__________ POV Narration__________
A few months passed ever since the disappearance of Ashton. The human cities were progressing slowly, a lot of the infrastructure remained to be unfinished for a long time.
Things like bars, parks and other projects made to boost the mood of the people were all postponed indefinitely.
Why? Well, a vast majority of the workforce was delegated to building a system of sturdy underground tunnels throughout each city.
The building of the walls was the only thing that was finished promptly, as it served as another layer of defence against any threat that might appear.
There were many weapons built for aerial defence, there was no holding back when it came to budgets.
But that was all more to give the people a feeling of safety. The leaders, the princes, all knew that such defences were never going to hold out against the things described in Ashton's book.
Thankfully though, humanity still had some trump cards. Even without Ashton, something else started happening that managed to cause quite the stir among the leaders of the human cities.
Every single observable member of the human species became substantially stronger. Maha even became as strong as Ashton was before he fought Meruem.
It was strange, the only people that remained unaffected were the Chimaera Ants. They remained mostly the same.
Cheadle and the others all got much stronger, many even surpassing the old chairman of the Association. It was a strange feeling to all of them.
Still, that strange change gave them, even more, hope at surviving the upcoming disasters.
Cheadle hypothesized that the change happened due to the gradual fall of the barrier.
It was merely a theory, but under those premises, they concluded that the barrier was being kept up by the collective Nen of the entire human race.
Kurapika assumed it was due to some strange relic, the kind that Ashton constantly told him about.
The human race was nearly extinct now, so the few that remained weren't nearly enough to keep the barrier up.
Currently, they all assumed that the barrier is simply running on fumes. It was about to fall any second, only being kept up momentarily by the few remaining humans coupled with what had accumulated over the centuries it had existed.
Their theory would prove to be quite right. As they all became exponentially stronger as soon as the barrier disappeared completely...
But that didn't mean everything was good. Things were going to start happening, humanity now found itself to be much stronger. But the threats they faced were much, much stronger.
The barrier fell completely just a day before the underground tunnels were finished off. The people were also all learning about Nen and how to utilize it.
It was astonishing for the earlier Nen users to see how fast some of the civilians managed to progress.
After a bit of thinking. Cheadle concluded that the barrier had kept humanity safe at the cost of their power and longevity.
After all, the more Nen one had, the more vitality they had. Currently, even after that spike in power.
The three most powerful beings didn't change at all. At the very top stood Maha, with the dagger Ashton had given him, coupled with the boost in power from the barrier falling, he was already strong enough to threaten some of the more powerful beasts in the Dark Continent.
In second place stood Kite, he was still young for a human, but he was already looking like a teenage girl with red hair. Chimaera Ants simply were built differently.
In third place was none other than Cheadle. She was more of the mind behind the plans, but she was also stronger than Issac Netero now. Well, at least in terms of raw strength.
Netero, as long as he had his Relic, could easily ruin all of the Zodiac members at once, even after that boost they received.
Another 'situation' that happened was something that Ashton had somewhat forgotten about on his deathbed.
Kite finally got to learn what had happened to his killer... So did Killua and Gon.
Let's just say things would've ended much worse for Pitou was it not for Maha and Zeno's interference.
Momoze also used her authority to shelter Pitou afterwards.
Kite wasn't pleased, but Cheadle did manage to calm him down in the end. And things proceeded as normal.
So, things were looking up... At least that's what most of the commoners thought. They were all warned of what was to come, given ample training and prepared extensively for the few months that passed.
But they were still treating things nonchalantly, at least most of them were. They were about to receive a little reminder from the rest of the world...
After all, a civilization much greater and better prepared was ruined by the swarm of endless ravenous beasts.
Now, with the barrier down, many beings started 'exploring' the lands they couldn't reach before. Dragons roused from their slumbers, Giant birds of prey looking into a new hunting ground...
They were about to teach humanity how to spell 'Extinct' all over again...
At least, that was what the Abyssal Beings had planned. They were especially happy to hear that the greatest thorn in their side managed to get himself killed so early.
They didn't have any way of confirming his death, but some of them said they could feel it when he was in his last moments.
So, one can imagine that they were in a celebratory mood for a very long time... In part for his death and for the imminent demise of the rest of mankind.
But, maybe they started the festivities a bit too early.
In a dust-caked laboratory, a large container started releasing a lot of steam, as the glass cracked and the tubes connected to it were all blown off.
The glass then exploded outward, shooting everywhere inside that small and dusty room.
Out of the smoke walked out a strange figure. It was human, yet not so much. A strange tail came out of his back end, it was black in colour, at the very tip there was a strangely shaped stinger.
At first sight, one would think of it as a scorpion tail, but it was in fact something else entirely. The tail opened itself up at the tip, revealing a set of gnarly and razor-sharp teeth.
A bit under the mouth stood a strange black blob of flesh. Glowing a deep purple.
The being looked at its own body for a while. It outwardly looked human, but he also had doll-like joints, he could bring out and retract his claws with a simple thought.
The being then looked at the ground, into a piece of the glass that it had shattered. It looked at the reflection into it, revealing a familiar, yet unfamiliar face.
Two beauty marks, one near the corner of the mouth, the other underneath one of his eyes. His face was very much the same... But his eyes, they had a black sclera, yellow beastly pupils.
Ashton looked at himself a bit more, studying the intricacies of his own body for a few minutes. Then he smiled with satisfaction.
'I'm back! It actually worked!? I-I mean, of course, it did! I was the one to create it after all...' Ashton mused as he looked at his hands with a smile.
Then he finally decided to put some clothes on, a bit dusty, but they were going to work well enough. He didn't have much time to waste...
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