The cold air of the ninety-ninth floor wrapped around them like a warning. It was quiet. Too quiet. The kind of quiet that made the hairs on your neck rise, like something was holding its breath, waiting.
Renji stood still at the edge of the descending stairwell, eyes sharp, his hand resting on the worn grip of his pistol—Chrono Trigger. The pistol's body, a custom hybrid of steel and enchanted alloy, was faintly warm. Its internal core pulsed with mana, responding to his intent. Beside him, Yue tightened her gloves with practiced precision, her crimson eyes scanning the path ahead with cold calculation.
Behind them, Hajime checked around his left arm—what remained of it. The Claw Bear had taken everything below the elbow weeks ago, and though the bleeding had long stopped, the phantom pain hadn't. He'd yet to build a working prosthetic. For now, he adapted.
"You're unusually quiet," Renji said, not looking back.
Hajime gave a noncommittal grunt. "I'm just calculating the odds. We're about to step onto floor one hundred. If any floor's going to be the end, it's this one."
Renji didn't respond right away. He understood the gravity. For the last several weeks, the three of them had done nothing but fight, bleed, and train. They hadn't had the luxury of rest.
Renji had pushed his Time Reaver ability until his mana circuits threatened to rupture—testing new applications under pressure. He'd discovered he could not only slow time but also queue actions a second ahead. It gave him a lethal edge, but it drained mana faster than a casting duel. It required precision. Calm. Ruthlessness.
Yue, meanwhile, had become his anchor—her blood magic and elemental manipulation sharpened to a degree where she could cast silent, consecutive spells with barely a flick of her fingers. The two moved in sync now, covering each other in battle like clockwork. It wasn't just skill—it was familiarity built through survival.
Yue turned to Renji. "If your trigger's off by even a breath, don't push it. We'll cover the gap."
He gave her a small nod. "I know. Same goes to you."
She didn't reply. She didn't need to.
Hajime loaded a new shell into his revolver. "I've crossed over a hundred floors already, after falling into hell once. But this... this feels different. Doesn't matter how strong we've become. This place doesn't care. One mistake down here, and that's it."
His voice wasn't dramatic. It was flat. Honest. The words of someone who'd seen how quickly life could be taken.
They had spent every waking moment preparing for this—pushing their limits, mastering their abilities, learning to operate as a unit. Yue and Renji had become as coordinated as two halves of the same blade. Hajime—resourceful as ever—fought on with one arm, compensating through calculated brutality and relentless will.
Now, as they stood before the steps to the unknown, there was nothing left to say. No bravado. No false hope.
Just resolve.
Renji adjusted his grip on Chrono Trigger, Yue summoned a faint barrier spell, and Hajime exhaled slowly, revolver ready in his right hand.
Together, they descended.
Step by step.
Toward whatever waited at the bottom.
With their preparations finally complete, Hajime, Yue, and Renji descended the stairs to the floor below.
The bottom of the staircase opened into a vast, open chamber—silent, imposing, and symmetrical in a way that made the air feel heavier. Massive pillars dotted the space, each one carved with a spiral motif that seemed to twist around its stone face like vines around an ancient tree. The ceiling arched high, nearly thirty meters above, the structure held in perfect balance. The floor beneath their boots was unnaturally smooth, like polished obsidian, unnervingly pristine.
Renji scanned the space, fingers twitching near his holstered pistol, Chrono Trigger. Yue was silent beside him, her gaze steady and sharp.
As the three of them stepped forward, the pillars nearest to them lit up—faint pulses of light racing up their carved spirals. Like a chain reaction, each subsequent pillar began to glow, one after the other. None of them spoke as they instinctively raised their guard. No sound came from the far end. No pressure. No movement. Only that creeping feeling in the pit of the stomach that something was very, very wrong.
Eventually, they reached the opposite end of the hall. A massive double door stood embedded in the wall—each side ten meters tall, carved with an intricate heptagon and strange runes coiled at every vertex like ancient seals. It radiated weight and finality.
