"Let the Kokuryūkai know that I have an announcement to make. It's time to reveal Renji to them," Kazuki ordered, his voice calm yet heavy with authority.
Behind him, Hikari and Takashi exchanged quick glances, their faces betraying concern.
"I'll go inform Captain Hayashi," Takashi said, bowing briefly before hurrying off.
Hours later, the great hall of the Kokuryūkai pulsed with anticipation. Rows of shadowborn warriors stood in disciplined formation, their black uniforms pristine, their blades strapped at their sides. The air itself seemed to hum with energy, the flickering torchlight dancing across steel and stern expressions.
For the rank-and-file Gammas, this was routine—an assembly called by the Triad Masters. But the atmosphere was different tonight. Thicker. Expectant. Rumors had been swirling for days, whispers of a nameless hunter who had cleaved a demon in half without guild sanction.
The doors at the far end groaned open. Silence dropped like a blade.
Kazuki, Hikari, and Takashi entered, their presence commanding immediate respect. But what truly seized the hall's attention was the fourth figure following close behind—a young man with an odd air of familiarity, his head slightly bowed, hair falling to conceal one eye.
Kazuki stepped onto the platform and lifted his hand. The crowd straightened as one.
"Greetings, great soldiers of the Kokuryūkai," he began, his voice carrying effortlessly through the chamber. "I thank you for your service, your discipline, and your sacrifices. You are the beating heart of this guild. Without you, I would be no leader—merely a man standing on empty ground. Every victory we claim belongs not to me, but to all of you."
His words rang true; a flicker of pride rippled across the ranks. But then his tone shifted, firm and grave.
"But now," Kazuki's tone deepened, "we face something far greater than the rival guilds or the demons we've grown accustomed to slaying. There is a shadow moving on the horizon… an ancient calamity reborn. A being the old records dared only whisper about: Shura."
The hall rippled with unease. The name carried weight, dread, and a history most hoped was only myth.
Kazuki pressed on, his voice rising with conviction.
"Shura is no ordinary demon. He is a fragment of the abyss given form, the warlord of destruction who once drowned nations in fire and despair. He does not simply kill—he corrupts, he consumes, and he breaks the will of even the strongest hunters. If he rises fully… then the Kokuryūkai, Japan, perhaps the world itself, will burn."
The silence thickened. Even the most battle-hardened warriors leaned in.
"But," Kazuki continued, "the abyss does not always bring despair. Sometimes… it delivers a weapon."
He gestured.
Renji stepped forward.
The hall erupted with murmurs, gasps, and sharp intakes of breath. Many recognized him—Renji Kurogane, the so-called failure, the boy abandoned in the field. The Gammas in particular buzzed the loudest, recalling whispered tales of his survival.
Kazuki raised his hand for silence. His gaze swept the room like a blade, pinning down doubts before they could take root.
"This is Renji Kurogane," he declared. "A soldier we nearly lost by our own blindness and inability to act. A man marked not by privilege, not by training, but by raw will and defiance. Against impossible odds, he faced what even our most seasoned Alphas feared. He carries a burden none of us would dare shoulder."
Renji lifted his head then, his hair parting enough to reveal both eyes. Gasps swept the hall. One eye human. The other… unmistakably inhuman, its eerie gleam betraying the Demon's Eye.
The murmuring grew frantic—fear, awe, suspicion.
Kazuki's voice cut through it like thunder.
"Silence!"
The chamber froze.
"I know what you see. And I know the fear that gnaws at your hearts. But I tell you this: fear is the seed of ruin. Renji is not our enemy—he is our covenant. He is the next bearer of the Abyssal Covenant, a legacy written in shadow and blood. Some of you know the stories. You've read of the tyrants among his ancestors, those who bent darkness to cruel ends. But you've also read of his father—Haruto Kurogane."
Kazuki paused, letting the name settle.
"Haruto was no tyrant. He was the man who split the Fragments of Calamity, the one who stood against the raging evil when the currents couldn't . Haruto proved that even from the abyss, light can be born. And so will his son."
The crowd listened now with rapt attention. Even the skeptical Betas held their tongues.
Kazuki's tone grew sharper, fueled with conviction.
"You may see a demon's eye. I see the mark of survival. You may see corruption. I see potential. You may see a stranger. I see the one who may yet save us all. Do not let the past blind you to the truth standing before your eyes. Renji Kurogane is not to be hunted. He is to be followed."
A ripple of disbelief moved through the Gammas, but it was smothered by Kazuki's next words, delivered like a blade to the heart:
"The abyss is not our enemy—it is a path. And Renji is the one chosen to walk it. If we reject him, we reject the very chance at salvation. But if we stand with him, if we sharpen his blade with ours, then not even hell itself can stand against us."
Kazuki spread his arms, his shadow stretching impossibly wide across the platform, swallowing the light around him. His voice lowered but carried more weight than ever.
"I know what you are thinking. You fear him. You doubt him. You question whether he is truly one of us. But listen well: we do not have the luxury of doubt. Shura is coming. He will not care for your fear, your hesitation, your pride. Only strength will stand against him. And Renji is that strength. Whether we accept him or not, the abyss has already chosen him."
He leaned forward, voice fierce now, the kind that made men's spines stiffen with resolve.
"We can either turn our backs on the weapon the heavens—or hells—have delivered us… or we can embrace him, sharpen him, and unleash him as the spear that pierces Shura's heart. I, Kazuki, leader of the Kokuryūkai, declare Renji Kurogane one of us. From this day forth, you will fight beside him, you will bleed beside him, and when the time comes—you will trust him to lead you into the abyss and drag you back out again!"
The words hit like a war drum. Soldiers clenched their fists, some roared in approval, others stood stunned, but the momentum was undeniable. The tide of doubt was bending.
Kazuki turned slightly toward Renji, his final words echoing across the chamber.
"Renji Kurogane is not just our safe card—he is the only card. And when Shura rises, he will either save us all… or burn with us. The choice is ours. The time is now."
Silence hung for a heartbeat. Then another.
Finally, Jade—the Alpha whose eyes had once narrowed suspiciously at Renji—took a single step forward, placing her fist to her chest. "If Master Kazuki says he is ours, then I will fight beside him."
Akihiro followed. Then Rikuya. One by one, fists struck chests in a solemn pledge, the sound echoing like drums of war.
Even those who still doubted could not defy the current.
Renji stood amidst it all, his demon eye glinting in the sunlight. For the first time, he wasn't hidden in shadows, running from whispers. He stood in the open, claimed before all as Kokuryūkai.