"Heh, looks like they've all taken it." Meruem showed a hint of a cruel smile.
"Your Majesty, the Nen of these three is very strong. Several times stronger than the average squadron leader—very close to us Royal Guards." This was the cat-girl Pitou speaking. Though she said their Nen was very close to hers and the others', her expression showed zero pressure. If it came to a straight fight, even all three together wouldn't necessarily be a match for the Royal Guard. At this point, the three Guards were not like in the original—immensely powerful, yet inexplicably unable to finish off opponents dozens of times weaker.
"I've told you, when no one else is around you don't have to call me 'Your Majesty.' You should call me Yang." Meruem glanced at Pitou, a bit displeased. He looped Pitou's tail around his forearm, slipped an arm around her waist, and gave a light tug—unguarded, she fell into his arms.
"But…"
"No buts. I said when we're alone, call me Yang! Or does what I say no longer count?"
"I wouldn't dare. Your Majesty—Yang." In Meruem's embrace, a subtle change crossed Pitou's face.
"That's better. Know this is special treatment—for you alone." Seeing Pitou submit, Meruem leaned toward the two cat-ears atop her head and spoke softly. His breath circled at the edge of her ear. A cat's ears are sensitive, after all; Pitou's body trembled and at last her face turned red. Yep—cat ears are king; cat-girls are peak cute.
"Hm? What a buzzkill—do these three never stop?" Sensing that Zazan, Gudu, and Leol had no intention of pulling in their Nen, Meruem frowned, annoyed. They really didn't know their place—giddy with a shred of new power and already picking a fight? This was Meruem's palace, after all. Ignorant fools—barely better than Welfin, who openly rebelled in the original.
"Ah, quiet down, you dregs." A Nen aura far more powerful—multiples stronger than the three—erupted from Meruem and instantly blanketed the council hall. The instant his Nen touched theirs, the three retracted their own and, under the shroud of his presence, began to shake.
"Tsk tsk. Pathetic."
The exchange passed so quickly the other ants in the palace barely noticed; they were used to Meruem's despair-inducing Nen. They felt no stirrings of disloyalty—indeed, they had none. Meruem was their protector; why fear him?
All the Chimera Ants thought so—except for one non-ant presence in the palace who did not. Four successive waves of Nen had his heart ready to burst—especially the last one, so overwhelming it made him forget to breathe. He nearly snapped. This presence was Knov, one of Chairman Netero's two subordinates, a space-type ability user who had secretly infiltrated East Gorteau's palace to investigate the ants.
"Oh? Didn't expect a little bug to slip in. My dear subordinate, Pouf—bring me that little bug. I still have a use for him. Alive." With only a moment's distraction, Meruem discovered Knov. Though Knov's space ability made infiltration devilishly hard to guard against, his personal combat ability lagged far behind Morel's—and his mental fortitude was frankly poor. If you sealed his teleportation or left him no time to use it, Knov was at a total disadvantage against ants strengthened by Meruem's training. Against a Royal Guard like Pouf, it was certain death. Most importantly, Meruem had his eye on Knov's space ability.
Pouf wasn't in Meruem's palace but in another not far from Knov's position. Meruem's order reached him via the Chimera Ants' characteristic telepathy. Originally, only soldier ants used it because they couldn't speak—but in truth, all ants could. They simply disliked the feeling of someone else's "voice" entering their minds. It didn't reveal memories, of course—just words. For Meruem, however, the three Royal Guards had no resistance at all.
"Oh, my King—your wish is my mission. I will fulfill your will even at the cost of my life." Shaiapouf, the butterfly man, declaimed like he was on an opera stage, in that inimitable way of his. Meruem didn't care for it one bit—and honestly, did capturing one basically helpless target really require sacrifice and drama? He felt like punting the man until that crowd-mania habit stopped.
"Hm? Trying to run? You think this is a place you can come and go as you please?" Though he had ordered Pouf to seize Knov, Meruem's attention remained on Knov himself. He instantly sensed the intent to escape using "4th-Dimensional Apartment." In a heartbeat that abyssal Nen suffused the entire palace again, focusing especially on Knov's location. "Useless trash—stay."
