Maha froze for a beat. Those old eyes—weathered by a lifetime—flickered almost imperceptibly. His instincts told him the kid wasn't joking.
"Great-grandpa doesn't believe me?"
"I believe you." The old man's gaze was dark and deep. "Gods have ranks too—upright, orthodox, weird, wicked."
There were the mighty Seven Righteous Gods who ruled nations; the mysterious Nature God said to have been born at the beginning of life itself; the eerie, unfathomable disasters that felt like living calamity…
And of course, there were also "false gods" who gathered a few pockets of believers and crowned themselves divine.
Maha looked Roy up and down. If so, the "god" Roy ran into was probably one of those self-proclaimed frauds.
But could Muzan really be called a fraud?
A Demon King who ruled all demons, the Night Tyrant whose name alone could make children stop crying—aside from the one flaw of being unable to walk in sunlight. In the original timeline, if he'd truly devoured Nezuko or found the Blue Spider Lily, he might've actually achieved his ambition—
To become a genuine "perfect lifeform."
Roy quietly glanced at the eight hundred points of Life Energy and nearly three hundred points of Faith Power lying in his panel, and fell silent.
After a moment, he said, "Maybe."
"I'm naturally not on Great-grandpa's level. At least…"
He brushed the curse on the back of his hand, eyes unfocused. "Right now, I still can't remove this."
"No rush." Maha flickered and slipped out of Roy's bedroom, hands behind his back as he headed for his own room.
Without turning around, he tossed over his shoulder: "Beat your old man first."
His father… so what tier was he?
It was still early. Roy buried his face back into the bed.
Hands behind his head, he replayed Silva's highlight reel from canon—assassinating a Spider, teaming with Zeno (even "holding back" to buy time for a counterkill on the Ten Dons) and still nearly killing peak Chrollo; then the Chimera Ant arc—dropping from the sky and punching a leopard to death in one blow…
A solid squadron-leader class powerhouse. Not quite Netero or Meruem, but probably not far below—
Morel, Bisky, Neferpitou, Youpi, Shaiapouf—somewhere around B rank, just a thin line beneath B+ Netero and Meruem.
"B…" Roy murmured. His awareness sank inward—and he glanced at his own panel again. The only thing he had at B- was his Potential Aura.
That wild, overgrown desire to dump points and get stronger finally snapped its leash.
Roy turned into light—then reappeared in the familiar bathroom, and turned on the shower.
Shhh… shhh… Water poured down.
Meanwhile—
One stupid little brother had just slipped out of big brother's room and curled up in his "pit," eyes shut.
One smaller fat little brother sprawled like a starfish, kicking off his blanket in his sleep.
The youngest was still swaddled, crying, being fed by a burly man.
A breeze stirred, carrying a faint chill and scattering some of the heat. Roy inhaled deeply. He showered for nearly five minutes, building up his mental defenses, then narrowed his eyes.
"Start."
The panel opened.
[Notice: "Life Energy" has been cleared…]
["Constitution" +801]
[Notice: "Faith Power" has been cleared…]
["Constitution" +174]
A total of… 975 points, gone in an instant.
A brutal tearing sensation exploded from the deepest part of Roy's body—like he was being ripped apart by five horses. He couldn't stop the muffled groan. His fingers clenched the wall—
PCHH!—and left dozens of deep holes in it.
Pain… too much pain… pain like he'd never felt in his life. Pain drilled straight into the marrow. His "blood-and-vitality stallion" kicked off and bolted—one second was all it took to shred him.
RIP— Hands snapped, feet snapped, head snapped, neck snapped—
Blood and tissue blasted everywhere, turning the tiny shower room into a hell of crimson. Roy finally lost control and screamed.
"AAAH—!"
He swore he tried to hold it back… but once the sound rolled out of his mouth, there was no taking it back.
"Hm?" In the dead of night, Silva—having just finished feeding Killua and still holding the bottle, not even washed yet—jerked the door open and stormed out, leaving a half-asleep Kikyo to take Killua, hair messy, clothes askew.
