"Total Concentration!"
"Sun Breathing, Third Form: Raging Sun… Fifth Form: Fire Wheel… Ninth Form: Setting Sun Transformation…"
Crimson blade in hand, a fan of fire stitched the air…
The wounded orc–man Sajin snatched up his axe despite the pain and, with Gul'dan, pressed Roy from left and right.
Up in the trees, two Scouts and a Rogue kept loosing cold shots. Using the panel's Appraise, Roy tagged each role in this elite squad. He gripped the cane–sword with both hands to meet Sajin and Gul'dan head–on, while Magnetism flew the short blade to swat down incoming shafts…
Mind narrowed to a knifepoint, he never stopped guarding against the one deeper in the woods…
At a beat, he braced, took a chop on his back with Ken, and—twin suns flaring in his eyes—used Piercing Eye to read Sajin by 0.1 seconds, slid past the falling axe and drove his blade into the orc's already bleeding throat!
Orcs relied on Enhancement—thick hide, high attack, high defense—and paid life for it. Roy lived by another law: strike the wound—take the life.
"Sun Breathing, Seventh Form: Sunflower Thrust" was his fastest lunge—faster than Water, Seventh Form.
A pinpoint of fire pricked the distance—Gul'dan's neck blew a fan of blood—the sword flashed through his throat like lightning.
Sajin's mouth worked but no sound came. His hands clawed for the blade… his strength dropped away… his vision tunneled—he toppled.
[Swordsmanship +50]
[Life Energy +10]
"…It's not a real body—wait, then why Life Energy?"
Roy froze.
This was Grandpa Zigg's memory, not the true Dark Continent; the panel flagged it as consciousness. How did Life Energy end up in his ledger?
He was still boot–heeling Sajin's chest, blade stuck in the neck—just a blink of distraction—
A chorus of roars: "Sajin!"
Broadsword, shafts, a spiked mace screamed in and drowned him in rage.
Black. The memory paused at 3:17, the moment Sajin fell.
Splash—the sea broke on rocks in a million needles…
Cognition Sea.
Light specks knit a body.
Roy dropped out of re: The Game of the Dead. Unlike other examinees who "died" and snapped back to reality, he cut through the Black Gate and respawned his consciousness on warm sand.
He stared up at the hard blue for a long time.
Panel open: +10 Life Energy—and he could no longer tell where illusion ended and "real" began.
One thing was certain: when Great–Grandpa sent him to honor Zigg, he knew there was no better training ground than The Game—to grind fighting, swordwork, the Four Major, and high–order Nen apps. It shouldn't produce anything you could carry out—see, touch, smell, bank.
But Sajin's ten points glowed on the ledger—blunt proof that this "memory" could pay.
So—illusion or real?
Or Schrödinger's real—both and neither?
Headache. Knots on knots. Roy rolled up and quit thinking.
If it drops Life Energy, who cares what it is? Take it.
He breathed deep, walked to the Black Gate floating beside the Demon Slayer Gate—left hand on cane–sword, right hand materialized the short blade—and plunged back through the seam into Zigg's memory.
Re: The Game—resume.
Time ticked on from Sajin's fall. Three remained on the board: Barbarian Gul'dan, Scout Daso, Rogue Warren—and the big one in the trees, still unseen.
"—Ah!"
Crimson light flared; blade–glare blinded. Roy's mouth tilted. "Again."
He vanished toward Daso—kill the cheap–shot first.
"Swish, swish, swish—" a spray of arrows, each wrapped in Ko, raced his eyes.
Steel rang—cuckoo clock ticked—
Four minutes… five… six… seven…
Outside.
In the corridor, the waiters wore their faces: Wutong stayed by Roy's side, not moving an inch. Kuraging kneaded Goldie-chan's head, easing the bird's fret at the severed link…
Kite and Illumi each picked a corner: one dug in and left only a head above floor, one crossed his arms against stone and said nothing…
Kanzai tore at his hair and paced—finally cracked and jabbed a finger at Gel. "You sure you didn't blow the feed?"
He pointed at Roy: "That runt didn't get orcs like the rest?"
He could accept "someone stronger"—not this much stronger. The kid didn't look it at all—but here they were.
"You're an Enhancer, right?" Gel gave him a sidelong glance.
"Yeah, so?"
"No wonder you're brain–light." She stared him down. "The Resin's still in the air. Relax your mind and go back—see for yourself. There's only one reel; everyone watches the same film."
"For real?"
"Try me."
Kanzai threw her a look, then "relaxed"—and lasted four seconds before Sajin split him from crown to crotch and coughed him up.
"Don't make trouble." Botobai's big hand snagged him and set him aside.
"Let go—ever heard of persever—" A single punch put him down.
Botobai cut Gel a look.
"Ten minutes," she said tonelessly.
The future "Snake" watched Roy. "Botobai, your record's gone."
~~~
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