⚠️ Brutality, torture and blood is in this chapter so be warned!

If you are too young for these categories or can not stomach what will be written, please skip this chapter immediately! I go into a very detailed and VERY BRUTAL scene in this chapter, so PLEASE skip to the end of that scene if you can't handle it ⚠️

And if you're not, then I hope you enjoy the chapter and play the music above for the fight scene in this chapter if you'd like 😌

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Even in the velvet dark there is the light of the stars, the comfort of the black comes the boldest star of the heavens and the moon reflected the pure rays of the sun, in doing so became as beautiful as the star of the daytime.

The group had arrived at a cliff with odd openings and their eyes took in the strange sight, a gentle breeze passed through the canyon causing wisps of hair to flow back in the wind.

'Is this the place where the Chimera Ants nest?',Gon asked.

Observing the holes once more, Kite slowly shook his head and placed his hands on his hips, glancing towards the teens as they stared ahead.

'No, it's not',The silver-haired man explained,'They don't normally dig holes like this. They build their nests with mud and droppings'

Staring at the cliff, Valentine narrowed her eyes and studied the light coming through each hole on the cliffs.

'Let's go, we'll see when we're inside'

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Making their way through one of the tunnels, the group followed the chain of lights and a low screeching trill left Zeus's break as eyes of obsidian slowly looked around.

A chain of lights hung along the wall and the four followed them slowly, keeping a look out for any Chimera Ants that could possibly jump out at them.

The constant buzzing of flies echoed throughout the air as the small insects circled around the bulbs and a few of the darkened lights flickered.

'Now, we don't know when or from where they'll strike, so don't let your guard down'

'Yeah, you don't have to worry. We understand',Killua spoke up and looked around, keeping his guard up,'The other Chimera Ant completely concealed his presence'

Remembering the Chimera Ant that had suddenly emerged from the trees and shot into the air to catch his companion, caused Valentine to frown as her eyes sharpened.

Since some Chimera Ants could conceal their presence, this was going to get a lot harder.

It seemed as if the tunnel were never-ending as their footsteps echoed for what seemed like the hundredth time, before finally, they saw light coming from the end of the long hallway and readied themselves for whatever could be at the end.

'Keep moving',Kite told them.

Looking around the room they had entered, eyes of the sun took in the sight of broken machines and blood scattered along the floor.

Bloodied shoes, shredded pieces of clothing and guns were abandoned on the dusty ground as water slowly dripped down from broken pipes.

'Wait a minute, is this..',Gon began to say and trailed off as he looked around.

'Yes, this is the dark underbelly of the NGL'

'It's a drug factory',Killua spoke up.

'Exactly right'

Looking around in shock, Valentine's eyes widened only slightly and she hummed in confusion.

"Really? It doesn't look like one",The young blonde spoke up,"But then again, just because it doesn't look like it, doesn't mean that it's not"

Nodding slightly, Kite looked around and continued on.

'The pill's called DD and is mass-produced right here. The hottest new drug on the mainland',He explained,'It's made from bira trees, so there must be a field close by. Ironic, given their status as conversationists, right?'

Looking at one of the boxes, Killua furrowed his eyebrows for a moment and soon, realized exactly what was contained within the box.

'They're making more than just drugs. Look'

Lifting up the weapon, the silverette watched as Valentine tilted her head for a moment and then, walked towards him, gently taking the gun in her grasp.

"Guns..?"

Turning it to the side, the young blonde examined the weapon and then, took out the clip, looking at the casing's inside.

'It's the same one's from earlier'

He was right.

They had the same design and casings as the other guns.

Placing the clip in the gun, Valentine put the weapon back into the box and turned back towards her friends.

'If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say only the leaders of the NGL know the truth. The other community members probably genuinely identify with the environmental message'

'This facility, it's the core of the NGL underground, isn't it?',Killua asked,'So if there isn't anybody in here, then..'

As he trailed off, Kite nodded his head and placed his hand on his hip, the shadow of his hat covered his eyes.

'That would suggest that the Chimera Ants have completely wiped out the underground, and that a bunch of amateurs with guns didn't stand a chance against them',Kite explained.

Looking towards Kite, Gon furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and frowned slightly.

'But what about their boss?'

A tightening feeling squeezed inside her chest, causing a quiet gasp to leave Valentine's lips as a bad feeling filled her veins and her opalescent eyes turned towards the tunnel behind Kite, staring into the darkness.

The feeling of talons tightening on her shoulder let Valentine know that Zeus had sensed the same thing she did and they both knew, that it definitely wasn't good.

'He either escaped or was eaten. Either way, this is bad news'

'Huh? Wait, what do you mean?'

Realizing that Valentine wasn't listening to the conversation, Kite followed her line of sight and noticed what she had sensed.

