The Land of Slaughterers
The carriage had been traveling for hours.
Gensu no longer knew how much time had passed since he had left the headquarters of Kyoketsu no Hikari.
The road ahead kept changing.
The vast open lands gradually disappeared, replaced by narrow paths surrounded by mountains on both sides. The trees became denser, and mist began gathering between the branches, until even the sunlight could no longer reach the ground except in faint beams.
Gensu sat motionless inside the carriage.
The window was open.
Cold air entered and struck his face, but he paid no attention.
His eyes remained fixed on the road.
And yet...
He was not seeing the road.
He was seeing Yuna.
She was running behind the carriage.
Her voice was still inside his head.
"Gensu!"
He closed his eyes.
Levi appeared.
Then Nero.
Then Nairobi's grave.
Then Thalen.
He opened his eyes quickly.
He let out a slow breath.
He did not want to think.
But he did not know how to stop thinking.
Outside, Ivo was riding beside the carriage on his white horse.
He did not say a word.
He did not try to comfort Gensu.
He knew that there were times when words were useless.
So he left him alone.
Another hour passed.
Then the carriage began shaking more violently.
The stones became larger.
The road narrower.
And the mountains closer.
Gensu raised his head.
He looked through the window.
There were no villages anymore.
No travelers.
No other carriages.
Even the sounds of birds had begun to disappear.
There was something strange about this place.
Something that made even the silence feel heavy.
Then...
The carriage stopped.
Gensu opened his eyes.
He raised his head.
He stepped out of the carriage.
Ivo had already dismounted from his horse.
As for the driver, he climbed down from his seat and began preparing the carriage for the return journey.
Gensu stared at him for a moment.
Then looked toward the road.
Ahead of them was a narrow passage stretching between two enormous mountains.
No gate.
No city.
Nothing.
Only the forest.
Ivo approached his white horse.
He grabbed the reins.
"The road ends here."
He said it simply.
Gensu looked at the carriage.
Then at the road.
He said nothing.
The driver climbed back onto his seat.
The carriage began moving.
It passed beside Gensu.
The driver did not look inside.
And Gensu did not look at him.
The carriage continued into the distance until it disappeared around the bend.
Only then did Ivo turn around.
He extended his hand.
"Get on."
Gensu looked at the horse.
Then grabbed Ivo's hand and climbed behind him.
Ivo sat in front.
The horse began moving.
The journey started again.
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But this time...
There was no road back.
---
The two entered the forest.
At first, Gensu saw nothing but trees.
Then he saw the first sign.
A shattered tree trunk.
Then a massive cracked boulder.
Then a deep hole covered by grass.
Then...
A corpse.
It lay beside the road.
It was not human.
Gensu's eyes remained on it for several seconds.
The horse continued forward.
A second corpse appeared.
Then a third.
Then the number began increasing.
Massive bodies lay between the trees.
Claws were embedded in the earth.
Torn wings.
Strange limbs.
Some were so old that nothing remained but bones.
Others still had blood that had not yet dried.
Ivo did not stop.
He followed the same path as though he knew every stone on it.
He passed beside the enormous corpse of a Yami.
He glanced at it for a moment.
Then continued.
On one side of the road, a broken spear was buried in the ground.
On the other, a black sword was half-covered in mud.
The horse passed between them.
Ivo said nothing.
But Gensu was beginning to understand.
This was not land where a battle had taken place.
This was land where battles lived.
---
As they went deeper, distant sounds began to emerge.
A scream.
Then the sound of an impact.
Then the sound of something enormous moving between the trees.
A bird stopped on one of the branches.
In the next moment, it suddenly flew away.
Gensu looked at it.
Ivo did not stop.
He held the reins with one hand.
His other hand remained close to his sword.
He was not tense.
He was simply ready.
The horse continued.
Then they came across enormous footprints in the mud.
Ivo passed beside them.
He looked down.
Then calmly said:
"They took the eastern path."
It was an ordinary sentence.
As though he were talking about the weather.
He continued riding.
Several minutes later, something appeared between the trees.
A wall.
Massive.
Black.
It stretched between the mountains until both ends disappeared into the mist.
The closer they came, the larger it became.
Then the towers appeared.
Watchtowers stood above the wall.
A man carrying a weapon stood in each one.
