He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but ultimately swallowed his words... With his meticulously groomed face, he followed Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni's gaze up toward the sun leaping high into the sky, and silently sighed in his heart...
Although, as the Lieutenant of the First Division, his duty dictated that he did not wish to see turmoil in the Seireitei or the Soul Society, but... if it truly came to that,
Sasakibe Chōjirō rubbed [Gonryomaru] tied at his waist. Just as the Captain and close friend beside him had said, it would be nothing more than... drawing his sword, nothing more than... fighting!
*Whoosh—* A gust of wind rose, carrying spiritual power as it slowly drifted past.
The small courtyard fell silent, just like that "nuclear explosion site" in the Demon Slayer World. It was devoid of life, the mountains and plains covered in carbonized, scorched earth. It was completely empty, save for... a single person sprawled out on the ground in the shape of a star, facing the night sky with his back to the scorched earth, silently recovering his Nen.
"Phew..."
He didn't know how much time had passed. Roy felt as if he had slept through another dream. Slowly opening his eyes again, he gazed at the bright, clear moon spilling its silvery light. Without turning his head, he asked toward the west, "Do you have any water?"
In the western suburbs of Kyoto, a tall figure paced out from the heavy night.
He wore a brown haori. The left half was branded with the Buddhist chant "Namu Amida Butsu," while the right half clearly displayed "Great Majestic Dragon." Underneath, he wore an ink-black Demon Slayer Corps uniform, and a string of bright red prayer beads rested around his neck.
Approaching, he pulled a waterskin from his robes and tossed it over. Then, placing his right hand over his chest, he knelt on one knee and bowed reverently. "Praise the Sun... Lord Eiichiro, please punish me."
*Gulp, gulp, gulp.* The waterskin flew over and was caught by the youth lying on the ground, his fiery red hair scattered wildly. Without a second thought, he pulled the stopper, tilted his head back, and chugged it down like a thirsty ox, draining it completely. With a flick of his wrist, he tossed it back in a graceful arc toward Gyomei Himejima.
The monk caught it single-handedly, holding it in his grasp...
Roy let out a refreshing breath and smiled at Gyomei Himejima. "Punish you for what? What did you do wrong?"
"My fault lies in my weakness."
"My fault lies in my arrogance."
"My fault lies in my inability to be of any help to you."
Gyomei Himejima pressed his palms together and chanted a Buddhist prayer in shame...
His tall, muscular physique seemed even larger than before. Clearly, after opening his Aura Nodes and officially learning Nen, the monk had been refined by his aura. Compared to the past, he was on a completely different level.
Through the Nen radiating from the crown of Gyomei Himejima's head, Roy noticed a tinge of "depressed" gray. With a thought, he opened the believer panel and glanced at it...
Roy then proceeded to open the believer panels for Kyojuro Rengoku, Giyu Tomioka, Sanemi Shinazugawa, and the others one by one.
Most of their evaluations were at D+.
Except for Kyojuro Rengoku, who had opened his Aura Nodes a bit earlier and reached a C- rating, whether it was in "Actual Aura," "Potential Aura," or their mastery over the [Four Major Principles]—[Ten], [Zetsu], [Ren], and [Hatsu]—
They were all clearly more than a step behind Gyomei Himejima.
Evidently... with the monk's transcendent talent, he had managed to come from behind and surpass the rest, becoming the undisputed number one among Roy's followers in the Demon Slayer World!
"Gyomei," Roy said gently, glancing over after closing the panel. "Having self-awareness... is not a mistake... You saw it too. That was an opponent even I couldn't defeat."
The battle with Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni had made Roy deeply understand the terrifying power of the "Thousand-Year Commander" and the "Strongest Soul Reaper"!
Setting aside his Zanpakuto, setting aside his Spiritual Pressure, and setting aside his terrifying combat experience accumulated over nearly two thousand years, Roy knew very well that Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni had held back. And he had held back significantly. Otherwise...
What Gyomei Himejima would be looking at right now wouldn't be him, but a thoroughly charred skeleton.
"Who was he?"
"Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni."
"A person of this world?"
"No, not of this world."
