Chapter 3

Hippotsu began to explain everything to Neferpitou starting with what happened after she was ordered to heal Komugi. He told her about the King learning his name from his human opponent and the intense battle that allegedly took place.

"The King who had finally learned his name had returned to the palace alongside Pouf and Youpi. A epic battle took place between two of the strongest beings in the world. Isaac Netero, the former chairman of the Hunter association and one of the most powerful people on the planet faced off against the King of the chimera ants; Meruem. Netero cornered our king several times however Meruem ultimately came out victorious. Netero, being the master tactician that he is, had led Meruem to a desert far away from the capital of East Gorteauh in order avoid collateral damage. His intent was never to survive the battle, but rather sacrifice his life in order to destroy the threat to the human race that was our chimera ant king. Netero's trump card was an illegal explosive hidden within his heart."

"'The poor man's Rose' is what it was called and it was implanted within his heart, ready to detonate when ever his heart stops beating. The old man must have been killed by the king in order for the explosion to be triggered. Meruem was caught off guard by the explosion and succumbed to it's mighty flames. Although a weapon of mass destruction the explosion itself wasn't as grand as the radius of a nuclear weapon. What truly made this weapon terrifying however, was the toxic agent that spread through it's smoke and that poison remained in the bloodstream of our king. Somehow Menthuthuyoupi and Shaipouf were able to revive Meruem and save him from the explosion with their abilities of course we have yet to determine exactly how that has been done."

Neferpitou's eyes widened when she heard that. Perhaps a small kindle of hope was lit in her heart? Hippotsu continues on "the medical staff had evacuated while all of the fighting was going on, except for me. I was able to watch as most of the events unfolded before me, including the miracle of the royal family returning nearly unscathed back to the palace. Little did I know at the time that three of them were all exposed to the poison of the miniature rose.

"The king returned to us with amazing new abilities after he returned and used them to subdue a few of the human invaders. His En was beyond anything I had ever seen at the time. It was truly astonishing, our king had truly become the most powerful being on the planet. However, even with his new abilities he could not predict that his body was slowly being destroyed by the poison he was exposed to. He then vanished for three days, we couldn't find him anywhere. We searched everywhere for him and our search bore results when a few soldier ants went to the underground level of the palace they found his corpse in one the mock buildings there. His hand was tightly holding a human girl's hand, I didn't recognize her but a few guards claimed that she was important to the king. With that in mind we prepared a burial ground for them and placed them in caskets that befit a member of the royal family."

He continued, "We did the same for Pouf who succumbed to the poison way before King Meruem had. Meruem evidently was stronger than every individual chimera ant combined, surviving for a much longer time than Shaipouf right before the poison took it's toll on his body. Some of the ants suggested we make a shrine in the courtyard...I thought that was disrespectful to our late king however, wouldn't it make much more bury him underground where he died? But the soldiers insisted on choosing the courtyard...they said it's a reminder of how the humans hurt our king with the Dragon Dive and a symbol of what our future as a species. I slowly understood the reason. Our king...died here, not just for his people...but for life itself. He saved that human girl and showed the world that Chimera ants aren't the monsters we all are made out to be. I truly admire him for that."

"So Komugi was with the king the king in the end...I guess that's good. Together, they found peace." Neferpitou smiles at the thought of the king dying happily and peacefully alongside Komugi. Oh, what happened to Youpi?" Neferpitou asked with dried tears in her eyes.

"Unfortunately we don't know. We found a tiny replica of his helmet somewhere in the courtyard, but we were unable to find him." said the doctor.

Pitou squinted her eyes in confusion in response and said "since when did he wear a helmet?"

"Forgive me my queen. I haven't the slightest idea". The doctor lamented.

"Listen, please stop calling me that! I'm not ready to be the queen, I can't even begin to imagine myself in Meruem's place."

"I apologize ma'am. Please allow me to tell how we found you."

Neferpitou placed her four fingered hand on the top of her head displaying how much stress she was under upon hearing her all about her king and his newfound identity, she dreads the thought of not being able to being able to see him during his final moments but she finds some solace in learning his name.

"Fine, go ahead." Pitou distressingly said.

"Ma'am, I'll get straight to the point. Me and a few other soldiers began searching for you, one of them had canine DNA so his sense of smell was quite useful during the search. The route we followed was presumably the one you took where that boy led you to that castle, once we got there we found you on the brink of death...as if someone tried to kill you."

"The brink of death?" Pitou immediately thought of Gon and the moment his expression changed from anger to sadness. "How could someone who was obviously so much weaker than me even pull that off let alone the fact that he fell into despair?" She thought to herself.

Hippotsu continued "You had two bruises on your abdomen and thirteen open wounds all around your body, it seems like whatever the assailant tried to do, they didn't have a chance to finish. Fortunately we found you before you lost too much blood so we were able patch you up and stabilize you with ease. Unfortunately you were asleep for a while."

Neferpitou looked down and came to the realization that this is her new reality. The world she woke up to is not the one she remembered. She stands up and commands Hippotsu "Please... take me to his grave. I want to see Meruem again".

Hippotsu nodded and led her outside of the palace. The palace grounds were noticeably a lot cleaner than when Pitou left. Multiple chimera ant soldiers are doing their part to clean up the debris that was caused from the Dragon Dive. When they got to the courtyard Pitou noticed that there was a beautiful shrine made to isolate the graves of the royal family from the rest of the world.

Hippotsu tells Pitou she may enter the shrine "Please take as much time as you need ma'am."

Pitou proceeds to enter the shrine and what she finds inside that there is an area with candles surrounding a painting of the King that was presumably made by one of the ant soldiers that was an artist in their previous life.

"I-it's beautiful!" Pitou expressed with tears in her eyes. "Who knew one of your soldier ants could have such talent...isn't that right my king? I honestly don't know what to say to you, the last time I saw you...you were alive. You were magnificent, my king! Your disposition, the way you commanded me and even the way you also cared for Komugi...I loved everything that made you well...you."

"I realized my purpose was to protect you and serve you as a member of the royal guard and yet...I failed. No amount of apologies can make up for my failure your majesty. But...I can't dwell on it forever. I know you wouldn't want me to lose myself to this sadness so I have to find a new purpose in order to honor you for the person you were. Meruem. That's your name isn't it? It's a nice name, the queen really thought up the best name to give to the king of the chimera ants. Thank you for trusting me, even though I failed you...Meruem, thank you for giving me a purpose in life...and thank you for being my king. I'll never forget you, your majesty." Pitou ended her eulogy with tears and stayed in the shrine staring at the painting of Meruem, Komugi and her brothers for a while.

Neferpitou existed the shrine and thought about what she should do now. She thought about Hippotsu's words before reminding her of the so called responsibility she has as the queen of the chimera ants. "Hippotsu." She called.

"Yes, ma'am?" He responded.

Pitou looked at him and said "I'm going to do it. I'm going to become the queen."

Hippotsu looked at Pitou as if mesmerized by her words. He said "Yes, my queen let's get started."

"Actually, I can't focus on the politics yet. First of all I need to train myself. Understand nyow?" She asked.

"Huh? But my queen, we need you to help us. Those of us who were loyal to the king have nowhere else to go." Hippotsu said.

"The queen needs to be strong right? I need to regain my composure before I take charge of anyone." She claimed. "Alright it's time to start, i'm going to unleash my Hatsu so stand back. Alright, breaths in and then out. Alright, here we go."

Pitou attempts to use her nen...however "Huh? That's weird. I can't activate my aura."

End of chapter 3