Cold silence swallowed Renji.
The fall had no end, no beginning. Just darkness pressing from all sides, thicker than any night. Yurei was still in his arms, but her weight felt unreal—like holding mist that could dissolve with a blink.
When he tried to breathe, air rasped dry in his lungs. No sound escaped him. Even the roar of descent was absent. Silence here was not absence of sound—it was a presence. A suffocating, crushing entity.
Then came the reflections.
Walls of the abyss flickered with shapes—ghosts molded from his own face. Renji saw himself die in a thousand ways: impaled, burned, strangled, swallowed. Each death replayed in grotesque loops, like the abyss had archived his failures.
One hollow-eyed Renji pressed a blade into his chest, again and again, without hesitation. Another wandered aimlessly, no mouth, no voice, just an empty shell. A third stared directly at him, lips curling into a grin that was not his.
Renji's throat closed. His grip on Yurei trembled.
Whispers trickled in, different this time. Not the formless Mist—but himself.I'm you. The version that gave up. The one who accepted peace. Don't you see how easy it is? Let go. Join us. You've already lost yourself so many times… what's one more?
Renji shut his eyes, shaking. "You're not me."
The grin widened in the reflection. Not yet.
Yurei stirred weakly in his arms. Her voice was faint, almost stolen by the abyss. "Renji… where… are we?"
He forced himself to answer, though his voice broke. "The Mist's belly. Its graveyard."
Her gaze flicked to the walls. Her face paled at the endless versions of him repeating their deaths. She whispered as if not to wake them, "These are… your remains."
Renji's gut twisted. He wanted to deny it. But deep down, he knew. Every Respawn left something behind. And here, in the Soulgrave, all those fragments gathered—broken echoes, trapped forever.
Steps echoed. Not his. Not hers.
A figure emerged from the dark. Taller than human, but draped in ragged shadow that breathed like smoke. Eyes glowed red, steady, piercing.
Kurogane.
No blade in hand. No armor. Just a silhouette that moved with impossible weight. His voice rolled like grinding stone, vibrating through the abyss.
"Welcome, Renji. Welcome to the Soulgrave. You've already left pieces of yourself here. This is where you truly belong."
Renji glared, tightening his grip on Yurei. "Shut up. I'm not staying."
Kurogane's steps rang heavy, but he didn't attack. Instead, he gestured to the walls, to the infinite deaths replaying.
"Look at them. Each one was you. Each death chipped your soul apart. What Respawn gives you is not life. It's subtraction. You're less than you were. Less than human. Soon, less than nothing."
Renji's breath caught. He wanted to deny it—but he remembered. Faces forgotten. Moments lost. Skills once sharp, dulled. Every return left holes.
Yurei gripped his sleeve, forcing his eyes back to her. "Don't listen. He's feeding the fear. That's all he has."
But her voice trembled.
Kurogane tilted his head, smile sharp in the glow. "And what of her? Can you even trust she's real? The Mist shapes illusions from your longing. How do you know she isn't just another echo, a ghost designed to keep you obedient?"
Renji froze.
For the first time, doubt sliced deeper than any blade. His arms tightened around Yurei as though she might evaporate. She felt real. Warm. But then… so did pain. So did despair. Mist could wear any mask.
Yurei's eyes widened at his hesitation. "Renji… it's me."
The abyss laughed—not just Kurogane, but the thousand reflections around him. Their voices joined into one, a mocking chorus.
She's already fading. Just like you will.
Renji's hands trembled. Sword heavy at his side. Abyss pressing closer. He couldn't tell anymore—whether he was fighting to save her, or clinging to something already lost.
For the first time since he Respawned, he whispered to himself, "Am I… the last Renji left?"
And in the silence that followed, the Soulgrave pulsed—waiting for his answer.
Abyss tightened.
The walls pulsed with red veins of light, and each reflection of Renji began to move. They stepped from the stone as if peeling free from glass, forming a circle around him. Dozens, hundreds—every version of him that had died.
Some carried wounds still bleeding. Others staggered like corpses. A few looked whole, but their eyes were hollow, stripped of will. Each whispered the same word, over and over.
Join… join… join…
Renji's breath broke into ragged gasps. He raised his sword, but the weight of their gaze pinned him. Each was him. To strike them felt like striking his own soul.
Yurei clutched his arm, voice trembling. "Don't look at them. They're fragments, not you. You're still whole!"
The reflections hissed, turning toward her. Their voices sharpened.Not whole. Never whole. He left us behind. She'll leave too.
One stepped forward, face split in a twisted smile. "She's already fading. You can't save her. But you can save yourself."
It raised a sword identical to his.
Renji froze. Blade against blade. Himself against himself.
Before he could move, the doppelganger lunged. Steel clashed, sparks screaming through the silence. The force drove him back, knees buckling. Another Renji slashed from the side. He parried, barely. Then another struck. And another.
A storm of himself, endless and merciless.
Yurei screamed his name, but her voice was swallowed by the cacophony.
Kurogane stood beyond the circle, arms folded, eyes glowing. "Do you see now? You can't escape yourself. Each death breeds another you. And they all want what you secretly crave."
Renji's muscles screamed as he fought. Cuts bloomed across his arms, chest, face. Blood slicked the sword.
Whispers crawled into his skull with every strike.Wouldn't it be easier to fall? To give in? To stop fighting?
His guard broke. A blade sank deep into his side. He howled, dropping to one knee. The reflections swarmed, swords raised for the killing blow.
Yurei flung herself forward, shielding him with her body. Her frail frame shook, arms spread wide. "No! You won't take him!"
The reflections halted. Their heads tilted in unison, like marionettes confused.
Kurogane's grin widened. "Ah. How touching. But tell me, Renji—if she is nothing more than Mist wearing a mask… would you kill her now, to be free?"
Renji's vision blurred with blood and pain. Yurei's figure flickered in his sight—solid one moment, translucent the next. Her eyes begged him to believe.
But the voices thundered. End her. If she's real, she will Respawn. If not, she was never yours to keep.
Renji's hands trembled on his sword. His chest burned. His mind fractured.
Yurei whispered, tears streaking her pale face. "Trust me… or trust nothing."
The circle of reflections leaned closer, whispering in unison. Choose. Choose. Choose.
Renji raised his blade. The edge hovered between Yurei's heart… and his own chest.
Silence swallowed the abyss, waiting.
Then he whispered, voice broken:"If you're real… then forgive me."
The sword plunged.
Light exploded.
The reflections shrieked, shattering like glass. Kurogane's roar shook the abyss. The world inverted—black into white, silence into deafening noise. Renji's scream tore through the Soulgrave… then vanished.
And when the light died, there was only stillness.
No Yurei.No reflections.No Renji.
Just the Soulgrave, empty.