Myrmidon Chapter 36
Loose End
Meruem stared at the rushing water of the river below. He and Naruto had been walking; it had only been two hours, but it seemed much longer.
Since they'd left the stones, leaving behind Hinata and Netero, they had been talking. They hadn't been discussing his life, or how it had been returned to him. Instead, they had spoken about whatever came to mind.
The King had tried to explain Gungi to Naruto after he'd used one too many game metaphors. He found it amusing that despite the Hokage's enormous strength, he obviously wasn't much for board games. It was the same lesson Komugi had taught him. Different people had different strengths. Where Komugi outstripped him in Gungi, Naruto had surpassed him in battle.
And in something else, something Meruem couldn't explicate. Leadership? Charisma? Something he hadn't understood. When they'd been fighting, he'd resolved it as Naruto having more reliable servants, more trustworthy than his worthless Royal Guard, but that obviously wasn't the case. Naruto didn't even perceive them as servants, or treat them as such. It would be foolish to go against the man's own feelings.
Naruto felt the King's confusion through their mingled chakra, and laughed. "Maybe it's hard for you to understand cause you didn't have any equals," he suggested.
"Pardon?"
"When you were born." Naruto kicked a stone and it skipped from one side of the river to the other. "You were the King. You didn't have any peers. You weren't supposed to have any peers, right?"
"Of course. But what does that have to do with it?" Meruem asked.
"That thing you can't understand, that's partnership. It's the reason you're still alive. It's what you have with Komugi." Naruto smiled. "I need to meet her. She must be pretty amazing, if she managed to get through to you."
The King pondered that. "Hinata said something like that. Or thought something like that."
He paused. "I need to apologize to her. I offered my life, but that's not the same, is it?"
"She'd appreciate it," Naruto said. "I'll accept it for now though. She needs time."
"Hmm." Meruem frowned. "Would I have gone on like this forever, destroying without regard, if you hadn't shown up?"
"Maybe," Naruto shrugs. "Who knows? There's no point in worrying about what might have been. Just consider the now. What were you saying?"
"Partnership," Meruem said after a pause. How many humans had he destroyed? He'd thought they'd have nothing to teach him, nothing of worth to him or the world, but now he'd been proven wrong twice over. How many other times had he been wrong without knowing it? How much potential had he wiped from the world without understanding the true destructive impact of his actions?
How many Komugi's had he accidentally killed? And if not his, others? The notion made him feel sick.
"Hinata believed that a partnership changes both sides. That it's an equal relationship." Meruem shifted, squatting down and staring into the river. He could catch glimpses of his reflection in the rushing water. "You said the same thing about me and Komugi. But I don't see how it applies."
"Again, you're looking at it from the wrong angle." Naruto sat down beside him, one leg stretched out and the other tucked under his body. "Any real partnership is two people, or more, changing one another for the better. Or not. I guess just changing works, though that obviously would suck."
He plucked a piece of grass from the ground and twiddled it between his fingers. "You provided Komugi with a worthy opponent." They both watched hundreds of games of Gungi dance across the water, pieces forming in whorls of white currents and the shadows cast by nearby trees. "You gave her a chance to improve the only thing she considered important: the core of herself. And in return, she helped you understand that you weren't alone."
Meruem shifted, looking at the Hokage. The man wasn't saying anything profound, but hearing it out loud helped him more clearly conceptualize it. Hadn't he himself said that to Komugi?
'You've bettered me!'
He'd thought she was teaching him to accept defeat, but it was much more than that. Naruto was right: the Gungi player had been the only one to show him that he wasn't alone. That he wasn't already the pinnacle of creation.
And she'd taught him that humans were more than meat.
Meruem realized he missed her. It had been a whole day. Where had she gone? Surely someone had kept her safe.
He'd thrown them away, but his Guard… had his Royal Guard realized what he'd meant when he lashed out at them? Had they protected Komugi, even before he'd sent out his chakra and forced the duty on the entire country?
