I. Regrets That Do Not Fall
Since Ranka Jūsō was neutralized, Edenfall seemed to regain some of its natural rhythm, but the silence between the vibrations was different. It was no longer a pause. It was a gap, an emotional hole.
"Don't you feel it?" Naeya asked. "As if the city had forgotten how to grieve."
In the most sensitive areas, psychologists began to notice a new phenomenon: people unable to feel sadness. They could remember losses, but didn't experience grief.
Meanwhile, the video surveillance systems began to fail. The recordings were replaced by a bandaged figure, whose silhouette seemed to be constantly observing.
II. The Fourth Seal: Harienma, the Loss of Lament
The new active member of the Throne was Harienma , a thin, almost skeletal man with the ability to draw out the emotional pain of his victims, not to cure them, but to nullify their connection to the suffering .
His presence was devastating. Wherever he passed, people forgot funerals, traumas, and breakups. They stopped crying. They transformed into automatons, acting without understanding why.
"He who cannot grieve... cannot heal. And he who does not heal... does not remember why he fought."
Harienma operated from the shadows of the central hospital, gradually transforming patients into useful pieces for the Throne.
III. The Incident at the Memorial Hall
Akihiko, Naeya and Lirea infiltrated the former Pavilion of Remembrance , an urban mausoleum dedicated to preserving memories of past wars.
But upon entering, they noticed that the walls were no longer covered with plaques or records. There were only mirrors, and in front of them, hundreds of motionless people.
"This... is an emotional prison," Lirea said. "A place where you come to see yourself... without feeling yourself."
The walls began to vibrate. Harienma appeared, voiceless, but with a gesture that caused an inescapable tightness in everyone's chest. His attacks were subtle resonances , waves of energy that deactivated the tear glands and the brain's pain centers.
Naeya was the first to fall. Not from injuries, but from emptiness. He forgot his sister. He forgot why he was fighting. He fell to his knees, repeating her name without knowing who he meant.
IV. The Countersong of Remembrance
Akihiko, facing the overwhelming pressure of Harienma, resisted by closing his eyes. His weapon wasn't his katana, but the emotional connection he'd cultivated with each loss .
"We don't fight because it hurts. We fight because remembering hurts... and yet we keep going."
With Lirea's help, they used an old tape recorder from the Edenfall archive and projected the city's original wails: battle cries, funeral songs, tales of death. The pure sound of human pain.
That Countersong broke the field of Harienma. Naeya wept. And with that tear, the prison broke.
V. The Breaking of the Fourth Seal
Harienma, weakened by the sound of royal crying, tried to disappear. But Akihiko touched his face just before he could.
"Pain is not weakness. It is the map of our resilience."
With that phrase, the Fourth Seal was broken. He didn't die, but his body was reduced to a formless echo, trapped in the pavilion's mirrors.
VI. The Emotional Chain
At the Throne Quarters, Shoen Rikudō felt the imbalance. Edenfall was beginning to remember , and it made him stronger.
"It's time to move from the soul... to the bone."
Then a new figure appeared. A skinless man, composed only of muscle tissue. He walked without a trace, but his mere presence made the concrete creak.
"The Fifth Seal... will be activated at the very core of Edenfall."
END OF CHAPTER 194