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On the other side of the ravaged field, where the war had left scars upon the earth and in the air, Tekio advanced.
Beneath his feet, the ground still burned red—living traces of the collision between titans. The world itself seemed to stagger, as if every scorched stone, every breath of dust, announced the collapse of balance.
And yet, he walked.
His ribs burned. A bone in his shoulder would have groaned had he still cared. His skin still bled. But he no longer minded.
The pains were merely echoes.
What mattered lay ahead.
Save Mei.
Free Akira.
And end Dante's era.
Nothing else.
It was then the air changed.
A strange heat swept across the field of ashes.
Almost invisible.
Almost… intimate.
And then, through the veil of dust and silence, she appeared.
She seemed to float, her feet barely touching the ground, as if she did not belong to this world.
White. Filthy. Spectral.
Karmore.
Or Amara.
Or what remained of both.
Her eyes, of a pale blue, held something cruel—and something broken.
As if what moved her was a resentment veiled by purpose.
— Well, Tekio, — she said, and her voice sounded too soft for that setting.
Almost… intimate. Almost mocking.
Tekio stopped.
His eyes glimmered red in the dense wind.
He stared at her for long seconds. Not a muscle moved.
— Get out of my way. Please.
Karmore smiled. But she did not answer immediately.
The breeze blew ashes between them, as if the world itself were trying to silence what was to come.
Then she spoke:
— You always run from what matters.
— I am not running.
— You are leaving again. Leaving me again. Just as she did.
The difference here is fear and incompetence.
Tekio clenched his fists, but his voice came out flat, like stone being dragged.
— I am going to ask one more time. Let me pass, please.
For an instant, she hesitated for him.
But something burned in her back. A dull pain, a heat that spread like a wave through the center of her body.
Karmore took a sharp breath, surprised.
Tekio felt it too.
A sudden spasm in his back, as if his own mark wished to answer something unspoken.
He frowned. But did not comment.
The last time he had hesitated for her… he had almost died.
She watched him.
Not as an enemy.
But as someone who had waited for something that never came.
— You have something inside you, — she said. — Something that calls to me.
But I hate it.
I hate you.
— I know.
— Then why are you always trying to save me?
Silence.
Tekio breathed slowly.
Yara, inside him, trembled.
She wanted to scream.
She wanted to touch her.
But Tekio… would no longer allow it.
— Because a part of me still remembers your pain.
Karmore's eyes trembled. For a moment, a very brief one, her expression broke.
A crack. A memory.
Something lost, but alive.
But not enough.
— It won't be any different this time, — she said, and her body began to change.
Aura.
The white, pulsating energy around her grew. The sand vibrated beneath her feet.
And behind the hatred… there was expectation.
She wanted that fight.
She felt that something in her was going to change there.
— I feel I am about to evolve, Tekio, and I think I need to kill you for that.
Tekio stared at her and sighed.
— You're not going to let me pass, are you?
— What do you think?
And then, Tekio moved first.
Without warning. Without hesitation.
Like a red bolt of absolute decision.
The impact came sharp—fists, knees, elbows.
The two exchanged blows with brutality, yet with elegance.
And every time they touched, something burned inside them both.
Tekio felt the pulse of the mark on his back resonate.
But he did not understand.
He thought it was just rage.
Karmore felt her skin seethe.
But she thought it was just the thrill of the fight.
They were reacting.
Without knowing.
On the tenth exchange of blows, Tekio saw.
Not the mark.
But something in her movements.
It was familiar.
A fighting style he knew.
Yara recognized it first.
The way Karmore set her foot before attacking.
The hesitation in the final strike.
It was identical to the ancient war.
Yara remembered.
The blow she had not struck.
The moment she had hesitated for love.
The current exchange of blows was identical to the one from hundreds of years before.
But Tekio did not hesitate.
He attacked.
Yara wanted to stop the blow. He felt it.
Like an invisible hand trying to pull his shoulder back.
But he did not allow it.
Tekio now fought alone—even while carrying two hearts in his chest.
His fist tore through the space between them as if rending time itself.
It struck Karmore's shoulder with cruel precision.
A crack.
Bones yielding.
She slid backward, her feet digging into the scorched earth, until her body collapsed among the ashes.
Silence.
Tekio remained standing, breathless.
Yara said nothing.
But he felt her weight.
He knew Yara was watching.
And Yara knew how Tekio thought now.
He had tried once before, and between saving Mei and Akira or dying by Karmore's hand, Yara knew what Tekio would do.
His nature was exactly this…
Karmore rolled on the ground, coughing, warm blood trickling down her side.
"That blow… it was completely different from the others…"
— You… — she murmured. — You didn't hesitate…
Tekio took a step.
And then stopped.
Something was wrong.
Tekio saw something…
The dark spots.
He could see and feel them, dark spots on Karmore's soul.
Like a darkness fleeing from the light of truth.
Like fragments vibrating between two marked bodies.
Like memories trying to stitch themselves together unsuccessfully.
And for a second…
they vanished.
Karmore lifted her eyes, and the world stopped.
— What are you looking at?
— Perhaps… Fragments of yourself. Of what you are and what you could be.
