Hunter x Hunter Chapter 417 left First Prince Benjamin in a race against time. While Special Martial Law expands his authority aboard the Black Whale, his own condition imposes a strict limit, turning his succession campaign from a war of attrition into a desperate, decisive purge.
With roughly 10 hours left on his countdown, every move is critical. Following the current Weekly Shonen Jump break, Chapter 418 arrives this Sunday, August 23, to reveal whether Benjamin’s high-stakes gamble succeeds or collapses.
Benjamin’s 10-Hour Countdown
Benjamin’s most immediate problem is the lethal biological pathogen affecting his timeframe. The First Prince knows that his remaining time is strictly limited, giving him little opportunity to pursue the slow political maneuvering that has defined much of the Succession Contest.
Special Martial Law gives Benjamin’s faction greater freedom to operate aboard the Black Whale, allowing his military forces to take direct, aggressive action against the other princes. That authority is crucial to his endgame because Benjamin needs to create an overwhelming emergency state to bypass conventional royal protocols.
His strategy ultimately revolves around military dominance and Kakin’s emergency succession provisions. By using the heightened crisis to justify immediate lethal force, Benjamin aims to systematically neutralize the remaining princes.
Rather than waiting out the contest, Benjamin wants to force an immediate resolution that guarantees his faction’s total victory. His objective is clear: eliminate his key competitors in rapid succession before the clock runs out.
That makes the countdown especially critical. Benjamin cannot afford to wait for the Succession Contest to naturally reach its conclusion. He has to force events toward his desired outcome while he still has the authority, physical capability, and time to do so.
Related: TSK-17 Explained: The Curse Killing Benjamin in Hunter x Hunter
Why Tserriednich Could Complicate Benjamin’s Plan
Benjamin’s efforts to eliminate his most dangerous rivals also face an unexpected problem in Fourth Prince Tserriednich. A confrontation between the two princes appears to allow Benjamin to remove one of the strongest competitors from the Succession Contest, but Tserriednich’s Nen abilities make the situation far more complicated than it initially appears.
Tserriednich’s Parallel Future ability allows him to perceive future events while projecting a deceptive scenario to others, remaining capable of altering his actions outside that perceived reality. That makes him an exceptionally difficult opponent to eliminate through a straightforward attack.
The apparent strike therefore raises an important question for Benjamin: did he actually neutralize Tserriednich, or did he simply fall into another layer of his opponent’s deceptive Nen ability?
If Benjamin has been deceived, the consequences could be enormous. His entire strategy depends on using his limited time efficiently, and wasting even part of that window against an opponent who remains active could seriously derail his plans.
The danger extends beyond Tserriednich. Several princes remain active in the Succession Contest, and Benjamin’s military faction is simultaneously dealing with a rapidly changing situation aboard the Black Whale. The more resistance he encounters, the harder it becomes to establish total control.
Chapter 418 is therefore positioned around more than Benjamin’s survival. His roughly 10-hour deadline forces him to move quickly, turning these final hours into the most decisive phase of the Succession War.
The upcoming chapter could reveal whether Benjamin is actually ahead of his rivals or whether his carefully constructed offensive is already beginning to unravel. With Tserriednich’s Nen making direct attacks unpredictable and the other princes continuing to maneuver, Benjamin’s greatest enemy may ultimately be the one thing he cannot defeat through military force: time itself.