[172]: A Day of Fighting

Cyr finally met Netero—

A black hole spread out beneath his feet and swallowed him whole.

In the blink of an eye, he fell into a pure white, perfectly square room.

And inside that room, the corpses of Chimera Ants, big and small, were piled high.

The only one standing there was Netero himself, wearing a tank top that revealed his hardened muscles.

Though he looked old on the outside, his muscles were like iron—capable of crushing an ant with a single punch.

"Yo, Chairman." Cyr raised a hand and gave a lazy wave, looking carefree and unreliable.

"I heard you're doing rehab training. But what's the point of training with small fry like these? So, I came to help." His tone lifted with excitement, and his bright blue eyes almost dazzled. Everything about his voice and posture revealed his barely-contained eagerness.

"Heh heh…" Netero chuckled when he saw that what had just dropped in wasn't another ant—but a human.

"Oh yeah, by the way, on my way here, I noticed the Ant King has already gone to the central palace in NGL," Cyr added, stoking the fire a bit more.

By now, NGL turning into an ant-dominated nation was basically a done deal—

Unless someone stepped in to stop them.

But… if anyone else could do it, then the one standing before Cyr wouldn't be the ancient Chairman.

It was because there was no one else left that Netero had to get involved.

And after taking over NGL, the ants—driven by their insatiable hunger—would surely expand their territory even further and capture more humans.

It was easy to imagine: time was running out for humanity.

If Netero kept dragging out this rehab training, by the time he was done, there might not be many humans left in the world.

But even after hearing this news, Netero only smiled calmly, seemingly unfazed by humanity's impending fate.

"Though I'm an old man now… you should still be careful."

With that, he took a stance and faced Cyr.

The next second, neither of them could be seen clearly in the room—

Or rather, the room was filled with their afterimages.

You couldn't tell which one was real, their positions and movements changing every split second.

What was once a spacious room now felt unbearably cramped due to their battle.

The corpses of ants on the floor were shattered into finer pieces from the shockwaves of their clashes, leaving the ground in ruins.

And yet, the room itself remained undamaged despite the intensity of their fight.

"Old man, with strength like that—are you planning to die by going up against the Ant King?"

The white-haired boy caught one of Netero's punches and instantly countered with a strike of his own.

He didn't even use Limitless—this was pure hand-to-hand combat, body against body.

And yet, the experience left him deeply disappointed.

Netero's strength, while it did steadily rise as the fight went on, was still… just that.

Nothing more.

There was no thrill of teetering on the edge of life and death.

It was clear the old man's true potential was greater than this, yet he couldn't unleash it.

A powerful soul shackled by an aging body.

In that moment, Cyr completely lost interest in continuing the fight.

If they kept going, it was obvious Netero would start running out of stamina.

At that point, it'd just feel like bullying an old man.

So he immediately pulled his hand back. Netero's fist came flying toward his face—

The wind from the punch blew his bangs aside. Cyr's eyes stayed calm as the fist stopped cleanly just one millimeter from his nose.

One slight miscalculation, and it would've smashed his face in.

But Netero didn't miss.

Cyr didn't ask why the old man wasn't using his secret ultimate move—after all, he hadn't used Cursed Technique Reversal or Domain Expansion either.

The room was too cramped to use them properly anyway.

Besides… this wasn't a real fight.

"Could your secret move kill me?" Cyr glanced at the floor, now too ruined to stand on, and activated Limitless as he sat cross-legged in midair.

Netero stroked his beard and smiled silently, looking confident.

Keep acting, old man. Keep playing the quiet wise guy.

Cyr figured that even if the Chairman suddenly went all out, he probably still wouldn't be able to beat him.

Theoretically, a move that could kill Cyr should also be more than enough to kill the Ant King.

But… the old man didn't have that move.

"Hey. Do you really not realize—you could die?" Cyr leaned his chin on one hand and asked lazily.

He'd lived so many years, served as Chairman of the Hunter Association, managed a huge organization, and always kept that cheerful smile. There's no way a guy like that could be stupid enough to not understand the situation.

"Of course I know," Netero replied with the same smile. "But I'm still the most suitable person for this job."

"If I win, that's great."

"If I lose, then it just means my strength wasn't enough."

His face was calm, undisturbed by the possibility.

"Is it that thing in your chest that's your trump card?" Cyr asked, pointing to the old man's heart.

He had noticed it the moment they met—there was something hidden near the man's heart.

"You noticed, huh?" Netero wasn't surprised that the boy had seen through it.

