Meruem laid there in a big black void after hearing Komugi say his name. He couldn't see anything, he couldn't feel anything in this void until he heard a voice, a strange and echoing voice
"Meruem king of the chimera ants, you seem to have changed a lot since your birth," the voice said
"I believe I did," Meruem said in a calm tone
"And so I believe that you deserve another chance, you and your friends will have another chance," the voice said revealing Pitou's headless body, Youpi's dead chibi body, Pouf's dead body with his wings cut, and even Komugi's dead body "I'll send you all to a new world where you could all have a new life, but this is the only other chance you will all have, you all still did a lot of evil well… except one of you," he said looking at Komugi "well what do you say, do you accept my offer?"
Meruem thought about it, yes he could accept it to let Komugi live a new life, she didn't deserve death but he wasn't sure if the others and even himself deserved this second chance. Should I accept it? Do I deserve it? We're thoughts going through Meruem's head until he finally made his decision
"I accept your offer," he said
"Very well," the voice said before disappearing
And so he was back to before the voice showed up, everything was dark but this time there was a difference, he could feel something, his back was touching something, a flat, and hard surface. Was that ground? He could feel the ground. And so the darkness started to disappear as he opened his eyes that he didn't even know we're closed, and saw the blue sky. He couldn't believe it, he really got a second chance in life! He got up and stood in his sitting position and analyzed the space around him, he could see mountains, trees, and grass. Where was he? Was he near the palace? Was the palace still there? He thought and thought until
"Ugh" a groan was heard making Meruem turn his head towards the direction and see Pitou getting up
"What happened?" They said to themselves before remembering something and checking their surroundings like they were terrified of something until they locked eyes with the king
"Pitou" was the only thing he could say before Pitou bowed down
"King I managed to heal Komugi but the enemy got her and made me come with them to…" they explained themselves before Meruem reached his hand towards motioning them to stop
"Don't worry, you did what I asked for, and for that I'm grateful. You did a good job Pitou" he said making Pitou shake a bit, the king praised them and that made them incredibly happy even if they were trying to hide it and keep their cool to not annoy the king
"What the hell?" Another voice was heard, this time it was a heavier voice making Meruem turn his head towards it to reveal Youpi waking up
Meruem started to analyze the place around him and saw that Pouf and Komugi were also there, "so the entity did not lie" he thought, and after that, he stood up startling Pitou and Youpi that just woke up, Meruem gave a quick glance towards Youpi and saw that he was back to his original form, did the entity bring him back? It didn't matter at the moment, he walked towards an unconscious Komugi and sit by her side like he was waiting for her to wake up but the one that woke up next was Pouf that saw Meruem looking at Komugi and remembered what he did
"If I really was loyal to the king I shouldn't have tried to kill what he held dear to him, but I couldn't just let her change him, now It's too late and there is nothing I can do," Pouf thought getting up with a saddened expression
"Pitou, Pouf, Youpi" Meruem said making the three of them get behind him and bow waiting for him to say something "promise me that you will protect Komugi" that shocked Youpi and Pouf, they saw that the king had really changed and that there was really no going back and so they could do nothing else beside accept it, meanwhile Pitou didn't have that much of a problem with the request since they already saved Komugi so protecting her should also be something they should do
"Yes my king," the three said at the same time
And then Komugi's hand moved to signal she was awakening, and in a few seconds after her hand moved she got up and put a hand on her head
"Ow, what is happening?" She said a little confused by feeling grass after she just was at a house
"Komugi you're awake," said Meruem sitting a little bit straighter and making the royal guard raise their heads
"Mister Meruem, where are we?" Komugi asked getting up still confused
"Don't worry" he said also getting up but picking up Komugi and putting her in his back "we will go to the near city"
"Oh, o-ok," she said still a little confused but not questioning since Meruem probably knows what he is talking about
"Meruem?" Pitou practically whispered but it didn't go unnoticed by the other ants
"Oh right, you weren't there when it happened, the king chose the name Meruem," Youpi said
"Which reminds me, why did you not come back to the castle?" Pouf asked a little mad that she didn't return
"I faced a few… complications," Pitou said having Gon's adult form flash in front of their eyes making a single drop of sweat fall from their face "I deeply apologize for not going back"
"Don't worry," Meruem said, walking forward. "Now we just need to find a place to stay, Pouf can you search for it?"
