Luzurus's Quiet Camp

Sumidori-in-Shikaku rings Luzurus's doorbell, shouts loyalty to Benjamin, and shoots himself — a staged suicide at a staged address. Sumidori wakes safely in his own body; Shikaku is dead, and Benjamin now names Halkenburg his biggest threat.

Debriefing Kanjidol, Balsamilco raises three objections to the obvious theory — including his cornerstone hypothesis that princes (and their beasts) cannot directly kill princes, since royal-murder is capital even for royals. The key question he assigns: why did Shikaku die in front of Room 1007?

Feigning agreement with Kanjidol's suspicions, Basho privately concludes the opposite: Benjamin's own men staged the Room 1007 incident, and an ability that activates on Shikaku's suicide — post-mortem Nen — is in play. He adds it to the watch list beside the beasts.

Fifteen minutes before the deadline, Kanjidol knifes two of Luzurus's bodyguards in their bunks, savoring it — martial law means never having to think again. Behind him, one 'corpse' slowly raises an arm.

Told Benjamin's riflemen already flank Room 1009, Luzurus — far sharper than his stoner image — calls it: martial law is starting, resistance is suicide. He orders all guards disarmed and gathered, the drugs burned immediately, and sends Ridge to keep Benjamin's embedded soldier 'busy,' since Hunters are exempt from the kill order.

Ridge opens the servants' quarters on Kanjidol kneeling over a corpse. 'Self-defense,' says the man with the knife. Both flare their aura; both jump. The first Hunter-versus-soldier fight of martial law begins over two murdered sleepers.