The Ashen God

In the rain-slicked streets of the fictional nation of Kuzushima, nuclear genius Shunichi Kageyama believes his intellect has elevated him beyond morality. To expose the impotence of post-disaster safety rules, he orchestrates a fatal “experiment” at the Genkai Power Plant, killing a quality inspector he deems a necessary variable. When residents bring an injunction to halt the reactor, Kageyama becomes the company’s star witness, wielding perfect, icy logic to turn the law into a footnote of power. Yet mercy glows like a dying phosphor in the city’s grey seams, forcing him into a private war where his godlike reason slowly flays his conscience alive.