Alex looks at the humanoid sitting on the ground.
There's a sad expression on its face.
At the same time, it somehow looks bored.
It's hard to understand.
Still, Alex completely understands that expression.
As if it were his own face.
"Why are you sad?"
The humanoid doesn't answer immediately.
It simply looks at Alex with that same sad expression.
It begins analyzing him for a few moments.
Then suddenly, it stands up at extreme speed.
In the next instant, it is right in front of him.
"It wasn't supposed to be possible for us to talk to each other…
But answering your question, I'm sad because I lost the most important thing in my life."
Alex is about to ask what it was.
But something inside him answers unconsciously.
Almost like a response to himself.
"Komugi."
"How did you—"
As soon as that name leaves Alex's mouth, the humanoid looks at him with slight confusion.
But soon, its expression calms.
Understanding sets in.
"So it's started, huh?"
Alex is confused about what the humanoid is talking about.
And who the hell this guy in front of him is.
But one thing he knows for sure.
He's strong.
Extremely strong.
"You're interesting, you know that?"
"Huh?"
Hearing that only confuses Alex even more.
He tries to touch the green being.
But his hand passes right through it.
As if it were made of smoke.
"You are the fusion of three complicated souls.
Two of them have a king complex and a god complex.
Yet even so, you don't have even the slightest desire to become a king or emperor.
Your will is almost insignificant compared to ours."
"But what fusion?"
"Ah, right—you don't know.
I'll explain."
In that moment, the green humanoid suddenly disappears from in front of Alex.
And reappears behind him.
Touching him.
This time, Alex can actually feel it.
"You see, I am something that doesn't exist in your world.
I am a Chimera Ant.
Something very powerful in my original world.
And among all of my kind, I am the King of the Chimera Ants.
Meruem."
Now introduced, Meruem doesn't even give Alex time to react.
He starts touching his tattoos.
And his two extra arms.
"And among the three souls placed inside you, only Sukuna and I haven't been fully absorbed yet.
But like everything, there is an end.
Little by little, we are becoming you.
While you purify us into something else.
I don't know what it is.
But it's very powerful."
"One thing I noticed while seeing your memories and feeling what you feel is that you possess something from each of us.
For example, you have Sukuna's special energy.
And my Nen.
But for some reason, you have far more.
So much that, if I were still alive, I wouldn't even have a third of your Nen."
Meruem begins to move away while continuing to speak.
This time, surrounding his body with a strange energy.
Alex recognizes it.
It's the same one he has.
But can't use.
"You have Sukuna's body.
And some of your organs resemble mine.
I'm not sure what you inherited from Light.
But now isn't the time for that.
Alex, there's something you need to know.
Something I discovered.
You have our souls.
But we are not you.
So something has altered our original powers.
Be careful.
And if you ever live a life with a family…
Don't be like us.
We tried to become the strongest.
Without ever looking at the people around us…"
Meruem pauses.
He looks into the void.
He scratches the back of his head.
There is regret in his expression.
"A true king does not stand above his people, Alex.
A true emperor or king stands in front of them.
To carry their burdens.
And protect them from the dangers of the future…
Don't make the same mistakes I did."
"Sentimental nonsense I would've mocked before.
But the ant's right, Alex.
I never understood what love was.
But I felt it through you.
And now I understand Gojo…
I honestly don't know if it was worth being the strongest in that way."
Suddenly, Sukuna appears behind Meruem.
He mentions a name Alex doesn't understand.
But Alex understands what it means.
They were living through him.
They felt what he felt.
They were Alex.
And yet, they weren't.
"Damn… if my past self saw me now, it'd be embarrassing.
But well, I'm dead anyway.
So it's not like I can really have something like an ego now that I won't even exist anymore."
"I think it would be better to teach Alex what we can before we disappear for good.
What do you think, Sukuna?
He won't have peace being our reincarnation."
Meruem speaks with a serious expression.
He circles Alex.
Analyzing him.
Murmuring a few things.
"Does he really need it?
He's more talented than you and me combined."
"There's no way to know how long it'll take him to learn everything.
But you're right…
Maybe we should just show him the limits of what we know.
What do you think?"
"I agree.
We don't have much time anyway.
Better to speed things up as much as we can."
Without giving Alex any chance to refuse, Meruem and Sukuna begin attacking him.
With all their speed.
And all their strength.
The next morning.
Alex wakes up alone.
But instead of waking calmly, he jumps out of bed into a combat stance.
