Somewhere out there, a mountain wind seemed to blow…
In the garden, grass pressed flat, flowers bent at the waist, listening to thunder inside the quiet…
After Roy's slash, he simply stood there, calm and straight, with neither arrogance nor humility, no joy or sorrow on his face. Zeno, who'd been watching the fight the whole time, frowned ever so slightly—then heard the old man murmur:
"Look up."
"Whoosh—" Wind sheared the air. Clouds shattered.
Zeno and Illumi both raised their heads. Illumi's empty fish-eyes suddenly shrank, and—rarely—his mouth opened a fraction.
A meteor.
"Did that kid Roy just slice a meteor down with one swing?" Zeno puffed out a breath. That was… excessive.
More precisely—"He didn't slice it. He pulled it…"
Maha's gaze was deep and penetrating. He watched the meteor dragged by that violet magnetic dragon, grinding against the air and turning into a fireball as it streaked toward the garden, and chuckled hoarsely:
"Finally grew some teeth."
The old man smacked his lips.
"What a pity… speed's still too slow…"
"Rumble—"
The meteor, a tiny black speck at first, swelled to basketball-size in a heartbeat, then larger, until it was visible even without Gyo in just about two seconds.
Wrapped in heavenly flame, it fell with annihilating force. In that instant, butlers and beasts scattered across the entire Zoldyck estate all felt it—heads tilting up as one—then burst into panicked screams.
At that moment, Tsubone was having afternoon tea with Kikyo…
Kastro was posted at the mountain path, replaying yesterday's fight in his head…
Gotoh stood by the forest pool, cradling a katana, eyes closed, listening to the wind and sky. His jaw slackened as all expression fled his face.
Is this some natural disaster… or did a human do this?
Not being present, he had no idea just how big this really was. The ever-quiet, nearly tomb-still Kukuru Mountain suddenly "came to life": wild beasts bolted, birds exploded out of the trees—
As the meteor drew closer, even the sunlight overhead was blotted out…
Silva cast Roy a sidelong glance, whip still in hand. The boy's nen was completely spent; he was barely propping himself up with Yubashiri, obviously at the end of his rope.
"You've got the power to drag it down, but none to clean it up after," Silva snorted. He stepped forward two paces, standing between Roy and the descending rock. Facing the meteor, he dismissed his whip, clearly shielding the boy without saying it.
"You planning to destroy this house?"
Weakness surged over Roy like a tide. He answered honestly, "I only wanted to create something that's truly my own. I never meant to hurt anyone."
What was this supposed to be—one genius flash from a strong man becomes a mountain ordinary people have to shoulder?
"You've gotten stronger… and more clueless," Silva said coldly. With that, he stamped the ground, nen swirling into a vortex beneath his feet, and launched himself straight up toward the meteor.
A tiny ant charging a titanic elephant—visually, the size difference alone was enough to make you hold your breath.
"Hohoho… your dad's right. You have your little epiphanies wherever you please, never mind the scene…" Maha's chuckle rolled out right on cue.
Zeno leaned at the window beside him, watching, then couldn't help glancing sideways at the old man. He strongly suspected Maha was palming the blame—he was the one who'd nudged the boy, and the boy really did have an epiphany. Roy hadn't reined himself in in time, and now somehow all of this was supposedly his fault?
What can you say—old people really don't care about face anymore.
Zeno suddenly thought of Netero, and had to admit: Strength-Types shared a certain… flavor.
"Rumble rumble rumble—"
Three hundred meters. Two hundred. One hundred. The meteor dragged a long tail of flame, closing fast—only now did its true size become clear.
It seemed almost contemptuous, mocking Silva's overreach, like a mantis trying to stop a chariot. Accelerating, it dropped, intent on grinding him to paste.
Silva hung mid-air, hands spread, nen blooming into twin orbs that didn't look like much—until his palms slapped together, aimed at the meteor, and he fired.
"Boom!"
The nen blast tightened into a thick beam of light that smashed into the meteor. In front of Roy, Illumi, Zeno, Maha, every Zoldyck and every servant, every fleeing beast and lurking chimera, the sky erupted into a breathtaking firework.
"Crack… crack…"
The meteor stalled, spiderweb-cracks crawling across its surface. One second later—
It burst apart.
Flame and dust became a river of sparkling fragments and vanished in mid-air.
Silva floated back down as light as a feather. With his back to Roy, as if he'd done nothing worth mentioning, he said:
"Welcome home."
Hands in pockets, he strolled away.
Roy watched his father's back disappear into the garden, down the corridor, up to the second floor. Then he simply let himself topple backward, arms spread, lying on the soft grass, face turned to the sun, staring blankly.
This was raw stats.
Simple, brutal, unreasonable.
His father was like that. Razor, facing the Spiders alone, was like that. Zeno's Dragon Dive, Netero's Hundred-Type Guanyin, and that huge, thunder-wrapped giant he'd glimpsed in his great-grandfather's memory yesterday—every one of them screamed the same truth:
In nen, numbers matter.
