Renji thrashed in his sleep, drenched in sweat, clutching his chest as if something inside was trying to tear its way out.
Pain crushed his ribs—sharp, breathless.
Then—
Silence fractured.
A voice slithered into his mind, coiling like smoke:
"Renji... Renji... Renji..."
His hands flew to his head, trembling.
His voice broke, barely audible:
"What... what the hell is that voice?"
The world collapsed in on itself.
Scents vanished.
Vision blurred, twisted, shattered like broken glass—
Then it came again. The voice.
Mocking.
Patient.
Deadly.
"Didn't I tell you… we'd speak again?"
Renji froze.
Eyes wide, breath caught mid-scream.
His whisper trembled:
"Raizen…?"
---
His heartbeat became a war drum.
Raizen laughed — a low, rising cackle that split the silence like thunder:
"HehhAHAHAHA_!
As I said before…"
"Pathetic."
"P... A... T... H... E... T... I... C."
"PATHETIC!!"
Renji didn't laugh.
He clenched his fists, teeth grinding together, and roared:
"I'm not pathetic! DO YOU HEAR ME?!"
Raizen's voice echoed from somewhere deep inside Renji's chest — too close, too real.
"Yes... yes. Now... come to me."
Renji's eyes darted around the empty void.
"Come to— what the hell does that mean—?!"
He never finished.
The ground vanished.
He fell.
---
No air.
No gravity.
No escape.
His lungs seized.
Eyes wide, blind with panic.
"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH—!!"
He screamed, voice swallowed by the abyss.
There was no bottom.
Only wind—violent, merciless, slashing across his face like the hands of an angry god.
He reached out, hoping for something—anything—
But there was nothing.
Nothing but darkness.
He twisted in mid-air.
Below, a faint violet glow appeared.
It grew.
And grew...
Until it looked like an open mouth, ready to devour.
This is how I die, he thought.
And all he could whisper was—
"Himari…"
"If I die…
Who will protect her?
Who will hold her hand when she cries?"
Memories struck like lightning—
His mother, draped over Himari's small body, shielding her with her final breath.
His brother, Hiroshi — a voice lost to the void.
Their village — torn apart by fire and screams.
The cursed book — the key to it all. The mistake.
It was all his fault.
The rage came next.
Not the kind that burns.
The kind that devours.
A storm ignited inside him.
• His mother — cold, bloody, silent.
• Hiroshi — screaming, fading.
• His village — limbs, ash, horror.
• His sister — the only soul left who still believed in him.
"ARRGGHHAAAAAAA _!!
I will NOT die!
Not before I get my revenge!!"
His eyes flared — blue like an electric storm.
A violent aura exploded from his body — searing, uncontrollable.
But the abyss didn't care.
It kept closing in.
Yet...
Renji wasn't afraid.
He was furious.
He stared into the heart of the darkness and roared.
And then...
Everything stopped.
---
Time shattered.
Renji hung mid-air, weightless, frozen.
Breath held.
Limbs locked.
He struggled, but something unseen held him still.
His eyes darted in every direction, madness creeping in:
"Why haven't I fallen?
Why am I not dead?
What IS this place?"
A gust of icy wind kissed his cheek.
He inhaled—
Blood.
And snow.
A scent too sharp to forget.
Then—
Clap... clap... clap...
Slow applause.
Someone was approaching.
Heavy footsteps.
Not rushed.
Certain.
Renji's heart pounded like the prelude to war.
And then—
He saw it.
A monstrous form forged of blackened bone.
Thick, cracked, carved like muscle sculpted from agony.
Glowing cracks pulsed across its chest — first orange, then blue.
As if the fire inside it had forgotten how to die.
Its skull was a helmet — alive, armored with horns.
Its eyes—
Oceans in a storm.
Renji couldn't move.
Not because he didn't want to.
Because something — someone — refused to let him.
Chains.
Invisible.
Unbreakable.
The creature chuckled, slowly:
"Hm.
Hm.
Hm_hm_hm_hm_hm..."
Closer.
A sigh.
It reached out, fingers sliding into Renji's hair — lifting his face like a trophy.
Then whispered, calm as winter:
"One month...
and you've already forgotten what I look like?"
Even through his terror, Renji could speak one word:
"R-Raizen…"
Raizen's smile curled, savage and gleaming:
"Good.
I'm glad you didn't forget everything, my little... vessel."
That word…
Vessel?
It echoed.
Again.
Again.
What does that mean?
Where am I?
What even AM I?
Thoughts spiraled.
No answers.
He couldn't look Raizen in the eyes.
Couldn't even blink.
Blue light swirled around Renji's body — uninvited, uncontrolled.
Raizen's grip tightened in response.
"ARGHH _!"
Renji cried out, head burning from the pain.
The suffocation.
The helplessness.
The fury.
It clashed within him, igniting like dynamite in his skull.
Raizen only watched.
Like a god toying with sparks.
"You're useless," he whispered.
"You want revenge? Against what?
A month has passed.
My brothers roam free — spreading chaos across the realms.
And Lord Ronzzetan... sits again on his throne."
He stepped forward, expression curling in disgust:
"And you?
You sit here and cry.
Like a child."
---
Something snapped.
Or was born.
A quiet, lethal rage filled Renji's lungs.
The dark around him began to wither, driven back by his presence.
Raizen laughed—
Loud.
Wild.
Unhinged.
"HEHAHAHAHAAA_!!"
Then —
He yanked Renji by the skull—
And threw him.
FWOOSH!!
THUD!!
Renji hit the ground, gasping, breathless.
But his eyes—
They burned.
Blue fire.
Pure.
Righteous.
Deadly.
---
Raizen tilted his head.
Like a collector marveling at his latest piece:
"My beautiful vessel…
You're evolving."
Renji screamed.
Fists trembling:
"This… ENDS HERE!!"
Raizen smirked:
"Hm.
Show me."
---
Renji ran.
No — he erupted.
A blue flash tearing through the void.
He leapt—
His fist screaming through the air—
"I'LL END YOU, RAIZEN!!"
💥💥💥
💥 TO BE CONTINUED... 💥