Parallel world Manga Artist-Chapter 229: Calm Before Two Storms

Early December. Weekend. Misaki's villa.

"I've received the first three chapters of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. The series won't even go through the serialization meeting, the Group specifically axed the lowest-ranked title to make room for it. Rei, you'll have to handle the schedule yourself." Misaki slipped the freshly read original art into a folder and sealed it carefully.

Rei understood what she meant. Hunter x Hunter was supposedly wrapping up next Q1, but after the Chimera Ant arc there was still a short storyline to cover, how Killua would heal Gon and the Hunter Association's election for a new Chairman.

That meant at least two months of Hunter x Hunter and Demon Slayer running side by side.

Misaki had only seen the first three chapters of Demon Slayer, yet she already knew, just like Hunter x Hunter, every installment would run to forty-odd pages.

The workload was terrifying.

"Don't worry," Rei said softly. "Running simultaneous serials will be tough, but it's only two or three months. I'll build up a buffer."

Miyu, sitting beside him, opened her mouth to say something, then decided it wasn't worth the breath.

Inside, she was falling apart. They'd both been drawing manga for years, yet Rei, already inhumanly fast, had somehow gotten even faster. With five assistants, she herself struggled to crank out twenty-plus weekly pages.

Are you even human?

"No one at editorial or upper management wants to take responsibility, so no one will dare question your storyboards. The rough drafts passed cleanly; these finished pages shouldn't be a problem."

"Per your contract, the Demon Slayer anime premieres Thursday nights; the manga drops Fridays. You said you'd try to keep them aligned... but the anime will stay ahead, so it hits the market half a day before the manga."

"Exactly." Rei nodded.

In his previous life, Demon Slayer had exploded because of its anime. In this world, he was likewise centering everything on the adaptation.

"Even if Hoshimori Group puts out tankōbon, sales probably won't be huge," Miyu murmured, her brow creased.

If the anime kept pace with the manga, why would fans buy volumes instead of Blu-rays?

"Not necessarily. For most titles, maybe. But I don't think any of that will hurt Demon Slayer's numbers, anime or manga." Rei smiled.

He knew, because in his previous life the Demon Slayer manga art had been, frankly, mediocre, at least compared with top-tier giants like Oda, Kishimoto, and Kubo. Watching the anime first and then reading the manga had felt like a downgrade. Yet once the anime blew up, yearly tankōbon sales in Japan alone had hit eighty million copies: roughly two volumes for every three residents. Phenomena didn't follow normal rules. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to bend Hoshimori Group around his finger.

If the manga hadn't promised colossal returns, he wouldn't be drawing it himself, he could simply have hired a name author to adapt the anime.

"Less than a month until it launches," Misaki said quietly.

"What I admire most is how untethered you are to past success. You know Demon Slayer will be measured against Hunter x Hunter at every step. Any gap in quality will bring trolls and headlines... yet you look completely stress-free."

"Demon Slayer isn't inferior to Hunter x Hunter. I don't fear the comparison, no pressure at all." Rei grinned.

"Let's hope the rest of the story plays out the way you predict." Misaki glanced at the storyboards in her hands, a flicker of worry crossing her eyes.

On the surface, the first three chapters were fine, more than adequate for Hoshimori Comic. But their creator was Shirogane, and those mildly underwhelming pages suddenly felt risky.

Rei had climbed to the summit in just five short years, yet a single flop could tumble him from the pedestal overnight.

He'd warned them that Demon Slayer would start slow... but which creator could guarantee a late-stage surge? Most slow-burn titles got axed mid-run.

For now, all they could do was trust Rei.

Less than a month remained.

Once December arrived, the answer that had tormented Hunter x Hunter readers for a week was finally revealed: even at the nuclear blast's epicenter, the Ant King survived, mangled and on the verge of death, but alive.

The Royal Guards Shaiapouf and Menthuthuyoupi arrived in time, sacrificing the majority of their own bodies as living nutrient sources to restore their sovereign.

But the trauma was so catastrophic that the King lost something vital in the process, the memory of a girl named Komugi.

Shaiapouf, seizing on the King's amnesia, secretly plotted to kill Komugi while the opportunity lasted, ensuring no human could ever sway the King's heart again.

Sensing the danger, Killua had Palm, now transformed into a Chimera Ant herself, hide the fully healed Komugi after Neferpitou finished treating her.

Reborn and mightier than ever, the Ant King stood victorious. Netero was dead.

Palm, understanding Komugi's irreplaceable importance, fled with her into hiding. The story had plunged into its darkest hour for the protagonists.

"How can this possibly be resolved? You'd need aliens at this point."

"The King won't fall for the same trick twice. Humanity's one chance to kill him in single combat with a nuke is gone. From here on, unless he's absolutely certain it's safe, he'll never step within strike range again."

"Let's be honest, someone who can tank a nuclear explosion head-on and walk away: if he stops playing around, how do you kill him? He could march straight into any world capital, decapitate the leadership, and once the chain of command collapses, the rest of humanity scatters like sand."

"The only possible breakthrough is Komugi. She's the only one who can rekindle the kindness buried beneath the King's amnesia. Without his memories of their Gungi games, he reverts to the cruel, ruthless monster he was at birth."

"So what if it's Komugi? The Ant King's stance is crystal clear: humanity will be penned up like livestock. Only the talented may be elevated and serve the ants directly; everyone else will breed in designated zones and periodically surrender a set number of their own for feeding. At best, the Ant King respects Komugi, but he'll never abandon his entire vision just because of one person."

"Honestly, I'm more worried about what Shaiapouf is doing behind the scenes. That guy has been scheming nonstop since the palace invasion started. If he gets to Komugi before the King's memories return, it's over."

"Shaiapouf is the real villain of this arc, change my mind. The Ant King at least has principles. Pouf is just a manipulative sycophant who thinks he knows what's best for the King."

"What I find interesting is how the Hunter Association basically wrote off the entire operation after Netero died. The Extermination Team is on their own now. No backup. No extraction plan. They were always expendable."

"That's been the point of this arc from the start, hasn't it? The higher-ups don't care about individuals. They sent Netero with a bomb strapped to his chest as a contingency plan. Think about that."

"This manga, can the Chimera Ant arc really wrap up next season? No matter how I look at it, it seems impossible!"

"The Ant King is even stronger now. Who can possibly defeat him?"

"Could it be the protagonist?"

"Not a chance. A hundred Gons wouldn't beat the Ant King."

Creating manga was a battle of wits against the readers.

Only if the Ant King was dealt with, and humanity was never truly subjugated, could the plot deliver a conclusion worthy of the name.