Chapter 91
Now Rain whispered across the old wooden roof of Takeda's countryside home, a soft and steady pattering that filled the silence like a heartbeat. The scent of wet earth drifted through the open shōji screens, mixing with the faint aroma of tea still steaming on the table. Warm lantern light flickered across the tatami floor, painting each person in the room in a muted golden glow.
Yet despite the cozy atmosphere…
The air felt like a string pulled too tight.
Renji sat stiffly, legs crossed, hands pressed awkwardly into his thighs. Beside him, Hiroto leaned forward, elbows on his knees, eyes sharp despite the exhaustion weighing beneath them. Takeda knelt calmly, his posture straight as a blade. President Nakamura hovered behind them like an anxious uncle, adjusting his glasses every few seconds. Choji sat with a rice cracker in hand, mid-bite, mid-thought, and completely unsure if he should swallow or freeze or simply stop being alive.
And across from them
Stood a being that should not exist among humans.
Dracan.
Tall. Immense. His humanoid form did little to hide the aura of something ancient. Scales like polished obsidian traced along his neck and jaw. Pale silver hair flowed to his waist, untouched by age or wind. Golden eyes glowed faintly, like embers of a star that once burned too bright.
A dragon in the shape of a young man
And right now…
He was staring directly at Renji.
His voice came low, a quiet rumble that seemed to vibrate through the floor.
"If you truly are Januza's vessel…"
Everyone held their breath.
Hiroto tensed.
Takeda's eyes narrowed.
Choji paused, rice cracker frozen inches from his mouth.
And Renji..
Renji blinked like a confused puppy.
Dracan continued.
"Then you… are my master."
And then
He moved.
Slowly. Deliberately. With the gravity of someone who had outlived civilizations.
He lowered himself down onto one knee.
His right hand crossed to his chest.
Head bowed.
A dragon...
kneeling.
The room didn't just fall silent.
It evaporated into silence.
Renji's brain did the equivalent of blue screen error.
Hiroto's soul left his body and re-entered just to confirm this was real.
Takeda's eyebrow twitched.
Choji finally blinked.
The rice cracker dropped to the tatami floor.
President Nakamura's glasses slid halfway down his nose as he quietly whispered to himself:
"…Master. Him??"
And then:
Renji inhaled.
"EHHHHHHHHHHHHHH?!?!?!?!?!"
His voice cracked so hard it sounded like a 13-year-old being told he had homework during summer break.
He flailed.
Not moved. Not reacted.
Fl. Ai. Led.
Arms everywhere. Hands waving. Soul screaming internally and externally.
"W–W–WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT!! What are you doing?! Why are you kneeling?! I didn't do anything!! I literally just exist here!! Stand!! Stand UP!! PLEASE!!"
Renji grabbed Dracan's arm and attempted to lift him.
Which, from the outside, looked like a baby hamster trying to lift a refrigerator.
Dracan did not budge.
He did not even slightly rock.
It was like Renji was pulling on a mountain.
Hiroto reached out and placed a slow, sympathetic hand on Renji's shoulder. His expression was the facial embodiment of emotional defeat.
"…Renji… you really are the main character, huh."
Renji choked on air.
"WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?!?!"
Dracan spoke again, calm and unwavering even while Renji desperately attempted to un-kneel him.
"Januza was the one who granted me purpose. Strength. Time. I owe him my life. Which now… belongs to you."
Renji's soul left his body again.
"NO NO NO NO NO, RETURN IT. REFUND IT. STORE CREDIT. ANY METHOD. PLEASE GET UP,THIS IS EMBARRASSING,I AM NOT EVEN COOL.
He tugged with the full might of his spaghetti arms.
Nothing.
Takeda finally exhaled softly.
"Renji. It's alright."
Renji froze.
Slowly turned toward Takeda.
"Ehh… Takeda-sama… you're also okay with this??"
Takeda nodded, expression soft with something like remembrance.
"You are Januza, after all."
