NOVEL NEXT Chapter 114: The Spiraling Path
The Supreme blood answered first, flaring to life. Every stroke she modified lit up, starting from the inside and carried the glow down into the very next. The five points of the new grand array took the light and shared it evenly, not just as power and law, but as story, a narrative will that tells the abyss what to be until the abyss believed it.
Hannya closed her eyes in silent prayer. Her hum of madness returned, softer now, more steady, the wrong cadence flowed smooth by the constant repetition. Five of the stars on her back burned bright through the white silk, flaring and burning out the chaos energy that darkened them. The mark of madness in her inner world didn't stop its song, but it cooperated, threads of impossible logic braiding cleanly with her flower petal-like eyes' blasphemous sight. Her true dream body loosened and misted at the edges without losing its center, ready to become whatever her reality required. The red thread heart created a perimeter with its excess tether, the rest tightened and tugged at everything she claimed: Him, here, now, and drew it all within the boundary of the heart's territory.
The floor pulsed with a pink glow that wasn't fully color so much as consent. It ran up the walls of the abyss and across the dark and filled it with a soft brightness. The world began to blur as the pink devoured more of the lightless black.
DING. DING. DING. DING.
The notifications didn't even try to keep the logs in place. They stacked over themselves to register all the changes occurring and the choices made.
DING
[
Mythical Skill Activation Confirmed!
[Reality Twist - Delusional World] initializing…
Power sources bound: ⅚ Chaotic six-star life force (Hannya 6th Luxuria)
External medium bound: Chaotic six-star glory devil blood (Samael(?) 6th Vainglory)
Array class: Grand - Pentagrammatic (Heart Variant)
Sanity Risks: All
Override: [Red Thread Heart] - Priority: Beloved (6th Vainglory)
Compatibility: [True Dream Body] (High), [Eye of the Blasphemer] (High), [Mark of Madness] (Synchronized/High)
]
Hannya exhaled in between her notes and words. The five points pulsed together. The ground forgot to be ground and learned to be meaning instead. The spiral behind her didn't fight; it found a partner to dance with instead, it tilted to the threads below, expanding over it like a protective shell. The threads underfoot lay down flat, spread out, and reorganized. Turning to into paths on a map only she could read.
Somewhere far above, the laws pretended not to notice, as if a moment in time was missed due to a watcher's negligent blink. Somewhere close by, pairs of empty eye sockets watched closely, calculating the cost of interference against the price of principle. They didn't act again. They didn't have the time to anyway.
Hannya hummed again, lower now, and slid a soft palm along the last stroke to seal the array. The pentagram bloomed to a flower shape, the light pulsed in and out, expanding further, filling the deep pocket with a dawn it's never seen before.
DING. DING. DING.
[
[Delusional World] Phase I - Establish Narrative Frame: Selfish Delusion
Anchor: Beloved (Target: Samael(?) 6th Vainglory, Priority: 6th Vainglory )
Axis: Heart (Owner: Hannya 6th Luxuria)
Rules: If love will not answer, everything else will act for love until it does.
]
The abyss then shifted. The black mist at Hannya's feet began to sparkle pink and rise, filling the heart's constructed territory. It swallowed the pulsing light as it reached the edges while it rose further engulfing Hannya and her beloved within the transforming world. Hannya kept her eyes closed. She didn't know the process nor the results and she didn't care.
"Soon." she said to no one… Or maybe to him. Or to any part of the world that was listening to her plea.
Far away, a sitting god murmured something about Tuesdays. Close by, an Eye in a smaller chair gripped a paper in her hand until her knuckles went white as she waited to see what her system ping had changed. They had made their move. Her move was this.
Her hum slipped back into words as the spiral's song channeled into the spell.
"Only me. Only you," she whispered, something like hope finally audible as the pink brightness set, soft and perilous beneath the dense mist. "Don't run. Don't fade. Stay right here. Right beside me."
DING
[
[Delusional World] Phase II - Populate
Import: Timeline Threads (Accepted)
Rule Suppress: Ashing Clause (Accepted)
World Mask: Spiral Law (Partial)
Protect: Anchor (Beloved) (High)
]
DING
[
[Delusional World] Phase III - Twist & Iterate
Status: Isolated timeline-bubble created (Heart-01).
