The golden walls of Dune City—once a fortress carved from sandglass and pride—crack under the pressure of silence. No cannon. No warhorn.
Just Yobokari's voice, echoing from the central spire.
Seekers hang from the towers, their eyes burned shut by dreamfire. The city's central archive—set ablaze in spiraling runes—leaks forbidden knowledge like blood.
THE SPEECH (LIVE BROADCAST)
Across the continent, hacked signals and cracked projection scrolls display the same message. A flickering silhouette steps forward: black-robed, unarmed, radiating broken divinity.
"You call me evil because I show you what you've hidden."
"You call me mad because I remember what the world has chosen to forget."
"You call us terrorists, traitors, the red-stained fringe of society…"
Yobokari raises his palm. The brand of the God Hands glows, pulsing once.
"But what are you without your titles? Without your ranks? Without the lies stitched into your sacred flags?"
"Do you not feel it—this growing emptiness, this aching silence under your feet? That is not just fear. That is memory trying to crawl its way back into the world."
"The Seeker Association buries truths deeper than any relic. The Voyagers drink power, but not wisdom. And the nations—you dogs of kings—fight over scraps while forgetting who lit the first flame."
As he steps into the aura-lit pool, shadows twist behind him. The Oracle Eye opens—just once—projecting flickers of what could be.
"We are the Akugan no Ketsumei—the blood pact of those who watched too long, and saw too much."
"I have stolen Muti from the bones of the dead. I have heard the dreams of forbidden gods. I have stood upon the edge of Terragigantus… and I did not blink."
"You ask why we rebel?
Because we were never meant to serve."
"We do not seek your forgiveness. We offer no peace."
"We offer only the truth you dared not utter—and the price of surviving it."
MEANWHILE — AT SEA
Back on the fleet, just as the broadcast cuts out, the sky darkens.
Master Elric turns his head slightly—barely—but it's the most emotion he's shown in days.
"…He moved."
Aria's breath catches. "Was that… live?"
Kai doesn't answer. He's already turned toward the water. Something vast is moving beneath the waves. Something called by that speech.
The sea monster breaches. Oblivorax. The Unseen Current.
YOBO ISN'T DONE
Back on the ruins of Dune City, Yobokari's form fades.
But from a balcony, he speaks quietly now—this time to his most dangerous disciples.
Seizen. Vonn. Mother Wound. The Shepherd.
"They'll send their brightest. Their brave. Their cursed."
"Let them come. Guan Diego awaits. And the world will not survive what wakes there."
[PREVIOUSLY – THE FALL OF DUNE CITY]
Yobokari's words reached every tower, sanctuary, and secret room in the world. Not just through sound—but through aura, memory, blood. His Oracle Eye projected visions, and those who heard the message… remembered things they never lived.
The world didn't just hear his speech. It experienced it.
"We do not seek your forgiveness.
We offer no peace.
We offer only the truth you dared not utter—and the price of surviving it."
The world shuddered.
[WORLDWIDE REACTIONS – SNAPSHOTS]
UNITED STATES OF JANOAH
General Razeal Vaugren doesn't move as the broadcast ends.
Flames coil around his boots. He doesn't look at his commanders.
"Tell them the apocalypse has a face now. And it remembers."
TSAR EMPIRE
High Chancellor Marka of the Sovereign Eye locks the palace. All lie-detectors burn out across the empire for 10 seconds—a global psychic feedback loop.
THE CHUN EMPIRE
The Black Clan elders begin chanting in forgotten tongue—rituals not heard since the Silent War Era. One collapses. "The Eye has opened," he says. "And it is no longer bound to one mind."
THE FROSTHAVEN COUNCIL, THE AEROBLADE LEGIONS, THE RED SPIRE, THE OLD NIGHT LIBRARY—
Each receives the same unseen pulse. Silence. Then memory. Then fear.
