The sky was gray, covered by dense clouds that seemed to press down on Tekio's shoulders. No breeze, no sound—only the faint rustling of leaves and slow steps on damp earth.
He walked among the tombstones, one hand shoved into his coat pocket, the other holding a small bunch of yellow flowers. Her favorite.
He stopped in front of the gravestone.
Izabela.
Her name carved into the stone seemed to shine among the shadows of the late afternoon. Tekio knelt slowly, placing the flowers gently on the soil. For a few seconds, he just stayed there in silence, feeling the weight of the world on his shoulders.
— I brought… — his voice came out low, almost a whisper. — The yellows… just like you liked them.
He smiled, but it was a broken smile. The kind of smile that only comes when trying to fool your own pain.
— Some days I still hear your laugh… or I think about calling you when something goes wrong. — He lowered his head. — I keep wondering what you would say if you were here. Would you be scared too… because I am. Terribly.
The silence seemed to tighten around his chest.
— Everything is falling apart. The war, the screams, the deaths… I try to stay strong, to protect everyone, but sometimes… I just wish you were here. Just to hear your voice. To say it will be alright.
He looked at the flowers, touching one of the petals delicately.
— I'm afraid I won't be enough. Afraid to fail… to let everything you believed in me disappear. — He took a deep breath, trying to hold back the tears burning in his eyes. — But even so… even with everything… I'll keep going. Because you believed in me. And I… I still want to make you proud.
Thunder rumbled in the distance, as if the world mourned with him.
Tekio slowly rose, brushing his fingers over the carved name as if it were a final touch.
— I love you, Izabela. I will always love you.
A sudden wind blew between the tombstones, like a distant whisper. Tekio straightened, alert. Then a roar split the sky. The ground shook. Screams and sounds of battle echoed beyond the cemetery gates. Blood. Chaos.
Tekio ran through the streets, his heart pounding in panic and fury. He saw bodies on the ground, comrades attacking each other like beasts, vacant eyes, bloodied mouths. They were possessed.
— Stella… Dan… where are you?! — desperation trembled in his voice, mixing with the thick, fearful air.
Something fell from the sky violently. The impact cracked the asphalt. Tekio approached running and froze: a Vortex-class Sif, the spiral symbol still visible on the shoulder of the torn uniform. Blood dripped from his mouth, eyes glazed over into nothingness.
— A leader… thrown like trash… — Tekio muttered, clenching his fists. — This is not normal…
A whistle cut through the air. It grew, multiplied, until it became a miniature whirlwind. From the vortex, a figure emerged. Black cloak, short disheveled white hair, green eyes.
— Tekio… — said the figure, smiling arrogantly. — Unusual energy… exactly as Karmore described.
— Who are you?! — Tekio stepped back instinctively, feeling the crushing pressure forming around him.
— Your now-dead colleagues called me a Kokuhan… — he said himself, spinning his finger in the air. The wind responded, forming spinning spirals of cutting air. — But I am much more. I am the wind that shatters, an ancient force of nature. You live by labels; I am what comes before them.
"I don't stand a chance against him… but maybe a quick strike will work…"
Tekio rushed forward, attempting a kick. But Kaze vanished from sight. A second later, an invisible strike hit him from behind, sending him crashing into a destroyed car.
— Come on, champion… — Kaze's voice echoed around. — Is this how you defeated Velkros? With predictable blows and slow steps?
Tekio shouted and struck again, but each punch was blocked by a gust of invisible air. Each kick interrupted by a swirling current that threw him off balance. It was like fighting the air itself.
— Why are you doing this?! — he screamed, arms bleeding.
— Because I can. Because I'm free. And because you… are an important piece. But you disappoint me. None of that explosive energy from before? No lightning? — Kaze appeared beside him, whispering. — It's blocked, Tekio. Locked inside yourself.
Another strike. Tekio fell to his knees. Kaze raised his hand, and the air around condensed, forming a dense spinning spear, like an invisible drill.
— What a shame. It's over. — he murmured.
But then, in a flash, Tekio was pulled out of the trajectory of the blow. A silhouette cut through the battlefield. The landing was precise, protective. The body exuded warmth, security, and firmness.
— Got you. — said Aisha.
She landed smoothly, and in an instant, flipped the body. Her knee smashed into Kaze's face with overwhelming force, sending the Kokuhan flying between two buildings like a bullet. The impact exploded concrete and steel. The ground shook.
Tekio barely breathed, still in shock. Aisha let go carefully, standing between him and the direction Kaze might come from.
— You won't touch my student. — her voice was low, but sharp.
---
Her dark, short hair, tousled by the wind, had white streaks that shimmered in the chaotic light. Her face was serious, sharpened by time and pain, but her light brown eyes burned with determination—the flame of someone who had survived the impossible.
Her body was clad in a black and gray tactical suit, resilient and sleek, marked with silver armor plates covering her arms and legs, designed for mobility. On her back, secured with reinforced straps, rested her silver spear, long and lethal—the blade gleaming as if absorbing the light around it, the shaft firm with spiral spiritual engravings.
The pale sash at her waist fluttered in the wind.
As the dust settled, Kaze emerged from the debris with a bloody smile.
— An Empress… — he wiped blood from his mouth with the back of his hand. — I was wondering when you'd show up. — He took a few steps, his body as flexible as a predator's. — You must be Aisha. The closest one. The one who faces me head-on.
— And you're a mistake that needs correcting. — she replied firmly.
— Pretty, fierce, full of clichés… — Kaze laughed. — But can you catch me… if you can't even see me?
The wind exploded.
