CHAPTER 22
The night was wrong well actually that was the only way to describe what it was
The city outside Takeda's apartment hummed brightly as it always did cars whispering across wet asphalt, distant sirens rising and fading basically Life continued as if nothing had changed.
But really something had changed.
Something had shifted beneath the skin of the world.
The Clouds blackened as it strangled the moon in a thick, suffocating blanket, casting everything into a dim and depthless twilight. even the air felt too awkward,
Inside takeda home the silence was even heavier.
Takeda laid Renji down on the worn gray couch with a gentleness that did not match his strength.
Renji's head fell against a folded blanket, his breathing soft and steady almost like he was finally at peace
As for choji ?
Choji stood near the doorway, shoulders tight, eyes locked on Renji as though if he blinked, the boy might disappear, his knuckles shook even the dried blood on his shirt felt cold.
Lily knelt beside the couch, small hands trembling as she held Renji's fingers between her own. Her eyes were wet and blunt red. But her tears didn't fall. They were only gathered by a grief she did not yet understand.
Takeda SSS-Rank, commander, one of the world's strongest men if not the strongest sat heavily into the wooden chair across from them. His posture was still and composed, but internally his thoughts were frantic, sharp, spiraling.
His heart had not yet recovered from what he had seen.
The power , the violence and even the speed of Renji even his mana shredding pressure that had nearly crushed him to his knees.
But those eyes.
It was golden and ancient but almost full of beauty
Takeda exhaled slowly.
This is wrong he said quietly, no mana radiated from him, not even the smallest ripple of aura or nothing to indicate that moments ago,I can't sense anything it's completely gone like a storm that vanished without a trace.
Choji swallowed hard, his voice cracking as he finally spoke.
"…MR Takeda
Takeda didn't respond.
"…you said… a name. Earlier." Choji's voice was quieter now, a whisper trembling at the edge of fear. "You said… Januza."
The room stilled.
Takeda blinked once. He had not meant to say that aloud. His lips had spoken it instinctively like the memory had been forced out of him.
Lily's voice was even softer. "Januza… … is he…?"
Takeda looked at Renji.
For the past year he was the young man who smiled easily, who always carried grocery bags for Lily without being asked, who scolded Choji for skipping meals, who laughed at the dumbest jokes, who never asked for praise or attention, who lived quietly
Is now someone who had looked at a god-killing monster and made him kneel.
Sigh!!!
The name you asks for is not a name known to all
"…Januza," Takeda said at last, his voice low, steady, grave, "is not a person. He is a myth. A ghost from a story or an age before human history with Hunters began but it was a name that was erased from every archive, every library every spoken tongue and only known to some people
He leaned back. The chair creaked under the weight of his exhaustion.
"But myths don't bleed into the present. And yet…"
He looked at the unconscious boy on the couch.
"…he is here."
Choji's voice cracked. "What… does that mean? Who is Januza?"
Takeda's eyes drifted to the ceiling as if seeing not plaster, not paint, but centuries.
Hmmm you are his friend so I will tell you
Long ago before mana gates or Hunters. Before our world was what it is now… the world was ruled by the 12 Divine Thrones. Twelve beings of absolute authority creators, destroyers, gods not by worship but by existence."
Their name varies but the six known to us were written in Scrabbled text
Lily's breath hitched.
Takeda spoke their names like they were blades drawn slowly from ancient sheaths.
"Vrahl, The god of Chaos."
He was darkness that existed along side creation. He was the void that swallowed light, swallowed stars, and reality.
"Kaelrus, Warden of Storms."
Master of oceans, winds, tides, hurricanes. A god of impossible scale, crowned in thunder.
He was mainly the god of the sea
"Seraphae, Mother of Graves."
She was the ruler of death and the keeper of souls. The boundary between life and the death she's the one who guides the souls of the dead into the gates of Olympia
Wait Olympia?? choji eyes widen in awe "but I thought it was just a myth
Takeda sighs no boy everything you see and hear are legends of the past that alot don't understand
The text tells us more
More ? Choji asks
Yes more takeda speaks in response
There was also "Ignivar, The Thunder-Fist Herald."
He was lightning incarnate holding a mighty thunder bolt and His roar could shatter universes as his heartbeat was storm and weather
"Zephrael, Architect of Winds."
The god of wind the breath of life itself. His exhale birthed worlds. His inhale collapsed them.
And finally..
Takeda's voice softened. Not with reverence, but with fear.
"Solaria, The Eternal Dawn."
Goddess of the sub She was the sun that burned across all creation.
The flame that gave life and ended it.
Lily squeezed Renji's hand tighter, knuckles white.
Choji stepped closer, face pale. "And… Januza fought them?"
Takeda's eyes hardened.
"He didn't just fight them."
He looked Choji dead in the eyes.
"He killed them."
The silence struck like a physical blow.
Choji's knees nearly gave out. Lily's tears finally spilled, silent and shaking down her cheeks.
Takeda continued, voice low, slow each word weighed:
"Januza was born human according to the tale . He had his will that was something the world had never seen. Something that defied every law written into reality."
"He walked into the domains of gods alone and killed six of the twelve gods
He looked at Renji.
"That level of power does not disappear. It does not die. It only sleeps."
Choji whispered, voice faint:
"…So Renji is… that?"
Takeda shook his head slightly.
"No if my theory is correct then Renji is Renji. Januza is Januza. Two souls, one vessel. Bound. Layered and intertwined."
His voice darkened.
"If Renji loses himself… even once… even for a breath…"
A memory flashed
Golden eyes looking through him as if he were dust.
A voice that did not belong to any mortal tongue.
"…the world will have no defense."
Choji staggered back, breath shaking. "But Renji… he's not like that. He's he's kind. He helps people. He jokes. He..."
"That is why it is terrifying," Takeda murmured.
"Because if someone good breaks… they do not become empty."
"They become ruin."
Lily leaned forward, pressing her forehead to Renji's chest, her voice cracked and raw.
"Big brother… please don't leave us… please…"
Takeda turned away.
Because he could not bear to see her cry
over something the world would soon fear.
Listen he said quietly "the mana detectors in the bearu headquarters had already overloaded.
That means the Hunter's Bureau officials would notice soon.
And they would need report and they will also Investigate.
If they discovered what Renji was ..
Humanity would tear itself apart in fear because alot can't handle the truth
Takeda clenched his fist.
But I would not allow that to happen.
Even if I have to stand alone.
Against the government, guilds and the world, I would protect this secret And I would protect this child