Renji started his morning in a way different from how he always did—with pain.
Fifty push-ups, slow and deliberate, each one forcing his body to scream louder than the thoughts in his head.
Sweat ran in steady trails down his bare back, dripping onto the wooden floor beneath him. His arms trembled, muscles carved and taut, but he refused to stop. Not yet. Not until his body felt as raw as the memory of last night.
The demon's face flashed in his mind—the one he'd killed with his own hands. Its eyes, wide with shock, as it crumpled to the ground.
He should've felt triumphant. He should've felt like a hunter. Instead, all he could think about was Hanzo.
Hanzo, coughing up blood, eyes going glassy as that monster ripped him apart.
Renji ground his teeth and slammed his chest back up for another rep. Never again.
He finished with a harsh exhale and sat back on his heels, drenched. The silence of his tiny apartment wrapped around him, but inside, he was far from quiet.
"I will never be helpless again," he muttered, barely louder than a breath.
He rose, legs stiff, and crossed to the wall where a corkboard hung crookedly. It wasn't decorated with bright pins or goals—it was littered with reminders. Scribbled notes, torn paper with names of people who'd told him "no," a ripped business card from the last guild that kicked him out.
Renji stared at it, jaw tight.
I don't need them.
In this world, people liked to romanticize the Seven Currents—those born with the powers that shaped everything.
Fire. Water. Air. Metal. Blood. Lightning. Shadow.
Each one a legacy of strength passed through generations. Each one a door slammed in his face.
Fire—the domain of the Hono no Senshi, soldiers who could turn breath into flame, reduce steel to ash with a single strike. He remembered standing before their gates, the heat of their training grounds rolling over him like a furnace, and the cold rejection of their leader: "No ember in you, boy. Not here."
Water—more than rivers and waves; it was ice and life, wielded by the Suijin no Retsu, the cool, impenetrable masters of control. They had tested him once, beneath a waterfall, and watched him shiver and fail to shape even a droplet.
Air—swift and invisible, ruled by the Kazehane, soldiers who could slice through mountains with gales and ride the wind as easily as birds. They laughed when he stumbled trying to mimic their graceful steps.
Metal—the Kurogane Kai, flesh like iron, skin that blades could not pierce. He had swung his sword at one of them once, at their invitation. It broke against their arm.
Blood—the most feared of them all, the Chi no Meiyo, warriors who could weaponize life itself. He hadn't even been allowed to enter their gates. "Dangerous without strength," they'd told him.
Lightning—the Ikazuchi-dan, storms given flesh. They'd tested him with a single spark. He couldn't even hold the current.
Shadow—the last refuge for the desperate and discarded: the Kokuryūkai. They took him in. For a while. The darkness suited him, at first—a place to hide, to strike unseen. But even they had found him lacking. He'd been too slow. Too human and therefore died as their gamma operative.
Maybe they were right. Maybe he wasn't born special.
But now he's been reborn and he wasn't done, "Fine," he muttered, ripping the last name off the board. "I'll carve my own path. And when I stand over the corpses of every demon that took Hanzo from me… they'll beg to have me back."
Meanwhile the members of the Kokuryūkai had been thrown into a tizzy as a result of what Renji had done in the last few hours.
" What?" Hikari blurted.
" Yes master, we got there and met the demon already dead, apparently killed by hunter " Akihiro reported.
" But who could it be?" Kazuki inquired with a raised eyebrow. " Maybe a hunter from another guild" Takashi offered.
" No sir the technique described to us by an eyewitness was pretty ordinary the only thing standing out was that the individual must be pretty strong" Jade countered.
" So you mean to tell me that this demon was killed by an ordinary individual?" Hikari asked in disbelief.
" No master but this hunter might be under some sort of demon possession, our witness described a sudden burst of strength when the guy exposed his right eye" Jade said.
" His eye?"
" Yes sir apparently the hunter has some sort of demonic right eye that's the source of his strength" Jade explained.
" Who is this eyewitness?" Takashi asked.
" It's the son of a family the demon attacked sir". " Step up surveillance and double check the street security feeds we might have a possible demon on the loose" Hikari ordered.
" Yes master" Akihiro and Jade echoed then left the room. " Is it possible?" Kazuki murmured while his mind raced with the implications of what he just heard.
" Is what possible?" Takashi asked. " Nothing important Takashi, Hikari make sure you alert me if you find anything on
The crater should have been silent. But silence does not hold for long where gods and demons meddle.
The clouds churned. The downpour thickened. Then, with a violence that split the very night, a bolt of lightning speared downward, striking the center of the crater.
The impact shook the ground, blasting steam into the air. The rain hissed louder, as though boiling away at the touch of something unnatural.
The earth groaned.
Ash stirred.
At first, it was nothing more than dust blowing in the wind. But the storm's gales did not scatter it. Instead, the ashes gathered, twisting, knitting themselves together. Bone reformed like ivory being carved in fast motion. Veins spread like ink on paper. Muscles layered themselves across bone, fiber by fiber, twitching as if remembering pain.
Another lightning strike hammered the same spot, and with it came a surge of energy — violent, red, unnatural. The ash-flesh fusion screamed into existence, taking shape, solidifying, until what stood there was no longer corpse, no longer ash, but something reborn.
A man.
Renji.
***
The rain lashed his skin. His lungs heaved, dragging in breath that tasted like fire and smoke. His body trembled — not from weakness, but from the echo of pain that lingered from death itself.
Then came the whisper.
Not a sound carried by air, but one born inside his skull, pounding, resonating, filling every corner of his mind. It was guttural, inhuman, deeper than any mortal throat could create.
Wake up.
Renji's body convulsed. His head snapped upward, his chest heaving. His hands clawed at the mud beneath him as though he had been drowning in it.
Wake up!!!
The voice was thunder itself, rattling the marrow in his bones. He gasped — a ragged, animal sound — and then his eyes flew open.
One was his own, dark blue and human.
The other was not.
Where his right eye should have been, there now burned an orb of crimson, glowing like molten metal. Its pupil was not round, but a jagged, shifting slit, alive with hunger. Veins of faint red light spread outward from the socket, threading across his cheek like cracks in porcelain.
And in that instant, thunder answered.
The heavens roared, a clash of sound so loud it drowned the rain. Lightning lit the battlefield again, illuminating the lone figure who had risen from death.
Renji staggered to his feet, mud dripping from his hands, breath steaming in the chill. His heart pounded with more than life — it beat with something alien, something chained into him from the void.
He was not simply alive.
He had been chosen.
The storm above raged louder, as though welcoming its new champion…
htning lit the battlefield again, illuminating the lone figure who had risen from death.
Renji staggered to his feet, mud dripping from his hands, breath steaming in the chill. His heart pounded with more than life — it beat with something alien, something chained into him from the void.
He was not simply alive.
He had been chosen.
The storm above raged louder, as though welcoming its new champion…