I. The Inner Abyss
The air in Edenfall had become an unbearable weight, heavy with the promise of the inevitable. Every step Akihiko took seemed to echo like a curse, as if the very ground were waiting for his fall. The Tenth Core had been awakened, but the power he felt within was not his own alone. The Tree was calling to him.
Kaede walked beside him, her face tense, gazing at the ruins that stretched out around them. Every building, every street, bore the Tree's mark, as if everything had been rewritten to fit the new reality he and the others had unleashed.
" What are we going to do now?" Kaede asked, her voice almost drowned out by the weight of the city around her.
Akihiko didn't answer immediately. He stared at the obsidian flower that still throbbed in his hands. The Tree had chosen him , he knew it. But the price demanded was still unclear, as were the consequences of what he represented. Was he the bearer of the Fruit , or simply another piece in the cosmic chess game the Tree was weaving?
"What do you want from me?" she thought, with a silent desperation she didn't want to admit.
The answer came like an inner vibration, a whisper that traveled from the base of his spine to the tips of his fingers. The voice of the Tree was within him.
"You are the door. You are the seed that will close the cycle. Only you can decide what remains."
Akihiko fell to his knees, his body convulsed by an unseen force. The power within him erupted in a wave of energy that engulfed him. The fragment began to burn anew, more intensely than ever, and his senses blurred. He no longer knew if he was still in Edenfall or if he had crossed some kind of boundary between worlds.
"What will remain, Tree?" he whispered, his voice echoing. "What is it you truly ask of me?"
"The answer is in your blood. The cycle begins… and you decide how it ends."
II. The Trail of Sacrifice
The Tree's words continued to echo in his head, but Akihiko had no time to process them. Karyū , the Lethal One who had fallen, had not been the only danger lurking in the shadows of Edenfall. A greater evil was brewing, a presence that grew stronger each time the Tree expanded its power.
Suddenly, a bloodcurdling scream echoed in the distance. Akihiko raised his head, the obsidian flower throbbing violently in his hands. Something was happening . Something he had never felt before.
" Akihiko, look!" Kaede shouted, pointing towards the ruined cathedral.
What had once been a stone structure now stood as a monument to distortion. The red light of the Tree's seal shone with blinding intensity, and black roots began to sprout from the walls, dragging everything in their path. The Tenth Core had reached its full power. And now, the city was no longer a refuge, but the center of a ritual that even Akihiko didn't fully understand .
On the ground, the obsidian flower shattered, releasing a dark mist that enveloped everything it touched. Akihiko tried to move, but his legs wouldn't respond. The Tree is taking control.
" What's happening?!" Kaede cried out in despair. Her voice distorted as a black wind began to sweep away debris. Reality itself seemed to be warping around her.
"It is the transition," said a familiar voice, cold and distant. "What the Tree has awaited for centuries."
Akihiko turned, finding Shoen Rikudō emerging from the shadows, his face impassive as ever. However, his eyes gleamed with a predatory intensity.
—The cycle has come to an end, Akihiko. And you, the bearer, will be the one to close the final door.
Shoen walked towards him, his footsteps sounding like a sentence.
—You are the sacrifice. But don't worry, you won't be the only one.
III. The Sacrifice of Edenfall
Akihiko felt the Tree's power beginning to consume him. It wasn't just a physical weight; it was a presence , a void that filled him from within. The city itself seemed to breathe with him, as if they shared the same fate. Every root that sprouted from the cathedral connected him more deeply to the Tree, and in every inch of the ground, Edenfall's roots spread, as if everything were united in a single heartbeat.
"Sacrifice is the key," echoed in his mind, and suddenly, he understood. The Tree hadn't chosen him for his power. It had chosen him because his very existence was the price that had to be paid to close the cycle.
Akihiko looked at Shoen, and for a moment, his heart stopped. Shoen wasn't just an enemy. He was part of something much bigger. He was part of the Tree itself.
"Everything that began with the Fruit, Akihiko, ends with you. The cycle will not be complete without you. This isn't about saving Edenfall. It's about saving what's left of the world."
Akihiko looked at the broken obsidian flower in his hands, and for the first time, he understood. The Tree had given him the power to destroy, but it had also given him the power to be reborn. The choice was his. What would remain of the world when it was all over?
With one last glance at Kaede, who now understood the magnitude of what was happening, Akihiko took a step toward the door the Tree had opened. He knew he couldn't stop it. The answer lay in his blood. And now, his sacrifice was the only way out.
IV. The Last Election
In that instant, emptiness consumed him. The city began to crumble around him, and the Tree's red light blazed like a beacon of destruction. Akihiko, now one with the Tree, closed his eyes . There was no more time. The final door slammed shut.