Enlightenment [Zetsu] vs. Kastro

The boy's friend could no longer stand by and tried to mediate, only for the man to raise his hand and strike him with a fist, cursing, "What kind of 'strongest human' bullshit is this? If you try to abduct my son again, I'll tear down your Hunter Association!"

Fortunately, the boy's friend was also a man of means; he dodged the blow, helplessly abandoned the boy, and fled in a sorry state.

Years passed, the boy grew into an adult, and the man visibly aged... He held the boy's child by the hand, teaching him how to water the willow tree just as he had once taught the boy, only this time...

Upon hearing the butler report in a panic that the boy had defected to the Dark Continent during a mission, The man fell silent for a long while, then let out a heavy sigh...

He had understood it from the very beginning: when a person grows to the point where the world can no longer contain them, they will eventually leap beyond the world to that land of taboo.

Just like himself back in the day—full of confidence before setting out, and returning covered in scars...

"Father, I have no regrets." The boy was injured more severely than imagined... He had left his life in the Dark Continent, bringing back a Dragon, forbidden artifacts, and curses for the family...

Many more years passed, so long that the man had almost forgotten... He didn't know when he had gone bald, and in the evenings, he would often watch the boy's grandson bring his own son to water the willow tree, lost in a daze...

"Pop~" The scene shattered like a cracked mirror, breaking into countless tiny fragments.

Roy jolted awake with his head drooping, reaching out to pluck a willow branch hanging before his eyes, feeling a sense of profound loss...

"Are you telling me that you, too, are my family?"

The willow branch swayed, shielding him from a ray of scorching sunlight... Roy faintly grasped a glimmer of understanding and muttered to himself:

"That's right. What witnesses history is not necessarily a person; it could be a tree, a stubborn stone, a great river, or a vast ocean..."

"Humans themselves belong to nature, a part of nature's evolution. How can one speak of 'merging' with nature?"

"It is merely empathy..."

"Hum..." The aura naturally leaking from his skin suddenly seemed to receive a command, forced back into Roy's body by nature itself.

The youth closed all his aura nodes and examined himself; his five senses, aided by the "aura," had become significantly heightened...

He pricked up his ears and could hear the chirping of a cricket hidden in the grass...

He twitched his nose and could smell the faint scent of coffee lingering on his clothes...

He could see further and feel more deeply. At one moment, his intuition triggered, and he looked toward the second floor—

A tall man was leaning against the floor-to-ceiling window of the bedroom, arms crossed over his chest, looking down at him from above...

"Father." Roy smiled amidst the silence... Recalling the scene from the vision where Zeno held a young Silva while he urinated by the willow tree, the pressure in his heart vanished...

"Mastering [Zetsu] in just ten days... The young master is even more brilliant than the master imagined."

Tsubone was attending to Silva, reporting intelligence on a target... She also noticed Roy in the garden. To her, the boy seemed to have "vanished" right before her eyes; she couldn't detect a trace of "aura," clearly having reached the realm of "merging with nature."

"Congratulations, Master." Tsubone bowed to offer her respects.

The "mediocre" eldest son of the Zoldyck family had finally fulfilled the talent he should have displayed ever since he opened his aura nodes.

One could imagine how extraordinary the talent of the white-haired heir would be once the mistress gave birth.

Thinking of this... Tsubone respectfully reminded Silva: "The mistress asked me to inform you, Master, that her period has passed..."

"No time." Silva spoke suddenly, cutting Tsubone off firmly.

The target for this assassination was on the Aizen Continent; a round trip by airship would take at least ten days. Whether he could make it back in time to test Roy remained to be seen.

He simply waved his hand, signaling for Tsubone to withdraw.

"It cannot be too frequent... It must be regular... Otherwise, the quality of the sperm will drop... and it will be hard to conceive..."

Tsubone silently organized words of comfort for Kikyo in her mind... But at the thought of her manic state, she felt a headache coming on, and could only console herself that she would have to take it one step at a time.

Besides, once the master was on the airship, she couldn't exactly follow him, could she?

The old butler closed the bedroom door and stood in the hallway for a moment, watching as Roy picked himself up from the ground, called for Gotoh to bring his Snow Walk, and walked with heavy steps toward the castle's back garden...

There, Kikyo was leisurely drinking afternoon tea, which had been spiked with supplements, making her feel restless and hot...

"Young Master, your blade." At five in the evening, Gotoh brought Snow Walk and presented it to Roy.

Roy was still savoring the earlier sensation. Maintaining the state of [Zetsu], he had captured Gotoh's position through the "aura" leaking from his body before the butler had even approached the training hall.

Now, he reached out and snatched Snow Walk into his palm.

He drew the blade in one motion.

"Clang..."

The blade, thin as a cicada's wing, reflected the sunlight into a dazzling spot of light, causing Gotoh to instinctively cover his eyes.

"When I am drawing my blade, do not stand in front of me."

"Yes."

Gotoh tactfully retreated to the corner of the wall.

Roy gripped the sword with both hands, leaning his body slightly forward, his feet set in a staggered lunge. He closed his eyes, meditated for five seconds, and when he opened them again, he took a sharp breath—

He swung Snow Walk in a diagonal slash...

"Sun Breathing, First Form: Waltz!"

"Focus!"

As expected, it was different... A sharp flash of the blade streaked by. Roy's eyes glinted, his momentum undiminished, and he followed up with an upward slash...

"Sun Breathing, Second Form: Clear Blue Sky!"

"Not focused!"

He furrowed his brows, stomped his right foot against the ground, and drew a circle with a backhand motion...

"Sun Breathing, Third Form: Burning Sun Mirror!"

"Focus!"

Following that...

"Fourth Form: Fire Wheel"... "Fifth Form: Bone-Burning Sun"... "Sixth Form: Sun Flower Thrust"...

Until the final strike... "Sun Breathing, Twelfth Form: Dragon Sun Halo Head Dance" grazed the wall, leaving behind a scorched mark...

Roy sheathed his blade and stood tall, exhaling a long breath.

He cast a glance at the panel... Notification: [Physique +0.1]...

Compared to his previous aimless training, which only yielded +0.05 each time, he could finally grasp a sliver of opportunity to enter the [Total Concentration Constant] state from time to time.

[Total Concentration Constant]: Practicing the breathing technique continuously while walking, sitting, or lying down; even while asleep, the body breaks free from the constraints of consciousness and remains in a state of maintaining the "Breathing Technique."

"This is the benefit of having guidance versus having none." Roy suddenly thought of Kastro, the youth who inherited the "Inner Sect" style and, relying on his exceptional combat talent, created the "Tiger Bite Fist." It seemed he had been inquiring about him lately.

"That is correct. News from Heavens Arena indicates that Kastro has already initiated a rematch against the young master." Gotoh adjusted the gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose as he spoke.