Chapter 186 – Holding the Emperor Hostage to Command the Nobles (6.3k)
After sending countless clones and digging deep into the earth, Shaiapouf still couldn't find the King. He broke down completely.
Cyr watched silently as the golden-haired ant fell to his knees, expression blank, eyes lifeless, weeping in anguish.
Even the purple ant nearby didn't look nearly as devastated.
Did this guy have that deep of a bond with the Ant King?
"Kill them, Chairman," Cyr typed out after thinking it over, showing the message to Netero, who was still in his Super Saiyan-like form.
He had originally assumed that just by claiming the Ant King was dead, he'd provoke the two ants into a rage, and they'd attack him in a frenzy—giving him a reason to take them out.
But he hadn't expected this: as if they'd lost their faith along with the King, they crumbled—completely losing the will to fight.
"…" Netero simply looked at the two guards and sighed. "The King is not dead. Why would you say that just to provoke them?"
"…Are you the type who treats enemies kindly?" Cyr gave him a skeptical look while rapidly typing.
They were enemies—so deceiving and toying with them should be perfectly fair.
Ah, must be getting soft in your old age.
"The King… isn't dead? Where is he? Give him back!" The golden-haired ant was instantly revived by the news, his pale form springing back to life, eyes blazing with hope.
"Right here." Cyr pulled out Prison Realm, tossing it lightly up and down with one hand while typing furiously with the other. "He's locked in here. Wanna try taking him back?" He raised an eyebrow, flashing a crooked smile to match the text on his phone.
It wasn't a question that needed answering—everyone knew what they were thinking.
The two ants were already prepared to snatch it.
"Even if you take it, you won't be able to undo the seal. I'm the only one in this world who can." Cyr sneered as he typed, his expression mocking, as if he had seen right through their schemes. Casually, he tossed Prison Realm toward them.
As the golden-haired ant fumbled to catch it—
"Come back," Cyr said in his mind with malicious glee.
The cube, resting carefully in Shaiapouf's hands, vanished instantly—teleporting back into Cyr's palm.
"Even if you take it, as long as I will it, no matter where you hide it, it'll return to me," the white-haired boy typed, casually and smugly taunting them.
Prison Realm was a system-bound item he had purchased—just like the curse and Inverted Spear. It was a personal, soul-bound tool.
That's why even when his storage curse had been accidentally killed by the Ant King, he could revive it directly through the system.
As for Prison Realm and the spear, all Cyr had to do was think, and no matter where they were, they would return to his side.
"The King… is he alright?" Shaiapouf went from furious to anxiously desperate.
"Well, aside from his mood, he's probably fine," Cyr replied, raising an eyebrow as he looked at Prison Realm.
Anyone would be pissed if they were suddenly caught like a Pokémon. Though to be fair, the Ant King probably had no concept of what a Pokémon or a Pokéball even was.
The eyes on the cube had briefly opened before but were now shut again.
Well, the Ant King didn't have Six Eyes, after all.
Gojo Satoru could observe the outside world through Six Eyes and break the seal by force, but the Ant King… didn't have that kind of cheat.
"What would it take for us to get the King back?" Shaiapouf asked, his voice dark and barely restrained.
"You think you can get back something that's in my possession?" Cyr snorted, pocketing cube, fingers tapping hard on the screen.
Forget it. The Ant King was already his collector's item. Sure, he couldn't be casually let out to fight (he might escape), but as a trophy? Perfect.
He could even brag about it later: "Yeah, back in the Hunter World, I caught the Ant King. Added that to my win streak."
"…" Shaiapouf's clenched fists trembled, seemingly from barely contained rage.
The purple ant was unnervingly calm, which surprised Cyr.
He really didn't expect someone built like that—huge and obviously meant to be a reckless powerhouse—to be so levelheaded.
Of the three ants, the catgirl was clearly the cute mascot, the purple one was the powerhouse tank, and the blonde guy looked like the scheming strategist.
But their behavior didn't quite match his assumptions…
"By the way, Chairman, you should be fully recovered now, right? So then…" Cyr's eyes flicked toward the radiant Netero beside him and started typing again.
The guy was probably back to full energy and mana now… Well, except his HP wasn't maxed.
But that was fine.
Cyr reached toward Netero and silently thought, "Reverse."
In an instant, the wounds on Netero's body healed completely—restoring him to full health.
Now this was his peak condition.
"Let's have a match!" Cyr invited enthusiastically, even adding an excited symbol at the end of the sentence on his phone screen.
"…" Netero looked at his restored body and felt a surge of inexplicable energy. He immediately understood—this was yet another one of the boy's abilities.
