Renji Kuroya stood outside the office building, staring at the termination letter in his hands. The words blurred together under the harsh neon glow of the city's streetlights. After years of working himself to the bone, he was tossed aside without hesitation.
"This is how it ends, huh?" he muttered.
The city pulsed with life around him, indifferent to his struggles. The distant hum of cars, the chatter of pedestrians, and the occasional laughter of couples passing by only deepened the emptiness he felt. He reached into his pocket, pulled out his phone, and stared at the last message from Mikasa Ryou.
> Renji… I can't keep doing this. You don't have a stable job, and I can't build a future with someone who doesn't know where they're going. Let's stop pretending. Goodbye.
His grip tightened, but the phone's screen eventually dimmed. It was a fitting end to a day that had already crushed him. Jobless. Abandoned. Alone.
A low growl cut through the city's noise.
Renji's body stiffened. He turned toward a nearby alley where a shadow moved unnaturally fast between the dimly lit buildings.
Then, the screaming began.
---
Renji had always thought of monsters as something confined to fiction, but the sight before him shattered that belief.
A grotesque, lion-like beast with streaks of black along its golden fur prowled forward. Its crimson eyes gleamed with a hunger that sent ice down his spine. A deep gash ran across its side, but the wound sealed itself in seconds, as if it had never been injured in the first place.
A man—his arm hanging limply, blood pooling at his feet—tried to crawl away, but the creature's claws dug into his back.
"No—NO! HELP ME!" he shrieked.
Renji took a step back. His legs screamed at him to run.
The beast opened its maw. With one brutal motion, it tore the man's head clean off. Blood sprayed against the alley walls, and the lifeless body twitched before going still.
Renji's breath caught in his throat. His heartbeat pounded like war drums. He had never witnessed death so close, so visceral. His legs refused to move.
The monster's ears twitched. Its head snapped toward him.
Their eyes met.
Then, it charged.
---
Renji ran. His lungs burned as he sprinted through the empty streets, the monster's heavy footsteps echoing behind him.
Adrenaline kept him moving, but he knew he wouldn't last. His body was nothing compared to the beast's monstrous speed.
Is this how I die?
The moment the thought crossed his mind, a sharp pain exploded in his shoulder. He barely registered the impact before he was sent crashing into a pile of garbage.
His vision swam. The world spun as he groaned in agony.
The beast loomed over him, saliva dripping from its fangs.
Renji's fingers brushed against something sharp. A broken metal pipe.
The monster lunged.
Renji thrust the pipe forward with everything he had.
A sickening crunch.
The beast roared. The pipe had pierced its throat, blood gushing out in torrents.
Renji expected the creature to retreat, but instead, its claws lashed out in a final act of desperation.
The strike should have killed him.
Instead, something shattered.
A strange, dark mist burst from the creature's body. The moment it touched Renji, his mind exploded with foreign sensations. Visions of hunting, killing, devouring.
He collapsed, his body seizing as something inside him changed.
The pain was unbearable. His veins felt like they were on fire, his muscles spasming violently.
Then, the whispers began.
---
Renji woke to silence.
The monster's corpse lay beside him, its body already disintegrating into a dark, smoky residue. But Renji couldn't focus on that.
His hands trembled. His body felt different—stronger, sharper. His breath came out in slow, controlled exhales, and when he moved, he could feel a predatory grace that wasn't there before.
And then there was the hunger.
A deep, gnawing hunger that wasn't just for food—but for power.
Renji stumbled to his feet, gripping his head as flashes of memories that weren't his ran through his mind.
The beast's instincts.
The whispers coiled around his thoughts, their presence familiar yet alien.
"You have taken your first step," a voice echoed within his mind. "Now, evolve."
Renji's breathing hitched. He turned sharply, scanning the empty alley.
No one was there.
But something was watching him.
He could feel it.
His fingers clenched. His nails were sharper. His senses were heightened.
He wasn't human anymore.
He had changed.
And the world would never be the same again.
---
Renji staggered through the bloodstained streets, his breath ragged, his heart pounding like a war drum in his chest. His hands trembled as he stared at them—his fingers had left deep claw marks on the asphalt without him realizing it. His mind screamed at him to panic, to break down after everything that had just happened.
