*Whoosh.*
Spring transitioned into summer; the days grew longer, and the wind grew warmer...
The Testing Gate suddenly opened wide, revealing the touch of dawn on the horizon. It pierced the darkness, radiating morning light that dyed half the sky red, and simultaneously cast a rosy glow upon the center of the gate.
There stood a boy who had shed his youthful innocence, now bearing the faint maturity of a young man, draped in a cloak of morning light.
'It opened... He actually beat me to it and pushed the gate open...' The mountain breeze blew, gently swaying Illumi's smooth black hair.
The boy stood behind Roy, watching him bathe in the morning glow. Roy held the gate open with a single hand like he was holding up the sky, showing no signs of strain, even appearing somewhat relaxed... The sense of disappointment Illumi had expected to feel never materialized...
Was the gap between them so vast that he couldn't even muster the desire to compete? Or was it...
Had he actually always felt genuinely happy from the bottom of his heart whenever his older brother made even the slightest progress or achieved something?
Illumi lowered his eyes, feeling confused and uncertain. All he knew was that he hadn't been like this in the past.
At that moment, the night faded, and the red sun finally revealed a curved edge. The slightly dazed Illumi suddenly heard a voice: "Illumi, come here."
Looking up instinctively, he saw Roy turn his head and smile, waving at him...
The boy walked over without a word. Standing in the wide-open doorway beside his older brother, he watched the sunrise with him. At a certain moment, his forehead felt warm as Roy's large hand rested on his head and gently ruffled his hair.
"Little brother, let's take a picture."
"..."
Illumi's voice was barely a whisper.
Roy smiled faintly and glanced at Zebro. "Zebro."
"Right away... Young Master!" The bald, middle-aged man did a quick flip, scrambled nimbly to his feet, and pulled out his phone, aiming it at Roy and Illumi. *Click, click.* He snapped a flurry of photos.
A moment later, he handed it over. "Young Master, would you like to take a look?"
"No need."
"I know. The present moment is the best."
Saying that, he released his right hand.
The seven Testing Gates, weighing two hundred and fifty-six tons, crashed down. The ground seemed to jump with the impact, simultaneously shutting out all the noise from the outside world...
*Whoosh.* Clouds of dust billowed up.
Roy then waved a single arm, using Wind Breathing to summon a gentle breeze that blew the dust away...
Along with it, the three-foot square of darkness in front of him was also dispelled.
The boy then blinked at Illumi. "I'm hungry. I'll head back first."
With that, his body transformed into fluorescent light, instantly blending into the morning glow. Following the light, he traversed Kukuroo Mountain, which lay like a giant dragon in the wilderness, and strolled toward the summit...
In the blink of an eye, he vanished without a trace.
Only Illumi and Zebro were left, staring blankly at the lingering light...
"Give it here." A moment later, when not even a corner of Roy's clothes could be seen, Illumi took a deep breath. He seemed to revert to his usual deadpan, hollow-eyed self as he expressionlessly held out his right hand toward Zebro. He spoke with an unquestionable tone: "Give it here."
"What?"
"The phone."
"..."
"The phone?" Zebro realized what he meant. "You mean the photos, Young Master? Don't worry, I'll go develop them right away. I promise to deliver them to you as soon as they're ready."
"I want the photos, and I want the phone too." Illumi looked at Zebro with an undeniable gaze. "It contains pictures of me and... him."
Zebro: "..."
His mouth twitched imperceptibly as he offered a flattering smile. "Young Master, give me one minute. At least... let me delete my browsing history..."
Unexpectedly, Illumi wasn't willing to give him even a single second. Moving like a phantom, he brushed past Zebro's shoulder. Then...
Zebro felt a chill in his palm. Looking closely, he realized his phone had somehow ended up in Illumi's hand as the boy headed up the mountain toward the Zoldyck family castle...
"Young Master," Zebro's face fell. He opened his hands, watching Illumi leave, and finally let out a helpless sigh...
Perhaps it was his advancing age, or perhaps spending all day guarding the gate and interacting with tourists had made the old gatekeeper forget... that a Zoldyck butler had no secrets from their masters.
In any case, this early morning farce fell into the eyes of a certain shriveled old man, who found it surprisingly refreshing.
*Creak.* In a dimly lit small room on the first floor of the Zoldyck family castle, Maha rocked in his rocking chair. Having sent Zeno away, he half-closed his eyes, listening to a cartoon. He only opened them briefly when Roy passed by.
As the boy's footsteps faded into the distance, aura surged around the old man, forming a dense mist of Nen.
