The Black Tower throbbed with shadows and dread. Before the Frame of Destinies, Apacur lifted the dark scroll, and the glowing runes revealed but a single name: Kanji. A deadly silence descended upon the leaders and their attendants, arrayed in a circle, each gaze fixed on Apacur as though they were beasts cornered by the ultimate predator.

  Gaz of the Salt clan hid the tremor in his fists beneath his black armor. At his side, Shogun gripped his katana’s hilt so tightly the metal lions on his pauldrons seemed to roar in silent fury. Soap of the Lead clan avoided Apacur’s gaze, nervously wiping his short blade on his tunic. Minamino, the Bombman, felt every muscle in his body straining with tension. Shinxal and Ygon exchanged anxious looks, aware that the very air had turned to poison.

  With a dry crash, Apacur smashed his fist onto the iron table. The chamber shook.

  “Kanji has fled! HOW could this happen, you incompetents?!” His cavernous voice rent the forced calm. “I arranged every detail of this trial—and now I am mocked!”

  Soap raised his chin, but the words died in his throat when Apacur raised a single finger in complete silence. Fear buzzed in everyone’s head like a hammer.

  “YOU KILLED Shion to cover your failures… a foolish boldness, but workable. Did you revel in his death?” Apacur glided forward among the leaders, almost dancing. “Look at yourselves: each of you is complicit in this chaos.”

  He stopped before Gaz, his cold fingertips brushing the man’s cheek.

  “It will all be fine. Taida avenged your brother. And you? You lost the chance to die with him.” Then, without warning, he spat: “Useless.”

  Gaz trembled but did not dare speak.

  Apacur turned to Soap, his eyes flashing like blades:

  “Soap, you hunt Kanji from this island…but you don’t even dare cross the sea. Meanwhile Kanji thrives in Pangeia while we remain silent!”

  He tore an eraser from the board and flung it hard into Soap’s face. Soap’s blade clattered to the floor.

  Soap staggered, spirit drained, and his mask of arrogance slithered away, revealing pure terror.

  “No… we cannot go further,” he stammered. “The law forbids it, my lord…”

  Apacur pressed his lips together as though holding back thunder. Wordlessly, he sat beside Soap and broke into echoing applause:

  “Brava! Your duty is fulfilled.”

  Still stunned, the leaders pounded the table in violent applause, the reverberations sounding like chains snapping shut.

  Then Apacur leaned in close to Soap’s ear, his voice as low as distant thunder:

  “You are prudent, Soap… far too prudent to remain a leader. Your clan, your family, your army—they shall become the new Clan of Pigs.”

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  The blow struck Soap’s chest like a dagger. He dropped to his knees, hands shaking as he begged:

  “Please, forgive me! I have failed… I beg for mercy!”

  Minamino rose, his footsteps echoing with contained rage. Standing before Soap, he hurled the weight of betrayal at him:

  “Leader, let me take command. I will sail to Pangeia and bring back Yuzuki’s head for sale.”

  A frigid silence swept the hall. Soap lifted his face, pale, eyes rolling back in horror:

  “Traitor!”

  Shouts of outrage ripped through the chamber. Shinxal and Ygon clenched their fists, ready to intervene. Spiritual energy crackled, sharp as a blade.

  But Apacur raised his hands, silencing the tumult with absolute authority:

  “SILENCE!” his voice boomed. “Minamino speaks the truth. The king drowns this island with his broken pacts. A new era is dawning, and there is no place here for the weak.”

  The leaders wavered, exchanging anxious glances. Gaz’s voice broke, trembling:

  “Great Leader… we will follow your Orders!”

  Shinxal and Ygon roared in fierce unison:

  “We stand with you! May this island be rebor—”

  Apacur strode to the center, imposing himself like a god of ice:

  “The hunt for Yuzuki begins NOW. All who fail… will pay in blood. Let every clang of this table remind you of the price of failure.”

  He raised his hand and placed it upon the Frame of Destinies as though he sought to draw fire from the parchment. The light flickered, and he spoke again, voice reverberating off the stone walls:

  “Yuzuki has shattered the system… Her clan, the Kanji, was the lifeblood of our pact with Kugutsu MAO. Their lineage was unique: the MAO demanded the sacrifice and the lives of the Kanji—brother beside wife beside child—to sustain the pact. For over a thousand years, the Kanji were our shield and sword—first to raise this island and secure our rituals. We commanded the greatest Kugutsu of all, a power that terrified Pangeia. Our people feared the King… but now, if they learn the King no longer holds the MAO, revolt will ignite. Fear will vanish, and all will crumble.”

  The hall fell into stunned silence. The leaders could not find words. Then Minamino rose, a crooked smile spreading across his weary face:

  “The fault lies with the King!”

  The impact of his words was immediate. Soap, still on his knees, burst into hysterical laughter, spitting heresy:

  “Heresy! You will be punished… executed!”

  A collective whisper of outrage swept the chamber. The runes on the Frame flared with spiritual fury, and the pressure grew suffocating: each leader felt the dark energy clutch Minamino’s chest, sentencing him.

  Before the chorus of voices could call for execution, Apacur lifted his arm, cleaving the air:

  “SILENCE!”

  His voice was thunder. All fell silent, terror carved into every face.

  “He is right! I favor you, Minamino—more sensible than these brainless animals. The people no longer need the King. That tyrant will sink this island; my people bleed. A new era must rise, and you are not part of it.”

  A chaotic murmur surged once more. Gaz, driven by urgency, fell to his knees:

  “Great Leader, grant us a chance to prove our loyalty. We will obey every command.”

  Shinxal and Ygon bellowed together:

  “We stand with you! This wretched, weak island has long needed change. I want Pangeia— to raze its cities and seize the Golden Tree! I want to prove why the Kugutsu are the strongest—I crave power!”

  Apacur raised his eyes, fixing them on the pair as though beholding the dawn:

  “Then prepare yourselves. The hunt for Yuzuki begins now. Let every breath on this island pay for its weakness.”

  In that moment, the chamber erupted in delirious applause, tears of anguish, and maniacal laughter, as the shadow of the Black Tower swallowed every witness to that grim decree.

  And with that instant, the fate of Kugutsu Island was cast into flames, while the voices of its new allies echoed in a chorus of blood and the promise of war.