"Keep it a secret, alright?"

"Whether I win or lose, in this war between humans and ants—humanity will be the one that triumphs in the end."

He smiled like a dependable elder trying to reassure the younger generation.

But Cyr could feel something else in that posture—something calmly resolute.

He wasn't sure if it was the calmness of someone who simply wanted to fight a worthy opponent…

Or the calm of someone ready to die for humanity.

How should he put it—was Netero really the kind of human who carried that kind of resolve…

to die for the sake of the people?

"You're really something, old man," Cyr said lazily, half-praising him. His tone was so casual and unbothered, it was almost like he was the elder, and Netero was the junior being complimented.

"But is that thing of yours really enough to kill the Ant King?" Cyr rubbed his chin, doubtful.

At the very least, when he looked at it, he didn't feel any real sense of danger from it.

"It once took the lives of 5.12 million people," Netero said simply.

Ah— A nuclear bomb, huh?

Sure, if it's nuclear-level power, wiping out regular humans would be no problem.

But taking out something that ranks as a final boss-level opponent… that's pushing it.

Speaking of which, special grade curses can take missile strikes.

So can special grade cursed energy tank a nuke?

Could Gojo and Sukuna survive a nuclear bomb?

Kinda makes him want to test it out.

"Well, whatever. I get it. Take your time with the rehab," Cyr stood up, made a call to someone outside, and left the room.

The moment he stepped out, he appeared once again before Morel and Knov.

The white mist in the forest was Morel's doing, while the spatial black holes were Knov's ability.

These two had been capturing ants together to help Netero with his recovery training.

You could call them the right and left hands of Netero's operation.

"You done talking with the Chairman?" Morel asked casually, holding a ridiculously large pipe taller than a person.

"More or less."

The white-haired boy didn't look happy—he actually looked pretty annoyed.

His brief spar with Netero hadn't satisfied him. If anything… it just left a bad taste in his mouth.

It was clear Netero didn't want to waste too much energy on him and was focused entirely on saving his strength for the fight with the Ant King. That's why their battle ended up being so… boring.

Neither of them went all out.

It felt more like playfighting than anything serious—of course it wasn't fun.

"Whatever."

Morel and Knov could only watch as that arrogant, untamed white-haired boy—who looked like he didn't think much of anyone—sighed and vanished into the air, disappearing to who knows where.

Cyr was seriously pissed off that he didn't get to have a satisfying fight with the old man.

So pissed that when he spotted a swarm of dragonfly ants flying overhead, he didn't even bother trash-talking them. He just obliterated a whole cluster in one go.

Looking up at the sky, now totally clear of ants, he felt just a little bit better.

The next second, he dove headfirst into the forest below.

There were all kinds of ant troops—leopards, tigers, pigs, cats, dogs, wolves, even a few that looked like part-horse hybrids.

Every last one of them had their life snatched away in an instant.

None of them even got the chance to see what their killer looked like.

Cyr moved in a straight line, charging directly into the ants' nest.

Without saying a word, he wiped out every single ant still alive inside.

Only then did the headache he'd been feeling finally start to ease up.

"Whew…" He let out a breath as the object in his hand slipped from his fingers, rolling across the ground until it came to a stop in front of a corpse.

"Hmm… I think I just sensed Gon and Killua…"

Cyr finally had the spare attention to notice something else.

—

Meanwhile—

Biscuit was flipping through a pretty boy magazine, every page showcasing a different handsome guy, while Killua and Gon were off to the side in horse stance, training their Nen.

Not far from them stood a figure with long black curly hair that hung low over their head, obscuring their face. The only things visible were their ghostly pale skin and a body so thin it looked practically skeletal.

Suddenly, Biscuit's expression sharpened.

The ghostlike figure seemed to sense something and looked up.

Gon and Killua, too, turned their heads, sensing something behind them.

"Focus on your training."

Two hands landed on their shoulders—one each—and a voice came from behind them.

From the black nails and the dark ring around the wrist, they instantly recognized who it was.

"Because you two suddenly showed up that day," Cyr said flatly, "Kite died. Horribly. Tortured to death by ants. When I got there, all that was left was a pile of bones."

As he spoke, he held up a white skull in front of their faces.

No flesh. No blood. Just clean, dry bone.

"Really a damn tragedy," Cyr continued.

Gon and Killua were visibly shaken, completely thrown off their training.