"Well," Hajime muttered, gaze narrowing. "That's quite the entrance."
"You think this is..." Renji began, eyes scanning the door.
"...Where the maverick lives?" Yue finished quietly, her voice softer than usual—but serious.
They all felt it. The pull of gravity wasn't stronger here, but it felt like it. Yue's brows drew together. Renji's thumb clicked off the safety on his pistol. Hajime's right hand never left his revolver's grip. No one said it, but they all knew: this was it.
"It's dangerous," Hajime murmured. "Something's behind those doors. And it's not going to be friendly."
"We're not turning back," Renji said quietly.
Yue didn't respond right away. Instead, she reached out, her fingers lacing into Renji's gloved hand. She squeezed—firm, steady, no fear in her touch. Just conviction.
He turned slightly to look at her. There was a calm intensity in her eyes. "Whatever's behind those doors," she said, "we'll face it together."
Renji gave a small nod. "Yeah."
Hajime gave them a brief glance but said nothing, his gaze fixed forward.
They stepped past the last pair of pillars—and then it happened.
A massive magic circle erupted into existence, floating in midair between them and the door. It radiated an oppressive, malign aura, pulsing with dark red light. It was enormous—thirty meters across—and every inch of it was lined with intricate, ancient symbols that hissed with hostile energy.
Hajime's eyes widened slightly. "This pattern... it's just like the one that summoned the behemoth back on the bridge. But this one's... three times the size."
"And the inscriptions on it were far more
complex and precise." Renji added, his voice low. "Whoever made this knew exactly what they were doing."
Yue stepped forward slightly, her magic already gathering at her fingertips. "It's coming."
"Guess this is it," Hajime muttered, grimacing. "We're up against the real thing now."
Yue didn't look back at Renji—but her fingers stayed in his.
"Don't hesitate," she said. "Don't hold back."
Renji nodded once. Chrono Trigger was drawn in a smooth motion, its chamber glowing faintly as it synced with his mana. His Time Reaver circuits thrummed beneath his skin like distant thunder.
The summoning finished.
And the chamber began to shake.
They didn't flinch.
They were ready.
Finally, it let out one last incandescent burst of light. Yue, Hajime, and Renji all shielded their eyes to preserve their sight. Once the illumination faded, their eyes adjusted to the horror before them.
A beast thirty meters long slithered in the shadows. Six serpent-like heads, each with a unique-colored sigil etched into their skulls, hovered menacingly. Its dark crimson eyes locked onto them—pure malice given form. The mythical Hydra.
"Graaaaaaaaaaah!!" it bellowed, an ear-splitting cry that reverberated through the chamber. A wave of killing intent surged from the creature, enough to make any ordinary warrior's heart seize in terror.
The red head moved first. Its jaws unhinged and spewed forth a monstrous column of fire.
"Scatter!" Hajime barked.
The trio split instantly. Yue vaulted backward on wings of mana, Hajime strafed with a blast from Aerodynamic, and Renji—calm despite the inferno—rolled to the side, sliding behind cover.
From his coat, Renji drew his weapon: Chrono Trigger, Its chamber clicked open as a shimmering blue bullet slotted itself into place—Timebound Rounds.
"Synchronize. Chrono Drive: Active."
The glyph on the pistol's barrel pulsed. The world slowed around Renji. Even the burning wave of flame crawled like molasses in the air. He stood, pivoted smoothly, and fired at the red-patterned head. A resounding crack echoed as the bullet accelerated at five times its normal velocity, smashing through the red skull.
The head exploded, flinging charred scales everywhere. But even as victory flared in his chest, the white head screeched, casting a healing aura that reversed the destruction. The red head reformed, sinew knitting, bone snapping into place.
"Tch… healer," Renji muttered.
Yue followed up with ice spears, tearing the green head apart—but again, the white head healed it instantly.
"Hajime, Renji—white head!" Yue called through telepathy.