But another voice whispered. One that was not his own.
"You need more. This is only the beginning."
A chill ran down his spine. He shook his head, gripping his temples. The voice—no, the presence—was seeping into his thoughts like ink bleeding into water. It had been there when he first absorbed the monster's power, but now it was growing clearer, more distinct.
He forced himself to move, stepping over the lifeless body of the lion-tiger hybrid he had killed. The corpse twitched slightly, but it was only the last remnants of its monstrous vitality fading away. Its blood coated his shirt, warm and sticky.
And then the scent hit him.
It wasn't just the stench of death. It was… intoxicating.
His stomach twisted in a way that wasn't entirely from nausea. A deep, gnawing hunger burned inside him, crawling through his veins like fire.
His body knew what it needed.
More.
More of that power.
More of what lay inside the monster's flesh.
No.
He clenched his jaw, forcing himself to step away. This wasn't normal. He had just killed a monster—he wasn't about to start devouring it like some beast. He needed to get out of here.
Sirens wailed in the distance, growing louder. The city's emergency response teams had finally arrived. Hunters—real ones—would be among them.
If they found him like this…
Renji gritted his teeth and stumbled into the nearest alleyway, his limbs still heavy from the aftershock of his transformation. He could feel it—the raw strength in his muscles, the heightened awareness sharpening his senses. It was unlike anything he had ever experienced.
But it was dangerous.
And worst of all, it felt good.
----
The streets beyond the alley were in pure disorder. Buildings bore the scars of battle—clawed-up walls, shattered windows, and overturned vehicles littered the roads. The dungeon break had been brief but violent.
Renji could hear the chatter of the emergency teams as they swept through the area.
"We've got casualties near the main road—several civilians down."
"Any sign of survivors?"
"Some. But get this… one of the monsters was already dead when we got here."
"What? You mean one of the hunters got here first?"
"That's the thing. No registered hunters were on-site when we arrived."
Renji's breath hitched. They were talking about him.
If they found out what he had done—what he had become—they would come after him.
His fingers tightened against his arms, his nails pressing into his skin. His instincts screamed at him to move, to escape before it was too late.
And yet… a part of him wanted to stay.
A part of him wanted to test this power.
---
As he turned deeper into the alley, a shadow stretched unnaturally across the ground. The air around him grew heavy.
Then, he felt it.
Something unseen—something vast—loomed just behind him, though there was nothing there.
A whisper slithered into his mind.
"You resisted. But you will feed soon."
Renji's body tensed. He whirled around, but the alley was empty.
No. Not empty.
He could feel its presence. It was watching.
It had been watching since the moment he absorbed the monster's power.
His breathing came fast and shallow.
This wasn't just some accident.
Something had chosen him.
And it wasn't going to let him go.
---
Renji stumbled through the darkened streets, his breath ragged, his body still thrumming with unnatural energy. Every shadow felt like it stretched toward him, every flickering streetlight cast twisted reflections that seemed wrong.
The hunger hadn't faded.
If anything, it was growing worse.
He needed a place to think. To breathe. To understand what the hell was happening to him.
His apartment.
Renji clenched his jaw, forcing his trembling legs to move faster. The city was in chaos, but if he could just make it home—just get behind closed doors—maybe he could figure something out.
Or maybe… he would realize there was no going back.
When he reached the entrance of his rundown apartment complex, he hesitated. The fluorescent hallway lights buzzed overhead, casting a dim, sickly glow. Everything looked the same as it always had—the peeling wallpaper, the cracked tiles, the faint scent of mold.
But he wasn't the same.
Renji swallowed and climbed the stairs. His heartbeat thundered in his ears. His hand hovered over the doorknob before finally gripping it, pushing the door open.
His apartment was a mess. Old takeout containers sat stacked on the table. His laptop, still open, displayed a half-written job application he had been working on earlier that day. A lifetime ago.
He shut the door behind him, exhaling a shaky breath.
Then, slowly, he turned toward the bathroom mirror.
The moment he saw his reflection, his stomach dropped.