The northern edge of the city was silent.
Unlike the twisted chaos of the main square, this district remained untouched by fire or ritual. It was too quiet. The kind of silence that listens, that waits.
Here stood the Last Shrine—hidden behind layers of fog, prayer, and forbidden memory.
Built in the shape of a collapsed lotus, its gates were sealed by ropes dyed in blood and etched with names that no longer existed in the census of the living.
Hiragi, Ishigami, and Airi stood before it, gazing up at the cracked torii.
"This shrine wasn't part of the map," Airi whispered.
"It's not even marked on the spiritual leyline."
"That's because it's not supposed to exist," Ishigami replied.
"This is where the festival began. Where they buried the first sacrifice."
"How do you know that?" Hiragi asked.
"I used to dream about it," Ishigami said, his voice dry. "Before I knew what dreaming meant."
They stepped past the gate.
The air changed instantly.
Cold. Wet. Full of whispers that didn't belong to mouths.
The shrine was surrounded by masks, hundreds of them, hanging from the trees—foxes, monks, children, faceless adults. All staring. All watching.
"Don't look into their eyes," Ishigami warned.
Airi looked away too late.
For a brief second, her shadow split in two.
They reached the altar.
There was no statue. Only a mirror—black as pitch, framed in bone.
Hiragi stepped forward. The Void inside his body throbbed.
And then the mirror spoke.
"You are the one who devoured the Tainted Root."
A reflection formed—not of Hiragi, but of someone else.
"You are not complete."
In the mirror stood a young man, with silver eyes and cracked skin like porcelain. Dressed in school uniform. Identical to Hiragi—but wrong. Too perfect.
"Who are you?" Hiragi asked.
"I'm what you would've been… if you had never touched the Void."
The reflection smiled.
"Let's see which version deserves to survive."
The mirror shattered.
And Hiragi's shadow self stepped out.
No Void scars. No trauma. No mistakes.
Only raw potential, untainted.
"I'm the Hiragi who stayed human," the double said.
"And I will become the God-Slayer."
The shrine shook.
Ishigami and Airi were pushed back by a surge of spiritual pressure. The masks on the trees began to weep. Blood trickled from their mouths.
"This is it," Ishigami whispered.
"The Final Mask Ritual… It's not summoning a god.
It's summoning the ideal self—and forcing the real one to kill it."
"A deathmatch… with your own salvation," Airi murmured.
Hiragi drew his blade.
Void danced along the edge.
Across from him, the human version of himself raised a pure white katana—formed from light and regret.
And the fight began.
End of Chapter 56.
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