Thick, sticky ghost mist filled the sky above the palace.
Shaiapouf split into countless "clones" and reorganized again and again as he desperately tried to break free from the black fog that enveloped him. Every time he flew to the highest point, just as he was about to break free of the black tent-like formation, countless evil spirits would entangle his body from below and drag him back down.
These spirits were vicious in their torment, playing with him like a cat with a trapped insect. Each time, they gave him a glimmer of hope, allowing him to almost escape before pulling him back into the darkness. It was a cruel game of false promise and crushing despair.
After his last failed attempt to break through the ghostly mist, Shaiapouf's strength finally gave out. His mind was so disturbed that he could no longer maintain full control over his body. He fell from a great height, his form covered with a dark curse, and hit the ground with a sickening thud.
Oboro and Menthuthuyoupi approached the fallen royal guard.
Looking at Shaiapouf with cold, calculating eyes, Oboro raised his hand slightly. The ghostly mist that had enveloped the entire palace suddenly dissipated, drawn back into his body like a whale sucking in water.
Oboro narrowed his eyes in interest as he studied the two royal guards. Both Menthuthuyoupi and Shaiapouf seemed to have the ability to completely rebuild their bodies. Their wings, which Oboro had cut off earlier, had already grown back as if they had never been damaged.
"This is something far beyond human capabilities," he thought. "Their regeneration has been refined to the cellular level."
From the shadows nearby, Morel looked over cautiously. He had stayed hidden, not daring to act rashly in the presence of such power. According to their plan, once the battles on the various fronts were over, they were supposed to support their teammates as quickly as possible. But the black fog had made movement nearly impossible, obscuring the layout of the palace and forcing them to hold their positions.
Now Morel watched as Shaiapouf, surrounded by dark Nen energy, rose from the ground. Both he and Menthuthuyoupi flanked Oboro like puppets, their wills seemingly no longer their own.
"Knov!" Morel shouted in alarm.
Oboro's appearance had taken him completely by surprise. The chairman had never mentioned that Oboro would be involved in this operation, which meant that he wasn't acting under the orders of the Association.
With a sudden burst of energy, Menthuthuyoupi's body transformed. A pair of massive meat wings erupted from his back as he soared into the sky. Oboro grabbed the Chimera Ant's ankle and flew upward, taking Shaiapouf with him.
"He will find the chairman and the king."
As Morel stood in stunned silence, Knov approached from behind, looking pale and shaken. Though he wasn't completely bald as he had been after his traumatic encounter, he was still clearly frightened by the Nen aura he had sensed from the Ant King. His fingers trembled as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.
He hadn't had the courage to join the fight directly, but instead had found a place to hide. According to their plan, Shoot, Knuckle, Meleoron and Palm were to hold back Menthuthuyoupi, while Knov and Morel would target Shaiapouf. Meanwhile, Biscuit and Netero were tasked with locating other Chimera ants scattered throughout the palace to prevent reinforcements from reaching the royal guard.
"You knew he was coming?" Morel asked, sensing something in Knov's words. His expression changed to one of concern.
"Look around," Knov replied calmly.
Morel surveyed the area and saw Chimera Ant corpses littering every building, every entrance and exit of the palace.
"That," Morel suddenly understood the implications.
"That's right. He also killed those ants in the nest," Knov continued. "He slaughtered almost all the Chimera ants by himself, the queen, the squadron leaders, the officers, all using that terrible Nen ability! Now, in the entire palace, except for the two royal guards he just took away, all the other ants are dead, their souls taken away."
A moment later, Shoot and Knuckle rushed over to them. They described to Morel what had happened in the main hall earlier, as well as Oboro's "role" in the mission.
Shortly after that, Palm and Biscuit appeared. Gon and Killua had gone to protect Komugi, the blind Gungi player who had become important to the king.
"The chairman knew of Oboro's existence and purpose from the beginning," Knuckle said as the group gathered in a circle. Shoot was being treated for his wounds by Knuckle. "But the Chairman's intention was for us not to look into it any further, to pretend we didn't know."
After speaking, Knuckle looked at Biscuit, who had a deep frown on her face. Of all the people here, she had the deepest connection to Oboro.
She must know more about him.
"Trust the chairman," Biscuit said seriously, meeting her questioning gaze.
Even if Oboro's appearance suggested ulterior motives, the result wasn't necessarily negative. At the very least, his intervention had eliminated the Chimera Ant threat and prevented casualties among their team.
What had seemed like a catastrophic crisis had been resolved with surprising ease.
"He's too strong," Knuckle couldn't help but sigh in disbelief.
Suddenly, the group heard strange noises approaching from the distance. Following the sound, they discovered two figures approaching Fanta and Anthony, members of Oboro's team. Although they were also members of the Hunters' Association, there was no sense of camaraderie between the two parties. They exchanged only brief glances, without even greetings.
