CHAPTER 1
A full year had passed since the Gate Incident… and ever since the day the King of the Generals descended and tore Japan into pieces.
Hundreds died that day yet that tragedy was nothing more than the opening act.
Because within the same year…
Another calamity struck.
Death and pain
A calamity so great the country itself wept.
Entire districts vanished.
Millions died.
And Tokyo once a beacon of light had been marked a RED ZONE by the International Guild Conference.
A place where death and destruction came like breath itself.
The Rooftop
Above the tallest building of the Hunter Bureau, under a night sky dim and bruised with smoke, Renji Kurogane stood alone.
His long black coat flowed violently behind him, dancing with the howling wind that cut through the air like a cold blade.
Below him, the once-brilliant city of Tokyo stretched out as a field of cracked lights, collapsed buildings, red warning barriers, and military floodlights.
It was no longer a city now it was a wound.
Renji stared down at it all with unreadable eyes. His aura flickered around him like distant lightning wild, untamed, frightening.
Death and destruction always come to this place…
His expression didn't change.
Then with it came sounds of footsteps approaching from behind
Step… step… step…
A faint magical presence approached from behind.
The wind slowed, as if bowing.
Sakura, the Witch of Andor, stepped beside him. Her cloak shimmered with scattered starlight, her silver hair reflecting the bleak sky.
"Let's go, Januza-sama," she said softly. "It's time."
Renji turned his head slightly, golden light rippling through his irises.
"…Alright."
His presence alone made the air tremble.
They walked casually and stepped into the rooftop elevator. The doors sealed silently, and the long descent began.
The atmosphere inside the elevator was thick.
Sakura spoke first.
"How many of them do you think are in the room, januza-sama?"
Renji didn't look at her. His expression remained cold, sharp, distant.
"Tell me."
Sakura folded her hands behind her back.
"The so-called Pillars of Humanity are present," she said. "The president of the country. And the mortals who fought alongside you."
Renji's eyebrow shifted slightly.
"All of them?"
"Yes, Januza-sama. According to what I've gathered… they're afraid of you."
There was no mockery in her tone .. only fact.
"No human has ever been recorded to surpass the Eight Pillars of Humanity," she continued. "But things are different… when the God of Destruction walks among men."
She smirked slightly.
"You terrify them."
Renji didn't answer.
He didn't need to.
The cold silence was the answer.
The elevator doors slid open with a mechanical sigh.
Two guards standing outside instinctively stepped back as Renji walked through even though he didn't spare them a glance.
Sakura followed calmly, hands folded behind her back, almost amused at the fear spreading like a plague ahead of them.
Walking through the corridor felt like walking through a battlefield without bodies.
Every officer they passed swallowed in terror, eyes glued to the floor, afraid that making eye contact would kill them.
Sakura lowered her voice.
"They fear you, Januza-sama."
Renji finally spoke softly, but with weight that made the air colder.
"…Good."
Sakura blinked.
Renji continued,
"They need to be afraid."
His eyes glowed for an instant.
"They should be afraid like their lives depend on it."
His tone wasn't anger.
It wasn't pride.
It was simply the truth of a being who understood destruction more clearly than humans understood life.
Sakura bowed her head slightly.
"As expected of the heir of destruction…"
They stopped at the massive double doors of Wang Chi's office.
A faint hum of power radiated from Renji before he pushed the doors open
without touching them.
The doors slammed apart, shaking the entire floor.
The doors didn't just open.
They exploded with pressure, slamming back against the walls so violently that the windows rattled. Every head inside the commander's office turned sharply and the room fell silent.
A suffocating silence.
As if a god had entered.
The Eight Pillars of Humanity stood at the center of the circular room, each radiating a different kind of power light, frost, shadow, martial energy, divine aura, and more.
Yet the moment Renji stepped inside…
All of their auras bent.
Not by choice by instinct.
Marcus Steel, the USA pillar, clenched his jaw.
So that's him…
That's the monster who surpassed us…
Longwei Tian, China's pillar, narrowed his glowing eyes.
His presence… it feels like standing before a calamity.
Even Takeda Ryojin Japan's own pillar, Renji's mentor felt the weight. Not fear, but an understanding of the difference between a man… and something far beyond that.
Beside the president, Arisa stood frozen.
Renji ...her Renji, the cheerful boy with warm smiles… was gone.
What stood here was someone colder.
Darker.
Sharpened by loss.
"…Renji…" she whispered, heart sinking.
Wang Chi, the regional commander, forced a smile despite the sweat in his palms.
"We're pleased that you joined us today"
"SHUT UP."
Renji's voice cracked through the room like lightning.
Commanding.
Unrestrained.
Lethal.
The pressure made even the floor pulse.
Marcus scoffed, stepping forward.
"Oi, boy. You got a death wish?"
Renji slowly turned his head toward him eyes glowing a deep, burning gold.