As the aura shifted, it revealed an elderly woman. Though crow's feet were clearly visible at the corners of her eyes, she still retained a heroic charm... It was Maha's beloved wife, the one Roy had seen in the old man's unconscious domain... his great-grandmother... Betty Zoldyck...
"Maha, don't you think Roy is becoming more and more like Zigg?"
Betty Zoldyck, her golden ponytail cascading down to her waist, clung to Maha the moment she appeared. She wrapped her arms around his neck and sat on his lap. Her gaze pierced through the heavy walls, faintly landing on Roy as he strolled toward his bedroom. Her beautiful emerald eyes shimmered with a soft light...
"Like him? How is he like him?" Maha gently wrapped his arm around Betty's waist. Just as his hand naughtily tried to slip inside, Betty reached out and slapped it away with a *slap*.
The woman scolded playfully, "How is he not like him?"
Betty Zoldyck began counting on her fingers, rattling them off. "They're both Conjurers, both rebellious, and both constantly causing a ruckus, never letting anyone have peace of mind..."
Item by item, point by point.
Betty Zoldyck detailed Roy's actions and compared them to Zigg's.
Maha simply closed his eyes and listened quietly without arguing. Only when Betty finished counting did he finally add, "You forgot one thing."
"He's bold!"
The old man snorted in annoyance. "One dared to make a deal with a god, and the other... hasn't even achieved much yet, but already boasts about challenging a god with his sword..."
"Betty,"
"None of our children have ever given us peace of mind!"
"Well, you're the one who has to endure it," Betty Zoldyck covered her mouth and giggled, just like when she was young. She wrapped her arms around Maha's head and said, "It doesn't matter if we suffer a little hardship or worry. As long as the children are well, everything is fine."
"Back then, you tried to stop Zigg from taking that path, but he insisted. Now Roy is walking it too. If you don't keep an eye on him, I'm really afraid the two of them... will get into trouble..."
"You're just treating me like a workhorse." Maha rolled his eyes at her and turned his head away, pretending to be angry.
Betty giggled continuously. With a firm push, she forced his head back to face her and scolded playfully, "Listen to what you're saying. You've seen how fast Roy is growing. Who knows, give him a few more years, and he might not even need you."
"What's the use of him being strong alone?"
Maha glared. "Does he want to end up like me, dragging you, Brook, and Randall down to die with him?"
Those thousands of graves were still floating there.
A nation perishing was not a dream, nor was it an illusion. Betty was a witness, a survivor, and a victim... The only reason she could retain a wisp of her remnant soul now was because Maha's Nen and his former divinity were... sustaining it!
The woman fell silent.
For a moment, she didn't know what to say...
Seeing this, Maha couldn't bear it. He gently patted her back and comforted her, "That's why I reminded him that he absolutely cannot neglect his believers."
"Only by bringing his believers along is there hope to overthrow the god's divine kingdom and truly achieve what he said—challenging the god with his sword!"
"But how long will that take?" Betty Zoldyck's expression softened slightly, though she spoke with a hint of melancholy. "Giving is always harder than receiving. [God] has holy water and can rely on divinity to bestow blessings upon their believers. Roy doesn't even have divinity. Even if he wants to help his believers, what can he possibly do?"
Maha fell silent...
He understood the logic, and Betty understood it. He believed that the mysterious skeleton, Leon Zeppeli, who had come to observe and deliver a gift just before Killua was born, also understood it. But,
Putting it into practice, and doing it beautifully so that all the believers following him could ascend to heaven together, was the hardest part of all!
A moment later, Maha let out a long sigh. "Sometimes, the disparity between people is greater than the gap between humans and dogs. Talent is what it is; you can't force it..."
"As you said, forcibly altering someone's talent and bestowing a blessing upon them is something only [God] can do..."
*Rumble, rumble...* At that moment, the faint sound of a dining cart rolling across the stone floor of the corridor could be heard from outside the window...
Through the window lattice, Betty Zoldyck could vaguely see the young butler pushing the dining cart closer. With a flash, as Maha's aura surged, she was silently absorbed back into the old man's body and disappeared...
"Ancestor, I've brought your meal."
Following orders, Gotoh pushed the dining cart and knocked on the door.
Maha continued rocking in his chair, looking at him through the door, silently shaking his head in his heart... The believer his good grandson had chosen was clearly a failure with terrible talent.
Even if saying it out loud might upset Roy, Maha had made up his mind—
He would advise him to give up on Gotoh early on and find some seedlings with greater potential to focus on cultivating. Thus,
He gave a lukewarm grunt. "Come in."