"Already on it!" Hajime fired Donner. Renji chambered another Chrono Round.
"Chrono Trigger—Scattershot Burst!"
His pistol roared, unleashing a spiraling volley of time-fractured rounds. Alongside Yue's Crimson Javelin, the assault raced toward the white head—but the yellow head slithered into the path, absorbing the impact.
That head was the tank.
"Balanced types, huh?" Hajime muttered. "This thing's got a damn raid composition."
Grenades flew from Hajime's belt. Incendiary rounds pounded the Hydra's defenses, while Renji provided precision support, firing tactical rounds that slowed the Hydra's movements and delayed its healing cycles. Yet even the yellow head, scorched and cracked, was healed by the white head moments later.
Then it happened.
Yue screamed.
"Aaaaaaaaaah!!!"
Hajime's blood ran cold. "Yue?!"
He tried to move—but the red and green heads barred the way with fire and wind.
"Damn it!" Hajime cursed. "Renji—!"
But Renji was already gone.
The instant Yue screamed, the gears on Chrono Trigger began to spin backward. A faint blue light engulfed him.
"Chrono Shift."
Renji vanished—teleported six meters forward in a blink. Then again. And again. His form flickered like a glitch in time. He dashed through the storm of fire and wind, his coat catching fire, his body bruising under the pressure—but he didn't stop.
He spotted the black head—its eyes glowing with corrupt, hypnotic light. It had paralyzed Yue.
The blue head lunged to finish her.
"No you don't!" Renji shouted.
He twisted midair, kicking off falling debris, and vaulted between Yue and the Hydra's gaping maw.
"Chrono Trigger—Shield Phase!"
He slammed the gun into the ground. A clock-face-shaped barrier of temporal mana exploded around him and Yue, freezing the air and momentarily halting the blue head's motion.
But the head powered through.
It lunged.
Renji grabbed Yue with one arm and, with his other, pointed Chrono Trigger straight up—right into the monster's throat.
CRACK!
A Timebomb Round detonated inside the skull. The upper half of the blue head burst like a melon under pressure.
Renji collapsed to a knee, smoke rising from his pistol.
"You alright, princess?"
Yue blinked. "Renji… you…"
"You're not dying on me. Not now. Not ever."
Behind them, the Hydra reeled in agony. Hajime arrived, gun drawn, eyes fierce.
After blinking confusedly for a few more seconds, Yue gently reached out—not toward Hajime, but toward Renji, who was still knelt beside her, smoke curling from his coat and pistol. Her fingers brushed his cheek, trembling.
"I… I thought I'd been… abandoned again… Alone… in the darkness…"
Her voice was barely a whisper, shaking like a leaf in the wind. Tears welled up in her golden eyes, shimmering in the faint blue glow of Chrono Trigger's residual magic. She looked like a child who had just awoken from a nightmare too real to escape.
"Huh? What on earth are you—" Hajime started, then cut himself off as realization dawned. "Tch… So the black one's a debuffer? Induces fear... Damn it, this thing's got a perfectly balanced party comp."
He gritted his teeth and turned back to the Hydra, which was already beginning to recover from their last coordinated strike.
But Yue wasn't looking at Hajime anymore.
To her, Renji wasn't just the one who had risked his life moments ago—he had quite literally stopped time to save her. He stood between her and death, between her and that creeping blackness that had nearly swallowed her whole. It wasn't logic that moved her—it was raw emotion, still shaken by the illusion of abandonment.
"Renji…" she whispered, her voice barely holding together. She clutched his sleeve tightly, as if letting go would send her spiraling back into that endless void.
Renji stared at her—then glanced over at Hajime, who was reloading his revolver and glaring at the Hydra like it had personally offended him.
The Hydra loomed larger. The white head was beginning to glow again. They had seconds at most.
"Yue…" Renji said, his voice steady and calm.
Without further hesitation, he leaned in and kissed her.
It was brief. Gentle. Just enough to anchor her.
