Andrew Cooper did not want, nor was he willing, to ever return to those days filled with suffering.
He was terrified of poverty and starvation. Because of this, he hadn't hesitated to offer his childhood sweetheart and wife, Miranda, to the esteemed Lord Knight in exchange for an "entry permit" to Bandle City. Facts proved his decision right. His wife Miranda was living very well, and it was said she had now become the Lord Knight's most favored concubine.
Not long ago, Lord Edmund had rewarded him with a small pouch of gold coins, telling him that Miranda was doing wonderfully. Thanks to her, the other knights of the security regiment had engaged in "deep and meaningful" exchanges with her, unanimously agreeing that her skills were on par with succubi who traditionally served with their bodies.
Andrew Cooper was well aware of this. He felt both gratified and thrilled. Relying on Miranda constantly navigating the beds of the regiment's lords, he finally waited for an opportunity to change the trajectory of his life.
Just recently, Lord Edmund had sought him out and informed him of the bizarre death of Frank Becki, the fat man from the 4K Gang who specialized in serving a certain bigwig in the [Principality of Samir]. Andrew Cooper immediately realized that the opportunity he had bitterly awaited for over a decade had finally arrived!
He immediately knelt, lifted Lord Edmund's right foot, and kissed his shoe, swearing to do everything in his power to take over Frank Becki's responsibilities. He would gather the remnants of the 4K Gang, handle the connection between Bandle City and the [Principality of Samir], and become an inconspicuous bridge for the security regiment as they attempted to scheme against [Storm], shed their status as abandoned people, and return to the embrace of [Storm].
Of course, the prerequisite was—
He had to abide by the rules of Bandle City and properly execute the [Soul Placement] first!
[Soul Placement] was supposedly the Nen ability of a certain vice-commander of the security regiment. The conditions for its activation were: first, it must be voluntary; second, the target must be eaten by a magical beast. According to something Lord Edmund drunkenly let slip once, the "voluntary" aspect was to avoid some sort of [Backlash]. Edmund hadn't elaborated on the "eaten by a magical beast" part, but based on Andrew Cooper's observations, it was likely related to a secret deal the regiment had struck with a certain [Magical Beast Lord].
After all, magical beasts ate people too, especially the tender and delicious meat of Nen users!
Andrew Cooper stood on the thick branch of a towering tree, holding a delicate Nen-crafted hand crossbow. Beside him stood a tall, bald man clad in heavy armor, carrying a massive round shield on his shoulder. He hadn't expected his sudden sneak attack with an arrow to be casually cleaved in half by the unremarkable boy before him.
He looked down from his high vantage point, his gaze passing right over Roy and fixing onto Old Mark. He said flatly, "Old man, you wouldn't want your precious granddaughter to be denied entry into the city, would you?"
Old Mark's body trembled. He shakily picked up a rock from the ground and smashed it hard toward his own head. Bang!
Suddenly, a snow-white blade light flashed. Old Mark felt his hand empty. The rock he had been holding seemed to have encountered a storm of blades mid-air, instantly sliced into hundreds of tiny fragments that pattered onto the ground!
"Young man," Old Mark paused in shock, then exchanged a glance with his wife, Nora, who was already a soul. He pleaded, almost begging, "Please don't stop me. You know everything... My worthless life doesn't matter if I die, but... my Little Matty has to live."
"Mark..." Madam Nora gently caressed Old Mark's face, then turned and drifted to Roy's feet. Prostrating herself on the ground, she begged alongside him, "For the sake of [Storm], please do not stop him."
Roy's gaze flickered. A profound sense of absurdity rarely felt before welled up in his heart—the feeling that saving a life could also be a mistake.
He looked up at Andrew Cooper in the tree, understanding the source of this absurdity. His gaze then shifted downward to the small leather flask tucked at the man's waist. Projecting his [En], he faintly heard a mournful cry calling out, 'Grandpa... Grandma...'
Whose grandpa, whose grandma?!
The boy couldn't help but close his eyes. He leveled his blade, turned his back to Old Mark, and stepped forward, brushing past Madam Nora's bowed head. He said coldly, "Mr. Mark, I must emphasize something."
"Earlier, I stopped you simply out of my moral obligation as a [Human] who refuses to associate with beasts."
The blade in his hand turned red, ignited, and then erupted with a whoosh into raging flames, illuminating that section of the forest as bright as day.
Roy held the sword single-handedly, the tip pointing diagonally. Under the stunned gazes of Old Mark and Madam Nora, he stared coldly at Andrew Cooper. "As for now, I have done what I should. Since you are dead set on dying, please go ahead. I will no longer stop you."