"A mortal telling death if he has a death wish?"
His voice deepened a second resonance beneath it, like another being speaking with him.
"Know your place… human."
The temperature dropped sharply.
Several officers collapsed to their knees from sheer intimidation.
Takeda stepped forward.
"That's enough, Renji."
Renji's glare flicked to him sharp, dangerous.
But then he looked away, refusing to escalate with the one man he respected.
Only Takeda.
Only him.
Wang Chi tried again.
"I-It's alright Renji-san we're glad you bestowed us with your presence today"
"Where is Lily."
Renji's tone shifted not calm, not loud but deadly steady. The type of voice that promised death without hesitation.
President Nakamura smiled coldly, then raised his hands.
"Send her in."
The doors opened.
An officer stepped forward
Dragging Lily by the arm.
A gun pressed against her head.
Her hands trembled.
Her eyes were red.
Tears streamed down her face.
"N–Ni-san…!"
Hiroto's eyes widened.
"LILY!?"
Even the Pillars were stunned pointing a weapon at a citizen.… this wasn't strategy. This was madness.
Takeda roared,
"President Nakamura!! What the hell is the meaning of this!?"
The president raised his hand casually.
"It's only a countermeasure. Even a monster like him has a weakness. And that weakness is"
He gestured at Lily.
"the sister."
Lily cried harder.
"Ni-san… please…!"
Renji's entire aura shifted.
Quiet.
Cold.
Predatory.
He stared directly at the officer holding Lily.
"…Remove the gun. Or I'll kill you."
The officer's body trembled sweat dripping down his neck. Renji's murderous intent was so overwhelming it felt like needles piercing into his lungs.
But still, he forced himself not to back down.
"I—I can't. Orders are.."
"Ni-san!!" Lily screamed again, voice cracking.
Hiroto shouted, "Renji, THINK!!"
But Renji was already gone.
He simply moved at a speed human eyes couldn't register.
One moment he stood ten meters away.
The next...
His hand was already around the officer's throat.
Lifting him high above the ground.
The officer kicked helplessly, face turning purple.
"W-wait—! Please—! I have a family—!"
Takeda stepped forward.
"Renji! DROP HIM!"
Renji turned his head ever so slightly, eyes burning like molten gold.
Then..
CRACK!
He snapped the officer's neck with effortless cruelty.
His body dropped lifelessly onto the floor.
The Pillars instinctively flared their auras .. seven of the eight ready to strike.
Hiroto shouted,
"RENJI, ARE YOU INSANE!?"
Marcus Steel clenched his fists.
How did he move that fast!? That wasn't teleportation — that was something else entirely.
He knelt slightly, softening his tone for the first time.
"Are you okay, Lily?"
She sobbed, wiping her tears with trembling hands.
"Y-yes… I'm okay, Ni-san…"
"It's alright," Renji said. "I'll protect you."
Then he stood straight again .. coldness returning.
He raised a hand..
An invisible force wrapped around the president's body like a giant hand and dragged him forward through the air, choking and thrashing.
Renji caught him by the throat.
Arisa screamed,
"Renji! Don't kill him!!"
The Pillars prepared to intervene..
But Renji only looked at them.
And they were instantly crushed to their knees.
A gravitational field so heavy it bent the floor.
Sakura laughed softly, tilting her head.
"Mortals… you never learn."
Renji tightened his grip on the president's neck.
" look at me, I don't care who you are," he said.
"You can be a president. A god. A deity."
His voice dropped to a terrifying whisper.
"If you ever lay a finger on my sister again…"
His aura erupted cracks forming on the walls.
"I'll kill you."
"And Azerin?"
Renji said coldly.
"He'll be the least of your problems."
"I'll wipe out the planet myself."
Arisa stepped forward..
"Enough, Renji! Drop him please If you still care about me… drop him!"
Renji's eyes flickered toward her.
"And if I kill him?"
"I know you won't," she whispered.
Renji froze for a moment… then slowly released the president.
The man collapsed, gasping for breath, but Renji ended the mercy by kicking him back across the room and into his chair.
The crushing pressure on the Pillars dissipated.
Marcus rubbed his neck.
He held down eight Pillars… with only a fraction of his power…? are you kidding me! Is what takeda said really true?
Renji looked around with complete contempt.
"You're weak."
The room stiffened.
"I'm barely at ten percent," Renji said, "and eight of the strongest humans alive can't even touch me."
He stepped back to the center of the room.
"What will you do… against Choji?"
Hiroto's expression broke pain spreading across his face at the mention of his fallen friend.
Takeda coughed lightly, breaking the silence.
"Then… what do we do?"
Before Renji answered, Sakura stepped forward, smiling with wicked elegance.
"That's simple."
She raised a finger.
"Humans awaken only once. You all already know that."
Elena Warwick, England's Pillar of Light, nodded.
