Chapter 10 – The Echo of the Torn Truth

As the sky deepened into a rich blue and birdsong welcomed the new day, Reiji and his students set out in search of the Kingdom's truths, arriving before a towering structure.

The central library of Kinzoku no Hana was one of the largest on the continent, and inside it looked more like a temple of knowledge than a mere archive. Marble columns supported towering vaults covered in stained glass, and thousands of bookshelves stretched out like labyrinths. There were restricted areas behind iron doors, books sealed with chains, and librarians who moved in silence, wearing black robes that covered their eyes.

The protagonists walked with reverence between the shelves.

"This is... immense," said Aika, slowly spinning in place.

"It's a map of knowledge," murmured Chisiki, his eyes glowing. "And I'm eighty percent sure it's censored."

For hours, they searched for useful records. Reiji flipped through general history books, Donyoku grew bored easily and got distracted by illustrations, while Aika analyzed religious texts. But nothing brought them closer to the secrets they were seeking: the kingdom's past, the origins of the Shinkon, the lineage of the kings.

Frustrated, Chisiki quietly stepped away, closed his eyes, and activated his Shinkon. An imperceptible wave extended throughout the space. After a few minutes, he opened his eyes with a subtle smile.

"I found something… There's a magical anomaly in the north section of the west wing. Behind a false wall. And there are guards."

They headed there cautiously. The supposed wall turned out to be the entrance to a secret room, hidden behind a bookshelf. Two guards in dark armor with severe expressions stood watch at the entrance.

"Leave this to me," said Reiji, his eyes flashing briefly.

The guards exchanged a confused look… then one saw a towering figure behind Reiji, while the other thought his skin was burning in flames. Both collapsed, unconscious from sheer terror.

"Soukei no Kyoufu (Illusion of Deep Fear)," Reiji whispered indifferently.

Inside the room, the air was denser. The shelves held books with no titles, marked with strange symbols and covered in dust. There, they found fragments of forbidden information:

A tablet listing the names of the first Shinkon wielders… many crossed out.

Records of kings using Shinkon-blessed slaves for experiments.

A stone carving of a figure identical to Reiji, though under another name: Sōzetsu no Mikazuki (Mikazuki the Tragic).

"Reiji…?" Aika asked, pointing at the carving.

"Coincidence," he replied without flinching.

But the most important find was a nearly destroyed record, much of it illegible, titled Kigen no Jidai (The Ancestral Era). Aika carefully picked it up.

"This book is vital, even if we have to restore it letter by letter."

That's when Donyoku, distracted, knocked over a book with a title written in shifting arcane symbols, unreadable and ever-changing. When he opened it, a black energy burst forth like a cursed breath. A figure emerged from the shadows above, expanding in all directions. It had no defined form: a dark mass of eyes, floating tendrils, and limbs that defied natural laws.

"Get back!" shouted Reiji.

The monster lunged at them with unnatural speed. Reiji tried to use an illusion, but the creature seemed immune. Donyoku counterattacked with a brutal charge, striking what seemed to be its core, but only caused the monster to adapt, hardening its body like living stone.

Aika fired concentrated light projectiles, and Chisiki deployed a spatial-temporal trap to slow it for seconds, but the creature mutated, regenerated, and retaliated with whips that tore through entire bookshelves. A tendril pierced Donyoku's defense and hurled him against a column. Aika was knocked down by a sonic roar. Reiji intervened, shielding them with an invisible barrier, but blood began to drip from his nose. The creature not only resisted his Soukei—it was affecting his mind.

Chisiki trembled. They were all hurt. And when he saw Aika unconscious and Donyoku barely moving, memories flooded back: his mother being murdered by the kingdom's army, his friends suffering, his father fighting to his last breath. Then something erupted within him.

"This won't happen again… not yet… we can't die here!" he screamed.

His body was enveloped in a swirl of energy. The space in front of him tore open. With a visceral cry, he activated his Hizumi.

— Hizumi: Iwaku no Tobira (Gate of the Rift).

A small portal opened in the midst of the battle, absorbing part of the surroundings. Chisiki held it open with all his power while Reiji carried Aika, and Donyoku crawled forward. One by one, they crossed through, just before the creature reached them.

They fell onto the cobblestones of a distant alley, gasping and covered in blood—but alive.

"Never… open a book without knowing what it is…" Reiji muttered, lying flat on his back.

Donyoku laughed, despite the pain.

"Got it…"

Night had fallen over Kinzoku no Hana, shrouded in a thick mist, as if the city itself wished to wrap its secrets in silence. The group stumbled back to the inn, their clothes torn, lips stained with dried blood, and breath still heavy from the battle they had just survived.

The innkeeper greeted them without asking too many questions. Rather than being shocked like any normal host would be upon seeing such wounded guests, she prepared healing potions with the precision of someone who had done it a thousand times. She tended to them in silence, with a gaze that seemed to read more than she let on.