Gyomei Himejima's massive frame suddenly trembled. Looking up with tears streaming down his face, he hesitantly asked, "Lord Eiichiro, is there truly a world beyond our own?"
"Of course," the youth replied, resting his hands behind his head as he watched the bright moon spill its light. He spoke softly, "Gyomei, you must never let yourself be bound by your own perception."
"Just because you think something is impossible, ultimately, that is only what you think. It doesn't mean it is... the truth."
Just like how he had never imagined he would transmigrate, let alone transmigrate directly into the Zoldyck family, and subsequently awaken the Nen ability [Gate of Cognition] to begin roaming the multiverse.
A person's life was truly a miraculous thing!
"Praise the Sun..." Gyomei Himejima's chest heaved as his breathing suddenly grew ragged. Clearly... even the composure the monk had cultivated through years of Buddhist practice couldn't withstand the shock of this revelation, let alone anyone else.
*Step, step...* Faint footsteps, some heavy, some light, slowly echoed from all directions.
Roy lay quietly on the ground, his hands resting behind his head as he admired the moonlight. With his recovering Nen, even without using [En], he could sense... the owners of these footsteps.
Among them was Kyojuro Rengoku.
There was Giyu Tomioka.
There was Sanemi Shinazugawa.
There was Tengen Uzui.
There were men and women, young and old, who had formed bonds with him, such as Ubuyashiki Kagaya and Urokodaki Sakonji.
Every single one of them was someone who worried about him and cared for him.
And these people were the result of the hope he had brought them, just as they were the feedback of warmth and hope they brought to him...
In a haze, he seemed to recall the scene of observing the [Sun] from a negative distance.
The youth stood up, dusted off his clothes, and flashed a bright smile at the crowd.
*Pop—* The dream shattered.
His consciousness returned.
The next morning at four o'clock, accompanied by the *dong—* of the wooden grandfather clock in the corner of the bedroom,
Roy, having shared a brief, tender moment with everyone in the Demon Slayer World,
slowly opened his eyes again.
His being passed through the "Sea of Cognition," traversing the colorful dream corridor, instantly detaching from the Demon Slayer World and returning to the Hunter World.
*Whoosh—* It was summer, and the cicadas were chirping in waves.
The fan by the window rotated, blowing a steady, cool breeze.
Republic of Padokea, Kukuroo Mountain, Zoldyck Family Castle, inside the bedroom belonging to Roy.
The youth's silver hair cascaded down his back, scattered casually across the bedsheets. Unlike before, at some unknown point, the tips seemed to have been coated in a layer of gold, displaying a dazzling yet noble hue of glazed true gold!
Roy took a deep breath, forcing himself to suppress the urge to immediately rush to the bathroom and allocate his points. As he rolled over and sat up in bed, he heard a string of snores that sounded like a roaring tractor right next to his pillow...
Amused, the youth playfully ruffled the patch of golden feathers on Xiao Jin's forehead. Suddenly, he paused. Why did it look like... Xiao Jin had inadvertently grown a bit larger?
Roy's eyes shifted. Snapping back to his senses, he traced his hand down the fat crow's soft little belly toward its feet. Plain as day, a third leg poked out... Even though it wasn't as long as its other two legs, it was significantly longer than the tiny nub it used to be.
Roy promptly opened Xiao Jin's status panel to take a look...
In the silence, Roy stared blankly at Xiao Jin, a sudden realization dawning in his heart... The so-called [Nen Beast] was less a [Conjuration] of [Imagination], and more a "Conjuration" of "spiritual power."
If he was strong, Xiao Jin was strong; if he was weak, Xiao Jin was weak.
The Three-legged Golden Crow shared his glory and his ruin, bound together in life and death. Compared to Gotoh, whom he had bestowed with the [First Embrace],
the bond between him and Xiao Jin was even stronger than the [First Embrace]!
His thoughts fluttered and gradually cleared... A bright gleam appeared in Roy's eyes as he extended a finger and gently poked Xiao Jin's cheek...
"Caw—" The fat crow groggily opened its sleepy eyes, struggling to lift its heavy eyelids, before snapping its beak and viciously biting down on Roy's finger!
"What did you wake me up for?!"