Then the gate appeared.
It was so enormous that the horse looked tiny before it.
But the thing that caught Gensu's attention most...
Was not the gate.
It was the wall itself.
Yami heads were hanging from it.
Dozens.
Perhaps hundreds.
Some were nothing more than skulls.
Others were fresh.
Beneath some of them were small stone plaques.
Names.
Some names had been erased by time.
Others looked as though they had been carved yesterday.
Gensu said nothing.
He continued staring.
Ivo did not explain either.
He simply raised his hand toward the guards.
One of them immediately changed his expression.
"Ivo."
"Open it."
Ivo's tone was casual.
As though he had returned home after a long absence.
The gate began moving.
The sound of metal filled the area.
Then it opened.
Ivo entered.
Gensu followed behind him.
---
The moment he crossed the gate...
Gensu felt that something had changed.
There was an entire city behind the wall.
But it did not resemble any city he had ever seen.
There were no beautiful buildings.
Everything was massive.
Heavy.
Made of stone.
Buildings that looked like fortresses.
Towers.
Narrow passages.
Inner gates.
Wide courtyards.
Walls separating the buildings.
And in every corner...
A weapon.
A hanging sword.
A spear.
A bow.
A shield.
Strange tools.
There was almost no decoration.
Even the walls carried marks from old blows.
As if the city itself had taken part in endless wars.
Ivo continued forward.
He knew everything here.
He passed through a narrow street.
He greeted an old man.
Then passed a woman carrying a wooden box.
She nodded at him.
He returned a brief nod.
He did not stop.
Gensu followed behind him.
Watching.
Everything.
Then he heard a sound.
A strike.
Then another.
Then the sound of metal colliding with something.
The sound grew closer.
A training ground appeared.
There were dozens of children.
Of different ages.
Some could barely hold a sword.
But all of them were training.
There was no cheering.
No laughter.
Only the sound of weapons.
At the other end of the training ground...
There were cages.
Gensu stopped for a moment.
Something moved inside one of them.
A Yami.
It was restrained.
Alive.
Its eyes moved between the children.
On the opposite side, a small child stood before it.
He held a sword.
His hand was trembling.
A man stood behind him.
He said nothing.
He simply pointed.
The child raised his sword.
He hesitated.
Then the sword fell from his hand.
The child looked at it.
He picked it up again.
Raised the sword.
Struck.
Silence filled the area.
The Yami fell.
The child returned the sword to its place.
Then went back to his line.
No one looked.
The training did not stop.
Another child stepped forward.
Then another.
As if what had just happened had been nothing more than an ordinary exercise.
Ivo continued along the path.
He passed the training ground without looking at it for long.
He simply said:
"We're late."
Then continued walking.
---
On another street...
A group of men carried the body of a massive Yami.
It was dead.
They passed Gensu.
One of them said:
"To the laboratory."
The other replied:
"The samples have arrived."
Then they disappeared into a stone building.
Above the door was an engraved symbol.
A circle crossed by three lines.
Gensu continued staring.
Then moved on.
On the other side, a woman sat before a long table.
Tools surrounded her.
Vials.
Pages.
And strange pieces preserved inside glass containers.
She was writing something.
Someone placed a box before her.
He opened it.
She looked inside.
Then closed the box.
"Put it with the others."
There was no emotion in her voice.
She continued writing.
Ivo passed the place without stopping.
It was obvious that all of this was simply part of everyday life.
---
Then they reached a long building.
Dozens of swords were displayed across its wall.
Each sword carried a name.
Gensu stopped.
He did not approach.
He simply looked.
Ivo stopped as well for a moment.
His eyes passed over the swords.
One of them was familiar to him.
He extended his hand.
Touched it.
Then pulled his hand away.
He said nothing.
He continued forward.
Gensu followed.
After a short distance, another wall appeared.
Larger.
Taller.
Covered in names.
Beneath every name was a number.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
Then a name.
Then another number.
Then another name.
The wall stretched all the way to the end of the street.
Ivo did not stop.
But he looked at it for a moment.
A very brief glance.
Then continued walking.
As for Gensu...
He kept looking behind him.
He did not understand.
But something about that wall made him feel a weight he could not explain.
He did not ask.
And Ivo did not explain.
