"...No. It's a stalemate."
"Your Majesty, that 3-3-4 Cavalry move was incredible!! What would you have done if I hadn't countered it?"
"You countered it instantly, so you tell me. If you hadn't, I would have used the Lieutenant General on the right flank to dismantle your defense. ...In this position, how would you have responded?"
"Hmm, that's a tough one. I'd either intercept with a Samurai or take the hit with a Fortress... No matter how I respond, the variations are just so interesting!"
In the Sun Nation of Memphis (formerly East Gorteau), the sight of Meruem and Komugi locked in a match of Gungihad become a daily routine. Though Meruem still hadn't won a single game, he had reached a level where no one else on the planet could challenge him. Lately, he had found himself more obsessed with Gungi than ever, spending hours after each match analyzing their moves.
"King Meruem, Lady Komugi, it is time for lunch. I have brought your meal. The chef has prepared something that can be eaten easily during your match."
A maid, sensing a break in their analysis, stepped forward. On her tray were several steaming, savory buns—a gourmet fusion of a hamburger and a meat bun.
Komugi, noticing the scent, actually started to drool. Meruem gave her a look of mild exasperation before taking a hearty bite of his own. Despite the "fast food" appearance, it was a culinary masterpiece worthy of the finest restaurants. Meruem nodded in satisfaction.
"Impressive. Tell the head chef to continue his dedication. And you, don't just stare. Eat. I will not tolerate another repeat of the foolishness where you fail to maintain your peak condition."
"Ugh... Y-yes, sir. Please excuse me. ...Oh, this is delicious! ♪"
During a match, Komugi could ignore even the most gnawing hunger, but once she started eating, her body took over. Meruem watched her stuff her cheeks like a hamster before resuming his own meal, the two of them taking a brief few minutes to refuel.
Shaiapouf stood in the background, playing his violin as a BGM, his face a mask of suppressed jealousy and frustration. He hated that the "filthy human" was permitted to eat alongside his King, but since Meruem had decreed it, he could do nothing but play.
This new routine had started when Meruem realized that Komugi's weight wasn't increasing at all. The maids had reported that she stubbornly refused to eat the palace food, insisting she had no money and that she only ate a single, small ball of grain a day. Losing his patience with her constant "unworthy" protests, Meruem had forced her into the meals under the pretense of "cleaning up the leftovers" from his own snacks.
"U-um... are you sure I don't need to pay for this?"
"Quiet. You are performing a service that meets my satisfaction. Aside from your reward, a meal like this is no issue at all."
Meruem let out another sigh as Komugi sat there, trembling now that her stomach was full and her "commoner" anxiety had returned. He looked at this small, fragile, dirty creature—the same creature that could weave moves more beautiful than art and more impregnable than any fortress—and asked a question.
"Why do you belittle yourself so? During our matches, I feel a staggering confidence and resolve from you. And I do not understand why you send every cent of your earnings back to your family."
Meruem understood nothing about her. She trembled because of the difference in their social status, yet she seemed not to realize he could turn her into a red smear with a flick of his finger. She lived in rags, while her relatives lived in luxury off the prize money she sent home. Yet, during Gungi, she bore the presence of a true sovereign. To a King seeking to conquer the world, Komugi was an enigma—someone with supernatural power who chose to throw away everything she earned and refused to display her strength in her daily life.
Komugi, having her hands and mouth wiped by a maid, thought for a moment. She began to touch the board and the pieces, perhaps to calm herself.
"As you can see, I am blind. I cannot do the things normal people do. I couldn't even help with chores as a child. Fortunately, my family had a little bit of money, so I wasn't thrown away immediately."
Even so, she had been treated poorly, kept in a state just above starvation by her grandparents. Yet she smiled, saying she was grateful because she knew she was only alive because of them.
"I learned the rules of Gungi by listening to my grandfather play. I realized I could see the board in my head. I was lucky. Thanks to that, I've been able to survive as a champion."
She hadn't started out strong. At first, she couldn't even remember the positions or move the pieces correctly. But the more she discovered the depth of the game, the more her talent bloomed.
