Chapter 82
The clash of steel shattered the silence.
Sparks scattered through the air like dying stars, each one flickering briefly before vanishing into the cold dark. The echo of metal reverberated through the empty throne hall, a sound that carried both violence and despair.
Renji's arms were numb.
Every swing, every parry, every step sent pain coursing through his body. His breath came in sharp, ragged bursts, and sweat mixed with the blood running down his cheek. He couldn't feel his fingers anymore — just the weight of the daggers, heavy as lead.
Across from him, the Knight of the Abyss stood untouched.
Not a scratch. Not a dent.
His armor gleamed like black glass beneath the torchlight — sleek, otherworldly, each curve reflecting the dim blue flames as if mocking him. Every movement the Knight made was perfect — measured, fluid, inevitable. He wasn't fighting; he was executing.
Renji gritted his teeth. No. Not yet.
He ducked beneath a sweeping slash — barely — and spun low, his daggers slicing upward in twin arcs. The motion was fast, seamless. For a moment, the edges caught the light, leaving two violet trails that painted the air like lightning.
But they struck nothing.
The Knight stepped aside — not dodging, but reappearing — his presence shifting like smoke. His blade was already descending.
Renji barely crossed his daggers in time to block.
The impact was thunder. The shockwave cracked the stone beneath his feet. He stumbled back, his body trembling as pain screamed through his arms.
(He's too fast—!)
He tried to sense the Knight's intent — that instinct honed from years of blood and battle — the faint pulse of killing will before a strike. But there was nothing.
No emotion. No hostility.
Just void.
And from that void came death.
The next blow shattered his guard completely, sending him crashing against a pillar. Dust filled his lungs as he hit the ground, coughing, vision spinning.
He barely saw the next strike — a blur of black steel that tore through the air toward his throat.
Instinct saved him; he rolled aside, the blade slicing through stone instead.
He felt the rush of air against his neck — too close.
Renji forced himself up, panting. His muscles screamed, but his spirit didn't yield. "You think I'm giving up that easily…?" His lips curled into a grin, blood trickling down from them.
The Knight said nothing.
He simply turned, sword dragging across the floor with a low metallic hiss.
"You can't win."
The voice that came from within the helm was calm. Too calm — like the whisper of a god passing judgment.
Renji lunged again, daggers flashing, feet gliding with perfect rhythm. His blades blurred — feints, reversals, chains of strikes that could overwhelm even SS-rank hunters. The sound of clashing metal filled the chamber, echoing like a storm of bells.
But no matter how fast he moved, the Knight was always one step ahead.
Always there.
Always absolute.
Renji pivoted, tried to outmaneuver him — but suddenly, the Knight vanished.
"What—!?"
A shadow fell over him.
He turned — and pain exploded through his body.
The Knight's armored boot crushed his foot into the ground, bone cracking audibly. Renji gasped, falling to one knee. Before he could react, his own dagger was snatched from his grip.
And then —
he saw the movement.
Fast. Precise. Terrifyingly smooth.
The dagger drove straight into his eyes.
For a heartbeat, he didn't understand what had happened.
Then came the pain.
"GAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!"
It was blinding. Endless. A white-hot scream tearing through his mind as blood poured down his face. The metal dug deep — he could feel it — buried inside his skull.
His world was red, burning, gone.
He fell to his knees, trembling, gasping for air that wouldn't come. The only thing left was agony. His scream echoed through the chamber until his voice broke into sobs.
"My… my eyes…!" he croaked. "I can't— I can't see—!"
He reached up with shaking hands — felt blood, not skin.
Pouring down !! From his eyes
His heart pounded in terror. His vision slipped into nothing.
And then — silence.
"Why are you screaming?"
The voice cut through the darkness — cold, steady, almost amused.
Renji froze.
The pain stopped.
He blinked — and realized he could see again.
The world returned — the hall, the torches, the stone floor. No blood. No dagger. His hands were whole.
He stood there, panting, staring down at his trembling palms.
Nothing.
No wounds.
No blood.
No pain.
His daggers were still sheathed at his sides.
"I…" his voice trembled, "I was just—"
He looked up, eyes wide in disbelief.
The Knight stood exactly where he had been at the start — unmoved.
"What… is this?" Renji whispered. "I felt it. I died."
"Died?" Died!!
The Knight's golden dragon eyes flickered faintly. "No. You haven't even begun."
Renji staggered back a step, his pulse racing.
The air grew colder. The blue torches dimmed.
"You are standing within your own fear," the Knight said, stepping forward. "What you saw was the reflection of your weakness."....
He raised his blade. The sound of it scraping against the floor rang like a funeral bell.