While she applied the potions, Aika couldn't help but break the silence.

"Excuse me," she began timidly. "Why are you being so kind to us? We're not exactly normal guests… and we haven't spoken much."

The woman looked at her with a faint smile.

"Sometimes, in this world, kindness is a way of keeping silent," she replied, placing a bandage on Donyoku's wound. "Besides, we don't get many visitors… and that, at times, is a blessing."

Aika frowned, intrigued.

"Why don't you get many customers? Is it dangerous? Or is it just one of the city's secrets?"

The woman lowered her voice, almost as if confessing something.

"Sometimes, it's better not to be too curious. Some things are better protected by silence than by words."

"Then… what's your name? You never mentioned it."

There was a pause. The woman stopped mixing. Then she looked up with a faint smile, though her eyes reflected something unfathomable.

"Enma."

Aika repeated the name in her mind. A soft chill ran down her spine, though the woman's smile hadn't changed at all.

"Thank you for everything, Enma?"

"You're welcome. Rest while you can," she replied calmly. "The most dangerous questions… tend to find their own answers."

Aika was about to say more, but something in Enma's unsettling calm told her this wasn't the right moment.

Meanwhile, in a corner of the room, Chisiki and Donyoku were arguing in hushed voices—or trying to.

"You idiot!!" Chisiki snapped, shaking a bandage. "Who the hell opens a book with a title in a dead language and a cursed aura!? What were you expecting? An ancient stew recipe!?"

"Oh, I'm sorry I don't have a degree in extinct scripts!" Donyoku shot back. "I don't have a super-intellectual Shinkon that screams, 'WARNING: OPENING THIS WILL KILL YOU!'"

"It was OBVIOUS, Donyoku! That book was screaming 'I AM AN EXISTENTIAL THREAT' with every page!"

"Well, you were screaming too and look—you're still alive."

They both went silent for a moment, then laughed between pained gasps.

"You're like a little brother I never asked for," Chisiki said.

"And you're like a big brother with a martyr complex," Donyoku replied.

As they joked through the pain, Reiji had slipped away to the inn's rooftop. From there, the lights of Kinzoku no Hana flickered like fireflies trapped under a dome of mist. He watched in silence, eyes fixed on the tallest towers. The night sky felt like a heavy, opaque sheet—as if the moon was also tired of witnessing so many unanswered mysteries. The wind carried the scent of steel, incense, and secrets.

A faint whisper broke the silence—not a sound, but the sensation of another presence.

Kagenami emerged from the shadows, as if he had been there all along, latent. There was no hostility in his tone, only a sepulchral calm.

"You always show up when everything's about to fall apart," said Reiji, not turning around.

Kagenami sat beside him, gazing at the same horizon.

"Knowledge, Reiji, always crawls from the dark toward the light. But sometimes… the light burns it."

"Well?" Reiji finally asked, still staring ahead. "What brings you here?"

Kagenami looked down at the city, pulsing like a living organism. He took his time to respond. His silence was not hesitation, but depth.

"You… seem frustrated," he said at last, without answering directly. "As if you stepped into an ocean with thirst… and came out even drier."

Reiji clenched his teeth but didn't deny it.

"What we saw in that library wasn't just lost knowledge… it was the echo of a truth that was torn away. And we've only scratched the surface."

Kagenami nodded slowly, as one who shares a wound.

"If you seek answers about this world, about the Shinkon, about the Kingdom of Hokori… then you've arrived just in time."

Reiji looked at him for the first time.

"What do you mean?"

"In a few days, a special event begins here in the city," Kagenami explained. "They call it The Night of a Thousand Gazes. To the nobles, it's a spectacle of entertainment, gambling, and glory. But beneath it lies a web of far darker interests."

"A tournament?" Reiji raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, but not just that. During the event, audiences will be granted with a unique figure: The Omnipresent. Someone who knows more than any other living being about history, forbidden Shinkon, and wars that haven't even begun."

Reiji frowned, instantly recognizing the value of such an opportunity.

"And what must one do to get one of those audiences?"

Kagenami shrugged with an enigmatic smile.

"Win. Stand out. Impress… Survive. The nobles don't care about justice—only spectacle. But you already know how to infiltrate, don't you?"

Reiji lowered his gaze. He remembered the attacks on Chisiki and Donyoku, the cruel use of slaves as tools. He knew gaining access to that world would come at a price… but he was already too far in to turn back.

"Then maybe that's where we'll find what we're looking for," he said, voice low but resolute.

Kagenami nodded. At last, the pieces were beginning to move.

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Thank you for reading this chapter of Chi no Yakusoku.

If you enjoyed it, don't forget to follow for the next step in this dark blood oath.