Fuel Source: Supreme stars x 5 (Hannya 6th Luxuria) + Medium: Six-star Glory Devil Blood (Samael(?) 6th Vainglory).
Objective: Preserve Anchor (Beloved: Vainglory) within Owner's Axis (Heart: Hannya) until rule attains self-sustaining equilibrium.
Rule: If love will not answer, everything else will act for love until it does.
]
The abyss twisted within itself and became a spiral of time. The pink and black swirls soaked the floor and filled the isolated reality.
Hannya stood in the center, eyes closed, hum soft and steady as the pentagram breathed.
A five-point brightness turned in the dark like a crown.
A star fueling change then burned.
DING
[
Target Soul Integrity: Anchor Held
Commencing iteration 1…
]
The scene began.
Hannya and Vainglory faced each other again. No headless corpse, no pendant half-hidden under plates, no torn kimono. Hannya's veil hung straight once again; Vainglory's chains were still present, but beginning to fail, hairline fractures like pale light stretch along the order law. They bent and moved.
This time, no blade came for his throat. She took his breath instead.
Mist so thick it boarded on liquid climbed along her forearms, the charm laws in the air were heavy and smothering. She slid in close to him and exhaled a soft lull of mist against his face, a humid, sparkling black cloud crawled down his throat as if his lungs had invited it. It spread rapidly and without resistance through his body, the curses and chains keeping him docile.
She laughed. "You think I wouldn't notice? I could spot him a mile away. You're not the one I'm looking for."
She watched the gold recede from his eyes, replaced by a pink hue of eternal submission. She then set the blade in her hand cleanly at his throat and pressed. It was not as cruel as the last time, it was much tidier.
"Don't worry, I'll kill her next before I off myself kikiki!"
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
His head dropped into the mist without a sound, and Hannya's hum didn't waver in the slightest.
DING
[
Outcome: FAILURE.
Cause: Anchor destroyed (Vainglory).
Note: Rule cannot stabilize without living Beloved.
Fuel Status: 1/5 burned. Proceeding...
]
The pink film around the bubble shivered, and the timeline flipped and rolled back.
A second star burned.
[
Target Soul Integrity: Anchor Held
Commencing iteration 2…
]
Chains hung in broken links once again. This time, Vainglory moved first.
His hands clinched hard, his gold aura condensing as tight as steel. He didn't chase. He didn't defend for long. He decisively advanced, a straight line to his goal, a moment of hesitation would only send that straight line spiraling away from his grasp.
Hannya smiled like a dare. "Kikiki! Oh? Done pretending?"
Steel clashed with aura, gold collided with mist. He repelled the charm with a curtain of golden will. When the katana came for his ribs, he took the jagged teeth on armoured skin and let them slide smoothly passed. Then he took her wrist and tilted it a half degree, sending the edge past him and into the air.
He faced her, close enough to count the tiny glints along her gilded canines. His voice stayed steady and even.
"I'm sorry," he said, and she hated how beautiful it sounded. "I can't die here, priestess. Someone is waiting for me."
The words landed like a heavy blade between them.
She felt something twist in her chest, her smile widened. "Then die here!" she spat, and brought the blade down with a hatred that had not been in her plans until he said that.
His elbow entered the hinge her forearm made. His knee struck the inside of her thigh in a way that wasn't gentle or obscene, just precise, just correct. He turned her balance off and put her on her heel. His hand touched the base of her skull. A breath later, darkness began to cloud her sight.
She fell.
His palm hovered over her sternum with a fraction of pity and the rest conviction. "Be free." he said, as if the words could change the conflict between them.
They couldn't, and the next blow ended another world.
DING
[
Outcome: FAILURE.
Cause: Owner destroyed (Hannya).
Note: Axis lost; Rule unmaintainable.
Fuel Status: 2/5 burned. Proceeding…
]
The bubble shook, then turned.
Another lost star.
[
Target Soul Integrity: Anchor Held (Minimal shifts)
Commencing iteration 3…
]
This time, the scene arrived violent and bloody.
