Renji couldn't move.
The figure in front of him was Yurei. Her pale hair flowed in the fog, her white robes torn and stained with gray ash. But her eyes—those eyes that once carried warmth—were nothing but pits of black.
"Renji…" she whispered.
His sword trembled in his hand. "Yurei?"
She stepped closer. The Mist curled around her like it was alive, rising and falling with her breath. Each step she took made the ground groan as if the world itself feared her.
"You left me." Her voice cracked, gentle but broken. "You turned your back… when I needed you most."
Renji shook his head so hard it hurt. "No. That's not true. I—I tried to reach you. I fought for you!"
Her lips curved into something between a smile and a wound. "Fought? You died. Over and over. And each time, you left me behind."
The Mist thickened, pushing into Renji's lungs. He coughed, his chest burning, heart sputtering like an old machine. The cracks on his skin pulsed with light.
He took a step toward her, voice low. "…If you're really Yurei, then you know I never abandoned you. I can't. Not you."
Her black eyes flickered, just for a second, and then her face twisted. Mist bled from the cracks on her skin, crawling down her arms like veins of smoke.
"You can't even save yourself," she said, her tone flat now.
Renji froze.
And then she moved.
Chains erupted from the Mist around her, snapping forward like snakes. They coiled around Renji's arms, legs, chest, pinning him to the broken ground. The steel was cold, sharper than any blade.
He roared, pulling against them, but they didn't budge. His sword slipped from his grasp, clattering uselessly beside him.
"Yurei! Stop! This isn't you!"
She tilted her head, watching him struggle. For a moment, her lips trembled. Then the Mist spoke through her, a second voice layered over her own.
"She is what you wanted her to be. Nothing more."
Renji's eyes widened. "Shut up… SHUT UP!"
The chains tightened, digging into his flesh. The cracks across his skin widened, light spilling out like fire from broken stone. His vision blurred. He felt something being pulled from him—something deeper than blood, deeper than flesh.
His soul.
Yurei—or the Mist inside her—was tearing it out.
Renji gasped, his body shaking violently. He could feel parts of himself breaking, fragments peeling away into the chains. And with each piece, the voice inside him grew louder.
"You are hollow. You are already dead. What walks is only the husk."
"No… I'm still here!" Renji shouted, veins bulging on his neck. "I'm not done yet!"
But his body refused him. His strength bled out into the fog.
Yurei stepped closer, chains dragging Renji's soul out like threads of light. Her hand reached for his face, trembling. For a moment, her eyes softened.
"Renji… why does it hurt so much?" she whispered.
His chest clenched. "Because you're still you. Somewhere inside all this, you're still Yurei!"
Her expression flickered—pain, confusion, longing. But then the black in her eyes surged again, drowning it all. Mist swallowed her tears before they could fall.
The chains yanked tighter, forcing Renji to his knees. His body cracked louder now, skin splitting like broken porcelain. Light spilled from the wounds, brighter and brighter.
He screamed, every muscle tearing.
And through it all, Yurei's voice and the Mist's voice overlapped, speaking as one:
"Respawn. Break again. Fade again. Until nothing remains."
Renji's vision tunneled. His sword lay just out of reach, the blade reflecting his fractured face. He clenched his teeth, rage boiling through the pain.
"No… not this time."
His hand twitched. Inch by inch, he reached for the weapon. The chains dug deeper, slicing through muscle, but he kept moving. His fingers brushed the hilt.
And then—
A whisper, softer than the rest, slipped past the roar of the Mist.
"Renji… if you can still save me… then prove it."
His eyes snapped open.
With a roar that shook the ruins, Renji grabbed his sword and—
Renji's fingers closed around the hilt.
The sword burned against his palm, but that pain reminded him—he was still here. Still fighting.
"YUREI!" he roared, pulling with every shred of strength left in him. The blade scraped the stone and rose, cutting through the chains that bound his chest. Mist exploded from the cracks, shrieking like wounded beasts.
The backlash hurled him back, blood spilling from his mouth. But he stood, sword shaking in his hand. His body was fractured, glowing with cracks, yet his eyes locked onto her.
Yurei watched him silently. Mist poured from her body, chains whipping around like serpents, but her hands trembled.
"Why…?" she whispered. "Why do you keep fighting when there's nothing left of you?"
Renji's grip tightened. His voice came out raw, broken, but firm. "Because I promised. I promised I wouldn't leave you again."
For the first time, her expression faltered. A flash of the old Yurei flickered beneath the black void of her eyes.
The Mist hissed through her lips. "She is gone. There is only the hollow bride. Take her, or lose yourself."
Chains lunged again. Renji swung his sword, sparks flying as steel clashed with shadow. He cut through one, then another, but more kept coming. They coiled around his legs, arms, throat—dragging him down.
He fought like a cornered animal. Every slash carried desperation. Every roar carried grief.
But the Mist was endless.
One chain pierced through his side, another crushed his arm. His vision blurred with red. Still, he forced himself forward.
"Yurei!" he shouted, cutting a path through the storm. "If you're still in there—then fight with me!"
Her body froze. For a heartbeat, the Mist faltered. Her lips parted, and a faint, broken whisper escaped.
"…Renji…"
It was her.
The Mist screeched in fury, chains thrashing wildly. It tried to smother her voice, bury it beneath its roar. But Renji's heart surged.
He pushed past the pain, the cracks spreading across his body. Light burst from him, blinding, each step tearing him apart—but he didn't stop.
His sword glowed with that same light as he raised it high.
"I won't let them take you from me!"
And he brought it down.
The blade cleaved through the chains, through the fog, through the false body the Mist had wrapped around her.
A scream erupted—not Yurei's, but the Mist's. The air itself shook, the ruins splitting apart. Shadows writhed, faces screaming as they tore free and dissolved.
Yurei collapsed to her knees, her form flickering, half real, half smoke. Her black eyes shimmered, then cleared—just for an instant.
She looked at him with tears that weren't Mist this time. "Renji… you… you're still…"
He stumbled forward, catching her fragile body in his arms. His cracks glowed like fire, his body breaking apart even as he held her.
"I told you…" he whispered, his voice barely there. "…I'll never leave you."
Her lips moved, forming a weak smile. "Then… find me. The real me…"
And before he could answer, her body dissolved into light, scattering like ash on the wind.
Renji fell to his knees, clutching at the empty air. His sword dug into the ground beside him, the only thing holding him upright.
The Mist withdrew, its whispers fading—but not gone.
"Next time you Respawn… there will be nothing left."
His chest heaved, the cracks across his skin glowing faintly before dimming. He felt hollow, weaker than ever.
But his eyes burned with something else.
Resolve.
He pressed his hand against the broken ground and forced himself to rise.
"…Then I just have to stop dying."
The Mist stirred at the edge of his vision, like laughter echoing in the ruins. But Renji didn't waver. He tightened his grip on his sword, face shadowed, and walked forward.
Each step was heavy. Each breath cut like knives.
But he kept moving.
Because somewhere out there, Yurei was still waiting.