Doesn't the ability you have awakened prove you were born for this?
Pe's voice filtered through the electromagnetic currents wrapping his form. He let the audio feed drift into the background, dissolving into white noise beneath the rush of high-altitude wind. Meruem banked over a dark, jagged coastline, the ocean churning far below. The photon-woven shuttle beneath his feet decelerated as the skeletal structures of the abandoned industrial district breached the horizon. He drifted downward, slipping through a rusted gap in the facade to access the upper levels.
The delivery room sat in total silence.
He paused at the threshold. The heavy indentations on the floor remained, surrounded by scattered, dry casings from newly hatched soldiers. The space felt hollow. The dense, suffocating weight of life that usually anchored this room had vanished.
He had returned to kill the queen.
The decision had crystallized three hours prior. She had presumed to name him. She lacked the authority to define what he was.
But the room was empty.
He pushed his photon field outward, flooding the corridors and subterranean chambers with microscopic light. The particles pinged against concrete, metal, and dust, returning a flawless map of the complex. Nothing. No queen. No Chelich. This was not a hasty retreat. The nest had been meticulously dismantled and relocated, scrubbed clean by an intelligence anticipating his exact arrival.
Meruem stood in the center of the vacant room. The dust motes drifted through the moonlight. He withdrew his photon field.
Shaiapouf descended through the night air, his wings cutting silent arcs as he breached the abandoned nest. He located the Ant King standing perfectly still in the queen's former chambers.
Shaiapouf landed, folding his wings tight against his back, and delivered his report. He laid out the intelligence gathered during his independent mission. The second birth, Chelich, was almost certainly the reincarnated consciousness of the fourth Kakin prince, Tserriednich Hui Guo Rou. The variables aligned too perfectly. A gruesome death occurring at the exact moment of the queen's gestation. Abilities transferring flawlessly into the new biological vessel. A name already locked into the infant's mind before birth.
Meruem kept his back turned to the Royal Guard the entire time.
When the report ended, the silence stretched. Shaiapouf. Why do you doubt Chelich?
Shaiapouf blinked, his throat working around a sudden knot. He parted his lips to formulate an excuse.
As the Ant King's guard, Meruem said, the words smooth and quiet, you should follow Chelich. She carries the blood of the Ant King. That is the hierarchy.
King, your subordinate...
If I behaved in a manner contrary to the image of the Ant King you hold in your mind, Meruem continued, his posture completely still, would you also doubt me?
Shaiapouf froze. The question struck the core of his devotion, exposing fractures he had buried deeply. His hands trembled against his sides. He forced his breathing to steady. King, your subordinate would never. You are the only true king. Chelich is a human consciousness. A thief that stole a vessel it had no right to claim.
Meruem offered no response.
At the absolute edge of his photon field, a sudden disturbance rippled. Two massive signatures spiked on his sensory map. One moved with frantic speed. The other faded rapidly, its life force slipping away.
Meruem did not spare Shaiapouf another glance. He launched himself through the ruined ceiling, shattering the concrete into dust.
Youpi tore through the landscape, his heavy boots obliterating the earth with every frantic stride. Massive craters bloomed in his wake as he shoved his muscular frame past its limits. He carried Neferpitou in his arms. Her skin had taken on a sickening, gray pallor, and her breaths came in shallow, rattling gasps. Youpi did not know where he was running, only that Neferpitou was dying and it was his singular duty to protect the King's assets.
A flash of blinding light erupted directly in his path. Meruem materialized in the center of the destroyed terrain.
Youpi dug his heels into the dirt, halting his massive momentum with a deafening crack that shattered the bedrock beneath them.
Neferpitou forced her eyes open. Her pupils dilated, struggling to focus on the King's silhouette bleeding through the haze of her failing vision. She raised a trembling hand. King, she gasped, the sound barely scraping past her vocal cords. Do not come closer. Humans. They constructed a weapon. It targets us. It could spread.
Youpi instantly stepped backward, pulling her away from Meruem. His jaw clenched tight. I failed to consider the risk, he growled. Why did you keep silent? I should have returned alone, or stayed away entirely.
Stop, Meruem commanded.
Youpi froze.
Neferpitou kept her arm extended, her pale fingers pushing weakly at the empty air, desperate to maintain distance. Meruem stepped forward and gently caught her hand in his.
Neferpitou stared up at him. The agonizing fog clouding her mind fractured as the dense, warm light radiating from Meruem's body washed over her. The photon field enveloped them both in a gentle, humming glow. Do not. Come. Close.
Meruem did not retreat.
A heavy gust of wind announced Shaiapouf's arrival. The butterfly guard landed behind Youpi, his eyes darting to Neferpitou's decaying form. His wings twitched in rapid, erratic spasms as his mind calculated the tactical implications. Neferpitou was compromised. A biological threat to the King. Shaiapouf's posture shifted, his muscles tensing as he prepared to eliminate the vector before it could spread.
