Liam waved his hand dismissively. On the crisp white sheets of the hospital bed, the eyelids of the vegetative woman fluttered rapidly. For the first time in years, she opened her eyes.
Thanks to the absolute self-healing properties of the Star Mark, there was no need to worry about muscle atrophy, light sensitivity, or the long-term degradation of her retinas. Even if her eyeballs had been violently dug out, the aura would have flawlessly reconstructed them. If she was afraid of the harsh fluorescent lights, she just had to open her eyes and force them to adapt. The body would handle the rest.
Battera burst into heavy, gasping tears of joy. He threw himself forward, his knees hitting the hard linoleum floor with a heavy thud beside the bed. He reached out with trembling hands, tightly grasping the pale fingers of the woman as tears streamed down his wrinkled face.
The woman stared back at him, completely at a loss. She blinked slowly, her gaze lingering on his aged features for a long time. Gradually, the fog in her mind cleared, and the fragmented pieces of her final conscious moments pieced themselves together. She remembered saving up her modest income for months. She remembered buying a special gift for her boyfriend, Battera, to commemorate their anniversary. And then, she remembered the blinding headlights, the screech of tires, and stepping off the curb.
The two of them clung to each other, their hands intertwined as they looked deeply into one another's tear-filled eyes. They hugged fiercely, sobbing into each other's shoulders, completely forgetting to even offer a word of gratitude to Liam standing just a few feet away.
Sensing the deeply private nature of the moment, Liam quietly turned and led everyone out of the ward, letting the heavy door click shut behind them.
He stood in the quiet hallway, leaning against the cool plaster wall with a thoughtful expression. "Bisky," he asked suddenly, breaking the silence. "Does the so-called soul actually exist?"
The concept of the soul was a heavy subject. In his past life, Liam remembered the lingering questions from the Chimera Ant incidents. After Kite was brutally killed by Neferpitou, he was eventually reincarnated into a new body thanks to his mysterious Nen ability. It could easily be argued that he was living a second life. The Chimera Ant Queen consumed humans and laid eggs, and many of the resulting soldiers hatched with vivid memories of their previous human lives. Because of this, they fully considered themselves the reincarnation of those original people.
This phenomenon applied not only to the ordinary soldiers but also to the Ant King, Meruem. Because his appearance bore a striking resemblance to a certain professional Hunter who had fallen to the ants, many suspected he was the direct reincarnation of that man.
Liam had always agreed with that theory. The logic was simple enough. The Queen had been pregnant with twins. The tiny, fragile girl who almost died was confirmed to be the reincarnation of Kite. Therefore, the boy who survived and became the King was likely the reincarnation of another human Hunter. The logic tracked perfectly.
So, the ultimate question remained: Does the soul exist?
This was a vital concept that Liam needed to fully grasp. After all, the ultimate, driving goal of Kurapika regarding the Kurta Clan was resurrection. If souls truly existed, and the souls of his murdered people had long since faded away into nothingness, what would happen if Kurapika eventually reached the Dark Continent? Even if he secured the miraculous Nitro Rice and successfully restored their physical bodies, would the people who woke up actually be his true clan members? Or just empty, soulless flesh mimicking them? That outcome would be absolute hell.
Hearing the sudden philosophical question, Bisky assumed the boy was just suffering from a strange bout of existential confusion. After all, he had just systematically crushed a woman's brain and spinal cord into mush and then perfectly reassembled them. To see the patient wake up completely safe, sound, and with all her memories intact was enough to make anyone question the nature of human consciousness.
She gestured for Liam and Shizuku to step a few feet further down the quiet corridor. "Whether the soul exists or not entirely depends on which field of study you want to get your answer from," she said calmly, her voice echoing slightly.
"What fields are there?" Shizuku asked, tilting her head with mild curiosity.
"The field of natural science, and the field of Nen users," Bisky replied, crossing her arms. "Of course, with the relentless development of the modern era, there might come a distant future where the latter is entirely explained and covered by the former. But for now, there remains a very clear, distinct boundary between the two."
Liam nodded, gesturing for her to continue. "What does science say, and what do Nen users say?"
"The scientific community cannot even fully comprehend or cure a vegetative state, so how could they possibly explain to you whether a soul exists or not?" Bisky said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "But as a Nen user, the answer I can give you is much simpler."
She smiled slightly, the corners of her eyes crinkling. "As for the soul, if you truly believe it exists in your heart, then it is highly likely to exist for you. If you firmly believe it does not exist, then it will find it very difficult to manifest."
Liam and Shizuku exchanged a long, quiet look.
"Do you two know about Nen after death?" Bisky asked, her tone dropping into a more serious register.
