The Spiral Realm was crumbling.
Shards of its twisting, unnatural architecture spiraled away into the void as Renji stood firm, the glow on his palm burning like a second sun. The reflection of himself—the false Renji—screamed in rage, spiraling limbs unraveling like ribbon.
> "You don't get to choose!" the doppelgänger shrieked. "You are mine! You are part of this!"
But Renji could feel something inside himself pushing back, something that hadn't been there before.
A flicker of his will.
A thread of truth pulling him back.
---
The Inner Spiral
As the world broke around him, Renji saw flashes—memories spiraling like pages torn from a book:
Aoi crying beneath the shrine the first time they saw the black mist.
Kaito's hand gripping his shoulder when they found the first twisted body.
The warmth of his mother's voice in the hallway, before everything fell apart.
These weren't illusions. They were anchors.
The Spiral Realm didn't want him to remember. But memory, real memory, was more powerful than its lies.
Renji clenched his burning hand into a fist. "You want a vessel? You'll choke on this one."
He turned, facing the invisible center of the Spiral, where the humming deep beneath the world was loudest.
"I'm done with this spiral."
---
The Gateway Reopens
Behind him, the ground split open—but instead of darkness, light poured in.
Aoi's voice echoed faintly. "Renji! You can come back! Please—just follow the sound of us!"
The Spiral screamed. A thousand dissonant voices in one:
> "If you leave, you leave as a stranger. You are no longer whole."
Renji gritted his teeth. "Then I'll make myself whole again."
And he ran.
Through the collapsing maze of tendrils. Past the shattered throne. The false Renji lunged, but fell apart mid-strike, unraveling into static mist.
Renji leapt through the fracture of light—and the Spiral Realm folded in on itself.
---
Back to the Real World
He landed hard on stone.
The temple's floor. Cracked and scorched, but real. Earth beneath his hands.
Aoi was crouched beside him, tears in her eyes. "You're back."
Kaito exhaled hard, half-laughing. "Took your sweet time, man."
Renji looked up, dazed. "How long was I gone?"
Aoi exchanged a glance with Kaito. "…Three minutes."
Renji blinked. In the Spiral Realm, it had felt like days.
---
A Mark Changed
Renji opened his hand.
The spiral scar remained—but it no longer pulsed. It was dull, calm, etched like a seal, not a wound.
Aoi noticed. "It's not spreading anymore."
Renji nodded slowly. "It's… sleeping. Or maybe it's changed. I faced it."
Kaito patted him on the back. "Then maybe you turned it into something else."
Renji stared at the temple's altar.
> If this spiral is a curse… maybe it can be repurposed.
Maybe it doesn't just consume. Maybe it reveals.
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End of Chapter 42
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To Be Continue