Page 1
The room is silent.
Mabu sits on the floor. Tears on his face — he doesn't wipe them.
Then he speaks in a voice that doesn't sound like his own.
"All those years. You were hiding the truth from us. All that time. The palace right in front of me. Everything right in front of me. And I didn't know."
He pauses.
"My father and mother died. And I didn't know. I thought they left me."
Page 2
The old man stands.
"This is exactly why I didn't want to tell you. Because this is exactly what will happen. You'll search for revenge. And that revenge will end everything we built."
Mabu rises. His face carries a seriousness that has never been seen on it before.
"There was nothing built to begin with. Not when everything stood on a lie."
Thian pulls at his own hair with both hands.
"Mabu. Stop talking."
Page 3
Thian raises his head. He looks at the old man.
He laughs — a hollow laugh.
"Damn all of this."
He puts his hand over his face.
Mabu looks at him for a moment. Then he turns back to the old man.
Page 4
"I don't care what happens. My goal is clear. I'm going back to that kingdom. And I'll finish every person who had a part in this."
The old man: "You're not going."
Mabu looks at him with eyes that don't know retreat.
"Do you dare try to stop me? After everything you did? You fought and stayed silent and lied for all these years. And you told me nothing."
He pauses.
"You don't have the right to stop me."
Page 5
The old man looks at him.
"You're right."
One sentence. It falls into the room like a stone.
"But I won't let you go."
Mabu steps back. His eyes waver.
"You just said—"
"I know what I said. And I won't let you go like this."
Page 6
Something erupts inside Mabu.
The Stone Mantle appears across his foot.
He raises it. He drives it into the floor.
The entire floor cracks. The room shakes. Everyone grabs the nearest thing. Yuzuha grabs the wall. Karki falls. Totoki steps back.
The door to the side room opens.
Lukaji steps out. Something in his hands.
Page 7
Two wooden hands. But not like any wooden hands.
Crafted with strange precision. Complex. Linked by fine chains and threads that are barely visible.
Lukaji speaks calmly in the middle of the chaos:
"What is happening here?"
Mabu looks at him.
"Nothing. It's over."
Lukaji looks at the cracked floor.
"I see."
He raises the hands.
"Do you want to try them?"
Page 8
They enter the side room.
Lukaji explains as he attaches them to Mabu's arms.
"This type is different. It connects directly to your muscles. You flex one muscle — the hand turns into a blade. You flex the other — it returns to its normal shape."
Mabu tries it. He pulls. A hand slowly becomes a sharp blade.
He reverses. It returns.
Page 9
"And the chains allow the fist to detach when you punch. So if you strike with high force — the hand flies on the chain and comes back."
Mabu punches the air.
The chains extend. The hand flies. It returns.
He punches again. Harder.
The hand flies farther. Returns faster.
He stops.
He looks at them both.
"I like them."
He looks at Lukaji — his face carrying no smile.
"Thank you."
Page 10
Mabu comes out of the room.
Thian is still sitting. He looks at him.
"Congratulations."
Mabu stops at the door.
"Thank you. Don't be late."
He walks out.
Thian looks at the empty space for a moment.
Then he turns to Lukaji.
"I want to ask you something."
Lukaji sits.
"Go ahead."
Page 11
"My father. Shuzu. Tell me about him."
Lukaji smiles — a sad smile.
"Shuzu."
He says it as if tasting the name.
"I knew him well. He was the kind of person who made you trust him from the very first moment. He loved helping people. Fair. Strong. But his strength didn't frighten him — it served him."
He pauses.
"His relationship with Qurqur was like yours with Mabu now."
Page 12
"But when he learned the truth about that night. About Linsan. About Ginzo. He changed."
He pauses.
"The Shuzu I knew was gone. He became something else. A beast without mercy who wanted only one thing."
Thian looks at him.
"Revenge."
"Yes."
Thian breathes.
"Like me right now."
Lukaji doesn't answer. But he doesn't deny it.
Page 13
"He convinced me to join the resistance. I was their doctor. And your father was going to become the squad's commander."
He pauses.
"Then he met your mother. Katherine."
Thian raises his head suddenly.
"Katherine."
"Yes."
"They called her the Lightning Princess at the base."
Thian looks at him. For the first time in his life he hears his mother's name.
He places his hand on his knee. He presses. He doesn't speak.
Page 14
"I remember their wedding. We held it in our underground base. No grandeur. No music. Just us. And your father that night was the Shuzu I knew — the man I had missed."
He smiles at the memory.
"And months later you came into this world. I remember that night. How everyone celebrated in silence so they wouldn't be heard. The joy on your father's face."
Page 15
"Two months later the information arrived. King Bumer and Linsan and Kazuko were traveling to the Kingdom of Hashi for negotiations. The road they would take."
He pauses.
"That was the chance we had been waiting for. One opportunity that wouldn't come again."
Thian looks at him with eyes that know what's coming.
"Your father left you with the old man Sharo that night. To keep you safe."
Page 16
"And we moved out."
He pauses.
"But it was a trap."
"They were waiting for us. Hundreds of soldiers from every direction. And we walked into the middle of them."
Page 17
"It was a massacre."
He says it quietly — the quiet of a man describing something he has tried to forget.
"One after another. There was nothing you could do. You just dodge and hold on and try to survive."
He pauses.
"And I remember Kazuko. A child no older than ten. Killing men with a method that doesn't belong to a child. Doesn't belong to a human being."
Page 18
"They surrounded us completely. And they began."
He goes quiet.
"I saw your mother fall."
Thian freezes.
"Your father was fighting in front of her. He hadn't seen her. And when he saw her…"
He stops.
"When he saw her… he split in two. That is something I will never forget for as long as I live. My childhood friend died in front of me with his heart broken over his wife."
Thian puts his hand over his face. He closes his eyes.
The room is completely silent.
Page 19
"They stabbed me in the back. I fell. I thought I was finished."
Lukaji breathes.
"But I didn't die. I managed to crawl. To escape. I treated myself in the forest. And I left that kingdom and never went back."
He goes quiet.
"That night is the worst thing I've ever lived through. And I still see it when I close my eyes."
Page 20
Thian raises his head slowly.
"So my father and mother were people worth looking up to."
Lukaji nods.
"With everything they had."
Thian stands.
"Thank you, Lukaji."
He extends his hand. Lukaji takes it.
Thian turns. He opens the door.
Page 21
He steps outside.
Outside — Mabu on his horse. Yuzuha, Karki, and Totoki preparing.
Thian passes the old man sitting alone in the chair. Looking at the floor.
Thian stops.
"I hope you forgive yourself."
The old man raises his head.
"And if you want to come at any point — come. You are still our grandfather. And we still love you."
He doesn't wait for an answer. He walks.
Page 22
Lukaji comes out behind him.
"Before you go."
He holds out a small bag toward them.
"The treatment syringes. Take them. You'll need them."
Thian takes it.
"Thank you."
He mounts his horse. He looks at Mabu.
"Our destination?"
Mabu looks forward. His face cold. Calm. The calm of someone who doesn't shake because they have decided completely.
Page 23
"King Bumer's palace."
He pauses.
"No exceptions."
Yuzuha pulls her horse's reins.
Karki nods.
Totoki breathes.
Thian looks forward.
Page 24
They ride.
The horses accelerate. The forest passes on both sides. Cold air strikes their faces.
Mabu at the front.
His two wooden hands stretched before him. The chains moving with every step.
He doesn't look back.
Toward the Kingdom of Shalubi.
Continued in Chapter Thirty-Two