CHAPTER 89
Now rain fell in a steady whisper, tapping against the wooden frame of Takeda's countryside home. The world outside was a quiet blur of silver and blue, the kind of evening that should have felt peaceful.
But inside… peace had no place.
Warm light flickered from hanging lanterns, yet the air was tight—strained to a breaking point. No one had spoken since the group returned from the Gate. Not truly.
Renji sat cross-legged on the tatami floor, shoulders tense, sword laid beside him like a silent witness. Hiroto couldn't stay still pacing back and forth with quick, frustrated steps. Takeda stood with arms folded, leaning against the wall as though it was the only thing keeping him upright. President Nakamura remained seated at the low table, back straight, eyes deep in quiet calculation.
Choji had barely blinked. His stare was fixed unmoving on the being standing beside the window.
Dracan.
He stood with his back to them, one hand resting lightly against the glass. The rain reflected softly along his frame, turning his silhouette into a mosaic of gold and black. His breathing was slow. Too slow. Like someone trying to remember how to be alive.
Finally, Renji exhaled.
"…and that's everything," he murmured.
His voice sounded small in the stillness.
"That's everything that happened inside the Gate. The ruins, the battles " His jaw tightened. "and the truth of it."
The silence that followed wasn't empty.
It was heavy.
Dense.
Alive.
It felt like everyone was waiting for something an answer, a denial, a reason to breathe again.
Hiroto's voice cracked first.
"So....so let me get this straight," he said, turning toward Dracan. "That Gate… that place hunters barely survived… that was your"?
His hand shook as he pointed.
"Your home?"
Dracan turned his head slowly, like even that motion required effort. His golden eyes met Hiroto's.
"Yes."
A single word.
Yet it carried centuries.
Dracan's POV
My home.
My cradle.
My grave.
My punishment.
My reminder.
The Gealgilmesh Gate… it was never meant for mortal feet.
It was memory given shape.
I forged it from the remains of a dying world—my world.
After the skies burned.
After the stars fell.
After the gods erased everything that dared to live.
The Gate was how I endured.
How I refused to forget.
How I ensured my purpose remained sharp.
I survived for one reason.
To never allow it to happen again.
Back in the room, Takeda stepped forward, voice low.
"You said… the gods destroyed your world."
Dracan's gaze did not waver no flicker of rage or grief. Just something far worse.
Remembrance.
"My world," he said, "was not the first to fall. Nor the last. There are countless realities endless variations of existence. Universes layered atop universes, reflections of reflections."
He lifted his hand slightly.
Golden light shimmered soft, ancient, beautiful.
"This Earth,your Earth is untouched."
A cold tension spread through the room.
Untouched…
as in unseen.
Choji swallowed. "What do you mean… untouched?"
Dracan's gaze moved to Renji.
"Because of what he told me."
All eyes snapped toward Renji.
Renji felt his chest tighten.
He could feel every heartbeat in the room pressing against him.
Nakamura leaned forward.
"What… exactly did Renji tell you?"
Dracan closed his eyes.
When he opened them again, sorrow lived behind the gold.
He told me about the God's !
I'm surprised it's still standing untouched and full of joy and light
"If the gods discover this world," he said, his voice low and absolute,
"nothing in this universe will remain as it is. Not your time. Not your history. Not your existence."
No amount of hunters can defend you .
Another silence—this one colder.
"So what you're saying," Hiroto whispered, "is… we can't win."
Takeda's jaw clenched.
"So we're already doomed…?"
Dracan turned fully toward them.
Light rippled across his body like water bending around sunlight and suddenly his form shifted. The older, battle-hardened commander faded away, replaced by the younger form seen within the Gate. Ethereal. Radiant. Unhuman.
Hiroto stumbled back.
"W-WHA—WHAT THE HELL—?!"
Choji's breath caught. "He looks like—like some kind of divine being—"
Dracan spoke.
Soft.
Calm.
Devastating.
"The gods do not destroy worlds because they despise them."
His golden eyes dimmed—like a sunrise strangled by storm clouds.
"They destroy… because they can."
Takeda's breath stopped.
"After my world fell I trained for thirty-five years," Dracan continued, "to fight one god."
Hiroto's pacing froze.
Choji's mouth fell open.
Nakamura's composure cracked.
Renji felt the blood drain from his face.
Takeda stared at Dracan as though seeing him for the first time.
"Thirty-five years… against one god… and you survived and won."
Yes! Dracan replied... I have the ability to erase concepts and create concepts
But it didn't come on a platter it came with sacrifice and the loss of my world..
Hiroto's voice trembled.
