(Alternate title: "Quickstart Manual for Sacred Arrest, Cosmic Cameos, and Ethically Questionable Art Theft")
Crash.
The capsule slammed into stone and marble.Cracks spread like spiderwebs through the underground corridors.Renji Kurogane: emergency landing, apocalyptic edition.
Alarms blared through the Vatican.
Guards in ceremonial armor — a fusion of high-budget crusaders and exorcists with Wi-Fi — descended fast.They carried electric spears and anomaly-containment weapons.
—"Who the hell travels like this?" I muttered, limping out of the wreckage.
Too late.
They swarmed me.Cuffed me with restraints that smelled like incense and religious regret.No trial. No coffee. No mercy.
They dragged me through corridors lined with crosses, runes, and ancient trauma.
And then—The cell.
An ancient prison.Carved into living stone.Sealed with runes so old even time stopped updating them.
They shoved me in.The door slammed like a tomb closing over a bad punchline.
And then…It got weird.
Darkness.Cold.Silence...
Until I heard footsteps.Not normal ones.
Footsteps that knew my name before I did.
A figure emerged.
Simple robes.Barefoot.Eyes that understood pain… and forgave it anyway.
Jesus.
Not stained-glass Jesus.Real Jesus.Tired. Worn down.Like he carried not just the world's sins, but all its dumb decisions too.
He looked at me.Not with hate.With resignation.
Then he spoke:
—"Centuries ago… someone asked me to wait here. Not to question. Not to judge. Just wait."
He stepped forward.
In his hands: a journal.
Identical to the one from my apartment.From the hotel.From the pyramid.
But this one glowed faintly.Its symbols shifted every time I blinked.
Jesus held it out like a burden, not a gift.
—"If a human with an Eye in their chest is ever locked in this cell… I was told to give them this," he said. His voice trembled with duty and dread.
I didn't know if I should say thank you or start apologizing.
Before I could speak, he added:
"You're not a mistake, Renji.You're not a monster.You're the overdue echo of a forgotten promise."
"Run. Learn. Remember.And when the end comes…Don't ask for forgiveness."
He gave me the journal.
Smiled — sad, distant.
And vanished.
Just like that.Like a sigh inside an abandoned church.
I stood there.Journal in hand.Soul… kind of vibrating.
Then I saw it.
A symbol carved into the wall.
Two letters: T and P.Faint. Ancient.
I didn't know what it meant.
But something deep inside recoiled.The Eye in my chest pulsed… and hated it.
I stepped back.
And saw something else.
A statue.Jesus, again.Head bowed.Wearing the Crown of Thorns.
My chest burned.The Eye pulsed.I approached like I was dreaming.
I touched the statue.
Zap.
No sound.No light.Just a quiet pulse.
The statue didn't move.
But the Eye absorbed something.
And in my internal symbolic space,a perfect replica of the Crown of Thorns appeared.
An artifact.Dormant.Waiting.
Out of impulse — or guilt — I pulled out an old coin and placed it on the statue's base.
"Multiversal loot code," I whispered."If you steal sacred stuff, leave a damn tip."
Then—
The Eye vibrated.Hard.
A direction.A signal in my mind.
A Gem.Nearby.
I followed it.
Damp corridors.Walls whispering half-remembered sins.
Until I reached the altar.
And floating above it…
A Gem.
Red.Bright.Pulsing with that rhythm I knew too well.
I reached out—
Whoom.
Absorbed.No pain.Just certainty.
I wasn't just Renji anymore.
I was something else.
Something the world wasn't prepared for.