Yue's eyes opened wide, stunned into stillness. Her grip on his coat loosened as warmth replaced the cold fear. The darkness receded. Her lips trembled, but no longer from terror.
Renji pulled back just slightly, his face close to hers. "I'm here. You're not alone. You'll never be alone again."
A deep crimson flushed Yue's cheeks, but her body stopped trembling. Her eyes locked onto his—anchored, steady. The weight of his words settled deep within her heart.
But before she could respond, Renji whispered with a promise only for her ears. "We'll make it through this. Then, we're going home. To Japan. Together."
Yue blinked, still processing the kiss, but her heart caught on his words. Home. Japan. That was the place she had never truly known, yet it had become a symbol of everything she wanted: a place of peace, of belonging, of a future with Renji by her side.
Tears still lingered in her eyes, but they were no longer from fear. This time, they were tears of hope. Hope that the nightmare of being abandoned in the darkness was finally over.
From behind them, Hajime's voice broke the moment, sharp and cutting through the tension.
"Okay, I hate to interrupt the romance, but now's not the time for this!"
He didn't look back—he was already firing at the white head to stop the next healing pulse—but the sharpness in his tone was unmistakable.
Renji gave a crooked smirk, chambered another round into Chrono Trigger, and stood up beside Yue, who had found her footing again.
"Right. Let's finish what we started," he said coolly, then glanced sideways at Hajime. "You can yell at me later."
Yue, still flushed but focused now, nodded firmly.
"We'll go home. Together," she whispered, her voice strong with resolve.
"Together," Renji echoed, offering her a reassuring smile.
Hajime grunted, cheeks twitching as if trying not to make a face. "Whatever. Just keep your hands to yourself till we're not about to die."
Then he vaulted forward, guns blazing.
And the fight resumed—with Yue's light flaring anew, and Renji at her side.
"Yue, I'm going to bring out Schlagen. It can't fire consecutive shots, so I'm going to need you to cover me."
"Leave it to me!" There was more enthusiasm in Yue's voice than usual. Normally, she just mumbled listlessly, but her reply this time was filled with emotion. It looked like she'd been freed from all her old fears. And from the looks of it, her inhibitions. When he recalled just how dependent she was on him, he realized he might have been a bit hasty. The future of Renji going to be pretty rocky, he thought as he smiled
wryly.
As the echoes of Yue's devastating spell faded, the chamber fell into a deceptive quiet. The scent of ozone lingered in the air, mana crackling faintly off scorched stone. The Hydra should've been dead—should have—but something writhed in the smoke.
From the molten mess of its destroyed heads, something crawled out. A blackened stump twitched—and then pulsed. Like a tumor, it swelled, and from it rose a new head, malformed and reeking of corrupted magic. A grotesque fusion of its previous elements, leaking shadow with every breath.
Hajime raised Schlagen again, but Renji stepped forward first, coat torn and face smeared with grime, eyes locked on the regenerating horror.
The black head's single eye flared—and in an instant, the air thickened. Renji felt his heart seize. Hajime's fingers stalled over the trigger.
A wave of pressure crushed down on them. The head wasn't just regenerating—it was reaching into their minds.
And then it spoke—not with words, but memories.
Pain.
The sting of betrayal.
The echo of bones breaking against cold stone.
Endless hunger.
The darkness of the Abyss surrounded them again—wet, freezing, suffocating. Renji saw flashes of his first week in the abyss, coughing blood into his hands, screaming into empty caverns. Hajime felt the phantom heat of starvation eating at his gut, the weight of isolation and survival burying him all over again.
The black Hydra wanted them to freeze, to falter. But…
Renji blinked once. Twice.
Then let out a breath.
Hajime smirked coldly. "That all you've got?"
What they'd been through wasn't something that could be weaponized anymore. It had already stripped them down to nothing. Everything left in them had been reforged in that crucible.
Renji rolled his shoulder, letting the pressure slide off like water. "We walked through worse."