[AT SEA – POST-BREACH CASUALTIES]
The sea monster—Oblivorax—struck like a planet-sized memory, not a beast. Ships vanished. Some exploded. Others simply… folded into the waves.
FLEET HEADCOUNT:
Original Fleet Size: ~770
Casualties: ~520 confirmed missing/dead
Survivors: ~250 across seven ships
1. The Silent Zephyr (Flagship, Seeker-focused)
Kai, Aria, Rin, Lila, Maximillian, Maverick
20 elite Seekers
12 combat medics
15 crew/sailors
Chimera, caged below
Total: 55
2. The Ember Ark (Janoah Engineering Vessel)
6 alchemists
5 metal Muti users
18 Flameguard soldiers
11 engineers
Total: 40
3. The Stormchant (Zirael & Sound Muti survivors)
3 Stormweavers
2 Sound Seers
1 Void Whisperer
12 sailors
3 mercenaries
Total: 21
4. The Sable Thorn (Tsar Tactical Command ship)
1 Sovereign Eye commander
9 enforcers
10 reconnaissance agents
4 wounded Seekers
Total: 24
5. The Ironwave (Logistics and Archives vessel)
3 archivists
2 Spatial Muti users
1 chained prisoner (former Red Order Seeker)
9 crew
Total: 15
6. The Bright Echo (Medical and non-combat personnel)
1 Prophet-class healer
12 civilians (Voyager-funded)
7 children rescued from a destroyed ship
4 injured Bronze Seekers
Total: 24
7. The Glutted Fang (Mercenary Escort, barely functional)
6 mercs
5 pirates turned allies during the storm
2 unknown-class Seekers (no formal affiliations)
Total: 13
GRAND TOTAL: ~250 SURVIVORS
[AURA-CONTROLLED LANDING – GUAN DIEGO]
The sea calms. The sky still bleeds.
All seven ships are pulled into a massive ring system—each to separate dock sectors of Guan Diego.
The Black Iron Gates open… without being touched.
[PRISON INTERNALS – FIRST GLIMPSE]
DEAD CELL:
Rooms howl. Failed experiments stitched with broken Muti twitch behind reinforced cages.
WAR DOGS SECTOR:
Banners of old Seeker units hang in mockery. The prisoners here once led other Seekers. Now they train for slaughter.
CULTIPLEX:
There is no light. Only voice. Soft hymns, false promises, inked truths that cut deeper than blades.
[SEIZEN – IN THE DEPTHS]
He opens his Viatra. He already knows which ships hold who.
He lets his brother feel the pull.
They won't meet. But they'll echo.
[YOBOKARI – FAR AWAY, STILL WATCHING]
He closes the Eye Pool. The pieces are placed.
"Seven ships. Seven sins. Let the survivors cleanse what's left of the truth."
"And when they scream for answers, Guan Diego will whisper."
He smiles.
"This wasn't an ambush.
This was an invitation."
Location: Cultiplex, Guan Diego Prison
Time in Prison: 62 days
Seizen came here on purpose.
He didn't get caught.
He let them bring him in.
The plan was simple:
Get inside. Free Vonn. Start the collapse from within.
GUAN DIEGO – THE PRISON
The prison isn't a building. It's a fortress.
13 levels deep. 3 divisions:
Dead Cell – Failed Muti experiments. Monsters.
War Dogs – Ex-Seekers, traitors, war criminals.
Cultiplex – The manipulators. Cult leaders, illusionists, and prophets. This is where Seizen is held.
His cell is underground, dark, and quiet.
But he's been studying every inch. Every pattern.
He knows:
The guard schedule.
The wall thickness.
Where the Muti suppressors are.
Who's cracked enough to be useful.
And how to make them move.
Seizen doesn't scream or fight. He listens. He waits.
He's memorized guard patrols.
He taps messages into the wall—coded vibrations only a few nearby prisoners understand.
Over time, he feeds them lies that feel true:
"The warden betrayed you."
