---
Splitmoor was worse in the morning.
By then, the sun rose through the fractured chasm at an angle so sharp it split the skyline like a blade of gold through broken glass. Shadows stretched in impossible ways—some long, some jagged, some appearing to bend against the light.
Takumi didn't eat.
He stared down at the cobbled street from the inn's balcony, tracking the movement of carts and vendors.
Nothing lined up.
Stalls set at inconsistent distances. Awning cloths bunched and slack in irregular intervals. Cracks in stone that didn't run straight.
The city itself was unclean.
And it was getting worse.
---
Lisette returned from her early errand with a paper bag full of breakfast.
She dropped it on the table. "Bread, tea, and... something called chaos-fruit. I assume it's either delicious or cursed."
Takumi didn't answer.
She sighed. "You didn't sleep, did you?"
"There's a bulge in the wall panel. And the floor slopes two degrees south."
Lisette rubbed her temple. "You're going to explode."
"I know."
---
Down in Splitmoor's lower districts, a rot had begun to spread.
A black sludge had appeared in alleyways—oozing up from the stone. It carried a scent of scorched air and mildew, leaving behind warped lines in the walls and whispering noises that weren't quite voices.
The locals avoided it.
The Spiral priests called it a blessing.
Takumi called it what it was: corruption.
---
He went there alone.
Lisette followed at a distance, clutching her spellbook with narrowed eyes.
The alley twisted downward into a stairwell that had once been a clean descent of thirty-five steps. Now, it broke in the middle, splitting sideways like a hinge, steps rotating inward like a folding puzzle box.
Takumi stepped over the broken edge, refusing to hesitate.
At the bottom, a small open square had sunken into shadow.
And at the center…
A void pool. Circular. Eight meters wide.
Edges frayed. Geometry inconsistent.
He took one step forward—and stopped.
---
> [Warning: Reality Disjunction Zone]
Spatial logic is unstable. Mental Load may increase rapidly.
Fractal Echo Active: 53% → 57%
---
His fingers twitched.
He removed his gloves, set them aside.
Then walked in.
The ground pulsed beneath his feet like a living heart.
Each step left a footprint that tried to crawl back behind him.
He began whispering numbers.
"...One. Two. Four. Eight. Sixteen..."
With each footstep, he recited powers of two. The one pattern he could trust. Binary scaling. Growth in perfect balance.
> Fractal Echo: 57% → 55%
The void pool hissed.
---
Then it spoke.
Not aloud.
But within.
> You are not welcome here, Cleaner.
> You bring symmetry where there is none.
> You suffocate the spiral.
Takumi clenched his jaw.
"You are an error."
> No.
You are.
---
Suddenly, the air bent.
Not the space—the air itself.
The sounds of Splitmoor muffled.
The alley twisted into itself like a paper folding in four directions at once.
The corruption reared up—like a wave about to crash.
Takumi didn't flinch.
He raised his hand.
Palm forward. Fingers aligned.
A gesture not of aggression, but of denial.
He activated Cleansing Strike, not on a creature—but on the space itself.
---
> [Skill Activated: Cleansing Strike Lv. 1]
Target: Environmental Field — Status: Unstable Reality Node
Chance of success: 14%
---
He struck the center of the air.
Not the pool.
Not the slime.
The space.
The moment his hand connected, the alley screamed.
Walls bent backward. The shadows convulsed. Symbols etched themselves into the air like smoke trails—then burst into ash.
The void shuddered—
—and then fractured.
A ripple of symmetry shot outward.
For exactly two seconds…
The alley became still.
---
> [Corruption Node Cleansed: Partial Success]
+2 Levels
New Skill Gained: Spatial Anchor Lv. 1
"Create zones of fixed geometry where chaos cannot penetrate."
> Fractal Echo: 55% → 49%
---
Takumi fell to one knee, gasping.
Lisette rushed in.
"You idiot! What did you do?!"
"I… stabilized it," he whispered. "Partially."
She stared at the ash-marked cobblestones.
"That was a chaos node. An actual god-touched one. Do you want the Spiral Church to come for us?"
Takumi didn't respond.
But then—he didn't need to.
---
Because they were already there.
---
A slow clap echoed behind them.
Four robed figures stepped into the alley from above, flanked by guards in spiraled black armor. Leading them was a man with a jagged crown of white bone, spirals etched into his face like carved grooves.
He smiled with too many teeth.
"Well done," he said softly. "You broke it."
Lisette backed up instinctively. "Takumi—"
But Takumi was already standing.
Still calm.
Still straight.
Even in the presence of something fundamentally wrong.
---
The robed man bowed slightly.
"I am Spiral Hierophant Delkath. Keeper of Contradictions. First of the Flux Voice."
Takumi didn't blink.
"You came to worship disorder," he said flatly.
Delkath grinned. "No. We came to invite you."
"To what?"
"To the truth. To the Grand Spiral. To the inevitable moment when even you will be unable to hold yourself together."
He gestured to the alley walls.
"Your Anchor was beautiful. Truly. But you've declared war now. On the one thing this world can never defeat."
Takumi tilted his head slightly.
"And what is that?"
Delkath's voice dropped to a whisper.
"Change."
---
> [Event Triggered: The Spiral's Gaze]
You are now a declared enemy of the Church of Chaos.
They will offer you sanctuary, or destruction.
You must choose: Submit, Defy, or Fracture.
---
Takumi's answer was simple.
"I don't fracture."
And then, without warning, he turned—
—and walked past them.
Lisette blinked.
Delkath raised one brow.
No one stopped him.
Because in that moment, the Spiral priests saw something in Takumi's eyes that unnerved even them:
He wasn't resisting chaos to protect the world.
He was resisting it because he couldn't allow anything else.
And that made him more dangerous than any priest or heretic alive.
---
🔹 End of Chapter 9