As he spoke, another sharp sword chime rang out.
The surging flames abruptly retracted, pouring entirely into the blade, dyeing [Solar Eclipse] with a pitch-black hue radiating the embers of a dying fire!
With his back to the two, Roy slowly walked forward. "But, there is one more thing I feel I must tell you both."
"Dying might be the right choice. This way,"
"You can reunite with your precious granddaughter, Little Matty!"
"Reunite..." Old Mark and his wife Nora both froze. The former seemed to realize something. He struggled to his feet and shouted at the boy, "What... what do you mean?"
"Exactly what it sounds like." With a swish, a slash crossed nearly a hundred meters, tearing through the air toward Andrew Cooper. Roy pointed the tip of his blade diagonally upward. "Instead of asking me, why don't you ask him where the flask at his waist came from!"
Sizzle! The sword aura arrived in an instant!
Yet unexpectedly, it was solidly blocked by a massive, unfurled round shield that arrived just in time. In the blink of an eye, the attack was deflected back, slicing toward Roy's neck at twice its original speed!
'It's that bald guy with the shield!'
Expanding his [En], Roy delivered another backhand slash, knocking away the deflected sword aura. He let it launch into the sky, slicing apart large swathes of clouds.
Up in the tree, Andrew Cooper stood calmly behind the bald man. He narrowed his eyes at Roy and similarly deployed his [En], mercilessly expelling the mind-bug that attempted to invade his heart through the threads of karma.
He said expressionlessly, "Be careful, Rongergon. This guy's [En] can read minds. The reason Frank Becki died by his hands was probably because he fell for his mind-reading and got trapped..."
[Bunker] Frank Becki, known as a "one-man army," was absolutely not weak. At first, Andrew Cooper hadn't paid much attention, but the moment Roy pointed out the flask at his waist, he took another look in surprise. He suddenly realized that the person before him bore an eighty percent resemblance to the [Blasphemer] listed on the security regiment's internal wanted board. Clearly,
The other party was the very criminal personally wanted by that esteemed figure, Archbishop Benjamin Frederick!
"I know, that sword... isn't bad." The heavily armored bald man heavily planted his large round shield against the tree trunk, glaring confidently at Roy. "It's a pity about Becki. If I had been with him back then, he definitely wouldn't have died."
[Parry] Rongergon, just as his name implied. Another mind-bug was ruthlessly expelled by the bald man's [En].
Taking advantage of the brief moment he peeked into the other's mind, Roy seized the opportunity to capture the bald man's intelligence. Like him, the man belonged to the [Conjuration] category. He could conjure a round shield at any time, focusing entirely on [Parry]. Once the shield was out, it could instantly deflect any physical attack directed at him—regardless of whether it was from blades, spears, swords, halberds, taijutsu, or swordsmanship—sending it flying back at twice the speed. No wonder he was confident that Frank Becki wouldn't have died if he had been there.
After the momentary clash, the slash that shot straight into the clouds finally exhausted its power after cleaving through several layers of white clouds, dissipating high in the sky under the sun's rays.
Old Mark finally seemed to snap out of it. Forcing a smile, he looked at Andrew Cooper, specifically at the leather flask tucked at his waist. "Lord Andrew, may I ask... is my Little Matty doing well?"
Andrew Cooper cursed his bad luck under his breath and grinned.
"Good, of course she's good. Didn't I bring her here to see you?"
The man lightly patted his waist, and the flask flew into his firm grasp. He stroked the flask as gently as he once caressed his beloved Miranda, speaking with twisted infatuation, "Her skin is so smooth and white. Look, the flask made from it is so exquisite. Old Mark... you raised a fine granddaughter. It's rare for abandoned people to come across such 'premium goods'!"
"You... you lied to me!" Old Mark swayed, nearly collapsing to the ground. The old man's chest heaved violently as he pointed at Andrew Cooper. Feeling the world spin around him, his knees gave out, and he slumped onto the ground. He looked utterly devastated, like a walking corpse—alive in body, but dead in soul. Beside him...
A sudden eerie wind whipped up. It was Madam Nora, her eyes glowing red. Driven by immense trauma and overwhelming resentment, she instantly darkened into a vengeful spirit fueled by [Post-Mortem Nen]!
[Post-Mortem Nen]: A phenomenon where intense obsession forces one's Nen to linger in the human realm after death. Those who manifest it are without exception formidable figures. For instance,
In the future, despite being dead, Neferpitou would use [Post-Mortem Nen] to protect Meruem, forcibly driving [Doctor Blythe] to attack Gon Freecss.
