Chapter 175: Death Ultimatum

Half an hour later, Oboro arrived at a coffee shop. He pushed open the door and immediately saw a familiar smiling face.

Pariston, wearing his trademark yellow striped suit, sat in a booth, his blond hair perfectly styled. He raised his arm in greeting.

Oboro approached with his hands in his pockets, his expression blank. He ignored the glass of juice that had been prepared and placed on the table earlier. "Tell me, what's wrong?"

His attitude towards Pariston had always been one of blatant disgust and indifference. Before, he would never have bothered with this person. But this time it was Kakin, and he wanted to see what Pariston was up to.

"Don't be nervous. I haven't told Beyond about you, and the Kakin royal family doesn't know either." Pariston smiled. "Considering what happened during the last expedition to the Dark Continent, you seem to have some misconceptions about me. I wanted to help you this time and ease the tension between us."

"Really? Then I must thank you," Oboro replied flatly.

"You're here because of the royal family, aren't you?" Pariston's smiling tone easily revealed the purpose of Oboro's visit. "Are you planning to eliminate the lord? I know a thing or two about the Kakin royal family." "Tell me, why do you think I want to attack the royal family? Why couldn't it be the princess?" Oboro stared at him.

"While your plan to place a woman next to the king may make it seem more appropriate to kill a princess, the foundation of royal power lies in inheritance and offspring," Pariston explained calmly. "The current princesses, except for Oito, all have children. Even if you kill a princess, there's still the prince, which will cause complications. Besides, once things start to unfold, it will be impossible to cover it up, and the king will definitely investigate."

He continued, leaning forward slightly. "You are unsure of the Kakin royal family's stance, so you must find a prince to ally with, give him enough benefits, make him take the blame, and turn this into a conflict between princes. That way, even the king will actively help clean up the mess, after all, the family's shame should not be made public.

Oboro thought in silence.

In the entire Hunters' Association, the two who gave him the most trouble in terms of cunning and intelligence were Pariston and Ging Freecss. The closer you got to these two, the more you could feel how truly terrifying they were.

When Pariston joined the Association, he became a three-star hunter in a remarkably short time, and eventually secured the vice presidency. It seemed as if Chairman Netero wanted to promote him, but Oboro thought it more likely that Pariston had been pulling strings behind the scenes, forcing Netero to passively promote him to Vice Chairman.

Although the old man had wanted to find some entertainment and challenges for himself, Pariston was partly to blame for the complications.

"Another point," Pariston continued, his voice soft. "You should be quite familiar with the Kakin royal family. Because of the War of Succession, the ultimate fate of these princes is to die young. King Nasubi may not be pleased to see his children fight prematurely, but deep down, he does not disapprove. This is in keeping with the spirit of the War of Succession, and is the main reason why you chose to target a prince rather than a princess."

"If you really know about the Succession War, then you must also know about the Seed Urn Ceremony. Did Beyond tell you?" Oboro asked.

"Don't misunderstand." Pariston waved his hand dismissively. "He and I are really only partners. We have no personal relationship. We only interacted because of some professional matters and joint work years ago. The Association has now discovered that it was indeed Beyond who orchestrated the Dark Continent expedition. Except for Ging, I don't know much about the other members of the Zodiacs. To be honest, I was also surprised when I found out Beyond's identity.

"Stop with the act, your disguise is meaningless in front of me, including your tricks and petty schemes." Oboro rested one arm on the table and leaned forward, looking directly into Pariston's eyes through his sunglasses. "You wanted to find the old man's weakness, so you sought out Beyond and took the opportunity to get close to him. What 'chance encounter'? It was all planned."

His voice took on a sharper edge. "You know of the agreement between Beyond and the Chairman. You know that Beyond is a trump card, a factor that could destroy Netero, and it just so happened that Beyond needed a helper within the Association who was connected to him and had a high status."

"Hahahaha, you saw through me, you really are remarkable." Pariston remained calm and made no excuses. He just smiled and offered his praise.

"I believe you didn't inform Beyond that I had come to Kakin's capital, and I also believe you will help me," Oboro continued. "But your purpose can't just be to help me infiltrate the royal family, you want to use this opportunity to provoke a conflict between Beyond and me."

Having said that, Oboro suddenly extended a finger and pointed it at Pariston's face. He lifted the corner of his mouth in a threatening smile. "Are you afraid?"

"You know my nature. You know that one day in the future I will kill you like a mouse and make you disappear forever. Our previous conversation with the Chairman made you realize that even the old man might not be able to completely restrain me. So the only card you have in your hand is Beyond."

As Oboro spoke, the smile on Pariston's face gradually faded.

"I'm different from Ging, I don't enjoy playing mind games with you, and moral constraints don't apply to me. If I want to kill you, I will kill you. I'm not controlled by anyone." Oboro's voice dropped to a near whisper. "It is precisely this unpredictability, which you cannot control or predict, that unsettles you. You want to exploit the conflict between us, or to be more precise, you hope to find ways to survive before my killing intent against you reaches its peak. So you came to the Kakin Empire because you knew I would agree to cooperate with you, and you also understood the importance of this matter to the Fells family."

"But it's useless. I've already carved your death into the tombstone of hell." His eyes narrowed. "I do, however, admire your courage in meeting me alone. As long as your life is limited, I suggest you enjoy it."

Oboro stood up slowly. "Organize your thoughts on the Kakin royal family and which prince would be most advantageous to ally with, then send them to my phone. Since you've come all this way to show your goodwill, perhaps I can show you mercy and let you die with dignity when the time comes."

With that, he shoved his hands into his pockets and walked directly out of the cafe, leaving Pariston sitting alone, fingers intertwined, his expression unreadable.

Long after Oboro had left, Pariston looked down at the dark liquid in his coffee cup and muttered, "This feeling is really irritating.

He had figured out Oboro's purpose in coming to the Kakin Empire, but Oboro had also figured out his thoughts and made them known.

This meant that Oboro believed that everything was predetermined and unchangeable. And perhaps he was right.

No wonder that even Ging was at a disadvantage against Oboro.

Oboro wanted to kill him, and to fulfill this vision, there was one crucial element: to become president of the Association. This meant that Netero would have to abdicate or die.

This was perfectly in line with his own goals.

The fact that Oboro was certain of Pariston's eventual death suggested that he had foreseen that Netero wouldn't survive much longer.

In other words, he knew about the Chimera Ants.

Creatures like the Chimera Ants were reproducing and evolving too quickly. The situation was now beyond control, beyond reversal. Even Pariston couldn't change the course of events.

Once it erupted into a catastrophe that threatened all of humanity, V5 would undoubtedly send the Chairman into action. It was a move Pariston had orchestrated for Netero.

But now it had inadvertently helped Oboro, or perhaps Oboro had anticipated it and deliberately exploited it.

As for Beyond, Oboro had given him no opportunity to intervene because he had already anticipated Pariston's thoughts. Given Oboro's volatile nature, if Pariston continued to interfere recklessly, Oboro might kill him now, regardless of the consequences.

What Oboro had just said was a warning:

I'll give you time, you can try to fight or play with me. But if you don't understand what is at stake, I will turn the table upside down.

"What are we going to do?" Pariston wondered.