"I trembled when I won my first prize money. It made me realize that even someone like me could earn something. Though, it was only about the amount of a child's allowance back then."
Meruem cut her off. He knew her history from Pouf's reports. "I am not interested in your past. I want to know why you cast aside what you earn, and where that resolve to face me head-on comes from."
"I do it because as long as I can play Gungi, I don't need anything else. And as for my resolve... I don't know if that's what it is, but I've decided that if I ever lose a single match as champion, I will die."
Komugi spoke with a naturalness that chilled the room. Pouf, monitoring her through his ability, saw that her emotions didn't even flicker. She spoke of her death as if it were as certain as the sunrise.
"They say 'A Gungi King is just a person once they lose.' For me, since I can only do Gungi, I'd be less than a person—I'd be trash. But as long as I keep winning, I am the Gungi King. That's why, while we are playing, I can stand before Your Majesty as an equal, right?"
Realizing she had just said something incredibly disrespectful, she slammed her head against the floor in a frantic apology. But Meruem felt a seething frustration at his own inadequacy.
(A difference in resolve... I haven't been holding back, but I haven't even been standing on the same starting line as her.)
Sensing the King's roiling aura, Pouf was about to move, when a sudden, violent crack echoed through the room.
"Hee?!"
"Lord Meruem?!"
Meruem's own right fist, shrouded in massive aura, had slammed into his own cheek with impossible speed. Several teeth and a spray of blood hit the floor.
"Lord Meruem! What are you doing?! We must treat you immediately—"
"Unnecessary," Meruem growled. "This is a reprimand for my own arrogance and lack of perspective. I had underestimated the resolve of my opponent."
"W-what? Your Majesty, are you hurt?" Komugi asked, hearing the impact and smelling the blood.
Meruem pushed back the frantic Pouf and faced the trembling girl again. "Hmph... Teeth grow back. Wounds heal. The real match begins now. Do not expect things to be as they were."
Pouf called for a doctor, but Meruem refused to wait. His vision was slightly blurred from the self-inflicted blow, but he reached out and pressed his tail's stinger against Komugi's forehead.
"Move. That is a royal command."
"I won't! I won't move a single piece until you receive treatment, even if I die! You said yourself you won't tolerate anything but peak performance! I want to play against you at your best, and nothing less!!"
Tears streamed down her face, but she stared into the void where Meruem sat, her resolve absolute.
"I used to be satisfied just playing. But since I started playing with you, I realized... Gungi, and all games, only exist because there is an opponent!"
Ignoring the stinger drawing blood from her forehead, she declared war on the only rival who had ever pushed her.
"If you want to force a Gungi King to play, you'll have to beat me first!!"
"...I thought you were just 'trash' if you lost."
"Hau?! I-I mean... that was just... a figure of speech!"
"...Heh. Haha."
Meruem laughed. Not the predatory, savage grin he had worn since birth, but a gentle, serene smile filled with genuine compassion.
Pouf, the only one who could see it, was moved to tears. He realized his King had ascended to an even higher level of existence.
"I am already mostly healed. Examine me quickly, then treat this one... treat Komugi."
The doctor confirmed Meruem's broken teeth were already regenerating. Komugi, meanwhile, ended up with a comedically large bandage on her forehead.
"Now, there are no more obstacles. Komugi, I permit you to speak my name. Call me Meruem."
"I-I couldn't possibly! Please, let me just keep calling you Your Majesty!!"
"...I see. Then I shall win a match and make you say it."
"I won't lose at Gungi!"
The Sun King and the Gungi King returned to the board, diving deeper into the match than ever before. Pouf watched them, his heart split between ecstatic adoration and a searing, silent jealousy.
***
In the NGL wasteland, the ant mound loomed over a landscape that was now half-ruined. The ground had been leveled during the mound's construction, but the "monsters" in the Vanguard had since reduced the area to a scarred crater.
"How many times do I have to tell you?! Your aura is poison to non-combatants!! Please, either suppress it or move further away!!"