"Yes my king," Pouf said flying up and searching for a city that luckily was not that far from where they were "there is a city not too far from here, my king"
"Thank you Pouf, and please call me Meruem," Meruem said getting in a running stance "now let's go"
And so they practically disappeared and reappeared in the city and started analyzing the place, a bunch of people were startled by their presence, not only did they just appear out of nowhere, their appearance didn't help them blend in, especially Meruem and Youpi, everyone was staring at them which annoyed some of them but Meruem personally didn't care
"We're here," Meruem said and Komugi lifted her head and then he continued walking being followed by the rest of the royal guard
Nighttime
After a lot of time looking around the city and they didn't see anything that weird, there was some standard city stuff but there was this one place that gave them a weird feeling but it was ignored by Meruem and so the royal guard was not to worry. They were now near the water just looking around the place until out of nowhere a ship came flying in their direction at an alarming speed for any normal person but Youpi had more than enough time to get in front of Meruem and enlarge his arm and catch the ship so it didn't hit him, but some parts of the ship came off and almost hit Meruem and Komugi but Meruem managed to dodge all of them at the same time as he protected Komugi
"Where did this come from?" Pitou said looking around
"Komugi are you okay?" Meruem asked putting her down
"Y-yes, I don't really know what is going on but I'm not hurt," Komugi said
Pouf saw a bunch of people in the ground, probably the owners of the ship, and tried to come up with an idea of how the ship ended up almost hitting them, meanwhile Youpi put the ship down and looked at the people on the ground and saw them getting up
"Damn, what the?" The person said before looking straight at Youpi and getting so scared by him that he didn't see another person appear on top of the ship
"Natsu!" A blonde woman screamed running towards the ship, along with a blue cat? Maybe it was another chimera ant
"So you are a wizard from Fairy Tail?" The man that apparently was named Natsu said gaining the attention of everyone that was on the ground, even the chimera ants
"Wizard? Fairy Tail?" Youpi thought to himself
"So what? Men, get him and then that thing!" the person said gesturing to Natsu and Youpi
"Yes!" The men said running towards Natsu and some were even trying to go after Youpi but they were knocked out with a single movement of his hand
"Hmph" Youpi scoffed and then went back to the side of the king
"Look at me," Natsu said taking off his jacket
"Natsu!" The blonde woman yelled worried
"Don't worry. Sorry I should have said it earlier, but Natsu is also a wizard" the blue cat said eating a fish and surprising the blonde woman
"Wizard? Are they like those hunters?" Thought Pouf
Some of the men were getting on top of the boat but Natsu just slapped them away and said "I'm Natsu from Fairy Tail and I never saw you there!"