"Rise, Renji Kurogane. The trial has only begun."
Renji clenched his fists, the tremor in his body fading. Fear still gnawed at the edges of his mind, but something else began to burn brighter — that stubborn, reckless spark that had carried him through every impossible battle.
Resolve.
He drew his daggers slowly, the metal singing as it left the sheaths.
His heartbeat thundered in his chest.
"If this is my fear…" he muttered, eyes hardening.
"Then I'll carve through it."
The Knight's eyes gleamed with faint approval.
"Show me, then — your resolve against despair."
Far across the ocean, while Renji's trial raged in that forgotten dungeon, another storm was gathering — one that would shake the world itself.
London, England.
The air was thick with tension inside the massive glass-domed conference hall. Banners of nations hung like silent witnesses over the assembled crowd — guild masters, S– to SS–rank hunters, world leaders, and the elite of humanity's last line of defense.
The World Hunter Summit had not been called in ten years.
And now, every major guild across the continents was here.
Rows of reporters whispered in the back, holographic projectors flickering to life across the stage. The symbol of the World Hunter Governance Authority gleamed above a golden sigil of balance and flame.
A young man stood at the podium .. clean-cut, composed, his eyes sharp behind his glasses. He wasn't a hunter, but a scholar.
"Three weeks ago," he began, his voice clear, "global mana fluctuations exceeded every known threshold."
The hologram behind him shifted — showing lines of energy readings, jagged and climbing sharply upward.
"Mana density increased by over three hundred percent across all continents. The stabilizers failed to hold equilibrium. Then, the anomalies began —spontaneous gate formations without temporal warnings."
He paused, letting the gravity sink in.
"And then… Japan happened."
The lights dimmed.
The hologram changed.
Five black spheres hung in the sky above Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, and Sendai — vast, writhing with darkness. Lightning crackled between them, distorting the atmosphere.
Then the gates opened.
Darkness spilled out — thick, liquid, alive.
From it emerged beasts. Not wild — not feral — but organized.
Military units deployed.
Cities burned.
Gasps filled the room as the footage replayed in grainy fragments a skyscraper cleaved in half by an unseen force, a colossal figure outlined in shadow, and then a flash of violet light before the feed cut to black.
The hall fell silent.
"These," the researcher continued, his voice trembling slightly now, "are the events of the Japan Disaster. Five simultaneous instant gates. Millions displaced. Tens of thousands dead."
He took a breath.
"That was only the beginning."
More footage appeared.
Desert storms. Sand dunes erupting.
"Cairo. Alexandria. Luxor. Three gates — all within the same hour."
The monstrous shapes that emerged weren't random; they moved together. Coordinated. Intelligent.
In the front row, a tall man with silver hair gazed and so did Hiroto kenzaki , Japan's strongest active SS–rank leaned forward, frowning.
"Egypt too…?" he muttered. "That's impossible."
Beside him, Takeda his mentor, crossed his arms.
"There were no reports. No survivors. The feeds were suppressed."
But the presentation continued .. more cities, more gates.
Brazil. Portugal. Germany.
All within the same week.
Each time, the pattern was identical.
Instant gates. Coordinated attacks. Tactical precision.
"That's not natural." "Monsters don't organize!" "Someone's controlling them!"
The room erupted into noise — voices overlapping, fear taking shape.
That's impossible!!
And then...
"That's enough."
The single voice cut through the chaos like a blade.
Every head turned toward the upper dais.
There stood a man in a black military uniform, tall and imposing. His silver hair was slicked back neatly, and his monocle gleamed beneath the lights.
His presence alone silenced the hall.
"For those who don't know me," he said, his tone cold but commanding,
"I am Vladimir Kaien, Chairman of the World Hunter Council."
The title alone carried weight.
Even SS–rank hunters straightened in their seats.
Kaien's gaze swept across the room sharp, metallic gray eyes reflecting the flickering holograms of chaos and fire.
"The phenomena we are witnessing," he said slowly, "are not random. This is not nature rebelling. This—" he pointed at the screen "—is coordination."
The word echoed through the hall like thunder.
"These gates are being opened, not formed. These creatures are being led, not unleashed."
A murmur spread, fear creeping in like frost.
Kaien continued, voice heavy with certainty.
"The balance between humanity and the Abyss…"
He paused, letting the silence stretch,
"…has been broken."
The hologram behind him flickered one last time.
For a brief moment just before it went dark a distorted image appeared.
A throne of obsidian.
A figure clad in black armor.
Golden eyes glowing through shadow.
Then static.
Darkness consumed the hall.
And somewhere, far away ..deep beneath the earth
Renji raised his daggers again against the same golden eyes.