He raised his pistol: Chrono Trigger. A sidearm forged in the depths of time magic, its barrel engraved with runes that shimmered in unstable cadence. It hummed with something unnatural—like a clock running backward and forward at once.
The muzzle aligned.
Then fired.
A focused stream of compressed force, layered with redirected elemental signatures, tore through the regenerating black head mid-cast. No explosion, no fanfare—just a clean, brutal annihilation, cutting it off before it could finish reforming.
Hajime, already in motion, pivoted. "Tch. That was my shot."
"You hesitated."
"Did not."
"Sure."
The silence that followed wasn't calm—just the kind that came after something terrifying had finally been put down. No boasts. No victory screams. Just controlled breathing and the smell of burnt flesh.
Yue lowered her hands, walking past them both. "It's dead."
Renji muttered, wiping blood from his jaw, "Let's make sure it stays that way."
They didn't need to say anything more.
They were still standing.
And whatever came next… they weren't the same people who fell into that pit months ago.
They were what crawled out.
Yue collapsed to her knees, her body trembling after unleashing her last spell. As always, the power took its toll. She gasped for air, her usual impassive face barely masking her exhaustion, but a glint of satisfaction lingered in her gaze. She looked up, gave Hajime a faint thumbs-up.
Hajime returned the gesture, slinging Schlagen over his shoulder as he walked toward her.
But then—
"Hajime—!"
Yue's voice cut through the haze, sharp with panic.
He spun around on instinct.
A seventh head had emerged—silent, silver-marked, coiling out from the remnants of the Hydra's body. Its single eye shimmered like a prism, and without warning, it unleashed a searing beam of rainbow-colored light aimed straight for Yue.
She couldn't move. Her mana was gone. Her body wouldn't respond.
And Hajime moved without thinking—just like before.
But the moment he leapt—
Time snapped.
The beam was faster.
Too fast.
He would've made it halfway.
And then suddenly—
He wasn't the one moving.
Renji was.
One moment, he was behind them. The next, he was there, in front of Hajime, in front of Yue—his hand flung out, not to stop the beam, but to splice time.
"Temporal Sync."
Renji's voice cut through the chaos. His body slammed into them, shoving Hajime and Yue aside as he took the brunt of the blast head-on.
The aurora beam slammed into him with a thunderous roar. The light crashed into him, consuming him instantly. His body jerked violently, but he didn't fall. He stood, defiant, a deep scorch spreading across his body, the smell of burnt flesh hanging thick in the air.
When the light faded, Yue gasped—barely conscious, curled on the floor with Hajime beside her. She blinked through the haze, the crackling of energy still ringing in her ears.
Renji collapsed to his knees, his body trembling.
"Renji!" Yue and Hajime shouted together, rushing to his side.
He fell face-first into the ground, unmoving.
Yue knelt down, hands shaking as she rolled him onto his back. His body was burned and battered, but like Hajime, his half-monster blood made him more durable than most. Still, the force of the attack was overwhelming.
"Come on, Renji... stay with us." Yue muttered, tears threatening in her eyes.
Hajime quickly grabbed a vial of Ambrosia, splashing it over Renji's scorched body. Yue followed, pouring another into his mouth.
But Renji didn't swallow. The liquid spilled out of his mouth, untouched.
"Damn it!" Hajime growled, pulling out more vials. "Why is it—?!"
Yue didn't answer. Instead, she pressed the vial to Renji's lips, trying once again to force it down. But the effect was the same.
"I— don't understand…" Yue's voice wavered with a mix of panic and confusion.
Hajime clenched his jaw. "The light… it wasn't just an attack. It's like it was eating into him."
The Ambrosia was doing something—but not enough. The wounds had stopped bleeding, but they didn't heal. The reason became clear: the Hydra's light contained a potent corrosive element, a kind of flesh-eating poison that lingered inside the body.
By all rights, Renji's body should've already begun breaking down.
