(Book 2) Neferpitou and the human Royal Guard

Chapter 27 (Part 2)

A nen arrow soars past my head as I dip it to the side, keeping my eye on Zazan while keeping in mind that Youpi is closing the distance. Wanting to end this quickly, I don't bother wasting words with either of them for now, and opt take take my chance to defeat Zazan here and now. If she dies, with any luck, Youpi would be free of her control, along with a substantial amount of enemy ants. It's all just an assumption at this point, adding on the fact that Jaws's nen beasts are still active even after he was killed makes this hope seem all the more unlikely. But even so, I don't exactly have many options available.

With all that in mind, I hurl Blitz Glaive at Zazan's head, which she effortlessly evades. As the spear passes her by, I use it's ability to teleport behind her, catching the spear mid-air, and attempting to stab her in the back. But, before the spear can find it's mark, her tail lurches towards me, the stinger poised to gouge my eye. Unable to finish the job just yet, I disengage and jump back to gain some distance. Looking upward, I find that I am still unable to counter attack as Youpi comes crashing down toward me from above, his red aura flaring as he swings his hammer down from his descent. With another backwards jump I narrowly evade his attack, yet even still, his onslaught continues as his aura burns ever brighter when he lands, and in mere moments, a volley of searing nen is expelled from Youpi, forcing me to constantly dodge if I want to survive.

"Give up, you would be smart if you quit while you can, Alejandro. Just sit still and die, it will be easier on both of us." Zazan taunts.

I don't respond, I need to put all my focus on the fight itself, or I'm a dead ant. Unfortunately, it isn't long before I have to dodge nen arrows from Zazan along with Youpi's rapid-fire attack. With this new obstacle, I realize that if I just keep dodging, I will achieve nothing. As such, I take a chance to move to a spot where Youpi stands between me and Zazan, extend my hand out, and recite "Repulse."  delivering a wave of force that pushes Youpi into Zazan. To my surprise, she is not knocked down, rather she managed to catch Youpi, barely budging from her spot. Regardless, I take this opportunity to go in for the kill, but as I start, she moves Youpi in front of me, using him as a shield. Once again I'm forced to disengage, leaping backwards once more.

Youpi is quick to regain his balance and promptly takes a step toward me. Before he can get too close, however, Zazan stops him, pulling him back before looking at me and saying. "I'll admit, after being empowered by King Vasilias, I thought that my strength would have put me on a level far above any Royal Guard, especially you. However, it seems you won't go down so easily, bravo."

Not caring to engage in conversation right now, I demand "Release Youpi from your control, and in return, I'll forget that you betrayed us."

Zazan smirks, and she says "You're in no position to negotiate. Make no mistake, you can't win here, no matter how persistent you are. But be that as it may, the true king is willing to spare you and Neferpitou if you surrender."

I scoff "Are you fucking kidding? I came here to free Youpi, not accept deals with the enemy. Besides, why are you telling me this now? If you really have any intention of keeping your word, why did you wait until I started getting the upper hand before making your offer?"

She sneers at me, then explaining "Simple, I'd rather have a nuisance like you dead, and the same goes for that traitor Neferpitou."

"What? Have you lost your mind? Pitou-chan has been nothing but loyal to King Meruem, which is more than can be said about you. The only traitor here is standing right in front of me. Where do you get off calling anyone else a traitor?"

"You know nothing, human. Meruem himself is a traitor, he murdered our mother, our queen, and when Neferpitou had the chance to save her, that worthless wretch had the nerve to abandon the queen, nearly dooming our entire race. And now Meruem would have us serve humans, instead of ruling over them. But now with Father and King Vasilias, our race will take over this world, replace the weak humans as the  dominant power, and take our rightful place as their overlords, just as our mother intended."

I take a moment to consider her words, then say "So that's how it is, huh? We knew from the start that we couldn't trust you. I suppose in a way,  it's our own fault that things got to this point. Whatever, thanks for the honesty, Zazan. For what it's worth, I'll make your death quick." I tell her, before using metamorphosis to assume the same form I used to train with Jovesworth, bulking up my muscles, growing an extra pair of arms, bull-like horns extending from my skull, morphing the end of my tail to resemble that of a halberd, a single sharp blade-like bone protruding from each of my upper wrists.

Zazan's eyes dilate for just a moment in response to my transformation before returning to a more confident gaze as she issues a command to Youpi. "Youpi, defend your queen!" she orders.

Dutifully, Youpi morphs his lower half into that of a horse's body, now making him somewhat resemble a centaur, as a shield grows out of his left arm, and he wields his hammer in the other. Upon taking up this visage, he wastes no further time in galloping toward me.

Before he can reach me, I extend out one of my hands, reciting the word "Beckon" which pulls Youpi further toward me and taking him off his feet in the process. I dart to the side as he flings far past me, hurl the Blitz Glaive toward Zazan once again, who has a nen arrow already knocked and ready to fire. Once again, she tilts her head to the side to dodge the initial attack. However, this time I used the spear's ability to teleport right in front of her instead of behind. Quickly, she adjusts her aim to shoot me point blank, to which I respond by using one of my arms to knock her bow to the side, causing her to shoot at nothing. She attempts to retaliate by bring her tail around to sting me. However I counter her again by grabbing said tail with a second hand, stopping it's stinger from reaching me, then proceeding to use a third hand to severe her head from her shoulders using the boney blade on my wrist in one quick motion. As her head falls to the ground, I can still see a sliver of life remaining in her eyes, and thus I use my own tail to destroy the head by bringing the end of it upon the skull, putting her out of her misery.

At first, I glance down to the severed head of Zazan that I had just split in two, seeing that it no longer has any life left in it's eyes, bringing me to let out a sigh of relief that I managed to end things quickly. That relief however, did not last as the realization that she is likely being reborn via Vasilias's nen ability crosses my mind. With that thought, I cautiously look behind me, turning my gaze to Youpi, in hopes that he has been freed from Zazan's control...