Despite his persistent cough, his thin chest barely rose and fell, showing the toll the battle had taken on his frail body.
Netero was completely drained, with no mental strength left to shield himself from the swirling smoke and dust around him.
He felt utterly exhausted, as if every ounce of aura had been squeezed dry.
His muscles had withered, and his limbs were too weak to support him standing.
His once firm skin had loosened, and deep wrinkles now marked his face, multiplying as if time had caught up with him all at once.
Having poured all his aura into the Zero attack, Netero was now little more than a hollow shell, nearly a dried-up corpse.
This was why Netero had been so surprised. He knew that even the Zero attack was not enough to defeat the Ant King, but he had not expected the injuries to be so minor.
Though the damage looked severe on the surface, Netero's sharp eyes saw through the illusion. The Ant King was barely affected inside.
"You do not need to feel sad," the Ant King said calmly. "As the king of the ants, I am the product of the entire colony's support. I am the result of countless advantages working together."
He glanced at the old, fading Netero and continued, "Humans are not like that. Each person stands alone and fights their own battles. In other words, I embody the strength of the collective, while you are just one individual among many. It is only natural that you cannot defeat me."
The Ant King's words revealed a deeper understanding of humans, showing how his interaction with Netero had given him new insight into their nature.
"Your efforts will not be wasted," the Ant King declared, his tone still commanding but with a hint of change. "Because of what you have done, I will create a special area for humans in my kingdom. A small group of those worthy will be allowed to live there. And when it comes to choosing food, we will be much stricter."
Until now, the Ant King had maintained a superior attitude toward humans, but Netero's desperate struggle had revealed a troubling truth. Humans were unpredictable and did not fit neatly into the strict hierarchy of the ant tribe. The best he could offer was a limited sanctuary for a select few. That was his gesture of sincerity.
"I do not want to say this again," the Ant King snapped, his sharp eyes piercing Netero like a flickering candle about to go out, growing colder with each passing second. He was running out of patience.
Netero lowered his head, the darkness in his eyes deepening. After a few breaths, he spoke in a low voice that felt like a sentence from the depths of hell. "I have never fought alone."
"Human strength is not just about Nen," Netero continued. "There are many powerful people in the human world. I am just one insignificant fighter."
His mind flashed to Ging, Bo Bai, two of the world's top five Nen users, and then to Larry, the most powerful of them all. Even the seemingly invincible Ant King would not stand a chance against Larry.
"You are underestimating humans, Meruem!" Netero's voice rang out, steady and unwavering.
Slowly, he raised his head, and his deep eyes looked like black holes ready to consume everything. The Ant King barely had time to register the name before his pupils shrank rapidly, then dilated in shock.
Suddenly, the battlefield twisted into a nightmarish vision through his eyes. Behind Netero, an enormous skull appeared, radiating intense malice. The air turned red and purple, as if soaked in blood and littered with corpses.
"What is this guy doing?!" the Ant King instinctively stepped back, the first time he had retreated since the battle began.
"Ant King Meruem! You have no idea what you are dealing with!" Netero declared fiercely.
"The bottomless malice of humans!!" Netero slowly lifted his head, a terrifying smile stretching across his withered face. His mouth opened wide, revealing a dark abyss inside, as if he wanted to swallow the Ant King whole in one bite.
The Ant King stared back, stunned and uneasy, his heart pounding for no clear reason. Every cell in his body screamed a warning: he was going to die.
Facing Netero, radiating pure malice, the Ant King's body trembled uncontrollably, cold sweat breaking out on his forehead.
He did not understand why. After all, Netero was just an old man on the brink of death, seemingly too weak to fight.
Yet, a terrifying premonition gripped him. He could sense that this old man was not bluffing; Netero truly believed he could kill him. For the first time since his birth, the Ant King felt the real threat of death.
"If there is a hell, we will meet there again," Netero said, stretching out two thin fingers to stab his own heart.
He had already implanted the miniature rose inside, a bomb set to explode the moment his heart stopped beating. It was his last resort. If he could not defeat the Ant King, he would take him down with him.
Watching Netero's determined action, the Ant King had only one thought: run.
The old man's words were true. He had underestimated humans. Even a dying old man could evoke such fear, shaking the Ant King's confidence to its core.
The aftermath of his own assault was enough to knock him to the ground, and he couldn't even get back up.
It was hard to believe that this feeble, half-collapsed figure was the once lively, vigorous old man everyone knew.
No one would have dared to admit that this fragile, aging man was President Netero.
At that moment, he finally looked his age, like a living fossil, over a hundred years old.
After coughing a few times, Netero slowly lifted his head, his sunken eyes staring ahead.
But a flicker of horror crossed his face.
Just then, as if responding to Netero's movement, the Ant King emerged from the thick smoke and dust.
Unlike Netero, who was collapsed and helpless, the Ant King walked steadily, barely slowed by the attack.
The contrast was clear: one was strong, the other utterly broken.
"What a magnificent attack, truly worthy of praise," the Ant King said, regaining his composure as if Netero's effort had awakened something within him.
Looking calmly at the dying old man before him, admiration shone in his eyes.
Even after facing Netero's full-power strike, the Ant King was no longer as composed as before.
His skin was torn in many places, blackened from the intense heat, and several wounds had been blown open by the light bullets, with blood slowly oozing out.
Yet, these injuries were mostly superficial.
The Ant King's body could heal internally quite quickly, so these apparent wounds didn't slow him down much.