The Ambrosia, while a powerful healing agent, couldn't fully overcome the corrosive poison from the Hydra's light.
The process was far too slow. The wounds that had been sealed by Ambrosia were barely closing.
Renji was strong. Like Hajime, he had the resilience of a half-monster. But even his hybrid nature couldn't fully withstand the poison's damage.
"The poison… it's still lingering in his system," Hajime explained, gritting his teeth. "Ambrosia's doing its best, but it can't fight off that corruption fast enough."
Yue pressed a trembling hand against Renji's forehead, her lips tight. She had no time for this.
"We can't lose him too," she said quietly, but the words felt hollow.
Hajime glanced toward the Hydra, which was preparing its next attack, a barrage of rainbow-colored orbs, each one crackling with deadly force.
"We have to get him out of here. He won't last much longer like this."
Yue nodded, determination flooding her. She moved to hoist Renji, but he was far too heavy to carry alone, especially with their own bodies worn from battle.
"We protect him, now," Yue said, her voice steely. "It's our turn."
Hajime met her gaze, his jaw clenched.
"Yeah. We owe him that much."
With the Hydra's attack closing in, they positioned themselves defensively, standing firm over Renji's fallen form.
"We can't let him down," Yue muttered, looking at Hajime.
Hajime tightened his grip on Schlagen, his eyes cold with resolve.
"Let's finish this."
And with that, the two of them braced themselves for the fight ahead.
The battle had been long and brutal, and the Hydra's relentless assault had left both Yue and Hajime teetering on the edge of defeat. The beast loomed over them, its glowing orbs of destructive energy ready to strike again. With every attempt to retaliate, their strength was fading, and they could feel the battle slipping away from them.
The air was thick with tension as the Hydra's massive form loomed over them. Hajime and Yue stood side by side, both weary, their bodies bruised from the onslaught, and their movements sluggish.
Yue clenched her fists, staring at the Hydra's growing barrage of rainbow-colored orbs. "We can't keep up like this..."
Hajime's face was set in a grim line. His body had taken too much damage. The poison from the Hydra's light had weakened him more than he'd like to admit, and now the only thing keeping him standing was sheer willpower. But even that was starting to fade.
Yue staggered to the side, struggling to maintain her stance. The Ambrosia had helped, but not enough. Her body was close to giving in to exhaustion.
"Yue… we can't hold out much longer," Hajime muttered, blood dripping from his side as the poison from the Hydra's attacks began to take its toll.
Yue, her legs shaking, could barely stand. Her breath came in short, panicked bursts. "Hajime, no… we can't lose here. We can't."
"They're coming," Hajime muttered, his voice hoarse. The Hydra had gathered its power, ready to strike again. Their last few efforts to defend themselves had been ineffective, their attacks only grazing the beast before they were overwhelmed by its next assault.
Yue's gaze was fixed on the Hydra's final wave, the balls of light flashing ominously as they hurtled toward them.
"We can't win this... not like this," Yue said quietly, her usual calm demeanor cracking. She was losing hope, the weight of the battle too much for her exhausted mind.
But before they could act, the first of the orbs slammed into them.
Boom.
The shockwave knocked them both to the ground, their bodies slamming against the hard, cold floor. Blood spurted from their wounds as the second, third, and fourth orbs came crashing down. Yue's world blurred in and out, and she could hear nothing but the deafening roar of the Hydra and the rapid beat of her own heart.
Hajime gritted his teeth, struggling to push himself up, but it was futile. His body refused to obey, the poison still working against him. His vision was fading.
"Yue…," he muttered weakly, reaching for her, but his hand fell short.
Yue, too, was struggling to rise. She could feel her body betraying her. She forced herself onto her knees, but the world spun violently around her. The Ambrosia was no longer enough. She had no more strength left to fight.
"This can't be the end..." she whispered, her voice barely a breath.
The Hydra raised its head, its glowing eyes locking onto them. It prepared its final attack, the massive orb of light growing in size, ready to unleash its destructive force.