Fanta and Anthony entered the palace on their own, showing no desire to communicate with Biscuit and the others.
Meanwhile, Menthuthuyoupi was flying at extraordinary speed, like a supersonic fighter jet, with Oboro and Shaiapouf close behind. In less than fifteen minutes, the trio had traveled dozens of kilometers from East Gorteau's royal city.
The vast landscape below them began to change, becoming an uneven and barren rocky terrain devoid of vegetation. The undulating craters in the ground were remnants of weapons testing conducted by the East Gorteau military.
"Has the battle already begun?" Oboro wondered.
After a while, he directed Menthuthuyoupi to land on a rocky outcrop that jutted out of the low terrain. Looking into the distance, he could see a golden light shining brilliantly against the night sky. Even from this distance, one could feel the powerful Nen and the formidable aura.
It was Netero's 100-Type Guanyin Bodhisattva!
The thunderous impact of the Chairman's attacks echoed clearly across the landscape.
Dust clouds rose in the distance.
Oboro didn't dare get too close for fear that Netero would activate the Poor Man's Rose and catch him in the explosion. However, he had a way to witness the battle between these two titans without risking himself.
The Poor Man's Rose was essentially a miniature atomic bomb designed to be implanted into a human body. While not the most powerful weapon in the human arsenal, its radiation had a range of several thousand meters, and its aftermath was capable of destroying everything within a ten-kilometer radius.
But even that wasn't the most deadly aspect of the weapon.
The true horror lay in the infectious virus it carried.
The virus spread further than the blast radius of the bomb itself.
"This is beyond the range that my Nen can control outside my body, but," Oboro muttered to himself.
A small cloud of black mist rose in front of him. He reached into it with his hand, and with a shrill scream, he pulled out a human-shaped spirit like a ball of slime from the mist.
This was his Soul Separation ability!
Once separated from the spirit mist that supported them, these spirits couldn't exist in the physical world for long before they dissipated. But each was a manifestation of the afterlife, and though weak and temporary, they had enough time to serve their purpose.
Oboro imposed his will on the spirit, then released it. The evil spirit flew toward the battlefield where Netero and the Ant King were fighting.
It wasn't fast, but it should reach them in time.
By now, Ant-King Meruem and Chairman Netero had moved their battle from the surface to a subterranean chamber buried beneath the ground.
Dusty, crumbling ruins surrounded them.
Netero pressed his palms together, and behind him materialized a huge golden image of Guanyin, condensed from his immense Nen. The old man's fingers were locked in a specific pattern.
Each time he formed a hand seal, the 100-type Guanyin's arms would unleash devastating power as they struck the nearly invisible figure darting through the air.
Meruem moved around Netero with incredible speed, searching for an opening in the old man's defense, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
To the Ant-King's surprise, this human, who was clearly slower and physically inferior, somehow managed to counter or evade each of his attacks.
This puzzled Meruem. His movements were undeniably faster and the old man's eyes shouldn't have been able to follow his movements.
If Netero couldn't see him and react in time, how could he block every attack and even land precise counterstrikes?
This forced the Ant King to rethink his understanding of humans.
There were exceptional beings among the humans, and not all of them were fit to be cattle in his future kingdom.
Earlier, he had spoken with Netero, promising that if the humans surrendered, he would grant Netero and other powerful Nen users a special status and identity, instead of reducing them to ant food or common livestock like the rest of humanity.
But the old man had laughed at him and told him that he had overestimated his own abilities.
The spirit controlled by Oboro flew into the battlefield. This wisp of the afterlife was like a candle in the wind, vulnerable to being extinguished at any moment. It couldn't maintain its form for long.
Through it, however, Oboro was able to use his Soul Perception and Nen to witness the battle.
Both Netero and Meruem sensed this new energy signature, but they were too engrossed in their deadly dance to pay it any attention.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Netero's hand seals seemed slow, but the dense barrage of attacks from his 100-type Guanyin - flashes of golden light, arms falling like a curtain of rain - came with numbing speed. In a matter of seconds, the Guanyin unleashed dozens of attacks, matching the Ant King attack for attack.
The 100-type Guanyin Bodhisattva ranged from zero to ninety-nine.
Each posture had different variations that were unfathomable and profound.
This was the culmination of Netero's lifetime of training and insight as a martial artist.
The Ant King clearly sensed an extraordinary aura emanating from the old man.
Meruem understood that Netero's ability was not merely a manifestation of his Nen, but the fusion of artistic concepts that tempered and refined to their peak the transcendent aspect of a man's life of devotion.
"Hiss"
Far from the battlefield, Oboro closed his eyes, his eyelids trembling constantly.
