They came at him all at once.
Hiragi spun, ducked, parried—his blade met his own again and again. Each doppelgänger wielded Void with different instincts. Some relied on rage, others on mercy. One fought with a smile. Another cried as he attacked.
A thousand Hiragis.
But only one would make it out alive.
He cut down the first—a version of himself that had surrendered to the Spiral willingly. The look in its eyes wasn't fear, but relief.
"You were weak," Hiragi whispered.
The second came with a chain of memories around its neck, each one a frozen moment with Akane. This Hiragi begged before dying.
"I would've saved her…"
"But you didn't," Hiragi said, thrusting Void straight into the dream.
By the tenth kill, Hiragi stopped feeling anything.
By the thirtieth, he started hearing the voice again.
"One soul must remain. All others must fade."
The Door-Keeper watched from above, clapping slowly with hands that had too many fingers.
"They are not your enemies," it cooed. "They are the lives you abandoned. The selves you could've lived."
"They're not me," Hiragi growled, blood-soaked and panting. "They're echoes."
"You keep saying that. But echoes scream when they're forgotten."
Another Hiragi leapt—this one with a pure white blade, and no eyes. "You're the mistake," it said. "You shouldn't have survived Eden."
Their blades met. Void clashed with Void. The Spiral trembled.
In a single motion, Hiragi reversed his grip, sliced through the reflection's chest, and whispered:
"Then let this be my apology."
The final echo fell.
Silence.
The mirror shards floated mid-air. The Door-Keeper stepped forward.
"And so, you remain."
Behind it, the next door cracked open. It wasn't red anymore—it was black, endless, breathing.
The Ninth Spiral awaited.
Hiragi wiped the blood off his face. "Let's finish this."
He stepped into the dark.
[END OF ARC 4: One Soul Must Stay]