He had no way of knowing. Meruem realized he'd never communicated with his Royal Guard at all. Only commanded and dismissed them. If they had helped keep Komugi safe, it would have been entirely on their own initiative.
That feeling of sudden helplessness and regret was the first real sorrow Meruem had ever felt, and the sensation fell over Naruto like a cold breeze. The Hokage glanced at him.
"She's fine," he said, and Meruem let out a rough breath. He hadn't realized he was holding it. "I don't know where she is right now, but she's fine."
He stood back up. "C'mon," he said.
"Let's keep going."
###
When Neferpitou regained consciousness, she lay very still for a long time.
Menthuthuyoupi was there at first, watching over her as if he'd been born to do it, but eventually he left and was replaced by other Ants. They took turns watching her prone body, and Neferpitou did not acknowledge any of them. She didn't know where or when she was. Outside, in a field somewhere. There was grass against her back, and above her the clouds whirled and raced through an endlessly blue sky.
She wasn't sure if she refused to move because she had no will to, or because she wanted to watch the clouds. Even when night fell, the moon illuminated them, and behind the rushing clouds an entire universe of glimmering light spread out infinitely past her sight. Pitou regarded each and every star; they seemed to her a shining panopticon watching over her, regarding her back from millions more angles than she ever could them.
She watched the universe, the universe watched her, and it seemed to Neferpitou that both she and the universe could do nothing but ruminate on her complete failure.
When the sun rose again and the other stars vanished, Pitou pulled herself to her feet. It hurt, but everything had hurt for the last couple days. A little more pain, unfortunately, wouldn't kill her.
Squad Leader Zazan was watching over here when she found the will to rise, and the Ant quirked her head at her, her truncated tail flicking back and forth. It reminded Neferpitou of her own.
"You're up," the Ant stated, and Pitou nodded. She started walking, and Zazan followed. "Have something in mind?"
"No," Neferpitou said, staring straight ahead. She didn't know why she was walking. She was just tired of lying on her back.
"The humans have corralled us," Zazan told her. "Menthuthuyoupi is talking with them; he's trying to negotiate our release."
Menthuthuyoupi, negotiating? That was enough to snap Pitou out of her stupor.
"Is it going well?" she asked, and Zazan shrugged.
"Who knows. They'll probably just kill us all anyway," she said with a laugh. "There's not much we can do. They told us if we leave we get blown up."
"Hm." Pitou looked around. So far as she could see, she and the other Ants weren't stuck in a pen or anything of that nature. The empty fields that had surrounded the palace stretched for as far as the eye could see; every couple yards, she could pick out a piece of rubble from the former capital. It had been torn apart and flung to every corner of the map in the course of the fight. "Leave where?"
"Wherever we are." Zazan was starting to look a little annoyed. "They have the Watcher, and other sensors; they're keeping track of us. Look, are you going to keep going? Youpi didn't tell me to keep you still, but he'll probably be mad at me if you get yourself killed."
Pitou stopped and looked over her soldier at the squadron leader. "Do you think you could stop me?" she said softly, and Zazan paled. Since her skin was purple, it produced an ugly puce color.
The other Ant laughed nervously. "Fine, go get yourself killed. That's your business now." She turned away. "It's not as if you have a King to guard anyway."
Pitou watched her go, and considered removing her head. But when Zazan was about fifty feet away, the Royal Guard with no one to guard realized she didn't care enough to. She sucked in a painful breath, turned, and kept walking straight. The ruins of the city of Peijing loomed many miles ahead of her, and Pitou marked it as her goal.
If she weren't blown up, as Zazan had put it, maybe there were humans there. As she rolled the thought around in her head, Pitou realized there was one human in particular she wanted to meet.
It wasn't the Watcher. Neferpitou never wanted to see that woman again.
She stretched her Nen out tenderly, like someone nervously extending a broken limb and waiting for a flare of pain. One kilometer; that was all she could manage right now. That wasn't nearly enough, but it was all she could work with.
