Chapter 313: Art is Explosion X The Poor Man's Rose
With the blade in hand, it turned red for a moment, revealing the form of [Eclipse]; then it turned white, whiter than snow, taking on the form of [Snow Walk]; and then it shifted from white to black, as dark as ink, presenting the form of [Waning Moon]... It flickered as Ryo gripped it, slowly raising it while it continuously altered its shape. Faintly, a solar halo circulated across its surface, commanding absolute attention.
Buzz...
In the outside world, an invisible torrent of drowsiness spread out subtly like a blanket of clouds, steadily cradling Silva and Ryo in the sky...
The man and the youth simultaneously closed their eyes. Like two tiny figures stepping out of a miniature kingdom, they were held in the palm of the Susanoo. Their consciousness immersed into the realm of the unconscious, and they suddenly ceased all movement.
Noticing this scene, the Zoldyck butlers and servants, including the Kurta siblings, stared blankly upward. Amidst their bewilderment, they hadn't yet realized what had happened. However, beside the clear pool, Netero and Zeno simultaneously narrowed their eyes. With a twitch of their noses, they caught an unusual aura... It wasn't the [Listening to the Heart's Fist], nor was it the [Listening to the Heart's Sword]. It felt more like a catalyst—one that discarded the external and forcefully dragged others deep into a mental world!
"A dream?" Netero's white hair and eyebrows swayed in the wind. Wearing his loose martial arts uniform, he exchanged a fleeting glance with Zeno. The two immediately closed their eyes, seamlessly entering a state of meditation. Following that... they opened their minds, soaring straight up to actively make contact with the [Forced Hypnosis] that Ryo had initiated via his Mangekyō Sharingan.
They felt the world spin around them. When they opened their eyes again, they slowly descended into a hazy, boundless expanse where time and space were indistinguishable!
"It seems this is the dream space of that boy, Ryo."
Netero narrowed his eyes to survey their surroundings. As far as the eye could see, the four elements were completely void. Time was empty, hell was empty, physical form was empty, dimension was empty. Only his and Zeno's spiritual bodies were present, along with two indistinct figures silently facing each other in the distance.
Buzz~ Another ray of heavenly light pierced into the dream space from the outside...
Maha, sporting his bald head and keeping his hands tucked in his pockets, slowly descended. Netero and Zeno's eyes flashed, and they hurriedly paid their respects to the old man: "Grandfather/Old Master..."
"Mm," the old man gave a soft grunt, paying them no mind. He simply found a corner and sat cross-legged...
Swish~ Swish~ Swish~ Following his action... the faces that had been dispersing from the crown of his head eagerly bounded out. Using the dream as an anchor for a brief stay, they lined up one by one behind Maha, revealing their true appearances.
The leading three figures stood in the very front, their statures the most burly and imposing. They were none other than Maha's beloved former generals: Brook Searle, Severus, and Blake Shaw. Behind them was a dense, endless crowd of men and women, old and young, stretching for an unknown number of miles. If it weren't for the fact that this place lacked the concept of [Space], a single realm could never have held the millions of unyielding souls who had faced the national disaster...
Hiss... As the final figure appeared, a curling wisp of smoke manifested beside Maha. She was dressed simply, her blonde hair tied into a braid resting behind her head. As her lake-blue eyes shifted, they were as clear as a mirror. The moment she appeared... she smiled and cast a glance at Zeno.
Zeno's expression froze. Then, under Netero's astonished gaze, he respectfully bowed to her: "Your grandson, Zeno, greets you, Grandmother."
Grandson?! Netero's gaze flickered, turning his head to look at Betty thoughtfully.
Betty Zoldyck's eyes swept around, pausing on Netero as she spoke warmly: "I came to bear witness alongside our compatriots."
Hearing this, Zeno straightened his back. Alongside Netero, he looked at the countless millions behind Maha. Amidst the silence, he slowly responded: "Understood."
Although the two did not know the specific names of these people, the word "compatriots" was enough. Nothing more needed to be explained.
However, for an entire nation to witness a battle... Netero and Zeno exchanged a silent glance. They could heavily feel the profound attention Maha and his subordinate citizens were placing on Ryo... It was unprecedentedly intense, far beyond their imagination!
"People have arrived," Silva said faintly, looking at Ryo. His silver hair fell to his waist, and he cast a casual side glance at their surroundings. The hazy, boundless silhouettes spread like wild grass toward the horizon, completely endless to the eye.
Ryo, holding [Eclipse] which morphed into [Snow Walk] and then [Waning Moon], replied nonchalantly: "It doesn't affect us."
Anyone who actively initiated contact with the [Dreamscape] could enter... Ryo had sensed the arrival of Netero, Zeno, and Maha the very moment they split their consciousness. However, what slightly surprised him was...
