I. Underground Rhythm
Dawn in Edenfall is a luminous lie. The streets awaken with traffic and voices, but underground, in the tunnels that snake beneath the city, a constant vibration resonates.
Naeya listens first. It's not sound. It's a rhythm. An artificial heartbeat , as if the city's heart had been replaced with a mechanical one.
And with every pulse… something activates.
"They're communicating through pressure frequency. As if Edenfall's blood carried messages."
Riva, worried, descends with a scanner.
And discovers a nexus . A living metal structure that pulses to the rhythm of a single body.
II. The Second Blood: Yuugen Kōrai
While the Edenfall team analyzes the rhythm underground, Akihiko and Lirea arrive at a demolished temple that was used as a tactical headquarters in the previous war.
There, Yuugen Kōrai , the second member of the Throne of the Twelve Bloods, awaits them. His body is covered in breathing tattoos, symbols that expand or contract with his breathing.
— Unique Ability: Control of the internal rhythm of the opponent's organs. He can slow down, speed up, or collapse the functioning of the heart, lungs, or intestines with a simple gesture, when standing close.
Yuugen doesn't attack immediately. He speaks.
"Every body has a melody.
Only those that are out of tune deserve to be silenced."
And with a slap, he slows Lirea's heart rate.
She falls to her knees, struggling to breathe. Akihiko tries to attack him, but his katana seems heavier than usual.
"You're hearing your blood in another tempo. Welcome to my rhythm."
III. Pulse Dance
The only way Akihiko can fight is to stop listening to his body .
He begins to move in an inorganic way, as if imitating chaotic patterns.
This makes him unpredictable. Yuugen tries to master his rhythm, but Akihiko no longer obeys his.
Lirea recovers enough to generate a disruptive wave with her expansion bioweapon.
Akihiko cuts the central symbol on Yuugen's chest, breaking the balance of his technique.
"Your notes... are out of tune now."
Yuugen falls, but before dying, he smiles:
"I'm just a low note.
You'll hear the chorus soon."
IV. The Choral Body
Deep within Edenfall, in the Synapse Chamber, Shōen Rikudō watches the data transmitted from the two battles.
Activate the Second Seal.
And from the city's soil, small fleshy protuberances emerge, emitting a harmonized hum.
"The collective body is remembering how to sing.
The third echo… will be choral."
V. Echoes of War
Naeya, Sael, and Lirea reunite at the Shelter.
They discover that the vibrations spread like mental waves that alter the perception of time in the most sensitive citizens.
Meanwhile, Velos discovers a tattoo identical to Yuugen's... on a corpse found at Ground Zero in Edenfall , an area sealed off for over a decade.
The conclusion is inevitable: The Twelve Bloods had already been infiltrating the city for years.
END OF CHAPTER 192