Handbeat Clocktower

"*What in the world is 'evil'?*"
―Germaine Marlon

**Handbeat Clocktower** is a song released on March 23, 2012 in the album Four Melodies of Evil ~The Son of Evil Novel Music Collection~. It received a PV a week later. It is the seventh song in The Son of Evil Series, following Germaine Marlon as she prepares to confront her mother, Queen Dowager Prim.

## Plot

In Castle Hedgehog, Marlon, Germaine Marlon walks to the top of the Heartbeat Clocktower. She questions whether Prim Marlon, sitting and laughing at the top, is a "demon" or her "mother". Walking up the stairs, she speaks of how she once painted a picture of Kyle Marlon, and how a man with "evil intentions" created the Seven Deadly Sins, which started everything.

Yukina Freezis reminds her that the right path hasn't vanished yet and that the "Story of Evil" has now ended. Germaine claims she will not hesitate to dispense justice, even if she has to turn her blade towards her mother and brother. She then laments how she is tired of despair and that her heart feels empty. Yukina comforts her, saying that they will pray for the "endless rain" to finally stop.

Germaine then encounters Kyle at the top of the tower, possessed by the Demon of Gluttony. Although he gains the upper hand, Ney Avadonia comes to Germaine's rescue. Germaine believes that one day, when she can laugh at her past suffering, she will write the "true story" of what happened. Arriving at the top of the clocktower, she ponders if Prim, now decaying on the chair, was indeed a "demon" or her "mother."

## Lyrics

Smiling and sitting in a chair at the top of the clock tower,

Are you a demon, or are you my mother…?

The moving second hand sways

A normal spirit

Above the clock tower is

Justice or poison?

Each time I advance up the spiral staircase

A handbeat reverberates

Time and conflict, they strongly etch onto my heart

Hands that wallowed in greed and were sullied in sin

Who is the companion who should wield

The sword in the place of atonement?

A portrait of a boy

That my hands drew that day

That faint memory was

The beginning of madness

With seven nightmares,

An abnormal evil that was

Brought forth by a lone man destroyed everything

But because the correct way

Still hasn’t vanished

A dramatic Story <of Evil>

Is now drawing to a close

I won’t hesitate anymore, even if this is an unavoidable fight

Even if it comes to turning my sword on you

Smiling and sitting in a chair at the top of the clocktower,

Are you a demon, or are you my mother…?

Someone, someone tell me

What in the world is “evil”?

I have just one hope; my heart is so empty

That I’ve grown sick of despair

There isn’t much I can do, but

I tightly grasp my hands

And am always praying

For an end to this falling rain

Someone’s laughing voice resounds louder than the long hand’s sound

Now there’s only madmen in the Handbeat Clocktower

Someday time will pass, if the day we can laugh at this suffering comes

With my own hands I will write the true story

I won’t hesitate anymore, even if this is an unavoidable fight

Even if it comes to turning my sword on you

Rotting and sitting in a chair at the top of the clocktower,

Are you a demon, or a person who was my mother…?

## Related Songs

### The Daughter of Green

The Daughter of Green shows how Germaine became enamored with Clarith and rejected Alexiel's proposal, which indirectly caused the Lucifenia-Elphegort War.

### Reach for the Stars ~The Letter He Kept Waiting For~

Reach for the Stars ~The Letter He Kept Waiting For~ recounts how years after Handbeat Clocktower, an older Germaine became a painter and explained Alexiel's past misdeeds to a group of orphans he raised.

### Heartbeat Clocktower

Heartbeat Clocktower shares a similar melody and arrangement with Handbeat Clocktower, also containing similar imagery.