His great-great-grandfather had actually brought his subordinates and citizens along. This method of an entire nation spectating left him feeling somewhat overwhelmed by the honor...
Ryo casually flourished his blade. "Has Father ever heard the saying, 'In the dreamscape, I am King'?"
The young man took a step forward with his right foot. His beautiful silver hair, overflowing with a glazed golden light at the tips, danced wildly as he declared: "Here, I make the rules!"
Silva narrowed his eyes, a violent glint erupting from the narrow slits. He stretched his palm and clenched it into a fist: "Then let me see... what kind of blade dares to be called a nuclear explosion!"
"Ho ho ho... Let this old man broaden his horizons as well..." Maha's leisurely voice drifted over from afar.
The old man's gaze was profound, looking at Ryo with a squinting smile. Ryo bowed to him with his sword in hand, "I might make a fool of myself before Great-Great-Grandfather."
The youth then straightened his back, raised his long sword high, and slowly closed his eyes...
Buzz~ A hazy, radiant light slowly surfaced around the boy's body...
His LV5 Swordsmanship activated!
It carried Ryo's mind, soaring endlessly upward—past the clouds, past the atmosphere, straight into outer space. Following that... it pierced through numerous planetary orbits, heading straight for the very center of the nebula, towards the sun that was wantonly spraying light and heat into the surrounding universe...
Just as he had done when comprehending the Dao of the Sword alongside Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryusai, Ryo emptied himself and plunged into the sun. Soon, he saw the solar flares, the sunspots, the solar winds... Piercing through the photosphere, he advanced deeper into the sun, observing it from a negative distance. He witnessed... the collision and fusion of countless particle streams shuttling back and forth, completely submerging him...
In an instant, Ryo opened his eyes again. The two great suns slowly burning within his pupils exploded with a boom into a magnificent flare of light and fire!
[Bankai] — [Atomic Fusion Slash]!
Pfft— The blade was raised high by the boy and swung down heavily!
The [Solar Halo] coating the blade suddenly shifted from gentle to violent. In a mere fraction of a second, it locked onto Silva. Reflected in Silva's abruptly contracting pupils—and right before the eyes of Netero, Zeno, Maha, Betty, and the millions of souls who had once braved the national disaster alongside Maha—it drowned Silva completely...
"Heh heh heh... Hahaha..."
Close at hand, the man's silver hair flew wildly upside down. He laughed with unbridled abandon!
He roared fiercely: "Perfect timing!"
Boom!
He erupted with every ounce of his Nen aura, concentrating it all into his right hand to form a blindingly radiant Nen fist. Neither dodging nor avoiding, he swung it viciously toward Ryo's descending blade!
Boom! The fist arrived; the blade fell!
Boundless light swept out from the epicenter of the collision. Visibly to the naked eye, a massive mushroom cloud rocketed into the sky, carrying an unmatched shockwave that expanded rapidly. In a single instant, it blew right in front of Maha, Betty, Netero, and Zeno!
[Ko]!
The expressions of the four changed. They simultaneously deployed [Ko], forming a protective shield in front of them!
But the impact generated by this explosion was simply too immense!
Crashing onto them, it was no different from having a massive mountain smashed over their heads!
In the blink of an eye, everyone except Maha was blown away...
Screech... Screech...
Netero and Zeno skidded backward relentlessly. With heavy steps, one was pushed back a hundred meters, the other a hundred and twenty meters...
When the two finally managed to steady their postures, they looked forward. Only Maha, holding onto Betty, hadn't retreated a single inch. The others, such as Brook Searle, Severus, and Blake Shaw, had all been forced back several dozen meters. As for the rest—aside from a select few standing in the second row behind Maha—the remaining millions of souls were entirely reduced to flying ash in the shockwave. Gratified, they were "blown out" of the dream by the explosion, transforming back into memories and returning to Maha's body!
"This power... is no less than the Poor Man's Rose!"
High temperatures lingered in the surroundings, and the afterglow of the explosion rippled outward wave after wave.
Netero finally halted his steps, staring deeply into the epicenter of the explosion. Amidst his fluctuating emotions, his heart was filled with absolute shock... In that single instant, he was truly stunned by Ryo's blade!
Ring ring ring... Alarm bells rang in his heart. The current "Strongest Human" quietly touched his chest, taking a deep breath...
Within his line of sight—
Two riddled, battered silhouettes stood tall within the nuclear explosion. One had lost half his body, barely propping himself up with his sword to keep from falling. The other was tattered from head to toe, riddled with gaping holes pierced by the immense energy formed by the nuclear explosion, forcibly standing his ground. With his remaining eye, he stared dead at Ryo. His gaze was filled with gratification, satisfaction, and an endless sense of relief...
