"Oho, interesting, interesting! Still so weak, but who'd have thought that Zazan could transform! (°?°)? Though wow, she's gotten real ugly." Cheetu, who'd finished his popcorn and was about to doze off watching the fight, perked up when Zazan began to transform. "Too bad—even if the body gets stronger, her Nen hasn't changed. Like this, she can't beat that little shorty. And he hasn't even used his unique Nen yet. What is it, I wonder? I'm dying to know! (｀?ω?′)"
"Your whole body is full of openings." The instant Zazan's transformation neared completion was also the best timing for Feitan to strike. As a top-class assassin, he wasn't going to miss it.
"I won't mercifully let this one go." Feitan once more slipped behind Zazan, this time with a sharp dagger in hand. One swing at her head and, no matter how tough her flesh, she couldn't withstand a Nen-laced blow.
But ideals are beautiful—reality is…
Zazan's change wasn't only physical. Her reflexes had leapt as well, and Chimera Ants were razor-sensitive to Nen. She read Feitan's movement completely; all she had to do was wait a hair longer and she could kill him.
"!!!" Feitan's senses were also keen. He felt something off and snapped back in retreat.
"Hmph, don't think I'll let you off that easy." Zazan hurled a palm toward his position. Tangible Nen smashed into Feitan midair—a heavy Nen blast.
"Feitan tried using Ken to strike and exposed a gap." Phinks spoke. Since Zazan's transformation, the troupe had gotten serious. At that level of attack, not only Feitan—any of them would take damage.
"Didn't expect the other side to know how to use Nen. Looks like this Queen isn't that simple," Shalnark analyzed.
"Cough…" Feitan climbed to his feet, but the hit had done real damage. His upper garments were shredded, blood at the corner of his mouth—a nasty internal injury.
"Hehehe, you thought that was a gap? Let me tell you—this form of mine has no openings." Zazan laughed smugly; in her mind, after transforming, victory was certain.
"Say, aren't we going to help?" Feeling the opponent wasn't someone he could handle, Kort asked the others.
"Hm? Why?" Phinks said. "Told you—this is a contest. If Feitan goes down, the next one steps in."
"Then who's next?" Shizuku. "Go by arrival order." Shalnark. "That'd be me." Phinks.
"Hold it—we arrived at the same time." Bonolenov. "Idiot, I waited for your fight to end." Phinks. "Okay okay, flip a coin then." Shalnark.
So this is bushido? How dull. Still, the order was quickly set: if Feitan lost, Bonolenov would go next, then Phinks.
Right then, Feitan hard-tanked a heavy blow from Zazan; his whole arm twisted unnaturally.
"Hahaha, hurts, doesn't it? Want Bonolenov to tag in?" Phinks started in with the teasing. Among the troupe, the closer your bond, the more you enjoyed watching each other eat dirt.
"Tch. Damn. Got cocky!" Feitan's eyes hid beneath his hair as his Nen gathered across his body.
"—Ah oh! The brat's popping his ultimate. Not a joke you can make. Move—we'll get caught up in it." Phinks' last line was to Kort. The others were already moving.
"?" Kort didn't get it.
"When he gets mad, he'll use his ability without regard for the surroundings." "Last time I just wanted to watch—and almost got killed."
"Hurry. His ability has a huge area. If you're caught, you'll die," Phinks explained again to Kort.
"Ooh, the little shorty looks serious now! What kind of ability? Can't wait. (^?ω?^)" Cheetu displayed peak feline curiosity—after all, cheetahs are felines. His confidence was, as ever, sky high.
Standing at center, Feitan suddenly wore a strange outfit—a cultish getup with an inverted cross.
"Nani? When did the shorty change clothes?" These feral squadron leaders were barely beginners at Nen—most had only learned Ten and Ren. As for Hatsu? Most couldn't use it.
"But he does look stronger than before. Is it because of that outfit?" With Feitan still, Zazan didn't rush either. Once he finished that long incantation, it would be her death sentence. A seasoned Nen user would've either fled or interrupted him long ago.
"Return the pain to you." Feitan's chant neared its end. "Be scorched!!!" A basketball-sized orb of light shot from the strange garb.