In seconds, Kaze vanished. Aisha moved, spinning, blocking three attacks that came from impossible angles. Each strike from Kaze was like a razor slicing the air around. She countered, but everything slipped through her fingers.
Her body was in constant motion—punches, elbows, spins. Her attacks tore the ground, knocked down posts, cracked walls, yet Kaze always slipped away by a hair, like a gust.
— Frustrating, isn't it? — his voice came from everywhere. — You're strong. Maybe the strongest… in a straight line. But you cannot touch what you cannot see.
A cut slashed across Aisha's arm. Another. And another. She gritted her teeth, blood dripping from her hand. But she did not retreat.
— I just need a gap. — she murmured to herself.
And then, when Kaze appeared for a moment to taunt:
— Don't get me wrong, you're good. But here, in the sky, in the air… I am a god.
He launched a kick.
Aisha's body spun with force that displaced the air, her foot meeting Kaze's face with brutality. He was sent flying like a bullet, crossing three blocks before being swallowed by dust.
Aisha stood, chest heaving, golden eyes ablaze.
— Speak less.
The battle had only just begun.
---
Meanwhile, in the burning alleys of the southern district, the air seemed to breathe smoke and grief. The sky, darkened by heavy clouds and the stench of destruction, cast a yellowish light, as if the world were trapped between dawn and apocalypse.
Dan and Stella ran through the wreckage, eyes alert, bodies tense. They were covered in soot and sweat, but unyielding.
— We should look for Tekio… — Stella said, her voice barely a whisper, trembling. Small beams of light escaped from her skin, as if trying to shield her from the collapsing world.
— I know… — Dan replied, gripping the handle of his weapon. — But look around. If we don't help now, there'll be nothing left for him to come back to.
Ahead, among columns of smoke, Sif soldiers fought against deformed puppets and possessed humans. The puppets moved like soulless dolls, yet with cruel precision—each motion calculated to kill. The metallic clash of weapons echoed among screams and the crackle of fire.
Without hesitation, Dan and Stella advanced to the center of the formation, carving a path through the enemies.
— What happened here?! — Dan shouted at one soldier while driving his blade into a possessed chest.
— Explosions! It all started with explosions at strategic points! — the leader yelled back, face covered in blood and soot. — Then… people started going mad! As if… something took over them… from within! — His eyes darted anxiously. — The central headquarters… isn't responding. We've been betrayed. From the inside out.
Stella exchanged a glance with Dan, swallowing hard. The collective panic was suffocating, and yet, something worse crawled across the field.
The following silence was torn by a sharp scream.
— NO… NO… GET OUT OF MY MIND!
A soldier fell to her knees. Hands buried in her head, her eyes became two lifeless black spheres. Distorted.
A shadow rose behind her. It did not run. It did not announce itself. It was born from the darkness.
Hazau.
The hooded figure wore a tattered cloak blending with the surroundings, as if reality itself recoiled at its presence. The mask, white and smooth like cracked porcelain, concealed the face. But the voice… the voice was soft. Gentle. Cruel.
— Finally. How I've missed this… — he said, as if greeting an old acquaintance.
Stella turned, sword in hand. Dan tensed, eyes fixed on the silhouette.
— Who… who are you? — Stella whispered, still not fully recognizing him.
Hazau let out a muffled, broken laugh. A laugh that oozed like poison down the spine. Dan froze.
— It's him… — he muttered. — The same demon… the same cursed one we faced in that building. — He clenched his fists in anger. — The same one who tried to consume you.
Hazau leaned slightly forward, as if listening better.
— Ah, yes… that afternoon was fun. She has so much to give… so much repressed fear… it's an almost extinct flame, about to explode. — He turned his head to Stella. — You remember me now, don't you? The words I whispered in your sleep? The invisible hands pulling you while you slept?
Stella swallowed her fear. Her light pulsed intensely, creating a dazzling glow for a brief moment.
— You will be silenced. Now. — she growled, raising her sword.
— Let's capture him! — Dan shouted.
But before they could take a step, a roar split the battlefield. A burst of black energy ripped through the ground, dividing the two sides like a living scar.
From the vortex of darkness, a new figure emerged—female, yet inhumanly hollow.
Jouki stepped from the shadows like an omen of the end. Her dark eyes were like bottomless pits—silent, impossible to decipher. On the left side of her face, a technological eyepatch, metallic with pulsating red lines, covered what remained of something incomprehensible.
Her black hair, straight with slightly wavy tips, fell lightly to her shoulders, contrasting with the heavy black cloak adorned with white patterns surrounding her. The suit beneath clung to her body, made of dense material, like leather treated with cursed energy—flexible, yet durable, molded for combat and terror.
Around her, the air rippled as if reality doubted her presence. Her black flames whispered at the edges of the world, distorting colors, silencing sounds, bending structures—as if space itself feared her touch. Wherever she walked, the ground seemed to sink into darkness, as if something ancient and impure crawled with her.
Hazau chuckled softly.
— Ah… she'll take care of you. Don't underestimate her. She's already killed more than you ever dreamed of living.
The woman stepped forward without making a sound. Her footsteps made no echo. Yet the world seemed to tremble with every movement.
— Who… is she? — Stella asked, taking a small step back.
— I don't know. But she's not human. — Dan replied, raising his weapon with difficulty. — Get ready.
Hazau stepped back with a near-gentle nod, like someone acknowledging a good show about to begin.
— Have fun, my dears. — His voice vanished like dust carried by the wind. — You still have so much to lose…
And so, under the shadow of a collapsing city, the second stage of the war opened. And the true hell, at last, began.
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