They were already fighting. Vanity; a black, elegant blade with a gold trim, rested in Vainglory's hand like it was born there. The power, however, seemed inert. Hannya's own serrated katana sang a grinding symphony. They were both painted in drying gore; severed limbs scattered around them like offerings they no longer needed. Their bodies had already taken and returned dozens of times; the only other proof was the deep smell of iron still clinging to the air.
"Kikiki!" Hannya laughed, eyes feverish, lunging in with a stolen tenth step that ate distance like Baku ate dreams. The serrations tasted his forearm and were sent away roughly. "Come on, handsome!"
"Kekeke!" Vainglory answered with an edge of something savage finally in his voice as Vanity crossed and bit at every stroke. The sword's line was clean, unadorned, and arrogant. The slice it left at her hip only made the blade hungrier.
He pivoted and spoke. "Who would have thought, my own kin, a six-star, would find this place just to finish me off."
She spun the scabbard to block Vanity, took the shock down into her stance, and rolled it back with a high draw that would have split a minor god half. "Sorry, handsome," she sang, manic and soft at the same time. "That heart of yours is more suited for my beloved Damien!"
The world flinched at that.
DING
[
Outcome: TERMINATED by [Delusional World].
Cause: Narrative Deviation - Anchor re-targeted due to branch collision("Damien").
Note: Rule violated; iteration voided to preserve Axis.
Fuel Status: 3/5 burned. Proceeding…
]
The bubble turned harder this time, like a wrist snapping a blade into a reverse grip.
Another star. Another try.
[
Target Soul Integrity: Anchor Held (Loosened)
Commencing iteration 4…
]
The abyss was quiet.
Vainglory's hand glowed, the rest from wrist up was covered in black blood as his grip tightened around Hannya's core. Her arms were looped through his, her soft wrists hooked around hard muscle in a link. It was a restraint pretending to be affection while his fist pierced her chest.
Her mouth trembled around a smile that wasn't charming anymore. "You dare betray me after I free you?" she asked, anguish grating the edge of her voice.
Vainglory looked down at the glow, not to her. "I'm sorry," he said again, and the world hated hearing those words. "You're too much of a risk to keep alive."
His eyes were gold and cold. "The void song is dormant inside you," he said. "You're a threat to the plane."
He lifted his free hand. "I will free you now, sister."
Hannya laughed. It wasn't delight; it was wild anger sprinkled with madness. "Fuck that! And Fuck you!" she hissed, lifting her chin without letting him go. "If I can't have the ending I want, we die together!"
Her core answered, its malice just as gleeful as her.
Chaos energy shoved its way through her soul like a raging sun forced into a bottle. The pink brightness became a hot white roar. The heart in her chest blew its light out through both of them.
Far above, the explosion would have looked like a flower blooming from obliteration. From where they stood, it was heat and pain and all the regret from going nuclear.
DING
[
Outcome: FAILURE.
Cause: Mutual destruction (Owner + Anchor).
Note: Plane integrity breached; rollback invoked.
Fuel Status: 4/5 burned. Proceeding…
]
The bubble dimmed, then found another light.
It burned another star.
[
Target Soul Integrity: Anchor Freed
Warning! Anchor uncoupled from causal path!
Warning! Path is required for ritual verification.
Commencing iteration 5…
]
The scene began with peace, a lie so good even the world wanted to believe it.
No chains, no blood, no arguing. They were walking under the lightless dome of the abyssal vault. Hannya held the edge of her sleeves like a woman deciding whether to flirt or to conquer, in truth, she never intended to choose.
She was simply arranging the order.
"Careful," she said, bumping her shoulder into his arm, her veil was pulled back to show a small mouth that knew every form of mischief. "I charge by the day if you stare. And I don't charge in cash."
Vainglory didn't know her words, but he understood the vectors. He let a sharp sound, almost a laugh, but more like a scoff escape his lips. He had the quiet satisfaction of someone two steps outside a cage he'd lived in for centuries. Every breath tasted foreign and threatening, but he didn't mind. He still felt good.
That was the problem.
He looked at her for one heartbeat longer than was safe, past the faux annoyance, and into fondness he didn't want to admit could exist inside an hour like this. The moment he found the shape of attraction, something in him moved.
