Until now, Knov and Morel's role in the extermination team had been to lure Chimera Ants out of the nest and hand them off to the Chairman to eliminate.
From start to finish, the two rarely had close encounters with the ants. The only time they observed one up close was when they first saw Neferpitou.
But at that moment, they had both been engulfed by Pitou's overwhelming malice—so much so that they couldn't discern whether Pitou retained any shred of humanity.
That grotesque, nausea-inducing aura left no room to imagine any trace of human nature.
So to suddenly learn now that Chimera Ants might retain human memories was undeniably shocking.
The fuzzy, wide-eyed Chimera Ant continued explaining to Morel: "While memories can remain, it varies from case to case. The personality from one's past life greatly influences it. Some remember their names. Others don't remember anything consciously, but their bodies react instinctively to familiar stimuli. Thanks to that, we're able to communicate fluently in your language."
None of this interested Kite or Joey particularly—because the possibility that Chimera Ants retained fragments of human memories had been one of their earliest hypotheses.
Or rather, it was Joey who had helped Kite piece the theory together. After all, they had interacted with plenty of Chimera Ants during their time in NGL.
Nearly all of those encounters were with ants who treated humans as food or toys.
Admittedly, there were a few where some human memories and kindness began to reawaken… but the instincts of the Chimera Ants still reigned supreme.
Violence. Greed. That's the nature of their species. Even with human memories and personality traits blended in, their fundamental biology wouldn't allow those instincts to be erased.
But Kite wasn't the one calling the shots this time. He and Joey could only watch and wait for Morel and Knov to reach a decision.
Would they choose to exterminate every remaining Chimera Ant—or…?
Morel drew the massive pipe from his back and pointed it toward Colt.
"Colt, it's time for you to choose. Swear that you'll never eat humans again, and await whatever arrangements we make… or fight me right here. Win, and you'll be free."
Colt's expression was full of confusion.
He had existed for the Queen. And now that she was gone… where was he supposed to go?
Before he could answer, some of the remaining ants—those loyal to the Queen—began quietly retreating.
Even the Queen's own loyalists had begun longing for freedom now that their pillar was gone.
But Kite had never once let his guard down.
With a roar of mad laughter, Crazy Slots appeared—its roulette landing on number 4.
A gunshot echoed.
The wall behind the retreating Chimera Ants now bore a fresh, smoking bullet hole.
Everyone froze and turned toward the shooter—Kite.
"Answer, Colt," Kite said coldly, his icy stare locking onto Colt's eyes.
In truth, only a few ants had stayed behind in the nest.
Among them, only four were squadron leader–level: Colt, a bovine-type ant, the fuzzy doctor ant, and a distant koala holding a sake flask.
The rest were soldier-class Chimera Ants. Though some were elite, none posed a real threat to the Hunters.
Most of the ants had abandoned the Queen the moment she was no longer capable of reproduction—and with the King showing no interest in them, they'd either gone rogue or banded into nomadic groups.
Squadron leaders were likely aiming to establish their own hives. The foot soldiers had simply followed instinct, dispersing into the jungles of NGL.
The future of the Mitene Federation and the Balusa Archipelago was now easy to predict.
Any Hunters who had come either for the Chimera Ants or for Joey were about to have their hands full.
The original qualifications for the extermination team no longer held any real weight. Chimera Ants were no longer confined to NGL.
Even with Chairman Netero and his elite team—Kite, Morel, Knov, Knuckle, Shoot, and even Knuckle's new recruits—they wouldn't be enough to handle the massive dispersion.
In Joey's view, the best course of action now was to eliminate Colt and the remaining Chimera Ants quickly and join the larger suppression efforts.
Only that would minimize the sacrifices of the people in the nearby nations.
"Wait—there's something still inside the Queen," a medical staff member suddenly shouted.
Colt whipped around toward the doctor's gesture—and saw it.
Inside the Queen's abdomen, a small thumb-sized lifeform squirmed.
"Don't touch her! I'll do it!" Colt blocked everyone, stepping forward and gently scooping up the tiny creature into his palms.
It looked a bit like a human infant—only with fuzzy little ears and a bald, long tail.
Her eyes were shut tight, like a newborn crying for milk.
At that moment, aside from Kite and Joey, everyone else in the nest was visibly shaken—and slightly relieved—as they looked at Colt, tears streaming down his face, holding that fragile little life.
"I'll protect her. This time… I swear I'll protect her!"
Colt fell to his knees before the Queen's corpse, cradling the crying infant.
He had found a new reason to live.
Morel lowered his pipe. "Colt, do you swear—absolutely swear—that neither you nor this child will ever eat a human being?
"If not, disappear from my sight.
"But if you can swear… then as long as I draw breath, no one will hurt either of you."
Coolly pulling back his pipe, Morel was already crying.
Even though Joey had seen this scene in the anime, now that it was unfolding before his eyes, he couldn't help but feel something indescribable.
Didn't Morel see that both Colt and the baby were monsters?
Or was his sympathy as a Hunter simply overpowering his rationality?
Joey glanced toward Kite, who gave him a subtle nod.
"I swear," Colt said firmly.
Knuckle, who had been holding back this whole time, immediately broke down crying just like his mentor.
And in that dark, filthy cave—one still littered with meatballs made from human remains—Joey found two sentences echoing in his mind:
"How ironic. What a strange twist of fate."
"Even monsters need saviors of their own."
With Colt's vow and a new emotional anchor to rally around, the remaining Chimera Ants finally settled down and obediently followed the medical teams to their designated shelter.
Kite, Joey, and Andre didn't go with them.
"How long can it last?" Kite asked once the main group had departed.
"So long as I don't cancel it manually. But you know the flaw in my ability… I can't say how stable it'll be," Joey replied. He didn't need to explain more—Kite understood.
"That's enough. Leave the rest to the specialists," Kite said with a slight smirk, his eyes drifting toward the scattered meatballs around them.
"Specialists like Morel?" Andre lit a cigarette. "He's a good Hunter, but his impulsive judgment… hard to recommend."
"It suits him though. And you saw Knov didn't object either. Maybe even the Chairman planned for this," Kite muttered, eyes on the horizon.
Indeed, the fact that shelters were already prepped for the surrendering ants implied Netero had expected this outcome.
Besides, the squadron leaders left behind posed little threat to humanity.
Once they accepted humanity's arrangements, their lives were no longer their own.
Still… did the Chairman anticipate the birth of a "Golden Experience–infused Chimera Ant infant"?
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