"Young Master's words cannot be refused."
Gotoh felt warmth settle in his chest. He said nothing—there was nothing that needed to be said. Only loyalty remained, and he would repay it.
He withdrew paper and pen from his pocket and began copying. Roy didn't watch him. Instead, he took Yukigura from the rack and pushed open the door.
The training room lay ahead.
November morning, six o'clock. The sky hadn't yet brightened. Lamps lit both sides of the long corridor, their flames casting Roy's shadow as it swayed alongside him. He breathed in the fresh air drifting down from the mountain and paused.
At the far end of the corridor, Zeno emerged from around a corner, hands clasped behind his back. Tsubone followed, carrying two large luggage boxes.
"Grandfather." Roy stopped to greet them.
Zeno approached unhurriedly, studying him from head to toe. "Roy, you've grown tall."
Roy's Constitution had jumped from 11 to 71 in just months—not a gradual progression but a leap.
"The weather's been cold. I've been eating more," Roy said simply.
"Good. The body needs fuel to grow." Zeno patted his arm. "When a father sees his son improving, changing... I'm pleased, Roy."
"It's all to move forward," Roy replied calmly.
"This much, you surpass Silva at the same age," Zeno said with approval.
"He was stubborn, too?"
"Stubborn?" Zeno laughed. "That word doesn't—"
A soft cough interrupted him. From around the corner, another figure emerged—broad-shouldered and muscular, dressed in neat black despite the approaching winter. Silver hair hung to his waist. His face bore an expression of perpetual seriousness, as if it had been carved from stone.
Silva stopped before Roy and looked down at him.
"Sun," he said quietly. "That's your answer?"
This morning, Silva had planned to leave on a task with Zeno. But Gotoh's phone call had made him listen in silence for a long time.
Roy raised his chin, his eyes bright as torches. "Yes. And it's your answer too, Father. I realized you seemed cold sometimes. If I could make you feel warmth... I think I would be happy to try."
"You've truly changed."
"You taught me well."
Silva held his son's gaze for a moment, then turned without another word. Behind him, Zeno shook his head and laughed softly.
"Good. Good Ren. When you have time, let Grandfather see what you've developed."
He patted Roy's shoulder, then followed Silva. Tsubone nodded faintly to Roy as she passed.
A red sun rose on the horizon, shooting ten thousand rays of light that drove back the darkness. Roy watched the two heads of the Zoldyck family leave, their figures draped in dawn glow.
Observe first, then think. Borrow from experience, imitate, create—awaken only what belongs to yourself.
Roy combined everything Silva and Maha had taught him about Ren. He pushed open the training room door, consumed poison, and began practicing with the rising sun. When the toxin burned through him, Luke carried him to the garden where he lay facing the light, letting it soak into his skin.
"What's he doing?" Illumi appeared in the doorway.
Luke stood with his iron shovel, which he'd prepared to dig with. He simply shook his head.
Whatever the Zoldyck family's young master was doing, Luke had learned to respect it without understanding.
"Young Master, are you taking the 'lethal dose' again today?"
"Half lethal," Illumi said flatly.
Maha had called him to the ancestor chamber that afternoon. He didn't want to appear weak before Grandfather Zigg's resting place.
By afternoon, three figures lay in Kukuroo Mountain's front garden.
One rested peacefully, hands crossed over his stomach, bathing in sunlight. One lay sprawled on the ground, life or death uncertain. One was buried in a pit with only his head visible, sheltered by an umbrella.
An odd harmony, disrupted when two figures tore through the scene.
As the day turned west and sunlight weakened, Roy opened his eyes. He stretched leisurely, then rose toward the underground chamber.
Hearing movement, Illumi stirred awake, pulled himself from the pit, shook the dirt from his clothes, and followed Roy.
They entered the long corridor simultaneously and noticed each other at the same moment. Both opened their mouths, then closed them again.
One on each side of the path, hands in pockets, neither leaning toward the other.
Step... step...
Their footsteps echoed through the corridor. Illumi glanced sideways at Roy, who walked straight ahead, undisturbed. "I won't accept anything from you without giving something in return," Illumi said quietly.
Silva's journal contained everything about the Four Major Principles—knowledge Illumi desperately needed, especially after successfully learning Zetsu, but remaining confused about Ren. It felt like finding exactly what he needed at precisely the right moment.