Peggy was furious, his feathers ruffled as he shouted at the top of his lungs. Dealing with the constant complaints from the other ants and the physical damage to the mound was taking its toll on the penguin strategist.
"...I'm sorry."
"...Our apologies."
Gon and Netero were both sitting in seiza (kneeling), bowing their heads to the penguin. But Peggy's anger didn't fade.
"I get Gon, but can't you do something about the old man?" Killua asked, watching from a distance. "Lately, it feels like he's moving further away from 'martial mastery' and more toward 'childish brawl.'"
"In a way, he's returning to his roots," Knov noted. "From what I've heard, the Chairman used to be a warrior who prioritized raw power above all else."
"A twelve-year-old and a hundred-year-old having a playground scrap... it would be funny if they weren't both so terrifying," Morel added.
The Vanguard had been watching the sparring matches between a Gon, who was struggling to contain his explosive growth, and a Netero, who had adjusted his mastery to his rejuvenated prime body. The result was a daily "Grand Battle of Monsters" that genuinely terrified the local Chimera Ants.
"Listen to me!! If you fight like this near the mound again, you are banned from entering! If you must fight, go far away—at least past the forest!"
"Understood," the two replied in unison.
They watched Peggy waddle away, still swaying with rage. Gon and Netero stood up, looking sheepish. They truly felt bad, but they simply couldn't help themselves once the fighting started.
"I guess we have to go further out tomorrow," Netero sighed. "Knov, can you add another door?"
"I can, but I won't waste my ability on that. It won't take you long to just run there."
"Gon, you really need to stop with the indiscriminate destruction," Killua warned. "If you lose sight of your target because you leveled the forest, it's all for nothing."
"It's not my fault the earth breaks so easily," Gon muttered.
"What the hell are you even talking about?"
***
As they waited for the final word from the Association regarding the terms of engagement with the Sun Nation, Kitearrived with a report. He had been investigating the ants alongside the Third Wave.
"The results are in. Simply put, the chances of the Chimera Ants increasing in number any further are extremely low."
This was a major concern for both the anti-ant nations and the Hunter Association. However, Kite and the experts had discovered that the current generation of ants lacked reproductive organs.
"They are soldiers born from the Queen's Phagogenesis. While some could manipulate others or create 'puppets' with Nen, they aren't actually breeding. As for the birth of a new Queen, the presence of an absolute King makes that possibility nearly zero."
Like true ants, the colony's expansion was entirely dependent on a single Queen. Without her, the numbers were static.
"I was worried about a new Queen emerging in this mound, but none of the Remnants show any signs of it. For now, we can breathe easy."
"One question," Killua asked. "Won't the King's 'mate' become a Queen? I assume the King won't become one himself."
"That's the interesting part of their biology," Kite explained. "The King rules, but he doesn't participate in the breeding of the next generation. A new Queen is born as a sudden mutation from among the eligible population. Normally, a King doesn't have a 'mate,' but with this much human DNA, it's a possibility."
Kite then listed the candidates who met the criteria for becoming a Queen.
"All of the Royal Guard meet the requirements. Especially Neferpitou, who has been confirmed as a female-type. If we want to ensure the end of the threat, she is the highest priority for extermination."
Everyone in the room immediately thought of Hisoka, who was currently absent.
"Where is he, anyway?" Kite asked.
"He said he wanted to concentrate, so he's off in the mountains," Gon replied. "He told us to call him when the date for the final battle is set."
"...Is that really the Hisoka I've heard about?" Kite muttered, confused by the clown's sudden discipline.
Deep in the NGL mountains, Hisoka sat atop a stone pillar. His aura was a roiling, toxic miasma. For kilometers around, no animals remained, and the plants touched by his aura had withered into gray husks.
(I hate her... I hate the she-cat who is occupying Gon's thoughts. I hate the she-cat who is forcing me to waste time away from Gon...)
His face was contorted in a look of agony that made a drug withdrawal look pleasant. He was barely holding back his urge to sprint back to Gon's side.
(Neferpitou... don't think for a second that I will let you die easily. ☠)
Far away in Memphis, a certain cat-eared ant felt her tail suddenly puff up.
***
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