her chest and stomach. She was shot backwards, and hit the trunk of a large tree. She was still conscious as Gon walked towards her, intent on finishing the job, the way Kite taught him.
Killua was using godspeed to rush to Gon, when he saw the bursts of nen in the distance. He began rushing over. As Gon walked over to the still conscious Pitou, he felt a hint of remorse for her, seeing her completely defenseless. His overwhelming rage overrode that remorse, and he walked right up to where she was hit against the tree. Pitou was still trying her best to get up with whatever strength she had left, but eventually she gave up as he moved right in front of her. With all the energy Gon had used and how long the fight had lasted, she was content that even after her death, he wouldn't have enough time to reach and kill the king. Yet she still felt a terrible feeling believing her life was about to end. "Rock, Paper, Scissor. Rock," he said in a calm and steady voice, as he smashed his jajanken mercilessly against her head. She made a noise that felt terrible in Gon's ears. 'Why should I feel bad about this thing, after what it did to Kite.' Pitou was still conscious, still attempting to block the next attack with her remaining arm as he charged up another rock. He simply swatted her arm out of the way as he used rock, once again smashing it directly into her head. She again made a strangled noise, finally sinking into unconsciousness this time, believing her death was imminent and that she would never wake up. His hand was shaking, covered in her blue blood. He still had time left to finish the job, yet the remorse and pity he felt had been building up. He stopped for a few seconds, but was about to continue smashing her head in when he heard a quiet voice, barely above a whisper. "Gon, is that you?" He turned to see his friend Killua, who had witnessed what he was doing. This time, Pitou was merely unconscious and not dead, so Terpsichora did not activate to attack Gon one last time. Gon turned to his friend and tears streamed down his face. Killua asked with fear in his voice, "What did you pay to obtain this power, to force your body to mature decades ahead?" Gon for the first time feared about the consequences of his contract, hoping Killua could forgive him for giving up everything without a second thought. "I'm sorry Killua, I had no other choice." And with that, Gon let his rage dissipate, and the contract had finally ended. His body began to shrivel up, and he collapsed as his nen disappeared. "GONNNNN" Killua screamed, seeing the full consequences of the contract play out in front of him. He rushed to his friend using godspeed, and immediately picked him up and rushed out of their, intent on getting him medical help to save his best friend's life.
In his rush, Killua did not even spare a second thought to Pitou, who was crumpled on the ground, with a partially ruined face, destroyed left arm, and mangled body. Yet she was still breathing. Killua hadn't even realized she was still alive, and even if he thought she was, the only thing on his mind was saving Gon. The final, shattering blow, had never happened, and Pitou's skull was still intact.