In the year 2242, the city of Neo-Edo is a glittering metropolis built on the bones of history. The Tokugawa Shogunate, resurrected through corporate greed and advanced technology, rules Japan with an iron fist clad in chrome. Citizens are pacified with neural implants that rewrite their perception of reality, trapping them in a digital facsimile of the historical Edo period. They live out their lives as samurai, artisans, and peasants, oblivious to the towering skyscrapers and neon-drenched streets that surround their simulated world.
Kaito, a former archivist disgraced and stripped of his rank, is one of the few who can see the truth. Haunted by the digital ghost of his ancestor, a true samurai from the KeichÅ era, Kaito discovers a devastating secret hidden within the Shogunate’s core programming: the neural network is failing, and the minds of millions are at risk of permanent data-death.
To expose the truth, Kaito must navigate a treacherous landscape of augmented ronin, cyber-geishas who trade information like currency, and the Shogun’s elite cybernetic guard. His only guide is the ancestral echo in his mind, a warrior whose code of honor is at odds with a world of deceit and betrayal. In a city where history is a weapon and reality is a lie, Kaito must decide if he is willing to shatter the beautiful illusion that holds his world together to save the souls trapped within the gilded cage.
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