Previously on Hakuna, our Prince met Nokukhanya Serame, the Princess of the powerful, neutral Khanya Bridge Clan, in a tense meeting at the matric camp dining hall. Their discussion confirmed Hakuna's fears about the Tshabadira clan using demons in their war efforts, and the Prince learned his clan was now under the spiritual protection and oversight of the Khanya.
Fade in…
Admission to the Bridge
The immediate tension had subsided, replaced by the profound gravity of political and spiritual revelations.
"How is it that the Tshabadira clan were so thoroughly using demons as an explicit means of war, Prince Hakuna?" Nokukhanya asked, leaning slightly forward across the table, her tone carrying the deep suspicion of one who had just been presented with a catastrophic historical failure. Hakuna had just finished relaying the precise, disturbing details of the Tribal War and the demonic involvement.
Hakuna replied, his gaze distant as he pieced together the fragments of the conspiracy. "I initially suspected it had something to do with the rogue demon, Sparta—wait…"
The mention of Sparta triggered a cascade of memories, specifically the forced submission of the demon during the first appearance of the Citadel of Crowns. Hakuna suddenly realized that the Tshabadira king, had another, more systematic way to control the creatures.
Hakuna had his famous Eureka moment, his eyes flashing with sharp, cold realization. "They've been able to systematically bend demons to their will this entire time. Not just using Sparta, but having the fundamental ability to summon and control them."
"This news may profoundly displease their Ancestors. This level of demonic pact is forbidden," Nokukhanya muttered, her face clouding with concern for the diplomatic fallout.
Hakuna denoted, recognizing the scope of her admission. "Judging by your immediate and profound response, Princess, you also never knew they could perform such dark feats. This was news to the Khanya Clan."
Nokukhanya replied, shaking her head slowly. "No, Prince Hakuna. Not at all. Such an alliance is anathema to the treaties we uphold. How exactly have you concluded that they have been doing this all along, and that it wasn't a one-off accident?"
Hakuna then detailed the key moments that confirmed the conspiracy. "On the day of the Citadel of Crowns, a powerful demon attacked us. Suspiciously, the Tshabadira king ordered his own princess, Rorisang, not to use her true, full power, immediately confirming that they had summoned it somehow. But, and this is the vital part, Sparta only appeared after I had defeated the first demon, and King Thlomamo only showed genuine surprise then. This suggests they had a controlled summons, and the second one, Sparta, was an uncontrolled fluke."
Nokukhanya then spoke, the weight of the revelation forcing her to admit culpability. "Hmm. This truly has brought immense difficulty into this entire political situation. I would like to take solace in the fact that by the time the visit to the Citadel was approved, I had not been placed in a position of power as I currently am. However, it is my sacred duty to maintain and keep the peace amongst all the clans we track, and my clan's lack of intelligence allowed this grave breach to happen. So, I do sincerely apologize for the carelessness my clan has shown and for inadvertently putting your palace, and your life, in so much danger."
"It's not a problem at all, Princess Nokukhanya. I do not hold you personally responsible for the actions of a rogue king," Hakuna said, accepting the diplomatic apology.
Nokukhanya continued, declaring her next moves. "Also, thank you very much for not starting a full-scale inter-tribal war then and there during the Citadel of Crowns. Your restraint was essential in maintaining the delicate, fragile reputation of the Khanya Bridge Clan. I will now deal with the treacherous Tshabadira clan myself—their spiritual standing must be revoked. While I'm gone attending to this immediate political crisis, you and Princess Nolitha must prepare yourselves."
"Prepare for what, exactly?" Hakuna asked, sensing the spiritual nature of her command.
Nokukhanya replied with the single, ancient word. "Phahla."
Hakuna thought to himself, a mental mumble filling his mind. "Hmm... a summoning ritual. The Khanya must want Nolitha to speak to her Ancestors directly, or perhaps mine."
The bell signaling the end of the morning session rang loudly throughout the campus. Nokukhanya rose abruptly and vanished with the same, silent stealth with which she had arrived, her entire squadron dissolving into the flow of other students.
Hakuna then murmured, "Interesting... I should have guessed the depth of their spiritual technology. Seloana…"
Seloana appeared instantly and silently next to Hakuna, having maintained the temporal barrier for the entire duration of the meeting.
"Disable the protective barrier for now. The conversation is concluded, but stay alert," he ordered.
"Sir!" Seloana said in crisp affirmation, and vanished to perform the task.
Psycha chimed in, analyzing the departure. "Interesting crowd they are, this Bridge Clan. Powerful, spiritual, and politically dangerous."