But before it could launch its attack, a sudden shift in the air froze everything in place.
In a blur of motion, Renji's figure appeared between the Hydra and the two, moving with such speed and precision that it was as though time itself bent to his will. His body was battered from his earlier fights, his clothes torn and scorched, but his eyes burned with determination.
"Move aside," Renji growled under his breath, his voice rough but filled with authority.
The Hydra recoiled slightly, but its hunger for destruction was unyielding. With a roar, it released the orb of light directly at Renji.
But Renji was already moving.
Chrono Weave activated instantly, and the world seemed to slow around him. The Hydra's attack, though fast, was rendered almost sluggish in comparison. With the Temporal Sync enhancing his reaction time, Renji was able to weave through the oncoming strike, his movements fluid and precise as he closed the distance between himself and the monster.
"Not today," he muttered, his voice laced with icy determination.
Renji's hand went to his sidearm, Chrono Trigger, and in one smooth motion, he pulled it from its holster. The familiar weight of the railgun pistol felt natural in his grasp, and the faint blue light of the etched runes seemed to pulse with his heartbeat.
Eclipse Edge.
With a single, fluid motion, Renji swung the gun in an arc, and the space around him rippled. Time itself seemed to bend as his shot tore through the air with an audible crack of temporal distortion. The shot struck the Hydra directly in its center, the energy from the bullet distorting the very fabric of space-time around it.
The Hydra howled in agony as the rift in time disoriented it, causing its movements to become erratic. In that moment, Renji's attack had not only pierced the beast but also fractured its temporal flow, distorting its perception of reality.
Renji didn't stop. The air around him shimmered as he tapped into his Lightning Field, electricity crackling around his body. His already incredible speed was amplified, and he dashed forward in a blur, leaving afterimages of himself in his wake. Every step was calculated, each one designed to strike with devastating precision.
He closed the distance, firing off rapid shots, each one empowered by his time-manipulation abilities. Chrono Trigger fired in perfect synchronization with the altered flow of time, causing the bullets to leave trails of temporal energy behind them. The Hydra's defenses were obliterated with each shot, as Renji's bullets ripped through its skin, time warping with every impact. The creature's movements slowed, its limbs growing heavier, as if trapped in a moment where time refused to let it go.
With one final, devastating Eclipse Edge, Renji's sword cut through the Hydra's massive body in a flash. The time distortion left in its wake caused the beast's form to twist and distort, and in the span of a single second, Renji's blade cleaved through its entire form, bisecting it in a flash of dark light.
The Hydra's monstrous body collapsed to the ground with a thunderous crash, its death rattle echoing through the battlefield.
Renji stood over the fallen creature, breathing heavily. His hand still gripped the handle of Chrono Trigger, its barrel smoking slightly from the barrage of shots. The lightning aura around him crackled and faded, and the temporal distortion around him slowly unraveled as time returned to its normal flow.
But then, as Renji took a step forward to check on Yue and Hajime, the strain from his overexertion caught up with him. His vision swam, and his body buckled under the weight of the exhaustion. His knees hit the ground, and his weapon slipped from his hand, clattering to the floor.
"Renji!" Yue called out, rushing to his side. Her voice was filled with worry, but there was no time to celebrate. "You've used too much power…!"
Hajime, too, staggered to his feet, barely able to support himself. He gritted his teeth. "You idiot… you pushed yourself too hard."
Renji gave a strained, exhausted chuckle, but the effort of even that drained him. "It's fine," he muttered, blinking rapidly to stay conscious. "I'll… I'll be alright. Just… need a moment."
But the moment never came. Renji's eyes fluttered shut, and his body slumped forward. His consciousness faded, and he collapsed, unconscious from the sheer toll of the fight.
Yue and Hajime exchanged a brief, concerned glance before focusing their attention on Renji, trying to stabilize him as best they could.
"He'll be fine… he has to be," Yue murmured, her voice shaky, but filled with an undeniable determination.