"What happened, Silva?!"
The door banged and the wind rattled it. Kikyo scrambled up, chased after Silva, and in a blur saw another figure—white hair flaring in a robe—charging after Silva toward the east side of the first floor.
He flashed—flashed—flashed. His Shadow Step almost threw sparks.
"Dad? That way… is Roy?!" Kikyo's electronic eye flickered with worry. Hugging Killua, her heart seized. She hurriedly called for Tsubone and followed in a frenzy…
In an instant, the entire Zoldyck estate was like a bomb had gone off—total chaos.
Even Scarface and One-Eye, who'd guarded Jägger for decades, were up—standing by the iron gate, exchanging grim looks as they raised their alertness.
Forty-plus years. As house-born servants of the Zoldycks, they'd grown up under Jägger's watch. The only time the estate had been this unsettled was when Jägger insisted on charging into the Dark Continent and enraged Maha—getting dragged into the courtyard and beaten half to death.
And now—
Today had shattered nearly forty years of peace.
So what the hell happened?
Scarface and One-Eye wanted to use En to probe, but this ground was called Zoldyck—the world's number-one assassin family, maybe even the "world's number-one family" in their hearts.
Spying without the head's permission was a capital offense.
Thankfully they didn't wait long. A phone call came in.
They froze.
"Roy-sama… blew up."
On the first floor of the Zoldyck castle, Tsubone arrived right behind Kikyo, clutching her phone with trembling hands as she spoke.
Inside that small bedroom—
Three generations of Zoldyck heads were gathered, gripping the shower room door, staring inside with faces like thunder. A storm of rage was brewing.
The old butler didn't dare breathe. He stood by the window and caught Kikyo as she screamed and fainted on the spot.
The phone slipped from Tsubone's hand—
Click—and hit the floor. Killua wailed in her arms.
"Waaah—waaah—!"
The baby's cries poured gasoline on the fire.
After Silva and Zeno, Illumi arrived. The moment he saw everyone gathered at Roy's room, his body locked—like he'd been struck by lightning.
All thought vanished.
His mind was blank. His heart was blank. Even his pupils lost focus.
He staggered forward like a corpse, shoved past Tsubone, shoved past Kikyo, forced his way into the bedroom, and peeked into the shower.
The sight—blood everywhere, chunks of Roy—stabbed into his heart like needles.
His knees buckled.
THUD. He dropped to the floor.
"Who did it… who the hell did it… Father… Grandpa… Great-grandpa—tell me!"
"You tell me—who the hell did it?!"
His waist-length black hair surged upward. His eyes had no light left—only murder spilling sky-high.
Then another person stumbled in—
THUD.—dropping to his knees beside Illumi.
Glasses slid down his nose, eyes dead. Crawling on hands and knees to the shower doorway, he saw the floor, ceiling, and walls smeared with blood and tissue.
Gotoh's body swayed. He collapsed face-first.
His breathing turned harsh—his brain just shut down.
He's dead… the young master is dead… the young master is dead…
Images flashed behind his eyes. After a blank moment, he straightened, pulled out the Infinite Handgun Roy had given him, pressed the muzzle to his own temple—
BANG!—he pulled the trigger.
But a bone sword—faster than the nen bullet—shot past Maha, Silva, and Zeno's shoulders and reached Gotoh first, knocking the bullet away—
BOOM!—it embedded in the west wall, leaving a bowl-sized hole clean through.
"Stop mourning. If you've got time for that, tell the kitchen to make more food… I'm hungry."
A familiar voice echoed weakly in the bedroom, carried by the bone sword.
Gotoh froze.
Illumi froze.
Tsubone froze.
Maha, Silva, and Zeno kept their faces hard—then Maha immediately exploded.
"I step out for one second and you pull this stunt?!"
"Killed a god and now you think you're hot shit?!"
"Killed a god?" Silva and Zeno exchanged a heavy look—faces tightening.
If they hadn't sensed Roy's nen still present—still not dispersing—and if Maha hadn't been rock-steady right there…
Zeno or Silva might've gone berserk.
