Chapter 22
The night was unnervingly still, as though the very air refused to move. Clouds stretched across the heavens, veiling the moon in shadows, but in Takeda's apartment, the silence was even heavier. The quiet was broken only by the low hum of the city outside and the faint breaths of the boy lying unconscious on his couch.
Renji.
Takeda had carried him here with his own arms. Choji and Lily had followed, both pale with fear and confusion, their eyes darting constantly between Renji's blood-stained shirt and Takeda's unreadable expression.
If the Hunter's Bureau discovered this—if they even so much as sniffed out the truth of what Takeda had witnessed—chaos would follow. Nations would stir, organizations would rise and fall overnight, and even S-Rankers would abandon their posts in terror. The return of that name would break the world.
Januza.
Takeda's jaw clenched at the thought.
He set Renji carefully upon the couch, adjusting the boy's head against a folded blanket. Renji's face was strangely calm, like a man merely asleep, yet Takeda could not forget the golden gaze he had seen moments before—the gaze that had forced even Tang Shii, arrogant beyond measure, into a puddle of fear and blood. The gaze that pressed an SSS-Ranker like him into powerlessness.
Now that same boy, barely twenty four , lay unconscious without even the faintest trace of mana in him.
Impossible.
Takeda sat back slowly, resting against the edge of a wooden chair. His eyes never left Renji. "No stench of mana," he muttered to himself. "Not even a ripple… How can this be? How can something that was greater than SSS vanish into nothing?"
Choji, who had been pacing nervously near the window, froze when he heard Takeda's whisper. "You said something… Januza?"
The words left his mouth before he even realized he'd spoken.
Takeda blinked. He hadn't meant to say that aloud. His gaze flickered briefly to Choji, then back to Renji, as though weighing whether to speak further.
Lily, meanwhile, was seated right beside her brother, her small hands clutching Renji's. Tears rimmed her eyes, but they were not from fear alone. It was awe, confusion, and something more—something deeper. She had seen the transformation, the overwhelming presence. She had seen her Oni-chan become something else entirely.
"Januza…" Choji repeated cautiously, watching Takeda. "Who is Januza?"
Takeda exhaled slowly, the weight of centuries of silence pressing against him. His voice, when it came, was low and grave.
"Januza… is a myth. Or so we thought."
Choji frowned. "A myth?"
Takeda nodded, his eyes distant as though looking not at the present but at an ancient battlefield hidden behind time itself. "A story whispered in old hunter circles, passed down like a curse in forgotten libraries. The tale of a being whose power rivaled gods. A being who once walked this world long before hunters, long before mana gates. A being who… should not exist."
Lily's tears trembled at her lashes. "Oni-chan… is that… him?"
Takeda's silence was answer enough.
Takeda leaned back, folding his arms, his voice deepening as he recited words carved into history.
"They say Januza was no ordinary man. He was a slayer of gods A being that rivaled even sung-wukong A mortal born with neither blessing nor divine favor, but with a will so absolute it carved itself against the laws of creation. He fought… and killed six gods. Six divine beings who, according to ancient Japanese mythology, were said to be architects of universes, rulers of cycles, destroyers and creators alike."
Choji's breath hitched. Wait hold up wukong...."Six… gods?"
Takeda nodded grimly.
"The first was Amatsu-Mikaboshi, the God of Chaos and Primordial Darkness. His very presence fractured the stars. Entire galaxies folded into themselves under his chaos. He thrived on disorder, feeding from the collapse of balance. But Januza… he broke Mikaboshi's endless darkness with sheer force, dragging him into light and ripping his essence apart."
Takeda's gaze hardened and became clearer
"The second was Susanoo-no-Mikoto, the Storm God. His rage could flood continents, his blade was said to sever mountains as though they were grass. The seas and winds obeyed him. Yet Januza fought him not with storms, but with silence cutting his thunder with a strike that shattered the heavens. The storm fell silent, and Susanoo was no more."
Choji swallowed hard, unable to interrupt.
"The third," Takeda continued, "was Izanami-no-Mikoto, the Mother of Death. She governed the underworld, commanding billions of souls. Her curse was eternal—whoever crossed her domain would never return. Yet Januza did. He walked into Yomi, tore through the countless armies of the dead, and cut Izanami's shadow in two. For the first time, even death knew fear."
Takeda's voice dropped further, almost a whisper.
"The fourth was Raijin, the God of Thunder. His lightning could reduce worlds into ash, his drums roared louder than the cosmos. He fought with speed beyond perception, yet even Raijin's bolts could not pierce Januza. In the end, his drums were silenced forever."
"The fifth," he said, his tone heavy, "was Fūjin, the God of Wind. He carried the breath of creation itself. With a single exhale, he could birth universes; with an inhale, he could collapse them. He was eternal movement, eternal cycle. But Januza… Januza bound him, broke the flow of time and motion itself, and ended Fūjin's breath forever."
Takeda paused then, his hand trembling slightly as he spoke the last name.
"And the sixth…" His eyes darkened. "The sixth was Amaterasu Ōmikami, the Goddess of the Sun. She was the light of all creation, the flame that birthed humanity and gods alike. Her brilliance was untouchable; no mortal could gaze upon her true form without burning to ash. But Januza… he faced her directly. They say the battle between Januza and Amaterasu lit the skies for a thousand years. And in the end… even the Sun Goddess fell."
Choji's knees weakened. Lily's mouth fell open, silent tears streaming.
Takeda exhaled, his eyes haunted. "Januza did not stop there. He did not die in those battles. No… he did something worse. He erased himself."
Choji blinked, confused. "Erased… himself?"
Takeda nodded grimly. "Yes. With his own power, Januza severed his existence from reality. He stripped himself from the cycle of life and death, from the memory of the world itself. Even the gods who remained could not sense him anymore. He chose exile not because he was defeated, but because his existence itself threatened creation. It is said…" Takeda leaned forward, voice barely audible, "that he even had the power to decide his own reincarnation. To choose where and when he would return."
It was even said that Januza had the power of creation and destruction his power rivaled the gods of the universe and yet??
His gaze shifted to Renji's unconscious body. "And somehow… that boy…
Lily's lips quivered as she whispered: "Oni-chan… is Januza?"
Takeda closed his eyes. "Yes. Or at least… what's left of him."
The room fell into silence again. Choji rubbed his arms as though cold, goosebumps prickling his skin. The story no, the truth was too heavy to digest.
He finally whispered, almost in defiance: "But… Renji isn't like that. He's kind. He's normal. No he jokes with us, he eats with us, he… he isn't some god-slayer!"
Takeda's gaze softened only slightly. "That's what makes it more terrifying. Januza is not Renji. But Renji… is also not free of Januza. They are one. Two minds, two souls in conflict. If Renji ever loses himself…" He didn't finish.
Choji shivered. He had seen it.....Renji's golden eyes, the cold voice that wasn't his.
Lily, clutching Renji's hand tighter, leaned over him and whispered through her tears: "Please… come back, Oni-chan. Don't leave us."
Takeda looked away, his thoughts heavy. The mana wave earlier had been so overwhelming that even his detectors overspiked, as though the world itself couldn't measure what it had felt. If the Bureau discovered the truth, if the world learned Januza had returned, even in reincarnation…
The world would burn.
And so Takeda resolved in silence. He would keep this secret. No matter what.
Even if it meant standing against the entire Hunter's Bureau itself.