"Yeah, interesting," Hakuna said, his mind still reeling from the revelations, but feeling a renewed sense of purpose.
Reckoning
A full day passed since Hakuna's meeting with Nokukhanya. The matric camp activities had begun in earnest, a chaotic backdrop of study sessions, DDF Training, and casual socializing.
Hakuna was seen walking back to his room in the Milner Hostel block, weary from a day of endless political maneuvering and trying to avoid Rico's more ridiculous schemes. He turned a corner, but suddenly a girl materialized directly in front of him, blocking his path.[1]
He instinctively attempted to ask, "Who are y—?"
The girl cut him off, her eyes blazing with raw, unconcealed fury. She screamed, her voice cracking with pain and rage. "Do you even feel any guilt for what you've done?! For the lives you shattered?"
The immediate commotion caused every nearby student to stop, turning to watch the confrontation, sensing the immense, dangerous energy radiating from the girl.
"What exactly are you talking about? I haven't done anything to you," the Prince asked, his tone flat but confused by the personal nature of the attack.
The girl raised her energy, and it was the sharp, distinctive signature of a Royal Clan Warrior. Everyone instantly became defensive, recognizing the imminent violence.
"Don't you dare act dumb with me! Don't you play the innocent Prince!" she roared, her voice echoing with palpable grief.
Nolitha spoke frantically in Hakuna's mind, the moment she sensed the girl's power. "Uhh, Hakuna! Stop! This is Mihlali! She is one of my Royal Squadron members, my best warrior!"
Hakuna then said, attempting to defuse the situation with words. "Seriously, I don't know what you're referring to."
Immediately, without giving him time to react or defend, she furiously dashed towards Hakuna. The sheer speed was blinding, the attack fueled by pure anguish. She slammed him viciously into the stone wall of the hostel with immense force, leaving the Prince lodged deep in the crumbling masonry.
The girl, Mihlali, then began to yell, tears of rage and misery streaming down her face. "You killed my sister, and now you surround yourself with other women, instead of grieving as you should!? How dare you?! Why would my sister, Nolitha, the beautiful, pure entity, have made a sacred Royal Tie with a destructive monster like you?!" She said, referring to his recent, seemingly casual meeting with the Khanya Princess.
Hakuna said nothing. His mind, however, was no longer focused on the fight. He received an instant, devastating flashback—a traumatic memory of Nolitha's final, sacrificial moments, followed by the agonizing, clear memory of the day Nolitha's human host died. The grief was so profound, so absolute, that he instantly dropped his physical defenses and his energy shield, lowering his guard completely, allowing the girl to do exactly what her rage demanded.
Mihlali then rampaged on the defenseless Prince, punching him over and over again, each strike aimed at his face and chest, a torrent of powerful, frustrated pain.
"You don't fight back! Why won't you fight back, you coward?!" she screamed, her voice a palpable mixture of pure rage and heartbreaking pain.
She sent another punch, a powerful blow to the solar plexus, shattering the ground beneath their feet and sending cracks radiating up the wall.
"Why won't you fight back?! Why won't you defend yourself?!" she questioned, tears blinding her, unable to understand the total surrender.
She sent yet another punch, a final, catastrophic blow that caused all of Hakuna's Royal Squadron—Sefate, Kamohelo, Seloana, Lebone, and Selepe—to sense the catastrophic drop, the near fading of his energy signature.
All of them vanished instantly from wherever they were across the country and materialized simultaneously to restrain the rampaging girl.
Sefate and Kamohelo immediately lifted Mihlali off the embedded Hakuna, pulling her back forcefully. Lebone, the squadron's spiritual healer, rushed to check on the severely damaged Prince.
Seloana and Selepe appeared in front of the restrained girl. Both sent a synchronized, powerful punch toward Mihlali's stomach, a strike calculated to deliver maximum pain and disruption without knocking her unconscious. Their faces were hard, their resolve aiming for a punishment far worse than unconsciousness.
Hakuna was helped up by Lebone, who winced at the state of her Prince. Hakuna saw the thoroughly restrained, screaming girl being held by his furious squadron.
Blood was dripping heavily from a deep cut above his brow. He looked down in profound shame, the weight of the war and Nolitha's sacrifice crushing him.
"It was supposed to be me," he muttered, the words barely audible, but deeply felt by all present.
Mihlali, caught off guard by his profound admission, looked at him, her face momentarily confused through her tears.
Hakuna righted himself, pushing Lebone away gently.
