Chapter 292: Mangekyō x The Sun Salvaging All Sentient Beings
They intended to peer through him completely, from the inside out...
"Not very old, but his blood and energy are far from weak."
"His mind is firm, and his Nen ability is quite strong."
"When he looked at us, he was merely slightly surprised at first, then quickly came to terms with it. This shows... a shrewd mind and an excellent capacity to react."
"Even his hair color is the same as His Majesty the King. In fact... the tips overflow with a golden glare, appearing even more resplendent than His Majesty."
One after another... gazes belonging to Brook Cyr, Sibris, or Blake Shaw converged upon Roy. In just a single fraction of a second, it made Roy feel... as if he were forcefully thrown onto the center of a stage, enduring the illumination of tens of thousands of spotlights. Someone with a weak heart might have experienced sudden weakness in their shins, their knees bending forward uncontrollably as they stumbled and collapsed to the ground.
However, Roy did not. The young boy's spine was as perfectly straight as a javelin. The exact instant his front foot poked past the final stone step, his rear foot... stepped firmly onto the stone steps, facing the scrutiny of tens of thousands of gazes completely unmoved. Looking up once more, his vision cut past Brook Cyr, cut past Sibris, and cut past Realdon Shaw, looking straight into the absolute center of the royal court hall. There, resting quietly upon that mottled throne densely packed with time and epic lore, was a broken crown...
A sudden stir occurred in Roy's gaze, and a long sigh leisurely echoed by his ears...
"All men know that immortals are good, a pity... failing to become a [God], one will ultimately degenerate into an ant."
Netero stood to Roy's right. Following the boy as he stepped into the royal court, he looked at that broken crown which had long since lost its former luster—the peak of the crown shaped like the character "山" (mountain), with a corner brutally sheared off—and cast a sidelong glance at Maha...
The shriveled old man remained completely expressionless, directly ignoring Netero. After letting out a pout and cursing Zzigg, he pulled Roy over as if holding a prized exhibition piece, and spoke to Brook Cyr, Sibris, and the host of subordinates who had once followed him: "Don't say I didn't let you look. Now you've seen him too. He,"
"Is my descendant... Roy Zoldyck."
(Note: Maha is Roy's high-grandfather—the grandfather of his grandfather. For ease of address, 'descendant' or 'grandson' is simplified here.)
"Brook Cyr greets the Young Master!"
"Sibris greets the Young Master!"
Rumble~ At the center of the royal court hall, the men and women lined up in two rows to the left and right followed the lead of the two burly giants at the front. Placing their right hands over their chests, they knelt on one knee, delivering a profoundly respectful salute to Roy.
The sheer volume of their voices and the magnificence of their momentum nearly shook the dome of the royal court, which already had a massive hole torn through it, causing tiles and rubble to rustle downward in an endless stream...
"Believers..." Netero stood beside Roy, quietly shifting his torso to make way for the grandfather and grandson... He was quite a tactful individual. As a "guest," he couldn't steal the limelight from the "host." This was a matter of cultivation and breeding.
The old man, with his white eyebrows and beard, watched silently from the side. As his gaze shifted, it swept across the several tall figures at the very front... With his sharp, discerning eyes, he discerned in a single fraction of a second... that these generals who had once fought alongside Maha to conquer the world possessed exceptionally powerful auras. In fact... the two leading the pack...
Those two, Brook Cyr and Sibris, faintly brought an intensely dangerous feeling to him. And this feeling...
Had not appeared within his heart for an unknown number of years. At the very least... "Little Bo" (Botobai) couldn't achieve this!
Amidst his fluctuating thoughts, Netero narrowed his old eyes slightly, a sharp glint surging and tossing within them restlessly...
Whoosh~ A clear breeze blew past, sweeping across the mental lake and rustling the long expanse of grass—nearly high enough to match the city walls—that grew wantonly across the ruined plaza of the royal court.
Roy spoke warmly: "Please arise, uncles and seniors."
With a casual wave of his hand, utilizing Wind Release, he generated dozens of cool breezes. One split into ten, ten into a hundred, a hundred into a thousand... In the blink of an eye, it diversified into thousands upon thousands of cool breezes, lifting Brook Cyr, Sibris, and the others to their feet in succession.
Even if they had already guessed Roy's identity, and crucially... discerned through the quality of Roy's detached mind that his Aura Volume was far from mundane, this single display—allowing everyone to receive an equal share of his care—caused Brook Cyr and Sibris to tilt their heads and exchange a glance. As they stood up, the sharp glints swirling within their eyes completely exposed their suppressed excitement and agitation...
"May I dare ask the Young Master... if you, like His Majesty the King, have also embarked upon... the Path of Faith?"