Or, during his duel with Chrollo Lucilfer, Hisoka Morow would use [Post-Mortem Nen] to forcibly resurrect himself in the Heavens Arena.
The deeper the obsession, the stronger the [Post-Mortem Nen].
Among them, the most terrifying and despair-inducing was [Post-Mortem Nen] born from the complete loss of hope. Just like the maddened Madam Nora charging at Andrew Cooper right now!
One moment, she was an ordinary spirit who couldn't hurt a fly; the next, upon learning of her granddaughter's death, her hopes shattered, plunging her straight into darkness!
Roy watched as she transformed into a sinister gale, baring her fangs and brandishing claws that extended half a meter in mid-air, lunging straight for Andrew Cooper. A faint sense of sorrow permeated his heart, causing the [Solar Eclipse] in his hand to fall silent in tandem.
His great-grandfather had once warned him that a person could not live without hope, otherwise... they would completely lose the meaning of their "existence." Looking at it now...
Madam Nora had clearly been seeking death, yet after truly dying, she was unwilling to go alone, attempting to drag Andrew Cooper down with her in a self-destructive attack!
Unfortunately... since the other party had come, he was never unprepared. Facing the eerie wind Madam Nora had become, Andrew Cooper showed no fear. He even... wanted to laugh. With a cold expression, he casually toyed with the flask made from Little Matty's scalp and sneered, "Collect."
The lid of the flask popped open, and a sudden suction force erupted from within, instantly condensing into a storm that mercilessly sucked the incoming Madam Nora inside!
Click. The lid fell back down, sealing it tight.
Andrew Cooper glanced at Old Mark with a beaming smile. "Hey, old timer, why aren't you dead yet?"
The man shook the flask in his hand, making a sloshing sound, and winked at the devastated Old Mark. "Your wife and granddaughter are already here. We're just missing you..."
Old Mark stiffly turned his head. He silently climbed up from the ground, took a few quick steps, and accelerated, slamming headfirst into a large tree beside him!
Bang!
The sound of a skull shattering rang out.
Red, white, and yellow... burst out all at once.
On the outskirts of this dense Uzuki Forest, Roy pressed a hand against his twitching heart, took a deep breath, and silently closed his eyes.
Some people are alive, but they are already dead. Some people are dead, but they are still alive.
Some ride on the heads of the people: 'Hah, look how great I am!'
Some bow down to serve as beasts of burden for the people.
Some carve their names into stone, wishing for immortality; some prefer to be wild grass, waiting for the underground fire to burn.
Specks of fluorescent light bloomed. Old Mark slid down against the towering tree. As his last breath faded, his soul separated from his body. He poked his head out, looking around in confusion at everything—everything familiar yet foreign, everything that had nurtured him, exploited him, and forced him to lose all hope of survival.
Without any lingering attachment, he threw himself toward Andrew Cooper, who opened the flask and sucked him inside.
"This job is finally done." Andrew beamed with joy. Shaking the flask made of Little Matty, he crouched down and jutted his chin at Roy. "Hey, [Blasphemer], how do you want to die next?"
"Do you want to be killed... or commit suicide?"
The man spread his hands. "Let me state this upfront: I wouldn't dare let you live. After all, you're even more formidable than us abandoned people. To be spat upon by [God] right from the start... I'm afraid it'll be hard for you to die."
Those gazed upon by God would ultimately have nowhere to hide. Although this was the Uzuki Forest, beyond the control of the Seven Gods, but...
Last time he killed Frank Becki, he encountered his father's old friend, the Archbishop of [Storm], Benjamin Frederick. The man had seen through his disguise using the [Power of Faith]. Roy opened his eyes again, looking indifferently at Andrew Cooper. At the very least, he had figured one thing out: the so-called "Home of the Colorless," which claimed to protect abandoned people, was already secretly colluding with the [Principality of Samir].
In other words, if he continued to wear this face and walked into the lion's den by seeking refuge with the Home of the Colorless, it would be no different from throwing his life away. Therefore...
Roy simply "concealed" his original appearance. Using [Deception], he transformed in the blink of an eye, taking on the exact appearance of Andrew Cooper. He looked at him faintly and asked, "Who are you asking?"
A touch of crimson quietly crept into the boy's eyes.
He said, devoid of joy or sorrow, "If I kill you, who will know I am the [Blasphemer]?"
Sharingan... Open!