Chapter 15 – When Pain Doesn’t Sleep
…In the deepest hour of night, where the roars of the Coliseum no longer reached, Donyoku fell. Not into an abyss, but into himself.
A crimson glow covered a ground made of bones. Not a metaphor. Bones. Of children. Of women. Of men. Of himself.
The air reeked of stale blood and fire. His skin began to crack in blackened lines as his body slowly deformed, as if something inside him demanded back the flesh he no longer felt as his own.
His arms were too long. His jaw extended down to his chest. His torso arched backward, disfiguring like a broken puppet.
And then she appeared.
His mother.
Naked. Bound.
Covered in scars he didn't remember ever seeing.
She spoke without sound, but her mouth moved as if begging for something.
Every time he tried to approach her, his monstrous body frightened her more.
She backed away.
And with each step she took back…
one of his brothers appeared, collapsed to their knees, and pleaded.
"Onii-chan… please… stop… stop already…"
Their eyes were black—no iris, no life.
And yet they shone with a guilt that pierced his chest.
His reflection shattered into five distinct versions of himself.
One laughed.
Another cried.
Another screamed.
Another bled.
And the last one… just watched. Silent. Judging.
"I DON'T WANT TO SEE ANYMORE!" roared Donyoku from the depths of his soul.
---
Aika's hand trembled over his.
"Shh… you're dreaming… it's over now… you're here…"
Her small, warm fingers tried to calm the spasms wracking his body on the shelter's cot.
Donyoku was cold-sweating, his eyes half-open, murmuring nonsense.
The Shinkon pulsed weakly in his chest, as if it too were afraid.
---
Then Reiji and Bokusatsu entered. The former with a grave look, as if he already knew something was wrong.
"How long has he been like this?" he asked curtly.
"Since he came back from the fight," Aika replied, not letting go of his hand. "It keeps getting worse. It won't stop. Like he's trapped."
Bokusatsu looked at Donyoku, then at Reiji.
"He's sinking."
Reiji frowned. Said nothing. He stepped forward and, without asking, lifted Donyoku as if he were a fragile but urgent burden.
"We're leaving."
---
"You can't remove him!" said the Coliseum guard, blocking the door. "The slave protocol clearly states—"
"He's not a slave. He's my responsibility," interrupted Reiji in a low but razor-sharp voice.
The guard drew an energy baton—not to fight, but to deter.
And that was enough.
Reiji lowered his gaze.
The air thickened.
The ground trembled.
The seal of his Soukei appeared like a glowing crack on his neck.
"You… don't understand what it's like to watch your students break."
And with a single breath…
The guard dropped to his knees.
His body contorted. He vomited a dark liquid.
His eyes turned white.
And then he screamed. Screamed as if a thousand needles pierced his soul.
He was trapped in an induced nightmare.
There was no way out.
Despair choked him.
Until he collapsed, unconscious, his face soaked in tears.
Reiji steadied himself again.
Bokusatsu watched him silently, as if seeing someone else entirely.
"That was unnecessary," he said calmly.
"You don't understand. It wasn't for him. It was for me."
---
As they left the shelter, Chisiki saw them from the hallway.
His face was tired, his body wounded, but he remained standing.
He could have collapsed like Donyoku. Could have cried.
But he didn't.
Because someone had to stay firm.
And this time… it was his turn.
He walked behind them without asking permission.
As part of the burden they all carried.
---
SOMEWHERE BEYOND BLOOD AND FLESH…
Silence wasn't always empty.
Sometimes, silence was the loudest thing.
Like now.
Enma, the so-called Omnipresent, watched from an impossible corner of the world.
He wasn't sitting, he wasn't standing, he wasn't floating.
He simply was, as if his existence were a fracture in reality.
His eyes did not gaze with pupils.
They were spinning symbols, shifting fractals.
They didn't seek… they understood.
Before him, on an altar of obsidian and human parchment, floated small blurry projections:
—Reiji, carrying Donyoku.