"Nen that lingers after death is often fueled by the last and absolute greatest attachment the deceased held during their lifetime," Bisky continued, a knowing, unclear smile resting on her lips. "If that is the case, when a person dies, where exactly do you think all the memories, grudges, and profound emotions from their lifetime reside? They are placed directly into that remaining, lingering aura."
"Then it is perfectly fine to just call that kind of Nen a soul," Liam muttered to himself, his mind racing. "It does not matter whether it is before or after death. As long as a medium can successfully copy and carry all the memories, personality, and emotions of the original self, it can be called the soul. If it only manages to carry a fragmented portion of that emotional memory, then it can simply be called a residual memory, or a residual soul."
Shizuku adjusted her glasses, her voice deadpan as she joined the logic. "In other words, the word soul is just a convenient way of speaking. It is an artificially defined concept. That woman inside the room had her brain entirely destroyed, but you perfectly restored the physical structure. Because the structure was repaired, all her memories remained completely undamaged. Therefore, there is absolutely no need to bother introducing an abstract concept like a soul to explain it."
Liam nodded slowly, a weight lifting from his shoulders. In other words, as long as the physical bodies of the resurrected Kurta tribesmen were kept intact and perfectly repaired, then everything would be absolutely fine. What kind of soul? There was never a magical, floating entity in the first place, so there was nothing to lose or scatter into the wind. Just keep an open mind, family members.
While they were busy discussing the deep, mysterious nature of life in the hallway, Battera and his girlfriend were talking animatedly inside the ward. After a long, tearful conversation, the woman could not bear sitting still any longer. She desperately wanted to get up and personally thank the doctor who had saved her life.
Battera panicked and hurriedly tried to stop her from straining herself, only to be completely stunned. He realized his lover was not just capable of gently getting out of bed. If he had not physically held her back, she possessed enough strength and coordination to not only walk normally, but to run and even jump around the room.
She was completely, flawlessly healed.
Battera was hit by another massive wave of overwhelming surprise and gratitude. He carefully supported his girlfriend as she walked out into the hallway, bowing deeply and thanking Liam profusely with a trembling voice. Right then and there, the billionaire pulled out his phone and began making rapid, aggressive calls. He arranged for a special private plane and a fleet of luxury cars. He did not just say he wanted to hand over the JoyStation consoles. He declared that all thirty sets, along with the massive, remote ancient castle where they were currently stored, were now entirely the property of Liam. Furthermore, he insisted on personally escorting them there in his own private airship.
What else was there to say to an offer like that? Let us go.
Liam waved his hand with a bright grin, turning to lead the way down the corridor.
As they walked, Liam noticed Tsezguerra standing awkwardly to the side. Feeling quite generous and content with his massive new fortune, Liam casually called the One-Star Hunter to come along. Strictly speaking, the official mission Tsezguerra had been hired for ended the exact moment Battera's lover opened her eyes. His only remaining task was to settle his final payment with the billionaire and part ways. Yet, swept up in the momentum, he followed.
The lively group boarded the luxurious private airship, enjoying the opulent travel. Once they landed, they transferred immediately to a private train. As a profound sign of respect and gratitude, Battera had used a large chunk of his remaining liquid financial resources to charter the entire railway line just for them. They stepped off the airship, boarded the grand train, and drove straight through the wilderness toward the remote ancient castle.
By the time they neared their destination, the night had grown incredibly dark and windy. The moon hung pale in the sky, and the stars were sparse, hidden behind fast-moving clouds.
Liam and Shizuku were huddled closely together in the spacious, leather-upholstered back seat of a custom luxury car. Shizuku was quietly reading a thick book with one hand, her head resting comfortably against the shoulder of Liam. Since Liam had grown to a towering height of 1.9 meters, she found this posture incredibly natural and accustomed to it. Liam sat beside her with his long legs crossed, writing and drawing intricate designs in a small notebook with a sleek pen.
From the front passenger seat, Bisky kept looking back over her shoulder. The long journey through the dark mountains was painfully boring. From time to time, she tried to strike up a conversation, asking Shizuku what plot she was reading or peering over to ask what Liam was sketching.
Damn it, Bisky grumbled internally, crossing her arms with a pout. These young lovers were entirely inseparable. They moved and acted with such a quiet, seamless tacit understanding in everything they did. It made her, the esteemed elderly master of the group, feel like she had absolutely no sense of participation.
Outside the window, the motorcade finally began to slow down. Liam paused his writing, capping his pen, and looked out through the tinted glass.
Looming on the edge of the jagged mountain was the massive, imposing silhouette of an ancient stone castle. Under the pale, flickering moonlight, the sprawling fortress looked exactly like a gargantuan, black beast lying dormant on the mountain peak, opening its silent, cavernous mouth to swallow the tiny line of headlights approaching its gates.
Liam smiled, gazing up at the towering stone walls. Hey, my family castle is quite big!
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