She didn't even need to sense someone. She just needed a human to sense her.
###
Menthuthuyoupi wasn't sure what he was doing here. He hadn't been designed for this. In the ruins of Peijing, inside a once-hotel that was only mostly destroyed, he sat cross-legged at a solid oak table, having accidentally crushed the seat on his side of the table with his weight.
Ging Freecss, who was very annoying but also quite interesting, sat across from him. The man was drumming his fingers on the table. Youpi wasn't sure why. Maybe he just enjoyed fidgeting.
"Like I said," Ging continued. "I can't make any decisions for the Association as a whole, or the other nations in the Union. Best you can do here is lay out terms for me to pass on."
"What terms could I possibly lay?" Youpi asked, and Ging laughed. "We have no…"
"Cards?" Ging suggested.
"Of course we don't have cards," Youpi said. "Why would we have cards? I meant that we don't have leverage." The Hunter laughed again. Was he really that funny? "All we can offer is ourselves."
"Oh? What do you mean?" Ging asked. He shifted, and Youpi wondered if he really wanted to know, or already understood what Youpi meant and was just trying to extend the conversation. Ging Freecss was a strange man, and it was obvious he enjoyed speaking with Youpi for some reason.
"The same way you're here now," Youpi said. "You got hired to come deal with us. Well, we could do the same thing." He sat up. "I'm strong. If you could guarantee the safety of the other Ants, I'd do whatever you wanted."
"Well, that's an amusing thought," Ging said with a grin. "Having a bunch of my own pet Ants. That'd certainly be scary, huh?"
"For your enemies." Youpi grinned. "You'll consider it?"
"I'll consider it, but like I said, I can't make the decisions here. That's up to the countries, and the Chairman." Ging leaned back. "Tell me something. Why do you care so much about those other Ants?"
Youpi blinked at the inanity of the question. "What do you mean? They're Ants."
"Yeah, they're Ants." Ging scratched at the stubble on his chin. "But you weren't made to keep Ants safe. You were made to keep the King safe."
"Ah," Youpi said. He leaned forward and propped his chin up on his fist; his elbow left a dent in the table. "Hmm."
"I don't know if you even can answer that question, to be honest," Ging admitted. "But I'm definitely curious."
"That's why you spoke with me, during the assault," Youpi said.
"Yeah," Ging confirmed. "I saw you defending the other Ants. That didn't look like the actions of a Royal Guard to me. It made me wonder what else you would do."
"Well," Youpi said after a pause. "I deceived myself."
Ging titled his head. "You replaced the King with… them?"
"Something like that." Youpi lowered his head. "I couldn't keep the King safe, especially from himself. He was unable to lead; he stood alone. But the other Ants were extensions of the King; of his will, and his genes. So if I couldn't keep the King safe, I could at least protect the other Ants."
"But you call that a deception."
"It is, but it's also a truth. Does that make sense?" Youpi wanted validation, even if it was from a human. What better human to give it than Ging?
"A little," Ging chuckled. "Holding two contradictory ideas like that… that's very human, Youpi."
Youpi narrowed his eyes. "Is that an insult?"
Ging rose and stretched. "If you want to take it as one. I think whether you do or not will give us a clue how the rest of this will go." He eyed Youpi with a smile. "You're willing to be my servant, but we might ask more of you than that. Would you be willing to be human?"
###
Neferpitou stopped when she felt the Watcher's gaze fall on her.
The sudden detente was familiar, and Pitou fell into it with ease, directing her attention to the distant focus. She and the Watcher regarded one another, and Pitou wondered at the passivity she felt in the woman's attention. Before, the Watcher's gaze had contained an unmistakable malice that made it easy to pick out: now, it was more relaxed. If she'd wanted to, Pitou wouldn't have been able to follow the sight to its source.
She spoke without speaking, and even just moving her mouth made her entire face sore. "I'm looking for him," she said. "That man who saved me. Will you stop me?"
