The world seemed to cease for an instant.
The black aura around Karmore expanded in visceral pulses, suffocating everything around it with a dense, oppressive pressure. The air grew heavy as mud. The fissures in her soul closed violently—Amara, swallowed once more by the curse.
Then came the voice.
A whisper, firm as steel and bitter as blood:
— Kill Tekio.
It was Vernasha.
The order was not heard—it was branded. Like a blade fused to Karmore's heart.
Her blue eyes bled at the edges, and her mouth trembled between a scream and a snarl.
The soul that had wept was now silent… submerged.
Tekio barely had time to react.
He was focused, running to save the souls of his dear friends.
He was thinking of how, what he would do when he reached them, how he would fight alongside Mei against Dante, and most importantly, if he would arrive in time.
But his altruistic thoughts were soon overruled.
Karmore appeared before him like a living shadow, her eyes glinting red, her muscles tensed by the cruel force now consuming her. The first blow struck his chest squarely, making his body arch and the air flee his lungs. The second came at the side of his head.
And the third…
The third was a brutal, dry, arcing slash—it pierced Tekio's defense and struck his already wounded left eye.
Piercing it completely.
The world turned to blood and darkness.
He was thrown against the ground, against concrete columns, against the city.
Dust, rubble, and the sound of blood dripping on the ground.
Yara screamed inside him.
Desperate.
— TEKIO!
She tried to heal him as fast as possible.
But he was on his knees.
His vision blurred, the pain growing like a wildfire.
"How? I thought she was..."
And looking ahead, Tekio no longer saw Amara.
He saw only the curse.
Karmore's aura was now a living shadow, pulsing with red and black fragments.
There was no trace of humanity left.
Only destruction.
Yara wept inside.
— Forgive me… forgive me for thinking there was still hope.
Once again, Tekio was on the verge of death before Karmore.
But it was Tekio who answered.
Low. Wounded.
— No… the one who should apologize… is me.
It was then that it awoke.
The presence.
The same one that had emerged in the fight against Dante, in Akira's body.
Tekio's spiritual veil tore from within—and something rose from the depths.
Yara was ripped away, swallowed, suffocated by that presence like a ghost consumed by hell.
Yara knew, Tekio was going to lose himself again.
And Tekio stood up.
Slow.
Transformed.
His eyes, now red as clotted blood, shone with a cold rage.
He sighed slowly, with an absurd concentration.
His mark burned in silence.
The aura surrounding him seemed not to be his—it was ancient, ancestral, cruel.
Karmore hesitated for an instant, even taken by the curse.
— Do you still want… to save me?
— You foolish boy — the curse said, laughing.
The reply came dryly.
— Not anymore.
And the curse felt it, a chill, emanating from the boy but feeling far older.
Tekio advanced.
Brutal.
Far too fast.
His fist, wreathed in crimson energy, struck Karmore's face with crushing force. The curse roared inside her, surprised.
— WHAT IS THIS?!
Tekio reappeared behind her. Another punch.
Then another.
Each blow was like a hammer against concrete. Karmore tried to fight back, but now he did not hesitate.
He was striking to kill.
— You were the chance I let slip away. And because of that… Mei…
Karmore flew into a metal structure.
She tried to absorb the impact, concentrating energy in her arms—but it was too late.
Tekio raised his fist.
And the presence within him whispered the name of the technique.
— Crimson Eclipse.
The punch tore through the air and struck the center of Karmore's chest.
A dry thunderclap.
The world seemed to tremble.
Blood gushed from her mouth. Her mark glowed red, spasms of agony wracking her body.
Yara watched from inside Tekio, in silence.
Horrified.
"This is no longer just a boy…"
"He's going to kill her…"
Karmore crashed through and shattered the wall with the impact, being thrown backward.
Against streets, concrete, and beams.
Tekio…
He advanced without stopping.
Tekio's hands glowed in dark red—and the mark on his body vibrated in sync with Karmore's.
It was as if the universe was screaming that something was broken—in both of them.
The curse recoiled inside Karmore, feeling for the first time something it did not recognize.
Fear.
