Ch 38 : The Inquisitor's Gambit
Renji felt it first—a deep, thrumming pulse beneath his feet, like a heartbeat reverberating through the shattered ruins.
It wasn't Raine.
It wasn't the Inquisitors.
It was something else.
Something awakening.
A cold shiver crawled up his spine. His abyssal instincts twisted, sending a warning that burned through his skull.
And then, Raine smiled.
"You're too late," she whispered.
Renji's eyes sharpened. Too late for what?
Before he could react, the ground collapsed beneath them.
BOOM!
A black void yawned open, swallowing the battlefield in a maelstrom of shifting darkness. The ruins crumbled, dragged into the abyss like a dying beast devouring its own flesh.
Renji's feet lost purchase. He lunged, tendrils of abyssal energy snapping out to grab hold of something—anything—
But the void was merciless.
He plummeted.
Deeper.
Faster.
The world around him warped, ancient whispers bleeding into his mind.
He had felt this before—in his nightmares.
No.
Not nightmares.
Memories.
---
Jinno, Astra, and Shirogane barely avoided the collapse.
The battlefield had become a death trap.
Astra landed in a crouch, eyes flashing in alarm. "That energy—it's not just a dungeon."
Jinno's grip tightened around his gunblade. "It's a seal."
Shirogane cracked his neck, his usual smirk gone. "So that's what they were after. This wasn't just about Renji."
The remaining Inquisitors didn't hesitate.
They moved with purpose, positioning themselves in a formation that glowed with arcane runes.
Jinno's stomach twisted.
"They're not trying to kill him," he muttered.
Astra's expression darkened.
"They're trying to lock him in."
---
Renji crashed into the void's depths.
Darkness. Silence. Endless cold.
He was weightless, suspended in an abyss that stretched beyond reason. There was no up or down, no sky or ground—only a vast, yawning emptiness.
And in the center of it all…
It waited.
The ancient entity.
The thing buried in his mind, the presence that had whispered to him since the beginning.
For the first time, it wasn't just a voice.
It had form.
And it was looking directly at him.
---
Renji couldn't breathe.
The creature was colossal, its form shifting between reality and nightmare. Shadowed tendrils stretched outward, merging with the abyss itself.
Eyes—too many eyes—opened across its body, each one a different shade of gold and black.
And in its core, a mouth smiled.
"You have come far, little fragment."
Renji's hands clenched. The abyss inside him pulsed, mirroring the thing's existence.
This wasn't just a monster.
This was the source.
The true heart of the dungeons.
And it had been waiting for him.
---
Back on the surface, Raine wiped blood from her mouth, standing amidst the collapsing ruins.
The other Inquisitors stood in perfect formation, their bodies glowing with interwoven sigils.
The energy shook the sky, warping reality itself.
Jinno cursed. "They're sealing the abyss."
Shirogane scowled. "Which means they're trying to trap Renji inside."
Astra's hands tightened around her blade. "We can't let that happen."
They moved as one, launching themselves at the Inquisitors.
But Raine stepped forward.
And this time, she wasn't alone.
Figures emerged from the darkness—other high-ranked enforcers of the Organization.
More Inquisitors.
"None of you are leaving," Raine declared.
Shirogane grinned, but his fingers twitched. "Yeah, I was afraid of that."
The battle erupted once more.
---
In the abyss, Renji faced the ancient entity.
Its voice slithered into his mind, both calm and terrifying.
"They want to seal you away, just as they did to me."
Renji gritted his teeth. "I don't trust you."
The entity's many eyes flickered with something… amused.
"You don't need to. But you must decide."
The abyss trembled.
Visions flooded Renji's mind—past, present, future.
The dungeons. The imprisoned monsters.
The Organization's hidden experiments.
And the truth behind the abyss itself.
Renji's pulse pounded.
He saw it now.
The Organization wasn't just trying to stop the dungeons.
They were trying to control them.
To wield the abyss as a weapon.
The entity's voice deepened.
"If you wish to survive… then evolve."
A choice.
A gamble.
Renji took a breath.
And embraced the abyss.
---
Above ground, the Inquisitors' ritual reached its peak.
A massive seal began forming over the ruins, golden light burning through the darkness.
Raine watched with grim determination.
"This is the end," she murmured.
Then—
CRACK.
The sky split open.
A shockwave erupted from the abyss.
The seal shattered.
And from the depths of darkness…
Renji emerged.
But he was no longer the same.
His aura was overwhelming, tendrils of abyssal energy coiling around his form. His golden-black eyes burned with an inhuman glow.
The Inquisitors froze.
Raine's breath caught in her throat.
Renji looked at her.
And smiled.
"Your turn," he said.
Then he vanished.
And the slaughter began.
---
The battlefield was frozen.
Renji stood at the edge of the abyss, his presence warping the air around him. Darkness slithered from his body like living smoke, coiling through the ruins, sinking into the cracks left behind by the Inquisitors' ritual.
He took a slow step forward.
