"Target neutralized," the general said calmly. "Extraction team — move in."

The captain's body fell on its own; he had collapsed.

A unit arrived, looking firmly at solely Renji and his appearance. They moved up close, touching him, using a long iron stick to check if he was still conscious.

"Confirmed! No sign of movement. He has been knocked out," a soldier reported.

One of the unit members’ eyes scanned the environment with his very eyes, glancing at the damage done in awe.

He thought in his mind, All this, and the general just took him down with only his bare hands within mere seconds.

The unit loaded up Renji, all bundled up in a white fabric as a precaution, just in case Renji woke up.

"Let's move," one said.

A soldier, still squinting his eyes, admired the beautiful destruction that happened — the Blackout Division dead.

"Let's go," Soldier A echoed to him.

"What about the Blackout soldiers?" the soldier still looking at the destruction asked.

"The medics are on their way. We have done ours. Let's move out," Soldier A replied.

From the ground, the soldier got up. The unit moved out with Renji bundled up like a threat.

WEE WOO WEE WOO! Sirens.

Medic buses arrived with the embedded logo “Blackout Division” clearly visible on the side.

They rushed out from the bus with stretchers and first aid to treat.

"Woah,"

"Damn,"

"Mehh,"

— was clearly heard from the mouths of the medics as they rushed in to treat the fallen Blackout soldiers.

"Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!" resonated from the soldiers who had been beaten down.

"I hope whatever caused this is on our side," a medic echoed to herself, eyes glued to the catastrophic damage that had been done to the block.

A figure of a Rev, hiding in the shadows of the wall all this while, disappeared.

The extraction unit that dragged Renji moved across the building roofs, using the gears for movement.

They slid down with the gear, ropes on the walls, as they balanced on the ground, making a smooth landing where General Hiroshi was waiting for them.

The soldiers delivered Renji to Hiroshi, bundled up. Hiroshi grabbed Renji, looking at his face, unsure, and asked,

"Any movements since then?"

"No. Not even a flinch, General," the soldiers answered.

"OK, you can go now," Hiroshi said.

Scientists from the research lab grabbed Renji and took him into one of the unauthorized rooms and started working.

General Hiroshi and Commander Naomi walked into the room, gazing at the science lab equipment and Renji.

"What gave him so much power?" Hiroshi asked curiously to the scientists.

The head lab scientist took off his eye goggles, then proceeded to take off his gloves before answering,

"We believe it came from the sword."

"The sword?" Naomi asked confusedly.

"Yes, the sword. According to our research, the ancient sword awakened in him, granting this human the enormous gene displayed," the scientist answered while lightly picking up the Shinku sword, which had no glow, and showing it to them.

"Isn't it the sword we were tracking last month?" Naomi murmured.

"Only he can wield it," the scientists added.

Renji began to regain consciousness, his eyes still dizzy and body still heavy. His hands felt numb like never before.

Seal... I... Renji heard as he collapsed again.

Renji began to regain consciousness — headache and dizzy eyes as he blinked.

His vision, once blurred, began to clear up as things became very visible to him.

A flashlight shone in his eyes, unleashing straight beams of heavy light. The room was dark; only the light had been visible.

"Who are you?" a voice yelled.

Renji was still trying to think.

"What are you?" the same voice shouted further.

"How... murh..." Renji muttered without thinking.

"Where are you from?" the voice yelled at him again.

Renji regained himself fully and, annoyedly, yelled,

"How do you expect me to answer that when you have a big flashlight planning on making me go blind?"

"Put on the light," the same voice uttered calmly.

The heavy flashlight was turned off.

TAP!

The light was on.

Renji's eyes saw the room — wide space. It was the ground where soldiers trained.

Dozens of human figures were clearly seen as Renji's eyes flashed around the environment.

He tried to move but couldn't. Then looked at himself and saw he was bundled on the chair.

Hands and legs tied with a very thick belt to the chair, Renji looked stunned.

He tried to get his hands out of there, but no luck.

"Untie me!" he shouted.

"Quiet down," the same voice uttered.

Renji, looking at the belt ties, looked up in conflict.

Renji's eyes glanced at a very beautiful woman — long blue hair, with two gigantic chests busting out from the uniform, with figure curves of the black and yellow top and tight trousers she wore.

A katana was visible within her blade holder.

Clearly visible Naomi was a commander or high-rank soldier.

Damn she's hot, Renji muttered as he admired Naomi for a second within his mind.

Others visible were other division soldiers, including two other high-rank soldiers and some other soldiers.

"Who are you?" Naomi asked coldly.

"Someone," Renji replied boldly.

"What are you?"

"It's quite visible that I am a human, or can't you tell?" Renji muttered boredly.

Naomi, whose face was starting to show signs of irritation, went a little closer to Renji. She bent toward him, who was still tied to the chair.

"Funny boy... I am not playing games with you. This is a warning," she muttered, her voice low.

Her chest swayed dangerously inches from his face, making it harder for him to concentrate and focus.

Thank you, renji yelled relieved.

"I can't answer you a thing with those huge beautiful things on my face," Renji yelled.

Naomi, with a mild face, retracted from her position and stood upright.

