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Chapter 113 - Chapter 113 – The Kingdom Where Weapons Learned to Listen

Hakkoku Fortress: Where metal still has a voice

To the west of the continent, where the mountains folded in on themselves and the ground rumbled as if something breathed beneath, stood Hakkoku Fortress . It wasn't a city. It was a self-contained military complex, built on the ruins of ten temples and sustained by a spiritual weapons industry that never ceased operating, not even after the fall of the Tree.

In Hakkoku, everything was made to endure. Swords were forged from resonant steel, each soldier wore armor woven from fragments of burnt root, and doctrines were as ancient as the harshest judgments. Here, compassion was a flaw, and contemplation… a weakness.

But even the most sacred steel trembles when the vibration no longer obeys orders.

The appearance of silent echoes

Days after the outbreak at Shinkairo, reports began to reach the Hakkoku High Command. Soldiers reported hearing their own weapons whisper in their sleep. Swords clanged unused. Spears changed temperature for no reason. Some materials, when touched, responded with a sensation the smiths couldn't quite name. As if they remembered having been part of something else.

General Takahara Gen , a living legend, ordered absolute silence. Any spiritual manifestations were to be suppressed. Any suspicion of outside influence was to be eliminated.

And yet, one morning, a white flower sprouted from the barrel of a sacred weapon that had not been used in centuries.

III. The deserter with roots

As Hakkoku attempted to contain the inexplicable, a soldier left the fortress. His name was Sousuke Nara , and his back was marked by a white root he hadn't chosen, but which had grown into his skin after a pointless battle.

Sousuke became an outcast, but he didn't run away. He walked to the border, where the mountains breathed, and there he wrote a wordless book: each page was a dry leaf, marked by spiritual pressure. A message without language, but one that every reader understood.

The work was called: "When metal wanted to flourish . "

And somehow, the book reached Akihiko.

Akihiko enters the steel field

When Akihiko arrived at the gates of Hakkoku, he carried no weapons. Only his coat, his living root, and Sousuke's book. He didn't ask for admission. He sat outside, silently, and began to read.

One by one, soldiers began to approach. Not out of curiosity. Out of concern. The vibrations inside the fortress were disordered. The forges produced blue sparks. Armor trembled when someone lied. Weapons… refused to be wielded.

And Akihiko kept reading.

When Takahara Gen finally emerged, his gaze was stony. He was accompanied by ten war enforcers. But even they knew something had changed. Because the fortress no longer obeyed judgment . It obeyed echoes.

The duel that did not happen

Takahara demanded a fight. Not to kill. To prove that steel still ruled.

Akihiko agreed. He shed his coat. The root on his arm glowed, extending like a snake around his neck, chest, and spine. It wasn't armor. It was living memory.

The field was prepared. The soldiers formed a circle. Their weapons rattled untouched.

And when Takahara drew his sword… it broke on its own.

The metal had listened.

And he didn't want to fight.

The Birth of the Hakkoku Garden

Takahara fell to his knees. He didn't cry. He didn't scream. He just placed the broken hilt on the ground and said:

—"If steel refuses to be a weapon… neither will I."

That night, Hakkoku Fortress lowered its walls for the first time in a century. The soldiers walked barefoot. Roots sprouted between the cobblestones. They didn't cover themselves with leaves. They didn't seek to sing. They just spread out slowly , surveying the terrain.

Sousuke's book was buried in the center of the main square. And from it, a flower sprouted.

Akihiko left without saying goodbye.

The fortress… was no longer a fortress. Now it was a garden that still remembered how to protect without destroying.

END OF CHAPTER 113

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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