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

Yumi entered the room and saw everyone all rattled. “I know him. It’s that guy. Any problem?” she asked, confused.

“He is refusing cooperation and acting arrogantly,” Kenta answered.

“That brat,” Naomi echoed in a little voice.

Everyone stared at him.

Hiroshi stared at him, unimpressed.

“Let’s see you guys try,” Renji muttered confidently.

“I should have killed you when I still had the chance,” Naomi yelled. She grabbed the handle of her white katana, pulling it out from its scabbard. She took a couple of steps, each getting her closer to Renji.

Hiroshi stretched his hand out to Naomi like a sign in the tense room. “Let’s see what he’s got with normal soldiers,” Hiroshi’s voice echoed.

Shang!

Naomi slid her katana back into its scabbard, dramatically.

Commander Aya and Commander Kenta’s faces looked bored at Naomi.

A hand-wave signal from Hiroshi directed three normal soldiers to move.

Three normal Blackout Division soldiers came forth, moving from left, center, and right toward Renji. They seemed determined.

Renji’s sword glowed, but Renji noticed something as his facial expression changed. He hadn’t transformed into what he did yesterday. It bothered him—maybe a glitch? “With it or without it, I’m still fighting my way through,” he muttered calmly to himself.

“Gene, unleash!”

“Gene, unleash!”

“Gene, unleash!”

The three soldiers were already very close to Renji—one with a rifle, two with swords.

Their eyes locked on Renji with a fierce look, like a staring war had begun.

Renji could see they were very serious. “They’re trying to wear me down psychologically,” Renji muttered to himself. “Let me return it to them. I’ll show them I’m dead serious here.” Renji strained his eyes into a fiercer look at them. “That should show them I’m dead serious,” he muttered within his mind.

Renji’s eyes noticed a change: there were three soldiers, but he was seeing only two—left and right. The middle soldier with a rifle had disappeared, Renji muttered in his mind. Renji’s body quickly moved around, completing a 360 with his bare eyes. But nothing, he thought.

“Unless…” Renji barely understood. “Unless he is on—”

Renji’s thoughts were interrupted.

POP!

A gun was fired by the soldier with the rifle.

Renji moved his shoulders, countering the direction of the bullet, making a quick tilt to dodge the fast shot. He retained balance on his feet.

Renji sharply looked up at the corner above—his eyes read it. The soldier was well positioned, hanging there in the corner, one hand on his gear to maintain balance against the wall and the other operating his rifle.

“So that was where he went,” Renji thought within.

POP! POP! POP! POP!…

More bullets rained from the corner above, moving fast across the air toward Renji, who was the only target.

Renji, facing front while looking at the soldier hanging in the air at the corner of the room, got distracted. The two soldiers stepped toward Renji, swinging their swords at him. Renji dodged one and swung his sword against the other, countering the attack. At that moment, he held his sword firmly against the standing soldier’s blade.

Pop! pop! pop! pop!…

More bullets were fired—projectiles heading only for Renji.

Renji gazed at the bullets heading for him and no other. Still locked in a sword clash with a soldier, he gathered momentum and pushed the soldier away. Renji changed position, dodging the bullets.

Swish!

A sword slashed near him. “It’s the first soldier I dodged earlier,” Renji realized, his eyes opening wide. Renji quickly hopped, his body floating away fast from the sword’s arc slash. He had barely dodged.

Pop! pop! pop! pop! pop!…

More bullets rained from the corner above, heading straight for him. Renji bent backward, lowering his height as the bullets passed him by. “That gunner isn’t letting me breathe,” Renji thought.

The two soldiers tightened their grip on their swords and rushed head-on at Renji.

Swish! Their swords swung directly toward Renji, both making a vertical arc. That should get him—their minds synced.

It won’t get him, Hiroshi declares within.

Kang!

Renji had countered both of them, moving his sword horizontally across theirs, his hands balancing the blade to hold against them. “Thank God I thought fast.”

Renji held against the two sword soldiers, swords locked. The soldiers increased force, pressing against Renji as he struggled to stand his ground. “They’re strong.”

Everyone’s eyes tore down on the battle going on, as they stared.

The soldiers pressed on Renji, pouring their Gene concentration into their weapons, making them heavier.

Renji began to lose balance, his feet feeling the weight. But he still held.

The gunner in the corner kept his eyes on Renji.

“Aren’t I vulnerable to that gun here?” Renji asked himself. “If he shoots here, I’ll be toast,” he concluded. Renji’s sword began to lift up the two heavy blades, forcing him down—slowly. Renji pushed the two soldiers away.

Swish!

Renji sent a slash. A blue arc emitted and hit the soldiers. The soldiers hit the ground.

“Sir, let me take him down,” Yumi whispered coldly to Hiroshi.

Hiroshi stayed silent, analyzing how Renji fought.

Renji thought, Now I can dodge that—

POP!…

Bullets fired from above before Renji could finish thinking. Renji dodged, changing his position.

Renji’s eyes locked in on the gunner hanging above.

One of the soldiers on the floor got up, picked up his sword, and threw it. The sword spun in the thin air, fast, approaching Renji like a target.

Renji’s eyes were quickly drawn to the sword. He took a tighter grip of his own blade and raised it in anticipation. “If it gets close, I’ll strike it down.”

