👑 The Beast in the Dream
Kaen sat in the dim sanctum of the Mind Palace—a room forged not by imagination, but by necessity. Here, in the chamber known only as The Maw, every throne he'd absorbed, broken, or reconfigured drifted in orbit around him like planetary husks. These weren't places to sit anymore.
They were munitions.
And now, something new had entered the outer rim.
Not a prince.
Not a challenger.
Something else.
"It's not a throne," Kaen said. "It's a grave marker."
Mora and Orien stood behind him, unsure.
"A what?"
Kaen walked toward the approaching structure—a black iron spike spiraling into infinity, humming with a vibration he couldn't comprehend.
Suddenly, his right arm shivered. Nen lines were unraveling.
"What is this?!"
Orien gasped.
"It's not made of dream-aura. That's… that's antimemetic Nen."
Mora paled.
"A memory eraser."
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🕳️ The One Who Devours
His name was whispered in rumors among rogue Hunters.
Vaistern Shūno, the "One Who Devours Kings."
A Nen assassin who specialized in the destruction of psychic constructs.
His Nen beast didn't kill the body—
It fed on belief.
Pariston had unleashed him.
And he had already consumed two minor princes' dreams, leaving their minds in vegetative torpor.
Now… he stood in Kaen's dream chamber.
A gaunt man in a priest's robe, his face smooth, forgettable, empty.
He spoke with no mouth.
"Your palace is decadent. Bloated. Selfish."
"You're trespassing," Kaen said, aura rising. "This is MY throne."
"And I am its devourer."
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🛡️ The Maw Throne – A Weapon Forged of Kings
Kaen didn't blink.
With a pulse of thought, he summoned the Throne of Maw, made from the fragments of every corrupted dream he'd absorbed so far.
It didn't look like a seat.
It was a beast—a throne with jaws. Spikes. Chains. An enormous crown hanging like a guillotine over its head.
"This throne doesn't rule," Kaen said. "It consumes."
Shūno raised a finger.
Time cracked.
The room lost color. Light disappeared from Kaen's crown.
But not from his heart.
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🌪️ Battle Within Mind and Meaning
The battle was unlike any fight Kaen had faced.
No fists. No traditional aura clashes.
This was meaning warfare.
Shūno's Nen ability—"Null Testament"—sent waves of unmaking toward Kaen. Every surge erased a word, an idea, a symbol.
Kaen countered with sheer will-memory.
"My name is Kaen. My dream is a palace. My throne is not for sitting—it's for war."
Each declaration rebuilt what Shūno destroyed. But the longer they fought, the less Kaen remembered about himself.
He forgot what Whale Island smelled like.
He forgot what Gon looked like.
He forgot his mother's voice.
"You are becoming like all kings," Shūno whispered, "forgotten."
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👑 The Counter-Throne – Crown of Remembrance
Kaen roared.
He dove into The Maw itself—into the belly of the throne—and summoned the ultimate paradox.
A throne made not of imagination, but of memories.
From the deepest vaults of his Mind Palace, he called forth the Crown of Remembrance.
It was not beautiful.
It was cracked. Stained. Etched with the names of every battle, every mistake, every friend.
He placed it on his head.
And memory flooded back.
Gon.
Mito.
His first Nen lesson.
The wind above Whale Island.
And… his promise.
"I will never rule over people—I will rule over dreams."
With that, he launched his true ability:
"Throne Devourer: Testament of the Eternal Dream."
The Maw chomped down.
And Shūno vanished.
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🧠 Aftermath – Scars That Stay
Kaen collapsed.
Orien caught him, his crown flickering.
"That… that was impossible Nen."
Mora stared at Kaen.
"You fought him on a level no one else can. Your throne… isn't just a seat."
Kaen opened his eyes, smiling weakly.
"It's a weapon. And a grave. For all who try to erase what we are."
The Mind Palace stabilized.
But now there was a new seat in The Maw.
A broken black chair.
Empty.
Waiting.
For who?
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🔮 Elsewhere – Kurapika's Chains Break
On the 3rd Tier, Kurapika gasped.
One of his Chain Contact Nen threads—connected to a guard named Tobal—snapped.
He saw a vision:
Tobal standing over a corrupted throne.
His eyes full of fear.
Pariston watching.
"We need to move faster," Kurapika muttered.
"The real war for succession isn't about the princes anymore…"
"It's about who controls the dreams."
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✨ Epilogue – The Mind Throne Grows
Within Kaen's Palace, The Maw closed its jaws once more.
The broken thrones trembled in their orbits.
And far beyond them…
A new structure emerged.
A spiral staircase.
Each step etched with a different name.
A different soul.
At the top—no throne.
Just a crown of burning memory.
Waiting.
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🔥 Coming Next: Chapter 55 – Chain of Requiem