Almost instinctively.
'What monsters!'
As he starts to calm down, Alex begins remembering his battle against the two.
It was horrible.
He kept receiving cut after cut.
And every time he learned to dodge, Meruem would appear behind him.
Landing powerful punches and kicks.
Leaving him open again.
It was the worst experience of his life.
Since he was inside some kind of space within his own soul, it was impossible for him to take real damage.
So the two of them didn't hold back at all.
"Damn it… even with more energy and stronger techniques, I got completely crushed without any chance of winning."
Alex mutters that without thinking.
But it's not wrong.
At no point did he manage to land a single hit on either of them.
It was like trying to fight his own shadow.
He even questioned whether they were intangible while he wasn't.
But their answer was discouraging.
'Alex, when did we ever say this would be fair?
You're here to learn what we can teach you.
Which isn't much.
And considering the time we have, it's better not to waste it explaining.
So just take the hits and learn.'
That's what Meruem told him.
And the worst part is that Alex couldn't even argue.
Because he actually did learn how to fight without relying on his technique.
It's still incomplete.
But he learned.
'If I remember correctly… it was like this.'
Alex takes a combat stance.
His two main arms.
The upper ones.
Move in synergy.
One forward.
One slightly behind his body.
Similar to karate.
But more relaxed.
It's a stance where the first contact is made with his hands.
While his lower arms form signs.
Ready to launch slashes.
Or activate his technique.
(A/T: For those wondering, it's similar to Sukuna's stance when he's in Megumi's body.)
But even though the stance looks solid, it's not fully complete yet.
He still doesn't have perfect control over using his technique while fighting hand-to-hand.
So it needs refinement.
Alex looks at his watch.
It's four in the morning.
Very early.
Even so, he doesn't feel even a trace of exhaustion.
As if he had slept enough in that short time.
'That's new too…
But whatever.
I'll just accept it.
It'll be really useful when I start college.'
Alex is still a bit confused about what to do now that it's so early, and the rest of the house won't wake up for a few more hours.
So he decides to do something he has never tried in his life before… train.
Not long after, Alex heads out for a walk—or a light jog through the streets—to try to get his rusty gears moving.
Even though Alex has a perfect body, he doesn't have full control over it.
If he wants to stay hidden for as long as possible, he needs control above all else.
The more control he has over himself, the longer he'll be able to avoid having his secret identity exposed…
Though, to be fair, he doesn't even have one yet.
But it still matters.
During his run, he stops at a park near his house.
He moves toward a more isolated area.
There, he starts doing some exercises to loosen up his body.
After a good warm-up, he begins trying to imagine his fight with Meruem and Sukuna.
But in the middle of imagining them, he suddenly sees both of them clearly in front of him.
However, he quickly realizes something is off.
They look lifeless.
Morbid.
Before he can even think properly, Sukuna sends a slash toward Alex.
Startled, Alex dodges the sudden attack.
Instinctively, he launches a counter slash.
It passes through Sukuna's body and disperses him into shadows.
'Wait… this is…'
Alex finally understands.
Without any training or guidance, he was doing something similar to shadow boxing.
But much deeper.
It was as if he was actually seeing the person in front of him.
'I thought only people who trained a lot could do something like this.'
Back when Alex was younger, he wanted to be a boxer.
So he studied a lot about it.
But he soon realized it wouldn't work.
All mutants are excluded from the sport.
After a long time feeling down, he discovered law.
And fell in love with it.
With how it works for everyone.
And how many people are saved because of it.
Since deciding to become a prosecutor, he has been studying law day and night without stopping.
Ever since he saw how the law can help people, he wanted to do the same.
Using it to help others.
Since then, he always carries his law book with him.
(A/T: Poor guy… he has no idea.)
'DAMN IT, THE TREE!'
Now more aware of his surroundings, Alex realizes that in that moment—when he was seeing Sukuna and got attacked—he actually unleashed a slash.
It hit a tree.
And turned it into hundreds of small cubes.
Realizing his mistake, Alex quickly erases all his traces.
He even uses something he learned from yesterday's training.
He suppresses all his cursed energy so no one can tell he was there.
Running quickly away from the place, Alex starts thinking that using shadow boxing like that is actually dangerous.
At least without a place hidden enough for training.
Without difficulty, and in just a few minutes, he arrives back home.
Right in time to prepare breakfast.
Climbing the stairs of the building and entering, Alex comes across Gwen already awake and cleaning the house.
That surprises him a bit.