"T-too… it hurts…" Roy's mouth, lying on the floorboards, twitched in a grimace. He didn't dare talk back.
Dumping points was real, the boost was real—but the process was far more brutal than he'd imagined.
Thank god Bone Sword stopped Gotoh from killing himself.
Thank god Drop-of-Blood Rebirth meant Roy couldn't truly die.
But losing consciousness from the agony and triggering Great-grandpa, Grandpa, and Dad—plus the entire Zoldyck estate—into thinking he'd died…
That was a warning.
Next time, he couldn't do it like this. He had to add points slowly, gradually, not like detonating himself.
Roy finally got his mind back and immediately drove his nen into Drop-of-Blood Rebirth…
The tissue, blood, bones, and even eyeballs sprayed everywhere by the shower began to gather—instantly forming a thick cocoon of blood-vitality around him.
From inside came a heartbeat—
THUMP… THUMP…—growing louder. From faint to pounding to thunder.
Maha narrowed his eyes and, without turning around, ordered, "Silva, take Killua back upstairs. Don't scare the kid."
Silva stared at the cocoon for a long moment. He could feel the dense, blazing vitality and nen inside.
Then he turned, picked up the unconscious Kikyo, and carried her back upstairs—along with Tsubone and Killua—returning to the master bedroom.
His footsteps had come fast and heavy.
They left… heavy too, but with relief.
Zeno flicked a glance after him, then looked back at Maha.
"Grandpa… Silva's feeling pressure."
Inside the shower room, the heartbeat kept booming like thunder.
Maha snorted, eyes fixed on the cocoon, waiting for it to crack. Then he shot Zeno a sideways look.
"He's got pressure, and you don't?"
He didn't hold back at all.
"You're a grandpa who can't even beat your own grandson—stop wearing that trashy shirt you love showing off."
"A Kill A Day, Never Retire?"
"Means nothing!"
Zeno: "…"
Speechless, he suddenly turned and slapped Illumi.
"What are you doing? Neck stiff like you're about to kill someone—go back to sleep!"
啪! The slap carried Ten. Illumi's forehead immediately swelled. He snapped back to himself, tamped down the killing intent… but he didn't leave.
He just retreated into the corner, stubbornly staying—like he needed to see Roy come out whole before he could breathe.
Zeno didn't bother with him anymore. Instead he glanced at Gotoh, still kneeling on the floor, and—rather satisfied—said:
"You heard him. He's hungry. Instead of freezing up, go prep breakfast."
Gotoh still held the Infinite Handgun.
He finally seemed to reboot. He exhaled hard.
"Yes."
He pushed himself up and headed out—looking back again and again at the cocoon.
At the door, Zeno called after him, "I want tomato-and-egg."
"I want fish-fragrant pork," Maha added without turning. "And boil some ginger tea too. Old man needs to calm down today…"
Who he needed to calm down because of—Roy, inside the cocoon, chose not to know.
He coughed and added, "I'm still bacon and eggs. Ten servings, remember!"
"Grrr…" Even before his new body finished rebuilding, Roy could already feel his stomach growling.
Through the dense blood-vitality, he met Gotoh's eyes. Gotoh pushed up his glasses and shouted louder than necessary:
"Yes, Young Master!"
Then he hurried off toward the kitchen, steps far lighter than when he'd arrived…
A deep night had settled. It was 3 a.m. The wooden clock in the corner struck the hour.
After ten seconds… thirty… a minute… two… five…
Finally, at the start of the sixth minute—
CRACK.
A fissure split across the blood cocoon.
Then a powerful, long, tightly-muscled arm thrust out—
And then—
CRACK—CRACK—CRACK—
More fractures spiderwebbed across it. The light grew stronger and stronger until it peaked—
The cocoon burst.
The light condensed into a blazing sun, flooding the bedroom and hallway, flaring so brightly you couldn't look straight at it.
Maha, Zeno, and Illumi all stared—
At the center of that light, Roy stepped out.
And what greeted them was—
waist-length silver hair.
~~~
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