I. Return to a different world
The journey back from Ryousa was slow, almost ritualistic. Akihiko, Ikari, and Seiji traveled without a horse or vehicle, crossing rural roads where the grass grew crooked and branches parted to let them pass. Since the Wounded One had been marked, the land itself seemed to recognize their passage.
The towns they passed through were shadows of their former selves. Messages were painted in black ink on the mud and old wood walls:
"The Root no longer sleeps."
"The Tree bleeds again." "The Wounded walks."
In one of the villages, a blind old woman crawled up to Akihiko. She didn't say a word. She just placed in his hand a stone carved with the same symbol he now wore on his chest.
" What is this?" Ikari asked, looking at the object.
"It's a promise," the voiceless old woman replied. "Or a curse."
Akihiko didn't reply. But he squeezed the stone until it bled.
II. Secret meeting in the city of Varnhem
Meanwhile, in Varnhem , the Mafia capital and center of the blood and legacy trade, the heads of the minor families met in an unnamed building, where the paintings were broken mirrors and the lamps hung like inverted corpses.
Hatsuro Meikō , representative of the Ginka Family, spoke. His voice was calm, but each word left an invisible slash in the air.
—The Tree has responded. Ryousa bled.
And the Wounded One has returned, his mark still alive. We are not looking at a myth... but at a new order.
" And what do you suggest?" he asked. Madame Liora , leader of the Tooth Thieves—. Join? Worship him?
"No," Hatsuro replied. " Keep an eye on him. Study him. And, if necessary, eliminate him."
" Before what?" another asked.
"Before the Tree chooses to rule this world through a single body again."
Everyone fell silent.
III. The Wounded and the Reunion
On the outskirts of Kurosen , a city dominated by the Fumetsu Clan, Akihiko and his companions were intercepted by an armed group. They wore no visible insignia, but their weapons and coordination gave them away: they were private soldiers, controlled by one of the major mafias. Their leader: Tetsuya Kanazari , an old rival.
" You come with just two shadows at your side?" he mocked, pointing at his chest. "What you're carrying there... what everyone fears now, doesn't make you untouchable."
Akihiko looked at him without changing his expression. Then he unbuttoned the collar of his robe, revealing the mark .
Silence fell.
Several men began to sweat. One fell to his knees.
Tetsuya took a step back.
—What … what do you want?
"Come in," Akihiko replied. "I didn't come for war."
—And if we do?
—Then the Tree will decide for you.
Tetsuya swallowed and raised his hand. The soldiers lowered their weapons.
—It's not fear, Hurt. It's strategy. But this isn't over.
Akihiko nodded.
—Nothing's over. We've just changed branches.
IV. The wound begins to speak
That night, camped on the edge of the northern district, Akihiko didn't sleep.
He felt the mark throbbing. Not just like a new organ.
But as if someone were listening to him from within.
He broke away from the group and walked to a clearing where small roots grew toward the surface, like fingers begging to be seen.
And then, he heard a voice.
Not mental. Not spiritual.
Physical. Real. From your chest.
"Balance is dead.
Now comes the choice. The Tree does not guide. It only remembers. Are you a branch… or are you a blade?"
Akihiko fell to his knees, breathing heavily.
Ikari found him minutes later. He couldn't speak. He just clutched his chest and trembled.
It wasn't pain.
It was burden .
V. Mizuki and the hidden prophecy
In Valtoria , Mizuki locked himself in his private chamber. There, upon a table made from the sacred wood of the Inner Tree, he studied a lost manuscript he had purchased through blood and treason.
It was titled:
"The Third Heart"
On its pages was written the following:
"One day, when the Wounded receives the root,
the tree will cease to be a witness…and will become a judge. On that day, the children of the children of the mafias will be ashes on wet earth."
Mizuki closed the manuscript. He knew what was coming.
—If the Wounded bleeds… the world breaks.
VI. The Sons of Tartarus Reorganize
After the humiliation at Ryousa, the Shades of Tartarus didn't disappear. They retreated. Deep in the frozen territory known as the Blind Valley , their new leader, Varek , a mute priest covered in bandages, emerged as a figure of power.
He didn't speak.
He did not dictate.
He listened to the Tree without a mark.
His goal wasn't to dominate the Wounded.
It was to devour him from within.
And to do that, they had to find the Fourth Fragment of the Manuscript , hidden in the catacombs of Seliad , a city buried alive after a clan war.
VII. The blood that has not yet been shed
At the dawn of the new week, the sky above Edenfall seemed to breathe differently.
The mafias knew.
The roots stirred. Memory organized itself. And the Wounded… began to hear something more than voices .
I heard names .
Stories.
Buried betrayals.
Truths no one asked to be remembered.
Because the wound in his chest not only marks a destiny .
He's an open book.
And the Tree…
has already begun to write.
END OF CHAPTER 81