Pe, Meruem said aloud, speaking into the ambient electromagnetic currents. I think I know why I was born.
Meruem channeled the photonic energy into his palms. He had reviewed Pe's chat logs multiple times, internalizing the upload mechanics. At the very end of life, consciousness became untethered. It merely required a viable conduit to bridge the gap. The electromagnetic field saturated the earth. The infrastructure already existed.
He pressed his palms together, then parted them, directing the concentrated light directly over Neferpitou's chest.
Youpi and Shaiapouf recoiled as a blinding white flare erupted from the King, swallowing Neferpitou completely. When the light faded, Youpi's arms were empty. No blood. No ash. No body.
For Neferpitou, the suffocating agony simply ceased. The physical anchors dissolved. She felt herself unspooling, her consciousness expanding outward, riding a vast digital current while retaining the absolute core of her identity.
Thousands of kilometers away, the glow of monitors illuminated Pe's secure operations room. A new command prompt forced itself onto her primary screen.
She had not initiated the sequence. The incoming code carried an entirely foreign architecture, processing data at a velocity that vastly outstripped standard human programming. Her fingers flew across the keyboard, tracing the digital footprint backward. The origin point locked onto Meruem's exact coordinates.
He had initiated the transfer.
All active windows on her screen minimized. The desktop cleared completely. In the center of the display, a small, pixelated avatar materialized. It possessed distinct feline features. The little figure spun around, examining the digital environment with wide, unblinking eyes, displaying the manic energy of a creature discovering an entirely new universe.
Genetic weapons? A feminine, cat-like voice burst through Pe's external speakers. What exactly is that? Who are you? Are you communicating with the King? Where am I? Who am I? What is this structure? Is this a network?
Pe leaned back in her chair, staring at the screen.
So that is it, she murmured, speaking quietly into the open channel linking her to Meruem. That is what you meant. You were not born to conquer. And you were not born to discard your existence just for the sake of survival. You were born to be the entity that finally makes a choice.
On the screen, the small cat avatar tilted its head, swatting at a passing line of code, fully prepared to dissect every single piece of data in its new world.
The late afternoon sun filtered through the canopy, casting long shadows across the quiet forest clearing. Liam and the others had departed, leaving the area in profound stillness. Netero, however, had made no move to leave. Killua had watched the old man cautiously until Netero squared his shoulders, dropped into a low martial stance, and leveled a piercing stare at the young assassin.
An hour passed. Killua pushed his aura to its absolute limit, crackling with raw electricity as he launched strike after strike. His fists tore through empty air. Netero hardly appeared to move. Yet, every time Killua's lightning-fast strikes reached their target, the target was already gone, leaving Killua entirely disoriented as to whether he had miscalculated or if the old man was simply slipping through reality.
Near the tree line, Alluka sat on a mossy root, clapping enthusiastically whenever Killua unleashed a move that would have decimated a normal opponent.
Killua skidded to a halt, the sparks dying in his hair.
The atmospheric pressure above them shifted. A figure descended from the sky, stepping down onto invisible platforms woven from condensed photons. Meruem settled onto the grass, fixing his gaze on Netero. He carried the exact same unreadable stillness he had displayed during their last encounter.
You seem stronger, Meruem observed.
Netero stroked his long beard. Are you interested in testing that assessment?
What was the poison that infected my guard? Meruem asked.
Genetic targeting, Netero replied smoothly. A biological agent engineered specifically around chimera ant DNA markers. Highly toxic to your species, completely inert to all others. He dropped his hand from his beard. A researcher possessing a very unique enhancement ability accelerated the synthesis.
Meruem processed the data instantly, pulling open the global network via his connection to verify current human biological warfare capabilities. The timeline of the weapon's deployment completely defied standard developmental models. Someone had indeed forced the evolution.
Pe's voice whispered softly through the electromagnetic field brushing Meruem's ear. I warned you. The countdown is running. Even these genetic weapons have been forced into play.
Netero tilted his head, looking toward the empty space above Meruem's shoulder. A digital entity. You have been tracking my coordinates.
For some time, Meruem confirmed.
Netero absorbed the revelation without a flinch.
I will fight you, Meruem stated. For as long as you desire. However, I require a condition.
Go on.
Find the queen ant. Meruem kept his voice perfectly flat. She was relocated during my absence. Given the Hunter Association's resources, your intelligence networks, and your global reach, locating her should not pose a significant challenge.
Netero studied the Ant King's face. The queen who birthed you. You want her retrieved.
Yes.
The wind rustled the leaves above them.
Agreed, Netero said.