— What a joke. You talk as if you're going to save me, but that look in your eyes… Are you going to fight to kill?
Tekio did not answer.
Because he did not know either.
But he knew that this…
would not end there.
Not with a blow.
Not with a death.
They were made to confront each other.
Like keys trying to open doors locked for ages.
And only by fighting…
would they discover what lay on the other side.
The ground cracked under their feet.
Tekio advanced like a contained bolt—fast, precise, as if each step carried the weight of a thousand decisions already made. His gaze was no longer one of doubt, but of resolution. His red eyes cut through the space between him and Karmore, firm, unyielding.
Karmore met him with a crooked, cynical smile.
— So you've stopped trembling? — she said, evading with a low, elegant spin. — You finally seem worthy of dying by my hand.
Clang!
The first impact. Karmore was surprised—not by the force, but by the precision. Tekio knew where to aim, where her guard was weakest, as if he had studied her every move.
— You've learned to fight with intent, — she whispered, retreating. — That's new.
— And you… — Tekio replied, looking into her eyes — …still hide behind the pain others gave you.
Karmore gritted her teeth. That struck her deeper than any physical blow.
She attacked.
A brutal, swift sequence that distorted the air around them. Tekio evaded, counterattacked, and with every touch between them—fist, energy, and soul—something invisible seemed to vibrate.
A sensation neither could name.
The mark on his back, hidden beneath skin and cloth, pulsed.
Tekio felt a twinge in his shoulder. A memory that was not his—a feminine laugh, white hair in the wind, a field of flowers, and the news of his sister's birth.
Yara?
But it was fleeting. He blinked and returned to the fight.
Karmore, for her part, stopped for a second. Her eyes widened—a warmth ran down her spine. Her body reacted as if facing something familiar. Something… forbidden.
— What… was that? — she murmured, almost to herself.
Tekio heard.
— You felt it too?
She swallowed dryly. But then she recomposed herself.
— Don't try to confuse me. You always try that. Words, looks… You don't change, Tekio.
— No, — he replied. — I have changed. You are the one who still hides.
The two stared at each other for a moment. Their breath held in the silence.
The ground under Tekio's feet cracked slightly—a subtle, yet revealing fissure. White lightning flickered around his clenched fist, crackling like thin blades.
— You… you're using her power? — Karmore asked, her voice low but her eyes fixed. — Even against me?
Tekio did not answer.
He advanced.
Fast, direct, efficient.
The impact of the first punch was blocked by Karmore with her forearm, but the force still pierced her guard. She took a step back, surprised. A faint white smoke rose from where the lightning crackled.
— Hm… so you really have grown…
She spun her body, landing a spinning kick on his shoulder. Tekio used Yara's electricity for momentum, sliding his foot on the ground and repositioning himself with speed.
Pah.
Another punch. Blocked.
Pah. Pah.
Tekio exchanged blows with precision. Cold. As if every move had been calculated before being executed. His guard was low, but his center of gravity was firm. He moved as if he felt the attacks before they happened.
Karmore smiled.
— That look… You're not afraid of me?
— I don't have time for that.
She tried a high kick, but Tekio ducked, dodged, and landed a punch to her abdomen. Weak—yet the crackling energy made it hurt more than it should have.
Karmore jumped back, landing in a defensive stance.
— For the first time, I recognize you as a warrior, Tekio. That look, that resolute posture. Ah, how I need to kill you… — said Karmore, advancing again. — I've learned a few things myself.
When she moved her arm, the spiritual energy covering her skin changed form. Solidified. Like transparent armor, only on her forearm. The punch she threw collided with Tekio like a battering ram.
He flew back a few meters.
Rolled on the ground, his arms shedding white sparks.
He rose slowly.
— Tsk… — he wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand. — That's new.
— You're not the only one who learned from pain, — Karmore replied, advancing once more.
The two clashed again, like invisible blades colliding.
With every blow, fragments of energy crackled in the air.
Tekio used the lightning with minimal precision: on his fists, elbows, sometimes on his legs to increase momentum. No flashy bolts. Nothing exaggerated. Only what was necessary to win.
Karmore, on the other hand, began to use her energy more strategically. Every part of her body about to receive a blow became covered in her spiritual armor, solid as stone. At times, fragments of the energy would break off and shoot like small missiles, which Tekio had to dodge or neutralize with his reflexes.
— Are you really holding back? — she asked, almost accusatorily.
Tekio did not answer.
— It's because of her, isn't it?
A white flash of lightning gleamed in his gaze. Quick, almost imperceptible.
Karmore grew irritated.
She advanced again.
Faster. More brutal.
Tekio took the first punch to his chest. Then dodged the second, spun his body, and landed a direct blow to Karmore's chin, his fist wreathed in white electricity.
Boom.
Karmore staggered back, spitting blood.
But before she could fall, she solidified energy in her legs and steadied herself again. A trickle of blood ran from her nose.
— You want to break me, Tekio?
He approached slowly.
— If you don't stop… yes.
A second of silence.
The marks on both their backs burned—without either knowing of the other's. The connection between them was deeper than they knew. And the combat was only just beginning to show it.
To be continued…
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