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The clash of their bodies echoed through the ruins. Tekio advanced with firm, calculated steps, his red gaze fixed on Karmore's staggering form. Each exchanged blow carried the weight of fury and destiny, a maelstrom that seemed to consume the world around them.
Karmore tried to fight back with tooth and nail, her voice a roar of desperation and agony, but the curse within her faltered, its strength waning with every impact received. The despair no longer came just from the fight, but from a real, profound fear of an inevitable end.
Tekio, cold and merciless, felt the weight of the presence inside him, smothering all the doubts and emotions that had once held him back.
In a decisive instant, he saw the opening—a jerky movement, Karmore's leg overextended, a loss of balance.
Without hesitation, Tekio launched into a sequence of precise, brutal blows. His fists cut through the air like blades, mercilessly striking the enemy's body.
And then, the fatal strike: a fierce kick to Karmore's knee, with enough force to dislocate it with a dry, horrible sound. The scream that tore from the curse's mouth was a mixture of pain and pure terror.
Karmore staggered, the wounded leg useless, her body falling into an irreversible disadvantage.
Before she could recover, Tekio struck her with a devastating blow to the stomach, hurling her against the rubble with ruthless brutality. The impact made the ground crack under her weight, stones and dust rising in thick clouds.
The curse trembled, a cornered animal, feeling fear invade its bones for the first time. The black energy that consumed it grew unstable, almost suffocated by the immense presence Tekio emanated.
Trying to get up, she attempted to flee—staggering, but the injured knee betrayed her, preventing any swift escape.
Tekio walked calmly behind her, relentless as death itself. Each of his steps was a sentence, an inescapable weight.
In the silence of his mind, Yara fought against the oppression of the presence, screaming and crying for Tekio's soul.
— Stop, Tekio! Don't do this! You don't... — she pleaded, desperate, trying to break through the mantle of cruelty covering the boy.
She begged, recalling the memories of the young sisters, the fragile bond that still existed, pleading for him to come back to himself.
But Tekio gave no answer. The only sound was the echo of his footsteps slowly, inexorably, approaching.
The curse felt the pressure grow, the fear turning to panic, the black energy dissipating like mist in the wind.
Then, with a trembling body, she stumbled and fell onto the hard ground, the dislocated knee preventing her from rising.
Tekio stopped behind her, a immense shadow cast over her fallen body. But it wasn't just him—the black silhouette of the spectral woman reappeared, shrouded in darkness, haunting the curse with her oppressive presence.
Karmore looked up and saw Tekio not just as a man, but as a demon king—a being beyond human, beyond spirit.
A terrifying presence, worse than angels or demons, chaos itself incarnate.
And in that fraction of a second, the entire world seemed to tilt under the weight of the sentence about to be delivered.
The ground beneath them still trembled, cracks spreading like veins throughout the floating city, but inside Tekio's mind, all was silent—or rather, a silent chaos.
He walked, steps firm and slow, approaching the fallen Karmore. His body burned, muscles tense, adrenaline pulsing in every vein. But what dominated his spirit was not the physical wound—it was something much deeper, something crushing his soul: the conflict between what he was, what he should be, and what he felt.
Yara screamed inside him, her voice desperate and trembling, a shadow suffocated by the presence, yet as alive as the very blood flowing in his veins.
— TEKIO, I'M BEGGING YOU, PLEASE!.
Tekio felt the weight of the plea, a tightness in his chest that almost made him falter. Memories not his own invaded his mind like blades—childish laughter, small hands entwined, broken promises, a sister protected at all costs.
But there was an abyss between that past and the brutality of the present. Tekio looked at Karmore and saw only the curse, the shadow that had killed so many people he loved, the beast that left no room for redemption.
But Tekio stopped to answer the plea of the soul within him.
— You are so selfish, Yara. You used me all this time just to save your precious sister. You don't care about me or my friends, only about yourself.
Yara felt the weight of those words.
She was trapped, desperate, weeping inside that soul-prison called Tekio.
Watching her sister being brutalized by him.
In that situation, there was no room for theatrics or masks; the truth had to come out. It was all or nothing for both of them.
— I really am selfish, Tekio, you are right, and I apologize, for not knowing everything.
— But I know that if you were in my place, if it were your sister in front of you now, you wouldn't hesitate to manipulate me to save her.
— We are the same, there's no use running from that, so please. Don't commit this sin...— Yara pleaded with tears in her eyes.
However.
He did not stop.
Each step taken reverberated like a hammer on the curse's heart. She felt it. Felt the terror taking root in her, tearing apart her arrogance, corroding her strength. The curse trembled, panted, sinking into despair.
'He is worse than us...'— the curse thought, 'a demon king, a judge without mercy, the end itself.'
