"One minute and forty-two seconds, Young Master. You need to last another eighteen seconds to pass."
When Roy finished breakfast and pushed open the training room door, Illumi had already beaten him to it and undergone his electric shock training.
Hearing the noise, the Sun-Earring Boy kept himself upright beneath his wildly frizzed hair, stubbornly refusing to fall... as if he just wanted to see Roy once.
The moment he saw him, his eyes rolled back, and he fell straight down...
From one minute and thirty-five seconds to one minute and forty-two, Illumi had to be given credit for making progress.
But compared with Young Master Roy... Luke had learned plenty over the past few days. All he could say was that the head of the family's passing mark completely insulted Young Master Roy's rate of improvement. He really was just like "flying," constantly pushing the limits of Luke's understanding.
Roy said nothing. He stepped right over Illumi's "corpse," briskly took off his undershirt, and revealed finely sculpted muscles with elegant lines.
"Sorry for the trouble, Young Master." Luke bowed to him. His hand didn't hesitate as he thrust the baton forward.
Lightning flashed like a torrent of silver, coursing through Roy's body. The stabbing pain and numbness surged from the soles of his feet straight to the crown of his head, as if they would shock his soul right out of his body.
But... It's not that bad. Roy held his breath, gritted his teeth, and forced himself to stay conscious.
Gradually... two minutes... three minutes... three and a half... He was about to reach four minutes when Luke hurriedly switched off the baton.
"Four minutes, Young Master. We can't keep going." Luke was scared... The Zoldycks were the heavens above all the Zoldyck butlers. He hadn't anticipated this situation, and even Silva hadn't expected it when giving him instructions. So... once Roy lasted too long, Luke was caught unprepared and lost his composure, unsure what to do next.
"Keep going." Since Luke didn't have an answer, Roy gave him one. Seeing him hang back, too afraid to approach, Roy simply snatched the baton from him, turned it on, and shocked himself...
Soon... He could feel that his body would adapt to this intensity before long. After that, he would become immune to the current and stop passing out.
Things were developing just as Roy had expected...
The stabbing pain in his chest was easing... the numbness coiling around him was fading... four minutes... five minutes... six minutes...
After ten minutes, once he was sure his body had adapted to the intensity... Roy tossed the baton to Luke and plopped down on Illumi.
"Mmgh..."
Illumi let out a muffled groan, and his body jerked.
Roy acted as if he hadn't noticed and motioned for Luke to bring him a bottle of water. He drank half of it, then poured the rest down the "chair" beneath him.
"Dig a new hole and bury him in it."
If a younger brother was heartless, his older brother couldn't be heartless in return.
That little brat Milluki was shitting in the hole again. Good thing Roy could still move.
Roy regained control of his body, stood up, and made room for Luke.
Luke respectfully answered, "Yes, sir."
He carried Illumi away.
When Illumi woke up, he didn't find Roy "hugging a tree" in the garden. Only Luke was there, fanning him.
The Sun-Earring Boy swallowed to moisten his throat, which was nearly smoking, and asked, "How many seconds this time?"
"One minute and forty-three seconds."
The extra second when he looked back at Young Master Roy counted, too.
Luke added that silently, then answered truthfully.
"What about him?"
"Young Master Roy didn't pass out this time." Luke glanced cautiously at Illumi.
The boy was clearly stunned. After a long while, he came to his senses, closed his eyes, scooped up some dirt, and buried half his face in the hole, leaving only his nostrils exposed so he could just barely breathe.
Why was there a Roy if there was already an Illumi? Roy had been so ordinary before... Illumi felt betrayed.
He forced himself to calm down and recalled his father's words: even the strongest had weaknesses, and anyone who was killed would die.
Even if they managed to come back to life through some means, they could simply be killed again.
So... he had to be patient and stay calm... Since Roy was younger, he was bound to have more room and time to improve.
The earth seemed to agree with Illumi and comfort him, as if it—not Kikyo—were his mother... It waved a breeze toward the window, sending the hot air rushing toward the boy practicing "Sun Breathing" in the training room.
Roy split the hot air in two with a "Setting Sun Turn."
[Prompt: Physique +0.2]
Now... the sun was setting. The benefits from two rounds of "Ten Thousand Swings" were plain to see... As his "Swordsmanship" improved, Roy breathed a sigh of relief and ran his fingers like a blade along the guard of Snow Walk, then down the spine and finally to the tip, lost in thought...
A swordsman's blade wasn't an inanimate object. It was the swordsman's limb, lover, everything...
Just as Urokodaki Sakonji had warned him before he began training with a blade... he had to consecrate his sword and nurture a bond with it. Unless he lost his life, he must never abandon it in the wilderness.
Roy decided that starting today, he would oil Snow Walk himself. After all, there was no reason to let someone else maintain his wife.
At seven that evening, the sun finally set, and night took the stage.
He told Gotoh to prepare dinner. With a plan in mind, Roy took Snow Walk and strolled down the corridor toward the storeroom at an unhurried pace.
"Caw—!" A few crows flew past, dropping several black feathers. As Roy passed the front entrance of the Ancient Castle, he stopped and narrowed his eyes at the man walking toward him. "Father," he said respectfully.
Silva wore a neat black outfit, his long silver-white hair flowing down his back. From a distance, he looked like a lion beneath the moon—intimidating even without trying.
He strode up to Roy, looked down at him, and asked, "What day is it?"
"Saturday."
"What day is the test?"
"Sunday."
"You remember well."
"I wouldn't dare forget."
"You're going to become the head of the family. What is there you wouldn't dare do?"
"Until I beat you, Father, I'll keep my head down."
"Ho ho ho... hahaha..." Silva chuckled in a restrained voice. His laughter grew louder and louder until it burst into a wild roar, his white hair whipping about!
With both hands in his pockets, he said no more. He walked past Roy, as if they had already said everything that needed saying. Then he reached out and caught the woman rushing toward him, held her in one arm, and vanished in an instant.
In the silent corridor, only a faint trace of restless energy remained, reminding Roy—
He would need earplugs to sleep tonight.
That night.
He pushed open the Gate of Cognition, with its demon-head ornament hanging on it.
Roy returned to the world of Demon Slayer. Carrying the Asauchi Urokodaki Sakonji had prepared for him, he went as usual to the depths of Mount Sagiri to practice.
The wind howled, and the snow fell hard...
Urokodaki Sakonji braved the bitter conditions to correct the finer details of Roy's stance, footwork, and swinging angle every day. But today, he found that his disciple—the one who had rekindled his desire to take on a student—was making far more mistakes than usual.
He simply pinned Roy's hands down, then flipped his wrist and snatched the Asauchi into his own hand.
The former Water Hashira fixed his eyes on Roy. "Something on your mind? If you can't focus, don't train."
"You can't hide anything from your discerning eyes, Master. I was just about to ask for the day off to rest and recover." Roy didn't deny it, and smiled.
"Why?"
"I need to save my strength for a fight!"
"With whom?"
The boy took a breath and answered with unprecedented seriousness, "With my overbearing father!"
Before you continue