Echoes reach the Coal Agreement
The news didn't come by messenger, or by vision, or by song. It came the way earthquakes come: with a crack. In the lower levels of Daiketsu, where the Tree's broken archives still vibrated faintly, one of the Carbon Accord analysts detected a strange pulse. It didn't come from the ancient spirit network, but its frequency had a similar structure. Too structured to be spontaneous. Too erratic to be natural.
"It's a root," said the analyst, a former monk without eyelids. "But not like the ones we knew. This one... is born with will."
Okuma, the silent leader of the Sacred Crows, listened to the report from his shadow throne. The mask on his face vibrated. He didn't speak. He just raised his hand, and with that, the reaction protocol was activated: Code Ash .
" Where?" asked Rikuya Nami, the tattooed exorcist.
"Kagebara," the analyst replied. "A buried city. Without judgment. Without a Tree. But with… purpose."
The meeting of the executors
In a hidden chamber behind the Gray Temple, the leaders of the Coal Settlement met for the first time since Genzou's attempted betrayal. They were fewer now. More determined. More dangerous. They recognized themselves as the only organized power structure in a world bleeding without leaders.
Okuma didn't speak in meetings. Yurei Sanjo did it for him.
"Kagebara is a challenge," she said. "Not because he wants to replace the Tree. But because he doesn't need to."
Kyoukotsu, the mercenary with the thermal arm, banged on the table.
—If they bloom there… they'll bloom everywhere. We must prune the roots before they cast a shadow.
But Rikuya didn't seem so sure.
—Perhaps what grows there can serve us. If the world needs new symbols, why not force them to sing our tune?
Okuma raised two fingers. That was enough.
"Very well," Yurei said. "We'll send the Doubles. If that city has leaders, let them listen to them before they feel the blade."
III. The Doubles of Judgment
The Doubles were a secret unit of the Accord. Each was a spirit mimic: warriors with the ability to replicate fragments of ancient judgment, but devoid of ethics. They could project holy illusions, speak with voices that no longer existed, and alter the spiritual perception of an enemy in combat.
Three were chosen to infiltrate Kagebara:
Sasori , master of Inverted Judgment, which turned the enemy's certainties into guilt. Mei , the wielder of Root Shadows, who could create plant simulacra that repeated false phrases of judgment. Hako , who manipulated broken symbols, making others believe that their marks still responded to the Tree.
Their mission was clear: infiltrate, observe, corrupt. If they failed, they'd turn on the red light. And then the burning would come.
Akihiko hears the warning
At Kagebara, while studying the growth patterns of a newly planted root, Akihiko felt something strange. It wasn't a vibration. It was a malicious silence. As if an absence were lurking at the edge of the shrine.
Rekka noticed it too.
—Those who come… don't believe. They don't seek understanding. Only balance for control.
Akihiko nodded. He knew where they came from. He knew how they thought. He had been one of them once.
" Will you fight for Kagebara?" Rekka asked.
Akihiko looked at the Black Tree. Its still branches. Its unmoving shadow.
—No. I will fight to prevent the world from choosing between what it understands and what it fears.
END OF CHAPTER 107