The Crimson Dawn

The air that night was heavy with the smell of blood.

Renji Kisaragi stood in the wreckage of his diner, body tense and breathing slow and measured.

Glass crunched beneath his feet as he peered into the darkness beyond the shattered window.

The first wave had already crashed and receded, leaving corpses strewn across the floor, their hot blood oozing into the wooden planks.

He had warned them. He had offered them a chance to leave.

But they hadn't listened.

Now, more were coming.

The shadows shifted, tall and long under a sputtering streetlamp, emerging from the alleyways.

They were not ordinary thugs.

Their movements were meticulous, regimented. Mercenaries.

Hired killers

. Each of them was armed with a gleaming katana, a serrated combat knife, guns with silencers.

They wore masks that obscured their faces, and they had their eyes trained on their target.

Him.

Renji exhaled.

His fingers curled around the hilt of a stolen knife, stained with new blood.

He was out of practice, but the unseen was sharper than steel.

The Phantom Reaper had lain dormant for five years, but tonight, he had risen.

A whisper of movement.

Renji spun just in time to feel a blade whistle through the air, aimed for his throat.

He ducked, twisting his body as he raised his sword.

The sound of metal clashing echoed in the silence.

The attacker, a woman with a mask and twin daggers, flowed toward us like liquid shadow, her blows unceasing.

Renji deflected each one with effortless precision, every one of them magic, and his mind calculating, analyzing.

She was fast but predictable.

A single opening.

Renji moved, deflected her next swing and slammed his knee into her ribs.

She gasped, staggering back. Before she had a chance to recover, he plunged his blade into her chest.

Her frame spasmed, blood frothing from her mouth as her power seeped away.

He cast her off his sword, allowing her body to fold down onto the floor.

The others hesitated.

"Who sent you?" Renji's voice was low and lethal.

No answer. Just the sound of a gun being cocked.

Sora moved first.

The young psychic dived into the fray from atop the rooftop.

A twitch, an unseen pressure and a gunman was lifted into the air, limbs twisting in an unnatural way before his body broke like a snapped doll.

The others hardly had time to react before Sora's power pushed out again, and two more enemies were thrown into the walls, the force of their skulls smashing upon impact.

Ayame was a blur of motion.

With twin daggers flashing, she glided through the chaos like a wraith, her blades seeking the pliable flesh with uncanny accuracy.

A throat slit. A heart pierced.

She made her way through innumerable waves of gunfire and steel, her facial features unreadable as she flayed her enemies.

Renji followed suit, his sword as part of his will.

He advanced without thought of retreat, slaying one and then the next, the heat of warm blood spraying his arms.

There were no thrills, no satisfaction just the cold certainty that this needed to be done."

The mercenaries went down, one by one, their bodies stacking up like discarded puppets.

Then

A slow, deliberate applause.

A shape materialized from the darkness.

He was the only one who did not wear a mask. His suit was pristine, unsoiled by the carnage.

His slick-back hair glistened beneath the low streetlight.

He grinned as he surveyed the destruction.

"Well, well," he mused. "The Phantom Reaper still retains his edge."

Renji cleaned the blood off his blade, narrowing his eyes.

"Who are you?"

The man tilted his head.

"No formal introductions? A shame.

"You must be Kisaragi.

I've heard so much about you.

Ayame stepped nearer, her daggers ready.

"If you have something to put out, put it out."

The man chuckled. "Impatient, aren't you? Very well.

Fucking hell, Renji, my employer is very keen on you. You should feel honored."

Renji's grip tightened. "I don't care who employs you.

If they want me, they will have to come themselves."

The smirk widened. "Oh, they will. But first, they wanted to find out if you were worth the trouble.'"

The air shifted.

A flash of movement too quick for any normal human.

Renji had little more than a split second to react before the assassin was upon him. He lifted his sword in time to parry a blow that sent a shudder through his arms.

The power moving the beast was unnatural.

He clenched his jaw and fixed his gaze on his new foe.

A monster in human skin.

The assassin's red eyes glinted with ghostly mirth.

His smile was wrong too wide, too sharp. Dressed in tactical gear, his muscles rippled with unnatural power. He hit again, and more quickly this time.

Renji barely got out of the way; he rolled to the side as the assassin's blade severed a steel beam in two, the impact splitting it like the pages of a book.

Ayame dashed from behind, daggers aimed for the assassin's spine.

But before she could reach him, he turned sharply and caught hold of her wrist in mid-flight.

The sickening sound of her arm dislocating came, and with it, he sent her flying into the ground.

Sora's power surged an unseen force crashing into the assassin's chest and sending him flying backward.

But he touched down smoothly, unbothered, his smile never fading.

Renji's heart pounded.

This was no ordinary killer.

This, however, was something else entirely.

"Interesting," the assassin said thoughtfully.

"You might actually lose weight."

Then he moved.

Renji barely managed to deflect the next strike, but the force of it slid him back on the floor. His muscles protested, screaming in pain.

He needed to end this fast.

A flicker of memory. A technique from his past.

Renji shifted his stance.

The assassin lunged again; this time, Renji was ready.

A sudden pivot a sidestep then a precise, calculated strike.

His blade found flesh.

A straight gash, cutting deep into the assassin's side, blood splattered on the pavement.

For a moment, silence.

Then the assassin laughed.

Low. Amused. Almost…delighted.

"Ah… it's been so long since someone hit me for real." He glanced down at the wound, the smile on his face growing.

"This is going to be fun."

Something cold coiled in Renji's gut.

This man was more than an assassin.

He was a monster.

And that battle was just getting started.