Renji's voice cracked again.
"DO NOT SAY THAT SO CASUALLY!!"
President Nakamura gave a grave nod, trying to look wise while clearly struggling:
"…It does appear that way."
Choji whispered:
"Our friend is a god reincarnation. We are so dead."
After a moment, Dracan finally rose to his feet. His movement was slow, graceful—like someone who did not need to prove anything to the world anymore. He dusted his knee lightly.
Hiroto leaned forward, rubbing his temples.
"Okay—okay—hold on. Dracan. Earlier you said Renji has the second most powerful eye. The Eye of… uh… Alcaraz, right?"
Dracan nodded once.
"Correct. The Eye of Alcaraz. All six patterns."
Choji blinked.
"Right, right… but if that's second most powerful… then what's the first?"
The warmth in the room shifted.
The atmosphere tightened, like something invisible pressed down.
Dracan's expression changed not fear.
But respect.
The kind reserved for legends spoken around dying stars.
"The most powerful eye known to the gods… is a myth."
Takeda's brows lifted.
"A myth?"
Dracan nodded.
"Yes. An eye no god has awakened. No low entity No dragon. No higher being. Only spoken of in fragments of divine scripture."
His golden eyes lifted slightly, as if staring past the ceiling and into realms unseen.
"The Eye of Alvarez."
The lantern flames flickered. The rain outside swelled. Something ancient stirred.
Choji repeated, softly:
"Al…varez…?"
Dracan continued, voice steady:
"It is said to be a twelve-patterned eye. Six patterns in each eye. A completeness no known entity has ever reached."
Hiroto's jaw dropped.
"So… Renji's six-pattern version is only half of it?!"
Dracan nodded.
"Yes. The Eye of Alcaraz sees all possibilities, all timelines, every branching outcome across layers of universes and dimensions. But only within its reach."
President Nakamura adjusted his glasses sharply.
"So… it's limited."
Renji stared blankly into the void.
"Wait wait wait—LIMITED?! My eye sees MULTIPLE UNIVERSES and it's called LIMITED!?!?"
Dracan didn't hesitate.
"Correct."
He spoke softly, but his words struck like thunder.
"Januza's eye is powerful. Terrifyingly so. But it remains bound within creation."
He looked toward the ceiling, but really, his gaze pierced far beyond it.
"The Eye of Alvarez sees beyond creation. Beyond gods. Beyond law. Beyond endings. It observes what lies outside all reality."
The air trembled.
"That is why gods fear it."
Because something that sees everything…
Can rewrite everything.
Silence settled again, heavier this time.
The rain outside seemed to hold its breath.
Takeda broke the quiet first:
"…But no being has ever awakened it?"
Dracan shook his head once.
"No. To possess such sight would require a soul vast enough to exist beyond existence. No god, no realm sovereign, no ancient being has achieved such a state."
Hiroto slowly raised his hand, expression that of a student about to say something profoundly stupid.
"So… what about the God of Corruption? You mentioned him before?"
Renji stiffened.
The atmosphere changed again.
Dracan's eyes dimmed, not with weakness, but with memory.
"The God of Corruption… is the second being to awaken five patterns of the eye."
Five.
One beneath Januza.
One beneath Renji if he awakens the eye .
But Dracan held up a hand before the room could react.
Slowly…
He turned.
Not to the group.
To Renji.
The golden eyes that once bowed now held weight of aeons.
"Renji Kurogane."
Renji's heart thudded once. Hard.
Something deep inside him flickered.
Like an old door creaking open.
Like something ancient stretching awake.
Dracan's voice came low.
"You must understand why Januza was called the God of Destruction."
The lantern flames trembled.
The tea rippled in its cup.
And the rain outside roared like a world remembering something terrible.
Dracan closed his eyes.
"And who the God of Corruption truly was."
He opened them again.
Golden. Burning. Endless.
"Two beings who were once mortals… who ascended to become gods of realities."