Looking at the time on his phone, he realizes it's not even seven in the morning yet.
And she's already organizing the living room.
"Ah! Hi Alex. I thought you were still sleeping. Where did you go?"
Hearing the front door open, Gwen looks worried to see who it is.
But when she realizes it's Alex, she relaxes instantly.
Greeting him, and asking her question.
"Ah, about that… I went for a walk. I had a weird dream and needed to clear my head."
Alex says this while walking into the house.
He heads straight to the kitchen instinctively, as if it were his own home.
He grabs knives, pans, and ingredients.
And starts preparing breakfast.
"You're the one who makes breakfast?"
"Yeah. These arms are useful in dozens of ways.
You know what the best part is?
Being able to do four things at the same time with each arm.
Look."
As he speaks, Alex is mixing waffle batter with two arms.
One is cracking eggs into a pan.
Another is placing bacon to cook.
Meanwhile, two of his eyes are reading a cookbook that was lying somewhere in the house.
"My God… isn't that hard?"
"Surprisingly, it's actually easier than you'd imagine.
It's like reading a book or something like that."
As Alex says this, Gwen notices how strange it is.
Only two of his eyes are looking at her.
While the other two are reading the cookbook.
She also quickly realizes that he's doing everything at an absurd speed.
For someone doing so many things at once, this should be difficult.
But it looks more like he's just watching TV.
"Uh…"
Hearing the sound beside him, Alex looks at Gwen.
She seems like she wants to say something.
There's a slight blush on her face.
Something Alex still doesn't fully understand.
"What is it, Gwen? Is there a problem?"
"Well… it's just that… I'd like to help you with something.
But looking at you, it feels like I'd just get in the way…"
Hearing that, Alex immediately understands.
Without hesitation, he hands Gwen a bowl, a whisk, and some eggs.
While he starts preparing the pan for them.
"Don't worry about it, Gwen. Just being here already helps a lot."
Alex says that with a gentle smile.
Still doing several things at once.
"Thank you, Alex."
"No problem."
Once again, Gwen finds herself back in a kitchen.
With her mother.
While she prepares dozens of things for lunch or dinner.
Happy memories.
Ones that will take time to return.
More than anything, Gwen knows how difficult it is to take down a group of criminals powerful enough to bribe the police.
It can take a month.
Or even years.
But now, she won't just stand still and watch.
She will catch them.
And return home as soon as possible.
Shortly after that conversation, Nora enters the kitchen.
Still a bit sleepy.
She sits at the table.
And starts drinking coffee that seems to appear in her hand like magic.
But in reality, it was Alex.
When he saw his mother arriving, he had already prepared coffee for her.
And while she was still groggy from waking up, he placed the cup in her hand.
And guided her to the table.
"Huh? Wait… when did I make coffee?"
It doesn't take long for Nora to realize something is off.
When she looks at the kitchen, she sees Alex and Gwen already making breakfast.
And the living room completely clean.
"Did you two do all this?"
"Yeah, mom. We woke up early.
So I decided to make breakfast.
And Gwen was already cleaning the living room and kitchen."
Seeing all of this, Nora feels extremely happy to have a son like Alex.
He is kind.
He cares about doing good.
And that's what truly matters.
"So you're saying that bastard Peter is being protected by that weird mutant?"
"Y-Yes, Felix. We tried getting close to him, but every time we do, that mutant shows up behind him to protect him."
In a more secluded corner of the school, four teenagers are talking while smoking.
All of them clearly have bad intentions.
"Whatever. Just follow him when he leaves school.
Then we'll show him what happens when he messes with us."
"That won't work either, boss.
He always finds a way to lose us when he goes through the alleys."
A boy with brown hair, a slightly long nose, and an overly relaxed expression speaks.
So relaxed that it's almost uncomfortable.
He gives off the aura of a rich kid who has never struggled in his life.
"He won't be able to run forever."
_________________________________
Hey guys.
In the last chapter, there wasn't a message at the end because I got hit with a really bad flu that messed me up.
So I couldn't finish it properly.
But I still managed to post the chapter.
A win is a win, right?
Also, something I've decided for sure.
I'm going to keep Alex with only one romantic partner.
For a few reasons.
As always, if you enjoyed it, please send power stones or rate my work.
That already helps a lot.
And if you have any constructive criticism or anything that could help me improve, feel free to say it.
I always read everything.
And just so you know, I love reading your messages.
It really makes me happy to see that people are enjoying it.
Good night.