"That… that's Father?! Is… is this actually happening?"
Milluki rubbed his eyes furiously, as though he could blink the scene away. It felt like a nightmare stretched on for far too long.
"AH?! Silva! He… he hurt Silva!!!"
Kikyo's scream tore through the monitor room, raw with terror. She knew her husband's strength better than anyone. In this world, Silva stood at the absolute peak.
But now?
Not only was he failing to overpower this kid—he was being outright suppressed in close quarters.
Is this really the Silva I married?
No.
It's that monster of a boy!
The shockwaves from each of Ryker's punches alone were gouging craters into the castle floor. The pressure at the center of that storm had to be unimaginable.
This was a sight no one in the family had ever imagined witnessing.
Inside the ruined hall, Illumi forced himself upright, ignoring the agony radiating from his shattered arms.
For once, something flickered in his normally vacant eyes: shock, awe, disbelief.
He stared blankly at the ongoing carnage.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The explosions kept coming, relentless, as though they would never stop.
Silva's defense was collapsing.
With [Scarlet Eyes] and [Lightning Nen] both active, Ryker's combat power had multiplied more than tenfold.
The raw output was beyond comprehension.
Lightning arced violently from his fists with every strike—paralyzing Silva on contact.
Illumi lost track of how many blows had landed.
Ryker gripped Silva's arm like a vice, fingers sinking deep into flesh. It was a frenzied, half-meter-range slugfest.
Silva possessed [Steel Body] (Gold)—essentially turning his frame into living armor.
Each of Ryker's punches rang against him like hammer blows on an anvil.
But Silva's own strikes…
Ryker countered with [Iron Tank] (Gold) + [Enhancement Nen] + [Scarlet Eyes] + [Lightning Nen].
He was an adamantium fortress in human form.
Two iron golems trading blows.
No finesse. No technique.
Just brutal, primal exchanges of durability and destructive force.
The wall behind Ryker cracked and crumbled from the sheer force transmitted through his body.
Silva fared far worse.
Ryker's sustained output overwhelmed him. The floor and wall behind the patriarch had disintegrated into dust. Blood sprayed in arcs with every impact.
Silva simply couldn't keep up with the burst.
"…"
A stunned silence gripped the entire family.
Fist met flesh again and again.
The violence was so visceral that words failed everyone. They could only watch, eyes wide.
Even Zeno, high on the balcony, fell quiet.
The brawl dragged on for over ten minutes.
By the end, the castle interior lay in utter ruin. Not a single floor tile remained whole.
The barrage finally ceased.
Dust choked the air.
Dead silence.
Every eye locked on the wreckage.
Slowly, the haze settled.
"Heh~~~"
A blood-drenched, beast-like figure emerged from the cloud, walking with deliberate calm.
In his other hand, he dragged the limp, massive form of Silva Zoldyck.
The patriarch… beaten unconscious?
"…"
The collective mental short-circuit was audible.
Reality itself seemed to glitch.
"NO—SILVA?! Impossible!! This can't be real! How could Silva lose to some brat?!"
Kikyo's voice cracked into full hysteria.
She refused to accept that her invincible husband had fallen.
"Father…"
Milluki slumped in his chair, eyes vacant, body paralyzed.
Kalluto, who had just stepped into the monitor room, froze mid-stride.
He stared at the screen.
His war-god father—dragged across the floor like a sack of meat by the boy he already despised.
Lost?
My father lost to this kid?
Kalluto's entire worldview fractured in an instant.
At the training ground, Illumi stood motionless.
He had pictured countless outcomes for this confrontation—none included this.
Earlier, he had dismissed his own defeat as a fluke, a surprise attack exploiting his guard.
But witnessing this…
Ryker wasn't just strong.
He was a monster.
Beating Silva meant the power Ryker had shown against Illumi was barely a fraction of his true ceiling.
I lost to a monster.
The sting of defeat dulled slightly. Even Father had fallen.
Yet the despair cut deeper.
Ryker was younger. More talented. Illumi realized he might never climb past this nightmare.
On the balcony, Zeno's hands trembled faintly behind his back.
He gazed down at his battered son.
The last time Silva had looked this broken was decades ago—when Zeno himself had disciplined him as a boy.
Since then, Silva had been an unstoppable force.
Until today.
He lost.
Yes, there had been underestimation. If Ryker hadn't baited him into sacrificing an arm to secure that fatal grip, Silva might have kept distance and won.
But close combat reveals the ultimate truth.
Who hits harder?
Who endures longer?
Who is tougher?
The beast won.
Ryker's burst had been ten times what he unleashed against Illumi.
Unbelievable.
Zeno admitted inwardly that he would have fallen for the same trap.
Ruthless. Sacrificing a limb to land the clinch.
Instinct? Or calculated madness?
"Netero… what kind of monster did you dig up?"
Zeno thought bitterly.
In his generation, Netero had been the untouchable summit.
Now this teenager was already eclipsing the young Netero.
In twenty years… he would be a god.
The era belongs to him now. There's no room left for us old relics.
Below, Ryker dragged the Zoldyck patriarch across the ruined floor, leaving a wide smear of blood.
[DING! You defeated Silva Zoldyck.]
[Trait: [Strong Luck] triggered! Critical Success!]
[Copy Successful! Acquired: [Taijutsu] (Gold), [Emitted Ball] (Gold)!]
[Trait [Taijutsu] (Gold) fused → [Taijutsu] (Double Gold)!]
A heavenly chime rang in his mind.
A flood of new information poured in—Silva's personal taijutsu mastery and the precise Emitted Ball technique.
Emitted Ball required Transmutation (already copied from Hisoka) and Emission (from Gotoh). Now he had the technique itself.
Perfect.
And [Taijutsu] upgraded to Double Gold—his physical foundation strengthened once more.
The dignified head of the Zoldyck family… beaten senseless by a teenager.
The shock was palpable.
No one dared move to stop him. Even Illumi watched helplessly.
"That's enough, young man."
A figure landed lightly in front of Ryker.
Zeno Zoldyck.
The former patriarch. The family's second-strongest active member.
(The true strongest—Maha Zoldyck, Zeno's grandfather—remained retired or missing in action. Maha's survival against Netero in the past was the sole reason the Zoldycks could operate so openly; his shadow still deterred world powers.)
Zeno regarded the blood-soaked Ryker with a complex swirl of emotions.
Anyone else who did this would be dead in an instant.
But Ryker was Netero's chosen successor.
Zeno had no desire to ignite a war with the old chairman.
Even if Ryker had killed Silva today, Zeno might have been forced to swallow the loss.
Illumi watched with tangled feelings.
The plan had backfired catastrophically. Instead of extracting secrets, the family had been humiliated.
But now Grandfather Zeno had stepped in. It should end here.
"Put Silva down. We are not enemies. Killua and your friends are unharmed," Zeno said, voice steady and calm.
"Heh~"
Ryker stayed deep in character.
He bared a feral grin.
The Scarlet Eyes still burned.
Since they had declared "no hostility," Zeno couldn't strike first without risking Netero's wrath.
Ryker was effectively untouchable.
But just in case the old man lost control…
Ryker deliberately stumbled forward.
A card slipped from his pocket and clattered to the floor.
2-Star Hunter License.
The next instant—
Ryker hurled Silva aside like garbage and roared, charging straight at Zeno!
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