Episode 3: TRUE NATURE | DURRUN by Aito Kitazaki

Episode 3: Synopsis Their standoff ends not in blood but in words: Yu-ri lowers his blade, drops the threats, and instead warns the siblings to turn back, since he cannot guarantee their safety. Utaki refuses outright, and as the price of her forgiveness she orders Yu-ri to carry the collapsed Soujun himself. So the unlikely group finally passes through TOKYO's southern gate and arrives in MACHIDA — the lawless southern fringe the locals call the scrap-end of TOKYO.

But MACHIDA bares its teeth fast. The corrupt military police known as Carabiner shake down civilians for “bonuses,” and a blade-covered stranger named Janga drifts in and declares the town his. In his hideout, Yu-ri lays bare the city's true nature: behind its reputation as the safest, most desirable place to live, TOKYO's crime syndicates and its government are bought into open collusion — the very reason Yu-ri was able to bribe their way inside.

Then comes the history. TOKYO once knew a golden age under the Wisdom King, the boss who ended the hundred-year TOKYO War in just seven days and bound every syndicate under a single rule. But that legend was toppled twenty years ago by Fusers wielding monstrous power, leaving a bossless city sliding back toward war — and whoever claims the Ash of Nue is said to claim TOKYO next. Asked why he hunts the ash, Yu-ri answers without hesitation: to become the boss of TOKYO, and take everything back.