That shocked the supposed leader of the ship
"Fairy Tail? Natsu is a wizard from Fairy Tail?" The blonde girl said equally shocked
"Fairy Tail?" Pitou said more confused than anything
"That tattoo! He really is one, mister Bora" one of the men said
"Idiot, don't call me by that name!" The man who was revealed to be named Bora said
"Bora… Bora, the prominent he was expelled from the Titan Nose guild some years ago" the blue cat said
"What is going on here?" Youpi said getting angry
"I don't care if you are a good guy or a bad guy but now that you pretended to be from Fairy Tail you won't get away from this!" Natsu said walking towards Bora
"And what are you gonna do, kid?! Prominence Typhoon" Bota yelled making a weird circle appear in front of him that threw some purple fire at Natsu that caused an explosion
"Natsu!" The blonde woman yelled
"Is that all she knows how to say?" Pitou said
"I love killing people like you. Now you will also get what he got" Bora said turning towards the ants and Komugi but specifically he was talking to Youpi
"How gross," Natsu said in the middle of the flames "are you really a fire wizard? Because this fire here is horrible!" He said apparently eating the fire
That shocked everyone except Komugi for obvious reasons and the ants that just thought that was his power
"Thanks for the meal!" Natsu said after eating all of the fire
"What the hell is he?" The men said still shocked by it
"Fire doesn't work on Natsu," the blue cat said
"I never saw magic like that before," the blonde woman said
"Interesting" Meruem thought
"Now that I ate, I feel a lot better," Natsu said hit his fist with each other and creating another one of those weird circles and being surrounded by fire
Meruem recognized the circle and grabbed Komugi and jumped away from Natsu thinking he was going to attack, the royal guard did the same
"Here I go! Fire Dragon's Roar!" Natsu screamed before sitting a beam of fire that hit Bora and his men causing a massive explosion
"What is going on?" Komugi asked feeling the wind the impact of the explosion made
Bora managed to dodge the attack using his fire magic but all of his men were hit by it
"Sir I think I have seen him before, that pink hair, that scarf, there is no mistake he is the real…" One of Bora's men said
"Salamander," the blonde woman said
"The real what?" Youpi said confused by the boy's title
"Remember well this is how a wizard from Fairy Tail does it!" Natsu said surrounding his fists with fire and dashing towards Bora
"Red Shower!" Bora screamed throwing a barrage of flames trying to get Natsu away from him
"Hmm looks like fun" Pitou thought
Natsu dodges all of Bora's attacks and jumps and then punches Bora sending him flying
"He eats fire and punches with fire? Is that really magic?" The blonde woman said
"Dragon lungs to emit flames, dragon scales to dissolve flames, and dragon nails to engrave the frames, that's an ancient spell that transforms your body into that of a dragon. In other words, it's a counterspell." The blue cat said gaining Meruem's attention
"What is that?" The blonde woman asked
"Originally it was a dragon interception spell." The blue cat said
"Oh my…"
"Hell Prominence" Bora screamed throwing a big fire beam towards that city causing a big explosion
"Dragon Slayer Magic! Igneel taught Natsu that." The blue cat said
"Damn you!" Bora screamed throwing a bug fireball at Natsu that he catches and promptly eats it
"I'm getting a pretty good meal here! Listen up, jerk. I'm gonna smoke you to a smoldering crisp!" Natsu said
"Smoke me?" Bora said intimidated by him
"Take this! Iron Fist of the Fire Dragon!" Natsu screamed punching his fists together once again and covering one of them in fire and jumping towards Bora, he then punches Bora with enough force to send him flying, with a trail of destroyed buildings behind him
"Natsu, you don't smoke things using flames…" the blue cat said
"Not bad," Meruem thought
"Wow… Just, wow… But… Isn't this going a bit overboard?" The blonde woman said looking in awe at the destruction in front of her
"Heh" the royal guard laughed a little
"Aye!" The blue cat said
"'Aye' nothing!" The blonde woman said
Pitou hears some steps coming their way and so uses their en to see who it is, after that they could sense a large group coming their way, and it seems like they were already near them because the blonde woman also noticed them
"The military?" The blonde woman said
After hearing that Meruem grabbed Komugi and started carrying her bridal style and along with the royal guard they ran off so fast that they were practically just some blurs but Meruem could see the blonde woman getting pulled away by Natsu that was running away in the other direction
"This will be interesting" Meruem thought coming to a stop after they all hid in an alleyway
"My king, why did we run? We could've easily killed all of those guards" Pitou asked
"We can't bring attention to us yet, but don't worry we won't need to stay low for too long I think I have a place we could possibly stay," Meruem said remembering the tattoo on Natsu's shoulder and then the building that gave them a weird feeling