"As his friend, I took it out on you guys. Beating the crap out of you seems pretty reasonable, right?" Cyr added, almost as if afraid they might get a better look at the skull. He casually stuffed it back into the curse's mouth.

Then, without another word, he unleashed a furious beatdown on Gon and Killua.

"I don't believe you!" Gon gritted his teeth. "I don't believe Kite is dead!" he shouted stubbornly.

The next second, Cyr punched him square in the face, giving him a proper black eye.

"Believe it or don't. Don't care," Cyr sneered.

He was already beating them up—what did it matter if they believed it or not?

After the two of them were reduced to wailing in pain, Cyr felt like his mood had finally improved a bit more.

Especially when he saw the stunned, heartbroken looks on their faces after hearing about Kite. That made him feel even better.

"You—" Biscuit frowned, just about to say something.

But the white-haired boy's figure vanished before her eyes, clearly not interested in sticking around for small talk.

"You little brat!" Biscuit fumed.

Don't just barge in and screw up someone else's training session like that!

After messing with almost everyone on the human side, Cyr silently turned his gaze toward the horizon.

—

NGL Royal Palace.

Human weaponry and military strength meant nothing in the face of Chimera Ants.

A government-controlled compound had been completely overtaken, transformed into the Ant King's palace.

All of it happened in under half an hour.

Humanity suffered a crushing defeat. The corpses were repurposed—Neferpitou used them as palace guards, patrolling the area like puppets.

Cyr spun on his toes, circled the palace once, examined the surroundings, then made his way closer to the Ant King.

He was here to wait for the real show to begin—like, say, the domineering Ant King falling in love with a human girl. (Apparently, she was blind, too.)

Cyr found the whole thing fascinating.

He decided to stay and watch how an ant and a human actually fall in love.

Domineering CEO falls for innocent girl—that trope has stood the test of time in the world of romance novels. That alone proves how powerful it is.

No book or TV drama could ever beat a live performance.

But Cyr had been watching for a while, and still hadn't spotted that so-called blind girl anywhere near the Ant King.

Had they not met yet? When exactly do they meet?

The Ant King was this green-skinned (and very evenly green) creature wearing a hat—or maybe a helmet? He had extremely long earlobes that dangled down to his shoulders, purple carapace covering half his arms, and hands that looked like they were wearing fingerless gloves. His tail was thick and long, striped with dark and light green, ending in a syringe-like tip. Broad shoulders, narrow waist, eight-pack abs, a chiseled V-line… everything about his build was as sharply defined as his life plan.

His face? Pretty handsome, actually.

He definitely had that overbearing CEO vibe.

Not human, sure, but definitely the kind of exotic hot guy that'd be a dream come true for some monster-lovers.

Still… green skin? Cyr's strongest association with green skin was goblins…

Although, to be fair, this green ant guy was a hell of a lot better-looking than any goblin.

After waiting a while longer, Cyr still didn't catch that dramatic plotline.

What he did get, though, was a suspicious glance from the Ant King.

Cyr's blatant, almost butcher-inspecting-meat level of scrutiny must've drawn attention.

"Who's there?" the king demanded.

And at the exact moment he spoke, his tail lashed out in Cyr's direction.

It struck the veil of camouflage with a heavy thud. It didn't tear through it—but the impact made it obvious something was there.

"Guess I've been found." Cyr raised an eyebrow, clearly entertained, and dispelled the veil around him.

"A human?!"

"A human here?!"

"It's you." Neferpitou bared her claws, her fangs showing as she stared at the familiar figure.

This guy… she knew he'd be trouble for the King.

The two other ants behind the King mirrored her reaction.

"Your Majesty, allow me to deal with him," Neferpitou said, dropping to one knee, her voice full of respect.

"No need. You're not his match."

Meruem shut her down without a second thought.

"Your strength is impressive," the Ant King said, studying the white-haired human before him.

He did need someone to test his own power against.

His fellow ants would never defy him—so the ideal test subject… was a human.

"I think so too. You're not bad. Wanna play with me?"

The white-haired human nodded, his tone arrogant, completely matching Meruem's presence.

Is this guy… humanity's king?

Meruem found himself wondering.

No further words were exchanged.

The air beneath their feet erupted in a gust—both figures disappeared instantly.

Shockwaves burst from all directions, deafening sonic booms erupting in rapid succession.

Only Neferpitou, with her exceptional dynamic vision, was able to barely track the brief flashes where human and ant collided.

They changed positions several times per second mid-exchange.

And with each movement, another sonic boom shattered the air.

°°°

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