Nen truly allowed for limitless possibilities.
These modern kids… their powers were on a whole other level.
Since that was the case… he might as well go along with it. He felt like he had endless energy right now anyway.
Besides, this brat had wanted to fight him for quite a while now, hadn't he?
"Very well. Let's do this." Netero struck a battle pose.
Cyr glanced at the two ants nearby. Feeling they'd get in the way, he pulled out Prison Realm again and casually tossed it to them.
"Take it, take it. Just don't get in the way." The message on his phone oozed annoyance, like he was eager to shoo them off.
The two ants looked at Cyr and Netero, then flapped their wings and flew off—not far, though. They remained nearby to observe from a distance.
They… still didn't know how to release the King.
"King… don't worry. We'll find a way to rescue you," one of them whispered to Prison Realm, hoping the Ant King inside could hear his devoted vow.
"By the way," Cyr typed before the fight began, "I don't like turn-based battles. I prefer kill-or-be-killed styles where you fight with everything you've got. So please don't fight me like you fought the Ant King."
He had a feeling that fighting Super Saiyan Netero wouldn't end well for him, but…
He just wanted to have fun.
Besides, he couldn't die.
"Is that so? Understood," Netero nodded.
That was a request he could respect.
Just in case, Cyr didn't use the Spear.
Who knew—if it made contact with Netero, it might cancel out the buff effect from his card, and then there'd be no fight to enjoy.
While he was at it, he also didn't activate Limitless.
Whenever he wanted a real fight, it had become a habit not to use Limitless.
Without those two, he still had access to:
[Cursed Blue] [Cursed Red] [Reversal] [Output] [Curtain] [Domain: Malevolent Shrine] [Reverse Cursed Technique] [Six Eyes]
Eight powerful skills—taking on a Super Saiyan head-on.
And then…
Netero knocked him into the ground with a single blow.
Six Eyes registered the attack, but by the time his body reacted—it was already too late.
That feeling—of his body lagging behind his awareness—was something Cyr hadn't experienced in a long time.
As expected… he still wasn't strong enough!
He had to become even stronger.
A sorcerer's power came from negative emotions. In theory, the more negativity, the more cursed energy—and the stronger they became.
Hence the saying: "All powerful sorcerers are lunatics."
In other words, sorcerers tended to get stronger as they fought.
Take Cyr, for example—locked in combat with Netero right now.
He truly couldn't defeat Netero as things stood.
But giving up never even crossed his mind.
On the contrary, his power continued to grow as the fight went on.
That growth… far exceeded what Netero had expected.
Was it still Nen? Or… something else entirely?
The energy radiating from Cyr was thick with negative emotion.
It was malice—dense and muddy like sludge.
Despite having the power to heal himself, he didn't use it. Instead, he kept charging at Netero while bleeding heavily.
And his grin—growing brighter and more twisted the more blood he lost and the more wounded he became.
His eyes, now mysteriously red, showed no trace of humanity—only the savagery of a war beast.
From those eyes alone, Netero could tell:
Cyr genuinely wanted to kill him.
This wasn't just a friendly match—it was primal bloodlust.
It hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts—!!!
So annoying, why does it hurt so much—!!!
Kill me kill me kill me—!!!
No, no, no—I should be the one doing the killing!
Kill you kill you kill you—!!!
The tidal wave of negative emotions came crashing down.
His pain… was the source of all that malice.
All of it—every wound, every day of using Six Eyes and Limitless—had built up this pain.
He hated pain.
Anything that made him feel pain—deserved to die.
Only after collapsing from the overwhelming injuries did he finally use Reverse Cursed Technique to heal himself—then immediately launched another attack.
The battle between him and Netero was far more bloody and intense than Netero's previous fight with the Ant King.
There were no mind games, no eloquent exchanges—only raw, beastlike carnage.
Netero's body, too, was covered in wounds inflicted by Cyr. And since Netero didn't possess healing abilities, he looked even more battered and miserable.
"These two humans…" Shaiapouf muttered from afar, his gaze somber.
"They're strong," Youpi answered with equal gravity.
So strong that even they—beings not of this world—felt fear.
And it made them realize: they couldn't force Cyr to release the King through brute strength.
From midnight to dawn, to dusk, and finally back to the deep hours of night, the battle raged—drawing quite a few onlookers.
Among them: Kite, Maro, Sora, Gon, Killua, Palm, Knov, Morel, and Knuckle's buddy Shoot.
At first, they thought it was Netero fighting the Ant King—but when they arrived, they found Netero fighting Cyr.
And the Ant King… was nowhere to be seen.
°°°
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