"That means you're stronger than Takeda. Stronger than the Pillars. Stronger than..than any of us."
Takeda exhaled slowly.
"Then how strong are the gods themselves…?"
Can we win even with the pillars hiroto exhaled deeply
Dracan didn't hesitate.
NO!
"They exist beyond creation because they are creation themselves"
His voice held no pride.
Only truth.
"Gods rewrite time. They erase battles they lose. They sculpt victory until it belongs to them."
His hand trembled.
"Even I cannot stand against two of them at once."
The room went still.
Utterly still.
Then....
Dracan lifted his head.
And something changed.
BUT!
"But I will fight to protect this universe."
Their hearts stirred quietly, but undeniably.
"And with the Pillars…"
A faint, gentle smile formed.
"There is a chance. Small—but real."
Hope bloomed.
Fragile, but alive.
But Dracan was not finished.
"There is one more reason to believe."
Nakamura leaned in.
"What reason?"
Dracan looked at each of them—slowly, deliberately.
"The gods were not always without equal."
Renji's breath halted.
What do you mean ...
Yes they are creator gods!
"There was one," Dracan continued voice soft, reverent, almost sacred.
"One who stood against every god."
Takeda's eyes widened.
"Who went toe to toe with them on my world the one who gave me my power…"
Dracan's voice fell to a whisper.
They call him the god of destruction
Renji eyes widened! "Dont tell me"!
Dracan continued 35 years I trained and went a god and he saw I used the same power he did and he confirmed that my power comes from him
JANUZA!
Renji eyes widen !
Just then time seemingly stopped as Renji found himself in the same familiar void and the same familiar voice broke through the darkness
and spoke
BOY!!
The moment Renji heard the voice, the world twisted.
"Boy."
It was not loud.
It was not angry.
It simply was—a presence that replaced everything else.
The tatami room dissolved.
The lantern light vanished.
The rain faded into nothing.
Renji opened his eyes to a place where sound did not exist.
An empty void.
Black. Endless. Still.
Something formed within it.
A throne.
Massive, towering, constructed from pale bone—curved and spined like the remains of a colossal beast. Darkness clung to it, coiling in slow, drifting tendrils that hid its shape more than revealed it.
Upon that throne sat a figure.
Januză.
His form was indistinct, a silhouette wrapped in shadow. The only thing visible were his eyes—deep yellow, faintly glowing, watching Renji with no emotion, no judgment, no warmth.
Renji felt his heartbeat echo in the silence.
His mind struggled to form words.
Yet the first that left him came out calm. Too calm.
"You.....have you become lonely?"
The words surprised even him.
He didn't know why he said them.
The void didn't react.
Even time felt paused.
Renji lowered his gaze slightly, searching the throne—the figure—the darkness.
"What is going on?"
His voice carried no echo. The void swallowed everything instantly.
His throat tightened.
"Are you the one who gave Dracan his power?"
Did you know we would meet??
Januză did not move.
But Renji felt attention shift...
like gravity had turned toward him.
The weight was suffocating.
Renji's jaw clenched.
"Are you planning all of this?"
His breath trembled.
"If you are… then why because of the gods?"
Still no answer.
Renji took a step forward, fists tight.
Answer me !! he screamed!
"No more silence. No riddles. Answer me. What are you doing? What is happening?!"
His voice cracked at the end not from fear, but from the pressure of everything he didn't understand.
For a moment just one Januză's expression changed.
It was small.
Barely a curve of the lips.
A smile.
Not kind.
Not cruel.
Simply knowing.
Darkness rose like mist, covering the throne, swallowing the bone structure, consuming the figure. It did not fade it erased. Like it was correcting something that should never have been seen.
"No—wait!"
Renji reached out
The void shattered.
Takeda's Home
Renji's body lurched as breath slammed back into his lungs.
The rain was still falling outside.
The lanterns still flickered softly.
Everyone was still there.
But they were all staring at him.
His hands were shaking.
His eyes
They were glowing faint yellow.
Hiroto's expression twisted in shock.
Choji stiffened.
Nakamura's posture tensed sharply.
Takeda's gaze sharpened.
Dracan's eyes widened recognition and disbelief crossing his face.
Renji exhaled harshly.
"…Tch."
His hand curled into a fist against the floor.
"Damn it…"
Another breath.
"Damn it!"
The anger in his voice wasn't aimless.
It was direct. Focused. Real.
Takeda stepped forward carefully.
"Renji… what happened?"
Renji lifted his head slowly.
The glow in his eyes had not yet faded.
His voice was low.
Dracan-san there's something I need to tell you...