The Watcher's focus wavered. Shifted. Then, about fifteen seconds later, it locked back on her.
What did that mean? The woman wasn't approaching, but she also wasn't letting her go. Pitou wondered what that meant.
She shrugged and kept walking, this time under the Watcher's supervision.
Pitou had left Peijing before it was destroyed, crashing through a building on her way out. The scale of the devastation couldn't surprise her. She was beyond that after surviving the crossfire between the King and the Hokage. But the leaning, creaking buildings, the shattered streets, and the human detritus scattered everywhere still affected her.
Three million people had once called this place home, and now even Pitou's enhanced senses and Nen couldn't find a single one. They'd been ripped up and cast out entirely.
And for what? A King who'd abandoned his plans in a moment and thrown her away in the next? What a waste. These countless humans hadn't even had their lives shredded for a good reason. As Neferpitou looked around, she found herself filled with a novel melancholy.
They were like her, in some way. She'd been abandoned by the King, but these human's ruler had looked at them solely as chattel. They'd always been abandoned. It was one thing for her King to perceive them as such, as an outsider, a superior form of life, but for so many to be ruled like that, by someone weaker and more pathetic than them?
Yes, they were similar. Neferpitou perceived the gutted city as a mirror to her condition.
Without warning, three different auras entered her En. Pitou jerked her head up; two of them were familiar, but the third…
It reminded her of the one-armed shinobi's, but where his had been titanic and cold, this one was blazing and bright. It was like one of the stars she'd watched the night before had descended on top of her. It overwhelmed her completely: her En fizzled out, withdrawing back into her, and Pitou suddenly felt blind, left with her ragged ears and single eye.
She looked about, watching where the aura signal had originated. Just a moment later, movement on the skyline caught her eye.
Three figures atop a crumbling apartment block. A tall man with blond hair: the Hokage, or one of his clones. The other two were more familiar to Neferpitou. The two young hunters that she'd scared off the day she was born.
They jumped down, leaving behind the Hokage. Pitou watched them come; they both looked as resigned as she felt. She remembered what the Watcher had said when they landed.
'That man was their King.'
Both the Hunters approached her, separating and coming at her from different angles. She kept her eye on the one who'd punched her missing eye out. She was forced to feel the other, the boy who could electrify himself.
Gon, that was the name of the Hunter who'd taken her eye. That's what Hinata had called him. Gon, and the electric one was Killua.
Gon stopped about twenty feet from her, far enough to let him react to her leap, and Killua stopped with him. They were practiced partners. Maybe that's why Pitou hadn't been able to defend the King, not even from himself. She'd always stood alone.
'If you can understand that, maybe you'll understand this.'
"Where are you going?" Gon asked, and Pitou stood up straight, her arm rigid at her side. The hole in her side where her other arm should have been ached.
"Nowhere," she said, and the Hunter cocked an eyebrow. "I'm not going anywhere."
"Everyone's going somewhere," Gon said. Killua was circling around behind her, Pitou realized. They were ready for a fight. Was that what she wanted? Was that why she'd come here?
She truly didn't know.
"I don't have anywhere to be," Pitou said. She sat down, crossing her legs under her, and Gon blinked. Her Nen receded further, leaving her defenseless. She couldn't even sense Killua behind her now.
Gon was a fighter, but Killua was an assassin. If he decided to kill her now, she wouldn't be able to stop him. The thought brought Pitou some peace.
'That's it then,' she thought. It didn't matter where she went or what she thought: she still wanted to die.
But five seconds passed, and Killua didn't drive his hand through the back of her head. Gon was just watching her. Pitou sighed.
"Don't you want to kill me?" she said, and the Hunter's lips twisted.
"I killed your King, didn't I?" she continued, closing her eye. "I saw it, last time we met. You almost sacrificed your life to end mine. You would have succeeded if it weren't for Meleoron."
