They traced the sketch.
A single line spiraled outward like a snail shell, coiling around fragmented words—ink bleeding like veins. At the center: a clock face with no hands, its numbers scratched out.
This wasn't just a clue.
It was an invitation.
"Layer Two," Ishigami confirmed, scanning the resonance. "The Clockworks of Ruin."
"Sounds cheerful," Airi muttered.
Hiragi didn't speak. His eyes were locked on the paper, fingers trembling. He could hear it ticking. But not in this world.
In his mind.
The Spiral had followed him back.
Entry into Layer Two required an anchor.
A 'blood tether'—a memory so painful, it left a mark on the soul.
Hiragi didn't hesitate.
He chose the day he let her die.
The descent was brutal.
This time, they didn't land in a place.
They landed in a moment.
2:17 PM.
March 14.
The rooftop.
Rain fell upward. The sky was a clock face, cracked and leaking blood. Every tick echoed like a scream.
And standing beneath it—
Yuna.
Again.
But wrong.
Her skin flickered like film caught between frames. Her eyes were hollow clocks, hands spinning backward.
"Hiragi," she whispered, "do you remember what you promised me?"
He froze.
Airi tried to speak, but her voice came out backwards. Time was folding.
Ishigami gritted his teeth. "We're inside a recurrent moment. If he doesn't break it—he stays here forever."
The broken Yuna stepped closer.
"You told me we'd wake up together. That we'd run away. That the Void couldn't reach us."
Her smile cracked.
"But you lied."
She reached out—and her fingers melted into clock gears and twisted metal.
"You let it happen. You let me go."
The sky chimed thirteen.
Reality fractured.
And Hiragi saw it.
The moment he chose to survive.
"No," he whispered.
Not this time.
He ran forward, past the gears, the bleeding clocks, the echoing screams of the Spiral.
He held her.
Tight.
"I didn't forget," he said. "I was just too scared to look."
The world pulsed.
Yuna's eyes flickered.
She blinked—once—then collapsed in his arms.
Time shattered.
They woke up on the floor of the office, choking on breath.
The sketch had burned itself away this time.
But a new word remained, scratched into the wood beneath them.
"Layer Three: The Garden of False Mothers."
[End of Chapter 75]
Next: Chapter 76 - The Garden of False Mothers
Lanjut bro?
Siap, bro. Lanjut.
Void Slayer
Chapter 75: The Clock That Bleeds
They traced the sketch.
A single line spiraled outward like a snail shell, coiling around fragmented words—ink bleeding like veins. At the center: a clock face with no hands, its numbers scratched out.
This wasn't just a clue.
It was an invitation.
"Layer Two," Ishigami confirmed, scanning the resonance. "The Clockworks of Ruin."
"Sounds cheerful," Airi muttered.
Hiragi didn't speak. His eyes were locked on the paper, fingers trembling. He could hear it ticking. But not in this world.
In his mind.
The Spiral had followed him back.
Entry into Layer Two required an anchor.
A 'blood tether'—a memory so painful, it left a mark on the soul.
Hiragi didn't hesitate.
He chose the day he let her die.
The descent was brutal.
This time, they didn't land in a place.
They landed in a moment.
2:17 PM.
March 14.
The rooftop.
Rain fell upward. The sky was a clock face, cracked and leaking blood. Every tick echoed like a scream.
And standing beneath it—
Yuna.
Again.
But wrong.
Her skin flickered like film caught between frames. Her eyes were hollow clocks, hands spinning backward.
"Hiragi," she whispered, "do you remember what you promised me?"
He froze.
Airi tried to speak, but her voice came out backwards. Time was folding.
Ishigami gritted his teeth. "We're inside a recurrent moment. If he doesn't break it—he stays here forever."
The broken Yuna stepped closer.
"You told me we'd wake up together. That we'd run away. That the Void couldn't reach us."
Her smile cracked.
"But you lied."
She reached out—and her fingers melted into clock gears and twisted metal.
"You let it happen. You let me go."
The sky chimed thirteen.
Reality fractured.
And Hiragi saw it.
The moment he chose to survive.
"No," he whispered.
Not this time.
He ran forward, past the gears, the bleeding clocks, the echoing screams of the Spiral.
He held her.
Tight.
"I didn't forget," he said. "I was just too scared to look."
The world pulsed.
Yuna's eyes flickered.
She blinked—once—then collapsed in his arms.
Time shattered.
They woke up on the floor of the office, choking on breath.
The sketch had burned itself away this time.
But a new word remained, scratched into the wood beneath them.
"Layer Three: The Garden of False Mothers."
[End of Chapter 75]