The East Gorteau Republic.
The capital, Peijin.
The once-resplendent royal palace.
It had now become a premier nest for monsters.
A massive hole had been smashed through the great hall's dome.
Cold moonlight spilled across the bloodstained marble floor.
Meruem sat on the throne at the highest point.
His posture was casual.
Even a little languid.
His tail, tipped with a deadly stinger.
Lashed irritably against the steps behind him.
Making dull smacking sounds.
A broad table stood in the center of the great hall.
A game board rested on it.
Across the table.
A headless corpse lay crumpled.
It belonged to an elderly human man.
Moments earlier, he had still been holding a piece in his trembling hand.
Trying to defeat this terrifying monster at shogi.
But three minutes ago.
He had made one wrong move.
Meruem had found it too boring.
With a flick of his tail.
The old man's head had burst into a spray of blood.
"Too weak."
Meruem spat the words out coldly.
He picked up a white cloth from the table.
And disdainfully wiped the blood from the tip of his tail.
"These so-called human grandmasters."
"Is this all they amount to?"
He tossed the cloth onto the corpse.
Not a flicker of emotion stirred in his dark green eyes.
Only the utter emptiness of standing at the top of the food chain.
"All worthless."
"Not even fit to help me pass the time."
Shaiapouf stood below the throne.
With his butterfly wings.
He immediately dropped to one knee.
His hands crossed reverently over his chest.
"Great King."
Shaiapouf's voice brimmed with fanatical adoration.
"The intelligence of these inferior creatures."
"How could it possibly compare to your mind, radiant as the sun and moon?"
"That you crush them."
"Is the most fundamental law of