I. No Skin, No Noise
The being emerged from the depths of Edenfall's subsoil without making a sound. Its body, composed entirely of exposed muscle tissue, vibrated to the beat of invisible impulses, as if following a melody only it could hear. Its face was featureless, and its gait was rhythmic like that of an invisible war drum.
"They don't need memories... or emotions anymore," a voice whispered in Akihiko's mind. "They just need bodily obedience."
The citizens began to experience spontaneous cramps. Some fell to the ground, others suffered spasms that made them lose control of their bodies. It was the beginning of the Fifth Seal 's rule : Fassad, the Bodyless .
II. Inverse Epidermis: the Map of Movements
Fassad didn't attack with weapons or words. His mere presence caused a nervous resonance. It affected the motor nerves, disconnecting the body's will. He literally cut off the intention of movement.
Kael and Lirea attempted to intercept him in Industrial District 6, where workers were beginning to move in repetitive, automated patterns. The combatants were experiencing extreme incoordination. Their weapons were unresponsive. Their fists punched the air in uncontrolled sequence.
"Fassad can map a person's every movement and erase it," Lirea explained. "As if deprogramming instinct."
III. The Core of the Urban Nervous System
Akihiko proposed attacking the infrastructure: Edenfall's artificial neural network, which connected the surveillance and distribution sensor centers. If they managed to overwhelm it with a countersignal, they could disrupt Fassad's interference.
Naeya, weakened but determined, entered the Urban Rhythm Core , an ancient facility used to monitor Edenfall's heartbeat as a metropolitan organism.
"We're going to inject real physical pain into the system. If the city can feel it , it can endure it ."
Meanwhile, Fassad advanced toward the Central Command Tower, leaving behind a trail of fallen bodies. No one died, but everyone lost their autonomy.
IV. Cross Resonance and Muscle Scream
Akihiko faced Fassad directly. He couldn't anticipate his attacks, because the enemy had no bones or facial expression. Just living flesh moving in harmony with a silent frequency.
It was then that he remembered the "Muscle Scream", a forbidden technique that uses neither chakra nor spiritual power, but the pain accumulated in every fiber of the body as an attack impulse .
"I'm not going to beat you with technique. I'm going to beat you with everything that hurt me."
Akihiko let his own body scream through the movement: a series of chaotic, clumsy, but intensely human blows. Each one contained the memory of fractures, falls, wounds. The enemy couldn't anticipate them because they were impure . They had no pattern.
V. The Breaking of the Fifth Seal
As the fight intensified, Naeya activated the sensory overload in Edenfall's nervous system. The entire city was invaded by a wave of stimuli: sensations of cold, burning, pressure, weight.
The interference cut off Fassad's melody. The muscular being fell to his knees. Akihiko delivered a final blow to the center of his exposed torso, sending a shockwave of pain through his body.
"Remembering hurts. But moving without remembering... is a slow death."
Fassad slowly decomposed, becoming a mass of inert fibers.
VI. Alert in the Steel Synapse
From his darkened chamber, Shoen Rikudō watched the collapse of the Fifth Seal. He was not alarmed.
"Perfect. Now Edenfall remembers the pain and controls her body. It's time to attack her blood."
A new Seal was beginning to activate in the lower areas of the Hematoduct: the hidden urban transfusion network.
END OF CHAPTER 195