One minute earlier.
On the rooftop of a building overlooking Fountain Square.
Silva stood at the edge of the roof, his long hair fluttering in the wind.
He took out his phone and glanced at the message. After a brief pause, he put it away and turned his wolfish gaze toward several figures in the square below.
As night fell, the tower-like fountain at the center of the square lit up in a riot of colors.
The light show dancing with the flowing water drew the attention of most of the pedestrians in the square.
Smiling, they flocked toward the fountain. Even the children who had been playing around ran over laughing.
Meanwhile, the Phantom Troupe members led by Chrollo avoided the crowd drawn in by the fountain's light show.
They crossed the dazzling effects flickering across the ground and passed through the elongated lights and shadows on the other side of the fountain, heading toward the edge of the square.
On the rooftop.
Silva's gaze followed Chrollo and the others below, slowly settling on one of them—
The Phantom Troupe's Number 8.
Silva stared at the man as Nen surged around him like a raging current. He then raised his right hand, and the wave-like Nen around it instantly sharpened into spikes.
This stalactite-like form of sharpened Nen was a sign that an ability user had concentrated the focus of their attack on a single point. It was also a distinctive trait of an Emitter preparing to strike.
Yet as Silva mobilized his Nen to attack, he did not reveal even the slightest trace of Killing Intent within it.
His Nen was like a rushing river, yet there was not a single sound of water.
This was clearly the result of long years of refinement.
Then he struck. Leaping