Bukinochi (武器の血)

Tokyo, the first city built to withstand the monsters called Spirals. Predators born of corrupted instinct and animalistic nature that hunt humans for their mana force called Flux. At the heart of humanity’s first defense lies The Crucible, an elite academy where gifted cadets are trained to fight these monsters using the Spirals’ own harvested organs—refined into arcane weapons known as Drives.

But on her first day, Sekhmet Isshin-Namikaze watches her trial turn real. A Spiral infiltrates the Crucible’s walls and appears as a cadet before Sekhmet catches it on its act. But something within Sekhmet triggers the Spiral to show its true nature and attack, only to meet its timely demise to a Drive. As instructors scramble for answers, Sekhmet’s unit is forced to confront what every Crucible recruit fears: that the walls aren’t safe, the rules aren’t stable, and the monsters aren’t always outside.

And as the Crucible begins to fracture from the inside, Sekhmet has to decide what matters more—fitting in, or staying alive.