— Chapter 59: Crimson Dreamers

Even after the shrine's collapse, the sky refused to clear.

Instead, it bled.

Red mist swirled above the ruined festival grounds, painting every broken lantern and overturned stall in shades of faded gore.

Airi tightened her coat.

"We broke the ritual. Why... why does it still feel wrong?"

Ishigami knelt, tracing a sigil on the ground with a shard of broken mirror.

"Because the ritual wasn't the end. It was the door."

Meanwhile... beneath the city:

A room with no doors.

A bed that never touches the ground.

And inside, curled like a fetus, a girl with no mouth, dreaming in a web of red thread.

The threads pulsed.

A voice echoed in the void:

"The Monk failed. The Masks are gone."

"Then let the Dreamers rise."

Back above:

Hiragi walked through the ruins, eyes still glowing faintly with Void residue.

He could feel it—something crawling beneath the pavement.

Not footsteps. Not demons.

But thoughts.

Uncontrolled dreams, leaking into the real world.

Suddenly, a scream echoed.

A man in a festival robe stumbled into the street—his eyes covered in wax, his mouth muttering:

"No gods... only sleep... no gods... only sleep..."

He collapsed.

And from his shadow, a red lotus bloomed.

Not a real flower. Something... imagined.

Hiragi: "Another cult?"

Ishigami: "No. Worse. These are not followers. These are... dreamers who were left behind."

They weren't possessed.

They weren't cursed.

They were dreaming too hard.

Reality no longer held them.

Airi gasped. "They're becoming part of the city's illusion. Bleeding into it."

Ishigami: "Not bleeding in. They are the illusion now."

And then it happened.

The sky cracked.

Above the clocktower, a hole opened.

Through it, floated six red-eyed children, each holding lanterns filled with black stars.

One of them looked directly at Hiragi—and smiled.

"You broke our god," the girl said, softly. "So now, we dream of a new one."

End of Chapter 59