The city without roots
Five months had passed since the White Ridge of Tsugai no Oka. The hill was no longer a forbidden place, but it wasn't accessible either. It had become a coordinate of silence: neither official maps nor the Tree's ancient networks registered it. They called it the Neutral Zone, although there was nothing neutral about it. Sora hadn't left. No one knew if she was still alive, or if the root had finished absorbing her. Akihiko had disappeared from the clans' radar, walking through forgotten regions, without a trace, without direction.
In the southern part of the continent, in the industrial region of Iwagura, the city of Daiketsu was simmering with a new pulse. Without the Tree's judgment, the vacuum of authority had been filled with refined violence. Mafias, old and new, were beginning to rise as centers of spiritual and military power. The Twelve Families, weakened and divided, could not control them. In the shadows, there was talk of a new alliance called The Coal Agreement , a pact between mobsters, mercenaries, and renegade ex-priests, whose purpose was to "root a new order from the darkness."
The funeral of the last Patriarch
In Daiketsu, the body of Patriarch Guren, one of the last remaining with a direct connection to the Tree, was buried in secret. His death was not public. Nor was his trial. No one knew if his soul had been absorbed into the network, or if it had simply been lost. During the clandestine burial, one of those present stood out: a young man, wearing a black suit, white gloves, his face covered by a metallic mask. They called him Okuma , leader of the Sacred Crows, a mafia that combined ancient spiritual art with urban control.
Okuma didn't speak. His power was his voice. Literally. It was said he could resonate the frequencies of lost judgment and make a person confess what they'd never said in life. His enemies ended up broken inside, as if their souls were unraveling from the vibration. No one knew where he came from. Only that he had been marked by an artificial root implanted in his throat. A failed experiment by an extinct cult.
Along with him were three other emerging leaders:
Rikuya Nami , a renegade exorcist from the Sashikami clan, now head of the Silver Harvesters. His body is tattooed with symbols that change depending on his enemy's intentions. Yurei Sanjo , a blind woman with an ability called "Hollow Breath": she can completely shut down her victim's senses for five seconds, turning them into living bodies without perception. Kyoukotsu , a freelance mercenary who carries a rusty root embedded in his right arm. With it, he channels heat energy through the weapons he touches.
They were the new chiefs. They didn't seek to worship the Tree. Nor did they hate it. They only knew that the old world was dead, and they weren't going to build temples on ruins. They would build weapons, territories, and pacts.
III. Echoes of Akihiko
Miles away, in a northern mountain village, a nameless man healed wounds in exchange for silence. His eyes were old, but his face was young. He wore a worn coat and carried a weapon he hadn't used in months. Some said he spoke to the earth. Others claimed he slept with a white root buried under his pillow.
He didn't confirm anything. He just listened. He just watched. He knew he couldn't go back yet. That the world was building new questions. And that Sora… was still singing.
But something told him a new war was brewing. Not for judgment. Not for truth. For the simple reason that someone always needs to be in control of something they don't understand .
The Coal Agreement is activated
In the sewers of Daiketsu, a secret meeting united the minor mafias under a new oath. Roots no longer dictated power. The marks were gone. But they could still create symbols. New seals. Pacts that were engraved in blood.
And in the center of that circle, Okuma spoke out loud for the first time. His tone shattered a lamp. He drew blood from three listeners. And he left a single sentence hanging in the air:
—If the Tree has fallen silent, then we are the new forest .
END OF CHAPTER 101