"I told you, Father gave it to me," Roy said, not stingy with his words. He repeated it for emphasis.
But Illumi, his expression carefully neutral, didn't accept it. "You handed it to me. That makes it something you chose to give," he insisted.
In any case, it passed through Roy's hands first...
"Whatever you say." Roy quickened his pace, too lazy to argue further.
Illumi used Shadow Step to catch up, moving even faster, and reached the underground chamber first, where Scarface and One-Eye stood guard.
"Young Master."
"Young Master."
Roy nodded faintly as he arrived. The problem was immediate: who entered first?
Illumi met Roy's eyes, then turned and followed Scarface through the security door without hesitation.
He emerged two seconds later, gripping the wall, his legs trembling violently.
"One minute, thirty seconds," Scarface announced, checking his pocket watch. He and One-Eye exchanged a knowing look before opening the door again.
Roy entered. Illumi came out, brushing shoulders with him as they passed—neither looked at the other.
Deep in the chamber, the airtight door opened. Tentacles emerged, coiling around Roy as he entered the Game of the Dead.
"Quick, lie down!"
The familiar shout. The sandworm's Ren. Roy had learned to shift his Nen shape—he formed a shield and blocked the first wave. Zigg's attention locked onto him.
"Whose child are you? Your Ren development isn't bad... but notice—the bigger one's coming!"
The sandworm dove, delivering a second wave. Roy closed his eyes and observed the sun in his heart. He imagined its scorching heat, its stabbing light that burned away shadow itself. His milky Nen shield, under the immense pressure, began to show red spots.
The spots burned. Red light spread like fire, releasing waves of heat that incinerated everything they touched—even the sandworm's Ren turned to ash.
Zigg felt the sudden heat and raised his iron shield. He twisted to look, and his eyes widened.
"Fire nature?" he asked sharply.
"No," Roy gasped. "Sun nature."
[Notification: Aura Transmutation activated...]
[Skill Name: "Sun Transmutation" – Current Level: Lv1 (1/100)]
[Description: Imbue your aura with solar heat. Contact with another's aura will incinerate it completely.]
"Zi... zi..."
Threads of flame lit up. Every strand of Nen and debris attacking Roy turned to ash before it could touch him.
This time, Roy persisted for two and a half minutes before his Nen reserves depleted.
"Fierce," Zigg said, and there was something like pity in his voice. "A shame you're still so young. Your understanding of observation is shallow. Otherwise... you might have survived."
A ship container smashed through Roy's shield, piercing it cleanly. Consciousness faded. As darkness crept in, Roy thought he saw pity cross Zigg's face before everything went black—the game severed.
Roy didn't return to his cognitive world. He felt the world spin, and when his eyes opened, he was being pulled back by tentacles through the airtight door.
He stood outside, dazed and dizzy, a pot of yellow chrysanthemums beside him.
Too dominant. The sun's light can't be looked at directly. Attaching heat to Nen consumes an enormous amount of power. I used up everything I had—even the Nen I reserved for leaving through that door.
Powerful, yes. But if I can't control it...
Roy leaned against the doorframe, exhausted beyond words. It took a long time before his legs steadied enough to move. He walked very slowly, very carefully, back through the passage.
Illumi and Scarface stood waiting, pocket watch in hand.
"Two minutes, thirty-one seconds," Scarface reported.
Illumi pulled a hand through his hair, frustrated.I thought learning Zetsu would let me catch up. Instead, he's still on the opposite shore while I'm drowning in the river.
He watched Roy in silence for a moment, then turned and left, his footsteps heavy with disappointment.
A wind blew through, scattering withered leaves in circles.
Roy returned to his bedroom and spread out both Silva's journal and Zigg's notes. After studying them carefully, he picked up his pen and wrote a single sentence on a blank page:
"One crimson heart turns toward the sun."
Sun Breathing had been born from the sun. Now, Ren itself would take the sun as its reference point, coalescing into form. Ten thousand paths converging into one.
The sun never dies. His heart would never die either.
Roy closed the notebook, feeling clarity he'd never experienced before. The confused path had become distinct.
There was no need to wander in darkness anymore. He only needed to follow where the sun led.