.
The stairway was missing.
Instead, time itself folded—looping upon loop, until they stood at the entrance of a ruined cathedral carved from melted clocks and screaming watches. Bell chimes rang with no rhythm, and every echo felt like a forgotten memory clawing its way back.
"This is Layer Four," Ishigami said, narrowing his eyes. "Where time is guilt. Where the sins you delayed come back to collect."
The cathedral door opened on its own.
And the moment they stepped in, their watches cracked.
Inside, the pews were filled with empty clothes.
As if entire congregations had vanished mid-prayer.
In place of a priest, there stood a massive pendulum suspended from the ceiling by chains of regret. It swayed slowly over a broken altar.
And beneath it:
A man with no face.
Only a clock embedded into his skull, its hands spinning erratically.
"Hiragi," Airi whispered. "That's not a slayer. That's a Witness."
Ishigami looked grim. "The Spiral's enforcers. Once human, now bound by entropy."
The Witness turned.
It pointed to Hiragi.
Time shattered.
[00:00]
They were back at the entrance.
But everything had changed.
Airi screamed—her hair now streaked with grey.
Ishigami was bleeding from the eyes.
And Hiragi—
Hiragi was seven years old again.
He looked down.
His hands were small.
His jacket was gone.
His Void was gone.
He stood in the hallway of their old apartment.
The door to his mother's room was ajar.
"Don't open it," said a voice behind him.
He turned.
It was himself—older, bloodied, desperate.
"You're not ready. You open that door, and you'll never leave this Spiral."
But the child-Hiragi didn't stop.
He had to know.
Had to see.
He reached for the doorknob—
"VOID CONFIGURATION: RAZOR THREAD."
Slash—!
Airi's blade cut through the illusion.
They were back inside the cathedral.
The Witness screamed, the clock in its head breaking apart. Black ichor poured from its chest like time bleeding out.
"You okay?" she asked, grabbing Hiragi by the collar. "You were zoning out. It had you."
"I…" Hiragi steadied himself. "Yeah. Thanks."
Ishigami raised a hand. "Not done yet."
The pendulum above began to move faster.
Reality blurred.
Then—
"You've reached the halfway mark," said a voice from the stained glass above.
The glass twisted.
And formed a mouth.
"You may proceed to Layer Five," it said. "But the Spiral watches. Always."
The world blinked.
And a new door emerged.
Layer Four collapsed behind them.
And the name echoed through their minds:
Layer Five: The House of the Forgotten Name.
[End of Chapter 77]
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