"How will you help me?" asked the Ant King.
"I'll be the bait." Cyr replied with a grin, disappearing from the King's sight and reappearing not far from the palace.
Then, he disguised himself to look like an ordinary person—messy clothes, a timid demeanor—and cautiously approached the palace gates, where the guards escorted him inside.
A short while later, he ran out of the palace looking ecstatic, arms full of jewels.
Some gold coins even spilled to the ground, but he pretended not to notice, yelling loudly, "It's real! It's real! I lost, and they still gave me money!"
With that, he bolted down the street, still clutching his treasure, quickly disappearing from sight.
"..."
The Ant King made no comment on the over-the-top performance.
But his brilliant mind told him—this tactic would work.
"All right, just sit tight and wait for challengers to start showing up," Cyr said, giving an OK gesture with his hand.
The Ant King's chess skills were already top-tier.
With a brain far superior to ordinary beings, he crushed the competition in almost every mental category—reaction speed, strategic thought, long-term planning—he excelled at all of it. The only problem was that he'd been born less than six months ago, and lacked real experience.
Impulsiveness, a short temper, and volatility were his main flaws.
Or perhaps… flaws inherited from his human DNA.
Without that part, he might've been colder and more rational—
And likely would never have sat down to play chess with Cyr in the first place.
It would've been kill-or-be-killed, nothing more.
As expected, most challengers would probably lose to him.
The white-haired boy smirked, the red in his eyes seeming even deeper now.
More twisted, more demonic than he ever was in his white-hair-blue-eye form.
The next day, just as Cyr predicted, people began to show up.
Their legs were shaking as they entered the palace, like boats bobbing in the middle of a stormy sea.
And when they laid eyes on their opponent—
The Ant King, whose appearance was clearly inhuman—
They trembled even harder.
"Please, have a seat," the Ant King said calmly, motioning toward the seat across from him.
The human who had been trembling like he might drop dead from sheer panic at any moment… completely changed the moment he sat down and picked up a chess piece.
His legs stopped shaking.
His hands no longer trembled.
Even the sweat dried up.
His whole presence transformed into something composed and calm.
Was the chess piece some kind of personality switch?
Cyr tugged at the corner of his mouth but said nothing. He simply sat quietly to the side and watched.
He understood the unspoken rule of not speaking while watching a game.
He'd even participated in Go tournaments in the past—and had once taken first place.
But even a drastic personality shift wasn't enough to change the outcome.
The Ant King won.
The defeated human left the palace unharmed, and soon after, the next challenger arrived.
Watching people play chess could get really boring. So Cyr took his leave.
The scenery in East Gorteau was… honestly, not bad.
He thought about this while wandering the streets.
But… why hasn't that guy made a move yet?
The air around him had become laced with a fine shimmer of golden powder, wrapping around the surface of his body.
Finally.
The white-haired boy stopped walking.
A golden-haired man with butterfly wings appeared before him. The wings themselves seemed to emit special effects—glowing with dazzling colors.
"Are you here to die?" Cyr tilted his head and asked the question sincerely.
"I cannot allow a human to continue influencing the King," Shaiapouf said firmly.
A second figure cloaked in purple appeared behind Cyr.
Two against one.
No Neferpitou? Was it by choice? Was she busy? Or… did she refuse to come?
Two of the King's three Royal Guards were here. That alone would be enough to completely obliterate most people.
"Ah, perfect time to test my new ability," Cyr muttered thoughtfully.
Ever since gaining the Domain Expansion skill, he hadn't had much opportunity to use it.
Not giving the ants a single chance to speak, he immediately raised his hand and began forming seals.
This was the Hunter world, after all—full of chatterbox types who loved psychological warfare and mental games.
And this butterfly dude totally seemed like one of those.
Well, it was a butterfly after all—a creature that undergoes total metamorphosis. Shady vibes came with the territory.
Against this kind of opponent, there was only one strategy:
No hesitation. No room for mind games. Just hit first.
And hit hard.
Kill them before they talk.
Crude. Brutal. But incredibly effective.
"Domain Expansion — Malevolent Shrine."
In an instant, the skies darkened.
The human streets were replaced by a blood-soaked battlefield, littered with corpses and bones stacked high.
Crimson stained everything in sight.
Every step landed in puddles of thick blood.
A red torii gate—marking the entrance to the divine realm—stood quietly to the side.
"Alright, here's the deal," the white-haired boy said with a grin, lazily swinging his legs while sitting on the blood-red torii. "Any creature besides me that appears in this domain… gets attacked automatically."
The golden-haired ant split himself into countless smaller clones, trying to escape—only to be sliced clean in half the very next second.
The purple ant went berserk, lunging forward to smash Cyr, but before he could even reach him, his body was cut into several pieces.
"Woohoo." Cyr whistled, pleased with himself after using Domain Expansion for the first time.
Pretty cool.
So this is that legendary thing they say—invincible within your domain, huh?
If only he could also unlock Gojo Satoru's domain—it'd be even more fun.
Open with Infinite Void, follow up with Malevolent Shrine.
One targets the soul, the other destroys the flesh.
That combo would leave the enemy with zero options—no time to resist or even run.
They'd just die, simple as that.
The golden ant's clones could be killed and reformed instantly, but...
His true body was also inside the domain—and it was significantly larger than his clones.
According to domain rules, attacks that hit the original body were much stronger than those that hit copies.
After all, the body was more powerful than the clones, so attacks scaled accordingly.
Sukuna's domain was an open-type domain—outsiders could enter freely, and those inside could try to escape if they weren't already dead.
But… they usually didn't make it out.
Because the attacks came faster than anyone could run.
Cyr canceled the domain just before the two ants completely died.
"A subordinate's job is to follow orders. Don't overstep," the white-haired boy said casually.
Once the domain disappeared, Neferpitou gracefully landed nearby.
"The King already knows," said the cat-eared girl with soft, wavy white hair, her tail swishing and her smile bright.
Their fight had taken place not far from the palace.
Neferpitou had sensed everything—but chose not to interfere.
Cyr looked at the white-haired, red-eyed cat-girl… and then thought of his current appearance—also white-haired, red-eyed.
He fell silent.
They kind of… looked like family.
If someone else saw this, there was no way they'd believe he was human.
Neferpitou dragged the two barely-alive ants back to the palace and patched them up.
Once they were healed, the very first thing they did was appear before the King.
Only to get smacked across the hall.
"Don't act without orders," the Ant King said, looming above them.
What made him furious wasn't just the fact they fought Cyr—but that they did so without his command.
To him, it was a direct challenge to his authority as King.
"Overly intelligent subordinates always think they know better," Cyr added helpfully from the side. "Or maybe… they just don't trust your judgment at all, deep down."
The Ant King's anger hit max level.
Shaiapouf's beatdown counter: +1.
If it weren't for the fact that his strength as a Royal Guard was decent, he might've been killed on the spot.
°°°
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