Raine's fingers twitched on the hilt of her weapon. She could feel it—the shift in his presence. This wasn't the same Renji from before.
His eyes, twin pools of gold and black, flickered as they landed on her.
And then he vanished.
CRACK.
Before the Inquisitors could react, a shockwave tore through them.
Renji moved faster than sound.
The first Inquisitor barely registered the attack before his body was split in half.
A spray of blood arced through the air.
The second one raised a barrier—too slow. Renji's hand tore through it like paper, claws sinking into the man's skull.
He crushed it.
Blood. Screams. Chaos.
The monster had returned.
---
Jinno's heart pounded.
Astra gritted her teeth. "We need to move. Now."
Shirogane wiped blood from his cheek, watching Renji with narrowed eyes.
"This is… different," he muttered.
Renji wasn't just stronger. He wasn't just faster.
He was lethal in a way that went beyond human logic.
The Organization had called him an anomaly before—but now?
Now, he was a force of nature.
Raine's face was impassive, but her fingers curled into a fist.
"He's completely synchronized with the abyss," she murmured.
The remaining Inquisitors changed tactics immediately.
They abandoned their seal formation and switched to offensive maneuvering. Their auras surged, golden runes forming around them as they activated their full strength.
Six elite warriors.
Each one an apex hunter.
They moved in unison, unleashing a barrage of coordinated attacks.
Renji didn't even blink.
---
Flames. Lightning. Spatial tears.
The battlefield erupted as the Inquisitors combined their strongest abilities.
Each one should have been fatal.
But Renji walked through them like a goddamn specter.
A flame strike engulfed him—he didn't burn.
A blade of pure energy sliced through his side—the wound sealed instantly.
A gravity crush tried to pin him—the abyss swallowed the force.
And then—he struck back.
Faster than they could see.
One moment, an Inquisitor was mid-attack.
The next, his chest was ripped open, his ribcage torn apart by abyssal tendrils.
He collapsed, twitching.
Another tried to teleport—Renji grabbed his arm mid-phase and ripped it off before shoving his claws through the man's throat.
Raine moved first, her blade flashing. "Restrain him!"
The remaining four hunters converged on him.
Renji smiled.
And vanished again.
---
For Astra, it was a nightmare made real.
One moment, she was tracking Renji's movement.
The next, he wasn't there anymore.
Then—
SPLASH.
Blood hit her face.
She turned just in time to see an Inquisitor fold in half, his spine crushed as Renji's fist went straight through his back.
Astra lunged. "Stop—"
A pulse of abyssal energy exploded outward, knocking her back.
Jinno barely had time to react before Renji appeared beside him, a claw millimeters from his throat.
But at the last second, Renji stopped.
His golden-black eyes flickered.
Jinno saw it—a moment of recognition.
A beat of hesitation.
Renji's mind—his humanity—was still there.
But the abyss wanted more.
It wanted everything.
And Renji… was on the edge of losing himself.
---
Deep inside his own mind, Renji stood at a crossroads.
Abyssal tendrils coiled around his consciousness, whispering, urging, demanding.
"Become what you were meant to be."
He saw visions.
Cities burning.
Mountains crumbling.
Himself—standing above it all.
His heart pounded.
Was this the future?
Was this his destiny?
The abyss laughed.
"You already know the answer."
Renji gritted his teeth.
And for the first time—
He fought back.
---
Back in reality, Jinno moved the second Renji hesitated.
His gunblade flashed, its edge coated with a disruptor aura designed to sever abyssal energy.
Renji barely managed to deflect it, his claws scraping against the glowing blade.
Their eyes met.
And Jinno saw it—
The Renji he knew was still there.
Buried beneath the abyss.
Fighting against it.
Jinno gritted his teeth. "You're still in there, aren't you?"
Renji's jaw clenched. His aura fluctuated, abyssal power recoiling as his will pushed back against the entity's influence.
A second passed.
Then another.
Then—
The remaining Inquisitors attacked all at once.
---
Raine led the charge, her sword glowing with divine energy.
Astra and Shirogane struck from the flanks.
Jinno braced himself.
Renji exhaled—and made a choice.
Instead of dodging, instead of killing—
He absorbed the impact.
The blows landed.
His body shook.
A wound opened on his shoulder.
His ribs fractured.
And yet—he didn't counterattack.
He held himself back.
His mind was his own again.
The abyss screamed inside him, but he ignored it.
And for the first time… the monster obeyed him.
Raine's sword hovered inches from Renji's throat.
Blood dripped from his wounds, but he didn't move.
A tense silence stretched between them.
Finally, Raine stepped back.
"…You're suppressing it."
Renji wiped blood from his mouth, exhaling slowly. "I told you before."
"I'm not your enemy."
A long pause.
Then Raine turned to the surviving Inquisitors.
"Fall back."
Astra's eyes widened. "Raine—"
"That's an order."
The Inquisitors hesitated—but obeyed.
Renji watched as they disappeared into the shadows, their mission failed.
And then, for the first time since the battle began—
He allowed himself to breathe.
The monster had not won.
Not yet.