Karmore tried to crawl away, the destroyed knee burning in pain, but escape was an impossible dream. Fear had paralyzed her soul even before her body.
Tekio heard the plea one last time, a voice torn with tears, regret, and love mingled together.
— "I'm sorry, Tekio… I wish it weren't like this, truly, if I could have done it differently, I would have..."
But Tekio, with his eyes blazing red, his breath heavy, had no more room for regrets.
The presence within him whispered, hungry, eager to consume what remained of that broken soul.
And in the silence between them, there was only the promise of death, punishment, and the inevitable end.
Tekio took a deep breath, his heart tight—but the steps continued, the judgment approached.
The darkness surrounding Karmore was not hers alone. It was theirs.
— I accept this, Karmore.
The curse tried to crawl away, desperate, but Tekio's voice was still audible.
— You're right, I have no reason to be saving you. I don't know you, I'm not your friend, and now I accept that.
The sound of Tekio's footsteps was heavy and slow, but each beat on the ground echoed like a hammer on Karmore's chest.
She was fallen, her knee shattered, muscles burning in pain, her body unable to obey the desperate will to flee.
Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth, and her breath came in short, terrified gasps.
— I will accept it, as you said. This is a war. There are no heroes and no salvation, only ideals and objectives in conflict.
His presence grew, expanded like a black shroud swallowing everything around them.
It wasn't just hatred… it was a sentence.
A weight so immense that not even the curse inside Karmore could ignore it.
— He… he is the curse of curses — the curse whispered inside her, its voice trembling.
And for the first time, that entity which always fed on fear… felt fear consuming it.
A soft glow, almost imperceptible, began to appear on the periphery of Karmore's consciousness.
It was Amara.
Weak, wounded, but fighting to manifest.
Not to defeat Tekio… but to resist that crushing weight.
Her flickering light trembled before the darkness, like a candle about to be extinguished.
But Tekio did not care.
The flame or the shadow, it mattered little—to him, both were targets.
The deaths he carried on his shoulders, the rage pulsing in his chest, the memory of fallen friends… everything pushed him toward a single purpose: eliminate all evil, without truce.
Karmore screamed, the sound strangled and suffocating, trying to retreat, but there was nowhere left to go.
Tekio advanced, his eyes red like incandescent embers, his fist clenched, ready to crush what remained of her.
But then… he stopped.
It was as if he had hit an invisible wall.
His legs locked.
His muscles refused to obey.
His breath became irregular, and he felt something holding his waist firmly, like living chains.
Deep in his mind, Yara screamed, pleading.
— Tekio...
But she herself knew… it wasn't her voice holding him back.
He gritted his teeth, forcing his body to move, and glared at Karmore with a hatred so suffocating it seemed to squeeze the air between them.
— Get out of my way… — he snarled.
And then… something changed.
Voices.
Faint. Distant.
Calling his name.
Calling not the hunter, but the friend.
Calling not the demon, but the man.
Those voices pierced the bloody fog shrouding his consciousness.
With each repetition, they became clearer, closer.
When his eyes focused again, he saw.
It wasn't the curse in front of him speaking to him.
Nor Yara.
It was them.
His anchors.
His companions with patched-up hearts: Dan and Stella.
Both stood there, their eyes firm, their breath quickened.
They weren't trying to protect Karmore.
They were protecting him.
From what he was becoming.
Without thinking, they embraced him—an instinctive, desperate gesture.
And the warmth of that touch broke something inside Tekio.
The fire of his rage diminished, but did not go out.
His red eyes remained, but the blind fury began to yield.
Slowly, his posture relaxed.
Stella dissolved the chains binding his waist.
And Tekio… wept.
Not violent sobs, but silent tears that burned as they streamed down his face.
He had been alone, all this time, fighting demons, bleeding, and placing all the blame on himself.
Watching death up close with his own eyes.
Feeling the powerlessness.
And in that instant, it was like facing a storm in an ocean and after dark days finally seeing the sun and the serene sea.
Finally, a place to rest.
To feel sheltered.
He hugged Dan and Stella back, holding them tightly as if afraid to let go and see them disappear.
— It's good to have you back, Tekio — they said, almost in unison.
Amidst the chaos, surrounded by death and ruin, they remained alive.
And that, Tekio knew… was a miracle.
When he lifted his gaze, he saw Karmore still fallen, panting.
She was looking at him, staring.
Her expression was one of pain and despair.
But her eyes…
They were blue.
Clear.
The pure tracing of a liberated soul.
The curse was gone.
But the peace was short-lived.
On the horizon, a colossal shadow rose.
The Veil.
Expanding like a mantle of darkness, swallowing everything.
Dan and Stella turned, alarmed.
Tekio's heart raced.
And then, he screamed:
— MEI!
He could feel it.
Her soul was fading… slowly… and he was too far away to reach her.
To be continued…
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