There was something obvious in the way people behaved here.
They did not talk about death.
They lived beside it.
---
The two passed through another courtyard.
This one was not for training.
There were dozens of men and women.
Some prepared weapons.
Some put on armor.
Some treated wounds.
Others carried bodies.
The work never stopped.
Everyone knew their place.
Even the children walking through the passage did not run.
They walked silently.
Some carried small weapons.
One of them stopped in front of Ivo.
"You're back."
Ivo smiled slightly.
"Looks like you couldn't survive without me."
The man laughed.
"On the contrary. We were celebrating."
Ivo passed by.
Gensu smiled for the first time in a long while.
A very small smile.
Then it disappeared.
This was the first normal thing he had seen in this place.
Strangely enough, the normal here...
Was terrifying.
---
Ivo continued walking.
The deeper they went, the fewer people there were.
The buildings became larger.
The walls grew higher.
And in one corner, Gensu saw children sitting around an old man.
The man was speaking.
But Gensu could not hear his words.
The children listened to him with intense attention.
A large board stood before them.
Ivo passed by without stopping.
Elsewhere, a man was grinding something black inside a stone bowl.
In another place, a woman cleaned a weapon covered in dried blood.
And somewhere else, a child read a book while a small sword lay beside him.
Everything here carried the same thing.
Weapons.
Even things that had nothing to do with fighting.
---
Then people began noticing Gensu.
Not obviously.
Just glances.
A man raising his eyes.
A woman pausing for a moment.
A child looking at him.
A guard following him with his eyes.
Then everything returned to normal.
Ivo noticed.
His expression did not change.
But he slowed the horse slightly.
Until Gensu was closer to him.
Then he continued.
He knew these looks.
And he knew that a stranger did not pass unnoticed in the Land of Slaughterers.
But he was not worried about Gensu.
He was worried about what would happen if someone discovered the truth.
The truth no one here knew.
Only Ivo knew.
Gensu carried something inside his body that no slaughterer could ever know was among them.
Kaizen.
The King of the Yami.
A name whose true meaning Gensu himself did not fully understand.
And a name that, if revealed...
Would leave this city unchanged no longer.
So Ivo was not watching Gensu.
He was watching everyone else.
---
The two reached the inner part of the city.
Everything there was quieter.
No shouting.
No training.
Only the footsteps of people against stone.
A massive building appeared before them.
Ivo stopped in front of it.
He dismounted.
Then looked at Gensu.
"We're here."
Gensu dismounted.
He stood before the building.
The door was massive.
Ancient.
And it bore the same symbol found throughout the city.
The Slaughterers.
Ivo opened the door.
He entered.
Gensu followed.
Before closing the door...
Ivo looked back.
The city stretched behind him.
The walls.
The towers.
The children.
The swords.
The cages.
The names.
For thousands of years...
Everything here had been moving in one direction.
Ivo looked at Gensu.
Then closed the door.
---
Outside...
The Land of Slaughterers continued as usual.
A child raised his sword.
A man returned from a hunt.
A Yami screamed behind iron bars.
A blacksmith forged a new sword.
A woman cleaned blood from the ground.
And someone...
Was carving a new name into the wall.
No one stopped.
No one knew.
That something that should never have entered this land...
Had already entered it.
They did not know that Gensu was not merely an exile who had arrived in the Land of Slaughterers.
And they did not know that the thing living inside his body...
Was the name that could turn this entire city into hell in a single moment.
But that night...
Nothing happened.
No one screamed.
No swords were drawn.
No cages were opened.
No one learned the truth.
Only Ivo knew.
And that secret...
Was too heavy for one man to carry.
As for Gensu...
He sat inside his new room.
He placed his bag beside him.
Then looked out the window.
He saw a land he did not know.
A city he did not understand.
And a family he had heard of only during the trial.
But he did not know that entering this land was not merely the end of his previous journey.
It was the beginning of something else.
Something greater.
And far darker.
And somewhere deep inside this body...
Something else was listening.
Something ancient.
Something silent.
Something that knew this scent.
The scent of a land that had spent generations killing creatures like itself.
But it made no sound.
No one knew.
And that night...
The Land of Slaughterers slept as it always had.
While the King of the Yami...
Slept beneath its roof.
Without anyone knowing.