Drip, drip—
The blood trickled into Meruem's open mouth, staining his lips red. It dripped down the corners of his mouth, sliding past his throat, over his collarbone, and down to his exposed chest.
Next, Meruem stuffed Germain's severed wrist into his mouth.
His sharp teeth tore through the flesh, sucking out the marrow and blood from the bones.
Meruem chewed and crushed the bones with cracking sounds, swallowing them slowly, leaving nothing behind of Germain's left wrist.
He let out a satisfied, sinister breath.
Meruem's shadowed face, hidden under his helmet-like crown, made it impossible to see his expression. Only his crimson eyes glowed ominously.
Finally, he slightly raised his head, allowing the moonlight to illuminate his face.
What appeared was a terrifying, bone-chilling smile.
A grin stretched wide to his ears, filled with countless emotions—hunger, greed, arrogance...
All of his desires were conveyed through that one grotesque smile, directed entirely at Germain.
No holding back.
Meruem pointed at Germain.
"Your flesh... tastes so good. It's the most delicious thing I've ever eaten... a taste I can never forget."
"I'm going to devour you—completely, body and soul."
Scarlet Nen exploded violently, not only filling the entire underground testing site but also shooting through the crack in the ceiling into the night sky, like a dormant volcano erupting.
Meruem had grown even stronger. By devouring Germain's left arm, his power had increased once more.
The scales tipped further in Meruem's favor.
This was his innate talent.
But Germain was not intimidated by the scene before him.
His left arm had been consumed—but so what? He would not surrender because of that.
The silver-white aura, the glowing runic patterns on his chest, the radiant inscriptions, and the swirling conjured weapons—all radiated his determination, fearlessness, focus, courage, and resolve.
This battle wouldn't end so easily; it would continue, day and night.
On the night he first arrived in this world, he had already accepted this fate.
No matter how harsh the environment, dire the situation, or formidable the opponent, he would keep fighting until one of them fell.
Boom—
The life-or-death battle resumed!
Two surging Nen clashed fiercely!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The shockwaves shattered pillar after pillar, destroying wall after wall.
The underground testing site, unable to withstand such devastation, finally began to collapse with a deafening rumble!
As Germain lost his left arm and Meruem devoured it with bloodthirsty ferocity, Netero didn't intervene. Instead, he turned and rushed in another direction.
I know what I need to do.
The ever-present "100-Type Guanyin Bodhisattva" struck the ground like a blade, digging up a black card box buried beneath the earth and placing it in Netero's hands.
With tightly pursed lips, Netero gripped the black card box firmly.
When he turned around again, it was the apocalyptic scene of the underground testing ground, as if the world itself was collapsing.
Dust was swirling, and broken stones flew everywhere, the chaos swallowing everything, leaving the vision completely unclear.
Yet those two figures continued their deadly struggle in the collapsing underground arena, lost in the battle as if they had long forgotten the original reason for the duel.
This was the kind of battle that Netero had sought, an evenly matched fight.
The "100-Type Guanyin" effortlessly shook off all the falling stones with a series of graceful movements.
Seeing that staying there would lead to being buried alive, Netero decided to leap into the air.
He stepped on the falling stones, quickly maneuvering to create a gap, and soon found himself on solid ground, landing smoothly.
Netero lowered his head, his eyes fixed on the widening abyss-like gap.
The ground around him continued to collapse into the abyss, as if it would never have an end.
A long, strange cry echoed through the night sky.
Netero glanced sideways and saw the monster of the Zoldyck family, which resembled neither a dragon nor a bird, falling from the clouds.
Zeno and Silva stood on its back.
Zeno nodded at Netero and pointed to the creature beneath them, signaling Netero to come up.
Netero understood, and with another leap, he stepped onto the creature's sharp claws, landing on its back.
He settled onto the broad, long back of the dragon-bird monster, and his "100-Type Guanyin Bodhisattva" disappeared.
Netero glanced at Zeno, paused for a moment, and then let out a mocking laugh.
"Zeno, didn't you say you'd never get involved with anything outside of the mission? What are you still doing here?"
Zeno, with his hands behind his back, chuckled.
"Because it's rare to see. The fall of the strongest man of the past and the birth of two monsters."
Netero wasn't angry. He simply laughed heartily.
From the time Zeno could barely speak to now, when he had grown old, he always regarded Netero as the strongest man of the six continents.
His feelings for Netero could only be described as admiration—there was no doubt about that. What he had just said was just a bit of nostalgia.
The new generation of power pushes out the old. It wasn't just him— even Netero, the perennial figure in martial arts, had been caught up to and surpassed by the younger generation.
It was truly a complicated feeling.
Zeno and Silva watched the battle from the air. Though they couldn't see everything clearly, from the clashes of their Nen, they could feel that Germain and Meruem were both equally determined.
Even Netero could not intervene.
It was an intense battle with no room to breathe.
If Netero insisted on using the "100-Type Guanyin" to strike with a palm, whether it would hit, or who it would hit, was purely a matter of luck.
However, after seeing Meruem's aggressive and violent behavior, Zeno and Silva, despite their initial shock, remained calm.
This was because the Zoldyck family had always kept a trump card hidden.
The only issue was that using this card against Meruem would come at an unknown cost.
If they could, they both hoped things wouldn't come to that.
It would be best if Germain won tonight.
But if he failed, the human artillery bombardment from the Six Continents could kill Meruem, and that would also be an acceptable outcome.
Zeno glanced over at Netero again.
"Well, Netero, didn't you say earlier that if you couldn't defeat Meruem in a one-on-one fight, you'd win no matter what?"
"Is it that you haven't used 'Poor Man's Rose' because you don't want Germain to go down with him?"
Netero stroked his chin and shook his head.
"At first, yes. But later, it wasn't the case..."
"Zeno, because the situation was grim at the time, I lied to Germain and Meruem."
He raised his hand and tapped his chest, feeling the movement inside.
Zeno and Silva's eyes widened slightly.
Netero's expression grew serious.
"I was seriously injured and then healed by 'Archangel's Breath.' It removed the 'Poor Man's Rose' from my chest, which clearly didn't belong to me."
"Soon after I was fully healed, I realized this, but I didn't say anything. I tried to use the lie to give Germain and me an advantage."
"But now, with the battle at this point, I no longer have the chance to intervene, and I don't need to hide this anymore."
Netero looked down at the Eye of the Abyss from the monstrous creature that resembled both a dragon and a bird.
"Right now, we only have one way to win. If not, Meruem will eat Germain, and the consequences will be unimaginable..."
********
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