HxH : Pokemon Master
Chapter 176: Scary Marshadow

Chapter 176: Scary Marshadow

Two days later

The final battle between Gon’s pair and Knuckle’s team had begun.

This fight would determine which side could join the Ant King extermination squad.

"I can tell you’re strong," Shoot said, standing before Killua with a solemn expression.

His eyes flashed with confusion.

"But there’s one thing I don’t understand—why do you always retreat at critical moments? It’s like you refuse to take any risks at all."

Killua remained motionless—not because he didn’t want to act, but because he was struggling against the influence of the Nen needle.

After one round of combat, the left side of Killua’s face had already been sealed by Shoot’s Nen ability, ’Hotel Rafflesia’.

This caused the Nen needle to constantly transmit thoughts urging him to retreat.

But... he couldn’t retreat!

Killua clenched his fists, gritting his teeth so hard they made an unsettling grinding sound.

Before coming here, Biscuit had warned him: his instincts prioritized his own safety above all else.

At the slightest hint of danger, he would back down!

If he didn’t change this mindset, one day, he might stand by and watch Gon die without lifting a finger!

Biscuit’s words were harsh, but they were true.

He had to change his way of thinking.

He would never stand idly by and let Gon die!

In fact, if he couldn’t defeat Shoot this time, Biscuit wouldn’t allow him to see Gon anymore!

That was a price he couldn’t bear—he knew Biscuit would follow through her words.

Gon’s words from two days ago still echoed in his mind.

He had promised they would avenge Kite together.

But how could he completely overturn this instinct?

At that moment, Killua suddenly remembered what Akira had said two days prior.

Use your brain huh...

"It’s a shame I couldn’t see your full strength, but I’m sorry."

Seeing Killua frozen in place, Shoot sighed lightly and prepared to send the three floating hands around him forward.

He and Knuckle wanted to win this challenge too.

Crack!

Suddenly, a crisp shattering sound rang out.

From the excessive force, the rings on Killua’s fingers shattered one after another.

They were the rings connecting his specialized yo-yos.

Killua’s weapons were unique—custom yo-yos that could conduct electricity.

’He broke the rings connecting him to his yo-yos? What is he planning?’

Then, under Shoot’s bewildered gaze, Killua suddenly raised his right hand and struck his own head at blinding speed!

’What is he doing?!’

Killua’s movements looked like he was trying to smash his own skull, making Shoot’s heart clench.

Had he broken the kid’s spirit to the point of suicide? Surely not...?

Killua moved too fast—his sharp nails pierced through his scalp in an instant, blood quickly staining his silver hair.

His hands were capable of tearing out a person’s heart, breaking through skin and bone was effortless for him.

Before Shoot could react, Killua withdrew his hand—now clutching a needle infused with Aura.

"So this was in my head all along? That bastard Illumi!" Killua looked at the needle in his hand and immediately knew it was his eldest brother Illumi doing.

’There was still a needle stuck in his head?’

Now Shoot vaguely understood the source of Killua’s strange behavior—it must have been influenced by this needle.

Casually tossing the needle aside, Killua felt an unprecedented sense of relief.

Without constraints, he could now unleash his full strength and even when facing opponents stronger than himself, he wouldn’t be held back!

Seeing Killua’s completely changed, Shoot’s eyelids twitched uncontrollably—now he was the one at a disadvantage.

Freed from the influence of the Nen needle, Killua swiftly defeated Shoot and then rushed to assist Gon.

After the two reunited, Knuckle found it even harder to hold his ground and was ultimately forced to admit defeat.

With that, Gon and Killua emerged victorious, earning their qualification to join the Ant King extermination team and gaining the chance to avenge Kite.

Meanwhile, a "white cloud" slowly descended from the sky, carrying Morel, Knov and Akira.

This was Morel’s creation, formed by manipulating his White Smoke ability, allowing them to observe both battles from above.

"Morel, you owe me 100,000 Jenny." Knov crossed his arms and lightly leaped down from the white smoke.

"I know, I was almost about to win anyway." Morel shook his head and followed suit, jumping down from the smoke.

Just like in the original story, he had made a bet with Knov on which side would win.

Gon and Killua’s victory meant he lost the bet and had to pay Knov 100,000 Jenny.

But for hunters of their caliber, even ten times that amount wouldn’t matter.

Their bet wasn’t about the money—it was just casual entertainment.

"Akira, thank you for the reminder you gave me earlier." Killua turned to Akira beside him, expressing his gratitude sincerely.

If not for Akira’s reminder two days ago, he might never have realized the abnormality in his head.