Tekio stopped a few meters away, his body still heaving, his right eye fixed on her, for the left was covered by the cut and the blood.
And then Karmore saw… a shadow on the ground.
But it was not Tekio's.
It was a woman's.
Growing before her.
White eyes.
And nothing but darkness and presence in her silhouette.
She was looking straight into Karmore's soul.
— Get out… — Karmore murmured, panting. — GET OUT OF ME!
The curse screamed inside her.
The curse saw that presence, and for some reason feared it, was repulsed by it.
And it fled by instinct, like a cat fleeing the rain.
But Tekio appeared again.
Each blow came as a judgment.
The weight of guilt.
The weight of pain.
— I tried to save you. — he whispered. — But now... I will kill you.
Tekio's mark burned with power.
Karmore's, like an open wound, pulsed in vivid red.
Neither knew it, but they were reacting to each other.
And the battle turned into a hunt.
The curse ran.
But Tekio came after it.
Unstoppable.
Two demons.
One trying to flee from the truth.
The other, fed by it.
The whole world trembled under Tekio's footsteps.
The ruins smoldered, the sky of that afternoon seemed to darken faster than normal. The ground cracked as if it wanted to flee with her.
Karmore ran.
She was no longer a warrior.
She was prey.
And behind her… the sweet boy had vanished.
The gentle gaze of before had become an abyss.
The sound of rubble crumbling under Tekio's feet was constant. Dull. Heavy.
With every step, the dark aura vibrated more alive, more dense. A continuous thunder made flesh.
He was no longer hesitating.
There was no soul behind his eyes—only judgment and fire.
Karmore panted.
Her chest burned. Her mind screamed.
'He's going to kill me... he's going to kill me... he's going to KILL ME...!'
The curse inside her wept.
'It wasn't supposed to be like this! This wasn't supposed to happen! He was a Sif... he was just a boy...!'
"Doesn't he realize how wounded he is? It doesn't matter if I try to hit him, he moves with absurd ferocity"
Karmore ran.
And Tekio followed her like a starving wolf.
The red energy danced around his body like caged thunder.
His eyes, now intensely crimson, were empty.
Empty of pity.
Empty of doubt.
Empty of humanity.
Karmore stumbled, staggering, but hauled herself upright.
Her legs trembled. Her guts twisted in terror.
The curse recoiled, panting, even inside Amara's body. The host bled, and her bones vibrated in agony from the last impact. But that wasn't what terrified it.
It was him.
It was Tekio, coming toward her—eyes red like ancient embers, expression cold, almost impersonal. There was something deeply wrong with that boy. Something that didn't exist in the modern world. Something that... belonged to a time before order.
Suddenly, the curse froze. Its eyes widened.
An invisible whisper—not heard, but felt—traveled through the space around Tekio.
'This aura…'
The energy around him oscillated as if the world rejected his existence. A hidden vibration, as if every thread of reality screamed at his approach. The curse tried to identify it, tried to comprehend—but the answer came like a stab to the soul:
Negative energy. Pure. Unstable. Alive.
'...This is not possible.'
This was not simple, rudimentary manipulation. It wasn't like the rotten fragments some madmen tried to invoke. This was negative energy, molded, living, pulsating… obeying Tekio. And worse: responding to him with loyalty.
— This... this can't be happening... — the curse's voice cracked within Amara's mind, like glass shattering under pressure. — Only one man was capable of this. Only Dante...!
And then, as if the universe answered her terror, Tekio advanced.
Fast.
Cold.
The shadow on the ground distorted with every step, as if the spiritual world itself accompanied him.
The curse tried to counterattack, creating dark thorns that exploded from the ground—spikes seeking to impale the boy.
But Tekio raised his hand.
With an almost lazy motion, the energy around him fluctuated, he reduced them to dust, returning the same corrupted energy as crimson blades, which shot through the air like echoes of contained rage. Karmore screamed as she felt her skin being torn from within. The curse roared in despair.
— You... what are you?! — she howled, as Tekio appeared before her, spinning his body with brutality and delivering a kick to the enemy's stomach, throwing her back into the debris.