"Exactly. Awakened humans cannot awaken again. The limit is fixed."
Sakura's smile widened.
"Yes. Normally."
The room shifted.
"But what if you could not only awaken twice… but a third time?"
Erik Falken, Germany's Frost Pillar, widened his eyes.
"W–wait. Are you telling us an awakened human can awaken again?"
"You're right," Renji answered, stepping beside Sakura.
"They can."
He walked around Marcus, Longwei, Elena, Erik each feeling a heavy pressure as he passed.
"You all have the potential to awaken two more times. But.."
He stopped, turning his head slightly.
"It will break your bodies."
His voice deepened.
"If you're not strong enough… you'll die."
Sakura nodded.
"But if you survive it?"
Renji smirked.
"You'll become stronger. Strong enough to fight Azerin's Generals."
He raised two fingers.
"These generals at best can destroy planets and can erase solar systems."
He lowered his hand.
"If you awaken again, you won't surpass me."
He looked at them coldly.
"But you'll reach the level required to stand against them."
Lucio Vasquez, Portugal's Pillar of Shadows, exhaled slowly.
"So… even stronger than Choji Namikaze?"
The room tightened.
Arisa lowered her head, grief filling her eyes.
The name still hurt.
For everyone.
But renji's voice tore through the air like a thunderclap, cutting the tension with lethal precision.
"NO!"
The sound wasn't just heard it was felt. Windows vibrated.
Renji's golden eyes locked on Lucio Vasquez, Portugal's Pillar of Shadows, piercing through the very air between them.
"Do you have a death wish?" Renji asked, his voice dripping with cold authority.
Then, almost silently, he sighed.
"Even if you reawaken ten times… you won't be stronger."
Hiroto's eyes flickered downward.
It's true…
A flash of memory ripped through his mind. Two months earlier, the collision of Renji and Choji's blows had leveled an entire city. Concrete shattered, buildings crumbled, and hundreds of lives were lost in an instant. He could still see the destruction, the chaos, the sheer force.
Tch… Hiroto gritted his teeth.
Back in the present, he clenched his fists.
"Choji…" he whispered under his breath.
Renji turned back to face the Pillars, his gaze unyielding.
"I'll handle Choji Namikaze," he said, his voice steady and cold.
I'm the one that caused this calamity...
"It's my burden to bear."
Rarvi Surya, India's Pillar of Flames, stepped forward, desperation in her voice.
"Wait! How… how are we supposed to become this strong? How do we even survive the second and third reawakening?"
Renji's eyes narrowed. The room seemed to grow colder.
"That's not my problem," he replied, his voice icy. "Figure that out yourselves."
Renji turned to Sakura, the Witch of Andor, his tone commanding as always
"Let's go, Sakura."
Sakura bowed slightly, her purple hair shimmering in the dim light of the office.
"Yes, my Lord," she said softly.
Renji's expression softened just a fraction as he bent down and patted Lily's head.
"You'll stay close to me, alright?" he said gently.
Lily nodded, tears still glistening in her eyes.
"Let's go, Lily," he continued, standing straight again, his eyes already fixed ahead.
Hiroto's glare followed him.
Is this really the same Renji? he wondered.
The fun, lively Renji? My rival?
Renji approached the towering double doors of the Hunters Bureau with the weight of inevitability behind him.
He paused, glancing back over his shoulder.
"Uhh… I forgot to mention," he said casually, his voice carrying an underlying menace.
"The reawakening doesn't apply only to the Pillars. Anyone ranked S or above can attempt it… if they survive."
He walked slowly, each step deliberate, heavy with authority.
"Don't get any ideas. Being a Pillar doesn't automatically make you strong," he continued, his golden eyes flashing.
"An S-rank hunter could reawaken twice and surpass even the Pillars who awaken twice. Meaning even Arisa here could become stronger than you, if she survives two reawakening stages. Strength isn't a title it's survival. It's will. It's individual power."
He let the words sink in, letting the weight of them crush the confidence of the most elite humans in the room.
Renji finally turned his attention to President Nakamura, stepping slowly toward him, each footfall echoing like a death knell.
Step.
Step.
Step.
"Don't think I let you leave here because I'm merciful," Renji said, his eyes piercing through Nakamura like a blade.
"If you try that stunt again, I will kill you."
The president's lips trembled.
Y-yes!
Renji's eyes locked on him for a long, terrifying moment. It felt like death itself was staring back.
Finally, Renji turned away, his long black coat trailing behind him like shadows in motion.
Step.
Step.
Step.
He approached the exit doors, ready to continue his path forward, leaving behind fear, awe, and a chilling promise of power to anyone who dared to challenge him.
The room fell into silence.
The Pillars of Humanity . the strongest humans alive could only watch.
The monster formerly known as Renji had walked through their world, leaving no doubt of who now held dominion over survival, power, and vengeance.