The battle between Netero and Meruem played in his mind.
He was in awe.
The offensive and defensive maneuvers of both fighters were executed at an incredible speed! In typical Nen battles, there were gaps for reaction and information gathering. But at this speed, ordinary Nen users wouldn't even have time to think before they were defeated.
This rhythm was beyond what the human brain could process.
Yet Netero adapted to it perfectly.
Though each of the 100-type Guanyin's attacks failed to significantly damage Meruem, the collateral destruction was staggering.
The entire underground chamber was filled with flying dust and debris, as if it had been bombarded by countless missiles.
Such a mighty force seemed impossible for a single person to generate; it felt like the power of an entire army!
"In just those few minutes, they must have exchanged thousands of blows," Oboro marveled.
"If it were me..."
Oboro did something even more remarkable. As he watched the battle through his mind, he imagined himself fighting either the Ant King or Netero. At the same time, he calculated his own hypothetical performance in each exchange between the two combatants.
"Unless it's the Zero Hand, Netero's other ninety-nine techniques don't seem to be able to cause him any fatal damage," Oboro concluded after careful analysis.
This was not surprising. Meruem's Nen greatly enhanced his defensive capabilities.
Plus his natural exoskeleton
The Zero Hand was Netero's ultimate technique, concentrating all of his life force into a single devastating attack.
Once used, his energy would be completely depleted.
Of course, Netero's other techniques could still hurt Oboro if he was there, but they would only cause minor wounds, nothing serious.
As for their effectiveness against Meruem, they couldn't even do that much damage.
Oboro observed that the Ant King, despite being struck down countless times, showed few signs of injury. His body was stained with blood, but his movements were completely unaffected.
In this respect, Meruem was even more terrifying than Oboro himself!
"After all, there are no variables!"
Oboro whispered.
There was no point in prolonging this battle, Netero was only human, his energy reserves were minuscule compared to the Ant King's.
Moreover, as a supernatural life form, Meruem's adaptability was frightening. Soon, he would recognize the weakness of the 100-type Guanyin Bodhisattva!
All it would take was a single moment of hesitation from Netero, causing the slightest delay in Guanyin's attacks, and it would be over.
Time passed slowly.
Netero and Meruem had exchanged perhaps thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of moves.
But finally, at the crucial moment, Netero faltered, just as he had in the original timeline.
The Ant King used his incredible speed to break through Guanyin's defenses, found the fleeting opening, and successfully swooped past Netero from above.
When Meruem landed, he found himself holding the old man's severed leg in one hand.
"You lose. If you surrender now, I can still spare your life." Meruem tossed the human's limb aside and turned calmly to face Netero.
He showed no desire to attack further, instead sitting on the ground as if to give Netero ample time to consider his options.
The old man smiled, balancing on his remaining leg and using his muscles to constrict the wound to prevent blood loss.
Then he suddenly looked up into a dark corner above him.
"Little one, you've been watching all along!"
As he spoke, a ghost as thin as a puff of smoke emerged from the shadows.
It seemed so fragile that the slightest breeze could scatter it.
"You shouldn't have listened to them," the ghost suddenly said in a faint voice.
"Hahahaha, I haven't lost yet."
Netero laughed when he heard this.
It was a rare sound, reminiscent of an old man remembering his youth.
"Watch carefully, Oboro. This is the last lesson I will teach you!"
Netero's eyes glowed with determination. He turned to Meruem: "Little ant, never underestimate humans.
The ant king frowned at these words.
Why would humans choose death when survival was an option? What purpose did such a senseless sacrifice serve?
Then Netero activated his ultimate technique: Zero Hand.
The 100-type Guanyin suddenly attacked, forcing the seated Ant King to move defensively, but he was caught between the Bodhisattva's massive hands.
The Golden Guanyin lowered her head, her face contorting as her mouth opened wide.
Finally, all of Netero's Nen, all of his life force, condensed into a blinding wave of light that engulfed the immobilized Meruem.
The power of this final attack was beyond comprehension.
The spirit controlled by Oboro couldn't withstand the remaining energy and disintegrated.
Oboro's physical body opened its eyes and looked into the distance. The land beneath the night sky seemed to have collapsed.
A thunderous vibration rumbled across the landscape.
Oboro immediately grabbed Menthuthuyoupi's arm and ordered the two royal guards to quickly retreat.
Now, both Menthuthuyoupi's and Shaiapouf's consciousness had been taken over by Oboro's ghosts, which had suppressed their original minds.
In other words, the souls of the two royal guards could witness the distant battle and sense their king, but they were powerless to act.
Control of their bodies was no longer theirs.
After flying a considerable distance, the expected blinding mushroom cloud appeared on the horizon, illuminating everything in all directions.
Oboro knew what it meant.
Chairman Netero was dead.