Anime all-stars · City to planet
Meruem vs Doomsday
Two creatures built to be the perfect killers. One of them learned to think.
Tale of the tape
| Hunter x Hunter | Universe | DC |
|---|---|---|
| City to planet | Tier | City to planet |
| Learns everything instantly and grows stronger by absorbing the aura of those he eats | Strength | Returns from every defeat stronger than before |
| Has only just begun to understand what it means to be human | Weakness | No mind behind the monster |
| 1–0 | Record on Versus | 1–3 |
The Arena
Doomsday was buried deep beneath an island in the middle of the ocean, sealed in a prison of Kryptonian alloy, and something broke the seal. It was not a rescue. It was a test. Meruem, the Chimera Ant King, had heard of a creature in another world that came back stronger every time it died, and he wanted to see it with his own eyes.
Doomsday clawed his way out of the rock, bony spikes bursting from his body, a mindless howl tearing from his throat. Meruem watched him calmly, his tail swaying, and felt something very close to disappointment. “You do not think,” he said. “You only destroy. How dull.”
Doomsday charged. Meruem did not move until the very last instant.
Round One
Meruem stepped aside, faster than thought, and his tail struck Doomsday across the chest hard enough to send him skidding across the island and into the sea. Doomsday came out roaring and charged again. Meruem dodged again. And again. Each time, his counter was a little more precise, a little more devastating.
He was learning. Meruem learns every game he plays, from chess to Gungi, within a few moves, and this was just another game. By the tenth exchange, he knew the exact pattern of Doomsday’s rage and where every bony spike would emerge. By the twentieth, he was striking the joints between the spikes.
Doomsday got his hands on Meruem once and drove him into the rock so hard the whole island cracked. Meruem rose, unbothered, and dusted himself off.
The Turn
Meruem struck with a series of blows that broke Doomsday’s armour and threw him into the ocean in pieces. For a moment, the sea was still. Then the water began to boil, and Doomsday rose from it, larger, his body covered in new spikes shaped exactly to stop the blows that had killed him.
Meruem studied the new form with real interest for the first time. “You adapt,” he said. “Not with thought, but with your body.” He hit Doomsday again and found that his strike did less damage than before. The creature had learned too, in its own mindless way.
For a long moment, the King of the Chimera Ants looked almost pleased. Here, finally, was a game worth playing.
The Finish
Meruem stopped trying to kill Doomsday. Killing only made him stronger. Instead, he began to take him apart in ways that did not end his life. He crushed his limbs, his joints, his ability to stand, until Doomsday lay in the shattered rocks of the island, still alive, still raging, unable to rise.
Then Meruem used his Nen to absorb a fraction of Doomsday’s aura, as he does with every strong opponent. He felt the creature’s endless rage, and beneath it, a terrible loneliness: a being built only to die and die again, never once allowed to live. Meruem had felt something similar, once, before a blind girl taught him otherwise.
He knelt beside Doomsday and laid a hand on his head. “You were made to be nothing but a weapon,” he said quietly. “So was I. That does not have to be all we are.” He left Doomsday sleeping on the island and walked away across the sea, thinking about a game of Gungi he still had to finish.
The verdict
Meruem wins
Doomsday adapts to every death and comes back stronger, but Meruem is faster, far more intelligent and learns every fight in a few moves, so he defeats Doomsday without ever killing him.
- IntelligenceMeruem learns Doomsday’s patterns in seconds.
- SpeedHe is much faster than the raging creature.
- StrategyHe refuses to kill Doomsday, denying him his resurrection power.
How the rematch could go differently: A Doomsday who had already adapted to beings like Meruem from earlier battles could catch him with a single blow.
Who do you think wins?
Who would win in a fight between Meruem and Doomsday?
Meruem wins. Doomsday adapts to every death and comes back stronger, but Meruem is faster, far more intelligent and learns every fight in a few moves, so he defeats Doomsday without ever killing him.