—Aika, clinging to the edge of her compassion.
—Chisiki, drowning his pain in silence.
—Seimei, walking down a corridor of torches and fresh corpses.
Enma smiled with a voice that didn't leave his mouth:
"When the wise fall silent, the world screams. But when the wise speak… the world trembles."
He touched one of the projections with a shadowy finger.
A tear fell from Reiji's face.
"Interesting," murmured Enma, like someone examining a wound that hasn't yet festered.
---
INNER LEVELS OF THE COLISEUM – HALL OF THE INTRIGUERS
Five figures sat in a circle.
The lights were dim. The shadows weighed more than the walls.
Before them, like an honored guest, The Viper smiled with clean teeth and a loose tongue.
One of the organizers—a man with an ivory mask and a neck adorned with human teeth—spoke:
"The second phase was bloodier than we expected. We nearly lost a Noble… How much do you think we'll get for the body of the kid who almost died?"
"Body?" asked another. "Who wants a body? The soul is what's valuable."
"And how fragile Lord Mikazuki's emotions are," another chimed in with a mocking tone. "Are we sure we won't lose control if he keeps meddling?"
The Viper laughed with elegance.
"Tonight's show will be the brightest jewel in decades.
Can't you feel the hunger in the air? That vibration in the blood?
It's desire, my dear parasites…
Desire to see who breaks first.
And that… that is gold."
"And the report from the north?" asked the eldest. "They say… the King already knows about this."
The Viper turned his wine glass. The liquid turned black for an instant.
"The King?"
"What if it's true?"
"What if he sends someone?" they insisted.
The Viper simply smiled, his fangs peeking out like a rumor of betrayal.
"There's no need to worry about rumors. No one so noble would descend into our little sewer without a good reason… wouldn't you agree?"
He knew he was lying.
Enma had already whispered it: the King knew.
But some information is worth more when kept.
And in the world of monsters, the first to show fear… dies.
---
AERIAL – OVER THE HILLS OF GUREN, HOURS FROM KINZOKU NO HANA
The skies trembled.
A swarm of large flying creatures crossed the clouds.
They weren't birds.
They were Kuzuryū—winged beasts with stone scales and magma eyes.
Creatures extinct to the common folk, domesticated only by the realm's elite.
Atop one, Yodaku stood, his body wrapped in light combat armor, gaze fixed on the metallic city in the distance.
His face showed no emotion.
But fury escaped through his parted lips.
Behind him, ten high-ranking soldiers flew in tight formation.
Their names were feared. Their Shinkon, banned in more than three kingdoms.
Their black armor bore inscriptions that pulsed in rhythm with their breath.
They were living weapons.
One of them turned to Yodaku.
"We're almost there, Commander. Orders."
Yodaku clenched his fist.
"Crush everything that breathes darkness.
But leave something alive… so it can scream who dared look toward the throne."
The wings of the Kuzuryū beat in unison.
And the sky split open.
---
TSUKIKAGE INN – OUTER DISTRICT OF KINZOKU NO HANA
The narrow streets were filled with unlit lanterns.
No one dared look them in the eye.
And still, when they reached the inn's door, something felt… familiar.
Enma was already waiting.
He dressed simply, but his presence could not be hidden.
It was as if he knew exactly when to open the door, as if he had been listening long before they arrived.
"Welcome back," he said softly, stepping aside. "You look more tired than yesterday… but also more alive."
Aika, still supporting Donyoku on her shoulder, bowed her head.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to worry you."
"I don't worry about those who tremble," Enma replied. "I worry about those who stop trembling. The ones who still do… haven't given up yet."
Aika fell silent for a moment, until her eyes landed on the small black box Enma held in both hands.
"Is that for him?"
Enma nodded, without ceremony.
"It won't heal his soul. But it'll help the body forget, for a few hours, how much it hurts to have one."
Aika accepted the box with reverence, as if holding something sacred.
"Thank you… even if I don't understand how you know so much without us saying a word."