"Tap… tap…"
While Roy was lost in thought, he heard footsteps. Illumi.
The idiot lay down beside him, shoulder to shoulder on the grass. "Father asked me to tell you: at your age, he wasn't as strong as you."
Roy said nothing.
Illumi rolled onto his side, tugging his collar down to bare his chest. "Didn't you say you can eavesdrop on other people's hearts? Listen to mine. Then you'll know if it's true."
"Get lost."
"Okay."
Illumi rolled again, turning his back.
Near noon, in perfect sunshine, the Zoldyck brothers lay side-by-side sunbathing. Not far away, a small butler was dragging a limp Mike into the garden like a dead dog… farther off, under Tsubone's direction, a column of butlers filed in to start cleaning up the mess. The old steward flicked her pink twin tails now and then, glancing at Roy.
The boy, having recovered a sliver of nen, finally pushed himself back to his feet. One hand closed around Yubashiri, the other around the cane-sword, and under Tsubone's gaze he walked slowly back toward his room.
It was noon. He was hungry; his stomach was growling. Gotoh had been sent to wait at the pool… so it was Zeno who pushed the meal cart this time.
"Your great-grandfather says you can make him a few new dishes tomorrow. He wants to try something fresh."
It had been a while since Maha had tasted Roy's cooking; he'd specifically asked the boy to do it.
Zeno, hoping to scam a fresh meal for himself too, wandered straight into Roy's room, pulled out a chair, and started cutting the steak on his own plate. He casually tossed a book across the table.
Roy sat opposite, palmed the book out of the air with one hand, tore off a piece of pizza with the other, and began eating as he opened it. The book was old; on the title page, a few hand-written characters spelled out:
[Journal of the Western Continent.]
Roy's eyes narrowed.
He knew very well there was no such thing as an "Eastern" or "Western" continent inside the lake they called the known world…
Unlike the "Yorbian Continent" or the "Azian Continent," East and West referred to—
The Dark Continent.
"This is your Grandpa Zigg's notebook from exploring the Dark Continent. Think of it as the sequel to the one in your drawer." Zeno said around a mouthful of steak.
Roy's mind immediately went to one man: the ancestor of Ging, Don Freecss.
Legend said that three hundred years ago, Don had gone alone to the Dark Continent. After countless ordeals, he'd written New World Travelogue, split into East and West volumes.
The East edition had been recovered by V5 and Ging. The West edition had vanished. Maybe lost. Maybe never written. Maybe—no one even knew if Don was still alive.
After all, the Dark Continent held things like Longevity Rice that could massively extend a person's lifespan and lock their body in youth.
Roy stared down at the Journal of the Western Continent in his hand, not opening it yet, a deeper feeling taking root: Zigg probably hadn't died. In fact—
The "Dark Continent Gate" in his inner world might well open onto the real Dark Continent. Zigg's nen, re: Game of the Dead, might be built directly from the real thing. The reason Roy could "respawn" via his consciousness… was tied to his own reincarnation and the awakening of his Cognitive Gate.
The world is material, but also mental. The things you "believe" real might be false. And…
He bit into his pizza, eyes half-lidded. "Memory might not be 'fake.' Calling it fake might just be a feeling."
"What are you thinking?" Zeno finished his cream-mushroom soup and shot the boy a glance.
"Nothing much," Roy said with a small grin. "Just feels a bit unreal."
"Say it."
"Well, for example—Great-Grandfather forbidding me to go to the Dark Continent, then handing me this book. That's pretty contradictory."
"If he tells you not to go, you'll really stay put?" Zeno dabbed at his mouth with a napkin and gave Roy a sideways look. "Don't overthink it. The book's so you have some intel before you go back into your grandfather's memory. It'll make things smoother in the Game. As for…"
"The real Dark Continent—
you don't just go there because you want to."
True enough. To legally enter and exit the Dark Continent, you needed Departure and Return permits, a guide, V5 backing, and a ship that could survive the trip. The whole thing was so massive that Beyond had spent half his life on it and was willing to kill his own father over it.
But—
"I have a door."
Roy didn't say that part out loud. "You're right, Grandpa."
"Mmh." Zeno let it lie, vanished in a flicker of nen, but left one last line echoing in Roy's ears:
"Since you're back, go visit your grandfather more often."
"Yes, sir."
Roy finished lunch, stowed both the book and Netero's medal in his drawer, then flopped onto his bed. He planned to nap, replenish his mental strength, and slaughter a few more demons to top off his Life Energy before tomorrow's 8 AM appointment.
"Fsshh…"
Very quickly, he slipped under. Drowsy and heavy-limbed, he moved through the glittering tunnel of dreams and into his familiar sea of awareness. This time, he lingered a moment before the locked Dark Continent Door, then turned and pushed open the Demon Slayer Gate.
[Notice: Life Energy +2 +3 +5 +4…]
One demon after another fell.
Under the hazy night sky, Roy followed the moonlight, checked another entry on his intel scroll, and stepped into the territory of Mt. Natagumo.
The Spider Mountain arc.
~~~
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