"Th-this Nen… Damn, I've been discovered." About to flee, Knov found himself completely enveloped by Meruem's aura. That terrifying presence wrapped him wholly. A mind of steel might have shrugged it off long enough to use a Nen ability to escape. Knov did not possess such steel. He'd presented as cool-headed and proud, clearly confident in his strength; in truth, his mental fortitude was nowhere near as strong as he let on—one could even say it was poor. He lacked the spirit of a true strong one—the grit to grow braver with setbacks, to press forward through hardship. In that, he was far inferior to his partner, Morel. Their current strengths might be similar, but in future potential Knov would never surpass Morel. In the original, Knov was so frightened by Pouf's Nen that he fled in a panic and lost his hair overnight. Now he was facing not Pouf's Nen, but the King's—Meruem's—and it plainly told him: I have found you. Knov was stunned with terror. Though his mind was more or less clear, his hands, feet, and Nen refused to obey—his body would not answer him.
"Damn it—move, move!" Knov fought to control his trembling body. Meruem could only force this temporary paralysis for a brief moment—he wasn't present, it wasn't an actual Nen technique, just raw aura enveloping Knov—he couldn't truly control Knov's body. But Knov's mental toughness was too low. If it had been Morel, he might have already slipped away—space-type "4th-Dimensional Apartment" was a come-and-go ghost of an ability. Still, Knov was Netero's man; his combat experience was substantial. Lacking nerve didn't erase his skill.
"Hah… hah… finally got control back." Knov's body was drenched in cold sweat, like he'd been hauled from a river. His spirit was exhausted to the limit. "I have to move." Shaking all over, he didn't want to remain another second. He had only one thought now—run. Cowardly or not, staying alive mattered more.
But—
Too late.
Knov had already wasted too much time.
Pouf had been quite close.
So—
"Got you~." A voice that sent Knov's skin crawling sounded by his ear.
In an instant, his body was covered in shimmering, colored scale-dust.
Chimera Ant Extermination Force—Knov: Captured.
"Well done, Pouf." Meruem praised him without stint. Without Meruem, Pouf might not have caught the man—but praise cost nothing.
"All right, if there's nothing else, you may withdraw."
"Yes, Your Majesty." Head lowered, one knee bent at the foot of the throne, Pouf answered deferentially. By his side lay Knov, trussed like a cocoon. From beneath his lowered brow, his gaze kept darting toward Pitou held in Meruem's arms, burning with jealousy. Unfortunately for him, Meruem's tastes were perfectly normal—he could seethe for a lifetime and it wouldn't matter.
"Damn you, Pitou! That place will be mine sooner or later." Outside the palace, Pouf clenched his fists in hateful resolve.
Meruem suddenly shivered, feeling a chill for no reason.
"Meow?" In his arms, Pitou sensed something and squeezed him tight, rubbing her head against his chest like a real cat.
"Cat-girls are indeed adorable."
"Ahem—business first." The horned, ominous red figure appeared behind Meruem again—his Nen ability: Gluttonous Feast.
This was also a technique for taking others' Nen abilities, but it required a part of the target's body or a manifested piece of their Nen to be fed to the red apparition. It could be blood, a Nen beast, a conjured tool, or a piece of flesh—the more complete the sample, the higher the proficiency required post-theft. Given time, he could master the stolen ability to the point of surpassing the original user. There would be no cross-type penalty either: even if Meruem was an Enhancer, using a Specialist or Conjuration ability would not cap at 80%. In this respect, it was like Kurapika's scarlet eyes. And since Meruem had previously fed a severed arm of Chairman Netero to the feast, it wouldn't be long before he used Hundred-Type Guanyin to give Netero a surprise.
One more thing: Gluttonous Feast didn't truly "eat"—it extracted essence. Whatever it consumed turned ashen gray, then to dust.
In other words, to seize Knov's ability, Meruem need only feed all of Knov to the feast. In an instant, he could obtain "4th-Dimensional Apartment." As for Knov's fate—obvious.
Meruem merely disliked literally eating people. Killing them? He had no qualms—especially when they were liabilities to him.
(End of Chapter)
[Get +20 Extra Chapters On — P@tr3on "Mutter"]
[Every 50 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter Drop]
[Thanks for Reading!]