When she opened her eye, Pitou still wasn't dead. Gon sat down as well, one leg stretched out before him. They regarded each other; Pitou with dull anticipation, and Gon with an emotion Pitou hadn't experienced before.
Pity.
"So you want to die?" he asked, and Pitou narrowed her eye.
"I tore his arm off first," she said. "He didn't scream. I didn't realize at the time how admirable that was for a human."
"Kite knew the risks," Gon said, not rising to the bait. "We all did, when we got that close to the nest."
"So, you're just going to let him rot in vain?" Pitou asked, and the Hunter shook his head. What had happened? What had changed in him, in just a few days? Why wouldn't he kill her?
"He's dead. Would killing you bring him back?"
"No." Pitou smiled. "But I'm sure it would bring you some satisfaction."
The Hunter frowned. "No. You were right, though. A couple days ago, I would have killed myself to kill you," Gon said. Pitou couldn't help but marvel at his calm. "I almost did. But now, you want to die, huh?"
He got back to his feet. "No way in hell am I giving you what you want."
Pitou should have attacked then. If she's attacked right then, Gon would have had to defend himself. He would have killed her. It would have been clean and easy.
But she found she couldn't. Just like before, just as it had for the last day, her body refused to die. She was paralyzed in place. All she could do was watch.
"C'mon, Killua." Gon turned and began walking away. Killua walked past Pitou, passing not four feet from her. Either of them could have reached out and ended the other's life, but neither did. "Let's get out of here."
The Hunters walked away, and unable to get off the ground or even beg, Pitou watched them go.
Even after Gon and Killua passed out of sight, Pitou remained rooted to the ground. She'd never felt so pathetic in her life. Somehow, it felt even worse than when the King had discarded her. It was one thing to want to die; it was another entirely to have someone look you in the eyes and deny you even that.
She didn't stir when the Hokage approached her. Even in a state of near-zetsu, his aura nearly burned her. His passive energy felt like blunt knives running across her skin.
"You really want to die?" he asked. Pitou looked up; the man was quite tall. It fit his aura. He knelt down, almost face to face with her.
"Sasuke dragged you out of there, right?" he said, and Neferpitou felt something stir in her gut. Anything other than turgid death was welcome.
Sasuke. So that was the name of the shinobi who had torn her and the other Guards apart in two or three seconds, and then rescued her afterwards. The man who'd saved her because she'd been too weak to refuse.
"Where is he?" Pitou suddenly asked, and the Hokage rocked back in surprise at the fervor in her voice. "Where is Sasuke?"
"Not a clue," the Hokage said, scratching the back of his head. "Why?"
Pitou pushed herself to her feet, her whole body aching. She pushed a surge of Nen through it, forcing it to forget its injuries for a moment.
"I want to see him." For the first time since the King had thrown her away, she wanted something. She would be an idiot not to follow that feeling. "Can you take me to him?"
The Hokage blinked. "Sure," he said, standing up as well. "Sure. Let's go find Sasuke."
###
In the deep tunnels that ran across East Gorteau, miles from Peijing, Shaiapouf scuttled through absolute darkness.
The tunnels were old, and hadn't been lit in decades. This was a place where no humans and no light had come in a very long time. It felt appropriate to Shaiapouf. It was a competition, he thought, between the inky blackness around him and the darkness consuming his soul.
All Shaiapouf could feel was hatred and shame. He had enough hatred for everything in the world. He hated the humans that had opposed the King and put him in this position. He hated the other Royal Guards for being weak enough to not see the King's true designs. He hated them for being strong enough to oppose them. He hated himself for losing to Neferpitou, pitiful little Neferpitou with one arm and no will to live. He'd lost to her and the Watcher, somehow at the same time!
'Shaiapouf is the only one I can rely on now.'
He gagged, hundreds of him choking on an inimical reality. Foolish little Shaiapouf! Did you think this would be a story with a happy ending for you, simply because the King was relying on you? The more responsibility you're given, the more tragic the consequences! That's all there was to it!