The impact blew a hole in the wall. Blood, stone, and dust. But Tekio did not stop.
— You know what I am. — he replied, his voice heavy, dense, full of accumulated hatred. — You feel it. As all the impure feel it.
The voice came from Tekio's mouth, but even though it was his, the curse felt another tone camouflaged within, another intention, another voice.
The curse saw him approaching again. Every step carried centuries of spiritual weight. It was as if Dante's history was resurfacing from the wreckage of Tekio's soul. This was no coincidence. It was destiny. It was an ancestral curse returning—but now, as a hunter.
'It's impossible. This is impossible!'
She tried to flee, to break the bond with Amara, but she couldn't. It was as if the space around her was being sealed by his presence.
'He is distorting everything! He is a human… with an inverted soul!'
And then… came the gaze. That gaze.
Red. Cold. Silent.
And the curse heard—not with its ears, but in the depths of its being:
'IMPURE.'
The world darkened. The city vanished. Time lost meaning. There was only her and him.
And something else.
And Tekio moved like a beast in the dark. A Dante in ascension, still unnamed, but with the same legacy in his veins. He was not the chosen one of light, not a hero.
He was what hunted monsters because he was worse than them.
And she, for the first time in her cursed existence…
Felt the fear of death.
The symbol on his back pulsed, darkened like an announced death.
Karmore's curse, in turn, burned like an open wound—vibrating in despair.
Tekio spoke as he walked, his voice grave, laden, cruel.
— I truly tried to save you... — he spat, his eyes shining with a clear hatred. — I tried to understand you. To give you a chance. But deep down… I already knew. I knew I shouldn't have.
'But still… I was weak.'
In his mind, images passed like blades:
Aisha.
Smiling.
Dead.
Akira.
Pulling away.
Fading.
Mei.
Her soul… vanishing in silence.
And then… the oath.
— I SWEAR I WILL NOT HESITATE AGAIN! — he roared, the energy exploding in a wave that hurled debris around him.
Inside him, Yara screamed:
— Tekio! Please! STOP! This isn't you! This—this is not the answer!
But he silenced her.
Brutally.
As if gagging her with his hands.
— Shut up, Yara… — he murmured through clenched teeth — I hate you, if it weren't for you… I would have done what was right from the beginning.
Memories that were not his.
Tenderness.
Laughter between sisters.
Hands held in the childhood of a life that wasn't his.
All lies.
All distraction.
Now… he was Tekio.
No longer a vessel for an ancient soul.
He was the true heir of his own destiny.
And something greater… something dark and impatient fed him.
The fight continued.
But it was no longer a fight.
It was a massacre.
Karmore tried to fight back.
But her movements were uncoordinated.
The fear was paralyzing.
The curse faltered inside her, thrashing like a cornered animal.
— Tekio… please… please... — she whispered, choking on her own blood.
Tekio did not hear, he only acted.
Each of his blows came like lightning soaked in pure hatred.
Fist.
Kick.
Explosion.
Karmore spat blood, and with it… memories.
Tekio saw them too.
Like a sigh from Yara, who was watching her own sister being massacred by hands she saw as her own.
Visions of a past that wasn't his.
Childish laughter.
Yara.
Amara.
Running through flowered fields.
Yara saying:
— I will always protect you, my dear…
And then, the vision.
Chains.
Screams.
Blood flowing down stone stairs.
Yara.
Crying.
Begging.
But Tekio did not listen.
Not anymore.
He roared, his arms raised, the energy pulsing in a blackish red.
The curse even tried to pretend to be Amara.
— You weren't going to save me?
— YOU DO NOT DESERVE SALVATION! — his voice was no longer his alone. It was laden with echoes, as if a thousand screams spoke with him.
He kept hitting Karmore without mercy.
As if he were taking out all his frustration in that fight.
The curse inside Karmore screamed.
In pain.
In rage.
In fear.
It begged:
— I… don't want to die…
— I just wanted to live…
But Tekio did not hear.
Because there was nothing left to hear.
The last hesitation… had died with Mei.
And now, only the hunter remained.
And the prey.
And the end.
To be continued…