Roy's mouth twitched. He could almost clearly see the anger on Xiao Jin's puffed-up cheeks. Freeing his other hand, he flicked his thumb and index finger, giving it a solid flick on the forehead.
"Stop sleeping. Get up and take me for a spin..."
[Chariot Driving] unlocked... Roy hadn't forgotten that this phrase was clearly recorded on Xiao Jin's panel.
The youth stared intently at the fat crow, insisting.
Reluctantly, Xiao Jin released Roy's finger. Flapping its fleshy wings, it wobbled out the window, gliding past the corridor and into the adjacent garden. Then, with a loud "Caw—", it expanded against the wind!
As it spread its wings again, a set of reins glowing with glazed golden light appeared around its neck, trailing long in the wind. One end was connected to Xiao Jin, while the other emerged from the void... slowly pulling out an ancient, mottled Sun Chariot...
*Hum—* The Sun Chariot was wreathed in a solar halo, making its true appearance difficult to see clearly.
When its two wheels rolled completely out of the void, revealing its full form—
the entire Zoldyck Family estate
was suddenly struck by... an immeasurable, intense light cast down from the heavens!
It instantly became as bright as day,
startling the entire Zoldyck Castle!
"Waaah—" In a second-floor bedroom of the castle, a baby's cry shattered the silence of the night...
Before a massive floor-to-ceiling window, a flash of beautiful silver hair appeared. Silva, wearing his pajamas, stepped forward with Killua in his arms.
On the first floor, in the westernmost bedroom, a pair of hollow eyes peeked out from a large hole in the floor before leaping out of it.
Then, halfway up the mountain at the butler's villa, Tsubone, with her two pink pigtails draped behind her back, walked out alongside Kurajing.
At the mountain gates, the middle-aged, involuntarily balding Zebro was drinking tea and reading the newspaper. When he looked up, his teacup tilted, splashing tea all over his paper.
Next... was Mike, the butlers, the maids, and the apprentices...
As the members of the Zoldyck estate slowly woke up, their biological clocks disrupted by the premature arrival of "light" and "dawn," forcing them awake,
Zeno, flaunting his white hair, had just returned from his routine "one kill a day." With nowhere to hide from the blinding light, he simply stepped out from a corner and glared helplessly at Roy. "You brat, what are you doing now?"
A massive, ancient Sun Chariot, overflowing with golden light and draped in the weight of time and epic history, was displayed right before his eyes...
Roy took a step, and as his foot landed, he instantly transformed into light. In the blink of an eye, he brushed past Zeno's shoulder, arriving in the garden and raising his hand to touch the wheel of the Sun Chariot...
"What else could I be doing?"
"I want to fly, Grandpa."
The youth's beautiful silver hair cascaded down his back. The glazed golden tips swayed in tandem with the solar halo slowly radiating from the Sun Chariot, reflecting starkly in Zeno's eyes.
It suddenly caused this man, known for his "One Kill a Day, Active for Life" motto, to freeze in shock!
"Roy, your... hair!"
"It changed color!" The window frame rattled as Illumi leaped out, finishing Zeno's sentence.
In the second-floor bedroom, the large silver-haired man holding the small silver-haired baby looked down, his brow furrowing... The glazed golden light flowing from the tips of Roy's hair was dazzling and blinding, rivaling even the [Sun Chariot].
For a moment, it left three generations of Zoldycks completely unable to tear their eyes away!
"Maha, did you see something?" A faint murmur echoed from that dimly lit little bedroom.
Even though the TV was still playing cartoons,
even though he was sitting in his favorite rocking chair,
and even though the summer dawn was the most comfortable time to sleep,
however,
the shriveled, frail old man—whether awakened by the intense light or by the urge to take a long-overdue piss—opened his eyes the moment the [Sun Chariot] appeared and Roy's hair tips unconsciously revealed their majesty in the wind.
Maha Zoldyck, the true "pillar that holds up the heavens and supports the seas" of the Zoldyck family, suddenly opened his eyes. Just like the rest of the Zoldycks, his sleepiness had completely vanished.
"I'm not sure about the rest, but one thing is certain..."
A dense aura surfaced.
The old man wrapped his arm around Betty's waist and chuckled, "That boy Roy has evolved again!"