Knuckle thought of Shoot—of the blood-soaked, pitiful body he had cradled just moments ago. He could still hear Shoot's faint murmurs, half-conscious, half-awake.
"I… I don't want to lose… I don't want to lose..."
Even in that state, Shoot was still thinking about his battle with Youpi.
Yet Youpi had looked down on Shoot with utter disdain.
And Knuckle, despite witnessing his friend being humiliated like that, had been powerless to fight back.
He never wanted to experience such a thing again.
Shoot, just rest and focus on recovering. Youpi has already been defeated by Germain. He reclaimed our pride.
Now, I have to go and help Morel-sensei take down the last of the Royal Guards.
When you wake up, this war will be over!
Victory will be ours, and we can celebrate with high fives, leaving no regrets behind!
Knuckle lifted his head. As he turned to look toward the palace—still partly intact despite the collapse and cloaked in smoke—he noticed a shadowy figure emerging from the darkness.
His body tensed sharply. He reached out and pulled Meleoron, who was still basking in the joy of victory, behind him.
Then, pointing in the figure's direction, Knuckle shouted.
"Who's there? Come out! Stop hiding!"
His shout jolted Meleoron out of his overexcitement, making him tense up again. Knov also snapped out of his own thoughts.
Knov looked at Knuckle and then followed his gaze toward the direction he was pointing.
From the shadows, a slender figure slowly walked out. It was clearly a woman.
She had long hair, a giant gemstone embedded in her forehead, and her arms were covered in scales. She exuded the aura of a Chimera Ant.
Even with such changes to her appearance, her face still held traces of her former self.
This allowed Knov and Knuckle, who were both very familiar with her, to recognize her identity immediately.
Their pupils contracted in shock.
"Palm…"
At the same time, the smoke shrouding the collapsed palace dissipated.
Then, the faint, incessant sound of wings flapping filled the air.
A swarm of mosquito-like creatures flew into the sky, letting out mocking laughter.
Morel ran out, gripping his large tobacco pipe tightly.
He anxiously exhaled smoke, trying to catch them, but he felt hopeless against the agility of the tiny creatures in the air.
These creatures were all parts of Shaiapouf.
Shaiapouf mocked him, knowing that after being trapped for so long, Morel had miscalculated and accidentally let him escape at this crucial moment.
Morel's "Smoky Jail" was indeed troublesome for Shaiapouf.
Like Morel, Shaiapouf was also a Manipulation-Type Nen user, so he quickly understood the power of Morel's ability.
Morel used Manipulation-Type Nen to create the "Smoky Jail."
Additionally, since his secondary Nen category was Emission, he could produce a space-creating effect similar to Knov's abilities.
The inside of the "Smoky Jail" was an almost unbreakable space.
However, Shaiapouf relied on his own abilities to create a trap.
First, he made a cocoon-like illusion in front of Morel, then turned most of his body into particles to gradually slip through the "Smoky Jail."
This way, the majority of Shaiapouf's form silently appeared outside the smoky jail.
But his main body couldn't be transformed into particles.
He had to maintain a size as small as a fly, which was also the origin of his ability's name, "Beelzebub."
Transferring his main body outside without Morel noticing was nearly impossible.
If Morel discovered his main body, it would be extremely dangerous since most of Shaiapouf's strength had already been distributed to his clones.
Shaiapouf's primary attack method, "Spiritual Message," was also ineffective against Morel, who had massive lung capacity and had been holding his breath the whole time. This frustrated Shaiapouf greatly.
Then, the cunning Shaiapouf came up with an idea.
Morel had been holding his breath for a long time. Without sufficient oxygen, his decision-making ability would gradually decline, and Shaiapouf planned to exploit this.
Shaiapouf had released most of his particularised self from the "Smoky Jail" and formed what seemed like a complete version of himself.
He stood outside the "Smoky Jail," making sounds to create the illusion that he had escaped.
Morel was an experienced hunter.
However, when he sensed the nen of Germain and Youpi, he felt uneasy.
He could tell it was Germain, but he wasn't sure if Germain could handle Youpi.
Soon after, both Germain's and Youpi's nen disappeared.
Morel, unaware of what was happening inside the "Smoky Jail," remained steadfast in his strategy to block Shaiapouf.
However, when Shaiapouf made a sound outside the "Smoky Jail" and claimed he was going to meet up with the other "Three Royal Guards" to kill members of the Chimera Ant extermination team, Morel was fooled.
The long period of holding his breath and insufficient oxygen led to poor thinking.
He thought Shaiapouf had really left the "Smoky Jail," so he released the seal, intending to pursue him.
At that moment, Shaiapouf's real body, using the "Beelzebub," successfully escaped and mocked them.
Seeing that the situation was beyond saving, Morel noticed something strange below the palace. Not thinking too much about whether he had made the right or wrong decision, he quickly flew down to join the others.
Just as he was about to call out, he noticed that everyone was looking in the same direction. He turned around and saw Palm.
"What's this…?"
Palm looked at them with dark eyes, as if staring at strangers.
They had encountered an unexpected enemy—one that was also the most troublesome for them.
The "King of flies," Shaiapouf, flew in mid-air, flapping its small wings.
Countless smaller, particle-like "clones" swirled around the palace, investigating the situation.
It had originally planned to mock Morel, but stopped when it saw the body of Youpi.
When Youpi's Nen vanished, Shaiapouf had guessed something, but it was distracted, battling Morel at the time, so it couldn't investigate further.
It didn't expect Youpi to actually be dead…
Who killed him?
Was it the people down below?
No, there had been a powerful aura at that time, but the owner of that aura isn't here. Did they do it?
Also, the "King" and Neferpitou— their presence isn't in the palace. What's going on?
When I was trapped in that damn barrier, what happened outside?
Why is everything like this now?
Shaiapouf needed to figure out what really happened and find the whereabouts of the "King" and Neferpitou.
Then, it noticed the figure below— a woman named Palm.
Heh heh heh...
After Palm was captured, she became the first experiment subject for Shaiapouf and Neferpitou— part of their plan to turn humans into Chimera Ants and eradicate humanity.
In theory, Neferpitou had already modified Palm's brain, making her completely align with the Chimera Ants.
The group below, confronting Palm, were mostly her former companions.
Given their human nature, it was probably hard for them to hurt their own kind…
Shaiapouf immediately decided to use its Nen abilities and Palm's special situation to gather the information it wanted here
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