Shaiapouf wept. The King had triumphed, he was sure. He'd killed the Fire Shadow, the one armed man, the Watcher, everyone. Meruem had to have destroyed everything that had opposed him because that was what Meruem was. Unstoppable, invincible, unquestionable. But how could he return to him now, a complete failure? He was no longer someone the King could rely on. He was a coward, a worm squirming through the earth of a dead country. If he were the King, he would kill the Shaiapouf that Pouf was now without a second thought. He wasn't even worth being eaten. Even maggots would find him disgusting as he was.
As Shaiapouf pondered the best and most efficient way to cease to exist, while still being unable to conceive of simply dying, he came to a crossroad. The tunnel split into two paths, both equally dark. He stopped, hundreds of pairs of eyes looking from one to the other. What was the difference, he thought. They both led to hell. Why even bother making a decision? Why not just stop here, and slowly wither away in the darkness?
Then-
Shaiapouf perceived a light at the end of one of the tunnels.
A light? Down here, where no human had walked in decades? Where no electricity flowed, where no fire could start? He drifted down the right tunnel, entranced by the distant light. Was that his salvation? Was it as simple as a light at the end of the tunnel?
Like a moth drawn to a flame, Shaiapouf fluttered towards the distant, flickering light.
He drew closer and closer. Even with his enhanced senses, it was difficult to tell how far away the light was. Was it a fire, or electrical? As he drifted, Pouf became certain it was a fire. A small one, like that given off by a lighter.
He caught a glimpse of gleaming metal, a tube behind the flame. A tube? At that, he paused.
Why was there a floating tube, along with the floating flame? His addled mind ground to a stop. That didn't make any sense. None of this made any sense. What was he approaching?
Just as Shaiapouf began to realize something was wrong, a blast door, over a meter of solid titanium, slammed shut behind his swarm. He turned in shock at the sudden deafening noise. The tunnel behind him was suddenly totally cut off. He probed at the door: with the mass he had left, he could beat his way through it, but it would take several minutes. The only way he could go was forward.
He turned back. The light had danced from the edge of the tunnel to the center. And now, it wasn't waiting for him.
It was approaching.
Trapped between the door and the tiny light, Shaiapouf felt a primal fear. This wasn't the fear he'd felt when Neferpitou had nearly destroyed him, or even when he'd realized he'd completely failed the King.
This was, simply put, a fear of the dark.
"Who's there!?" he screeched, reforming his body and pulling himself up as tall as he could. He spread his wings wide, an instinctual attempt to look as large and intimidating as possible, and glittering scales blew off of him and down the tunnel, lighting it up in a dim rainbow medley.
The sparkling scales revealed more and more of the tunnel, and eventually reached the light. Shaiapouf perceived a pale hand holding the tube behind the flame.
A hand, an arm, a body. A woman in a dirty grey dress came striding out of the darkness, her arms slick with her own blood. Shaiapouf blinked. The woman was a Hunter; his Nen could only detect rage from her. There wasn't anything in her soul but anger.
Against his own will, he drew back. The woman had a wide metal tank strapped to her back and knives sheathed across her chest. A line ran from the tank to a metal tube she was holding in both hands, like a rifle. The dancing flame that Shaiapouf had seen all those minutes ago was attached to the front of the tube. It was indeed a lighter, or something like it.
"Who are you?" he asked, feeling a mounting panic in his chest. The woman kept on coming with a remorseless stride, his scales casting a kaleidoscopic rainbow across her body. The only constant light was the fire she held so securely in her hands. Her right hand was gripped tightly around a trigger guard, her middle and index fingers straining against an oversized trigger. Whatever she was holding was just like a rifle. But what was the tank for? A liquid?
"You don't know me," the Hunter said. Even if Shaiapouf hadn't used his Spiritual Message, it would have been obvious to him how the woman was fully consumed by anger; her voice curdled with hatred. "I'm a Hunter who stays behind. My name is Palm."