"There's a rebellion coming."
"Your son is upstairs. Alive."
"You can still be remembered."
He's not just talking.
He's using his Viatra—his eye-based Muti—to plant ideas directly into their emotions.
When they believe, they act.
Seizen steals a keychain from a sloppy guard. He makes a mold of it using melted food trays.
He copies the warden's aura signature using a blood sample from the floor.
He hides lockpicks inside the soles of his sandals.
Every day, he walks slow. Blindfolded. Passive.
No one realizes he's:
Burned out the aura suppressors near his cell with carefully timed pulses.
Dug a hole behind the bed that reaches a maintenance crawlspace.
Rewired a broken speaker to act as a signal disruptor.
He's been setting this up for 61 days.
There's a prison psychiatrist named Vessek.
One night, Seizen poisons his tea—just enough to knock him out. Then uses his Viatra to copy his aura pattern.
Next morning, Seizen walks out of his cell disguised as Dr. Vessek.
He passes two guards. They nod.
He's in.
SEIZEN'S GOAL: FREE VONN
Seizen doesn't want to escape alone.
He came here to free Vonn—a dangerous ex-War Dog locked in the lowest level: Below-Null.
Vonn is the only one who knows where the Red Order's buried weapon caches are.
And he hates the world enough to burn it with Seizen.
Once inside the surveillance room, Seizen uploads a looped feed of "all clear" footage.
He shuts off the suppressors.
He unlocks the wrong cells on purpose.
Dead Cell opens first. Then the War Dogs.
The worst of the worst flood out.
Guards panic.
Explosions rock the walls.
Prisoners scream.
Some start attacking. Others just run.
Seizen times it all down to the second.
He lights fire in four different wings with a single command.
He walks calmly through the smoke while everyone else is losing their minds.
Seizen gets to the Below-Null chamber.
He uses a stolen warden code and aura signature to unlock the final gate.
The lights flicker. A door hisses open.
Vonn steps out.
"You really came," Vonn growls.
Seizen nods once.
"Time to burn it down."
POV: Seizen Kairo
Setting: Below-Null → Upper Corridor → Armory Path
Seizen didn't break in. He wove himself in.
Now it's time to rip the thread out.
The door opens with a controlled hiss. Inside, Vonn—chained neck to ankle to floor—looks up as Seizen walks in.
"Took your damn time."
"You're lucky it only took sixty-two days," Seizen says, kneeling beside the collar.
"This model reacts to soul aura. So I fed it mine. Drained it day by day until it forgot who it belonged to."
He presses his palm to the lock.
A pulse of advanced Viatra energy surges through it. The lock sputters—then opens. Clean.
Vonn stands, rolling his neck.
"You armed?"
"I don't need to be," Seizen replies.
They enter Tier 6 through a forgotten maintenance shaft—Seizen memorized the patrol gaps, times, and power nodes.
But a Guan Diego elite squad is already waiting near the junction:
Five men in reinforced armor
Equipped with Muti dampeners, kinetic burst batons, and soul-pressure grenades
Designed specifically to counter high-risk Seeker-level threats
No time to hide.
Seizen moves first.
His Viatra flashes, and he reads every heartbeat, every twitch of intention.
He throws a hand sign—a layered trauma trap—and three guards flinch as their reflexes betray them. One swings too early, one stumbles.
He's in their heads without a word.
Seizen slips in low, dodges a baton, and strikes behind the ear—knocking one out cold.
Another swings—a direct shot to the ribs. Seizen leans back just enough to graze it, then snaps the man's elbow at the joint and uses his body as a shield.
VONN ENTERS
Two guards rush Vonn.
He activates Warpath Muti—his muscles swell slightly, veins pulsing black. The floor cracks under his step.
The first guard lands a baton hit.
Vonn doesn't budge.
"Try harder."
