In terms of pure strength, the Ant King was the most powerful individual Cyr had encountered so far.
Whether it was defense or offense.
He even grew stronger as the fight went on—like he was evolving and improving every single second.
The human palace couldn't withstand the devastation between the two. Everywhere they passed turned to rubble.
The corpse soldiers controlled by Neferpitou didn't escape in time and got caught in the crossfire—dying again.
Neferpitou had no time to repair the corpses. Her eyes stayed locked on the two figures, scarlet pupils darting, dilating and contracting in turns.
Even so, keeping up with their movements without missing a beat was nearly impossible.
But their Nen was so powerful that even when they weren't visible, their presence could still be felt.
The Ant King's body was coated in armor tough enough to take a nuke, so Cyr activated Limitless.
The Ant King had a long, thick, whip-like tail as a weapon—Cyr countered by pulling out Inverted Spear of Heaven.
When tail met the Spear, sparks literally flew.
Both of them visibly grew more and more exhilarated. Even the Ant King's green skin, which was not Cyr's aesthetic at all, started looking pleasing to the eye.
Power is beauty.
Neferpitou was flanked by two other ants, all keeping their distance but trailing the fight.
Until they saw something rain down from the sky.
A… special kind of rain.
Clothes and food scattered all over the ground, like someone dropped a loot box from above.
Cyr's face instantly darkened.
The Curse that had been clinging to him just got smashed by the Ant King's tail.
Because Limitless was on, Cyr hadn't even bothered dodging—and completely forgot about the curse.
Technically, since he was running Limitless, the curse never made direct contact with him, and Limitless didn't protect it either.
And let's be real, storage curse was basically a glorified storage unit—a total useless lump otherwise...
So, naturally, it got blown to pieces by the Ant King. Not even on purpose, either.
The Ant King had been aiming for Cyr's head.
Cyr just happened to tilt his head to the side at the last second.
And now... the pet he spent one billion on was just—gone?
Ha… hahaha…
No way he was letting that go unpaid.
"I'm starting to get excited," the white-haired boy said, his eyes widening unconsciously, pupils contracting, mouth curling up in a wicked grin—like he'd just found a shiny new toy.
"Where's your big move? Come on, let's see it."
"Let's test if you can take one of mine."
"Technique Reversal — Red."
"Maximum Output."
It was like the world turned dark, save for a miniature sun glowing at the boy's fingertip.
That tiny sun rocketed toward the Ant King.
There wasn't even time to blink before it collided with him.
A burst of blinding light flared and kept flaring, like a meteor, slamming all the way from the battlefield back to the palace, crashing through the royal compound, and only then did it stop.
When the light finally faded, all that was left was the Ant King, lying among the rubble.
A chunk of debris tumbled down and hit his head—but was blocked by that odd hat he wore.
"Your Majesty!" Neferpitou and the other two ants instantly rushed to him, checking his condition.
And here, the Chimera Ants' monstrous vitality was fully on display—
The King was still alive.
His injuries? Barely fazed him.
"I'll prepare food for you right away!" said the golden-haired, butterfly-looking ant with wings and antennae. She flapped her wings anxiously and flew off at high speed.
The ability to grow stronger and heal just by consuming food—that was a natural talent the Ant King was born with.
Neferpitou was also using her ability to treat the Ant King.
"Hey. Pay up." The white-haired boy appeared beside the ants without anyone noticing, his face dark and menacing, exuding killing intent.
He fought our King to that extent, destroyed the King's palace, and he's asking us for compensation?!
Shameless human!
"You broke an ultra-rare storage item," Cyr said with a blank face.
A cursed spirit, no less—something that didn't even exist in this world. How was that not ultra-rare?
He'd just asked the system about it. Apparently, the curse could be revived—but it'd cost him.
He paid ten billion to buy Choubao, and now it would take twenty billion to bring him back.
Ha. Damn money-grubbing system.
"...Even a human king lacks money?"
The Ant King stood up, not a flicker of emotion on his face despite the injuries—yet when he heard the boy demand money, he looked genuinely confused.
A King... short on something like money?
From birth, he had lived as a King. He never had to worry about anything. One command, and his subordinates would obey without hesitation—even if it cost them their lives.
As a solitary, lofty King, he never had to care how many ants died beneath him.
And yet, faced with this powerful human, the Ant King was willing to engage as equals.
"Who told you I was a human king?" the white-haired boy rolled his eyes.
God knows what hidden trump cards those human nations like V5 are hiding. Why the hell would he want to be king?
Besides, "King of some small-time group" just didn't have any flair. It sounded like a village chief.
He didn't like staying in one place for long and couldn't be bothered raising competent underlings.
"Someone with strength like yours... isn't a king?" The Ant King was stunned.