Enma smiled without answering. His gaze fell on Donyoku, and for a moment, it seemed he saw beyond him.
"Sometimes silence screams.
And you… you scream too much without saying a word."
---
They all entered a wide room with clean tatami mats and rice-paper windows that let in only a thread of light.
Bokusatsu sat in the corner, leaning against the wall with his eyes closed, as if his presence alone was enough to keep watch.
Aika helped lay Donyoku on the futon. With careful hands, she opened the box Enma had given her. Three small pills spun inside, wrapped in a soft energy that looked like vapor.
"Come on, swallow this," she whispered, bringing it to his dry lips. "At least for tonight."
Donyoku looked at her, halfway between fever and dream. He managed a faint smile.
"Are you trying to poison me to keep my Shinkon?"
"I'm just trying to stop you from flopping like a fish out of water."
"Then it is poison," he chuckled weakly, "but it tastes like kindness."
Chisiki sat beside him, tired but still composed.
"If you're going to keep saying sweet things while drooling blood, I'm going to have to slap you for aesthetic reasons."
Donyoku turned his head slightly.
"That sounds like the best days of our childhood."
"Don't make me laugh. You owe me a full training session without collapsing halfway through."
"And you owe me an explanation as to why you have no wrinkles if you're so wise."
Chisiki rolled his eyes.
"Must be the inner void. Keeps everything firm."
They both shared a brief, sincere laugh—and for the first time since leaving the coliseum, the air loosened a bit.
As if that thread of humor were enough to push the surrounding darkness back a few centimeters.
---
Meanwhile, Reiji had climbed to the roof.
He sat with his back straight, staring at the sleeping city.
Up there, everything felt more distant.
The blood, the screams, the questions.
But his heart still roared.
He thought of Donyoku.
Of Chisiki.
Of what would come at dawn.
"I can't protect them if I don't teach them to defend themselves," he whispered.
"But how much more can they endure?"
The sky didn't answer.
It didn't even seem to hear him.
Only the wind, carrying the scent of something ancient.
Something that had already begun to move.
---
The sun was just beginning to shine over the city.
Chisiki stood by the window.
He watched the street, the rooftops, the hanging cables that carried no electricity—only secrets.
But his gaze was far away.
And then… he felt it.
A pressure.
Not like the weight of air or a mountain…
It was like being trapped in a glass bell sinking slowly into an ocean of molten lead.
He couldn't breathe completely.
Not from lack of oxygen, but from an indescribable feeling.
As if reality itself had lowered its voice.
"They're coming…" he murmured.
---
STREETS OF KINZOKU NO HANA – EAST ENTRANCE
The bustle died.
It didn't stop: it died.
The laughter, the arguments, the merchants' chants… were swallowed by a presence so overwhelming it changed the very taste of the air.
Yodaku had arrived.
He didn't ride. He didn't fly.
He walked.
Behind him, ten figures that looked as if they'd come from a world where monsters had self-awareness.
Their steps made no sound, but left cracks in the ground.
Their eyes met no one's… yet made everyone look down.
A child began to cry without reason.
An old woman fell to her knees, unable to rise.
Vendors shut their stalls with trembling hands.
Musicians fell silent.
A man tried to speak… and choked on his tongue.
The city was silent.
But not the silence of peace.
The silence of a freshly opened mass grave.
Among the rooftops, Narikami watched, smoking atop a rusted clock tower.
"So the King's most loyal dog is on the move…
Hope it's worth it."
---
INNER MARKET – FREE TRADE ZONE
The merchant Shirota, known for moving gold and gunpowder between enemy realms, was packing his briefcase.
His steamship was ready.
He planned to depart east that morning.
But when he saw the elite soldiers descending from the Kuzuryū beasts, something made him freeze.
"No…
Today's not a day to do business.
Today…
is a day to see who dies."
---
And while some tried to heal,
others were already writing the next act of their damnation.
---
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-bound vow.