The Second Prince, Camilla, along with the other princes, always kept King Nasubi's warning deeply in mind.
Before the heir to the Kakin throne was born, you could secretly have countless lovers and many illegitimate children.
But you could never have an official wife or husband, nor any children with inheritance rights.
This was why, among the thirteen princes, except for the youngest thirteenth prince who was still a child, none—from the strong and capable first prince to the youthful and handsome twelfth prince—had a partner or offspring.
After personally experiencing the intensity of the succession battle, Camilla finally understood the reason behind King Nasubi's stern advice.
Clearly, if you had a wife, husband, or children you cared deeply about, they would become your weakness and burden during the succession war.
King Nasubi had long laid out a vast and silent web, spending decades preparing for this cruel feast of bloodshed among relatives, leaving no room for mercy.
He certainly would not allow these "attachments" to make the princes soft, or to diminish the excitement of the succession battle.
Camilla firmly upheld these strange rules, waiting patiently until today, when the Kakin throne was just one step away. How could she give up now?
By now, most of the cards between the First Prince Benjamin and Second Prince Camilla had been laid bare. They had even investigated each other's Nen abilities and guardian beasts thoroughly.
At this critical, heated stage, their guardian beasts had also evolved. They could now be sensed and touched by their owners, and even communicated with.
It was like stepping into the arena for a one-on-one battle with all cards revealed, using every resource they had accumulated over the years.
On the BW1's voyage, countless lives were lost every day for various reasons. Yet the fiercest fighting was in the last week before reaching shore.
Every floor of the massive ship was in chaos—rebellions, alliances, and brutal fights were breaking out everywhere.
The Hunter Association, the International Permit Agency, and other organizations had to dispatch large numbers of personnel to assist the Kakin Empire's military in controlling the escalating situation, with no time to spare.
And so, the final stage was set.
Every hour, members from both Benjamin's and Camilla's camps fell—important figures slain, one after another.
Blood had nearly splattered across every corner of the First and Second Levels.
Nobles, high-ranking officials, and military leaders all lived in constant fear, tense and uneasy.
More and more of them began petitioning to see King Nasubi.
But King Nasubi refused to meet anyone.
He kept his doors shut, maintaining absolute neutrality during this brutal civil struggle. Instead, he observed it all with quiet fascination—as though watching a grand performance where siblings turned on each other.
Whoever survived among the thirteen princes, shaped and hardened by their guardian beasts, would undoubtedly become the most terrifying "poison" the Kakin Empire had ever known.
Yet what Nasubi felt in his heart wasn't sorrow.
It was envy.
But that envy didn't last long.
Because soon, he realized—he too would become part of that "poison."
In truth, every generation of royal blood within Kakin would become a part of this monstrous creation.
Meanwhile, Prince Benjamin remained deep in thought—calculating how to deal with Camilla's Nen ability and her guardian beast.
Sending an assassin to kill Camilla would trigger Cat's Name.
And even if the attempt came from afar, as long as she didn't die instantly, her guardian beast would activate.
On top of that, Camilla was constantly surrounded by her private army.
If anything seemed amiss, they wouldn't hesitate to kill her themselves—and use their own lives to bring her back.
This had troubled Benjamin for a long time.
Eventually, he laid out a strategy that wove together both open and covert tactics.
The overt plan was simple — continuous assassination attempts on Camilla, aiming to slowly chip away at the number of private soldiers guarding her.
The covert side, however, mimicked what he had done with the Third Prince, Tyson. He orchestrated staged attacks, only to personally intervene and stop them, forcing his way into Camilla's life under the guise of "protection."
He waited patiently for the day Camilla would have no choice but to pay his guardian beast an exorbitant protection fee — the day when she would be too weak to resist.
The scales of victory had clearly tipped in his favor.
With his Nen ability "Benjamin Baton" working in tandem with his guardian beast, Benjamin saw himself as the Lord of the Rings — poised to seize all the abilities and guardian beasts he desired, including Camilla's.
Camilla would lose everything.
He would climb to the throne over her lifeless body.
Yet, the more abilities one acquires, the more scattered and chaotic their power becomes.
Sometimes, a focused ability — a single sharp blade — cuts deeper than a thousand dull ones.
Benjamin believed he had given Camilla just enough room — enough not to drive her into despair, enough to avoid triggering her guardian beast.
But Camilla already felt trapped.
Cornered.
Checkmated.
And as her loyal supporters and private soldiers were picked off one by one, the pressure mounted.
A suffocating weight crushed her. She noticed her thick golden hair beginning to fall out. Every day, she could gather a fistful of it from her pillow.
Eventually, her body gave out.
She collapsed.
Weak and lifeless on her bed, she could only survive through the sacrifice of her soldiers — those who used a special ritual to give their lives for hers, enabling her ability "Cat's Name" to continuously revive her.
Her life hung by a thread.
When the ship was just about a day away from the presumed location of the Dark Continent, the struggle finally came to an end.
Benjamin thought victory was in his hands.
His guardian beast had overpowered Camilla's and seized control. The battle of wills was over—or so he believed.
But at the very moment he tried to completely dominate Camilla's guardian beast, something unexpected happened.
The beast retaliated.
It turned on Benjamin and forced him to raise a hand against the unconscious Camilla, who lay defenseless on her hospital bed.
And just like that, her Nen ability—"Cat's Name"—activated.
Using Benjamin's life as the price, the cat brought Camilla back from the dead.
She had won.
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