He couldn't move.
Not because of chains. Not because of pain.
His body was held still by something unseen—an invisible pressure, absolute and calm.
The room around him was white. Sterile. Unnatural.
Machinery lined the walls, screens blinked in silence.
Something buzzed gently in the floor.
A man stood on the other side of the glass wall.
He wore a tattered lab coat, burned at the edges, dust clinging to the seams.
His face was gaunt—eyes sunken with sleeplessness, skin pale as if drained by years of guilt.
And yet, he smiled.
"Welcome back," the man said.
"Code designation: H-7. Status: Cognitive return... 99.3%."
Hiragi tried to speak. He couldn't.
But the man heard him anyway.
"You're asking who I am," the man continued.
"You used to call me father."
The words hit like a bullet.
Behind the glass, dozens of screens began to flicker on. Each one showed a different memory.
A child crying in the dark.
A classroom covered in shadows.
A burning cityscape.
A red-eyed Hiragi laughing with blood on his face.
None of it felt real.
Because it wasn't.
"These are simulations," the man said.
"Fragments constructed to stabilize your persona. We needed you to experience pain. Hope. Failure. Victory."
"You were never supposed to remember the truth this early."
The room dimmed.
"But the third lantern awakened you," he added.
"That's unexpected."
Hiragi closed his eyes, and for a moment... he understood.
Not the words. Not the science.
But the feeling.
He had never been real—not entirely.
Born from an experiment. Bred in a facility buried under lies.
His life was a test. A weapon with skin and memories.
"We needed someone who could survive the Void," the man said.
"We called you Hiragi because we couldn't call you what you really are."
Then, another voice entered the room.
Female. Broken. Synthetic.
"Override code accepted. Project EDEN.EXE entering terminal collapse."
A crack formed in the wall—not physical, but metaphysical. A fissure in the simulation.
Black ink poured from it.
And from that darkness...
Ishigami Kurogami stepped out.
His coat was torn. One eye was covered in a glowing sigil.
His hand shimmered with unstable logic—raw code warping reality itself.
"Hiragi."
"Wake up."
"We're not data."
"We're not fate."
"We are the error."
The scientist stumbled back.
"You... you bypassed the Mirror Script Protocol?! That's not—"
"—Possible?" Ishigami interrupted, calm as ever.
"That's the problem with people like you. You think the world runs on rules. But we were born to break them."
Ishigami raised one hand.
Reality split apart like paper.
Everything shattered.
And just like that, the simulation collapsed.
Hiragi opened his eyes.
This time, for real.
The sky above was red.
The trees around him were burning.
His body ached. Blood ran down his arms.
He saw the broken mask lying on the ground beside him.
And Airi's voice. Calling his name. Over and over.
"Hiragi... Hiragi—!"
The ritual was over.
The Hollow God was gone.
But something far worse had just begun. - Stay tuned with Void slayer enjoy the read- thanks