As he walked slowly towards the restrained girl, every step radiating physical pain and spiritual burden, Hakuna continued his self-condemnation. "I was the one who was supposed to die that day. It was my duty to fall, not hers."
He gestured to Sefate and Kamohelo, instructing them to free her.
He then said, his voice quiet but absolute. "I know I am to blame for her death, Mihlali. I carry that guilt every second. But I swear, I would never be with another woman again, either physically or spiritually."
He looked straight into the girl's tear-filled eyes, his own eyes now streaming with silent tears of shame and loss. "I can never find someone like her again. I don't want to. I have no desire to replace Nolitha." His voice was stern but shaking with uncontainable sorrow.
"What happened that day, Prince Hakuna? Tell me the truth!" she asked, her tone now softer, the rage replaced by desperate need for closure.
Hakuna replied, turning away slightly. "I can't tell you. Not yet. Recounting it is still too painful for me, and for Nolitha."
Mihlali thought to herself, processing the massive display of political power and the emotional frailty. "Kgotsofalo said he's a strong, kind man. He seems kind, yes, but I sense no notable power from him at all, despite the legendary war stories. Did he even inherit Nolitha's power?"
Hakuna, sensing her deep skepticism, turned back. "Join me the day the Bridge Clan's princess speaks to Nolitha through the Ancestral Plain. Then you will know the truth."
"You're kidding, right? Speak to Nolitha?" Mihlali cut in furiously, her anger reignited by his apparent powerlessness. "You have to be lying! I sense nothing within you! You're supposed to be strong! Especially now that you have my sister's power! There's no way she would have truly fallen for someone like you, you're so—"
Suddenly, a massive, car-sized boulder fell from the sky, slamming down directly onto Hakuna's exact position, kicking up a massive cloud of dust and debris.
Hakuna had been rigorously learning to keep his immense energy in a near-constant Pseudo Divine state, making it easier to instantly drop into the full Celesti combat state without having to undergo the jarring, disruptive shift. This technique, however, had the unfortunate side effect of completely masking his true power level from anyone who wasn't Nolitha, hence why Mihlali and the students could sense nothing from him.
As the dust settled, Hakuna was seen standing completely unharmed, holding the multi-ton boulder aloft with just one hand, his arm barely flexed. This was the first definitive sign that his Titanus Skeleta—now automatically recognized that Hakuna's strength dictated that he no longer needed to dodge, and had automatically adjusted its involuntary responses to brute-force defense accordingly.
Mihlali thought to herself, completely stunned. "What the—?!"
Before she could finish her thought, Hakuna let the anger and focus flood his voice, his single word cutting through the residual dust. "DISINTEGRUS."
The entire boulder instantly shattered into millions of motes of shimmering ash. Hakuna looked through the falling rubble, his eyes scanning for the culprit, quickly finding the origin point to be a roof a few hundred yards away:
THE PHILOSOPHER…
Hakuna immediately radiated a violent purple energy, preparing to launch himself towards the masked man with lethal intent.
He spoke, his voice layered with the eerie, resonant echo of pure Celesti power. "EXCUSE ME FOR A MOMENT. I HAVE A PRESSING MATTER TO ATTEND TO."
He flew towards the man with blistering, impossible speed, leaving the distraught girl and his scattered squadron in another massive, billowing dust cloud.
As he approached the roof, purple flames formed immediately around his clenching fists, ready to deliver a blow that could level the building.
And only a millisecond before landing the strike, he realized the cold, hard truth:
"It's a mirage?!" he thought to himself, the realization a punch to his gut.
He fell straight through the projection of the man, the image dissolving into heat haze as he looked back at the fading outline. A cold, echoing voice could be heard, amplified across the compound:
The Philosopher's mirage then said, his synthetic laugh chilling and calculated. "You look defeated, hahahahahahahaha..."
The mocking phrase repeated twice as the illusion faded away completely.
Hakuna stood floating midair, clenching his fists until his knuckles turned white, his body shaking with impotent anger.
Another day passes as Hakuna, now taking the threat of the Philosopher's infiltration seriously, has called forth his entire Squadron to form a permanent, visible guard around the surrounding area. The tension was back, thicker than ever, because the Khanya princess, Nokukhanya, had returned for the ritual.
Nokukhanya then beckoned, already standing next to the prepared ceremonial table. "Shall we begin the Phahla ritual, Prince Hakuna? Princess Nolitha is ready to communicate."
Hakuna turned to the table, his demeanor instantly shifting from warrior to diplomat. "Uhh, yeah, Princess, about that…"
Fade out…
End of Episode 55.
[1] The same girl who watched the prince from the previous chapter.