Could humans really have that many strong individuals?
His understanding of the overall power of the human race began to waver.
"...Maybe," Cyr let out a vague chuckle, his expression hard to read.
"What about the human king's strength?" the Ant King asked.
Those humans the ants had just killed definitely weren't kings—they were far too weak.
"..."
Cyr thought of Netero, who even at full power probably could only bring out half his potential now.
Then he thought of the V5 higher-ups—clearly weaker than Netero—who still had the authority to order him around.
Answering that question was... tricky.
Humans weren't like ants. Their hierarchy wasn't strictly based on strength.
Unless you were strong enough to go against the whole world… but so far, no such person existed.
So, humans didn't really have a king.
As for those national monarchs? Expecting them to be powerful?
Yeah, no. Let's not.
"Humans have many kings," Cyr said meaningfully.
Yup. Lots of kings.
The newly born, naive (?), and blissfully ignorant Ant King was stunned by that revelation.
Looks like his plan to conquer this world might need to hit the brakes.
"So stop talking nonsense and cough up the money," Cyr urged.
Sure, the guy was strong and fun to fight—but he still wrecked his stuff, and that meant he owed him.
"..."
The Ant King looked at Neferpitou.
What would an ant even do with human money?
Of course, they probably didn't have any—but maybe...
Loyal as ever, Neferpitou understood the King's intention with a single glance.
"There are plenty of treasures in the human royal palace," she said reverently.
The ants didn't have any use for that stuff anyway. Food was way more valuable to them.
"You can take all of it," the Ant King said flatly, completely indifferent toward material wealth.
He was willing to hand over those riches to a human whose strength he respected.
"..."
Cyr tugged at the corner of his mouth.
Wasn't that stuff already human property in the first place?
Then again, since the Ant King had taken over the palace, it basically counted as his now.
Taking it back from him felt perfectly fair—not like robbing the human government or anything.
Besides, things had gotten to this point—who even knew if NGL would still exist as a country after this?
So, after reviving the curse, Cyr cleaned out all the treasures from the royal palace.
Then he looked up at the antique gold decor on the walls and the gemstone-encrusted furniture. He fell silent for a moment.
The next second, everything vanished from its place.
This once resplendent, golden palace had already been partially destroyed during their battle. Now, with all the decorations stripped away, it exuded an odd air of desolation.
By the time Cyr had packed up nearly everything of value in the palace, his energy bar had fully recharged.
His energy—or more accurately, cursed energy—was currently at the level of an average Special Grade Sorcerer. It didn't compare to Sukuna's vast reserves, nor did he have Gojo Satoru's infamous cooldown-less mana regen buff. It was enough, but not something suited for a long drawn-out fight. That said, when he got really pissed, his cursed energy would spike significantly.
And thanks to the presence of both the Six Eyes and Limitless, it was like he was constantly fighting with a debuff stacked on him.
His compatibility with the abilities hadn't maxed out either, so he couldn't use their full potential. Simply put, he still wasn't at the level where he could casually one-shot the Ant King.
After all, this was the strongest opponent he'd met so far.
Which only made things more interesting.
A sparring partner that couldn't be killed? Just what he needed.
The fight had been both painful and fun, but all in all—worth it.
Cyr raised a hand and used Blue, pulling in scattered supplies from all over and piling them into small mountains. Without mercy, he began stuffing food into the just-revived curse's mouth.
The sheer suction power made the Ant King turn to look. His tail swished behind him with unexpected cheer.
"..." He glanced around at the palace he had only recently taken over—now in ruins—and made a face. "What a wreck."
Yet this was the most luxurious place in all of NGL.
"Your Majesty, we'll begin repairs immediately," Neferpitou said, still kneeling on one knee.
She was almost always kneeling when in front of the King.
And the way the Ant King referred to himself with ants… was "We."
"Ah, that reminds me. Your mom—is she still alive?" Cyr suddenly remembered a question he'd been curious about.
Are you Chimera Ants actually doing some kind of "Two Emperors co-ruling" setup?
"Unappetizing and irrelevant. Her life or death doesn't matter," the Ant King said coldly, his tone devoid of empathy.
The word unappetizing made Cyr's lips twitch upward.
Wait, did this ultra-filial kid… eat his own mother? And even complained she tasted bad? That's next-level filial piety.
"The Queen existed solely to give birth to the King. Now that the King is born, she has no more purpose," Neferpitou said with a smile that made it sound completely reasonable.
If even the King didn't care about the Queen who birthed him, how could those loyal to him be expected to?
That's why, even though she had awakened special abilities, she'd never considered treating the Queen.
"I see." Cyr looked satisfied, as though his curiosity had been scratched.
°°°
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