If he had to use one sentence to describe Nanika, Roy would say "unreasonable."
If he had to define Nanika with one word, it would undoubtedly be "Wish-Granting Machine"!
His father, Silva, had once bluntly evaluated Nanika, saying it wasn't human at all, couldn't be viewed as family, and was purely "Darkness" from another world.
The truth was just as Silva described. An existence like Nanika was already beyond the scope of human comprehension. Combining this with the plot from the original story, Roy was more inclined to call them "Gods who have lost some of their 'subjective initiative'"!
They completely abide by "Rules" while simultaneously retaining a tiny bit of "humanity"...
For example, Nanika's "demands" and "requests," and how in the future, due to an extreme reliance on Killua, it could ignore both "demands" and "requests" and directly follow Killua's "commands" to heal Tsubone and Gon, was a perfect illustration.
Roy fell into deep thought. To kill an existence comparable to Nanika, one clearly had to transcend the realm of "Man" and enter the domain of "God"—something that even the "Strongest Human" before him couldn't do.
'This kid is really contemplating the possibility of slaying a god...' Isaac Netero looked deeply at Roy. The young man didn't find it absurd in the slightest. He remarked with emotion, "Zigg has a good descendant..."
Just as fearless, just as imaginative...
It seemed that "Conjurers," who were all somewhat "neurotic," would eventually develop beyond the scope of "ordinary" understanding. "I understand." Roy calmed his emotions and smiled. "It's getting late, so I won't disturb you and grandpa's rest."
"Gotoh, see him out."
"Screech..." The young butler opened the door. "Please."
Isaac Netero glanced at Zeno. "You're not leaving?"
Zeno: "I'm his grandfather, not a guest."
Isaac Netero: "..."
With a chuckle, he flicked his large sleeves and left the space to the grandfather and grandson.
"Bang." The door was closed.
Zeno said directly, "We must find an Exorcist, but you also have to work hard."
"Your great-grandfather and I will both figure something out. If that day truly comes, even if we have to turn the world upside down and fight our way onto the Dark Continent, we will kill that thing!"
The old man hunched his back, stood on his tiptoes, and rubbed Roy's head. "In short, remember, you are not fighting alone."
He hadn't seen the boy for just a little while, but he seemed to have grown taller again. Zeno stood on his toes and stretched his arm straight, yet he still felt it was a slight strain.
Roy proactively lowered his head, smiling in relief. "Perhaps this is an inspiration left to me by my great-grandfather."
"Since that entity could capture my aura through Grandpa Zigg's memories, it means... Great-grandfather is most likely still alive."
"Then we have even more reason to kill it!"
"I think so too."
The grandfather and grandson looked at each other and both smiled. Outside, Isaac Netero hadn't left. He stood by the door with his hands behind his back, his large ears pricked up, listening quietly. His old eyes shimmered with a glistening light, filled with indescribable envy...
Look at their child, then look at his own. Comparisons are odious.
News came from Kakin that that degenerate son of his had fathered a pile of children who infiltrated the royal family. While building some "Black Whale," he was also inciting the old king to move the entire nation to the Dark Continent...
After all these years, he still hadn't learned to "behave," insisting on repeating the same mistakes and "courting death," to the point where now...
He, Isaac Netero, wanted to hold a grandchild, but he didn't even know which one to hold... let alone accompanying his own grandchild's growth, or even just patting his head.
"Sigh..." A long sigh drifted away on the wind...
"Screech..." The door opened.
A relaxed-looking Zeno walked out with his hands behind his back. He glanced at him and said, "Let's go?"
Isaac Netero stared at him for a moment, then aimed a kick at him. The old man dodged it by turning sideways... "What's wrong with you?"
"Can't I just be annoyed at the sight of you?"
"You broke my ball, it's not too much for me to kick you once..."
Zeno: "..."
Zeno, acting cheeky, snorted coldly, too lazy to bother with Netero, and turned to leave.
Isaac Netero took a deep breath, finally feeling a bit better, and followed after him at an unhurried pace...
Behind him, "Screech..."
The door closed again.
Only Gotoh remained, attending to Roy, who was looking through the notes left by his grandpa Zigg. The page was open to [Will Scissors].
Right now, there were only a few days left until the annual "Demon Slayer Corps Selection."
Plus, it would take two days to travel there.
Roy had already made his plans. He would set out tonight upon entering his dream, begin hunting "Demons," and seize "life energy"!
But before that, he had to learn [Shu], as a "farewell gift" for Sabito, Makomo, and all his other senior apprentices, to thank them for their tireless companionship over the past half-year.
[The essence of Nen is inseparable from imagination]
[Conjurers and Transmuters are especially outstanding in this aspect of "imagination"...]
[One focuses on "creating from nothing"... the other on "shaping from nothing"...]
[Simulate scissors, "shape" your imagination into the form of scissors, and cut the "Nen thread" connecting your body to the object. This allows you to separate "person" and "object" while preserving the maximum amount of Nen attached to the "object"...]
At night, the light cast a long shadow from the boy's body... Roy read intently, not missing a single piece of information. He occasionally asked Gotoh, "How did you learn [Shu] back then?"
The young butler took out a coin, placed it on the back of his hand, and replied, choosing his words carefully, "I forced myself to imagine it."
Roy looked up. Gotoh rubbed the coin, smiling sheepishly. "Tsubone always said I was stupid and slow on the uptake. Emitters are supposed to be better at [Shu], but in the end, it was only because I needed to flick the coin as a bullet and had to disconnect the 'Nen'..."