In his core, his Glory didn't surge, it leaked. And rapidly.
The essence left its natural housing like a tide, wasting away to an outlet he couldn't see.
Then a different law began to replace it.
Order.
It trickled into his core. Cold, clean, structured, everything his mind enjoyed but his blood hated. He stumbled.
Hannya's smile froze. "H-Hey." she said, genuine alarm stepping on the back of her tongue. "Hey, what are you-!?"
He collapsed onto one knee. He couldn't catch the air; the air refused him. Panic tried to show in his eyes and found only analysis melting under the changes within.
Inside, a voice he had trusted for years finally answered.
'It seems you lack Piety for our beloved, huh, Samael?'
The tone was wistful and bright, the way men talked when they were about to explain why your death was a mercy. He reached for it like a handle; it slid away like a knife.
'All you had to do was stay here,' Parallel Opinion murmured.'All you had to do was come to love her. But you threw it all away in an instant.'
He tried to stand. His knees refused him; Order laid over his chaos and refused to move.
'I can't let you leave this place, Samael, not with her. Piety's path to world peace can only be reached without your interference.'
Samael's soul then fractured in neat lines. His body hadn't even finished breaking. The golden pendant thumped once against his sternum as if surprised to find a stranger living there. His eyes, still beautiful, still precise, emptied.
He was brain dead before his body hit the floor.
Hannya fell with him, grabbing his shoulders. "No," she said; then shrieked it, then giggled by accident, madness tends to have no respect for grief's time. "No, no, no. Get up. W-what did you do? What did you- wake up!"
There was nothing to wake. The world took the hint.
DING
[
Outcome: FAILURE.
Cause: Anchor mentally destroyed (soul fracture) via Order-injection trigger; external sabotage detected (Parallel Opinion(?)).
Note: Axis response unstable. Terminating iteration.
Fuel Status: 5/5 burned. No stars remain.
]
The bubble did not turn this time.
It flickered.
DING
[
Resource Check: Owner fuel exhausted ( 5/5).
Constraint: Host Final Star locked (Survival Clause).
Computation: Without star-fuel, Rule-conforming success probability per iteration: 0.0–0.9%.
Action: Searching external augment…
]
Silence. The kind of quiet filled silence of a search bar waiting for a word the user hadn't decided to type.
Within the core of the blurred world, Hannya did not open her eyes. The hum in her throat was a song she refused to drop. The spiral above her turned, patient and greedy. The threads below lay flat, listening.
Then a new line appeared.
DING
[
Irregularity Detected.
Medium: Six-star Glory Devil Blood's (Vainglory) will has activated.
Reason: "With guts comes glory."
Source: Original corpse (outside iterations).
Event: Half-star over Anchor's heart igniting.
]
Far away and very near, the headless body in the first line of time exhaled heat. The six black stars over its chest had always been hollow, save for one half-filled as a humiliation. The half-filled one brightened, like a promise a dead man could still keep.
It wasn't much.
But It was enough to be counted.
DING.
[
Provisional Acceptance: Modified power source recognized (Anchor half-star).
Restriction: Fuel budget permits one temporal reversion and one choice-point modification in original timeline.
Scope: No structural edits; no state re-writes; single divergence allowed; downstream effects local until rule self-stabilizes.
]
DING
[
[Delusional World] Iteration 6 - Anchor-Will Divergence
Backtrack: Original timeline (Abyss, Greed's Deep Pocket)
Operation: Select one choice to alter.
Candidate set: [Anchor's blink] [Anchor's refusal] [Anchor's acceptance] [Hannya's word] [Hannya's hand] [External prompt]...
Awaiting selection…
]
Hannya continued to hum, unwilling, or unable to interface with the panel. Her state was hazed, the core of her own world in a semi-conscious state, living all and living none while drifting within the mist.
Recognizing this, the Will pressed on, making the choice instead.
The Quantifier obliged and the abyss rewound with a soft, decisive hiss. The head rolled backward along a line it hadn't earned; the blade angled up and lost its appetite; a blink that had happened didn't. A moment approached with its throat bared and waited to see which hand would reach for it.
DING
[ Commencing single-choice modification… ]