He let Gotoh in, allowed him to set up breakfast, and watched him bow and retreat...
"Please enjoy your meal, Ancestor."
Lifting the cloche, it revealed the Yu-Xiang shredded pork he had specifically requested...
Gotoh pushed the dining cart out, turned around, and closed the door. He then delivered the tomato and egg stir-fry that Zeno had requested. Finally, with a *rumble, rumble...*, he pushed the cart to Roy's bedroom.
"Young Master, I'm back." It seemed the young butler could only truly relax and genuinely smile when he was in front of Roy.
With ten times the diligence he showed Maha and Zeno, he served Roy his meal.
Bathed in the morning light, Roy sat at the dining table. As he ate, he flipped through the Game Guide his father had given him. In reality, it was a real game adapted entirely from the real Dark Continent, based on his grandfather Zigg's Nen ability, [re; The Game of the Dead]. He focused on sections like "Bandle City," "Security Force," "Entry Permit," and "Shantytown."
His heart grew heavy as he couldn't help but think of the old Marknora couple he had seen in the forest outside Bandle City, who had willingly sacrificed their lives to feed the magical beasts just so their little granddaughter, Little Maddie, could enter the city and have a better life.
This time, he was determined to delve deep into the Dark Continent again, into the Principality of Samir, and into Bandle City, to turn the place upside down. Along the way... he would gather information about his grandfather Zigg and... everything related to the curse...
"A person won't just let themselves be trapped by circumstances."
"And a person won't just sit around waiting to die."
Roy took a fierce bite of his baguette and washed it down with cream of mushroom soup. Suddenly, he remembered... the Church of Truth. He frowned and looked at Gotoh. "Has Hall gathered any intelligence from over there recently?"
"He called last night," Gotoh pushed up the glasses resting on the bridge of his nose. "You were asleep at the time, Young Master. I figured I would report it in the morning, so I didn't wake you."
"Speak."
"Guzman isn't dead."
"Tell me something I don't know..."
Roy had already guessed that. It was impossible to kill him without first dealing with the owner of the [Scapegoat Doll]. He had verified this point, and his grandfather Zigg had verified it too.
"Yes," Gotoh nodded and continued. "Also, regarding Hisoka Morow, whom you've been keeping an eye on. He killed a bishop, but not only was he not treated as a heretic, according to Hall's informant deep within the church, he was recently seen entering the church's core circle and meeting with Guzman several times. It's suspected... that he's highly valued..."
*Crunch, crunch...* Roy popped a few slices of bacon into his mouth, raising an eyebrow in mild surprise...
Killing a fellow church member and not being punished for it... This so-called 'Truth' was hypocritical to a despicable degree...
"What else?"
"Also... according to the live reports from Hall's informant, Hisoka Morow appeared on the Yorbian Continent a few days ago. Someone spotted him. The day before yesterday, he showed up at an auction in Yorknew City. Hall said..."
"Said what?"
"He said... to tell you to be careful, Young Master," Gotoh said with a solemn expression. "It's highly likely he's heading for Meteor City..."
One portion... two portions... ten portions of food, all finished... Roy remained noncommittal. He pulled out a tissue, slowly wiped his mouth, and said calmly...
"He's originally from Meteor City anyway. It's only natural for him to go home for a visit. There's no need to make a fuss."
"Of course," his tone shifted.
Roy narrowed his eyes and smiled. "If he has other ideas, I wouldn't mind... playing with him."
Gotoh cautiously reminded him, "Young Master, have you forgotten? Last time, you smashed him into... a wall."
"Did I?" Roy tossed the crumpled tissue into the trash can. "Then I'll just smash him into one again."
Hopefully... he also had a [Scapegoat Doll] on him!
The boy glanced at the [Targeted Tracking Technique] lying quietly in his skill bar.
If certain pretentious fools really thought they could run amok and cause trouble just because they had a few ragged dolls... Roy wouldn't mind cleaning them up too!
It would also serve to help [Taiyi] further establish a firm foothold in Meteor City, preach to the Spiders, and build prestige!
*Swish.* The tissue ball landed perfectly in the trash can.
Having finished his report, Gotoh began clearing the dishes.
Roy pulled back his thoughts, took another look, and waved his hand to stop him. "Don't bother with that. I have a task for you."
"Please speak, Young Master." The young butler straightened his back.
His eyes then bulged as he suddenly saw Roy slice open the palm of his own hand...