They still swayed in Renji’s line of sight, but he could think properly now.

"Where did you get that sword?" Naomi asked with a mean face.

Renji’s face changed like he was thinking, then replied,

"Yeah, I got it from the toilet," he said, smiling.

"I nearly had the unit kill you," Naomi added coldly.

"Same unit I cleaned the floor with?" Renji said calmly.

"I might have been unconscious, but I can remember whooping their ass."

"I will show you ass whooping," Naomi uttered, her face changing like a nerve had been hit, proceeding to draw out her katana.

"Try it," Renji ordered boldly.

"Enough!"

Silence filled the room. A needle dropping could be heard on the grounds of the room.

All eyes turned to the entrance. Every single eye in the room looked at him.

A white-haired man — tall, sharp, and cold — wearing the general’s outfit: General Hiroshi had walked in.

"That's enough. I will take over from here," General Hiroshi ordered Naomi.

"General, we told her to take it easy till you got here, but she didn't, as usual," Commander Aya added with a calm voice.

"So let's begin," Hiroshi declared coldly.

"Begin what exactly?" Renji arrogantly asked.

Beep! Commander Kenta started scanning Renji calmly.

"Who are you?" Hiroshi asked Renji calmly.

Renji smiled,

"I think I answered that already. I'm someone. Any problem with that?" he said arrogantly.

"Where did you get that sword from?" Hiroshi threw out another question calmly.

Renji became quiet. It looked like he had decided to cooperate.

Naomi, who was at the back of Hiroshi, echoed within her mind,

He finally decides to talk.

Renji went cold.

"I think I..."

He stopped, breathed in like he was about to spit everything out.

Suspense filled the room. Everyone was silent and equally curious, waiting for him to speak.

Hiroshi's eyes tightened on him — dead-eyed.

Renji looked down.

"I got..."

he muttered, without completing the statement.

The brat is shy, Naomi echoed within her mind.

Renji gathered the moral esteem and finally spat it out bravely:

"I found it in the toilet."

"You brat," Naomi said from the back, yelling as she moved forward to draw her katana. Hiroshi stretched his hand in Naomi's direction, signaling no.

He is trying to annoy us. He hates the division. I wonder why... That has to be the reason, Hiroshi thought.

"Hmmmmmmm," Hiroshi said out loud.

"You appear from nowhere, take down two units with our own sword," Hiroshi stated calmly.

"Excuse me?" Renji shouted, annoyed.

"Your sword? Took down your soldiers?"

"Yes," Hiroshi replied coldly.

"Oh, please," Renji muttered dramatically.

"I found the sword by myself," he said arrogantly.

"And took down your soldiers? They attacked me, and I whooped their ass," Renji concluded bravely.

"I say we should kill him," Naomi yelled from Hiroshi’s back like she and Renji were at war.

"No, he has his rights. He is human," Aya countered Naomi.

Both of their eyes crossed. They looked at Kenta, who was in the middle — the final verdict.

Kenta raised his head up, breathed in deeply. He had been annoyed.

"Are you all done yet?" Renji muttered, bored.

"No more games or silly answers, boy," Hiroshi said with a mean face.

Renji looked at Hiroshi and a smirk appeared on his face for a second.

"Where did you get that sword?" Hiroshi asked coldly.

"I already told you guys a bunch of times that I found it in the toilet," Renji continued.

All the expressions of the soldiers in the room were cold — no reaction — staring at Renji sternly.

Renji’s gaze:

"It's about time we got serious."

"Hmmmm. So where did you get the sword?"

Renji, now serious:

"It found me. It had been coming to me when I'm in danger."

"So our sword came to you?"

"If it's yours, then why did it come to me?"

"We were tracking it," Hiroshi said.

"So that makes it yours automatically? Lmao," Renji fired.

"That's a powerful artifact. We can't just let you walk around with it," Hiroshi said firmly.

"I found it. It's mine," Renji declared proudly.

"Join the division. Help save lives beca—"

Renji interrupted the general,

"No. Not happening."

Commander Naomi, Aya, and Kenta's facial expressions changed immediately.

How was Hiroshi tolerating his behavior? Thoughts clouded their minds.

"Why?" Hiroshi asked, maintaining his cool.

"It's quite simple. I don't want to, because I hate you government organizations," Renji said, looking at Hiroshi.

The commanders’ faces were filled with shock at such disrespect. They tried keeping calm.

"You still don't get it, do you? We can't let you work freely with that sword. It's dangerous. Joining the division, we would monitor you.

Only you have awakened it. Only you can wield it.

There are only two ways this ends," the general affirmed.

Renji looked upward to them, gazed, and looked down without uttering any words, still tied down to the chair.

"Let's dispose of him," Naomi muttered.

"Let's detain him," Aya added.

"Either way, if it's not on our side, it has to go down," Kenta concluded.

Renji yelled,

"Pass."

"You leave us no choice but to kill you," Hiroshi reminded.

"Like you haven't tried before?" Renji replied with a fierce face.

Tension filled the room as all eyes were on Renji.

A battle was about to start.

Renji flickered his hand, and his sword — which was meters away — descended into his hands.

He cut himself free from the ties and regained freedom from the chair.