"As expected, it truly is a Nuclear Slash..."
Cough, cough... Silva coughed up blood, trembling like a leaf. Finally unable to stand, he spread his arms and slowly toppled backward...
Looking as if he had been freed, or perhaps liberated from his own stubbornness, the man said leisurely: "You win, son..."
Blood spilled from the corner of Ryo's mouth. The remaining half of his face twitched. With a stumble, he pitched forward toward the ground.
His entire body's Nen aura had been exhausted with this single slash. Just as Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryusai had once warned him, once this blade was drawn, there would be no energy left to continue the fight... Forcing a difficult smile, he said: "Thank you for letting me win, Father."
With a wave of his hand, unable to maintain the [Genjutsu] any longer, he actively deactivated it, causing the dream space to begin collapsing...
Crack... crack... crack... The dream, like a mirror, began to shatter...
Betty leaned against Maha and said, "Maha, did you know? Perhaps, he really can do it?"
Tap... tap...
"The Queen speaks the truth. Congratulations, Your Majesty. You have a worthy successor!"
Within the collapsing dream, the old subordinates led by Brook Searle, Severus, and Blake Shaw, alongside the sparse few remaining, fell to their knees behind Maha, congratulating him loudly.
Nearby, Netero and Zeno watched in silence...
Maha, his tiny, hunched body not even reaching Ryo's neck, didn't speak. He simply raised the corners of his mouth. The smile grew wider and wider until he burst into hearty, exhilarating laughter...
"Ho ho ho... Hahaha..."
His laughter pierced through the space, reaching straight into the clouds, echoing endlessly until—with a soft pop—the dream shattered. The crowd dispersed, returning from the dream to reality...
Buzz...
The ocular power surging over Kukuroo Mountain dissipated. The Sharingan slowly faded from Ryo's eyes. As his consciousness returned, the Nen aura in his body was completely drained, and the Susanoo could no longer be maintained. Accompanied by Ryo weakly opening his eyes, it instantly crumbled...
Crack... crack... crack...
"Sister, that giant looks like it's about to shatter!"
On a large tree deep within Kukuroo Mountain, Kurapika, relying on Kurajin's [Gyo], looked up at the sky. Noticing the [Susanoo] beginning to disintegrate from head to toe, he turned to glance at Kurajin.
The young girl, her high ponytail draped behind her head, watched wordlessly. Her beautiful eyes shimmered with rippling light, entirely oblivious to everything else. Her entire heart was tied solely to the boy with the sallow, waxen face.
"Tsubone-sama, the Young Master... is he going to be okay?"
"You don't care if he wins or loses?" The old butler, her two pink pigtails draped behind her head, looked down at Kurajin from her vantage point and reminded her: "If the Young Master loses, the position of the family head might not be his..."
"But, I don't care about that~" Kurajin flashed a bright smile. "I only want the Young Master to be safe. Wherever he goes, I will go."
Tsubone froze. Reaching out to gently stroke the girl's forehead, she gave a kind smile: "Child, you are right."
"Those things aren't important. The Young Master deserves the best, and... he has already obtained the best..."
The old butler cast an envious glance at Kurajin, then separated a trace of her vision to faintly peer toward the butler's villa...
Midway up the mountain, in the butler's villa, the bedroom belonging to Gotoh suddenly bloomed with a thrilling, blood-red light. The entire room was illuminated in an interplay of blood light, exceptionally magnificent...
"Young Master..."
A slow murmur was drowned out by the wind...
High in the sky, beneath the great sun, the grandfather clock struck the hour.
It was 9:00 AM. The red sun had already leaped past the horizon, beginning to scorch the earth.
As the summer heat rose, Silva felt a wave of dryness and heat. The man struggled to open his eyes from the dream space. In a daze, he looked forward. The boy, who looked almost carved from the same mold as him, forced a smile at him. Then, he stumbled and plummeted headfirst toward the ground!
Silva's figure flashed abruptly. Executing a perfect-grade [Shadow Step], he arrived in front of Ryo in the blink of an eye. Extending an arm, he caught him in his embrace. For the first time in his life, he revealed a smile to him: "This hug... are you going to use it as a joke again in the future?"
Trapped in his weakened state, Ryo struggled to twitch the corner of his mouth: "Please allow me to defend myself. I have never once thought of mocking Father."
"Is that so?"
"Yes."
"Mm," Silva said no more. He merely smiled, holding Ryo as he stepped on swirling winds and descended toward the ground...
Soon after, upon landing back at the clear pool, they saw a figure with smooth black hair falling to his waist, strolling over with light and agile bounds...
"Who won?" Illumi waded across the water, slowly arriving in front of Silva and Ryo.
Father and son exchanged a glance, saying in unison:
"I lost."
☆☆☆
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