Echoes Beneath the Seventy-Seven Floors
The music never truly stopped.
It did not rise, nor did it fall—it lingered, muffled and distant, as though the walls themselves were swallowing its melody before releasing it back into the air. Within the Grand Library of Valmeris, sound behaved differently. Every step echoed longer than it should have. Every breath seemed heavier.
Meruem felt it the moment they crossed deeper into the structure.
This place was not merely a collection of books.
It was an accumulation of intent.
The Library Above
Seventy-seven floors rose toward the unseen ceiling, each level arranged with almost ritualistic precision. Circular corridors surrounded a central void, spiraling upward like a colossal well of knowledge. Runes were engraved discreetly into the marble pillars—not decorative, Meruem noted, but functional.
Nen was woven into the architecture itself.
He could feel it, restrained yet omnipresent, like a sleeping beast buried beneath stone and ink.
Edrin walked ahead, speaking with practiced ease as he explained the logistics of the shipment, while Komugi followed close to Meruem, her steps light, her expression calm. The merchants' laughter from earlier still echoed faintly in Meruem's thoughts.
Humans laughed so easily.
And yet—Are these truly the same humans Netero spoke of? he wondered.
The cruel ones. The ones who revel in suffering.
The contradiction gnawed at him.
Beelzebub Reborn
As they entered another chamber, Meruem's instincts flared.
Without a change in expression, without even slowing his pace, he activated his Nen.
Beelzebub.
A power once belonging to Shaiapouf.
But this was no mere imitation.
Hundreds—no, thousands—of microscopic cells dispersed from Meruem's body, invisible to the naked eye. Unlike Pouf's original technique, each clone fragment carried a faint pulse of raw physical enhancement.
Youpi's influence.
From the backs of these micro-cells, translucent wings formed—compact, powerful, efficient.
A fusion.
Mind and muscle.
Analysis and destruction.
The fragments scattered silently throughout the library, slipping between shelves, through ceilings, along the outer walls.
Meruem did not command them.
He simply was them.
The First Anomaly
One fragment paused.
Hidden behind a rarely used corridor, it detected movement—subtle, calculated. One of the library's managers, walking with an unremarkable posture yet carrying a small, sealed box clutched too tightly to be casual.
The fragment followed.
An elevator.
Not the main one.
This entrance was narrow, unmarked except for a single inscription:
SUB-LEVELS
The manager pressed a sequence of buttons. The fragment slipped inside unnoticed.
Down they went.
Past the fifth basement.
Past the tenth.
At the twenty-seventh, the elevator stopped.
Then—another mechanism activated.
A hidden panel.
Another descent.
The Game Begins
Above, the atmosphere shifted.
The old host sat across from Komugi, hands folded, eyes gleaming with restrained anticipation. The Gungi board lay between them, its worn surface bearing the marks of countless battles of intellect.
Komugi inhaled softly.
"Let us begin."
The first move echoed clearly.
"3–8–5–6. Bishop."
The old man's lips curved upward.
"4–5–7. Knight."
The pieces clicked against the board, each sound harmonizing with the distant music. Around them, the air thickened—not with hostility, but with intensity.
Edrin swallowed.
He didn't understand the game.
But he understood pressure.
And this—This was overwhelming.
Beneath Valmeris
The fragment emerged into a vast underground hall.
Books lined the walls, but these were different—taller, bound in unfamiliar materials, inscribed with symbols that pulsed faintly. Runes. Scripts older than modern Nen theory.
At the center stood a transparent cube.
Inside it—Something moved.
The moment the fragment crossed a circular boundary etched into the floor, a Nen construct activated. Light flared.
The fragment twisted—And vanished.
Erased.
The King Receives the Signal
Meruem halted mid-step aboveground.
Information flooded his mind.
The loss of the fragment.
The cube.
The circle.
His instincts had not been wrong.
"Excuse me," Meruem said calmly. "I will take a walk through the library."
Komugi looked up, concern flickering across her face.
"I'll be quick," he added. "Please stay with Edrin."
She nodded, though unease lingered in her expression.
The manager offered to guide him.
Meruem declined.
"I know the way."
Gungi: A Battle of Souls
Komugi's fingers hovered above the board.
"6–6–8."
The old man froze.
His breathing slowed.
She saw it, he realized. She's already there.
Their movements accelerated.
The board became a battlefield of futures colliding, each piece a declaration of belief. To them, the world no longer existed—only patterns, instincts, inevitability.
The music deepened.
The Nen in the room stirred.
The Deepest Floor
Meruem entered the hidden elevator.
Down.
Twenty-seven again.
Then further.
When the doors finally opened, the air was different.
Ancient.
Heavy.
The cube stood before him.
And inside—A creature.
Its form resembled that of a Chimera Ant, yet far more primitive. A long white beard dragged along the floor. Its back was hunched, its limbs thick with dormant power. Its eyes—those eyes—
They radiated hatred.
And recognition.
"So," the creature rasped, pacing within its prison. "Another one of us… altered by humans."
Meruem approached slowly.
"You come from where my clone was sent."
A grin split the creature's face.
"The Cursed Continent."
The Truth of Origins
"I was sent to retrieve a traitor," the creature continued. "One who fled our land months ago. A subordinate who dared to build her own kingdom."
Meruem's voice was steady.
"The Queen?"
The creature laughed bitterly.
"Her name was Reina Karmeth. No queen—just a deserter."
The words struck deep.
"Our land," the creature said, circling, "is far more hostile than this continent. There, survival is never guaranteed. Humans here call this world cruel… yet they live in comfort."
Meruem clenched his fist.
"And you were captured?"
"Yes. By humans who wield Nen. They trapped me here. Questioned me. Fed me scraps."
His gaze sharpened.
"But you, King… you are different."
The Doors Open
The elevator behind Meruem activated.
Someone was coming down.
The same manager.
The tension reached its breaking point.
Above, a decisive Gungi move echoed across the board.
Below, ancient truths stirred.