## Appearances

### Characters

* Aile Freezis (appears in PV)
* Adam Moonlit (mentioned only)
* Alexiel Lucifen d'Autriche
* Arth Lucifen d'Autriche (appears in PV)
* Chartette Langley (appears in PV)
* Clarith (appears in PV)
* Demon of Gluttony (appears in PV)
* Gallerian Chirclatia (appears in PV)
* Germaine Marlon
* Gumillia (appears in PV)
* Held (appears in PV)
* Irina Clockworker (appears in PV)
* Keel Freezis (appears in PV)
* Kyle Phutapie
* Mariam Avadonia (appears in PV)
* Michaela (appears in PV)
* Mikina Freezis (appears in PV)
* Ney Avadonia (appears in PV)
* Prim Marlon
* Rin Avadonia
* Riliane Mouchet (appears in PV)
* Shaw Freezis (appears in PV)
* Yukina Freezis

### Locations

* Aceid (appears in PV)
* Bariti (appears in PV)
* Beelzenia (appears in PV)
* Bolganio
* Castle Hedgehog
* Conchita Mansion (appears in PV)
* Elphegort (appears in PV)
* Freezis Mansion (appears in PV)
* Gasto (appears in PV)
* Lucifenia (appears in PV)
* Lucifenian (appears in PV)
* Lucifenian Royal Palace (appears in PV)
* Marlon
* Marlon Castle (appears in PV)
* Millennium Tree Forest (appears in PV)
* Periods
* Retasan (appears in PV)
* Rolled (appears in PV)
* Third Period

### Events

* Conspiracy of Evil
* Hedgehog Upheaval
* War of 505 (appears in flashback(s))

### Groups

* Avadonia Family
* Beelzenian Imperial Family (appears in PV)
* Behemoth
* Clockworker Family (appears in PV)
* Conchita Family (appears in PV)
* Elphe Clan (appears in PV)
* Evillious Commerce Alliance (appears in PV)
* Freezis Family
* Freezis Firm (appears in PV)
* Glassred Bloodline (appears in PV)
* Langley Family (appears in PV)
* Lucifenian Royal Family
* Ma (Mem Aleph) (appears in PV)
* Marlon Royal Family
* Moonlit Family (mentioned only)
* Mouchet Family (appears in PV)
* Phutapie Family
* Rogzé Family
* Special Maneuvers Task Force
* Three Heroes (appears in PV)

### Misc

* Bolganio Literature (appears in PV)
* Bolganio Wildlife (appears in PV)
* Clockwork Lullaby
* Clockworker's Doll (appears in PV)
* Demons of Sin (appears in PV)
* Forest Spirits (appears in PV)
* Four Mirrors of Lucifenia (appears in PV)
* Ghoul Children (appears in PV)
* Glass of Marlon (appears in PV)
* Gods (appears in PV)
* Hereditary Evil Raiser Syndrome
* Humans
* Inheritors (appears in PV)
* Irregulars
* Lemy's Glasses (appears in PV)
* Magic
* Magic Abilities
* Magic Tools (appears in PV)
* Marlon Spoon (appears in PV)
* Other Magic (appears in PV)
* Possession
* Reanimation (appears in PV)
* Soul (appears in PV)
* Spell Songs
* Transformation Magic
* Twin Blades of Levianta (appears in PV)
* Venom Sword (appears in PV)
* Vessels of Sin (appears in PV)

## Trivia

### Conceptualization and Origin

* The song's title references the clocktower Germaine ascends as he prepares to confront her mother.
* The song is a rearrangement of Heartbeat Clocktower, created for the promotion of The Son of Evil: Praefacio of Red and included in Four Melodies of Evil ~The Son of Evil Novel Music Collection~.

### Curiosities

* The song PV is mostly composed of images from The Son of Evil novels.
* Interestingly, both songs maintain a gray gear in their song PV with Heartbeat Clocktower's gear turning blue, representing Gear, and the final silhouette seen with the gear in Handbeat Clocktower being Germaine.
* When Kyle reveals herself in the attire of Carlos Marlon, his pose is reminiscent of his concept art.
* During the song PV, the reflections of Kyle and Ney are seen on the Glass of Marlon, referencing their connection to Carlos; similarly, the reflections of Germaine and Prim are seen on the Marlon Spoon, referencing their lineage to Elluka Marlon.
* In the beginning, four spinning images can be seen: a yellow staircase, a green gear, a red flower, and a blue doll; their order matches the order in which The Son of Evil light novels were released.