He grabs the man by the arm, lifts him over his shoulder, and slams him spine-first into the wall. Unconscious.
The second guard throws a grenade.
Vonn throws his chain. It wraps around the man's wrist mid-toss and yanks him forward. He headbutts the man through his visor. Down.
LAST GUARD STANDING
This one's smarter. He activates a null-field emitter, blocking Muti use in a ten-foot radius.
Seizen steps inside it on purpose.
No Viatra. No illusion.
Just skill.
The guard lunges—Seizen pivots, redirects, kicks his knee in, traps the man's arm, and drops him with a neck chop.
Clean. Controlled.
"Even without Muti," Seizen says, "you were never going to win."
Five elite guards. All down.
Vonn cracks his knuckles.
"You sure we can't kill anyone on the way out?"
"We're not here to kill. We're here to collapse a system."
Seizen picks up one of their aura tags—he needs it for the next door.
HEADING TO THE ARMORY
They walk fast, quiet, and direct.
Not sneaking. Not hiding.
Owning the route.
Seizen's Viatra flickers as they pass sealed rooms—he reads motion behind the walls, the fear building as word of the riot starts to spread.
"What about your brother?" Vonn asks.
"He's here. He'll feel me soon enough."
They reach the next gate.
The armory is on the other side.
Location: Tier 5 – East Armory Gate
Seizen slides the stolen guard's aura tag into the wall reader.
The gate hisses open.
Inside is the Tier-5 Secure Armory:
Heavy Muti-reinforced weapons. Riot gear. Seeker-level stasis tech.
Everything locked, tagged, and sealed.
Vonn grabs a curved glaive off the wall. His aura ignites as he channels Warpath Muti into the metal. It glows dull red—ready to cut.
"We're wasting time," Vonn says.
"No," Seizen replies, walking to the back wall. "We're making noise."
He places a shaped bone shard against a floor plate.
The pressure triggers an override glyph.
The far wall opens.
Inside: a cryo-locked Dead Cell experiment.
An emaciated humanoid fused with mutated aura nodes and metal limbs. Its Muti was banned during the Silent War era.
"Why the hell would this be here?" Vonn mutters.
"Because Guan Diego doesn't just hold prisoners. It collects weapons."
Seizen taps a sequence into the side console.
The stasis field drops.
"Now we have a distraction."
THE EXPERIMENT OPENS ITS EYES.
It doesn't scream. It just moves—fast, violent, and without thought.
It tears through the room, slamming into a locked blast door. Sirens blare.
Seizen and Vonn slip out the rear service hatch before guards can even reach the floor.
"Won't it kill everyone?" Vonn asks.
"Only the ones who were supposed to keep it locked up."
They vanish into the smoke and alarms.
Location: Tier 3 — Internal Processing Ring
Kai, Aria, Rin, Maximillian, Lila, and Maverick are walking with a small guard escort through the intake level—heading for orientation cells.
They're not cuffed, but they're watched.
Then the alarms hit.
Red lights flash. Shutters begin closing. A prison-wide lockdown begins.
Maverick stops walking.
"That's not a drill."
Rin's Viatra flashes. He looks toward the ceiling, then down the hall.
"Someone powerful just broke containment… and someone dangerous just woke up."
Kai is already tightening the wrappings on his arms. Calm.
"We're moving. Find a control point. Secure the route to the lower sectors."
Guard: "You don't have clearance to—"
Maximillian flicks his fingers. A resonant chord echoes from his kora. The hallway vibrates.
"We weren't asking."
THE TEAM SPLITS ACTIONS
Maverick and Lila split off to get into the local comms network—Maverick using tech, Lila using her aura to override control locks.
Aria and Max hold the upper hallway, clearing guards and calming chaos with force and precision.
Kai and Rin head downward.
Rin's breathing shifts.
"It's him. He's here."
Kai says nothing.
But deep down, he feels it too.
Seizen is moving. And the prison is coming undone.