Chapter Seven: The Mountain’s Servant – The Curse of the Black Throne
Location: The heart of the Mountain of Sighs, at the Guilt's Crater — where weak commanders are buried, and corrupted copies of shadows are forged.
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After Musayuki had reclaimed his brother Zu-Ken,
The earth seemed to scream in agony...
Rocks cracked open, revealing a dark abyss beneath them,
From which came a panting as if the mountain itself were sighing.
From the depths emerged a grotesque creature:
Four faces struggling over a single scream,
A tail of twisting fire,
And from each of its four chests… a shattered replica of the ancient Shadow Commanders, crawling rather than smiling.
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Its name: Daizen – The Mountain's Servant
A demon crafted by Raizen from betrayal, gifted with one purpose:
To steal the loyalty of forgotten commanders,
And reshape them into monsters serving the false throne.
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Daizen (voice as if dozens of souls speak at once):
"The throne is your curse, Musayuki...
And I am the one who inherited the pact after you."
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Musayuki stepped forward...
His scepter trembled, then began to emit an earthborn pulse,
As if the mountain itself breathed beneath him.
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Igris (whispering):
"Don't answer him...
That's not a guardian…
He is despair's embodiment when it rots."
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Zu-Ken (standing, leaning on his spear):
"This... is the voice that accompanied me every moment I spent in the mountain.
It was... my second shadow."
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The battle erupted.
Daizen roared, releasing corrupted copies of shadow commanders from his body —
Faceless abominations.
Musayuki opened a portal to the Heart of the Throne...
A dimension where shadows become living matter.
The shadows wrapped around him, forming a breathing shield,
Shifting with every movement.
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Hana opened a new seal from her book:
The Great Shadow Mirror —
A tool revealing the original form of any being,
Burning falsehoods with black light.
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The mirror was aimed at Daizen...
And in an instant, the truth was revealed:
Daizen… was nothing but a shadow of Musayuki himself!
A part that had broken away the day he first lost control,
When he almost drowned in his own darkness.
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Daizen (laughing madly, his faces smiling in unison):
"I am you...
But I am the one who never feared his shadows!"
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Musayuki (calm voice, as if speaking from behind a thousand wars):
"I am... the King of Shadows.
And I fear no part of myself."
Then he raised his scepter...
With his right hand, he plunged it into his own chest,
Extracting a pulsating mass of black blood —
His exiled part, long abandoned.
When he merged it with the scepter, the pulse exploded:
"I have returned... whole."
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A cosmic purple light erupted, as if another mountain was being born from this one...
Daizen dissolved into a scream of loss,
And the Guilt's Crater collapsed.
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End of Chapter Seven