Three days later
" Master Kazuki, the president is concerned with the new development. He heard that the guild's have been unable to capture any demon that passed through the veil either within and without the city." Hikari stated.
" Have you found out if the other guilds have their seal with them Takashi?" Kazuki asked.
Though sometimes the guilds collaborate to fight a particularly powerful demon, they each were stationed in different states. " Yes master, my scouts confirmed that they also hold their seals in maximum security within their city with the exception of the Air and Metal" Takashi reported.
" All the soldiers are practicing intense training double time like you requested master" Hikari said.
" Good let them rest a little to prevent them from burning themselves out. What's our status on Renji?"
" Renji has transcended to the spirit world of shadows master, he should be with grandmaster Kenshi right now" Hikari replied.
" I know you guys might be thinking why it isn't one of you meeting grandmaster right now" Kazuki said with a heavy heart.
" No Master I understand that Hikari has mission of ensuring Renji attains full power to fight Shura if she doesn't succeed then no grandmaster can stop what happens next… and my mission is to die for Kokuryūkai" Takashi said.
" I will succeed" Hikari vowed. " You must" Kazuki agreed. " Send out warnings to the other guilds through the dedicated lines. Tell the president that he might have to worry about isolating each state till this is over. All we can do now is to wait."
He hated to wait…
Meanwhile down in the underground archive…
Renji felt the ground vanish beneath his feet.
One second, he was seated in the Kokuryūkai meditation chamber, told only to "focus." The next, silence swallowed him whole. He blinked and found himself standing in a vast ocean of shadows, stretching endlessly in every direction. The air was cold, dense, alive. Shapes writhed beneath the black surface like beasts too massive to ever crawl onto the land of mortals.
This was not the world of men. This was the Land of Shadows.
The stories had called it Kenshi's Abode—the place where the founder of Kokuryūkai transcended mortality, anchoring his soul so he could guide the worthy. Few believed it existed. Fewer still survived long enough to glimpse it.
Renji's cursed eye burned faintly, glowing against the ink-dark expanse. His breath frosted in the air as the shadows thickened, coiling upward until they shaped themselves into the outline of a man.
Then came the voice.
"You carry the abyss in your eye… and the storm of all seven currents in your soul. Yet you are not broken. Curious."
The silhouette solidified. A tall figure with hair as white as bone, clad in robes that shimmered like they were woven from midnight itself. His eyes—piercing, ancient—regarded Renji with the weight of centuries.
Grandmaster Kenshi.
Renji bowed instinctively, though the motion felt strange. Reverence wasn't in his nature —at least not anymore. Sarcasm was his armor.
"You must be Kenshi," Renji muttered, straightening with a half-smirk. "Hell of a place you've got here. Cozy."
Kenshi did not smile, but the faintest flicker of amusement passed through his gaze.
"You mask fear with wit. The young have not changed."
"I'm not afraid," Renji lied.
"You are terrified," Kenshi corrected calmly. "Not of me. Not even of Shura. You fear yourself—what you might become if you give in."
The words cut deeper than any blade. For a moment, Renji's smirk faltered. He clenched his fists, forcing the edge back into his voice.
"Maybe. But Shura's coming. If I don't fight him, everyone I've got left is dead. So yeah, I'll take the risk. I'll burn if I have to. Just point me at him."
The shadow-ocean stilled, the writhing beneath it pausing as though listening. Kenshi's form stepped closer, the air warping with his presence.
"You have come seeking what only the worthy may hold," Kenshi intoned, his words resonating through the spiritual plane as if the shadows themselves repeated them. "The rank of Grandmaster is not a title—it is a burden. And the burden you ask to carry will tear at your very soul."
Renji bowed deeply. "I don't fear the weight. What I fear… is what will happen if I'm not strong enough when Shura awakens."
At the mention of Shura, the shadows rippled uneasily. Kenshi studied him with piercing eyes that seemed to sift through bone, blood, and thought. "Your mind speaks of fear," he said, "but not the coward's fear. Yours is the fear of failure—the fear of letting down those you swore to protect."
The Grandmaster's hand lifted, and between his fingers gleamed a band of gold, ancient and radiant: an armlet forged like flame caught in eternal metal. Its carvings resembled flowing currents, each line shifting with faint pulses of elemental power.
"This amulet," Kenshi declared, "is not a gift, but a chain. It was forged by your father, Haruto Kurogane—a man who understood both the power and the curse of your bloodline. With it, you may call upon the demon within without losing yourself entirely. Remove it before you are ready, and the shadows will consume your mind. You will cease to be Renji—you will be only what your blood has always threatened: destruction in flesh."
Renji's fingers trembled as he accepted the armlet. The moment it touched his skin, warmth surged up his arm, threading through veins like molten fire. Beneath it, his right eye flared faintly with its abyssal glow, and for a heartbeat, he felt the monstrous hunger gnash at the edges of his mind—only to be silenced under the amulet's golden restraint.
Kenshi's gaze sharpened. "Only when you have mastered all seven currents—fire, water, air, lightning, blood, metal, and shadow—will you be able to summon the true form of the demon bound to your soul. Until then, the amulet is your safeguard… and your prison."
"And if I never master them?" he asked, voice low.
"Then you remain forever half a weapon. Strong enough to fight… but too dangerous to stand among those you wish to protect. Without mastery, you are a storm without anchor. A beast pretending at man."
The weight of Kenshi's words crushed him. Yet beneath it, something dangerous stirred in Renji—a resolve, sharp and hungry.
He chuckled darkly.
"Guess that's my life in a nutshell. Always pretending at something."
He stepped closer, shadows curling about his form like smoke. "Know this, Renji Kurogane: not all Grandmasters of the other guilds will welcome you as I have. Many fear what your lineage represents. Some would sooner cut you down than entrust you with such power. But here, in the Kokuryūkai, I grant you my trust."
Renji bowed, the amulet gleaming against his arm, heavy with destiny. "I won't fail you. I won't fail any of them."