Had he failed to detect the Nen needle, their night would likely have ended in defeat.

Not only would they have lost the chance for revenge, but he would also have had to leave Gon’s side.

"I just mentioned it casually. You would’ve figured it out eventually on your own." Akira hadn’t expected Killua to react so quickly, leading to Gon and Killua’s victory.

This could be considered another butterfly effect caused by him.

At this point, their team’s lineup was finalized and all that remained was for the chairman to decide the time of the attack.

As time passed, they drew closer and closer to the day of the full-scale assault.

During this waiting period, Akira’s greatest achievement was the birth of his new Pokemon.

Upon seeing the new Pokemon clearly, even Akira couldn’t help but marvel, feeling even more confident about exploring the Dark Continent.

Everything was ready—all that was left was to exterminate the Ant King!

While Akira and the others prepared, the Ant King’s side wasn’t idle either.

Using Neferpitou’s Nen ability, Doctor Blythe, they manipulated the corpse of Ming Jol-ik’s Double to gather the entire nation’s population.

The Ant King had no interest in ordinary people—he only enjoyed consuming Nen Users.

Thus, he decided to have all residents brought in, forcibly opening their Aura nodes to turn them into Nen Users.

This violent method of opening Aura nodes had an extremely high mortality rate, equivalent to the "Baptism" of Heavens Arena.

Of the five million citizens of the East Gorteau Republic, fewer than five hundred thousand would likely survive using this method.

Only one in ten would remain!

Even those fortunate enough to become Nen Users would ultimately be devoured by the Ant King, becoming part of his strength.

In a sense, Nen Users were nothing more than experience points for the Ant King—the more he consumed, the stronger he became.

Since it would take time for the citizens to arrive, the Ant King developed an interest in various board games.

Board games were often considered tests of intelligence and the Ant King believed he should not merely be the strongest in combat.

He wanted to be the best in the world in every field!

Board games were the first domain he chose—though, as it turned out, they would also be his last.

Under the name of Ming Jol-ik’s, champions of various board games were summoned to the palace with one task: to challenge the Ant King.

The Ant King’s reasoning was simple—participating in tournaments was too troublesome.

As long as he defeated these so-called "champions," he would become the new number one.

True to his nature as the pinnacle of Chimera Ants, the Ant King was not only physically formidable but also highly intelligent.

One by one, every champion who entered the palace was defeated—though part of their loss might have been due to the Ant King’s terrifying appearance.

His opponents could barely breathe in his presence, let alone focus on the game.

With unstoppable momentum, the Ant King crushed the champions of multiple board games.

Until the last one—a game unique to the East Gorteau Republic: Gungi.

Though Gungi was a local creation, it had gained significant influence across the six continents, hosting multiple world championships.

Unexpectedly, the world champion of Gungi was a blind little girl named Komugi.

"Good. Only this ’Gungi’ remains. Once I finish this, it’ll be over." The Ant King muttered to himself as he read about the rules of Gungi.

Meanwhile, Shaiapouf arranged for Komugi to enter the palace, seeing this as another step towards his king’s ultimate supremacy.

In their eyes, their king was meant to rule the world—to dominate every field.

They neither believed nor entertained the possibility that the Ant King could lose.

When the Ant King met this sniffling, disheveled blind girl, the gears of fate began to turn.

For the first time since his birth, the Ant King lost—to Komugi.

And until his death, he never defeated her.

****

Republic of East Gorteau.

On a barren stretch of land some distance away from the palace stood six figures.

Some stood with arms crossed, others naturally at ease.

Strong winds whipped at their clothes, yet their bodies remained unshaken.

Their eyes were fixed on the distant palace.

This was the Ant King Extermination Team!

After a period of waiting, they had finally received word from Chairman Netero.

Today was the day they would launch their attack.

Since Akira had already dealt with most of the Chimera Ants, their targets were now only the Ant King and the three Royal Guards.

Compared to the original plan, this would be much easier—they didn’t need as many fighters.

Thus, the six figures were: Gon, Killua, Morel, Knov, Akira and Meleoron!

During this period, Akira occasionally visited Greed Island, witnessing firsthand the innate talents of the Chimera Ants.

Originally, these Chimera Ants had only just grasped the basics of Aura.

However, under the professional guidance of Dwun and others, their strength advanced by leaps and bounds—literally changing day by day.

Most of them were Squadron Leader-level Chimera Ants, possessing high-tier talents even among their kind.

This explained the astonishing progress they made.

Among all the Chimera Ants, Meleoron showed the fastest growth in strength.

