Psychological warfare? Enrage the opponent, make them lose their cool instantly, and create an opening out of nothing.
"If it wasn't Silva, perhaps there'd be an exploitable opportunity."
Zeno added, following the old man. With age comes wisdom, and their discernment was naturally extraordinary. Just as Maha and Zeno said, elephants never care about an ant's provocation. If displeased, just crush it underfoot.
Silva remained completely unmoved. His tall figure stood in the training room, expressionlessly watching Roy, the corners of his mouth curving in mockery. This mockery was undisguised and cutting.
'Crude provocation.' Illumi thought, echoing Silva's unspoken assessment.
Illumi, the foolish younger brother protected by the wall corner, stole glances at Roy. Roy supported himself with his sword, gasping heavily, having already anticipated this result. If his insufferably arrogant father were the type to easily lose his head, he wouldn't have reached this point, holding the position of head of the world's number one assassin family.
But isn't that what life is about? Trying? Failed? Then just try again.
Roy wiped blood from his face to prevent it from blocking his vision. Taking a deep breath, he drew Yukigakure, regaining his stance. Blade tip and gaze formed a line, pointing at Silva.
'From garden to training room takes three seconds. Using Shadow Step shortens it by two seconds, activating Zetsu shortens another 0.5 seconds, swinging the sword takes 0.01 seconds. So I have only 0.51 seconds to attack. In these 0.51 seconds, I must distinguish Nen aura, dodge the whip, find an opening, and swing to slash.'
Roy squinted, a self-mocking smile crossing his face. 'This task is really quite heavy.'
At this moment, wind blew the willow, swaying thousands of strands. Leaning against it, Roy closed his eyes, sealed all aura nodes throughout his body, and began regulating his breath. Zetsu, besides lowering one's presence and being suitable for tracking, also had the effect of gathering aura within the body to eliminate fatigue.
Weakness from blood loss gradually mounted. Roy couldn't pretend it didn't exist. Doing his best to steady himself, he opened his eyes again. With front and back feet in a bow stance, he shot out once more.
Visibly, a flash of light approached. Roy thrust straight toward Silva's chest! This time abandoning slashing. Swinging required raising hands; thrusting didn't. Roy fully utilized the "maximum arm extension" principle, closing in before Silva, saying nothing, and directly extending the blade!
The blade tip pierced air, bringing up flames. Silva's pupils reflected the young man's forward-pressing figure. Deep in his eyes flashed approval, yet it was quickly swept into ash by his raised whip.
Make him admit defeat? Dream of freedom? Want to climb step by step to the summit?
Rebellious son, the road awaiting you ahead has only one path—"Submit and return to the family!"
Air exploded. The whip arrived later but struck first, heavily hitting Roy. Yukigakure flew from his hands. Following that, Roy cried out in pain, knocked down by one whip, collapsing at Silva's feet.
'It's over.' Illumi expressionlessly watched this scene, turning to leave. Fighting a hopeless battle to this extent—this was the price of wishful thinking about fighting back.
He walked decisively. Just as he took a step, unexpectedly—a cold gleam flashed, scraping past his cheek, taking a strand of Silva's silver hair with it. With a crisp sound, it pinned to the south wall.
Illumi suddenly stopped, instinctively looking up to see a snow-white katana. The handle connected to a thread. The thread's end was connected to an upraised middle finger.
"Cough, heh heh. Nothing special." The middle finger's owner coughed blood, head pressed into the floor, coldly laughing. Then his head dropped and he fell unconscious, middle finger still raised.
At this moment, the wind seemed to stop. The training room's atmosphere instantly froze!
"How did he do it?" Illumi wondered.
Answering him was light laughter. "Heh heh heh, that boy really did pull it off."
In the dim yellow room, Maha clapped the armrest, smiling as he kicked his legs, signaling Zeno not to freeze but to quickly massage his legs. Zeno clearly froze for an instant. Snapping back, he shook his head and withdrew En.
"Using frayed sleeve threads to connect the sword handle—impressive he could think of it."
Zeno muttered to himself. It turned out that right at Silva's feet, Nen aura attached to the thread quickly dissipated. It was this wisp of Nen, through the thread, driving Yukigakure to turn mid-air. Taking advantage of both Silva's and Illumi's inattention, it scraped past their cheeks and flew out.
Three whips ended. The test concluded. Yet precisely at this moment, when everyone would relax their guard, he struck. Even Silva couldn't be an exception. He could only rely on his body's instinctive reflexes to dodge by tilting his head. The result: a strand of hair was cut and pinned to the wall.
"Did you understand?" Silva held the hair strand. After a moment of silence, he suddenly asked Illumi.
Illumi snapped to understanding, stiffly nodding.
"Tell me."
"Calling for surrender was bait, deliberately raising your vigilance. When the test ended and you truly relaxed your guard, that was his only chance to strike."
"And?"
"And what?" Illumi looked puzzled at Silva.
What greeted him was Silva's overhead whip strike, immediately knocking him down after Roy.
"And strength. He can take my three whips. Can you?"
Silva casually hung the whip on the south wall right beside Yukigakure, hands in pockets, expressionlessly leaving. That silver strand swayed slightly in the wind**. As** Illumi's consciousness grew hazy, he sank into complete darkness.
"Strength." Illumi groggily thought, closing his eyes.
Butler Luke had been waiting outside. Seeing Silva exit, he bowed in salute.
Silva: "Dig a pit and bury them."
"Yes." Luke was familiar with this task. But Young Master Roy didn't seem to like sleeping in pits. Luke thought to himself, but his hands weren't slow, hoisting the shovel to execute the order.
Soon after, two heads groggily awakened in the garden, mutually displeased at the sight.
"Who buried me here?" Roy glanced at Luke.
"The master."
Roy: "...Dig me out."
"Yes."
Rustling sounds. Roy was lifted from the pit and laid beside the willow tree. After a gentle breeze blew, the willow provided shade. Only then did he feel somewhat comfortable.
"Hey!"
Then came an extremely uncomfortable screech, destroying the sunset's beauty. Illumi stared with hollow eyes, fixated on Roy. "I won't lose to you."
Roy simply closed his eyes, pretending not to hear.
Illumi stubbornly repeated, "I won't lose to you."
Roy rolled over, simply turning his back to him.
Illumi's mouth opened wide. "Did you hear? I said I won't lose to you."
"So annoying!" Roy erupted in anger, throwing a slipper that hit Illumi's head.
Now, peace at last.