Brook Cyr was a rugged man possessing a thick red beard, a high nose, and deep-set eyes. He stood exceptionally tall, easily reaching three meters. His chest, back, arms, and thighs were entirely covered in dense armor plating. As he spoke resoundingly, his voice boomed like thunder, his armor clattering along with his movements, uniformly drawing everyone's eyes.
Hearing this, Roy didn't answer immediately, merely casting a quiet glance at Maha beside him... He had assumed that as "memories" living within his Great-Grandfather's heart, Brook Cyr, Sibris, and the others would have long known that he had set off on the Path of Faith. Who would have thought... Great-Grandfather hadn't told them beforehand?
As Brook Cyr's words fell, Netero tilted his head and looked over as well...
As one of the few remaining humans who had once delved deep into the Dark Continent alongside Zzigg and Linne, his mind and body remaining completely intact without being consumed by Calamities, he naturally understood no small amount of secrets. Moreover... as the Chairman of the Hunter Association—the front organization, or "white glove," utilizing V5 and other major nations to regulate Nen users—it wasn't as though he hadn't heard of the Dark Continent or the Path of Faith. In fact, decades ago, on the day he was kicked, battered, and unseemly driven out of the Zoldyck estate by Maha due to Zzigg's affairs, Netero had already finalized a fact... Maha Zoldyck, this father of Zzigg and true foundational pillar of the Zoldycks, shared the exact same path as those entities revered as "Lord" whom he had indirectly crossed paths with on the Dark Continent—namely, the Path of Faith!
"No matter how strong individual might is, it is difficult to contend against the power of the masses... This is precisely why a [God] is a [God]..." The words Zzigg had spoken in the past leisurely echoed by his ears... Netero remained silent and wordless, appearing to sink into reminiscence. Beside them, Maha, caught by Roy's tilted gaze, stated expressionlessly, "Without hope, there will be no disappointment."
Maha's cloudy, white-speckled gaze cascaded down, sweeping across Brook Cyr and Sibris one by one. At a certain moment, he reached out his hand and gripped Betty Zoldyck's hand, murmuring, "They have all long since died. Even if I told them, what use would it be?"
A person's death is like a lamp going out; memories, in the end, are merely memories... Amidst his silence, Roy looked up at these living faces of Brook Cyr and Sibris, appearing as though they truly stood right before him. The young boy raised his right hand, open fingers thrusting into his hair, just as he had spoken to Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryūsai earlier... truth and falsehood are merely Kyōka Suigetsu. A confident, shallow arc quietly traced the corners of his mouth as he said, "Great-Grandfather, I cannot act as though I didn't hear those words, let alone... agree with them..."
The boy took a step forward, slightly lifting his chin, and smiled as he looked at the two giants and the men and women lined up behind them: "That's right. I have indeed embarked upon the [Path of Faith], and crucially—"
Roy paused his words. Under Netero's gaze, under Maha's gaze, and under the ecstatic, locked-in looks of Brook Cyr, Sibris, and the others, he stated decisively: "I have a method to resurrect all of you."
Boom~ A single stone stirred up thousands of waves. Instantly, the ruined hall of the royal court appeared as though someone had pressed the mute button, losing all sound in a flash. Following that... before even two breaths could pass, a massive clamor erupted with a roar!
Visibly to the naked eye, many people looked at each other, whispering and muttering among themselves!
Within the Hunter world, [Resurrection] was far from an absolutely impossible feat. At the very least, in Roy's view, the original story had already displayed three distinct methods.
Resurrection via Post-Mortem Nen: For instance, Hisoka or Jed... by planting a powerful seed of emotion within themselves prior to death, activating [Post-Mortem Nen] or [On/Malice] to achieve the goal of returning to life.
Reincarnation: Retaining all memories of the past life, carrying those memories to utilize another's maternal womb to undergo rebirth... for instance, Kite, and his passive Nen ability, Crazy Slots: Absolute Survival.
Wishing upon Alluka: Making a wish to his yet-unborn younger brother Alluka, utilizing Nanika's heaven-defying mechanism to "wish" for resurrection... for instance, Gon's restoration.
In short, resurrection was far from impossible.
"Your Majesty... is what the Young Master said... true?"
"Can we truly see the light of day once more?"
"Your Majesty... Young Master... I don't need to be resurrected... My life is mundane anyway, and living doesn't hold much meaning. But my boy here is still young; if there's a chance... I hope he can live another lifetime, to properly look at our world..."
"Yeah, Your Majesty... Young Master, my granddaughter isn't even a year old. She understands nothing. If resurrection truly is possible, can this old woman's allocation be transferred to her? I am old and can barely walk. I didn't manage to assist Your Majesty much during my lifetime, so dying is just dying. It isn't a pity..."
