Chapter: 61
The battlefield had fallen silent for just a heartbeat after Seraphine's body was torn apart by Takeda's merciless hands. Her words"The gods will come for you…"still lingered in the air, heavy as storm clouds before the lightning. Blood hissed as it dripped onto the ruined pavement, and the shattered remnants of the dragons still smoked from the gravitational collapse of Takeda's black hole.
Renji, Hiroto, and Genzo lay sprawled across the cracked streets, struggling to lift themselves. Their bodies bore bruises and lacerations, their pride even deeper wounds. They had fought with everything they had, but compared to Takeda… it was like children standing in the wake of a typhoon.
Takeda stood still amidst the carnage, his expression calm almost detached. His long coat swayed in the breeze stirred by residual mana currents, his eyes glowing faintly with that eerie golden hue, sharper than any blade.
Then, slowly, he pressed one heavy boot into the ground.
Boom.
The sound wasn't just impact it was resonance. The very city quivered, dust raining from broken buildings, cracks spider-webbing across the asphalt beneath his foot. Mana surged outward in a shockwave so potent that Genzo and Hiroto were forced back down onto one knee, coughing blood from the sheer pressure.
Renji's eyes widened. "This… this isn't just mana. This is something else…"
Hiroto groaned, pressing his daggers into the earth to steady himself. "He's pressing us down without even attacking…"
"Oi," Genzo coughed, wiping blood from his lip with the back of his hand, "remind me never to piss him off."
A thin smirk appeared on Hiroto's face despite his battered state. "Says the guy who got sent flying across three buildings earlier."
"You!" Genzo snapped, but his voice broke under another wave of Takeda's pressure.
Takeda ignored their banter entirely. His focus turned inward, his mana condensing, then suddenly unfolding.
"Spacial Awareness," he murmured.
The city trembled.
Renji felt it instantly a ripple, like the fabric of existence itself had been pulled taut then released in a colossal wave. Something unseen stretched outward from Takeda in every direction, passing through stone, steel, flesh, air. It was an infinite pulse, an invisible tracker that bled across all of Japan in the span of a heartbeat.
Renji gasped. His skin crawled as the wave brushed past him, as though countless unseen eyes now stared directly into his soul. "W-what is this?!"
Even Hiroto looked shaken, his smirk gone, his daggers trembling in his grip. "I… I felt it. Everywhere. Like he just scanned all of Japan at once…"
Genzo's jaw dropped, his usual bravado faltering. "That's impossible… nobody has that kind of range… Nobody but.."
"a Pillar," Renji finished, his voice quiet.
Takeda opened his eyes. For a moment they weren't human eyes, but glowing radiants of power
"…Found you."
The tone was calm, collected, but it sent shivers down their spines.
At the exact same instant, across Tokyo and further still reality bent.
Above every gate, sudden distortions tore into existence, blacker than night. Miniature black holes blossomed one by one, perfect spheres of annihilation that hummed with a soundless hunger. Screams echoed faintly from across the horizon as generals, beasts, and endless armies of monsters froze mid-roar, their bodies elongating, their forms collapsing inward as they were swallowed whole.
Swallowing all the gates and monsters alike
Entire battalions of A-rank monsters vanished in less than a breath. Even the terrifying generals, each rivaling SS-rank in sheer destructive potential, flailed helplessly as their bodies warped and snapped into oblivion.
At once.
All of them.
Every SS- rank knew it was takeda but it was all at once
Marcus also felt it
I see Takeda huh!
Hiroto's mouth went dry. "…He… He wiped them all. Every general. In one move."
Genzo staggered back, his legs nearly giving out. "This… This is a joke, right? You mean to tell me he just wiped out five armies with a thought?!"
Renji was silent. His fists trembled, not out of fear but awe. Takeda's mana hadn't just dominated the battlefield. It dominated existence.
Takeda's expression didn't waver as the black holes winked out of existence, leaving only silence in their wake. He flexed his neck, cracking it once, then exhaled slowly.
"It's done."
For a moment, none of them spoke. The oppressive silence of a city on the brink, broken buildings groaning, the faint hiss of mana-dusted air.
Then Hiroto finally broke it with a crooked grin, despite his bruised jaw. "Hey, Genzo… you realize you got punched across the street by that Seraphine chick, right? Pretty sure you broke the sound barrier on the way down."
Huhhhhhhh!!!!
Genzo shot him a death glare. "Says the guy who got choked out like a toddler. You looked like you were about to pass out."
"Better than being used as a battering ram!"
Renji, exhausted, let out a dry chuckle despite himself. The banter was reckless, ridiculous—but it meant they were still alive.
Takeda finally turned toward them, his aura dimming. He looked calm, controlled, but the power that still radiated off him was undeniable. A living abyss in human skin.
"There are others here…" he said quietly, almost to himself. His eyes scanned the horizon. "But it doesn't matter."
Renji stiffened. "Others?"
Takeda's voice was steady, certain. "This wasn't the full assault. Those generals were nothing but scouts. Pawns." He paused, letting the words sink into their bones. "Something greater is moving. And they are already here."
He stepped forward, pressing his hand into the ground. The entire city vibrated again, the pulse of his mana spreading wider than before. It wasn't just Tokyo now it was the entire nation. His Spacial Awareness unfolded further, a net of perception spanning everything within the islands.
And then his mana flared.
Across Japan, in every location, new distortions appeared. Not black holes this time, but chains of shimmering void-light. They lashed outward, piercing through space, shackling emerging armies before they could even crawl through the broken gates.
In one impossible sweep, Takeda bound them all.
The others could barely comprehend it.
Renji whispered, "This… this is no longer just a hunter's power… this is something else. Something divine…"
How is this possible
Hiroto clenched his fists, a shadow of frustration crossing his eyes. "Damn it. Compared to this… we're insects. We train, we bleed, we fight tooth and nail—and he…" He gestured weakly at Takeda's figure. "He just wipes it all away like it's nothing."
Genzo shook his head, though his usual pride was gone, replaced by awe. "No. That's why he's called a Pillar. He doesn't just fight with power. He is power."
There's a reason he's the strongest of all the pillars after all
Takeda's aura finally dimmed, the oppressive weight lifting from their shoulders. The chains across Japan dissolved, leaving silence once more.
He turned, looking at them with calm eyes. "The generals are gone. Their armies too. But this isn't victory."
Renji frowned. "Then what is it?"
Takeda's gaze hardened. "The gods she spoke of. They are not a metaphor. They are coming.
Gods Genzo tried to cut him off
But takeda spoke with conviction
when they arrive, you'll understand…" His voice dropped, lower, heavier.
The three hunters stood in stunned silence. The night air bit into their lungs, the devastation around them whispering of battles still to come.