'Shh, there are still a few here'

Eyes of thunder narrowed at the tunnel she was staring at, watching closely and Valentine tilted her head down slightly, gold glaring into the dark abyss.

'They're slowly approaching from the middle tunnel. Her and Zeus had noticed their presence before any of us could'

Knowing just what was coming, Kite stared at the tunnels and the boys looked towards the man for a moment, before turning their eyes forward once more.

'Here they come',Kite spoke up quietly.

Emerging from the shadows, an Ant with the body of a horse held a leash with two men on leashes and they were crawling on the ground in front of him; their limbs bent strangely.

'Keep it down you two',The Ant commanded and harshly pulled the chains locked around their necks, choking them, before looking up at the five as his tongue slithered out between his lips,'Who the hell are you? How dare you intrude on my turf!?'

'Help us! You gotta help us!',One of the chained men cried out.

'Shut your damn mouth, Spot!',The Ant shouted,'You're a dog, remember?'

Lifting his hoof, the Ant crushed the man's skull and crimson painted the entire lower half of his leg, instantly killing the man.

Eyes of thunder widened in horror and a gasp filled the air as her heart seemed to stop, hands shaking, before clenching her fists in fury.

'Oops',The Chimera Ant laughed and stared down at the bloodied corpse,'I didn't mean to do that. Well, whatever, I was getting bored with them anyway'

A gasp of fear left the remaining man's lips and he perked up with wide eyes, his breathing slowly escalating.

'Guess I'll get rid of Rover here, too'

Turning around, the man got in front of the ant and sat up on his knees, his tongue hanging out of his mouth as he panted like a dog, tears of fear running down his face.

A soft grunt left the Chimera Ant's mouth and a sadistic smile slowly spread across his lips.

'When you beg like that, it just makes me wanna kill you even more',He stated and lifted his bloody leg once more, causing the man to whimper in fear.

'No, don't!',Gon screamed and was going to charge forward when Kite grabbed his arm, stopping him in place,'Let me go'

'Don't move carelessly',Kite warned them and the four of them looked towards him,'There's more than one enemy here, and they want you to rush toward them'

Immediately, they all snapped their eyes towards the other tunnels and footsteps echoed through the air as three other ant's came out, laughs leaving their mouths.

'Now, bye-bye',The snake-horse chimera said and often his hoof higher, angling it above the man's head.

'H-Help me!'

A sickening crunch filled the air as the hoof crushed through the man's skull and Gon quickly averted his eyes, squeezing them shit as a sickened look coated his face.

Nausea pulled at Valentine's insides at the broken bits of skull and blood that coated the ground, causing her to tightly press her lips together.

'Don't look away',Kite warned, causing Gon to look towards the man,'If they shoot, you won't be able to see the projectile'

'I've decided',The Ant spoke up and his volcanic eyes seemed to glow in the dark,'From now on, you four are all going to be my new dogs!'

Scrunching up her nose at the thought, Valentine stared at the Ant with a hatred in her eyes and her eyebrows seemed to twitch in irritation.

How dare this Chimera Ant speak that way.

'They've always been aggressive',Kite explained,'But consuming malicious humans has had an effect on them and it's made them even more evil'

'Huh? What do you mean?'

'Phagogenesis, right?'

Not answering his question, Kite continued to stare at the Ant and was silent for a moment, before finally speaking up.

'If we don't deal with them here, there's no telling how many more people will be killed',Kite explained and brought up his Ren.

Realizing what he had done, the three brought up their Ren as well and got into fighting positions.

But knowing that he would've been a distraction for Valentine, Zeus spread his wings and flew towards a small ledge, landing there as he watched.

'Go, capture them!'

Loud laughs left the Ant's mouths as one of them flew towards the children and the multi-limbed one ran towards them.

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The sound of bug-like wings fluttering around echoed throughout Valentine's ears and eyes of thunder watched as the Ant circled her and Killua.

The two stood back-to-back, with a few inches of space between them, and kept an eye out for one another, making sure that neither of them were surprised by an unexpected attack.

'What do you want your new name to be little boy?',The Chimera Ant asked,'Spot or Rover?'

Eyes of the ocean seemed to go blank and almost a icy grey, seeming void of emotion.

He couldn't hesitate, he had to kill this Ant.

They had to kill this Ant.

A laugh left her lips and she quickly shot towards them, aiming to directly attack Killua first.

'You'll both be wandering the land of the dead soon!'

A darkening aura surrounded Killua's body and a flip switched within him, his arms moving as quick as lighting as the Ant charged towards them; using an assassin technique called Serpent Work.

Both of the Ant's arms were destroyed and a screech of pain filled the air.