Driven by the constant reminder of his adoptive father’s death, he wasted no time, relentlessly training.

After establishing his Restriction and Vow, Meleoron’s power had already surged dramatically.

With further training over these days, it reached unimaginable heights.

No one could have predicted that Meleoron would grow this strong in such a short time.

Just by sensing his aura now, he was already on par with Morel.

Meleoron didn’t just focus on accumulating and utilizing Aura—he also developed his own Nen abilities.

The stronger he became, the more deeply he understood the terrifying might of the Ant King.

Gradually, his desire for personal vengeance shifted towards assisting Akira in eliminating the Ant King.

After all, reaching the Ant King’s level in such a short time was nothing short of delusional.

Leveraging his innate chameleon abilities, Meleoron ultimately developed the Nen ability ’Perfect Plan’, along with a secondary ability, ’God’s Accomplice’, which allowed others to turn invisible with him.

Additionally, he created an original ability not seen in the canon, likely tied to his Restriction and Vow.

God’s Judgment: Only usable when consumed by rage, this ability drains his own life force to drains an enemy’s life force.

The ratio of consumption varies based on the difference in strength between him and his opponent.

If their power is equal, the exchange is one-to-one—meaning Meleoron could drag an equally matched foe to death with him.

However, if the enemy far surpasses him, even exhausting his own life might only shave off a fraction of theirs.

Essentially, it was a life-for-life trade.

Logically, as a chameleon, Meleoron shouldn’t have been able to develop such an ability.

Thus, it could only be attributed to his Restriction and Vow, which he established in a state of extreme fury and included a life-draining effect.

This likely influenced the ability’s nature.

This ability was highly practical because it consumed life force rather than Aura, making it universally applicable against any living being.

Akira could have Ditto transform into Meleoron and repeatedly drain the enemy’s life force while Blissey, Gardevoir and other Pokemons continuously healed Ditto with recovery moves.

This cycle could theoretically take down even the toughest opponent.

However, there were limitations.

According to Meleoron, the ability’s range was currently restricted to within 100 meters of himself.

Beyond that, it wouldn’t work, though the distance could expand as his strength grew.

In truth, this life-draining ability paled in comparison to Dracovish’s ’Super Fang’, which could halve an opponent’s health in a single bite.

But the advantage lies in not needing to get close, maintaining a safe distance.

Super Fang requires the Dracovish to bite the enemy, which introduces many uncertainties.

Moreover, Akira thought of a better way to utilize ’God Judgment’.

On his team, it wasn’t just Ditto that could use others’ Nen abilities.

Marshadow could also mimic others’ powers!

The difference was that Ditto transformed into the target’s appearance before using their abilities.

Marshadow’s appearance wouldn’t change—it simply learned and replicated the abilities.

Ditto’s strength fluctuated based on whom it imitated, but Marshadow’s didn’t!

An SS-rank Marshadow using God’s Judgment—Akira could hardly imagine how terrifying that would be!

Creatures thousands of miles away could be snuffed out in an instant by Marshadow’s at will!

SS-rank meant the vast majority of beings were far weaker than Marshadow.

Marshadow wouldn’t even need to expend much vitality to kill them.

At first glance, it might seem pointless.

Marshadow was already strong enough to one-shot those creatures anyway—what difference did it make? But there was one.

The key lay in range.

God’s Judgment was an ability whose scope correlated with the user’s power.

Marshadow could cover vast distances effortlessly.

Within that range, a single thought from Marshadow meant instant death.

The advantage was speed and convenience.

The only limitation was that it required anger to activate, but that wasn’t a big deal.

A slight flare of anger would suffice.

Besides, opportunities to use this ability were rare—there weren’t many situations where long-range elimination was necessary.

Akira had even considered exploiting this ability for Marshadow to farm experience points recklessly once they reached the Dark Continent.

But after recalling Marshadow’s despairingly high experience requirements to level up, he abandoned the idea.

At SS-rank, the experience gained from killing weaker creatures was negligible—almost nonexistent.

Only by defeating opponents of similar strength would the rewards be worthwhile.

Rather than hoarding those pitiful gains, it was better to let Tyranitar and the others take them.

"Alright, let’s move out—to slay the Ant King!" Akira slowly gathered his thoughts and spoke softly, stepping forward.

He stood at the center, leading the group at the front, while the others flanked him on either side.

Watching Akira walk ahead, everyone felt an overwhelming sense of security.

As long as they followed his back, nothing could go wrong!

With Akira’s command, the Ant King subjugation officially began!

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