"So after tons of practice, desperately thinking 'I must break the Nen thread,' one day, it just broke..."
'Being able to break it just by wanting to... that's not stupid at all.' Roy closed the notebook, pondered for a moment, and looked seriously at Gotoh. "When you go back, prepare a sword. After the test, I will teach you a 'sword style.' You must practice it diligently."
The importance of a Breathing Style was evident from how it could forcibly erase the statistical gap between "humans" and "Demons."
Now that he had obtained the "Water Breathing," there was no reason not to teach it to Gotoh.
If more "loyal servants" appeared in the future, he would give it to them as a reward. It would also count as increasing the combat power on his side, preparing for the future "god-slaying."
"Yes!" Gotoh bowed respectfully.
Roy waved his hand. Seizing the last bit of time before sleep, he settled his mind and delved into the [Will Scissors Method]. He sat cross-legged on the bed, letting the Golden Crow roll around beside him. He placed his hands on his knees, palms facing up, closed his eyes to meditate, controlled his breathing, and continuously maintained the "Sun Breathing" circulation...
With a thought, he began to construct the "Will Scissors" in his mind.
'The handles,' 'the pivot,' 'the blades,' 'the back of the blades'...
Each component formed and shattered in his mind, shattered and formed again. After repeating this dozens of times for over half an hour... finally, they combined...
Roy opened his eyes at the right moment. With a wave of his hand, he used [Magnetism · Attract] to pull the cane sword into his grasp. He coated it with a layer of "Nen," enveloping it completely, then let it go, driving the [Will Scissors] to cut the "Nen thread" connecting the cane sword to his palm...
He heard a crisp "Kacha!" resound in his mind...
Looking again, the cane sword, wreathed in milky-white "Nen aura," landed on the bed. The aura hadn't dissipated just because it left Roy's palm. Clearly... it had become a Nen weapon imbued with [Shu]!
"The young master is truly something else!" Gotoh watched clearly from the side.
From asking the question, to meditating, to successfully using [Shu], it had taken less than forty minutes in total. Tsubone was right; compared to the young master, he was just a dense blockhead.
'Success. It seems... it wasn't as complicated as I imagined...'
Roy raised his hand and grabbed the cane sword again. He tested it several times, and every attempt was successful without error.
A realization gradually emerged in his mind... Humans instinctively maintain reverence for the [Unknown]. Not because the [Unknown] is terrifying, but simply because they are unwilling to take risks, unwilling to make contact. They prefer to stay within their [Known] comfort zone to gain that tiny, pitiful sense of security.
But... once someone takes that first step, finds the right method, and pierces the veil of the [Unknown], exposing its true face, the so-called "fear" will vanish...
Just like how he, with the help of the "Will Scissors Method," was able to pierce the secret of [Shu] much faster than Gotoh...
'My fear of that "Unknown" entity is purely because I don't understand it.'
'If I can just grab onto one weakness, just like how Killua in the future controlled Nanika through Alluka, then there's nothing to be afraid of...'
"Tick... tock..."
Although the "time imprint" on the back of his hand was still counting down...
Roy's thoughts cleared. He treated it as if it didn't exist, secretly planting a seed in his heart: sooner or later, he would fight his way onto the Dark Continent and teach that "Unknown" entity... what the world's number one family of assassins is!
"Dong—" At eleven o'clock at night, the big clock tower in the center of Saba City chimed the hour.
The Golden Crow seemed tired of rolling. It struggled to climb up Roy's arm onto the top of his head and pecked him once, reminding him to hurry up and sleep.
Roy dismissed Gotoh. "With Xiao Jin watching over me, you can go to sleep without worry."
Gotoh nodded and didn't insist further. He gently closed the door for Roy, and as he turned his head, he saw Kurajing.
The girl was holding a notebook. She mimicked him, pushing up the glasses resting on her delicate nose. It seemed she had been waiting at the door for a long time.
Seeing him look over, she took out a pen, opened the notebook, and asked seriously, "Regarding 'Nen,' there are some things I don't understand, and I'd like to ask you."
Gotoh looked at her in surprise. The girl met his gaze without flinching. In the end... the young butler conceded and nodded. "Alright."
Under the dim yellow light of the hallway, he began to answer her questions.
"Gah..." Inside the room, the Golden Crow yawned, urging Roy to sleep quickly.
The boy's ears twitched. Hearing the movement at the door, he smiled faintly and glanced sideways at the window...
A deathly pale face, hair disheveled, hung upside down. Empty, lifeless eyes stared straight at Roy, silently stalking him... as if to say... 'If you don't let me in, I'll hang myself right here!'
A dark line appeared on Roy's forehead...
He glanced over. "What are you doing?"
You got eliminated and you're still not going home?
Illumi didn't answer, just kept staring at Roy. "Why did Grandfather go into your room?"
"It was nothing."
"What happened to your hand?"
"It's nothing."
"Who did it? Tell me, I'll go kill them!"
His black hair whipped around wildly. The foolish little brother seemed to have finally noticed the gauze wrapped around Roy's hand, uncontrollably releasing his killing intent!
"Chee—" A few unlucky birds flew too close, their beady eyes rolled back, and they fell with a shriek...
"Swish—" The curtain was pulled shut, immediately blocking Illumi's line of sight.
Roy released his magnetism and said lightly, "I said it's nothing. Go back and sleep."
Illumi hung outside the window, swaying in the wind. His profile, illuminated by the moonlight, was so grim it looked like it could drip water—unspeakably terrifying!