[Warning: You have been noticed by an unknown existence. Your life has entered a countdown!]
9 years 9 hours 9 minutes 9 seconds…
9 years 9 hours 9 minutes 8 seconds…
9 years 9 hours 9 minutes 7 seconds…
The circular sigil on the back of his hand ticked like a stopwatch, counting down.
Roy's brow knit. He opened the pores on the back of his hand, wrapped the mark in "Scorching True Intent," and burned it.
The sigil didn't budge—just kept counting… 6… 5… 4…
He tried scraping it with a blade… then switched to magnetic interference… The mark clung to Roy as if it had claimed him, quietly totalling the seconds of his remaining life.
After exhausting every trick, Roy forced himself calm.
Shhhh…
He let the shower rain down over his head.
Steadying his breath, he rewound everything with care—from leaving home, to boarding the blimp, to entering the exam grounds—nothing out of place… until just now—
Only after he absorbed the "life energy" of Sajin, Gul'dan, Daso and the rest did the mark surface. Obviously, it was tied to the "boarmen"… to Great-Grandpa Zigg, even to the Dark Continent.
The panel warned me an unknown thing was watching… Maybe because I "ate" Sajin and the others, I left traces on the Dark Continent and drew its gaze.
Which also indirectly proves Zigg's "memory" isn't fake—in fact it has a degree of reality.
His thoughts raced, and Roy suddenly recalled what Grandpa Zeno had just told him: "If you want the answer, go look in Zigg's memory."
A hypothesis took shape—
1. The "unknown existence" sits too high on the totem pole—one glance and you pop like a firework. Peering across a layer of "neither-quite-real-nor-false," it stared from the Dark Continent through the memory and pinned a curse to him.
In terms of "calamity class," it likely won't rank below the five known human-world Disasters: the Gaseous Lifeform Ai, Brion, the Twin-Tailed Snake Hellbell, Pap the Human-Keeping Beast, and the Zobae Disease.
2. For some reason It can't cross spacetime to descend in person—so it uses "marking," leveraging a mechanism to brand him with a curse.
3. Find a nen exorcist.
Can't burn it off, can't carve it out—then let an exorcist do it!
And if an exorcist can't… then the only path left is to comb through Great-Grandpa Zigg's memory, or even… go to the Dark Continent to seek a cure.
Nine years and nine months—neither short nor long. Before it hits zero…
"I look for an exorcist while I get stronger—at the very least…"
"I need the capital to stand on the Dark Continent before the clock runs out."
Squeak— He shut the shower off. Roy wrapped his wound with a towel; by the time he came out, dry and in loose loungewear, he was seated cross-legged at the head of the bed, Great-Grandpa Zigg's notebook opened wide, combing it for the faintest thread about the "mark."
No luck… The whole volume was just Zigg's training insights—and this was Volume One, written before he ever set foot on the Dark Continent. Finding a clue here would be the real miracle.
"Gotoh, bring Grandfather in."
Creak…
The door opened.
"You called, young master?"
"Call the old man."
"Which one?"
"My grandfather."
"Yes."
The call connected. Gotoh adjusted his glasses and handed the phone over with both hands.
Roy took it and went straight in: "Grandpa, help me. I've been cursed!"
BOOM! On the other end, a volleyball exploded under a punch.
WHOOMPH! White hair flared. Pale Ren roared out from Zeno, blasting from him like a detonation.
The blimp stamped and shook. Netero's old eyes narrowed; from Zeno's nen, he caught a flash of worry—of not knowing what to do—and quietly let go of the "play."
"Stay put. I'm coming now."
All the caution in the world and they still hadn't prevented it.
Zeno hung up, face like thunder, slid the hatch, and stepped—straight off the high altitude.
As the pilots and attendants shrieked, he dropped like a blade. Before they could blink, Netero stepped after him, sleeves billowing, leaving the crew gaping in the gale.
Whup-whup-whup… Rotor wash chattered the sky.
Zeno, then Netero, touched down one after the other—vanished in a blur—and about ten minutes later,
in the riverside inn off the street, they met the curse.
Tick… tick…
The "mark" was a death warrant, ticking in time with the world.
From the moment Roy noticed it, forty minutes had passed. The "dial" had spun down from "9 years 9 hours 9 minutes 9 seconds" to "9 years 8 hours 21 minutes 9 seconds"…
Roy skipped the "panel" and told it straight: "It appeared shortly after I came out of the illusion."
Zeno and Netero each took his wrist and studied the thing, both falling silent.
Fire couldn't scorch it, steel couldn't peel it. Like nen—but with something extra neither could name. A curse, without question.
Tick… tick… A few more seconds slid away…
Gotoh ran out for salves and bandages; crouched to redo Roy's dressing. The boy broke the hush, direct as always, eyes on Netero: "I know the Association has a nen exorcist. Can we ask him out—to remove this?"
In the canon, after Gon's breakdown, the Association did bring an exorcist to look at him. It didn't help, and the man only got five seconds of screen time—but if the Association recognizes him as a real exorcist, there has to be something there.
He'd called his grandfather with this in mind. The thought struck again now.
"Useless." Netero didn't even need to answer—Zeno cut him off.
The old man's face was grave. "Nen exorcists have to abide by equivalent exchange."
"High payoff means high risk…"
"No one's going to shave off their own lifespan to pull this off you."
Like… that "Forest Exorcist" Abengane in Greed Island who summoned a "forest spirit" to swallow a curse—he had to live pressed against that ugly, dangerous thing until it finished the job.
Or the chimera ant arc's exorcist girl—after each exorcism, her belly swelled; sometimes it never went down again.
The stronger the "curse," the steeper the price to break it—especially a brand that ties itself to your lifespan.
Roy fell quiet…
Gotoh's eyes went cold. "If he won't—kill him."
"Agreed," Zeno said without missing a beat.
The two of them pretended not to notice the Chairman standing right there. Roy gave Netero a sorry smile.
The old man stroked his beard, pretending not to hear. After a long moment he said, "Nen exorcists are few to begin with—and most can't 'erase,' only transfer. So, in my eyes there's one way."
"What way?"
Zeno and Gotoh looked over.
Netero lifted his eyes to Roy, voice gone flint-hard. "Go kill the thing that cursed you."
"If It dies, you live. If you die, It lives. That simple."
Simple? You want me to kill a calamity on par with Nanika—in ten years?
~~~
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