Chapter 161 : The First Echo of the Shadow War

Dawn at Hawks' villa did not come with the chirping of birds or the warmth of the morning sun. Dawn arrived in the form of Akame standing silently before my bedroom door, her silhouette framed against the still gray-purple sky. I didn't know how long she had been there. She didn't knock. She just waited, her presence a more effective alarm than any device.

I pushed my stiff body out of bed. Every muscle protested, the remnants of the fight with Esdeath still lingering like a slow-acting poison. But beneath the pain, there was something else. A power that pulsed, dormant within my blood. The Tyrant Dragon's instinct.

We exchanged no words as I followed her out to the villa's spacious backyard. The area was a perfectly manicured Japanese-style garden, but one corner featured an open area of packed earth—clearly a private training arena.

"Your first lesson isn't about power," Akame said, her voice as still as the morning air. She stopped in the center of the arena and turned to face me. "You have enough raw power to destroy a city. The problem is, your power is wild and reactive. Incursio responds to threats and your desires, but you don't truly control it. You are a passenger, not the pilot."

She looked at me sharply. "Esdeath controls every shard of her ice as if it were an extension of her own finger. You must be able to do the same with your armor. Show me. Summon Incursio."

I nodded, taking a fighting stance and focusing my mind. "INCURSIO!"

Energy exploded from my body. The familiar silver dragon armor enveloped me in an instant, its immense power flowing through me, dulling the pain and replacing it with a feeling of invincibility. The short sword at my hip and the draconic helmet covering my face felt like parts of myself.

"Too slow. Too wasteful," Akame commented flatly, completely unimpressed. "You wasted enough energy for three activations just for one light show. Now, deactivate it."

I did. The armor vanished.

"Now," she continued. "Summon only your right gauntlet."

I frowned. "Just... the gauntlet?"

"Yes."

I closed my eyes, concentrating. I pictured the silver gauntlet forming on my arm. I felt the energy begin to stir, but what happened was the entire armor flickered into existence, threatening to manifest fully before ultimately failing and disappearing. I gasped for breath, feeling a slight exhaustion.

"Failure," Akame said. "You can't command it. You can only beg it. You must consciously alter the armor's properties, not just react. Try again."

(POV Switch: Class 1-A, U.A. High School)

The atmosphere in Class 1-A's homeroom was strange that morning. Tatsumi's seat was empty. That wasn't unusual; he was often absent for "special internships." But this time felt different. There were no messages in the class group chat, no news at all.

The door opened and Shota Aizawa walked in, his sleeping bag slung over his shoulder as usual. But his face seemed more tired than normal.

"Morning," he mumbled, stepping up to the podium. "Before we begin, I have an announcement."

The entire class fell silent.

"Regarding your classmate, Tatsumi," Aizawa continued, his eyes scanning the room. "As of today, for urgent family reasons, he has temporarily withdrawn from U.A. High School. He has been moved to a secure location and will not be returning for the foreseeable future. That is all."

The silence that followed was heavy and tense.

"WHAT?!" Bakugo was the first to explode, shooting up from his seat. "What do you mean 'withdrawn'?! That damn kid would never just run away!"

"Sit down, Bakugo. The decision has been made," Aizawa said, his eyes flashing red for a moment as he activated his Quirk.

In another corner, Uraraka stared blankly at Tatsumi's empty seat, her eyes welling with tears. Momo placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, though her own face was pale. She knew something was wrong. A "ghost" mission shouldn't have ended with a withdrawal from school. Next to her, Tsuyu placed a finger on her chin, her eyes narrowing in deep thought, kero.

Nejire Hado, who happened to be stopping by Class 1-A to see Tamaki, stood in the doorway, her usually bright smile gone. She looked at Aizawa, then at the empty seat, and a terrible feeling gripped her heart. This was more than just "family reasons." The secret they shared felt heavier and more dangerous than ever.

(POV Switch: Training Arena, Hawks' Villa)

I was gasping for breath, kneeling on one knee, sweat plastering my hair to my forehead. It had been an hour, and the best I could manage was to sporadically and unstably manifest a gauntlet and a leg guard. This was far harder than any physical fight. This was a battle against myself.

"You're still fighting it," Akame said, standing over me. "You're trying to force your will upon Tyrant. That won't work. You must unify the three aspects of yourself—the Mind of an Earthling, the Heart of Tatsumi, and the Instinct of the Dragon."

Her sharp criticism stung my pride, and suddenly a memory flashed through my mind.

Flashback

I was in the forest near Night Raid's base, years ago. I was training with Bulat. I was swinging my sword repeatedly against a large tree, each swing filled with raw strength and the frustration of feeling like the weakest member.

"Harder, Tatsumi! But don't just rely on your arms!" Bulat shouted from the side, a wide grin on his face. "Feel the flow! Feel how the power flows from your feet, to your hips, then to your shoulders! You and your sword must become one!"

I remembered how simple it felt. Physical. Mechanical. I just had to train my muscles. I didn't have to negotiate with my sword or ask its soul for permission. I just had to swing it.

The memory felt so distant, from another lifetime. I was a different boy then, with simpler problems.

(Flashback End)

I opened my eyes. Bulat was right. Akame was also right. I couldn't just use brute force.

"I... I understand," I whispered, more to myself than to her.

I pushed myself to my feet, ignoring my trembling muscles. I didn't try to force it. I closed my eyes and didn't think about the armor at all. Instead, I thought about its purpose. Protection. I needed protection for my arm. Not to fight, but to block an attack. A request, not a command.

Slowly, with a smoothness I had never felt before, plates of silver crept along my right arm. They fused together silently, with no explosion of energy. Just a solid, perfect gauntlet, feeling light and strong.

I opened my eyes and stared at it in amazement.

Akame gave a small nod, a flicker of approval in her eyes. "Good. That is the first step. You managed to manifest a single part."

She looked at me, her gaze now deeper. "The armor is a shell. Tomorrow, we will begin teaching you how to speak with the soul within it."

She turned and walked away, leaving me alone in the middle of the arena as the sun began to climb higher. I clenched my armored right fist, feeling a new, faint but real connection. The shadow war had begun, and my first lesson wasn't about how to fight, but how to understand myself.