'You! Damn you, take this!'

A small gasp left the silverette's lips as a sharp, purple stinger broke through the Chimera Ant's mask as she charged towards them and he glanced behind him towards Valentine.

'Val, watch out for the stinger!'

Golden eyes quickly looked behind her and reacting as fast as she could, the young girl flipped over the stinger, as well as the Ant, which was ultimately the best way she could dodge it at the moment.

She wouldn't have been able to lean left or right because the Ant would've just moved it's head the way she had went and stabbed her with the stinger.

But as soon as she had landed, a groan filled her ears and the blonde froze, before quickly turning around, her eyes widening at what she had seen.

A tail had emerged from the Chimera Ant's clothing and the stinger was currently stabbed into Killua's lower back.

'Fool! You pathetic little fool, this is my real stinger',The Chimera Ant laughed loudly.

Stumbling slightly, a soft groan left Killua's lips and the shadow casted from his hair covered his eyes as he looked at the ground.

'Well, how does it feel as the poison spreads through your body? Feel good?',The Ant taunted and watched as the boy forward onto the ground, before laying motionless,'Hmm, works like a charm'

But what the Ant didn't notice, was the way the young blonde girl's eyes darkened and her hair covered her eyes as she looked at the silverette's motionless body on the ground.

'Once I get him addicted, we'll have another human dog'

A dark aura suddenly washed over the Ant's body and she shivered in fear instinctively, sweat slowly gliding down her forehead.

Before she could even react, a harsh force slammed into the side of her face and she flew across the room, her body crushing against the wall causing the stone to crack as an indent of the ant's body was made.

Slowly opening her eyes, they only had time to widen as the girl's shoe immediately made contact with her face and pushed her body into the wall a bit more.

Small pieces of rubble flew through the air and landed on the ground as cracks began to slowly spread across the wall from where the Ants body resided.

A snap filled the air as her stinger crunched underneath the young girl's shoe and a scream of pain filled the air; before the blonde jump back causing the Ant to almost sigh in relief, but was immediately cut off from a gasp of suffering as a sharp spike stabbed through her chest.

But what was strange, was when it went through her chest it wrapped around her body and small spikes began to form, stabbing into her skin; crimson liquid beginning to spill from her body.

A shout of anger left the blonde's lips as she harshly swung her hand towards her and watched as the Ant came in her direction, Valentine lifted her fist, before brutally punching the creature in the face, causing blood to splatter along the ground, coating the girl's skin.

As the Ant's body fell to the floor, shaky breaths left lips of pink as darkening eyes of golden rust stared at the warm and sticky liquid that coated her skin, slowly dripping to the floor with gentle plops, her eyes seeming to shake as her humanity began to gradually slip through her hold.

The warm blood that coated her soft skin, the way her hand and foot had harshly punched and kicked the Ant until nothing but bruises and blood were on it's skin, it made a familiar feeling fill her veins.

It caused her hand to shake with that same feeling.

Enjoyment.

The darkness started to take over the light in her mind and heart, causing her vision to go red as a sickeningly smile of that same enjoyment spread across Valentine's lips.

Hit after hit landed on the Ant's skin, bone after bone snapped in half and blood spilled from the creature's body until it seemed that this very same Chimera Ant couldn't bleed anymore.

That same warm liquid coated the once kind figure's leg and face; the one who had once smiled in innocence was now smiling with a crazed pleasure of the brutal torture she was inflicting upon this Ant— no, to her this was more than a simple Chimera Ant.

This being was a monster.

A monster who had poisoned the one she liked dearly; even though deep within her, she knew that poison's hadn't worked on him, the one she had confessed to.

Her best friend.

But what she hadn't realized, is that she was slowly becoming the very monster that had attacked her crush.

And she wouldn't stop; won't stop this torture, until this very monster was nothing more than blood and broken bones laying amongst the floor below her.

But, she had stopped.

'Valentine, stop...'

Her eyes had slowly began to once again regain their light as a soft touch had pressed against her arm and gently pulled her into an embrace, a hand softly laying against the back of her head, keeping her close.

Eyes of thunder widened and a light gasp left her lips as she slowly began to realize who it was once she had caught sight of the shirt, before instantly wrapping her arms around him tightly.

A feeling of shame and horror filled her body as she realized what she had done, causing water to slowly fill Valentine's eyes as her breathing began to turn uneven.

Soft cries left her lips as the dam within her burst and she was ashamed of herself, ashamed that she had let that ugly side of her loose once again.

Even after she had promised herself that no-one; even her, would see that horrid, murderous beast she used to be.

How could she have let it go that far.

But even when she thought he would turn away from her in disgust, Killua had only tightened his grip and pulled her closer, gently pressing a calming kiss to her head.