"Unforgivable one! Be burned by the sun!" The orb burst into blinding light and heat in midair—its temperature nearing the sun's surface.
"Ah!! So hot!!!" Zazan's body seared in the blazing light—no, more precisely, it was as if she'd been set on fire. "My throat—can't breathe."
"No—gotta run!" Any will to keep fighting fled. Now she only wanted to get away from the orb. Too bad—Feitan wouldn't grant it. Wherever Zazan tried to move, Feitan stuck close, the great sun-ball baking her. Every drop of fluid in her body was evaporating. Soon, she'd die of dehydration—or be dried into a husk.
"Ugh, that's hot. Damn! What a strong move! The King was right—humans may look weak, but the Nen they create can kill us." Though still some distance away, Feitan's "Sun" had terrifying area. Cheetu's perch fell within it. "Ah ya, ah ya. If I don't move, Zazan's done. This is the King's first order for me—I'm not screwing it up." He blitzed toward the soon-to-be jerky Zazan—so fast even speed-specialist Feitan couldn't react.
"Who?!" As Cheetu moved, Feitan sensed his Nen—no weaker than his own; he might even be a bit outclassed. Since the earlier fights had made him assume ants basically couldn't use Nen, and since the location was Meteor City, he pegged the aura as a Meteor City-born powerhouse. Never would he think it belonged to an ant.
"Pop." With a soft sound, the blazing "little sun" vanished.
"Fuel burned out? Makes no sense." Feitan frowned up where it had been. "Wait—no. Someone like that wouldn't get charred to ash." His gaze locked on where Zazan had been—now empty. "Someone pulled the Queen out from under my move. That Nen from before?" Feitan snapped into a guard, Nen hardening around him in Ken—the best all-around defense. Against someone that fast, he wasn't confident he could kill them.
"Come out! I see you!" he blurted—then regretted it. Who'd be dumb enough to fall for that?
"Alalala ("▔□▔)/ didn't think you'd spot me. I thought I was hidden great~ Yo, kid—mind telling me how you found me?" And yet—an actual idiot. From the shadows strolled Cheetu, Zazan slung over his shoulder, swaggering.
"…" Feitan.
"Idiot. He didn't find you at all—you believed that crap?" Zazan rasped weakly. She was down to half a life at best.
"Wha~(?Д?≡?д?)!? How's that fair?" Cheetu's face said WTF.
"Didn't expect another ant." The others had felt Cheetu's Nen too, and the five remaining troupe members gathered.
"Here to rescue the Queen?" Shalnark asked first, eyeing Cheetu.
"Queen? What queen? Where?" Cheetu peered around, actually wondering if the Chimera Ant Queen hadn't died—or had revived.
"Uh… the one on your shoulder?" Shalnark pointed at Zazan.
"Σ(?д?;)" First came Cheetu's "what-is-this-demon" face, then—"Pff 2333333333 hahahahaha—you—you said she's the Queen?" He pointed at Zazan, then at Shalnark, bursting into laughter—nearly rolling on the ground.
The troupe, meanwhile, wore the look of onlookers who'd missed the plot. Shalnark scratched his cheek, embarrassed. "Did I say something wrong?"
"Hey hey, Zazan—he called you Queen." Cheetu pat her shoulder after finally stifling his laugh. Her only reply was a feeble groan. Mortifying beyond belief. If he knew she'd crowned herself Queen and got beaten like this, he'd roast her for life.
"Cut the crap. Looks like you plan to take her," Feitan snapped. He'd been in a foul mood; now he was livid. He'd popped his ultimate and the other side was fine—and thanks to the scorpion woman, he was banged up. Being ignored since this clown showed up? Asking for death.
"I don't really want to save her. We worked together before, sure. But the King ordered me to retrieve her and bring her back. So… please step aside." Cheetu said it like it was nothing.
"King?" So there was a heavyweight among these ants. The troupe weren't fools; they extracted plenty from the cheetah idiot's words.
"You rampaged through Meteor City and now want to walk the culprit out? World doesn't work that cheap," Phinks growled—the hothead's temper wasn't great, especially here in his home.
"Oh? (⊙o⊙) Oh? Then let's try." Cheetu's eyes sharpened. Lots of strong ones here. One slip, and he might be the one staying.