Whoosh~ Another clear breeze swept past the lake's surface, carrying a clamor of whispers that grew increasingly intense... Visibly, several memory entities living within Maha's heart—some cradling granddaughters in swaddling clothes, some holding daughters and sons—bowed deeply to Maha and Roy..
Suddenly, a stern shout cut through the air as the electricity dragons connected to the firmament unleashed a roar that exploded across the sky!
"Silence!"
Following that, Brook Cyr turned around abruptly. The Nen aura from his lifetime, wreathed in killing intent, swept across explosively in the form of Ren... causing the host of pleas and clamor to be utterly extinguished.
At the right moment, the man turned around and covered his chest, solemnly pleading for punishment from Maha and Roy: "My management was deficient. Please deliver punishment, Your Majesty, Young Master..."
Roy looked at Maha. The shriveled old man had long since lost his former glory. Were it not for being close at hand, peering through a pair of True Eyes that could pierce through falsehood, he could faintly discern that a terrifyingly abundant, impossible-to-ignore, volcano-like power lay dormant within his Great-Grandfather...
Amidst his silence, Roy, alongside Netero, quietly watched Maha walk forward slowly, carrying that bald head with barely any hair left on top. Bending his waist and lowering his knees, he grasped Brook Cyr's arms and personally lifted him to his feet, speaking warmly: "What mistake is there in wanting to live?"
"Brook,"
"Sibris,"
"Shaw,"
As Maha's gaze shifted, he warmly called out the names of the others, turning his head to look deeply at Roy as he said, "Back then, you all died because of me. As your King, I should bear the mission of allowing you to be resurrected once more."
"If anyone is to blame, blame my own weakness. I lacked the capability, only able to preserve a sliver of everyone's true spirit through this method. Therefore, if anyone is at fault... that person isn't any of you, but... me..."
Finishing his words, Maha delivered a solemn bow right before everyone... Perhaps it had been bottled up within his heart for far too long, or perhaps... he was unwilling to retrace the wounds of the past. The moment the old man bent his waist and lowered his head, Roy faintly saw Maha quietly let out a sigh of relief, appearing to purge the built-up suffocating weight all at once... leaving Roy and Netero filled with immense emotion for a time, unable to speak.
A nation martyring itself was undoubtedly magnificent, but the tragedy and pain within it were known only to Maha and the host of people who followed him, believed in him, and unconditionally viewed him as their hope... Much like Gotoh to Roy, the Hashira to Roy, and the Uchiha like Itachi and Shisui to Roy—the deeper the bond, the more impossible it was to cast aside, and the harder it was to sever!
"Do you truly have certainty, brat?" Quietly, a transmission infused with Nen aura drilled into Roy's ear. Netero cast a side glance at the boy, delivering a well-meaning reminder: "Be careful not to leave yourself unable to wrap things up."
Roy didn't answer, nor did he speak, merely opening his mind to invite Netero to witness...
Following that... within the Mental World forged by the intersection of Shinkiyoku: Kanchō and Shinkiyoku: Kenchō,
Amidst the hazy chaos, a smear of light abruptly shot out from the mist...
At first, this light was incredibly weak, difficult to notice. But as the mental mist was steadily pierced open, the brilliance grew brighter and vaster. Soon, it captured the attention of Netero, Maha, Brook Cyr, Sibris, and the others...
The men and women, who had yet to react from Maha's apology, instinctively looked toward the destination of this light. As the hazy chaos dissolved, a red sun rose majestically from behind Roy, wantonly radiating its light and heat. Encircled by the stars of the universe, it ascended slowly... making it impossible to look away.
"The sun... Mama, look, it's the sun..."
"Yeah... the sun, and moreover... a rising sun!"
Heaven have mercy... how long had it been since they last witnessed the sun? Someone opened their arms and tilted their head back, embracing the sunlight...
Someone closed their eyes, passionately feeling the warm sunlight strike their face, like water pouring into their hearts, re-injecting energy into their already withered mental fields...
Children broke free from the small hands of adults, running toward the sun with laughter.
An old woman wobbled along, pushed by her nephew, basking in the warmth...
As the final trace of mist dissipated, the red sun leapt past Roy's head, blooming with thousands of rays of twilight and tens of thousands of rays of light, illuminating the resentment and darkness buried deep within everyone's hearts...
Sizzle~ sizzle~ Dozens of Heart Worms followed Roy's thought, slowly crawling toward the crowd along the karmic threads.
The panel prompts:
[Negative Emotions +1+1+1...]
Propelling rapidly... Yin Release flew toward Level 5...
[Prompt...] [Yin Release: LV4: 98,256/100,000...] [Exactly "1,744" points remaining until unlocking the "Mangekyō Sharingan"...]
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