Palm. He didn't know her. Shaiapouf considered the distance. If he charged now, he could take her head in a little over a second. But she was a Hunter. Even if she was one who 'stayed behind,' she'd surely be able to react in time. What kind of Hatsu would she have? What was the weapon she was carrying? There were too many unknowns.
Foolish Pouf! Fritter your life away, or act!
Shaiapouf screamed and charged.
Palm depressed the trigger.
The tube in her hand bucked and belched out a stream of thick, semi-liquid fire. The blast took Shaiapouf full in the face.
One moment, Shaiapouf was moving forward, sure he could take the woman's head. The next, he was blind, his whole body covered in a literally burning agony. He roared and swung blindly, but hit nothing but air.
With nothing to fight for beyond his own life, Shaiapouf began to panic. His body started breaking down, reacting to his stress and trying to escape.
No! Think, Shaiapouf! Even if he was blind, he could find her with his Spiritual Message. Her rage was so sharp she stood out like a beacon in the dark. He couldn't miss her!
He charged again, and Palm blasted him once more. To Shaiapouf's horror, nearly half his mass melted in a heartbeat. It was just fire! How was this happening?!
"My Hatsu is called Wink Blue," Palm said as he stumbled and screamed, melting flesh slowing off of him and evaporating into thousands of screaming flies who were burned to ash by the flames. She continued walking forward, unwilling to give him any ground. "Once I see someone, I can track them anywhere in the world with just a bit of my blood."
Shaiapouf scrambled backwards as he felt another spike of rage, and the jet of flames barely missed him. He wanted to attack, but found that he couldn't. What was left of his body was paralyzed by pain and fear.
He couldn't understand why her fire had burned through his Ken as if it weren't there. Surely he wasn't that weak?
"I saw you, Shaiapouf, while you were trying to kill my master." Pouf couldn't see, but he knew Palm's face was twisted up in a rictus of hatred. "I saw you because I was watching him. He made it all the way to the stairs before you found him. Or did you just let him go that far?"
More and more of Pouf's mass was sloughing off. It felt like his consciousness was going with it. He couldn't breathe anymore, only scramble backwards. Palm let out another jet of fire, and Pouf screamed in fear, scuttling away like a cockroach.
"I mixed my blood with the napalm," Palm said calmly. "That's why it's destroying your cells so completely, and how it broke your Ken. I knew I would need that after watching you survive Knov's Hatsu." She blasted him again, melting his legs off, and Pouf was left dragging himself backwards with both arms as the flames licked at his torso.
The fire pouring from her weapon was literally filled with the Hunter's pure hatred. It was devouring him alive.
His back hit the blast door, and a high, keening whine emerged from Shaiapouf's chest as he realized he had nowhere left to run. The tunnel was so hot. Smoke was rising from his body: his wings crumbled away, their fragile structure destroyed by the heat.
"It hurt to cut myself that much," Palm said matter of factly. For the last time, her rage spiked.
"But I'm sure it was nothing compared to what you did to Knov."
She held down the trigger, and Shaiapouf was completely engulfed in flames. He couldn't even scream as the fire stole all his oxygen. His body melted, becoming one with the door, and began to drift into ashes.
Shaiapouf's body ceased to exist, but for a moment, his nen remained, stirring in the heart of the fire like a phoenix. It didn't attack. He had been too overcome with shame and terror to manage that. Instead, all it did was keep Shaiapouf's Spiritual Message functioning despite his death.
The last thing Shaiapouf, who had once been a Royal Guard, perceived before everything vanished and only the fire remained was Palm crying.
Her rage guttered out, and only a deep sorrow remained. The woman collapsed to her knees, throwing aside the flamethrower and weeping as steam rose from the blood running in thick rivulets down her arms.
The Royal Guard would have wept as well, if he still had a body. Even his death hadn't managed to bring anyone peace.
Thus, Shaiapouf died without managing to satisfy a single soul.