The sword kept spinning fast toward Renji, igniting halfway, closing in.

Renji felt the handle of his sword in his palm, waiting nervously for it. A bead of sweat slid down his face.

The spinning, burning sword close to Renji paused—stopping fast.

“What could that possibly mean?” Renji wondered inside.

The sword retracted, spinning backward, heading for its user.

“Why would an attack stop and retract midway?” Renji questioned himself in thoughts. “Unless there is another attack…” It hit Renji right in his mind.

The sword spinning backward paused immediately.

Swish!

It unleashed a heavy fire slash—like burning fire in an arc. The flames were clearly visible and heading straight to Renji for destruction.

Renji quickly slid his feet, moving his legs to change position away from the burning slash.

Renji had dodged. The fire smashed into the wall like a hammer of flame.

“If that had hit me, it would have been over,” Renji muttered calmly in his mind.

POP!

The sound of a bullet was heard.

Renji fell to his knees. He had been hit. Blood on the floor.

“Finally!” Naomi yelled, watching from afar.

Hiroshi stayed silent, still observing coldly.

The soldiers started rejoicing while still down. “We got him,” the gunner above muttered.

“Serves him right,” Yumi echoed to him.

“SIKE!”

Renji got up from the ground fine. “I knew he’d shoot, so I decided to give them a false victory.”

“Let me go fight him,” Yumi pleaded to Hiroshi again.

General Hiroshi was silent, staring.

“That brat,” Naomi and Yumi muttered within themselves.

“He is strong,” Aya noted.

“Yep,” Kenta concluded.

“Thank God that bullet didn’t hit any vital—” Renji muttered within.

“Battle is still on,” Hiroshi affirmed coldly.

Renji threw his sword. It flew on, heading straight for the gunner hanging in the corner above.

The soldier above panicked as the sword fast approached him. His gear slipped as he lost balance, falling to the ground.

Renji called it back. It retracted into his hand.

The other two soldiers struggled, trying to get close to their weapons.

Renji moved, walking toward them coldly.

They shivered in fear, trying to get up.

Renji reached them. He used the sword’s handle to knock both of them out.

The gunner got up barely and gazed at what was happening. He started assembling his gun clumsily, grabbing his weapon, but his hands were too slippery. He looked up and saw Renji take out the second soldier. He finally grabbed the rifle firmly. Looking again—Renji had vanished into thin air. He scanned the field. “Where did he go?” the gun soldier asked loudly in a fearful tone.

“I’m right behind you,” Renji replied coldly.

The soldier started panicking. His body shivered as he slowly turned his head in fear.

Renji hit his head with his sword’s handle, and the gunner collapsed.

Everyone watched in awe.

“Let me fight him,” Yumi pleaded.

“Go,” Hiroshi ordered coldly.

Renji fell to his knees, panting heavily. “Mehn,” he muttered to himself.

“I won your soldiers. Now let me go,” Renji yelled confidently.

“Gene, unleash!”

POP!

A sniper bullet shot by Yumi traveled across the thin air. The target was obviously Renji.

Renji dodged, jumping up as the blast passed him, leaving an impact on the wall behind. He landed unbalanced. “Hey, this is not fair!” Renji yelled.

Yumi continued to fire at him—fast projectile blasts all aimed at Renji. Renji kept dodging, moving his entire body in motion—from jumping to bending to sliding.

“I am not doing this,” Renji yelled.

No response, as Hiroshi just stared at him dead in the eye.

Yumi continued to unleash blasts at Renji—each yellow and intense, directed at him.

“If I have to fight, so be it,” Renji muttered calmly.

Renji started moving close to Yumi, looking straight up at her.

“What’s he doing?” Yumi muttered within herself.

Renji’s steps increased, walking slowly toward her.

Pop!

Yumi fired a yellow blast. Renji tilted his shoulder left and the shot swept past.

He kept walking toward her, one step at a time.

Pop!

Another blast. Renji leaned right. It missed by inches.

He broke into a run. Yumi shot again—Renji slipped under it—now he was almost on her.

She raised her scope to fire point-blank, then froze. Too close.

They crashed into each other and went hand to hand.

Yumi’s jab. Renji’s hook. Elbow. Knee. Block.

They traded fast blows across the floor, boots scraping, breath sharp.

Yumi found her rhythm first. A palm to his chin, a sweep to his legs—Renji hit the ground hard.

He rolled, got to his feet, and stumbled back. He turned and ran, leaving his sword where it had fallen.

Yumi lowered her sniper and chased, choosing her fists over the rifle.

“I don’t want to do this,” Renji pleaded, backing away.

“We already told you—” Hiroshi’s voice cut across the room, cold and flat. “We aren’t letting you walk out of here alive without joining us. It’s either you’re with us or against us.”

Yumi closed the distance. Now inches away from Renji.

Renji snapped his hand out. The sword answered, ripping back to his palm. Yumi’s eyes widened; her rifle hung useless at her side.

With the last of his strength, Renji jumped, blade raised to finish it—

Hiroshi stepped in, a blur. He tore Yumi out of the line and struck Renji in the same motion. The hit sent Renji crashing to the floor.

“We already told you,” Hiroshi said, staring fiercely at him. “Join us or die.”